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I'm kicking around the idea of world that is sort like Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. If you're not familiar, this is a world where people's souls exist outside their bodies in the form of animals called "daemons." It's more or less a world where everyone has animal companion/familiar. The question is, how to balance it in Pathfinder where certain classes have animal companions and others do not normally gain them. There are several archetypes like the homuncultist (alchemist), the carnivalis (rogue) and the mad dog (barbarian) that grant certain classes animal companions or familiars. There's also a few options like the animal domain or the familiar bond feat which requires characters to use up two feat slots. But I'm looking for a way to make having an animal companion or a familiar the default for every character. Basically, I'm thinking what needs to be done is either taking something away from each class that doesn't have some kind of bond feature or adding something to those that do. For example, letting the druid have both an animal companion and a domain. Is that overkill? Would it make the druid too powerful?
What is the relationship between the gods and the various outsider races in your campaigns? Some are easy to describe. The devils all work for Asmodeus. The angels serve various good deities. But what about the proteans or the inevitables? Is there an ultra-lawful deity who commands the inevitables? Are the demon lords subordinate to or rivals of the chaotic evil gods?
I'm working on a campaign styled on a frontier. Humans are moving into an area where, up to now, they have not occupied. Other humanoids, such as orcs, goblins, and centaurs, already live in this region in small tribal groups. Naturally, there is going to be friction as humans encroach on their territory and start fencing things in. It's analogous to American western stories, but it's not a direct copy. Land is used either for farming or mining. Most cargo is transported by skyships, so piracy is also a big factor. Think Lone Ranger meets Pirates of Caribbean. So far, I have the following products: Avalon's Homestead Guide to Frontier Life
Any other third party products that could be used for inspiration for frontier and/or pirate based campaigns?
Pathfinder now has over 20 base classes. If you include third party material, it's over a hundred. The number of PC races is about the same.
It never really made much sense to tie acid damage to earth elementals. It seems like after the designers tagged the other three elementals with the obvious energy types (water = cold, air = electricity, and fire = fire), they just tacked acid onto earth by process of elimination. But, why not sonic damage instead? Sound is a compression wave moving through a medium. Earthquakes are waves as well. I think it fits better than acid. Sonic has always the overlooked energy damage type. There aren't a lot of spells that do sonic damage, but that can be fix with some new spells. What would be the other implications of switching out acid for sonic damage? Should monsters with acid resistance be granted sonic resistance instead?
With all the homebrew and 3rd party stuff out there, sometimes it's hard to find exactly what you're looking for. Case in point: divine spell casters. I'm looking ideas for an alternative to the cleric, a full (9-level) divine caster that, instead of worshiping the gods, actively opposes them. Sort of like the character Salim from Elaine Cunningham's Death's Heretic novel. Something like the 3.5e Ur-Priest prestige class, but as a base class instead. Anyone have any ideas?
Now that we have 20-odd classes from Paizo plus dozens from 3rd party publishers, it seems to me that not every class is needed for every campaign. What classes don't fit in your campaign? For example, I'm building a campaign world with a wild west theme. Firearms are common and advanced (revolvers, rifles, and shotguns). This has a number of implications for many of the classes. Take the fighter. In our real world, armor was obsolete long before the late 19th century. While my campaign is not based on actual history, the prevalence of guns does make armor less advantageous. Armor training is therefore, not as useful class ability for what is already widely regarded as a weak class. Thus, in my campaign, the fighter will probably be dropped with the gunslinger taking over its role. The next one is the cleric. Everyone has an opinion on this class. Put me among those that dislike like it. The druid, inquisitor, and oracle are, in my opinion, far more interesting for the role of priest-type characters. So those are probably out. On the fence are the paladin and cavalier. Obviously, cavalry has a role in a western-themed campaign, but I'll probably have to emphasize archetypes that are less dependent on heavy armor. Also on the fence are the Asian-themed classes (monk, ninja, and samurai). Most people probably don't think about ninjas in the west, but perhaps they could be "exotic" classes brought from people who migrated from a land that is more Eastern in flavor, much like many Chinese immigrants came to the US to work on the railroad. So, what about your campaigns? Have you looked at any classes and thought, "This just doesn't fit"?
