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Trumoi wrote:

Previous Version:
I've wanted to play a Satyr for a long time now, but since they are CR 4 it seemed like a terrible choice. Then I read the passage on their weaker, more benevolent cousins, the Fauns. CR 1? Meant that a race was easier to build from, but I need to see if it needs to be tweaked (Mainly because Racial Points are a very lopsided system and it's sometimes hard to tell if what you're making is feasible).

Faun Race (15rp)

Type: Fey (2rp)
Low-light Vision (0rp)

Size: Medium (0rp)

Speed: Normal (30ft) 0rp

Abilities: Flexible (+2 Dex, +2Cha) 2rp

Languages: Standard 0rp
*Common and Sylvan. May Learn Elven, Aklo, Draconic, Gnome, Giant, Goblin, Celestial with sufficient Intelligence.

Defensive Traits

Lucky, Lesser (2rp)
+1 to all Saving throws.

Fey Damage Reduction (3rp)
DR 5/Cold Iron

Skill Traits

Sociable (1rp)
Use Diplomacy again after a -5 failure to try to change the person's outlook about you again within 24 hours of the failure.

Skill Training (1rp)
Perform and Perception always class skills

Magic Traits

Spell-Like Ability, Lesser (2rp)
Hideous Laughter and Sleep.

Spell-like Ability, At-Will (2rp)
Ghost Sound.

I know the DR is too high (Fauns are supposed to have DR 2/Cold Iron, not DR 5/Cold Iron) but I wasn't sure if I should've reduced it to one racial point or two for the downgrade. I threw in Lucky, Lesser because their saves on the stat page is pretty high. I left out Panpipes because it seems pointless when you'll be getting class levels.
Should I remove anything? Add Anything? Is it too strong?

UPDATED! Thanks to /u/CMEast on Reddit /r/Pathfinder_RPG

Faun Race (15rp)

Type: Fey (2rp)
Low-light Vision (0rp)

Size: Medium (0rp)

Speed: Normal (30ft) 0rp

Abilities: Flexible (+2 Dex, +2Cha) 2rp

Languages: Standard 0rp
*Common and Sylvan. May Learn Elven, Aklo, Draconic, Gnome, Giant, Goblin, Celestial with sufficient Intelligence.

Defensive Traits

Fey Damage Reduction (3rp)
DR 5/Cold Iron

Skill Traits

Sociable (1rp)
Use Diplomacy again after a -5 failure to try to change the person's outlook about you again within 24 hours of the failure.

Skill Training (1rp)
Perform and Perception always class skills

Magic Traits

Spell-Like Ability, Lesser (2rp)
Hideous Laughter and Sleep, 1/day.

Spell-like Ability, At-Will (2rp)
Ghost Sound.

Pan's Performance (1rp)
Use a swift action to increase Spell-like ability DC by 2, 3/day

Altenate Traits

Fey Sorcery(1RP): Faun sorcerers/bloodragers with the Fey or Maestro bloodlines treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer class abilities. This trait replaces the Lesser Fey Damage Reduction trait.

Satyr Anatomy(2RP): This faun is more bestial than its normal kin and receives either one gore or two hoof attacks, chosen at character creation. The gore attack is a primary natural attack, dealing 1d6 piercing damage. The hoof attacks are secondary natural attacks that deal 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage. This trait replaces the Lesser Spell-like Abilities trait.

Sylvan Proficiencies(1rp): This faun grew up on a more martial
lifestyle, learning the arms of his ancestors rather than the intricacies of social grace. A faun with this trait receives proficiency in the scimitar and shortbow. This trait replaces the sociable trait.

Reckless Beastman (2rp): This faun throws caution to the wind and embraces the choas of life, rushing face-first into all his problems. A faun with this racial trait gains a +10 to his movement speed. This trait replaces the Pan's Performance and Skill Training traits.


Cyrad wrote:
You're not using the race building rules properly here. Damage reduction is a monstrous trait. It gives Perception as class skills and no ability score penalty, which makes the race in of itself..

