Kitsune Knight's page

I would want to see more done with Aasimar, Catfolk, Fetchling, Ifrit, Oread, Ratfolk, Tengu, Sylph, Undine, Changlings, Suli, Kitsune, Androids, and Ghorans.

I would also like to see ACG support as well as more stuff for Ninja, Samurai, and Antipaladins. However, I think Gunslingers have gotten plenty of love in comparison to the others and don't really need more at this point.

I don't like medieval fantasy settings and would much prefer a Planescape/Spelljammer mash up.

I dislike Pathfinder and 4e for opposite reasons. I think 4e is too much of a defensive slog while pathfinder turns into offensive oriented rocket-tag far too easily.

I don't actually find exotic races all that exotic. All of them simply look like some form of base human to me.

I love third party publishers and think they add a lot to the over all experience of the game.

I am an avid power gamer and see no reason why I should be ashamed of it.

I don't believe DMs should have all the power when it comes to running a game or crafting a world, and I often outsource as much of the story elements as I can to my players.

I don't think fighters, rogues, or monks are unbalanced. Just too heavily specialized into their respective niches and should be broadened in later additions to the game.

I hate vancian magic, but I don't believe the alternatives are much better.

I hate that trap options are inherent to pathfinder and wish they were simply eliminated from the base game.

Edit:

I adore using devices at the table, and actively encourage my players to do the same.

I have no problems with players looking up a monsters stats during the fight, and honestly, assume that they already have/are doing so while running the game.

I don't mind players making liberal interpretations of their dice rolls.

I would like to see a druid/witch cross either done as an archetype, or a full blown class, done in a Witch Doctor theme.

Edit: Probably should mention this isn't my idea. I saw someone comment on it in the advanced class guide discussion and is something I would really like to see.

Genius guide to words of power-A supplement aimed at expanding the words of power system.

Menagerie of Monsters:Gothic Horror-A monster manual containing new strains of vampires, werewolves, ghouls, ghosts, boogymen, and everything else that goes bump in the night.

Dark matter inspired source book-Basically a book for players that want to "bump back" at the monsters outlined in the above monster book.

Six Dungeons Deep-A series of loosely linked dungeon modules designed to aid in running dungeons at higher levels.

Genius Guide to Races-A rework of the races currently released in pathfinder so as to create greater parity between them. (i.e. more options for featured and uncommon races as well as generally reworking their features to be more in line with core classes).

Real world mythology source book- A "faiths of" type book covering various real world mythologies from Greece/Rome, Norse, Egyptian, and other real world mythologies/religions.

Genius Guide to Mythic Companions-A supplement allowing you to take creatures like dragons, Sphinxes, griffons, golems, etc. as animal companions, cohorts, and familiars. (possibly with mythic abilities themselves).

A genius Guide to NPCs-Basically a big book of NPCs similar to the NPC guide with full back stories and suggestions on how to implement them into various home games.

Futuristic Adventures-Like your Anachronistic adventures classes except instead of pulling from a pulp theme you pull from sci-fi.

The Waking Dream-A module set in the Dimension of Dreams.

Genius Guide to Leng-A source book decribing the Realm of Leng as well as a multi-part adventure set their.

I'll see if I can think of anything else to type up later...

I think stay the course right now is best as it tends to be difficult to impossible to try and guess what any given market is going to do. If the market looks at DDN and embraces it then their isn't much Paizo can do about it beyond keep on keeping on. If the market looks at DDN and decides they don't want it and Paizo decides to change (such as release 1.5/2.o Pathfinder) then they could end up hurting as the market decides they don't want either product and move to some third system (not to mention that such a change could drive away their own fan base). Furthermore, those most likely to be unsatisfied with DDN (just from the anecdotal evidence of my own group) tend to be those that most liked 4th edition, and they are not likely to move to Paizo after DDN is released.

So, in the end it is probably best to keep the schedule they currently have (as to my knowledge such releases tend to be planned out at least a year in advance), and see where the market and their own financials are after DDN is released before any decision about what to do about it is made.

I have seen a lot of Fighter threads lately (most of them not positive), so I decided to throw out some houserules I use for people to critique (because I would actually be interested in knowing whether or not these are actually good ideas). I actually do think that the fighter's ability to fight shouldn't outweigh their ability to succeed outside of combat as well as better options for what they could be doing within combat as well.

To facilitate this I made the following changes:
4+Intelligence modifier skills per level with Diplomacy, Perception, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (Nobility), and Knowledge (Local) added to their skill list.

Fast will Save progression.

