I have DMed Kingmaker to a couple of groups (and played in other), and this is what I would like to see in a compiled, updated version:

* Write out the Brevoy connection as much as possible in the beginning (or capitalize on it and include elements of it during the AP). Players get the impression Brevoy's political situation will be important in the adventure, but it never actually gets dealt with. In this Game of Thrones climate, that is bound to happen.
* Dudemeister's contributions further enhance the whole story (the kobold dinner in Book 2 is great foreshadowing).
* A rework of Varnhold - the combination of tight maps and Large Redcaps is just a nightmare and Vordakai's dungeon is underwhelming.
* A streamlining of the Kingdom Building system. The whole system was way too clunky, took too much time and always left a couple players bored out of their minds. Further additions made it way more complicated than needed. It needs something to encourage and highlight player-made organization, like arcane schools, knighthood orders, cleric churches, etc.
* A more seamless connection between the books. 5 to 6 was such a nightmare - absolutely NO Kingdom Building stats given to Pitax made this an enormous pain.

It sounds like there will be more powerful alchemical items so that you can scale up even if you don't take levels in alchemist. The one thing that worries me is that the alchemist is falling into the gunslinger trap:

We get bombs that are a weapon that (in theory) anyone can use. However, the alchemist is the only one who gets the bombs to scale into the late game. So if bombs are balanced for the alchemist, then it is pointless to use them for anyone else.

It also makes bombs a newbie trap in that a new player might make a "bomb using paladin" and then find that all his investment becomes useless by level 9 when the alchemist is doing 4 times his damage.

You have just described 1e's alchemical items.

I really hope they aren't folding the Oracle into the Cleric.

Really hope they ARE folding the oracle into the Cleric. I always felt their concept was somewhat muddy - their mysteries list gods, so they might worship them, or might not - but oh, so could the PHB Cleric! The Oracle was mechanically different (and by that I mean way, way more interesting) but I always saw it being used as a Cleric 2.0 - the worshipper of a god with divine powers.

Well maybe Jambô Editora?

Considering that their major product is a customized D&D 3.5-compatible medieval fantasy RPG, I believe that to be a pretty big conflict of interests.

I second what has been said: I started DMing with D&D 3rd edition and their release schedule was actually great, despite some major translation mishaps. After that they just seemed to give up.

I DM Pathfinder since the alpha and have bought a couple of books and a LOT of pdfs - not one of them in Portuguese since their release has been abysmal to say the least. I would love to try to introduce the system to new players (and maybe even join or run PFS), but the language barrier is still a major problem. If we had a translated edition of Pathfinder I would surely buy the books and collect the line.

I don't think so. Sivron is the only case of an NPC described by the book without the gender tag in the short description. Everyone else is like Vane Oreld (N male human expert 2) while Sivron is just (CG elf rogue 5).

Sivron Nal (CG elf rogue 5) earned theirposition managing the distant outpost by advocating for more ready inclusion of half-elves into Kyonin politics and families, and they still agitate on behalf of those with blended parentages, even with the limited authority they command, tutoring the curious in elven history, culture, and magic in exchange for scouting services.

Those are three separate, deliberate uses of the singular "they", followed by the only instance of not mentioning of the NPC's gender on the book. I'd say that's good evidence for my case.

I'm building my first SF character and wanted to build a Kaylee-like mechanic - a person that doesn't have much combat training and does other stuff in combat. How could I go around doing that without being a burden to my party?

The party is comprised of a soldier, an envoy and a technomancer; the campaign is homebrew.

AaronUnicorn, have you thought about a pure support-focused cohort controlled by the [u]players[/u]?

Any PC might take the Recruits feat and have a couple of low-level casters to switch back and forth. The PC should build the NPC and control it in combat, including preparing its spells. On level 7 the feat turns into full-fledged Leadership, making the cohort a lot more useful. Alternatively, you could just waive the feat and let the party control this last member. They will probably build him/her as a support/utility character, not liable to steal the spotlight from the PCs.