I'm aware, but the Faun is supposed to have that damage reduction naturally and otherwise qualifies for it as a Fey, that's why I chopped it down to 2 like in the Faun monster entry, rather than keeping the DR5/cold iron.

As for the abilities, Flexible is in the rules and any brewed race can take it. Azata-born Aasimars have the same bonuses as my version of the Faun, so I see no reason to change it.

In the ARG:
Flexible (2 RP): Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to any two ability scores.

Notice is says "any" two abilities and no penalties are listed, so I'm not using that one wrong, and I'm not changing it.


I've wanted to play a Satyr for a long time now, but since they are CR 4 it seemed like a terrible choice. Then I read the passage on their weaker, more benevolent cousins, the Fauns. CR 1? Meant that a race was easier to build from, but I need to see if it needs to be tweaked (Mainly because Racial Points are a very lopsided system and it's sometimes hard to tell if what you're making is feasible).

Faun Race (15rp)

Type: Fey (2rp)
Low-light Vision (0rp)

Size: Medium (0rp)

Speed: Normal (30ft) 0rp

Abilities: Flexible (+2 Dex, +2Cha) 2rp

Languages: Standard 0rp
*Common and Sylvan. May Learn Elven, Aklo, Draconic, Gnome, Giant, Goblin, Celestial with sufficient Intelligence.

Defensive Traits

Lucky, Lesser (2rp)
+1 to all Saving throws.

Fey Damage Reduction (3rp)
DR 5/Cold Iron

Skill Traits

Sociable (1rp)
Use Diplomacy again after a -5 failure to try to change the person's outlook about you again within 24 hours of the failure.

Skill Training (1rp)
Perform and Perception always class skills

Magic Traits

Spell-Like Ability, Lesser (2rp)
Hideous Laughter and Sleep.

Spell-like Ability, At-Will (2rp)
Ghost Sound.

I know the DR is too high (Fauns are supposed to have DR 2/Cold Iron, not DR 5/Cold Iron) but I wasn't sure if I should've reduced it to one racial point or two for the downgrade. I threw in Lucky, Lesser because their saves on the stat page is pretty high. I left out Panpipes because it seems pointless when you'll be getting class levels.
Should I remove anything? Add Anything? Is it too strong?


Cyrad wrote:
David Neilson wrote:

Honestly I remember them, but I see Sword and Board as well as Reach as more subschools of TWF and THF, respectively. Arguably grapple might better be conceived as a subschool of combat maneuvers however.

I honestly do not think they will ever do a THF with still doing spell combat without a severe penalty. I have not played it, but I honestly think you can probably be fairly solid with a magus using a THF style build. You just need to focus on casting spells with more charges than shocking grasp.

Also it should be pointed out that still arcana and still metamagic let you mix in a style going for a big single hit. Which given this is a 3/4 Bab class is a somewhat viable option until level eight or so.

That said I would like some more stuff for the Magus, but honestly they have a really good tool kit already. Maybe, maybe an arcana or archetype that lets you open up some of the brawler options would be interesting, especially if it retained spell recall.

Also maybe a little clarification on the swashbuckling arcana.

I agree that THF magus is doable. However, people generally just want more options to encourage builds other than the boring scimitar business. I've seen GMs ban the magus class, not because they think it's overpowered, but because they're so sick of every magus having the same build.

My GM allowed me to use Bastard Sword as the basis for my magus build. Not that hullabaloo about casting a spell and swinging the sword TH because it was a free action, rather that if I used Monstrous Physique to turn into anything with more than two arms, I could use the extra hands for somatic and use two hands on the sword. Was this too broken? According to the only guy who had seen a Dervish Build he said it turned out about the same strength...


Hey guys! I am running a Katapesh-based campaign next week with a heavy focus on slavery themes (one PC is an Eagle Knight in training, etc).

I planned on making an arena fight viewable to the PCs early on to make the place seem exotic and exciting and want to make a Mwangi Daring Champion the star of the arena.