Gains a bonus combat feat or teamwork feat at first level, 2nd level, and every even level after that. Also, whenever a Fighter gains a bonus feat he may also chose to retrain any previous feats he may have taken. If the Fighter retrains feats that act as prerequisites for feats he has already selected he loses access to the later feat and must retrain that feat as well (ex:Retraining Improved Trip automatically means that Greater Trip must be retrained as well). Furthermore, the fighter is still required to meet all the prerequisites of the feat gained through retraining when that feat is being selected (ex:A feat with a +4 BAB requirement can only be taken by a fighter at level 4 or later regardless of when the retraining is taking place).

Dropped Bravery all together. Instead they gain an ability called Maneuver Expertise which reads as follows:At 2nd level a fighter gains Combat Expertise as a bonus feat without having to meet its prerequisites and a +2 Bonus to CMB and CMD. This bonus increases by +2 every 4 levels after 4th (at 6th, 10th, and 14th level)

At 3rd level, he loses Armor Training and gains the Tactician fighter's Tactician ability instead. The only difference is that he gains one use of the ability at 3rd level and additional uses at 7th, 11th, and 15th level. Also, this ability functions as a swift action instead of a standard action (the swift action change applies to cavaliers as well).

At 5th level, Weapon Training applies to the entire weapon group chosen and at 9th, 13th, and 17th level the fighter has a choice. Either he can chose to apply the standard bonuses to multiple weapons (ex:gaining a +2 to attack and damage with heavy blades and a +1 attack and damage to axes) or he can move his highest bonus from one weapon group to another weapon group(ex: Moving the +2 bonus to attack and damage from heavy blades to axes, but forgoing the secondary +1 bonus to another weapon group).

Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization have been changed to read as follows:

Weapon Focus (Combat)
Prerequisites:Proficiency with selected weapon and BAB +1
You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. This bonus increases to +2 at 10th level. A Fighter that takes this feat can also apply this bonus to any weapon within the selected weapon's group. (ex:If a fighter takes this feat and applies it to a greatsword then the weapons bonuses apply to all heavy blades.)

Weapon Specialization (Combat)
Prerequisite:Proficiency with selected weapon, Weapon Focus with selected weapon, BAB +4
You gain a +2 bonus on all damage rolls you make using the selected weapon. This bonus increases to a +4 bonus at 12th level. A Fighter that takes this feat can also apply this bonus to any weapon within the selected weapon's group. (ex:If a fighter takes this feat and applies it to a greatsword then the weapons bonuses apply to all heavy blades.)

For Archetypes, the Lore Warden and Tactician are not allowed to be taken. Anything that trades out abilities (such as armor training or Bravery) instead trades out the two abilities I listed above.

Mikaze wrote:

Shimesen wrote:

Mikaze wrote:

Then that would negate every Lawful Good take on Batman that has existed over the decades.

WHO IN THERE RIGHT MIND WOULD EVER COUNT BATMAN OF ALL SUPERHERO'S AS LAWFUL GOOD?!?!?!?! HE IS AN OUTLAW/VIGILANTE WHO OPERATES OUTSIDE THE LAW HES CLEARLY CHAOTIC GOOD!!!!

/endrage

People that read the stories where he was portrayed as Lawful Good.

He is the classic "depends on the writer" character, after all.

clearly you need a class on the difference between a good person and a lawful good person.

Lawful: follows the rules/laws for the establishment/government
Good: has mercy/doesnt kill; is greedless and caring, etc...
Chaotic: ignores the rules/laws intentionally for his/her own benefits
Evil: kills without mercy, is greedy and careless etc...

the closest batman has ever been to lawful is while acting as bruce wayne and even then at best he would be neutral because he doesn't like following the rules...ever....

Tsukiyo the LG deity of madness and insanity begs to differ with your interpretation of lawful good. With him around, and legal for pathfinder society, I would think that a lawful good paladin/ninja would make sense as one of his servants.

I thought I would go ahead and post some multi-class type builds. This is designed to be a lightly armored melee oriented fighter type w/ some magic on the side.

I now present Misamoto, the Dragon of the West

Edit: Should be fine early and late however will probably run into problems levels 4-8 so careful planning will be needed. Also, yes he is slightly over wealth by level (by under 100 gp but still).

yeah, the system itself seems to me to work more as a way of changing existing classes up and down (and arbitrarily make the existing core races look more balanced than they really are) than creating new ones from whole cloth. Most of what is given isn't really conducive for creating new and interesting abilities for a completely new race.

Edit: So, in response to the OP, I mainly use my gut when balancing a race and use the race creator as an admittedly flawed guide to do that.

Actually, here. Download OSRIC (Old School Reference & Index Compilation) and try playing that. It may be the answer to all your woes. It is basically 1E D&D, cleaned up a bit. Try playing that game for a while, and see if you have no complaints. You're clearly unhappy with modern D&D/PF (and I'd bet you'd be unhappy with OSRIC too after some time, if I was a gambler).

