Don't know how high level you're expecting to hit, but I noticed an easily missed change in the rules that made me think about abilities.
At level 5, 10, 15 and 20 you get an ability increase. And if your score is at or above 17, it's a +1, just like Pathfinder.
But if your score is 16 or lower, that increase is +2.
(Page 26 of the core rules).
Putting your Dex at 16 at creation will get you more points, at the cost of being a little weaker until level 5 and not hitting that Dex 20 ability score at level 10.
Something to consider if you want to spread your abilities a bit (and it really helps MAD characters).
I'll throw in my 2 coppers since I might run this ap soon and knowing my players, they'd probably want to go the incognito route initially.
I'd introduce an encounter where the PCs save a street urchin from being abused by city guards.
The kid is grateful and as it turns out, is a member of an urchin gang of pickpockets and the like.
They're also messengers and has their ears on the streets.
And there is no doubt that they have no love for the guards and other persons in authority.
This way the PCs will find out when someone is looking for them (and other stuff).
You might even make them a special team in the Rebellion specialized in gathering information.
Baron Drelev is looking for a easy win to impress his new master.
If the group has fortified Tatzlford, Drelev would probably choose a different target, or send more troops.
Imo, there's a difference between punishing players, and playing the enemy smart.
Charismatic Carol and Mundane Molly walk in to a bar (I swear this isn't a setup for a joke).
People in the bar immediately notices Charismatic Carol and tries to get her attention. When talking to her they might notice that although she's charismatic she isn't a great conversationalist, or she might be, doesn't matter for this example.
Mundane Molly on the other hand, gets no attention when entering the bar and has to initiate conversation herself. After talking to her for a while, the patrons notice she's actually really charming and a delight to be around, despite their initial (non-) reaction.
There's the difference between high charisma, and low charisma with high diplomacy. At least in real life.
The Adventure paths are excellent sources of ideas and background information.
I've been a subscriber since Kingmaker and I will probably never run half of them, but I value each one of them. Whenever I run something of my own creation, I can always consult the APs for inspiration, encounters, maps, lore, etc.
I've run single issues of an AP as stand alone adventures. Most notably issues 4&5 of Kingmaker (which we started, but didn't finish). The pcs actually worked for their former pcs (15 years later) to thwart their common enemy Ivoretti (the "new" pcs were children of Pitax's former ruling family, which Ivoretti had killed).
My players got a kick meeting the king and his advisors, now in their 40ies and retired from adventuring.
(Sorry for rambling about this, I got carried away).
So even if you aren't planning to run an AP, there's tonnes of uses for the info inside.
Besides, I enjoy reading the APs as "litterature".
And another thing...
Isn't flanking dishonorable? You're ganging up on an opponent.
In 3.0-3.5 there was a class (Knight?) who's code of honor forbade him to get or provide flanking bonuses, he also wasn't allowed to strike a flat footed opponent (if my memory serves me correctly).
Honor is so abstract and shouldn't mix with the mechanics of the game imo.
Being fearless won't make you stupid, but it will likely mess with your risk assessment, making you underestimate dangers.
Thus shortening your life expectancy.
It absolutely could, I completely agree.
But a Paladin should also be thinking about those around him. After all he/she is fearless but he/she knows that others are not. He must be vigilant in knowing his own limitations and those of his companions and those around them, making sure he/she considers the lives of others in his/her combat assessments.
Another reason why it is difficult to be a Paladin. Your fearless so your impulse is to challenge all evil, but not knowing your own limitations and indulging in unchecked recklessness is the height of hubris. Martial might and the gifts of that champions of good must be guided by wisdom and thought.
After all, he is fearles but not stupid, incosiderate of the facts or untrained in the ways of combat.
But one of my favorite bits of humor was that the Paladins of Torm in the forgotten realms had the highest mortatlity rates of any Paladins in Toril, because not only were they fearless but they served the god of duty and honor so they would seldom retreat when others would. They would always be the last off the field and protect others even if it meant their lives. And it often meant their lives.
Good points.
Paladins are very hard to play, not only because their "immunity" to fear (whatever the interpretation), but also because their code and the fact that they're more or less expected to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
But a paladin in good standing can expect to join their god in "heaven", which probably makes the sacrifice easier (for the character, the player might not like losing his longtime pc).