Anyways, looking through the weapons for a more interesting exotic weapon, I thought the concept of the Shotel was very fun, reaching around shields with a curved blade, but the weapon seems a little lackluster. I was possibly thinking of homebrewing a double-state style where it can deal slashing damage or piercing, but only piercing against shielded opponents. Or perhaps the ability to ignore shield AC altogether...or a trip feature.

Should I? Would it be better to just leave it? I really think it would be fun.


My girlfriend's first character in pathfinder was a Tiefling Druid (I know...weird, she insisted.) and so I made her main companion an Aasimar archery Bard.

They were constantly at odds but eventually found common ground and fell in love and such...was fun because I found it really easy to play suave through him even though I'm not like that in real life.

The epilogue had them stay together, but we never specified children. I would toy with the idea that their children become normal humans (hah!), but in all honesty it would probably be random.


I've been wondering about Brawler's Cunning and its applications to roleplay. I am aware that functionally it has no connection to skills, powers or interests of the brawler, but I am curious nonetheless.

If I played a brawler with 7, 8, or 10 intelligence, would you as a GM allow me to play him as a more-than-intelligent person because of his unorthodox cunning? Would you limit it merely to that he can read others' fighting styles as an intelligent person, or would it merely mean he has a different way of seeing things?


I posted this to reddit's Pathfinder_RPG subreddit, but it hasn't garned much attention, so let me know what you guys think!

"Hey guys! so after reading through the Treesinger Archetype, I was enchanted at the interesting idea, my mind swirling with the possibility of playing as a treant from early levels.
This was only to find out that it's not that good. Only one viable companion, really, and the wildshape is one of the worst in all the archetypes. But it got me thinking on a way to make it a more viable option, and I have a few home-rule ideas that I'd like some help deciding.

  • The Treant companion should have AC bonus at least equal to Ankylosaurus, it's made of wood for Christ's sake. Starts at AC +9 Natural Armor Bonus and gets an additional +2 at 4th level. It would be otherwise identical to its RAW version.
  • The Druid's wild shape should start off with the constrict and poison abilities, and mostly advances with sizes. 6th level they can go Tiny or Large, 8th they can go Huge or Dimunutive, 10th level still functions as Plant Shape III but then they can become a Gargantuan plant, and at 14th they gain all special abilities of any plant they take the shape of. This should make them worthwhile considering they cannot even take elemental forms with their wild shape.
  • In case the above wild shape is considered too powerful, we could leave it as it is, but merely allow them to adopt the elemental forms as according to the original wild shape, as the normal plant forms are interesting, but the only powerful ones are better.

What do you guys think? Personally, I think giving them bigger forms than a common druid on the Plant spectrum is a fair trade for no animals and elementals but maybe I'm being misguided. Would this make them too strong? Should the Treant not be so tough? Should they even change and I overlooked some great ability/options they have?"


Aelryinth wrote:

Not exactly true. It's been forged at low temperatures. It's a little different now then in PF.

Cold iron originally just meant 'steel', any iron worked on the fey, it was a sign of civilization and science.

You could probably conflate Azlanti steel as being alchemically treated adamantium that ALSO counts as cold iron...which would fit the anti-magic vibe of adamantium, as well.

Since Mithral counts as silver, makes thematic sense, too.

==Aelryinth

This, man.

Maybe forged in a lost form of alchemical "cold fire" that made it more plyable without heating it into steel. Figure out how to make a cold fusion fire and you can craft it yourself.


Based off Damascus Steel.

Long ago, the powerful, Lawful Azlanti Empire ruled over the world. Constantly battling demons, elves and sleuths of arcane enemies, the mighty empire found itself with a new weapon, a way to make cold iron stronger. Using a secret process they created Azlanti Steel, allowing an Azlanti swordsman to never have to switch blades in battle again!

Azlanti Steel is wave-covered cold iron that has been heated in such a way it created microtubes within that strengthened on the whole. Any weapon made with this material is automatically masterwork, and bypasses DR as both Cold Iron and Adamantine.