Best case scenario, I solved every problem you'll ever have with your gaming hobby.

Worst case scenario, you'll be back to complain about how mages in old D&D have too many options, fighters don't get enough skills, and theives are failures at everything but you have to have them in your party whether anyone wants to play them or not, and that demihumans are superior to everyone.

Which means we literally have nothing to lose by trying.

Ok I just want to throw out a brief aside/story about Osric.

I actually enjoyed the osric game our DM ran us through. We actually gave up on running through the initial dungeon ourselves (seriously screw traps in that game) and instead threw a boulder in front of the door and waited for the kobold raiding party that called the dungeon home to come back. We then ambushed them (killing several) and then took one prisoner so he could show us the secret back entrance they where using to move in and out of the dungeon while avoiding the traps. In the end, they actually came to worship us as "dragons", seeing our party as mighty and clever like one, which allowed my ranger and the party fighter to train them into an elite killing squad (more like regiment as there where 75 of them) we called the Killbolds. We ended that campaign by having our Killbold regiment murder an army of orcs that came to destroy the town we where in while we sipped Kool-Aid and "directed" our soldiers from the rear.

Although, I think under a different DM it may not have been as fun. SO...your mileage may vary. Ok, you can all go back to yelling at each other now. :P

Kitsune Knight wrote:

..Ok now I do realize that most of the changes taken together would mean a very different game then what is presented in core pathfinder, but I do honestly feel that they would go a long way to improving the game overall.

Except that it wouldn't be D&D then. Look, guys there are dozens of great FRPGs that have those features. Instead of trying to change D&D into those, why not just play one of them?

Are you telling me OD&D, and Basic, and AD&D, and 2nd Edition AD&D, and the 2nd and 3rd editions of basic, and 3.x/Pathfinder, and 4e, and DNDNext aren't all D&D as well? Are these various editions not all radically different from each other in multiple ways?

The point is that things change, and pathfinder, IMO, needs a change along these lines. To call it not D&D because its different from standard 3.X is to say that OD&D, Basic, AD&D, 2nd Edition versions of both AD&D and basic, 4e, and DnDNext are not D&D either. Which, IMO, doesn't hold up at all.

Furthermore, who says I don't play other games? Why am I not allowed to make suggested changes that I feel would better Pathfinder based on what I have experienced playing other games?

This is a discussion of the current flaws of the system such as.

1: The Magic Item Creation system.

2: Traits (Some are just too good).

3: Spells such as Simulacrum, Charm Person, and Planar Binding just to name a few.

4: The wording of some things are just not clear.

5: WBL and how it works with some gaming styles and not others, including the default.

Now the thread doesn't have to focus on just those, there are others out there so post them here.

Odaude: To continue our earlier discussion. I see what your saying about Skill Focus and you are right but I still think getting a class skill and a bonus to it is a bit much for a trait.

Answering Shadowsoul:

1) Not just magic item crafting, but everything about magic items is questionable to me. What is the point of the craft skill if the only way to efficiently and effectively make magic items is to use spells? What is the purpose of having required magic items (the big six) be integral to the game? If such bonuses are so integral then shouldn't they be apart of the inherent progression characters get by leveling up, as opposed to dedicating extra resources to such progression?

2) Traits are not that big of a deal to me. The only thing that really grinds my gears about them is the name (and the confusion it creates with race traits). So, simply calling them advantages, or anything else for that matter, would be all the change I would require out of them. I would also make them apart of the core rules as opposed to being optional.

3) I would rework spells in general. Everything from what schools certain spells belong to, to unifying spell effects, to reworking how certain spells work to make them more balanced.

4) The whole core rule book could due with some better organization, and yes, the ivory tower design of 3.5 should be dropped in Pathfinder.

5) I think once magic items are reworked that wealth by level guidelines will follow, as in be reduced, so that is just an expectation assuming the above changes are made.

Other things I would change:

1) Rework CMB and CMD so as to be viable across all levels of play and against all creatures so as to give martial characters something more to do than say, "I hit it with my sword". Also, I would like to see grapple changed so as to be more clear and concise in how it works.

2) Changing the stealth rules as well as acrobatics rules so as to make both tumbling and stealth actually viable both in and out of combat.

3) Fighters should get acrobatics and perception as class skills, and martial characters in general should get a fast will save progression (actually just make that the barbarian and fighter). Also, fighters being able to apply their fighter only feats to entire weapon groups as a class feature as well as having an ability to reduce DR when making a melee attack as a class feature would be awesome as well.

4) All classes should be getting at least 4+intelligence modifier skills per level with indeterminate skill based classes getting 6 and the rogue getting 8. Speaking of the rogue...

