I'm conducting a "Way of the Wicked" campaign at the moment, and I'm seriously considering to try to convert it to the new PF2e.
Apart for converting NPCs and monsters, that's going to be a lot of work but I guess quite straightforward and all on me as a GM, I wanted to ask some suggestions on how to resolve the PC conversion, and how to manage some potential pitfalls.
The first and most obvious, right now the champion class is limited to good characters, while way of the wicked is of course an evil path.
I could, I guess, simply take the current champion, switch 'evil' for 'good', 'negative' for 'positive', 'inflict' for 'cure', use the tenets of Asmodeus, and be done with it... but if somebody have further suggestions i will gladly listen to them.
Another thing, my players need all the support and help they can get to survive, so right now I allowed them to be gestalt characters.
I would like to allow them to keep the same feel, so that they do not feel shortened by the switch, and I thought about this way to do it: giving them a bunch of bonus feats to spend exclusively on multiclass archetypes.
I've yet to get a proper feel of 2e characters progression and play, so I don't know if going for a stricter , for example, 2nd, 8th, 14th, 20th bonus feat, or maybe a more generous 2,5,8,11,14,17,20 bonus feats.
Other ideas are of course welcome.
Any other suggestions or pitfall pointers from people that knows the campaign and/or the new 2E are also welcome.
Thanks to everybody, and to Paizo and Fire Mountain Games for their excellent work.
Hello to everybody.
Inspired by the recent discussions on the ACG and about the upcoming Pathfinder Unchained, I wanted to show here some homebrewed rules that I use in the campaigns I GM for, and ask for a forum opinion.
Please note, I'm not proposing these solutions as universally worthy ones, and so I'm not asking here if these are the solutions to all Pathfinder woes and should be adopted by all the world or something similar.
They're simply more suited to my personal taste.
Only, even if these rules have been well received in my own groups and did not have caused any particular noticeable imbalance in my game, I've only few groups, and even the most munchkin players of mine are better at parsing online guides than actual number-crunching.
So, I would like opinions from a more wast group of players about corner-cases and unforeseen consequences of these modifications.
And maybe some suggestions about other similar modifications that could be suited to my tables.
Also, maybe some other players could enjoy these rules and find some ideas they may like...
Feats:
Quote:
Agile combat
Prerequisites: Dexterity 13
Benefit: With a light weapon, or a one or two handed handed piercing or slashing weapon made for a creature of your size category, you may use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attack rolls. If you carry a shield or a medium or heavy armor, their armor check penalty applies to your attack rolls. Any strength modifier penalty is still applied to the attack roll. Using one handed weapons with this feat require a minimum strength of 13, and using 2 handed weapons with this feat require a minimum strength of 15. Increase or decrease the strength requirements by 2 for each size step difference from medium. Any weapon one handed or 2 handed wielded with Agile combat is considered a one handed light weapon exclusively for calculating any type damage bonuses (for example, not for off-handed use or two weapon attack penalties).
Special: Natural weapons are considered light weapons.
Personal note: the desired effect is extending the range of weapons that you should logically be able to use with dexterity, while avoiding strength dumping and min maxing, and in a thematically appropriate way for the idea of “agile combatant”.
Note that leaving reach weapons inside this was a conscious decision, to reflect the style of combat that it's possible to see in some eastern martial arts with lances.
Quote:
Scientific fencing
Prerequisites: Dexterity 13, Agile combat, Profession (soldier or other appropriate martial profession) 2 ranks.
Benefit: When wielding a weapon usable with Agile combat, you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on melee attack and damage rolls. If you carry a shield or a medium or heavy armor, their armor check penalty applies to your damage rolls. Any strength modifier penalty is also applied to the damage roll. Using one handed weapons with this feat require a minimum strength of 13, and using 2 handed weapons with this feat require a minimum strength of 15. Increase or decrease the strength requirements by 2 for each size step difference from medium.
Personal note: as per the previous feat, plus you've to wait a bit and invest in the feat tax to keep things balanced. The inclusion of 2-handed weapons is compensated by the fact that they receive only 1x Strength.
Benefit: When wielding a pole arm with reach that you are proficient with, you may at will treat the weapon as if it did not have reach. The weapon is unwieldy when used in this fashion and you consider it an improvised club-like weapon when attacking an opponent you normally could not.
Normal: Reach weapons cannot be used against adjacent foes.
Personal note: Referring to previous dex-based feats, as the shortened polearm is considered club-like (and improvised...), it does means that when using it shortened it can't benefit from them.