Azlanti Steel forging cannot be learned by any but the most powerful of crafters, and even they must search for years to uncover the process. Due to this, under normal circumstances, an Azlanti steel weapon cannot be commissioned, bought or crafted, it must be found. Despite this, any unenchanted Azlanti Steel weapon may be enchanted as a common masterwork weapon of its kind.

What do you guys guys think? Broken? Pointless? Any Suggestions on changes?


I plan on making a Slashing Grace, TWF Daring Champion character, wielding the Scimitar with either a kukri or second scimitar in off-hand.

My question is if I can apply Dex damage to my scimitars, do I need dual slice to apply it for the off-hand? Would it be unbalanced to not require it?


Thanks for the answers. I can now build a true Dervish!


So nowhere in the lettering does it say that the Daring Champion needs a free hand for champion's finesse. So can they dual wield and maintain champion's finesse?

Also, does slashing grace require a free hand? Could I dual wield scimitar with this build?


Cmh wrote:
Trumoi wrote:

So I was just reading Guide to River Kingdoms and read all about Sevenarches. It seems awesome and already spoke to GM about the idea of taking our party to the River Kingsoms in general, starting in Sevenarches as we're travelling up from Inner Sea.

The problem is my Magus is a half-elf. Now the GM will allow theAdvanced Race Guide half-elf specific spell that can disguise me as a full human if need be but I read enough ahead to know why Elves are not allowed in Sevenarches.

So my magus would count as an elf and be susceptible to the issue in Sevenarches (not saying what it is so as to not spoil it for others who have not read/played it) but would he be barred from entering too. The Oakstewards know why it would be bad for him to enter but would the border patrols and so forth???

If I remember right they mention the cause in the book Stalking the Beast basically** spoiler omitted **

I'm aware, it's just I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion on what should happen


So I was just reading Guide to River Kingdoms and read all about Sevenarches. It seems awesome and already spoke to GM about the idea of taking our party to the River Kingsoms in general, starting in Sevenarches as we're travelling up from Inner Sea.

The problem is my Magus is a half-elf. Now the GM will allow theAdvanced Race Guide half-elf specific spell that can disguise me as a full human if need be but I read enough ahead to know why Elves are not allowed in Sevenarches.

So my magus would count as an elf and be susceptible to the issue in Sevenarches (not saying what it is so as to not spoil it for others who have not read/played it) but would he be barred from entering too. The Oakstewards know why it would be bad for him to enter but would the border patrols and so forth???


Kazaan wrote:
I should point out that this strongly breaks precedent regarding humanoid+non-humanoid breeding. In almost all cases I've found, Humanoid + Other Type yields a Humanoid type offspring. For example, Dhampir (Humanoid + Undead) and Changeling (Humanoid + Monstrous Humanoid). The only cases I came across where the offspring inherited the non-Humanoid type were those handled by templates; Half-Fiend, Half-Celestial, and Half-Dragon. You may want to take that into consideration.

As Toujours pointed out, it's based on a Race from 3.5 that was canon and they type changed to Fey. However there is another reason for it. Firstly, the Fey are from the First World and so I thought it would be better for the character to be akin to Tiefling, Aasimar, Suli and so on, in that the overpowering otherwordly blood wins over. Secondly, I wanted my players to have the chance to actually be a Fae, perhaps a humanoid-looking Fae, but a Fae mechanically. The closest we have is Gnome and some players wanted to be medium size and pointed out how many Medium Fae there are. So I dug up this old race and adapted it in a balanced manner.


Toujours wrote:

If I recall the template this is based on correctly the Feytouched template changes the creatures typing to fey. I see no real problem with that here. I also recall them being immune to mind-affecting effects and having a spell-like ability or two.

All together I'd put it somewhere around the Tiefling if you tacked on a bonus against mind-affecting effects. Maybe drop the speed down to standard. Honestly I don't have much experience with non-core races as my games are usually core only so I may be in the wrong ball park.