There are a few NPCs in Runelords that might be up for that (with just a bit of reskinning):

Ameiko Kaijitsu, bard.
Brodert Quink, wizard (his age penalties would make him both a superb wizard and a fragile damsel-in-distress).
Chask Haladan, bard (or easily a wizard).
Cyrdak Drokkus, bard.
Kaye Tesarani, sorcerer.

The following NPCs are presented as antagonists - a quick readjusting of their attitudes could place them by the PCs side:

Lyrie Akenja (if she survives Thistletop), wizard. Just play her as focusing on her own survival, willing to betray Nualia and ally with the PCs. At the PCs' side she will amass a fortune and get all the Tassilonian magic she can carry.

Caizarlu Zerren (if he survives Habe's Sanitarium), wizard. He may surrender to the PCs during the fight, promising to provide them with his expert knowledge about the ghoul menace.

You could introduce a wizard NPC as a thrall in Xanesha's service, perhaps tied up in her lair (a faceless stalker might have stolen his/her identity).

On some campaign settings, members of the halfling race have an unique name that they use to refer to their people as a whole, such as Mystara's "Hin" or Greyhawk's "Hobniz" (yeah, I know). The general idea is that "halfling" is probably a term created and used by other races, and can be perceived as a little insulting (you're being defined as "half of something").

So, do Golarion halflings have a name they use to refer to themselves as a people and/or race, or has that been stripped from them by slavery like almost all else?

So in my campaign I played Belor as the no-nonsense "straight" guy to the party's antics. He would do some version of this A LOT: "So you guys ran around the town, causing dozens of gold pieces of damage on merchant stalls and roof tiles just because you 'thought you saw' some kind of shady deal going on?"

During the "Local Heroes" chapter I had him taking a trip to Magnimar to personally request reinforcements after the initial goblin attack. He deputized the PCs, asking them to just very visibly walk around town helping people in order to curb crime and raise morale. In the process they discovered a Sczarni plot to make Belor "suffer an accident" during the trip.

He was EXTREMELY tight-lipped about what the resolution of the Chopper murders, as he fears the knowledge of the Pazuzu's name might bring its attention back to the town. That led to much frustration for the party's paladin, whose parents were killed by Chopper, which resulted in him being raised by Sir Jasper.

Unfortunately I never got to develop him that much. Anyone has a better grasp at the feud with his brother?

Sounds like I need to check this show out.

If you like your sci-fi somewhat low-budget but your characters interesting, then you really should.

For starting gear, I set up a thread Right here that has starting gear for characters catagorized and set up. There are a few things to consider, if the PC prefers light or heavy armor, and if they what kind of weapons they use.

I will be diving into that, thanks!

Kinda want to play this, now.

>.>

Did you get to finish the series?

Yeah, my greatest challenge will be devising the PCs' previous criminal personas AFTER they pick their race-theme-class combos. I thought the Icon would be a pain in the butt, but I have SO many ideas that now I'm hoping that someone picks one.

Any suggestions of possible criminal backgrounds? I think the most difficult ones will be the Mystic and Technomancer. How would those guys use their powers for personal gain? What kind of unlawful careers could they have?

Hi JJ, glad to see you're back to the forums!

Have you seen Travel channel's "Myth or Monster"? In it, Patrick Rothfuss presents cryptozoids, starting with the Mothman :D

Rune, I'm blaming you for this, 'cause you introduced me to that shoooowwwwww...

I take full responsability for that with pride.

I have to admit, tho, if this was me GMing, I'd totally have a dimensional slice longsword, a storm arc pistol, a zenith laser pistol, a tempest arc rifle, and a true photon crystal, and maybe a zenith artillary laser (note the lack of unwieldy); plus one nanotube carbonskin or specialist hardlight series, one vesk monolith III, one jarlslayer, one and a number each prismatic force fields and regeneration tables equal to the PCs hidden somewhere. I'd also replace the backpacks with null space chambers.

I will do something like that. There's an extra-special safe inside the smuggle compartments, and it contains some serious loot and at least one person in deep cryostasis. If that person for some reason looks completely identical to the party's Icon, so what?

Rune. Ruuuuuuuuuuune. Rune.

>:I

We need to talk... Rune.

You got me hooked on a show. Rune.