Now that I think about it, most people in Golarion probably have a very different view of death than us, since there isn't really a matter of uncertainty about it. The gods are 100% real, it can be proved without a doubt. Heck, if you are powerful enough, you can theoretically visit your dead parents in heaven.
Which has to skew your views about dying.
I've been wanting to try something like this out but I'm also worried about WBL.
So I threw this together:
(Sorry for the formatting, the forums really didn't care about my table)
Spoiler:
Level
2 Armor acumen 1
3 Saving grace 1
4 Prowess 1
5 +2 to primary ability
6 Armor acumen 2
7 Saving grace 2
8 Deflect attacks 1
9 +2 to two secondary abilities (one mental, one physical), Armor acumen 3
10 Saving grace 3
11 Prowess 2
12 +2 to any ability, Deflect attacks 2
13 +2 to any other ability or +1 to four abilities (2 stages), Armor acumen 4
14 Saving grace 4, Prowess 3
15 +2 to any ability or +1 to all abilities (3 stages), Deflect attacks 3, Armor acumen 5
16 +2 to any other ability, Armor acumen 6
17 +2 to a third ability, Prowess 4
18 Saving grace 5, Deflect attacks 4 Armor acumen 8
19 +2 to any ability or +1 to all abilities (2 stages),Prowess 5
20 +2 to two other abilities, Deflect attacks 5 Armor acumen 10
Check out the image for a clearer view of the tables
Screen
Armor Acumen (Ex): You get a +1 Armor bonus to Armor class (max +5), it stacks with regular armor but not Mages armor and similar magic. Even if you aren’t wearing any armor, you still get this bonus. If you are wielding a shield you get half this bonus (rounded down) to your shield bonus as well.
Saving Grace (Ex): You gain a +1 bonus to all your saves at each of these levels.
Prowess (Ex): At each stage, choose either Martial or Magical Prowess. Each step of Martial Prowess gives you a +1 on attacks and damage made with all weapons (including unarmed damage), however, these attacks aren’t considered magical unless you use a Masterwork weapon or a weapon with a magical effect on them.
Magical Prowess gives you access to metamagical feats a certain number of times per day. Each step is equal in value to a magical weapon of the same bonus (2’000/8’000/18’000/32’000/50’000), next look at metamagic rods and divide their price with the number of uses per day and “buy” your daily uses.
Example: A Lesser rod of extend costs 3000 gp and can be used three times per day giving each “charge” a price of 1’000 gp. So at Magical Prowess 1 you could “buy” two uses of extend (max spell level 3) per day. At each new level of Magical Prowess you can recalculate all investments. Ability bonuses (Ex): At indicated levels you get a +2 bonus to Abilities of your choice as indicated in the table. You can’t stack bonuses on the same ability unless it says ANY ability. At some levels you can instead gain +1 to several abilities, and sometimes they are divided in stages. This means that you gain half of them at one level and the other half at the next level.
Deflect attacks (Ex): You gain a +1 Deflection bonus at indicated levels.
All of these bonuses are Extraordinary effects which means they can’t be dispelled, they represent experience and hard training rather than magic.
It breaks down like this:
Again sorry for the formatting (also included in the image).