According to the Advanced Race Guide, this character Race is equal to 11rp, same as a dwarf. A tiefling is rated at 13rp, so you would be correct as Elven Immunities(the closest racial ability to Fae Immunities) is 2rp, so if added it would be the same level. You could just as well drop the speed, but I wanted to make a more unique, swift human rather than the oh-so-typical drop a magic immunity on the race and call it a day.

Of course, Faetouched are usually made, not bred, so they could have a very versatile amount of racial traits to choose from...


dragonhunterq wrote:
Nope, An assassin never loses any abilities at all. Even if they open an orphanage and a shelter for neglected unicorns they still retain all of their training.

That is AWESOME! Thanks for your help stranger!


Hey y'all! So I was going to run a new one-shot that may possibly expand into an small episodic game for some buddies at work and was planning on focusing on thieves in Daggermark, just using their guild wars as the main plot of the story.

I wanted to make a guild all my own that I was going to entitle the Merry Men of Mialee. Though it sounds like the perfect guild for a Mysterious Avenger or a Hooded Champion, I wanted it to be a bit more unique and be led by a former Assassin.

I know that if a Paladin falls from the path of good and becomes an ex-Paladin he keeps all martial abilities and loses his divine gifts, right? So what about a reformed assassin?

I assume the thing that would make the most sense is he could technically keep all the skills except True Death and Angel of Death, right? Or should it be that he loses all instances of Death Attack and its connected abilities?


Feel free to post your own variants for other core and even other races. And if it seems like something does not quite fit, let me know!

Feytouched (11rp), Pathfinder Variant Race

Abilities: +2DEX, +2CHA, -2CON (0rp) Taken directly from the 3.5 race of the same name, the Feytouched human is inherently charismatic and dextrous due to the influence of the illusory spritely fey, but suffers from their frailty to a degree as well.

Size: Medium (0rp) As they still appear human in almost every respect, and are usually born human, the Feytouched remain medium size.

Speed: Fast, 40ft (1rp) Spritely and much lighter on their feet than common humans, the Feytouched are inherently faster than common races.

Type: Fey (2rp) Though usually born humans, Feytouched are considered, by all technical purposes, to be more related to fey than humans, and as such only inherit the Fey type.

Low-light Vision (1rp) All fey-type races are gifted with low-light vision.

Flexible Bonus Feat (4rp) Though now in fact Fey, the Feytouched still have the versatility in skills and choices as their human forebearers. This, teamed with the fey's inherent unique and chaotic natures, causes the Feytouched to be just as likely to pick up extra feats, and may take any feat they meet the prerequisites for as a bonus feat.

Multitalented: +1 to HP/lvl and Skills/lvl(2rp) Though they inherit the flexibility of their human forebearers, fey are quick to latch onto that which they enjoy and cast all other pursuits aside. Due to this, fey only decide on two possible favoured classes and gain the bonuses when levelling up these classes.

Languages: Linguist, Common and Sylvan (1rp) The Feytouched are either born with an inherent understanding of Sylvan, taught it at a young age by fellow Feytouched or learn it prior to receiving their racial boon from the Fey.

Favored Classes: Bard, Sorcerer, Oracle, Ranger or Rogue. Feytouched Clerics are not uncommon but typically follow nature-bound deities.

I have yet to think of Favoured Class bonuses, alternate languages or alternate racial traits (mainly used ARG to create this template) but if you want to contribute, critique or correct, let me know!


If I gain the Eldritch heritage feat, could I ever gain a Bloodrager bloodline? If not, is it particularly unbalanced?

I know that the Society and basic rules would not allow it but I wanted to make a fey-blooded Ranger character from Sevenarches and did not want to dip into sorcerer or bloodrager. I know that there bloodline powers are meant to only be used during a bloodrage but is there any way to make a house rule that could give me access without breaking balance?


Steve Geddes wrote:

I think it depends on what your motivation is. Do you want to write something that gets used by lots of people? Or do you specifically want to expand upon the five kings mountains stuff?

Going the CUP route lets you use much more of paizo's IP but imposes restrictions - not charging for it and not becoming a publisher being the obvious ones. Producing something under the OGL/PF Compatibility license means it's by necessity more generic, but that leaves you more options, down the track.