That I then shared... Rune. I then shared... with my wife.

Rune? Rune. Rune.

We don't have time for this, Rune.

I don't know when we're going to play Starfinder again, now Rune.

ಠ_ಠ

Yeah, sorrynotsorry.

I couldn't feel happier that I made you guys get into it. That show provided a lot of fun for me and my ex-fiancée, love to see it get the love it deserves.

Also, I hope you guys will feel sad like me at the end of season 2.

When you're finished with it, go get The Expanse. It's on Netflix.

It's another category of proficiency, just like basic melee, advanced melee, heavy weapon, longarm, and small arm. EDIT: As far as I can tell, no one starts with this, but you can get the feat if you have a basic melee weapon proficiency or small arm proficiency, you can get one "special" weapon proficiency with a feat.

EDIT 2: see the Class chapter (each class), and page 152 and 162 (the feats chapter), and page 243.

So they're like PF's exotic weapons? That's just bonkers! None of those seems like a good use of a feat.

A quick question: In regards to proficiency, what kind of weapons are Carbonedge Shuriken? It just says "special" on the table.

Dude, that's just me nitpicking. Your list gave me a wonderful headstart, shaving a couple hours picking at equipment tables.

I'll throw in a couple kinetic guns just 'cause they look like cheap, disposable gear that will get traded out in the first opportunity.

Also, I'm so happy I got another person hooked on Dark Matter!

- general-purpose weapons (<#PCs*710>+120): small arms (flare gun, an azimuth laser pistol, and a pulscaster pistol, each), basic melee weapons (tactical baton, survival knife), 20 extra batteries, 4 extra flares (each)

- more advanced gear (3420): ~3 advanced melee (2 standard taclashes, a tactical doshko), ~4 longarms (2 pulsecaster rifles, 2 laser rifles), 1 heavy weapon (azimuth artillary laser), 15 grenades (5 frag g. Is, 5 smoke g.s, 5 sticky bombs)

Is there any specific reason you didn't list any kinetic ranged weapons? Are the energy ones better, for some reason?

I like Tacticslion's list, with potential editing as needed to make the extra equipment match what the original mission of the star ship would have been, though it would probably make your life easier if you expect a little variation depending on the race/classes that people actually build. Pull out some equipment/value, maybe 1-2k spread across the party, so if someone's looking for something specific (and that thing is reasonable, and not out of level/tier), offer a roll to see if they can find the thing somewhere. We usually go with 2d6, and if the GM wins, no thingy, but if the player wins or ties, they can find the thing they actually want.

The other way to go would be to have some actual listed equipment, and supplement that with schematics for a bunch of the available items, and a box or two of UPBs (Universal Polymer Base) so the crew can have the 3d printer whip up whatever equipment they may need.

I conflated the two suggestions in one since my answer will be the same: both are solid ideas (the last one is just great thinking), but I am trying to minimize choices to prevent choice paralysis and too much information too quickly. It's easier for the PCs if there are "one rifle, a couple of swords and a laser pistol" instead of "take a look at this long-ass list and choose one - what's that special property? Let me check".

I would lean away from having cybernetic parts available, since no level 1 PC is likely going to be able to install it.

That's an insightful suggestion, I will definitely follow. Also, I feel cybernetic enhancement should be a conscious mechanical choice supported by roleplay.

so the crew can have the 3d printer whip up whatever equipment they may need.

For that to happen, is the ship required to have a Tech Workshop?

If you (or the players) have played a lot of Pathfinder, there has been a number of minor rule changes that have a big impact.

Great tips all around. Some of the players have played PF before, but other haven't. I fully expect it to be a messy jumble of PF/5e/GURPS references.

(1) IMO, the best order to read the book with limited time is: Game Mastering, Tactical Rules, Skills, and then whatever else strikes your fancy. I would strongly recommend holding off on starship combat for a few sessions.

Will definitely follow your suggestion. I focused on the character creation stuff first since I'll be showcasing the options, but needed a pointer on important stuff to follow that. Thanks!

So much good stuff!

Damnit, that I was hoping but not expecting to get! Thanks man, I'll go through it with a fine comb - expect further replies as I check the book and reference your suggestions.