5) The rogue should also gain more out of the skills they gets, like special abilities that only he activates based on how many skill ranks he has in a given skill. Also, giving them a back stab ability that allows them to gain a static bonus to damage when they have combat advantage that can also be modified on a critical hit as well as an alternate damage bonus that allows them to get back stab at range would be interesting as well. (heck, just combining them to work in one ability would be great). Also, I would change rogue talents to be in line with the revelations gained through oracle mysteries as I would prefer them to be fewer more powerful and effective abilities than what the rogue gains right now. As far as the Rogue's save progression I could see them getting a fast progression in Fortitude.

6) The monk in my opinion is better now after the recent changes. Now they just need abilities that don't invalidate each other (such as flurry of blows not working while moving) and I think it will be vastly improved.

7) I think the Paladin as presented in the core rulebook should be lawful good, and should have a Paladin Oath mechanic that lays out more specifically what a paladin can and can not do. This allows for archetypes to be created outside the core rulebook that allow for Paladins of varying alignments to exist by changing how the Paladin's Oath mechanic works. This would allow those who want a more traditional Paladin to simply not allow those archetypes (and not have to deal with variant alignment paladins in the core rules) while those who do want a paladin of a different alignment could simply take one of the oath archetypes.

Ok now I do realize that most of the changes taken together would mean a very different game then what is presented in core pathfinder, but I do honestly feel that they would go a long way to improving the game overall.

Edit:

1) Reworking iterative attacks to be some combination of Trailblazer and Star Wars Saga edition.

2) Upping the bower of prestige classes (for example allowing those that grant spellcasting to increase spellcasting at every level) as well as allowing favored class bonuses to apply to levels taken in prestige classes.

Ok let's see what I got:

Teiflings
Half-Elves
Pixie
Uldra
Locathah

Ok so two demi humans, some fey and fish people. well lets throw something together.

For now the world is called Amissus Terra and I decided to present its history in the form of a letter from a Wizard to his inquisitive niece. Hope the style choice doesn't make it hard to understand.

Dear Allandra,

I hear from your father that you have started taking a keen interest in our world and its long and sorted history. I hope I, as your Uncle, can bring some illumination to our often neglected past. Long ago their existed two kingdoms in relative harmony dominated by the two great races of the day. One was known as Mith Lome, the Grey Dusk in the common tongue, home to the ever aloof Elven People, the Guardians of the First World. The second, Alorice, was the the Utopia of Man. These great realms stood as a testament to the might of both Elven and Human peoples and the long standing alliance between the two ensured prosperity throughout the Lands. However, such peace was not to last as a great calamity, known only today as Wormwood, befell the lands and ripped these once proud nations apart. Some human and elves sought solace among each other leading to the many half-elven hovels and caravans that dot and roam the landscape in these "modern" times. Others, gave into their baser natures and in their desperation made pacts with demons and devils and all sorts of foul creatures. The descendants of these individuals now claim claim the blasted wastes as their own. Residing within their hedonistic citadels both ruling and serving their devilish companions. A third, all be it small group, took to the seas, which for reasons unknown was largely spared from the calamitous Wormwood, and over centuries of evolution and magical machinations became the honorable fishmen known as Locathah. Finally, it seems that Wormwood left rifts between the First World and our own allowing creatures native to that realm claim portions of our world as their own benefit. Two groups in particular appear to have gained the strongest foothold: the Pixies largely rule large tracks of what passes for forests these days as their own personal fiefdoms while Uldra's claim large tracks of the frozen polar reaches. I hope my overview gives you at least some understanding of our world's history and leads you to greater interest into our past.

Sincerely,
Alsemar High Wizard of Brethil Byre

Some things I would like to see.

1) Proficiency in all monk weapons.
2) Incorporating the Style feats into the core monk as apart of their bonus feats.
3) Abilities that work with themselves. Flurry of blows not conflicting with their movement abilities.
4) Full base attack bonus and d10 hit die. (Assuming flurry of blows is kept as apart of the class I would also prefer it if they simply gained two-weapon fighting, improved two-weapon fighting, and greater two-weapon fighting along with double slice as bonus feats as appart of the ability.)
5) Not so many redundant abilities. Evasion, Purity of Body, Improved Evasion, and Diamond body are redundant and largely useless to a class with all good saves.
6) Dropping abilities like Timeless Body and Tongue of the Sun and Moon.
7) Dropping perfect self as a capstone ability and replace it with something better.
8) Lessening MAD and making wisdom and dex focus monks more viable.
9) Stunning Fist being more reliable and slow fall working like the spell feather fall.
10) Hand wraps that can be enchanted at the price of a normal weapon.

Honestly, I think some combination of the master of many styles and martial artist monk archetypes would be what I would want in a base monk.

