Lord Nequam's page

My only comment is that on page 4 in the small box dealing with Pathfinder Unchained and Automatic Bonus Progression mentions information for epic scaling in Chapter 8. I did not find any information about Epic Automatic Bonus Progression in the chapter. If you could please add in the missing information that would be great.

Damn...knew I forgot something. And that's something I specifically footnoted, because I'll probably need it for a campaign I'm running right now.

I'll prioritize that edit and thanks for pointing it out!

Roughly two years ago, I brought you version 1.5 of a project I've worked on for ages: the Pathfinder Epic Level Handbook, based on the old Epic level Handbook that Wizards published for D&D 3.0.

Today, I'm happy to announce that version 1.6 is live!

The main revision of this 185-page guide is the elimination of dead levels. As one forum user said of the previous version, "I couldn't imagine grinding for millions of xp to just get an extra skill point and 1d8 HP."

Now, every class gains something at every level, be it a bonus class feat (now working off a standardized system to avoid low-feat-progression classes actually ending up with more feats in the short term), an iterative improvement of existing class features, or new, epic improvements to class abilities or spellcasting.

Other improvements in this edition include:

I apologize if the language came off as confusing.

Also: I would need to know what follow-up attacks and finishing strikes actually do.

A follow-up attack is merely any attack that is part of a chain that does not either begin or end that chain. And a finishing attack is any attack that ends a chain.

Good afternoon, everyone! Some of you may recognize me as the author of the Pathfinder Epic-Level Handbook.

I'm here today to announce the next major Pathfinder supplement I've released:

The Pathfinder Combat Styles Guide!

Contained within this 86-page document is a new system designed for use in non-magical campaign settings. It introduces combat styles, which allow the non-magical characters to perform feats of prowess with weapons or skills.

There are an assortment of techniques that players can learn to provide passive bonuses, active abilities, and even attack chains that can be pulled off in combat. There are 45 different combat styles divided into three categories:

- Offensive combat styles are based around inflicting extra damage, gaining additional attacks, and crippling targets.
- Utility combat styles focus more on self-defense, controlling the battlefield, and inflicting ailments on enemies.
- Skill styles grant players new abilities or actions based on the skills or non-combat class abilities they're specializing in.

This guide also talks about certain mechanics systems that the group I game with has developed over the years to make non-magic play work, such as a system of fatigue and wounds that compensates for the lack of healing magic and the combat styles' own passive AC bonuses to compensate for the disproportionate growth in BAB relative to AC at higher levels.

The styles also include a lot of fluff from the setting in which they were developed, a campaign world created by our GM called Cerenth. Of course, these details can be changed to fit whichever world you would prefer to play in.

While these combat styles saw fairly heavy use when they were played with in D&D 3.5, the adaptation to Pathfinder is new and required some fairly major rewrites in places, so I would be thrilled to hear any feedback or critiques you might have. I hope you all enjoy and maybe you'll find a place for this document around your gaming table.

@Dryad Knotwood - A good question; I have never had a player who selected that feat, so I hadn't thought about it in the context of spell power.

Just from thinking about it, I would probably say that they could spend 8 hours using their craft skill and then roll a check at the end. The result of the check would be the equivalent amount of spell power produced during that time.

You can't take Master Craftsman until at least 5th level, so that will be our baseline. A decent universalist wizard at that level (let's say with an Int of 16) would have a spell power of about 16.

A character with a maxed out Craft skill (and an Int of 16 with it being a class skill) would have an average skill check result of 21.

By the time they're 20th level (assuming each of them dumped their 4 skill points into Int and have at least a +4 mental item, giving them an Int of 24), that would result in the universalist having a spell power around 214, while the crafter's skill check would only average 46 even if they picked up Skill Focus at some point.

To combat this attrition, I'd put in a multiplier for the Craft skill. At 5th level, it's the result of the check x1. It increases to x2 at 10th level, x3 at 15th level, and x4 at 20th level. This would improve the simulated spell power to 184 for the 20th-level crafter.

This does create a real disparity between the spellcaster and the crafter; the spellcaster is just better at higher levels and the crafter takes longer--always 8 hours, while even the 20th-level caster only takes a little over 3 1/2 hours--while the nature of the multiplier means that crafting ability is very poor at the levels right before an increase in multiplier (i.e., 9th, 14th, and 19th). This solution is only a kludge. I'll see if I can't come up with something a little more elegant.

Several months ago, I released the Pathfinder Epic-Level Handbook, v1.4, complete with progressions beyond 20th level for all 11 core classes and 8 base classes. It provided epic spells, skill uses, house rules, and over 300 epic feats. It also included hundreds of magic items for epic level play.