As for gear... what kind of ship are you going to put them on? are they the full crew or only survivors?

The ship is the Nemesis a Hellknight proprietary Lawbringer-class Armed and Armored Medium Transport. The PCs have stolen it from the organization and have been heavily modifying it to better suit their criminal enterprises. So they're basically a criminal crew and the ship's purpose is to look and act intimidating. The group will probably consist of 4 player characters.

its entirely believable that there are gear lockers on the ship, throw in 4-8 sets of light and 4-8 sets of heavy armor, a like number of one handed and two handed weapons and then let the PCs decide for themselves what they'll use. the sell price for all of the excess is very low but it can serve as the "treasure" for their first adventure or two as they explore their ship and figure out how to get it fully functional.

Even better: the ship has been extensively used by the same characters, and their long criminal careers justifies any excess of weapons or gear. Your point about the low sell price for used gear is a LOT useful - it means I can overshoot my mark a bit and not worry too much. Thanks!

Great advice all around, thanks! I'll be addressing each response individually because there's just so much gold in these nuggets of wisdom.

To make the concept clearer for those who haven't watched the Dark Matter series (though you should; it's great inspiration for Starfinder): The PCs wake up in a ship with no memories (the ship's logs have also been wiped).

They were actually a tough, hardened criminal crew, with enemies all across the system, but they have a second shot at maybe being good guys. The ship is a stolen and heavily modified Hellknight armed transport (designed to rain hell on dissidents, revolutionaries or indigenous species in the way of progress), but it incongruously has a small Abadarcorp shuttle filled with relief disaster packs (each PC also has Abadarian clothing and identification).

If they examine the boxes, one of them is locked shut (requiring some skill checks to open and introducing that mechanic). Among the relief packets there are a LOT of heavy weaponry (most of the 1st-level weapons). A couple of nerfed-down CR 1/3 security drones will try to shoot them if they open the box, introducing tactical combat rules in a somewhat safe environment.

Exploring the ship they will find different quarters, probably gleaning a few snippets of their previous lives in the process. When they get to the bridge they find they're in stable orbit around a planet - where an active distress beacon is transmitting. Then shenanigans hopefully ensure (there is a lot more, but that's the simple version).

Background: The criminal party was hired by the Aspis Consortium to shut down a worker's strike on a mining planet. The workers are suing for independence, and contacted Abadarcorp hoping to join the Pact Worlds. Abadarcorp has sent a ship to appraise and deffuse the situation, but the PCs have ambushed it and stolen the shuttle. Their plan was to infiltrate the worker organization in the guise of Abadarian officials bringing relief supplies. When in contact with the leadership, they would open the safe and bring out the big guns, destroying the opposition.

Hey there folks, I'll be running a Starfinder game for a first-timer group next week and I need some advice.

The core concept of the game is that, Dark-Matter-style, the PCs wake up from a criogenic sleep in a ship with no specific memories about who they are and what they are doing there. They must explore the ship, gathering hints about their previous lives, and then make way in the universe learning about the universe as they go on. That way, I'll be teaching about the rules as they come along, and expanding on the setting on a session-by-session base.

The players will choose the main aspects of their characters during the first session. So at first they'll choose a race, then class/theme.

So, for this concept, my main issues are:

1) I'll have a limited time to read the rules. Which chapters should I prioritize? I already thought about not including starship rules for a session or two, to let the players feel comfortable with character-mechanics before moving forward.

2) I will be buying first-level gear for them. They will find the gear spread out around the ship. The problem is that I'm unable to know in advance which classes they will pick, so I need to provide a good and varied amount of gear (probably doubling up on some guns, etc). So, which gear are 1st-level must-haves?

3) Aside from the Alien Archive (which I don't have), where can I find some low-level enemies?

Did she remind anyone else of Ameiko? Ever since the first illustration I've referred to her as "space Ameiko". First, let me be clear that's high praise - Ameiko is one of my favorite NPCs (I've DMed both RotR and JR) and I love her personality, which her Wayne Reynolds art conveys greatly.