Edit: Also, they should gain 6 skill points per level and combat maneuvers should be fixed so that they keep up with combat maneuver defense, but these are more problems with the system itself (I also think fighters and clerics should get 4 skills per level) than anything specific with the monk.

Edit 2: Ki working more like the Arcan Pool from the Magus.

Dotting for freaking interest! :D

Honestly, interesting characters, at least in my opinion, have very little to do with the actual mechanics that a player is using, and everything to do with the player that is using the mechanics. If the player creates an interesting back story that is role played out, and the respective back story meshes well with what the rest of the group comes up with then the respective character can be very interesting. Even as a fighter taking combat feats to max out the role he chooses to fill.

Example:
Standard Fighter, Elf race, takes weapon training composite longbow, and goes down the standard archery feat (Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Many Shot, etc.) as well as other standard fighter feats (weapon focus, weapon specialization, greater versions their of) ends up just being a bland standard archer fighter. Effective in combat as most archer fighters are want to be, but not super interesting based on standard tactics in combat alone.

Background: A native Kyonin elf shell-shocked by what he has witnessed while fighting Demons in the Tanglebriar. Shaken by that horror he has moved to the wider world to try and discover a way to end the fighting sooner by searching for an artifact powerful enough to end Treerazor for good, and reclaim the forest for the elves.

Simple, go get the MacGuffin to kill SUPER BBEG, ties into the setting (Hope the assumption with golarion is all right for these purposes), and gives a possible epic level encounter for the DM to go to should the campaign ever get that far.

Is it soap opera level? probably not, but their should be plenty of role-playing opportunities for a guy that has some trauma from fighting demons most of his rather long life (even gives an excuse for having a low charisma).

Just to give my own example of what I did when making an intelligent fighter.

Race was Human, and went Lore Warden. Even with only a 13 to 14 Intelligence you should have 7-8 skill ranks. 2 from the base fighter, 2 from Lore Warden, 1 from Human bonus skill ranks, 1 from favored class bonus, and then 1 or 2 from intelligence.

Add on feats like Fast Learner, Improvisation, and Improved Improvisation for a +4 bonus on all untrained skill checks, and your character should be well on its way to being a viable skill monkey.

As far as ability scores they would probably look something like this.

STR: 15(+2 Racial bonus)=17
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 14
CHA: 8
(So, under this assumption you would have 7 skill ranks per level.)

So you have high skill points, reasonable AC and HP, and a decent strength score and more than enough feats to work in a trip build with a reach weapon to go along with Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Furious Focus, and Critical Focus.

AND, on top of all that (assuming my math is correct) you should have enough to slip in one more feat of your choice before level 12.

Also, if this is for PFS, then I suggest grabbing Traits that allow you to add Acrobatics and Perception in as class skills, but that is only for Pathfinder Society or if traits are allowed in your home game.

Sounds to me like the real answer behind this is the fact that some people want to have their cake and eat it too. They want nothing banned and they want the option of just re-skinning their character to go with the class that has the best mechanics.

If you want to play a ninja in my game and I don't allow ninja's then you play a rogue. I don't care if you want the ninja's mechanics, you either abide by my restrictions or you don't play the game.

DM's have just as much right to ban things in their games as a player has of playing a specific class.

And I would be more than happy to leave such a game. I really don't feel like dealing with an antagonistic and uncompromising DM in what is supposed to be a fun game.

As for the crowd that says "it's in a rulebook, so players should have unlimited access to it." Pathfinder has rules for laser rifles. Do you let your players run around with laser rifles? Do you think it would improve your game if you did?

I have yet to experience a Pathfinder game that was not improved by the inclusion of laser weaponry. So, yes I do allow my players to run around with laser rifles if they want them.

edit: Ninja'd by tri...

Prone Shooter

At least Monky Lunge eliminates a penalty that actually exists.

Lemmy wrote:

TheRonin wrote:

Kitsune Knight wrote:

I actually have never banned a class based on flavor, and in fact do all I can to try and expand player options as far as I can so as to cover as many concepts as I can.

In my opinion, if a player likes anime/manga/video games, and wants to try and recreate a character concept seen in such materials, through the rules for Gunslingers or Ninja's, then who am I as a DM to declare they are having wrongbadfun? More importantly how does me allowing such an idea somehow make me less of a DM as a result?

Personally, I always was taught by my DMs that the DM's job was to facilitate the fun of the players, and if the players are having fun and enjoying the game, then I as the the DM should be happy as a result.

Why is that mindset such a scandal?

Edit for wording

This is my favorite post so far.

Gotta agree with that.

Technically, both side must have fun; if the DM/GM having fun stop the players from having fun, the players having fun stop the DM/GM (and other players?) from having fun, or both, maybe you need to switch to a different game, system, hobby, group, etc...

