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I've been talking some on the forums about my wish that we had a more accurate representation of armor based on what we see in the real world, and gave a bit more rock paper scissors approach to combat. I wanted to take a minute to put down my thoughts and see what everyone thinks. This is probably not really balanced as it sits, but my players and I are playing around with it a bit in my online game. For now, the players at my in person game are a bit too new to do much with it.

I've studied HEMA for years, including doing some harnischfechten (in armor) work. Compared to blossfechten (out of armor) work, you'd don't give up much mobility, but you do give up some. I've also tested some armors with historically accurate weapons, and know that most armors are wonderfully effective at defeating attacks.

With that in mind, I've started toying with ideas to make the armor and weapon rules more realistic, without adding a tremendous amount of crunch. My basic idea is to give armors a flat DR vs incoming physical damage, while adding a penalty to AC. This stacks with DR granted by any other means. Characters in armor are more likely to get hit (and may choose to get hit to improve their chances to hit), but are less likely to actually take damage from the attack.

To make the change, every piece of armor gives DR to physical damage equal to twice the armor bonus, but takes a penalty to AC equal to one third the armor bonus, rounded down. This effectively gives light armor no penalty on AC, medium armor a -1 and only the heaviest armor a -2. Flexible armors do give one half their DR vs bludgeoning weapons. Armor runes increase DR proportional to their bonus (potency +1 giving +2 DR, for example), while also reducing the AC penalty by the same amount. Classes with training in armor may choose to give up their training in armor in exchange for expert unarmored defense. When a character who does this would normally be raised to expert defense they get raised to Master, and when they would normally hit Master they get raised to Legendary unarmored defense.

E.g. Seelah wears full plate armor, which under this system would give DR 12 vs physical attacks, and a -2 to her AC. At 5th level, she gains an armor potency rune. This increases her DR to 14 and reduces her penalty to AC to -2. With her class bonus built in this gives her a final AC of 16 (10 + 2 trained, +5 level, +1 rune, -2 armor) and 12 DR to each attack. She still benefits from bastion as normal.

Jirelle, meanwhile, gives up her armor training in exchange for expert unarmored defense, and has 18 dexterity. At 5th level she wears explorer's clothing to which she affixes an armor potency rune, giving her a final AC of 24 (10 + 4 expert + 5 level +4 Dexterity +1 rune) and a DR of 2.

We're also allowing certain weapons to be more effective vs armor. Martial piercing weapons or any weapon in the polearm, two handed crossbow or firearms group ignore one half of the armor DR of the one being attacked. Most monster attacks do not ignore the DR, but some especially tough weapons like dragon claws may act like armor piercers.

There are also some other ways to get around armor. One handed finesse piercing weapons ignore armor if the one attacked is grappled as they're able to find chinks in armor. A character wielding a finesse one handed weapon may choose to spend two actions on a strike and ignore 1/2 of the enemy's DR granted by armor, or three actions to ignore all of the DR granted by armor. The two action version stacks with weapon effects reducing armor effectiveness, but cannot reduce DR below 0. This represents taking time to line up a perfect shot versus a weak point on the enemy, like lining up a shot for stabbing through an eye slit on a helmet. We've also toyed with the idea of ignoring 1/2 the DR for melee strikes against an enemy who tripped, because armor typically doesn't protect against strikes from below, but we're still debating that.

In general, this means that characters wearing armor are easier to hit and take more criticals, but take relatively little damage in spite of that. Unarmored characters are much harder to hit, but when they get hit they take a good bit of damage.

To continue to example above, Seelah and Jirelle get in a fight over some point of law. Both are armed with the armor above. Jirelle holds a buckler with buckler expertise and a +1 striking rapier, while Seelah uses a minor sturdy shield and a +1 striking longsword. Jirelle wins initiative.

Jirelle tumbles past Seelah to gain panache, attacks and raises her buckler. She has an attack modifier of +14 (+4 expert +5 level +4 dexterity +1 rune) and easily scores a critical hit. She rolls (2d8+2)*2 + 1d8 for damage, for an average damage of 27 average damage. The rapier skitters off Seelah's armor before finally finding purchase though, reducing the effective damage to 13.

Seelah staggers back from the attack, raises her shield, and strikes back. She also has an attack modifier of +14, and scores a regular hit. She deals 2d8+4 damage, so with average damage it comes to 11 damage back after the DR. She then demoralizes Jirelle and gets a critical success, leaving her frightened 2.