Both have that one-sided sarcastic expression, wear short hair and are asian. Rich parents she rebelled against by engaging in an adventuring career, which ended up in a tragedy involving the loss of close friends.

This AP seems ripe for a level 0 prequel adventure where the PCs grow up as kids in the town, to really get the players to know some of the NPCs and invest in the town before it gets overrun.

I did exactly that, we finished this Friday. I just ran Crypt of the Everflame changing references from Kessen to Phaendar (that adventure is actually placed in Nirmathas already). Easy-peasy.

Very cool, thanks! My players have bought the idea of the non-spellcaster party.

As per the healing, I plan to implement the short rest and Hit Dice mechanic of 5e along with a homebrew subsystem of Herbalism that allows for small buffs coming from potions, concoctions and salves. I don't intend to make it harder for the PCs, just more involved.

I just noticed I didn't make a question about the point of using the Crypt of the Everflame as a prelude. Would applying that adventure's main points (the founder of the village fought a mercenary leader in an ancient crypt near the town, died and was buried there) to Phaendar be too out-of-character for that city? How much information can we expect on Phaendar on the first book's gazetteer?

LOL, you just described my Kings of Absalom campaign. The first installment alone covers literally everything in your list.

Maybe we should just publish _that_. :/

Just to add my voice to the chorus: Yes, please. As a customer that interacts with the setting exclusively through APs, I would LOVE to both finally have a game in the world's largest city and investigate Aroden's death. As a history major that appeals a lot to me.

I'd like to provide my opinion on this stance:

When I first read the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting the mystery jumped into my head. But sadly when I'm describing the setting to the players (who are way too lazy to read a lot of setting material) it simply falls flat, a footnote that's forgotten as soon as we veer into the specific nations. It is both too far removed from current history and has too few hooks about it to pick interest. I love it, my PCs don't care for it. Due to the complete lack of any hooks or information about that, I can't find solid ground to cook a campaign around it, and such a campaign would be a though sell for my players.

Coming from Eberron, I'm familiar with the concept of a canon-unsolvable mystery. Like the Mourning, Aroden's death is a historic event that shaped things up to where they are today. On Eberron, though, it is a more recent event that impacted the lives of everyone living on the Five Nations. There are PCs born in the destroyed nation of Cyre that live as refugees. The major powers are in a stalemate as they try actively to discover just what the hell happened. That in itself encourages campaigns built around this mystery, and the fact that there isn't (or will ever be) an official answer enables individual GMs to tackle this issue. My campaigns never focused on that, but the aftermath of that event was always felt (one campaign was entirely Cyran former military officers trying to work their way through life after the loss of their families, chain of command and kingdom).

What I mean to say is: As an historic event, it's fine. As an attention-grabbing mystery it falls flat. I'd much rather have an entire AP focused on investigation, research, and mystery leading to that resolution than just leaving it unused. Some sort of Indiana Jones National-Treasure nation-hopping-landmark-exploring-conspiracy-solving campaign. That might be a really big payoff instead of just letting it rot and lose interest year after year.

The Townsfolk idea is also interesting (specially considering the many Leadership-like feats), but I'd suggest adding some development ideas to the NPCs. Things like: Keira is an herbalist and apothecary. She is also the wife to Hank the Lumberjack, and her husband's company is missing. Hank may be found and rescued (a DM may put him anywhere in the adventure), or maybe they find just the body and bring back his wedding ring. Keira might ask a cleric PC to perform a funeral, and pay by providing local herblore to the PCs (a +2 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks to identify and procure plants in the local region). Later she might name her child after a PC, or even find solace in his/her arms.

Please pretty please make sure to include at least one extremely excited local boy/girl that idolizes the PCs and offers to accompany the as a hireling-sans-payment or apprentice. Make him/her try to emulate the PCs' habits (if the rogue is brooding, the apprentice knits a cowl off his/her extra shirts for extra broodening).

The Deadly Delves looks really promising. I think something along the lines of the latest modules - three short adventures that have tenuous connection (so that they may be ran separately or together) is preferable than a full-on adventure. I think you need a really interesting hook for these sidelines, but the overall structure should be short - a couple of encounters, some exploration/investigation/diplomacy and back to the track. The Witcher 3 has a lot of these really amazing, surprising sidequests that are mechanically simple but often leave you "whoah, THAT happened!".