I've thought about ways to encourage more fisticuffs in my campaign, so I came up with replacing the feat Improved Unarmed Strike with Unarmed Proficiency. Classes with full BAB plus monks and rogues would be considered proficient in unarmed attacks. All other classes would have to take the feat to become proficient, much like they have to take a feat to become proficient in a martial weapon. Characters proficient in unarmed attacks can make unarmed attacks without provoking an attack of opportunity and can choose to inflict lethal or non-lethal damage. Medium characters do 1d6 points of damage while small ones do 1d3. Monks will continue to increase the amount of damage they do as they gain levels. Thoughts?
Yeah, It's another fighter revamp. The general idea of this design is move away from the armored tank stereotype and let players create virtually any warrior archetype they can imagine. Summary of changes: Weapons and armor:
Skills:
Warrior Paths:
Fighter Talents:
Bonus Feats: Fighters now have grit and may select any grit feat in place of a combat feat. A few feats, Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus, and Weapon Specialization are modified.
Has anyone ever run a campaign where there are no divine spell casters? Has it been a problem? The obvious deficit would be the lack of party healing. As a fix, would you recommend adding the Cure X Wounds spells to the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or would enabling them to cast those spells (as well as use wands and scrolls) be too unbalancing?
I put together some rules for a possession template for a campaign idea. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.
Spoiler: Possession Possession is an acquired template that can be applied to any outsider of the evil subtype. Such an outsider gains the incorporeal subtype when on the material plane. Unless summoned by a spell, a possessing outsider can only manifest on the material plane as an incorporeal creature. While on the material plane, the outsider can attempt to possess a creature. To be a target of possession, a creature (called a “host”) must be living and corporeal. Constructs, oozes, plants, and undead are immune to possession. The potential host must also have an Intelligence score. When an outsider attempts to possess a potential host, the target creature must make a Will save (DC = 10 + ½ the outsider’s hit dice + the outsider’s Charisma modifier). If the creature succeeds, the outsider cannot attempt to possess that creature for 24 hours. If the creature fails, the outsider’s incorporeal form merges with its new host. Once an outsider has possessed its host, it has full access to all of the host’s senses and can perceive the world as the host does. It does not have to reveal its presence to its host. In fact, the outsider can possess a host without the host even being consciously aware of it. While possessed, the host will have an aura of evil equal to that of the outsider, regardless of his or her true alignment. Using the host’s form, the outsider can take any of the following actions: Speak through the host: At any time, the outsider can take control of the voice of its host. It can choose to speak in any language known to it or to its host. Doing so, of course, will immediately alert the host of its presence (if the host did not already know) and may make any creatures listening suspect that the host is possessed, though they may think the host is insane or evil instead. Communicate with the host: At will, the outsider can communicate telepathically with its host. Spell-like abilities: The outsider can use any spell-like abilities it possesses, normally. Torment host: At will, the outsider can cause the host to become wracked with pain, causing them to become nauseated for 1d6 rounds. This is often used by the outsider to force obedience from the host. Control the host: At any time, the outsider can attempt to take control of the host’s body. To resist control, the host must make a Will save (DC = 10 + ½ the outsider’s hit dice + the outsider’s Charisma modifier). If the host succeeds, the outsider cannot make another attempt to control the host for 24 hours. If the host fails, the outsider takes complete control and can make use of any of the host’s abilities, including any extraordinary, supernatural, spell-like abilities the host may possess, including any abilities gained through class levels. The outsider can still use any of its own spell-like abilities as well. While under the outsider’s control, the host remains conscious, but is unable to take any actions whatsoever, including mental actions other than telepathic communication with the outsider. Control lasts until the outsider voluntarily relinquishes it or is forced out of the host’s body (see below). Transform the host: At will, the outsider can attempt to transform its host into a fiendish creature. The host may make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + ½ the outsider’s hit dice + the outsider’s Charisma modifier) to resist transformation. If the host succeeds, the outsider cannot attempt to transform the host again for 24 hours. If the host fails, the host gains the fiendish template for 10 minutes/per the number of hit dice the outsider has. While transformed, the host’s alignment shifts to match that of the outsider and behaves accordingly.
Exorcism.