Well, merely that the idea I had for a subrace of dwarves, that still functions as it's own race rather than a set of racial traits, would be used by players who love dwarves and their lore and flavour, but might not want to play only heavy armoured, tanking classes.

A faster dwarf, maybe more naturally charismatic or possibly less lawful. Something to rock a dwarven ranger, rogue or bard in, so people who enjoy both can have a character with good functions of each without breaking down the balance.

For this the idea was flavorfully compatible with the Five Kings Mountains, and the two could thrive together, but it is not dependent, so if I had to pick, I would rather be a bit more vague and generic so that anyone could use the subrace in tandem with their version of dwarves.


Hey guys! I'm just bored, watched Battle of Five Armies a second time, and wanted to have some fun with anyone willing. Needless to say, I was wondering if anyone else had contemplated what classes the members of the dwarf company from "The Hobbit" films would be?

I don't mean "Thorin: Fighter, Kili: Ranger" etc. etc...I mean which archetypes fits their style from the movie best? How would they be built, how would you supplement their weapons? So forth?

I'm thinking...

Thorin: Tactician Fighter.

Dwalin: Standard Fighter. (He uses like three different fighting styles)

Kili: Skirmisher Ranger.

Fili: On the fence between Two-Weapon Warrior or Spell-less Two-Weapon Ranger. I mean, he's sneaky and scout-like, but is really fierce and uses his two giant seaxes more than any of his other weapons...

Balin: Two-Handed Fighter, maybe with a level or two in Aristocrat.

Bofur/Bifur/Bombur: All miners, ergo mainly Expert class with a level or two in fighter, maybe.

Gloin: Foehammer or Two-Handed Fighter.

Nori: Scout Rogue, perhaps?

Dori/Ori: Aristocrats or Experts probably, not really combatants.

Oin: Finally, we have the tough one, Oin is the healer of the group and wields a staff in battle, and though he defenitely has more in common with a fighter, He needs to be trained in Heal skill, right?

Correct me if any seem wrong, or add your own and show me how bad I am at picking.


Steve Geddes wrote:
Trumoi wrote:
gamer-printer wrote:

While staying reasonably within Golarion's flavor is a smart way to go, you can't actually use, place, nor mention Golarion as that is Paizo's official IP and not OGL. You need to stay OGL.

You might look at Rite Publishing In the Company of..." series of racial supplements for inspiration, which seem to along the same lines as what you're looking to do yourself. You might use any one of those guides as a template. Especially some of the more recent guides like In the Company of Tengu which include IC description of race, customs, relations, religion, then racial and alternate racial traits, favored class options, racial archetypes for various classes, feats, spells, weapons and items. Most of the Rite Publishing guides include a racial paragon class, which a custom 20 level class focused on the strengths and weaknesses of a given race.

Thanks for the Advice! Even though it will almost definitely be released for free (if we ever finish it) you may still have saved us from a unsettling email, I was planning on possibly expanding on the Five Kings Mountains, but you're right, I should describe everything vaguely anyways so they fit more easily into custom settings. (I imagine that is where it would be use most anyways, right?)
If you're not planning on charging for it (at all) and you're not planning on becoming a publisher, you would be able to produce a sourcebook referencing some of Paizo's IP (presumably including the Five Kings Mountains, as Dwarves of Golarion is on the Community Use Approved Product List) via their Community Use Policy.

THanks for clearing that up, still not entirely sure though, might benefit more to not reference and leave our materials more open-ended so they can be easily utilized in custom setting too right? I love Golarion, but not everyone plays in it.


Ciaran Barnes wrote:
If all four of you have ideas, all four of you should write. Some more, some less. Exchange writings. Even if you are the head writer, someone else might have some great ideas that don't materialize until the words are written. Same with editing. Even if your pal is head editor, your artist or GF might catch an error or have an idea based off of someone else's idea. You want a document that looks nice. Find some software that you like and start creating mock-ups of different looks. Try different fonts, backgrounds, colors, etc.