I'm also really excited by the idea of this AP; ever since I first read the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting I kept the idea of a Nirmathas guerilla-style game and this promises to deliver exactly that.

Those all look really good, Dale, but I have one small suggestion about the bounty hunters:

Since solo encounters pretty much suck, I'd recommend making a small number of bounty hunting antagonist parties. Maybe one that's level 3, one level 7, 10, etc. Make them have compelling backstories that play off each other, and at least one member that might be redeemed/recruited after the battle (a down-on-his-luck mercenary that just took the wrong job, a person in a domineering relationship with another party member that is actually freed by the PCs, etc).

A couple suggestions: Low-level - A rival adventuring party (their patron gave them the false information that the PCs are bloodthirsty murderers and demon cultists), Mid-level - Highly trained bounty hunters working for the Lumber Consortium, High-level - A party of Red Mantis assassins (including warpriest, sohei monk, ranger and slayer).

No contest. Candyman.

Watched it as a kid. Still remember vividly a lot of the scenes.

Have you seen the 2015 movie Visions with Gillian Jacobs? How did you find it?

After DMing a very long Kingmaker campaign, I learned to appreciate excel sheets to handle most of the heavy load involved in Kingdom Building. So when I got to the Rebellion part of Hell's Rebels I thought I would help out my DM and hash out a functioning automated sheet to cut down on his work. A few sleepless nights of banging my head on the keyboard in frustration resulted on this and, seeing as I used a LOT of material produced by awesome people at these forums, I'd love to share it with you:

Rune's Automated Rebellion Sheet.

If there are any problems/miscalculations/bugs, please let me know (by posting on this thread or direct messaging me). A few notes about the sheet:

• Open it in Excel for better formatting. I have not tried it in any other medium (it looks awful on Dropbox). It uses the fonts SeriaRegular, Source Sans Pro and Newcomen Bold (for the title).
• It is locked to protect the formulas; any entry fields are unlocked and can be edited. These include: # of Supporters (which is used to calculate Rank), Population, Notoriety, Membership, Treasury, "OTHER" category of bonuses to Loyalty/Secrecy/Security (both the number and the name, so you can indicate the source of the bonus), Allies (and Boons), Number of Safe Houses, Officers (and their bonuses).
• My DM said we can have multiple people in Officer positions, but only one provides the bonus. So only the first Officer adds his/her bonus to the relevant stat (the Recruiter is an exception).
• You choose the teams from a drop-down menu; the team listing is on the second tab. You can enter custom (or bonus) teams by replacing the placeholder Bonus Teams.
• The checkbox for the possible Rebellion actions needs to be manually checked positive or negative (I'll work on that if I get the time - if you know the solution lemme know).
• As I'm not sure how Allies and their Boons work I'll wait for the adventure to progress before I try to implement their bonuses to the sheet - they'll need to be added manually.
• Please beware of spoilers - I'm playing this game and we literally just started using the Rebellion rules.

We're only two sessions into the campaign but I really like our line-up (even if we could use another player):

Magnus Corvus Augustus, human brawler (shield champion): Former paladin of Aroden gone to fight in the Everwar, he was trapped in a stasis field in a Thassilonic ruin around Fort Korvosa. Finally freed after 300 hundred years only to find his god dead and his nation corrupted. Found his hometown Kintargo as one of the last places in Cheliax not doomed by diabolism and works to keep it that way. Seeing as he's bound to and simultaneously abhorred by the idea of fighting his "fellow Chelish countrymen", he's vowed to never lift a blade to take a Chelish life. The shield, adorned with the winged eye of Aroden, he kept, using it as a symbol of protection for his fellows and lofty ideals of the greater good for mankind.