The handbook is back now with version 1.5 (PDF warning), which includes a half-dozen new feats, a few more spells, and a number of corrections and edits based on comments from this and other forums. But most of all, it includes more than 150 new magic items, including specific weapons and armors as well as a plentitude of wondrous items for every slot on the body. Wield the tooth of the orm king or gird yourself in the obsidian tor; bind your warrior in dreadnought cords, trap your foes with walking caltrops, or maybe just don a pair of forever pants.

A new arsenal awaits your PCs, ready to add to any epic-level Pathfinder campaign.

@David knott 242 - You are correct; that was an oversight on my part and will be corrected in the next edition.

@banthalo - I generally allow Rings of Wizardry to be factored into spell power, so long as they have been worn for at least 24 hours.

@Distant Scholar - Legendary Levels isn't an official Paizo product (so I had never heard of it until this moment), and from what I can tell, it approaches epic levels in a different fashion from what is presented here. I would suggest interested DMs look over both rulesets and go with the one that most closely aligns with what they want out of epic-level play.

@Arcanemuses - That's actually a reallygood idea, though I may introduce feats to that effect rather than making it automatic.

@Still Learning - Perhaps I should increase it to 60 or 70 + CL (or 80 + Spell DC). Illusions are one of the schools of magic I almost never use, so it didn't really cross my mind.

@Morhin - Thank you! That is actually tremendously useful information to have. I'll have to see about incorporating it into future iterations of the Handbook.

@edduardco - I have no problem with you posting this here.

Balance in your proposal does seem as if it would be an issue; for instance, characters like fighters get not only a +1 BAB progression but their Weapon Training ability. By the time they hit, say, 40th level, they would have a 10-point advantage (not including feats only they have access to like Greater Weapon Focus) on to-hit rolls versus other combat classes. Not that many groups GET to level 40, admittedly...

For all its weaknesses, I do think that the old D&D epic rules were right to flatten growth in BAB and Saves at epic levels. Over time and because of feats and such, the differences between classes will only grow more pronounced, but the system helps keep them a little closer for a bit longer.

@clff rice - That is a valid point and one I've been considering a lot, actually. I know that having distinct character growth every level is a core principal in Pathfinder, but to be honest, I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't either (a) be trivial to the point of unimportance or (b) spiral out of control in power due to the open-ended nature of epic levels. I think the closest I got was the idea of "micro-feats," which were additional customization options you got on the off levels, where you could get 1-point skill boosts, a couple of extra hit points, DC bonuses against specific spells or conditions, and things like that, but I was unsure of how I felt compared to the power level of the rest of the stuff you were getting...

@+5 Toaster - Ah, see, I didn't know that about Brother of the Seal. Prestige classes are probably the part of Pathfinder I've paid the least attention to. And as for Absolute Wildshape, you're probably right. Part of it is that I wanted to push some of the feats--like Cataclysmic Spell, Battlegod, and the Ascent line--out a bit further, to make epic levels feel 'deeper,' rather than almost everything being available right from the get-go. But I may have pushed Absolute Wildshape out a bit far, compared to what it does for you.

@Evil Lincoln - I...I don't know what that means. Is a dot a good thing?

@edduradco - I look forward to hearing any insight your own work has afforded you and to reading your project, when you decide to release it.

@David knott 242 - I'm glad some of my work has helped give you ideas. There weren't a lot of mechanical changes between 1.3 and 1.4, so I imagine your comments are still valid and I'd love to hear them when you have a chance.

@+5 Toaster - One of the biggest issues for me is making an epic feat then going and discovering it is too close to an existing non-epic feat. As far as the Awesome Blow feat, though, I'm not too concerned because it is only available for monsters and requires a dedicated action to accomplish. Launching Palm, meanwhile, allows you to make it as part of a regular attack action, so you could add it to the last attack of a full attack to send a foe flying away once you're done with them. Or, if you're surrounded, you could split up every attack in a full attack action (which could hit all 8 squares around you for a monk with Perfect Flurry of Blows) and clear the space around you of foes. Ultimately, I think Launching Palm is different enough to justify its existence and powerful enough to qualify as an epic feat.

Based on my experience with epic Pathfinder campaigns, I've written a handbook for epic-level Pathfinder. (PDF warning)

These rules start with those from the D&D 3.0 Epic Level Handbook, but expand on areas that I thought were strong and replace others that just didn't work for me or my players.

- Includes epic progressions for all 11 core classes and 8 base classes.
- Includes over 300 epic feats, many focused on keeping non-caster characters both viable and interesting.
- Epic-level magic now focuses on metamagic (with over 40 new, epic metamagic feats)

This material is 100% free and I always welcome criticism and feedback. While I have run games using these rules and done my best to edit the document, there are doubtless both typos and oversights in game mechanics that I've missed.

For my other Pathfinder materials (of which there is admittedly only one, right now), you can stop by my website: http://www.jessejackjones.com/pathfinder

I hope you enjoy!