Honorable Rogue's page

When I woke up this morning I had the following thoughts.

Druids get a Nature bond and chose between a Domain or an Animal Companion.

Paladins get a Divine Bond and chose between an Animal Companion or an Object.

Wizards get an Arcane Bond and choose between an Animal Companion or an Object.

So why not shift things a bit? Switch Arcane Bond to choosing between an Object or a School. That way every Wizard can still have a familiar. Or better yet, having a familiar becomes a Feat that other characters can take as well. The Feat discussion is yet to come so I’ll go back to the main point.

Arcane bond becomes forming a powerful bond with a specific object or a specific school. What would be the benefits?

Object: The wizard can release stored arcane energy to increase his spell casting ability. At 1st level the wizard selects an amulet, ring, staff, wand or weapon to bond with. Once per day, he can call upon the object to increase his equivalent caster level by 1 for 1 minute. All spell DCs, spell penetration checks, and dispel magic checks use the equivalent caster level. Starting at 5th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the wizard can call upon the object 1 additional time and the equivalent caster level increases by 1, to a maximum of 5 uses and 5 levels at 17th level. The wizard does not gain any additional bonuses from the equivalent levels.

If the object is destroyed the feedback from the uncontrolled release of the arcane energy causes the wizard to suffer a penalty of -1 on all DC and Spellcraft checks for 1 week or until he gains a level. After 1 week, the wizard can bond with a new object by conducting an 8-hour ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level.

School: The wizard can manipulate arcane energy to focus his spell casting ability. At 1st level the wizard selects a school of magic to form bond with and two schools of magic the bond prohibits. He excels when casting spells from his bonded school and suffers when casting spells from his prohibited schools. All spell DCs, spell penetration checks, dispel magic attempts and Spellcraft checks for the wizards bonded school gain a +2 bonus. All spell DCs, spell penetration checks, dispel magic attempts and Spellcraft checks for the wizard’s prohibited schools suffer a -2 penalty. Additionally, the wizard must use a spell slot two levels higher when preparing a spell from his prohibited schools. Finally, he can “lose” a prepared spell in order to cast a spell of the same level or lower from his bonded school. He cannot lose a spell from his prohibited schools.

This is just a first draft. The energy released from the destruction of a bonded item may conflict with a retributive strike. Heck, does Pathfinder even allow those? The ability to spontaneously cast any bonded school spell may be too powerful. Maybe the wizard should be limited to one or two spells per spell level. Does it walk on the toes of the Sorcerer too much?

So for now I’ll just ask for comments.

Cheers

There seem to be many opinions on the problems with fighters. This idea might help with some of them.

Fighters are Lords (and Ladies) of Feats. They have feats almost literally coming out their ears. But you know what; members of other classes can take almost every feat they can. So really they are the Lords (and Ladies) of the Commonplace.

Rogues on the other hand get special talents. Some of these talents even let them take more mundane feats if they desire.

Monks get several VERY unique skills and they get a handful of mundane, I mean feats. But Monks must be smarter (or more talented) than Fighters because they get to bypass those pesky prerequisites.

So, why don't we redo the Fighter a bit?

Instead of Bonus Feats, the fighter gets, well Fighter Talents. These talents would include VERY unique skills (maybe even some that help them manipulate the battle field) and would let them take more mundane skills WITHOUT those pesky prerequisites.

Heck while were at it, maybe Fighters could get a bonus 5' steps (an in-combat movement parallel to a Monks extra movement speed) that helps them move to intercept melee opponents, step up to interrupt spell casting and many other uses that other posters will come up with.

By replacing Bonus Feats with Fighter talents (or maneuvers or some other martial sounding word) Pathfinder can maintain backwards compatibility (since a standard feat can be used for a Fighter talent, maneuver, skill thingy) and open new options (like the overhauled rage and ki mechanics did). It would also give the fighter access to more unique abilities and even allow for regional maneuvers and such in forthcoming supplements.

Just an idea I had.

Cheers

Many of the threads and posts mention the uselessness of lower level spells at the high end of the game, ‘over powered’ spell casters dominating the game, crappy saves relegating non-spell casters to ‘gish’ status.

Therefore I can only assume many people feel the spell casting and resisting systems are out of whack. So I had a few rough ideas that I hope people can help me refine.

1) Uselessness of lower level spells
Spell DCs are typically 10 + spell level + attribute bonus. Therefore spell DCs increase at roughly 1 point per 2 levels. I say roughly because when you take into account the impacts of permanent attribute increases every four levels and temporary attribute bonuses from equipment the DCs increase a bit quicker than 1 point per two levels.

To balance the DC increases, ‘good’ save bonuses increase at a rate of 1 point per 2 levels. As a result, the DCs for lower level spells are considerably easier for mid to high level characters to resist. Several poster have proposed 10 + caster level or some fraction of caster level. This helps make the lower level spells harder to resist but it also makes the higher level spells harder to resist.

What if we calculate Spell DCs as 10 + caster level – spell level + attribute bonus. This would make lower level spells harder to resist while keeping higher level spells on par with the current system. For example:

- DC for 18 Wizard, with 22 Int casting Charm Monster is 10 + 18 - 4 + 6 = 30 (Under the current system the DC would be 20)

- DC for 18 Wizard, with 22 Int casting Dominate Monster is 10 + 18 - 9 + 6 = 25 (Under the current system the DC would be 25)

I realize I didn’t add the extra 8-10 Int that some believe the 18 Wizard should have but the exact amount of temporary attribute bonuses from equipment seems to vary greatly from campaign to campaign.