Zataria, tiefling ex-Asmodean inquisitor: Taken from squalor by a Asmodean priest, raised to believe her existence was cursed and service to the Dark Prince was her only path available. She infiltrated the cult of Shelyn to destroy them from the inside but found unconditional love and acceptance. Withholding information from the Inquisition she allowed the shelynites to survive, but lost her divine powers in the process. After the Night of Ashes and an enormous guilt-trip at seeing the Thrashing Badger burned to the ground, she found a single red rose in the ruins. With burning purpose in her eyes and the divine backing of Shelyn, she started herself on the path of redemption. Knows she got red on her ledger and seeks to fight against her previous superiors in order to clean it.

Adonatius Tanessen, human bard (arcane duelist): Blacksmith, bon vivant, public orator and free spirit, Adonatius was a public nuissance to his family before Barzillai, and when he vocally questioned their wisdom in allying with the dictator, they publicly shunned him to distance themselves. Wants to see a free Kintargo and reunite with his friend, the bard Shensen.

Egeria, middle-aged human witch: A member of a big family of humble means, Egeria cared for her elders, their children and her chicken coop. Battling bouts of depression due to the many losses of her life (and the declining political and economic status of the city), she was contemplating suicide while observing the black herons fish in the river. One of them sat by her side, and convinced her that a better future was possible and it would provide her with the means to bring it to life. Shen-shen, the black heron, then proceeded to teach her spells of healing and subduing those who would threaten her family. Egeria today fights to make the city a better place for the lower strata of the society, providing a valuable point of view from the streets.

Do not steal from the party. It is not cool and always leads to bad feelings all over.

That free attack that seems to be bothering a number of posters can only be done for as long as the magus has spells.

I do not care about the extra attack. I care that that ability pigeonholes an entire class into one true build with little variation (Strength vs Dexterity).

I care that that build needs so many resources (traits, feats, spells, arcana) to function at its basic level that it leaves almost no space for customization.

I care that the concept of a "functional spellcasting warrior" has become reduced to "that guy using a scimitar to deliver shocking grasp criticals".

That's bad design.

First, I love the concept of the sword-and-spell warrior. For me, a spellsword would mingle spell-use with swordplay, buffing while attacking or throwing fire rays. Conceptually, my problem with the Magus is a single ability: Spellstrike.

It is so damn good that it shoehorns an entire class into the cookie-cutter mold of high-damage touch-attack spells fishing for scimitar crits. It forces the whole class to focus on one specific (and boring) kind of spell. If magi didn't have Spellstrike, they would be buffing themselves mid-combat, throwing around a few blasting spells or dispel magic to debuff enemies. We would have buffer magi, blasting magi, debuff magi. Note those are all somewhat possible but are such inferior choices than the regular magus that they are generally ignored. It introduces those awful damage spikes (1d6/level spells were never supposed to crit on a 15) that most people negatively associate with the Magus.

The second part comes from my experience playing alongside one mid-level magus (on Rise of the Runelords) and playing with a high-level one (on Wrath of the Righteous). They tend to be one-trick ponies inside and outside of combat. Their skills are limited (they perform the "arcana" side of skills well enough but that's it), they have very few utility spells. They are too limited to fulfill a wizard's role in a group and too redundant if the party has an actual wizard (their skills simply overlap too much and the wizard will have a better bonus/more skill points/better knowledges).

They depend on too many rolls to function normally in combat. In order to achieve that "big burst", the magus has to:
1) Succeed at an attack roll (with Spell Combat's -2 penalty on top of its 3/4 BAB).
1a) Succeed on another attack roll to confirm that juicy critical (not a given).
2) Suceed on a concentration check (ALSO not a given).
3) Suceed on a caster level check against spell resistance (a swingy roll most times, specially because magi generally don't invest in this).
4) Check physical damage against DR.
5) Check energy damage against energy resistance/immunity.

Most high-level enemies have a lot of incidental resistances, spell resistance and even random immunities. Most demons have damage reducation, SR, electricity and cold immunity and other resistances valued 5 or 10.

A single bad roll can throw your entire turn out and you're left with the rest of your attacks with a low bonus and mediocre damage. When the magus works well, it does it too well for some. The rest of the time it is mediocre.

Out of curiosity, Fallyrion, where do you guys play? Outside of my group I honestly haven't met another Pathfinder player here in Brazil.