Quote:
Vital strike
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: When you are doing a single melee or ranged attack in a round, your attack deals additional damage. Roll the weapon’s damage dice for the attack twice and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision-based damage, and other damage bonuses. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage.
Personal note: consider this wording extended also to the rest of the chain.
Almost everybody agree that Vital strike as it is is quite underpowered. At the same time, I feel that the combat balance is too rewarding to immobile combatants and not enough to mobile ones. This is my first attempt to deal with it... now you can combine it with Spring attacks and Charges, plus some other maneuvers and abilities.
Also note that this wording helps with Mythic Vital Strike abuse, where having more than one standard actions in a round means being able to deliver more terribly damaging Mythic Vital Strikes...
Equipment:
Quote:
All types of crossbows are made with a particular Strength bonus rating. The crossbow deliver extra damage related to this Strength bonus rating, indipendently from the user Strength. If your Strength bonus is less or more than the Strength bonus rating of the crossbow, reloading it's going to take longer or shorter in proportion to the difference between your Strength bonus and the crossbow Strength bonus rating. For each bonus point of difference, the reloading time shift from the crossbow default reloading time (after applying all relevant feats and class features) one step in the following table:
Free action
Swift action
Move Action
Standard action
Full-round action
1 round
2 rounds
3 rounds
...
(Addition from the new Bolt Ace: the reloading time of “not an action” should not be accessible by using crossbows with lower strength rating, but should remain a Bolt Ace exclusive, I think)
The default crossbow is rated for a Strength bonus rating of +0. Each point of additional Strength bonus granted by the crossbow adds 100 gp to its base cost. A crossbow rated for less than +0 does not reduce its base price.
Quote:
Wand Holster
Price: 1gp Weigth: 1lb
A belt attachment that can holster a single wand or rod.
Special: if you have the Quick draw feat you can draw the wand or rod as if it was a normal weapon.
To benefit from this effect you may not wear more than one of these holsters in a specific location, and it can't be worn near other sheated weapons (i.e. if you wear one on the left side of your belt, you can't wear another on that side, and you can't also keep a sword sheated there).
Note: an holstered wand is in clear view of anybody observing you.
Magic Items:
Quote:
Wand of cantrips
When creating a wand with a cantrip, a caster can choose to create it with infinite charges for 2x the normal wand price.
Class abilities:
Quote:
Martial Monk
The Monk have a full-bab progression even when not using flurry of blows.
Quote:
Capsule Extract discovery (Ex)
Prerequisite: Alchemist 10, Infusion discovery
You can create a very concentrated rapid-acting infusion as a solid capsule.
This capsule is easy to conceal, so you've +10 to your Sleight of Hand checks to conceal, palm or otherwise manipulate it.
Retrieving and ingesting such an extract from a pouch or similar container is a move action.
Ingesting such an extract while having it already in hand is a Swift action.
The capsule is water-soluble and will be wasted if it does get wet.
It can be dissolved in a glass of pure water to recreate a standard extract, but if dissolved in other beverages will be ruined and wasted.
Creating a capsule extract does consume an extract slot 3 levels higher than the equivalent normal extract, but the spell effective level does not change.
Personal note: I will extend this discovery to the ones accessible to the new Investigator class.
Combat rules:
Quote:
Pinned Coup de Grace
If you manage to pin an adversary while holding a one-handed piercing or slashing weapon, in the following round you can attempt a grapple combat maneuver check at -10 to deliver a coup de grace with that weapon as a full-round action.
If you need to also extract the weapon first, you need to be able to do so while using at least one hand to maintain a grapple, and the grapple combat maneuver check to be able to deliver the coup de grace is at -20.
If this maneuver fails the adversary receive a free attempt to break the grapple at +8 bonus.
Personal note: used rarely, but it gave me a couple of nice hostage situations different to replicate otherwise. Leaving one handed ranged weapons like guns and light/hand crossbows was a conscious decision.
In my game, I want to alter slightly the current game balance by making some options quite more lethal.
In particular, I want to obtain the following results (mix of general and specific situations):
a) Ambushes should be much more dangerous even when performed by clearly inferior opponents: if an adventuring party does not take the proper precautions, even a bunch of low-level goblins that staged an ambush should represent a non-trivial danger.
b) Stealthy approaches to enemies should be more lethal even for non-dedicated backstabbers: if a warrior manage to silently slip behind a standing guard, he too should be able to dispatch the guard without raising alarm, even if likely not as cleanly as a rogue.
c) Taking somebody prisoner by keeping him under aim should be a real menace for the prisoner: if a bunch of city guards surround the party keeping them under fire with their crossbows, the party should feel a greater pressure about having those crossbows aimed at them than the few hitpoints that they usually risk now.
d) Taking somebody hostage by menacing him with a weapon should be a real option even after 1st level: the standard movie and novels situation where a villain take as an hostage somebody poiting a kife at the throat, or the hero is surpried by the antagonist with a gud at the back of his head, right now is almost impossibile without relying purely on roleplay.