Of the eleven core classes, it seems to me that the cleric was changed the least. The channel energy rules make a lot more sense than the 3rd edition turning rules did and they got a few new domain powers. But that's about it. Most of the other classes got new options to make them more customizable. Even in the Advanced Player's Guide, while many of the other classes got new archetypes to try out, all clerics got were subdomains, which are really just variant domains. So what can we do to make the cleric more customizable? One idea I had was to regroup the spells into Faith spells and Domain spells. Faith spells (such as bless and magic weapon) are available to all clerics, while domain spells can only be cast by a cleric who selects that particular domain. For example, all the fire-based spells would be put under the fire domain while all the spells relating to undead and negative energy would be in the death domain. Spells that related to particular alignments would belong in the appropriate alignment domain. For example, protection from evil and hallow would belong to the good domain. Any other thoughts?
First, let just say thank you for showing some love for 3.5. Not everyone believes that 4th edition is needed at this time. And I'm not happy with some of the preview stuff that's trickling out of WOTC now. Already it seems like half the PCs in 4th edition will be tieflings and that doesn't thrill me at all. Okay, now, let's talk about races: Dwarves: Not a lot of changes here, but then, this is a race that really doesn't need major surgery in my opinion. Glad that you're keeping darkvision. Why WOTC would think taking it away from their primary mining race is good idea is beyond me. The weapon proficiencies are good. The axe-wielding dwarf is stereotype held over from Tolkien, but I like that you threw in warhammers. They're smiths, so using hammers as a weapon makes sense. I like the sense-based Perception bonuses. The Wisdom seems to me to be a little iffy and will probably result in more dwarf clerics and paladins showing up, but it's not a bad idea. Overall, no real suggestions. Elves: Okay, I admit it. I am an elf-hater. They get more racial abilities in the SRD than any other race and generally tend to attract a certain (ahem!) kind of player. The "unnatural beauty" thing looks like it could easily be abused and will probably make the elf the de facto party spokesman even if the party has a character with a higher charisma. I also think the +2 to caster level checks is a bit much. I suggest making that into a racial feat so that the pointy-eared toymakers have to at least burn a feat slot to earn it. Gnomes: +2 to Charisma. That's good for their favored class, but I've always liked the idea of tinker gnomes (serious tinkers, not the buffoons in Dragonlance), so as with previous editions, I'd suggest a +2 to Int instead. That would shift their racial benefit from Perform and spellcasting to bardic knowledge and further improve their Craft bonus. Half-elves: This version is more of a true blending of humans and elves than the one in the SRD, but I think it's a little too powerful. I suggest dropping Adaptability. Bonus skills should be the specialty of humans. Half-orcs: Bravo. Love the Ferocity and Weapon familiarity. The Wisdom bonus, however, seems a little off. Full-blooded orcs in the SRD have a penalty to Wisdom. Also, I'm bored with the orc=stupid stereotype and would prefer to give half-orcs a Charisma penalty instead of an Intelligence penalty. In my campaign, I've given half-orcs a +2 bonus on Intimidate and Survival checks to reflect their ferocious nature and life in the less hospitable terrains. It gives them a little more role playing opportunities to work with. Halflings: The biggest problem I see with this race is Weapon Familiarity. There simply aren't that many weapons in all of the 3.5 publications with the word "halfling" in them compared to those with "elven" or "dwarven" in them. Also, giving them proficiency with the sling is not that great of a bonus. Sling is a simple weapon and the only class in the SRD that is not proficient with slings is the Wizard. This is one case where what you took out of the SRD (+1 bonus to hit with slings and thrown weapons) is better than what you replaced it with. Also, can somebody please explain to me why dwarves and gnomes get a dodge bonus versus giants and halflings don't? Humans: Humans are a little weak, especially compared to half-elves. Putting the two races side-by-side, and half-elves look like humans with lots of goodies at the cost of only losing the bonus feat slot. Humans are supposed to be the most adaptable race and still need a little more to reflact that. Suggestion: +2 racial bonus on any single skill, chosen at first level.
The war is over and, like many survivors, you've spent the past few years
When you arrive at the docks, you see the ship and it looks like it saw more
The ship is called the Ace of Spades and her captain is a one-eye named
The other crew members include a halfling cook named Bartleby, a half-orc
What the hell, you think. This is still the best job offer you've had in
That's the set up. The player characters will serve as the officers of the airship. The work promises to be hard and rough, but it will not be dull. Any interested parties can email me at den451@comcast.net. |