I feel that pain about Planescape: Torrent. I spent years trying to get it, promptly forgot about it for some time and now that I can play it, it feels too weird. And that coming from a guy that played Fallout 1 & 2.

Well, Faiths of Balance includes Gozreh (among other gods), and there is a section that specifically calls out that Adabar is the only deity in the book with a Paladin Order.

Gozreh, being True Neutral, is two steps away from Lwaful Good, so you couldn't worship him and be a Paladin (at least, not for long...).

Of course, that doesn't have to change your character concept - the character is already potentially either a fruit loop, or actually partially divine.

I laughed at "fruit loop". Thanks for that :)

Interesting enough, I myself do not know what his true origin should be (I left it for the GM to decide).

I'm just gonna get this out here: The rules of the game allow paladins that derive their powers solely from their dedication as a "reward for their righteousness". There isn't a single mention of deities or gods on the entire paladin write-up.

The game also puts no limits on the alignment of a deity's worshipers. A worshiper needs to obey the dictates of his/her faith and not commit sins against its doctrine.

I'd recommend against making the Ameiko-PC comatose. The purpose of that event is to provide a few clues of the situation to the PCs and ground them on Brinewall until the matter is settled. You could still do both while maintaining Ameiko's functionality.

As the group approach Brinewall, she might have a few confusing dreams every time she tries to rest. Then when they finally arrive at Brinewall she faints, having a strange conversation with a tiny statuette man (the shikigami protector of the seal). He tries to warn her of the dangers ahead, but it's clear he's more than a little insane. Describe the feeling of separation, of longing, as he's been apart from his duty for decades. Then she awakes, doubly motivated to explore Brinewall. If the group tries leaving the city, the dreams return to the point where she'll faint again, all the while a tiny voice inside her head screaming to return and fulfill her destiny.

That should provide a few clues, and a good motivation.

I'm doing exactly that, taking a hint from Bioware games (Dragon Age and Mass Effect).

Whenever the PCs leave the caravan to do something, they choose 2 NPCs to tag along. The others stay to guard the caravan from enemy attacks (a very real threat at this point). That leads to some interesting situations as they pick the NPCs appropriate to the situation either by theme or skillset. On caravan random encounters, I typically choose one NPC at random to fight with the PCs (or choose one that hasn't been used in a while).

I also plan to give the PCs mythic tiers through the Amatatsu Seal, so they'll have a better action economy and resilience.

Here I go with a tentative first draft:

I am a protector of the natural world. I shall not stand idle while nature is being destroyed or corrupted. Though I do recognize civilization's place in it, I will work to preserve the boundaries between those two worlds. I will strive to educate whenever possible so that mankind may respect and preserve the bounties of Gozreh. I shall bring the wrath of the storm to those unable or unwilling to learn. My actions at these circumstances will be quick and decisive, burning out the festering wound before it may corrupt the rest of the body.

Those who manipulate, enslave or corrupt natural forces are a bane to the natural cycle and must be destroyed. Elemental enprisonment and undeath are an abomination and a blatant attempt at distorting the natural order. I will destroy undead whenever possible and should work towards freeing any elemental or fey controlled against their will. I will destroy any corrupted natural forces without pity or remorse, knowing their destruction frees them to join the cycle once more.

I will never pollute the sky or despoil the natural world unless that action is absolutely necessary for their own survival and the end result is an improvement upon their health. I should strive to do so whenever I perceive a problem, but first I must understand the land and its intricacies before acting. That way, I may weed out damaging plants or hunt a particular animal to keep balance between predator and prey, but only after ascertaining they would provoke an unstable environment.

I will reject the moral corruption that comes along with civilization. For that purpose I shall resist its lures and vices, always acting with moderation. An object is a tool with which to accomplish an objective, nothing more. I should own the necessary tools to reach my goals - to have more than you can carry or will need is foolish. I aim to have simple tools only lighly worked so that they may more easily be reintegrated back to nature after my passing.

TL;DR: If you had to develop a code of conduct for a hardcore worshiper of Gozreh (maybe even one that happened to be a paladin), what would it contain?