Spoiler:
Level - Item Equivalent - Cost of items - Total WBL (RAW)
2 - Armor +1 (or Bracers of armor +1) - 1,000 - 1,000 - 1,000 gp
3 - Cloak of Resistance +1 - 1,000 - 2,000 - 3,000 gp
4 - Weapon +1 - 2,000 - 4,000 - 6,000 gp
5 - Belt of Dex +2 4,000 - 8,000 - 10,500 gp
6 - Armor +2, Shield +1 - +3,000+1,000 - 12,000 - 16,000 gp
7 - CoR +2 - +3,000 - 15,000 - 23,500 gp
8 - Ring of Protection +1 - 2,000- 17,000 - 33,000 gp
9 - Belt of Physical Might +2 (sell prev belt), Headb of cha +2, Armor +3 - (-4,000)10,000+4,000+5,000 - 32,000 - 46,000 gp
10 - CoR +3 - +5,000 - 37,000 - 62,000 gp
11 - Weapon +2 - +6,000 - 43,000 - 82,000 gp
12 - Belt of dex+4, Ioun stone of Str+2 (sell Prev belt), RoP +2 - (-10,000)+12,000+8,000+6,000 - 59,000 - 108,000 gp
13 - Headband of Cha +4, Armor +4, Shield +2 - 12,000+7,000+3,000 - 81,000 - 140,000 gp
14 - CoR +4, Weapon +3 - +7,000+10,000 - 98,000 - 185,000 gp
15 - Belt of Dex +6, Armor +5 - +20,000+9,000 - 127,000 - 240,000 gp
16 - Headband of Cha +6, Shield +3 - +20,000+5,000 - 152,000 - 315,000 gp
17 - Ioun stone of Str +4, Weapon +4 - +24,000+14,000 - 190,000 - 410,000 gp
18 - CoR +5, RoP +4, Shield +4 - +9,000+14,000+7,000 - 220,000 - 530,000 gp
19 - Book of Dex +2, Weapon +5 - 55,000+18,000 293,000 - 685,000 gp
20 - Book of cha +2, Belt of PM +6 (sell prev Ioun stone &belt). - (-36,000-36,000)55,000+50,000 - 326,000 - 880,000 gp
As you can see, it's not nearly as neat or symetrical as previous systems. But it never goes over reccomended WBL and even has room for consumable and other magic items.
I've used the most expensive option boosting the same ability whenever possible giving a +8 bonus, a +6 bonus to the same group (physical/mental) and +6 to the other group.
There could possibly be room at later levels to give out more ability boost since the further along, the further behind this gets behind WBL.
I would love a "Advanced classes" rulebook that lets you create your own features through a point buy system.
Ex: Good Fort+Ref, 5 points. Good BAB, 5 points etc.
If you and your players find the identifying process fun, use it.
If it becomes tedious or involves too much page flipping, either wing it (just set a resonable DC) or just let them auto-identify when they have a few minutes to spare.
I generally let my players identify weaker items by default, saving the dice rolling for powerful or unusual objects.
101. you shuldn't use illusion magic to change the Sarenrae paladin's holy symbols to symbols of Rovagug.
102. Not even as a joke.
103. Seriously, "Sense of humour" is NOT a class ability for paladins.
99. Pathfinder Vampires don't sparkle if hit by sunlight, they die.
100. Neither are they in the game as a "romantic interest" for teenage girls. They're bad guys.
I checked the thread and found this written by James on page 6:
(edited for readability).
Michael F wrote:
What was Lonjiku's father's name? I he even alive?
James Jacobs wrote:
He's dead. He doesn't have a name (although I probably wrote one down somewhere early on...).
Michael F wrote:
It appears Lonjiku's father wasn't the founding Kaijitsu of Sandpoint, as he "inherited" the Glassworks from the tunnel builder. So who was the founding Kaijitsu?
James Jacobs wrote:
Yeah; there have been 4 generations of Kaijitsus in Sandpoint. Again, I have their lineage worked out somewhere, since the Kaijitsus are scheduled to be a big deal in an upcoming Adventure Path, but if I remember right, Ameiko's about 22 years old, with Tsuto being a few years younger... let me take a quick stab at a timeline...
-42 years: Great-grandfather helps found Sandpoint, builds glassworks. At this point, Lonjiku is about 5 years old, his father is about 25, and his great-grandfather is about 50.
-41 years: Great-grandfather is involved with smuggling operation and agrees to let the Glassworks (at the time one of the few established businesses in town) be an anchor point for the tunnels.
-35 years: Great-grandfather dies, ownership of Glassworks passes to grandfather, who discovers the true nature of his father's relationship with the smugglers, and wants out.
-34 years: Smugglers driven from Sandpoint. Grandfather bricks over the tunnel entrance to the Glassworks.
-24 years: Grandfather dies, and passes ownership of the Glassworks to his son Lonjiku.
I probably messed up some of the dates, but that's more or less how it works in my mind.
Michael F wrote:
Oh, and are there any other Kaijitsu siblings, cousins or Aunts and Uncles living in Sandpoint? I assume there are relatives in Magnimar.
James Jacobs wrote:
There are a couple more Kaijitsu families in Magnimar. In Sandpoint, there are several Lonjiku kids. If I remember correctly again... Ameiko's the older, followed by Tsuto, followed by probably two sisters and a brother.
Reading James' answers gave me a pretty good idea of how long Jade Regent has been planned, this was written in Januari of 2008.