I think all these results can be obtained in Pathfinder without rebalancing massively everything with a couple quite simple changes to the rules, but I may be missing some unforeseen consequences, so I would gladly hear other opinions and even alternative suggestions.
My proposed changes:
Quote:
1. Each time somebody lose his DEX bonus to AC due to any maneuver or check, if the margin of success/failure of the check/maneuver is 10+, any hit to the target by the source of the check is considered a coup de grace.
So, if my character is flat-footed due to a surprise check failed with a margin of 10+, if I'm hit it will be a coup-de-grace.
If I'm in battle and somebody sneak at my back with a stealth check successful by a margin of 10+, his attacks will be coups-de-grace, while the attacks by the other enemies I'm battling will be normal.
Also, if somebody pin me down and succeed by 10+, he can then deliver its damage as a coup-de-grace.
Quote:
2. If somebody, for whatever reason including the previous cases, let a drawn slashing or piercing melee weapon (or ranged weapon of the bow, crossbow or firearm type at a point-blank range, or spell with a touch attack that deal lethal damage) be aimed at him without being able/willing to enter combat in that round, the enemies keeping the weapon aimed at him will then be able at any moment to deliver a single coup-de-grace as an immediate action.
So, if I'm not willing to immediately start a fight with the approaching guards and let them point their crossbows at me at close range, I will hten have to be very careful about later resisting arrest or anything, as they'll be able to hit me with very dangerous coups-de-grace.
At the same time, if somebody have a knife placed at my back and is ordering me to obey him , I'll have to fear the situation much more than a simple 1d4 of hit points...
The immediate considerations I've made are that "Uncanny dodge" is suddenly much more important, perception and stealth skills become fundamental, and grapple become really much more dangerous.
It is stated in the rules that you can't trip some kind of creatures, like the flying ones.
On the other hand, in the Battering Blast spell description, it does not say that it does trip, it says that if the Bull Rush attempt have been successful the creature must attempt a Reflex save or fall prone, a specific addition to the Bull Rush rules.
battering blast:
A creature struck by any of these is subject to a bull rush attempt. The force has a Strength modifier equal to your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier (whichever is highest). The CMB for the force’s bull rush uses your caster level as its base attack bonus, adding the force’s Strength modifier and a +10 bonus for each additional blast directed against the same target. Each sphere of force makes its own separate bull rush attempt—if multiple spheres strike one target, you make multiple CMB checks but only take the highest result to determine success. If the bull rush succeeds, the force pushes the creature away from you in a straight line, and the creature must make a Reflex save or fall prone.
What does this mean for a flying target? Does the target fall to the ground to be rendered prone? taking maybe falling damage too?
For a winged or similar target it does make sense, but what about floating targets?
Also, if the target does effectively fall to the ground anfter having been batttered, his altitude should be adjusted by his movement away from the caster: as a limit case, if the caster was directly under the target when he hurled the spell, the target should be bullrushed straight up 5+ feets, and then fall down all the distance to the ground, at the very feet of the caster himself.
Technically we could even discuss about the other creatures that are immune to trip, like oozes and creatures without legs, but I guess that that would be a bit of difficult to justify with common sense.
I know how I would resolve most of these things, but I'm curious to know if there're official rules/rulings that I've missed and what other players/GM thinks...
While thinking about a class that could have been fun and relatively straightforward to play, I came up witht he idea of this: a fire-based blaster cleric, that used the peculiarities fo the Theologian archetype and the Divine Scion prestige class to extend the power of his blasting to a level that I think comparable to a not fully optimized wizard blaster.
This is my first attempt to do a proper character build, so I'll gladly accept any suggestions, corrections to mistake I will have almost certainly made, and so on.
Hello to everybody... I was considering these 2 spells, and I had the idea that, as the snapdragon fireworks launched in the round after the first use only the move action part of the round, and they deal fire damage, maybe they could be considered a legitimate fire source for the pyrotechnics spell.
Is this point of view legitimate? I searched a bit the forum but I've not found any pertinent discussion.
Also, even if the first option would not be considered legitimate, what if I applied the "burning spell" meta to snapdragon? in this case, the target the following round should be taking additional damage being "on fire", so the target itself should become a legitimate source for pyrothecnics.