2) ‘Over powered’ spell casters dominating the game

I realize what I propose could easily make this worse so we need to focus on the third point. Also the common cases for this argument include the long duration ‘save or I take you out of the combat’ spells and seldom the instant direct damage spells.

3) Crappy saves relegating non-spell casters to ‘gish’ status

Setting aside the ‘save or die’ direct damage spells, is the actual problem the crappy saves or the single chance to resist a spell using crappy saves. Would a character getting a chance to break a spell every turn after failing to resist the spell help offset the ‘save or I take you out of the combat’ spells? That way a single bad roll doesn’t doom a character and a single high roll would help a character.

Additionally the Great Fortitude, Iron Will, and Lightning Reflexes feats could be changed to read:

+2 bonus on <Insert Type> saves against instant or extended duration effects. Grants an additional +1 per round to break or resist extended duration effects.

(I’m honestly not sure if there are any extended duration effects in the game that a character would make a reflex save against but I included Lightning Reflexes for parity.)

Of course it would be easy to add follow-on feats that offered increased bonuses or automatic breaks or resists of instant or extended duration effects.

On an unrelated note, in 3.5 characters reach level 20 with 190,000 XP. In Pathfinder the same 190,000 XP gets them to level 10, 11, or 12 depending on which of the three experience charts your game uses.

Will the slowing of character advancement help with spell issues since there should be more time for everyone to get better equipment?

Will the new XP charts get used? Will Pathfinder story lines have to get individually longer or include more issues to feel as rewarding?

Just some quick thoughts.

What are yours?

After completing my post in the Design Forum on the Errata and typos (CH2 and CH3) thread I still had a few items left over. So I thought I'd post them here. With all my posts I try and keep the following in mind.

Jason's ideas: Improve the Game, Add Options, and Compatibility
My Thoughts: Generic Fantasy Game, Solid Foundation, Basic Rulebook

So with that in mind here are my additional thoughts.

1) The Purchase method under Generating Ability Scores allows the players to purchase ability scores no lower than 7. The modifier for an ability of 6 or 7 is the same. Being able to lower ability scores to 6 or 7 would give the player an additional 2 (or 3) points to spend on above average ability scores.

2) Pathfinder is a d20 game with a focus on groups of adventurers. To that end I propose a new method to generate ability scores.

Group: Each player rolls 3d6 and adds the dice together. All players record the highest result and repeat the process until six scores are generated. Players assign the results to their ability scores as they see fit. This method tends to produce characters with above average ability scores.

This method also ensures all the players start with equitable ability scores and simplifies the process of adding a new character to the game. The GM simply has to give the player a list of the groups starting ability scores.

After reviewing the updated character races I felt there were not as balanced as they could be.

3) Dwarves are the only race to receive an ability that modifies combat maneuvers. To even it out, Stability should only apply to bull rush. The other races should receive their own combat maneuver abilities. Elves should modify disarm. Gnomes and Halflings should modify grappling. Half-orcs should modify overrun.

4) Half-elves are described as wanderers but receive no skill bonuses to support that idea. To that end, Wanderer: Half-elves receive a +2 racial bonus to Knowledge (geography) and Linguistics skill checks.

Knowledge (geography) is a only class skill for bards, druids and wizards and Linguistics is only a class skill for bards, clerics, rogues, and wizards. This might influence players lean more towards druids or wizards but I doubt it.

5) Half-orcs are described as outcasts but also receive no skill bonuses to support that idea. For them we add, Outcast: Half-orcs receive a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive and Survival skill checks.

Sense Motive is a class skill for bards, clerics, monks, paladins, and rogues and Survival is a class skill for barbarians, druids, fighters, and rangers. These shouldn't influence players to any class.

6) Additionally half-orcs are the only non-human race that doesn't get a sense-based Perception bonus. To fix that, Keen Sense: Half-orcs receive a +2 bonus on smell-based Perception checks.

And lastly halflings receive a single simple weapon proficiency and an exotic weapon upgrade without any applicable weapons, half-elves receive no weapon proficiencies, and humans receive a single martial weapon proficiency. To fix these:

7) Add Halfling Staff Sling: Cost -, Dmg (S) 1d6, Dmg (M) 1d8, Critical x2, Range Increment 80 ft., Weight 4 lbs., Type Bludgeoning. Your Strength modifier applies to damage rolls when you use a halfling staff sling, just as it does for all thrown weapons. The halfling staff sling is a two-handed weapon. Apply 1 1/2 times your Strength bonus to damage rolls for attacks with this weapon. Loading a halfling staff sling is a move equivalent action that requires two hands and provokes an attack of opportunity. You can hurl bullets or flasks with a halfling staff sling, but usually stones are used. When using bullets an attack deals damage as if the weapon were designed for a creature one size category larger than you. If using a flask or attacking a target closer than 40 ft. you take a -1 penalty on attack rolls. With the sling stowed, the halfling staff sling functions as a quarterstaff.

8) For half-elves add Weapon Familiarity: Half-elves are proficient with any one martial weapon of their choice, in addition to those granted by class proficiencies. This weapon must be chosen at 1st level and cannot be changed.

9) For humans change their weapon proficiency bonus to Weapon Training: Humans are proficient with any one martial or exotic weapon of their choice, in addition to those granted by class proficiencies. This weapon must be chosen at 1st level and cannot be changed.

That’s all that came to mind in the first 11 pages. Only 391 pages to go.

Cheers