Jirelle does not like the outcome of this exchange and knows her damage is going to be limited now that Seelah had time to raise her shield, so she chooses to spend 3 actions to line up a shot against a part of Seelah not protected by the armor. She could have chosen to raise her buckler and get +2 defense, giving her a chance of avoiding damage, but knows it is going to be tough to break through Seelah's armor. In spite of her frightened condition and Seelah's raised shield, she still scores a critical hit (Jirelle's attack modifier is +12, and Seelah's AC is now 18 due to the shield, giving a 20% chance to crit. Lucky, but not impossible.) Seelah burns her reaction to shield block. This time, when the attack comes in Seelah takes 19 damage, assuming an average critical hit. Had Jirelle not rolled well and gotten a normal hit (dealing 2d8+2, for an average of 11 damage), Seelah would only have taken 3 damage.

You can see how the interaction goes. Seelah might choose to burn a lay on hands and stay close to Jirelle, or might step away to force her to use an action so she can't use the 3 action ignore armor strike and force her to use the two action strike. Now that Jirelle's defenses are down due to the demoralization and choosing not to raise a buckler, Seelah might choose to attack twice, trying to out damage her. A gymnast swashbuckler might choose to grapple Seelah and get in close with a short sword to poke for holes in the armor. A fighter wielding a pick or ranseur would have an easier time poking through the armor as well.

It also plays nice with some other class interactions as well. A rogue who is attacking a flat footed enemy might take the time to line up a careful backstab to have the best chance of getting past a fighter's armor or invest in strength and athletics to grab the enemy first to keep them from squirming away, and stab twice. The gunslinger gets a bit of a boost in this as most of his weapons will deal with one half the armor, but unarmored enemies have a better chance of getting out of the way of their shots as they dodge away. Armored Barbarians get even bigger DR than they normally would, letting them shrug off many attacks.

What does everyone think? I know this is not going to get changed in this edition, but I like the thought of it as an alternative rule or change when 3e comes out. I feel like this gives martials something like the rules spellcasters have in terms of attacking the weak save. Does the character use their preferred +1 striking longsword when dealing with an armored opponent, trying to bash their way through the armor, or do they drop it and grab their +1 pick to better penetrate the full plate armor of the enemy and hope for a crit?

(Stealth edit: Fixing the damage numbers.)

So, I know this may be outside of the scope of what Paizo is planning and probably runs afoul of their agreement with Wizkids, so what I'm suggesting may not be possible. I'm not even sure if the demand is out there, given the relatively small portion of people currently 3d printing.

With that being said....dear God, I would pay through the nose for quality stl files of monsters from the various bestiaries, alien archives, and adventure paths. I must admit, I've gotten spoiled by my Patreon membership to MZ4250, but there are some monsters that Pathfinder has where there is no good D&D equivalent. Starfinder is even deeper in the weeds. Especially with the cancellation of the pawns line, it feels like the only options left are to use poorly matching proxies for miniatures, especially for Starfinder, or play roulette with painted minis.

Resin 3d printing is getting cheaper and cheaper. Basic 2k resin printers are under $150, well within the reach of most GMs. For Paizo, the beautiful thing is the files are strictly a digital good. No need to worry about shipping or distribution, no production related kerfuffles, and the marginal cost of the product gets ever lower for everyone that buys them.

So, Paizo, if you're listening, please consider adding digital file support. I pay about $40/month for patreons, trying to proxy Pathfinder and Starfinder, and I'd be happy to pay that to Paizo instead if it would be possible to get exact models instead of proxies.

Anybody else in the same boat?

The Isle of Icari was home to the mighty Carthi Empire before the dark times. Their origin was lost to the mists of time, but for thousands of years they were a bastion of strength and stability in the world. They wrought great works of might and magic, raising cities above the clouds and exploring the deepest fathoms of the sea in great glass domes. No longer did the civilized races of the world have to toil the fields unless they wished to, as their needs were provided by magic. Emerald servitors performed the day to day work of the empire, building and toiling for their mortal masters. Their armies wielded magic unheard of, pushing the bounds of their empire to the ends of the world...until the day of their collapse. 500 years ago to the day, the magic of the world fled. The flying cities fell from the sky, their connection to the greater magics failing, the great street lights faded, and the world was plunged into darkness. The food generators stopped functioning, the servitors froze where they stood, and the world quickly fell into chaos. The shocklances of the soldiers sent to keep order overseas were no longer functional, and they were quickly bludgeoned to death by rioters with stones. The comfortable world promised by the Carthi empire collapsed into barbarism and was swiftly splintered into a thousand petty kingdoms. The island home of the empire was shrouded in an impenetrable mist, and vessels sent to ascertain what was going on were never heard from again. 