Then the question becomes how do both groups define fun?

If the DM's goal is to see the players accomplish goals they set for themselves while on their way to creating their own myths and legends within a fictional universe, then I would say that DM is going to be well on his/her way to having loads of fun with Pathfinder, or any rpg for that matter.

If the DM seeks to set the narrative themselves, and create an atmosphere of where it is the DMs world that the players just get to run around in, then the DM is probably not going to be having much fun as the players seek to get outside such a set narrative in order to set their own stories in motion.

On the other hand, players need to be willing and able to take ownership of such a story and create something worthy of myth and legend, and, more importantly, communicate such plans and desires to the DM so that the DM knows what direction the game should trend towards.

On the other hand, the players shouldn't create plans that amount to pissing on the world around them, and generally be a prick toward the DM's NPCs simply because they can.

Generally, if everyone is respectful, the players are willing to take some initiative, and the DM is willing to facilitate creative thinking, then everyone should be set for a joyous time. Of course, your mileage may very...

I'm curious. Let's put the shoe on the other foot. Why do you have to have a specific class, mechanic (etc.) to represent your concept? The old saying is "there are only so many ways to skin a cat". Not that I want to skin a cat, but why can't your concept use some other class that is already accepted in a campaign? There are any number of classes that do similar things. Example, why a Ninja, when a Rogue will do? Why should everyone else (GM and other players) have to dance to the tune of one player wanting his specific favorite and no other?

I've read many, but not all, of the posts in this thread (as well as all the posts in the other thread the OP referenced), so I apologize if this has already been brought up. Humor me.

In my experience it is because the concept itself is banned and not a specific class. The DM simply doesn't want Asian themes, or Clint Eastwood types in his game. Whether they go by Ninja, or a Rogue named Ninja, or a Gunslinger, even one who uses a cross-bow instead of guns, is irrelevant to the discussion. The answer is still no.

I actually have never banned a class based on flavor, and in fact do all I can to try and expand player options as far as I can so as to cover as many concepts as I can.

In my opinion, if a player likes anime/manga/video games, and wants to try and recreate a character concept seen in such materials, through the rules for Gunslingers or Ninja's, then who am I as a DM to declare they are having wrongbadfun? More importantly how does me allowing such an idea somehow make me less of a DM as a result?

Personally, I always was taught by my DMs that the DM's job was to facilitate the fun of the players, and if the players are having fun and enjoying the game, then I as the the DM should be happy as a result.

Why is that mindset such a scandal?

Edit for wording

Monk

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d8
Skills: Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge History, Knowledge Religion, Perception, Perform, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Stealth, and Swim
Skill Ranks Per Level: 4+Intelligence Modifier
BAB: 3/4
Saves: All Good
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are only proficient with unarmed strikes and no armor or shields. If a Monk wears any armor or carries a shield they lose Evasion, Fast Movement, Flowing Defense, Improved Evasion, Acrobatic Warrior, and Hair's Breath.

Iron Body (EX)
At 1st level, the Monk gains the Improved Unarmed Strike Feat as A Bonus Feat. Your unarmed strike damage die becomes 1d6 if small sized, 1d8 if medium sized, and 1d10 if large sized and may use his Wisdom modifier for attacks in place of his Strength modifier. At 3rd level the Monk gains a +1 enhancement bonus to all unarmed attacks, and this enhancement bonus increases by +1 every 3 levels thereafter up to 15 level(6th, 9th, 12th, and 15th).

A Monk's attacks may be with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a Monk striking unarmed. A Monk may thus apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes.

A Monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

Martial Arts Master (EX)
Starting at 1st level a Monk may use his Hit Dice as his BAB for his CMB and CMD and may replace his Strength modifier with his Wisdom modifier when using CMB and CMD. Also at 1st level, 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter (6th, 10th, 14th, 16th, and 20th) a Monk may select a bonus style feat or the Elemental Fist feat. He does not have to meet the prerequisites of that feat, except the Elemental Fist feat. Alternatively, a Monk may choose a feat in that style’s feat path (such as Earth Child Topple) as one of these bonus feats if he already has the appropriate style feat (such as Earth Child Style). The Monk does not need to meet any other prerequisite of the feat in the style’s feat path.

Flowing Defense (EX)
At 1st level, a Monk may add his Wisdom modifier to his AC. Starting at 3rd level a Monk gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC. This bonus increases by +1 every three levels up to a +5 max. bonus at 15th level.

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Evasion (EX)
At 2nd level or higher a Monk can avoid damage from many area-effect attacks. If a Monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage.