In the five hundred years since the fall of the Empire, civilization has slowly reasserted itself, if in different forms than it once was. The ten thousand Kingdoms have coalesced into about twenty, the great wars of the old empire dying have finally reached their end, and the world population is a third of what it once was. Magic still exists but it is a pale shadow of what it once was, allowing a new renaissance of science and technology to flourish. Curious scholars periodically charter vessels to investigate the isle, trying to determine the reason for the fall, and just recently one of these expeditions found that the mist which once shrouded the isle has burned off, revealing the island continent once more. A brief expedition ashore found the island deserted of higher life, and was swiftly repulsed by a group of humanoids covered in coarse brown fur. 

Now, rulers of the five greatest Kingdoms have begun to send out expeditions seeking to explore and colonize the new island. Small enclaves have emerged on the Eastern edge of the island, and parties of explorers trudge deeper into the untamed wilderness, seeking out the mystery of the mists, and perhaps trying to reclaim the magic that was their birthright. 

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High above the hall of the Governor, castrati sing like choirs of angelic beings in the old language of the Carthi Empire, "He comes, He comes. The anointed one, the ever powerful! He comes, He comes! Stand aside for the high mage, the defender of the honor of Carthi! He comes, He comes! The Governor of Valirend!" 

The court has come out in its finest tonight, with countless nobles pressing close to either side of the thick purple carpet that cuts through the middle of the throne room. The air is thick with incense and musk, which only partially covers the scent of too many bodies pressed into too small of a space. Their finery is greatly varied, from priceless antique metallic foil suits that predate the fall, to thick robes that have come into fashion recently, but the one thing that all of them share is a thin sheen of sweat on their faces and exposed sections of their bodies. This place is sacred, but like most buildings built before the fall, there are far too few windows to keep the area adequately cooled. For some ceremonies, though, only the most ancient and holy of structures will do. Quiet murmurs of disagreement spring up over precedence, and the court is a constantly shifting mass as men try to elbow forward closer to the purple carpet and the man who will be walking down it. 

A deathly silence falls through the halls as the steam is first vented with a sharp squeal. Though the magical guts of the servitors has been replaced with steam pistons and their shocklances are just wooden props heavily embossed with silver and gold, those who are not so jaded from the court all gasp as the emerald shells of the servitors snap to attention beside the glass double doors, a reminder of the pre-fall time. The swords and crossbows of the guards standing beside the holy relics do a far more effective job of enforcing the peace, though. Above the double doors, a lantern is thrust through a hidden niche, appearing as a ghostly light behind the sign that scholars of the ancient language say bears the cryptic message, "Fire Exit," in glowing red letters, though none know the reason why those words are written there. As the Govenor approaches the glass doors, he waves his right hand toward them as if willing them open with magic, and a couple of burly serfs pull back the doors to allow him passage.   

Once seated upon the iron chair at the iron throne at the head of the purple carpet, the high mage gestures for the rest to settle. His eyes flick toward the door as he speaks, "Let those who have been selected to journey to Icari step forth!" 

Welcome to my campaign sign up thread. For those of you who were in the interest check thread, welcome back! For those who were not, let me go over a bit of the background of this campaign to get everyone up to speed. 

My name is Michael, and this is my first time running a PBP game in many years. I've been running a home game for years, but two of my players decided they'd hook up and are inviting their first child in a few weeks, while another one is moving for work in just a few months. Taken together, we decided to wrap up the campaign and hang up in person games for the moment. This leaves me with a bit of time on my hands and nowhere to scratch the itch. 