Fast Movement (EX)
Starting at 2nd level the Monk gains a +10 enhancement bonus to his movement speed. This bonus increases by +10 every 4 levels (6th, 10th, 14th, 18th). At 14th level the Monk gains Spider Step as a bonus feat without having to meet the prerequisites; however, instead of moving half his slow fall speed the Monk may move half his total speed (including his enhancement bonus to speed). At 18th level, the Monk gains Cloud Step as a bonus feats without having to meet the prerequisites; however, instead of moving half his slow fall speed the Monk instead moves half his total speed (including his enhancement bonus to speed).

Combat Expertise
At 4rd level, the Monk gains Combat Expertise as a Bonus Feat without having to meet its prerequisites.

Extreme Endurance (EX)
At 5th level, a Monk gains immunity to fatigue. At 10th level, he also gains immunity to exhaustion. At 15th level, he gains immunity to stunning. At 20th level, he gains immunity to death effects and energy drain.

Acrobatic Warrior (EX)
At 7th level, a Monk adds his level to Acrobatics checks. A Monk treats all jump checks as if they had a running start.

Purity of Body (SU)
At 8th level, the Monk is immune to all Poisons. At 12th level, the Monk gains immunity to Poisons of all kinds. At 16th level, a monk no longer takes penalties to his ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that he has already taken, however, remain in place. Age bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when his time is up.

Improved Invasion (EX)
At 9th level, a Monk's evasion ability improves. He still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Monk does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Hair's Breath (EX)
At 11th level, a Monk can attempt an Acrobatics check as an immediate action to negate a confirmation role for a critical hit. The critical hit confirmation is negated (though the attack still hits and deals normal damage) if the Acrobatics check is greater than the opponent’s confirmation roll.

Defensive Roll (EX)
At 13th level, a Monk may use the defensive roll advanced rogue talent once per day, plus once per three levels beyond 13th (to a maximum of 3 times a day at 19th level).

Death Blow (SU)
At 17th level, once per day the Monks makes a melee touch attack against a defending character. If the attack hits, then the defending character must make a Fortitude save against a DC equal to 10+the Monk's level. If the defending character fails its saving throw, then the defending character dies.

Greater Defensive Roll (EX)
At 19th level, a Monk suffers no damage on a successful defensive roll, and only half damage if the Reflex saving throw fails.

Edit: Wording, Emphasis on Wisdom, some other stuff, and a Title change so as to stop scaring everyone off...

None of this has ever really been a problem in may games because, by the time I add in all my third party material, I have over 50 races and 40 classes.

Usually, it is the players who end up asking for and choosing less. All well...

So I ran across the Pugilist today and was intrigued by the idea. However, after looking at the reviews and analyzing the class it came off as more than a bit weak. So, this is my little endeavor to try and give the class more power so as to introduce it too my home games, and wanted the opinions of the board here as to whether or not I was on track as far as how my changes stacked up. Now for the changes:

1) All good saves.

2) Change Iron Fist so that is can be used with any body part and drop the language about two-weapon fighting. (Most likely include a name change to Iron Body or some such).

3) Drop the Pugilist style feats and allow them to gain Monk Style feats as a Master of Many Styles Monk except the Pugilist gains the Monk Style feats at 1st, 2nd, 7th, 13th, and 19th levels.

4) Drop thick Skinned. Instead the Pugilist may replace Fighter levels with his Pugilist levels when qualifying for Fighter only feats. Also, the Pugilist gains combat feats as bonus feats at 4th level and every 4 levels after (8th, 12th, 16th, 20th).

5) Changes to fast movement. Starting at 2nd level the Pugilist gains a +10 enhancement bonus to his movement speed. This bonus increases by +10 every 4 levels (6th, 10th, 14th, 18th). At 14th level the Pugilist gains Spider Step as a bonus feat without having to meet the prerequisites; however, instead of moving half his slow fall speed the Pugilist may move half his total speed (including his enhancement bonus to speed). At 18th level, the Pugilist gains Cloud Step as a bonus feats without having to meet the prerequisites; however, instead of moving half his slow fall speed the Pugilist instead moves half his total speed (including his enhancement bonus to speed).

6) Drop all of the capstone Pugilist Style Maneuvers. Add in at 5th level the Pugilist gains immunity to fatigue. At 10th level he gains immunity to exhaustion. At 15th level he gains immunity to stunning. At 20th level, he gains immunity to death effects and energy drain. (The Pugilist still gains the rest of his maneuvers from his chosen style.)

7) Drop Tempered for Improved Evasion.

8) Drop Aggressive Combat Training. Instead the Pugilist makes a melee touch attack against a defending character. If the attack hits, then the defending character must make a Fortitude save against a DC that is equal to 10+the Pugilist level. If the defending character fails its saving throw, then the defending character dies. (Call the attack Death Blow).