I am looking for players for my game. But, there's a catch with my games. You see, my players don't just consume the world, they help write it also. The world of the Carthi Empire and the Island of Icari is nebulous at this point, and I would like to see it expanded and deepened through lore that you, the players, help me write. Want to play a drow slayer? That's great! All you need to do is tell me a bit about where the drow fit into the world, and an order that trained your character. If it fits in the world, it's canon! My plan is to build this world together, and over the weekend I will be establishing a wiki that will collect all of the lore written and provide prompts for things that have not yet been discussed. Completing the writing prompts gains you some power over the game, allowing re-rolls, positive modifiers to your rolls that you can apply at your discretion, or even a 'Come Back from the Dead' token that can be cashed in when your character would otherwise die, allowing them to miraculously survive, among other rewards.

The one Kingdom that I have established in the old world is the Kingdom of Valirend mentioned above. They are a predominantly human nation that descends from the provisional governor set up shortly after the fall, modeled after the vision of the Byzantine Empire shown in the Raj Whitehall Series by David Drake and S. M. Stirling. They are a coastal nation that flourishes on trade, and have a kind of odd cargo-cult reverence for the relics of the old world, even if they are kept working largely though slight of hand and parlor tricks rather than the standing flows of magic that once powered them. They are one of the main benefactors of exploration of the isle of Icari, their reverence of the old world making them almost fanatical in their desire to see and understand the wonders that have been hidden under the mist. Their governor, Barholm, is a devout follower of the Magic Cult, and wishes nothing more than to get his hands on one of the great generators of magic that are spoken about in the old tales. There are four other great Kingdoms and as many lesser Kingdoms as we need to make the old world feel lived in. 

Most of the action takes place on the titular Isle of Icari, which is largely unexplored. There are several small settlements across the Eastern edge of the island, closest to the mainland, but the largest of them is the Free Port of Xalia, where a temporary truce has been signed between the great powers, allowing all of their agents a safe home port where the powers that be have declared that no violence will take place between the agents of the rival nations (openly). 

For your character, please use the following guidelines for creation:

• *20 point buy

• *Start at level 2, with 1000 GP. No more than 250 GP may be spent on any one item.  

• *Any 1st party class, with the exception of chained summoners. BUT: If you take a class outside of the core book, you must write at least 400 words talking about an order or organization that trains members of that class and how they fit into the ruins of the Empire on the mainland.

• *Any 1st party race, up to 20 RP. BUT: If you pick any other than human, you must write at least 400 words talking about the race and their place on the mainland.

• *Characters built using Spheres of Power/Might by Drop Dead Studios and Psionics from Dreamscarred press are allowed. No other 3rd party classes and abilities are allowed.  Characters built using third party material are treated like classes outside of the core classes, for the purpose of write ups. 

• *A player may take two traits, and may take a drawback to take a third trait. 

• *Please have a photo of your character. 

• *Your character will need a backstory. You can have them from Valirend, or from one of the other great Kingdoms, or any of the lesser Kingdoms. If you choose not to have them from Valirend, please provide a short write up about the Kingdom they come from, some information about the nature of the Kingdom, what their primary trade good is, what their relationship is with Valirend and any other described Kingdoms, and what they want on the isle of Icari. If you choose to go this route, you will be able to bank one Re-roll to use during play, or take an extra trait at character creation. 

• *We will be playing a hexcrawl game with limited resources and carrying capacity, so I would recommend at least one character be able to scrounge for food and deal with dangers in the wilderness. 

We are playing with E6 rules in this campaign. For those of you who haven't heard of it, E6 is a system where the characters stop gaining levels when they reach level 6. Due to the low-magic nature of the world, the characters just aren't able to harness magics much more powerful than that. When a character reaches 6th level, they will periodically be given a CB (Character Building) point, which can be traded in to get extra feats, ability score boosts, abilities from prestige classes, or even steal abilities from other main classes. Always wanted to play a Slayer that had a better sneak attack? Steal the rogue's sneak attack and increase yours! What about a Kineticist who is also a kick butt martial artist? You can do that! 

The main advantage of this system is that it keeps martials and casters relatively balanced, combat relatively quick, and means that an enemy that was dangerous at first level never really goes away, especially in large numbers. The characters are always at risk, and the isle is always threatening. Encounters are based on where the characters are, not the average party level, so there is a good chance when you first start exploring that you might find encounters beyond your level. Know when to fight, and when to hide. 

I will continue running this game until there is a lack of interest in the game. I'm hoping that we can create a world together that engages everyone, but if you join and later lose interest please let us know and we will write your character out of the campaign. I'm hoping for at least one post every other day per player, and unless there is some grand emergency I plan to be on the boards at least once a day. I am open to playing on the Paizo forums or on discord, and we can discuss what platform we are using once we figure out who our core crew is going to be. Currently, I'm comfortable running for 4-6 dedicated players.  