Ok, so after looking at it I probably made a class that has little to nothing to do to the original Pugilist and is more than likely far to powerful when compared to other Pathfinder classes. So, again, I throw it to the boards. What do ya'll think about the changes? Too Much? Too little? Makes no since at all?

I think because it reminds people of the marking abilities of defenders in 4e, and I think that rubs people the wrong way far too often.

Also, it is something that allows melee martial characters to actively cut the power curve between themselves and caster types (this feat gets especially harry when combined with a barbarian using step up, following step, and the superstitious rage powers), and simply put their are a lot of people who don't want to deal with that possibility. Especially, when it can be done with "just a feat".

My list of 3rd Party Publishers that see use in my games.

-Adamant Entertainment
-Alluria Publishing
-John Brazier Enterprises
-Super Genius Games
-Dream Scarred Press
-Radiant House
-TPK Games
-Rite Publishing
-LPJ Design
-Fire Mountain Games
-Raging Swan Press

This is not to say I use everything from these publishers, but they are consistent enough that I don't worry about them too much.

Edit:Also, frog god games and Amora Games

If it is someone that the character, I am assuming a Paladin in this case, is diametrically opposed to or their deity is diametrically opposed too then I personally wouldn't sweat it as a DM. I also wouldn't have most evil deities accepted in society anyways, so it wouldn't even go as an illegal/unlawful act in my mind as far as local authorities are concerned, in fact the local authorities would probably see the adventurer in question as doing them a favor for defacing such a shrine.

Honestly, I see it as the Paladin's job to route out all evil. To me, that means going in, killing all the cultists that resist, toppling all of their works, and rounding up any worshipers that don't resist so that they can be put on trial for their heresy. In my mind if a Paladin has to worry about falling while he is doing his job, then the DM may be too strict on his Paladins.

some of mine have already been said so I'll just second these ideas.

-"monster-as-a-dungeon": having played in a warhammer 40k Deathwatch game recently where we took out a tyranid hive ship I can definitely say I WANT THIS IN PATHFINDER!!!

-Playing non-zero hit dice monsters. I actually remember my first 3.5 character being a Dragon, so it would be nice to have the ability to do that again.

-Mythic Level familiars. I have seen a lot of stories where people have dragons and dijinn as companions/familiars so a way to recreate that would be awesome.

-Something to allow Fighters and other martial types to get some form of super natural abilities to cut down on martial caster disparity.

-rules for creating and crafting artifact weapons.

-Inherent Enhancement Bonuses to cut down on magic item bloat and allow for more epic story based items/minor artifacts.

-Thanks for not giving up on us in some random fashion. :D

YAY! I love play testing. Just a few ideas on what I am seeing from the first few mechanical bits.

Skills: Personally, I wouldn't mind them gaining 6+Int modifier for skills, but even more interestingly I would like to see them not have a list of class skills at all, and instead have all of the skills in pathfinder arranged in groupings like you have under skill training and allowing players to simply pick two groups. The skills from these groups would then end up becoming their class skills.

Saves: As far as saves go I think they should have all good saves with their trained conditioning giving them a choice of effects that they are able to remove from themselves. (Basically, a re-skinned version of Paladin's Mercy effect but minus the Lay on Hands and can only be usable on the Adventurer themselves.)

Well, that is what I got for now. I'll see if I can think of something else.

Edit: Reading ahead I see the untrained conditioning giving a +2 bonus to the untrained save. personally, I think with the all good saves you could put something similar to a fighter's bravery bonus against fear or a similar bonus against mind effecting effects in its place.

Edit 2: Also, a question the Divine Arcana ability. Can the user choose to apply 1st level powers from sub-domains and wild-blooded sorcerer bloodlines in addition to normal domains and bloodlines?

Edit 3: Sorry if I sound a little presumptuous in my suggestions being accepted. I can never tell how I come off in my typing.

25 point buy, gesalt, and wounds and vitality rules.

And, yes I do enjoy running completely ridiculous games. :)

Honestly, I have always been an all or nothing type, and see the difference between the balance issues inherent in the half-dragon and pixie as splitting hairs. If you aren't going to allow one then don't bother with the others. And if you are worried about balance stick to the player's handbook races.

P.S.-OK, so that sounded more vindictive than intended. If you are worried about balance then play the Core Races until the Advance Race Guide comes out is all I am trying to say.

I see these arguments that charisma sucks all the time but have never really understood them. My groups Band of Bards, 5 players all playing bards, would walk into dungeons frought with peril and danger only to walk out with more groupies than we knew what to do with...

And, yes, all of us where playing with maxed out charisma...we also never saw intelligent humanoids again...

I think it would be interesting while still being somewhat effective if the dex penalty where paired with large sized as well. but that could just be me...