I look forward to seeing your submissions. I am also available on discord here. 

The Worldsmith (Michael)  

Hello, my name is Michael and I'm addicted to designing and running worlds. 

The ancient city stretches before your characters into the far distance. Towers taller than the highest bough stretch to either side of a ruined road made of some strange gray mineral, creating a narrow slot of daylight overhead. The mineral, once solid, has been broken by immense time, exposing gaps in the surface through which giant creeper vines have begun the process of climbing the buildings on either side seeking sunlight, now brown and dormant due to approaching winter. Gaping holes in the structures, some of which still have glass shards embedded in them, reveal only darkness within. The wind whips between the buildings, a cutting cold breeze that brings the promise of snow to come, for those who are weather-wise enough to spot it. Every few hundred yards, a cross-street between the buildings emerges, sketching out a rough grid shape to the city otherwise completely covered in overgrown structures. In the distance, a howl of some creature can be heard deeper in the ruins, and then a swiftly silenced cry of panic by a small creature. Roll Perception. 

So, my home group recently dissolved. Two of my four players hooked up and are welcoming their first child into the world, and another is six months away from moving for their job. This leaves me with a bit of time on my hands and nowhere to scratch the itch, so here I am. I've been working on a Hexcrawl world with sandbox elements, but before I get too far I wanted to see if there was any interest here. 

So, what happens if a high-magic world suddenly becomes low magic? 

The Isle of Icari was home to the mighty Carthi Empire before the dark times. Their origin was lost to the mists of time, but for thousands of years they were a bastion of strength and stability in the world. They wrought great works of might and magic, raising cities above the clouds and exploring the deepest fathoms of the sea in great glass domes. No longer did the civilized races of the world have to toil the fields unless they wished to, as their needs were provided by magic. Emerald servitors performed the day to day work of the empire, building and toiling for their mortal masters. Their armies wielded magic unheard of, pushing the bounds of their empire to the ends of the world...until the day of their collapse. 500 years ago to the day, the magic of the world fled. The flying cities fell from the sky, their connection to the greater magics failing, the great street lights faded, and the world was plunged into darkness. The food generators stopped functioning, the servitors froze where they stood, and the world quickly fell into chaos. The shocklances of the soldiers sent to keep order overseas were no longer functional, and they were quickly bludgeoned to death by rioters with stones. The comfortable world promised by the Carthi empire collapsed into barbarism and was swiftly splintered into a thousand petty kingdoms. The island home of the empire was shrouded in an impenetrable mist, and vessels sent to ascertain what was going on were never heard from again. 

In the five hundred years since the fall of the Empire, civilization has slowly reasserted itself, if in different forms than it once was. The ten thousand Kingdoms have coalesced into about twenty, the great wars of the old empire dying have finally reached their end, and the world population is a third of what it once was. Magic still exists but it is a pale shadow of what it once was, allowing a new renaissance of science and technology to flourish. Curious scholars periodically charter vessels to investigate the isle, trying to determine the reason for the fall, and just recently one of these expeditions found that the mist which once shrouded the isle has burned off, revealing the island continent once more. A brief expedition ashore found the island deserted of higher life, and was swiftly repulsed by a group of humanoids covered in coarse brown fur. 

Now, rulers of the five greatest Kingdoms have begun to send out expeditions seeking to explore and colonize the new island. Small enclaves have emerged on the Eastern edge of the island, and parties of explorers trudge deeper into the untamed wilderness, seeking out the mystery of the mists, and perhaps trying to reclaim the magic that was their birthright. 

Your characters will be the explorers sent by the five Kingdoms, or independent explorers or treasure hunters wishing to seek out wealth in the ruins of the Empire. I'm running this as an E6 Pathfinder 1e game, using some custom Gestalt rules. Spells above 3rd level are unknown, and characters never advance past 6th level, but after they gain 6th level they gain CB (Character Builder) points periodically, which allow them to purchase abilities from other classes, feats, ability increases, or advance in prestige classes, gaining the abilities but not increased levels, BAB, or HP. The world is low magic and dangerous, and the characters are always at risk of death if they get in over their heads.  

So, is there any interest in this kind of a game?