Good point, although I was thinking we'd be collaborating constantly, merely that those would be our main jobs. As I said, I might also draw up some weapons, and my editor buddy, along with my girlfriend and cousin, are all going to look over my ideas and decide if they sound balanced, flavourful and worthwhile. This will be a team effort, just saying our main talents.


gamer-printer wrote:

While staying reasonably within Golarion's flavor is a smart way to go, you can't actually use, place, nor mention Golarion as that is Paizo's official IP and not OGL. You need to stay OGL.

You might look at Rite Publishing In the Company of..." series of racial supplements for inspiration, which seem to along the same lines as what you're looking to do yourself. You might use any one of those guides as a template. Especially some of the more recent guides like In the Company of Tengu which include IC description of race, customs, relations, religion, then racial and alternate racial traits, favored class options, racial archetypes for various classes, feats, spells, weapons and items. Most of the Rite Publishing guides include a racial paragon class, which a custom 20 level class focused on the strengths and weaknesses of a given race.

Thanks for the Advice! Even though it will almost definitely be released for free (if we ever finish it) you may still have saved us from a unsettling email, I was planning on possibly expanding on the Five Kings Mountains, but you're right, I should describe everything vaguely anyways so they fit more easily into custom settings. (I imagine that is where it would be use most anyways, right?)


Myself, a friend, my cousin and possibly my girlfriend might all be thinking of putting our talents together to create a little, free download pdf sourcebook for the Pathfinder RPG, entitled "Dwarves Expanded".

I know this may seem strange coming from me, I've only been playing Pathfinder for a few months and am asking rule questions on the blog all the time, but I have played D&D since I was a wee 12-year-old lad and warhammer even before that. My first-ever tabletop RPG character was a Dwarf Fighter in 3.5, and since I was young, I loved the Dwarf Race in fantasy.

As I got older, taller and grew into my features, losing my round face, I started to look and feel more akin to an elf, or half-elf. Lithe, lanky and tall, I lost my connection with the dwarves of my old perspective. However, after the recent Hobbit films, and heavily due to Fili and Thorin (in that order) I've fallen back in love with dwarves again, as those two have shown me how versatile the race could be.

That being said, is it just me, or do dwarves, who are typically hailed as the greatest craftsman in fantasy, not have enough content? Not just in terms of the fact they lack a fair amount of armors, having only Dwarven Plate as far as I've seen, but also given only so many options for how to build one, typically almost entirely leaning to heavily armoured fighters?

Either way, I wanted to write some things for dwarves, possibly add a new race of their humanoid subtype, like a duergar variant or new type of dwarf, add in some new weapons, shields, armours...maybe an archetype or two if I can figure out good balancing and have time to write some up. These would all attempt to stay reasonably within Golarion's flavour, I would not want to create something so out of the setting that no GM would want it, or that would ruin the race. I just want something to, well, expand on the dwarves with.

Anyways, anyone have any tips, tricks, or advice for us? Maybe someone will tell me it's a dumb idea and we should not waste the time? I plan on writing, my friend will edit, my cousin is an artist, my girlfriend would help with art assets and possibly the graphic design. I may also draw the weapons because that's the only thing I can draw. Anyways, thoughts? Feelings? Condemnations?


So in the description in the book and multiple comments I have seen here on the boards, the Spell-less Ranger is said to have 5 favoured terrains and 6 favoured enemies, but the chart for their special abilities it only goes up to 4 terrains, 5 enemies, like a normal ranger.

Did I miss something?


TempusAvatar wrote:

Have lists ready.

Players always head off the and want to check out the unmarked doors. Don't let them see that there's nothing beyond the scope of the story.

You don't need to have everything in the background running and completely simulated, but you should be ready to answer some questions that don't have answers yet.

Have a few lists of things like names for random people or businesses. Have some random encounters at the ready. What makes this inn different from the one down the street?

There have been some published books in the past that are made expressly for this purpose. I have one published during the 3.5 era called Toolbox. It has great lists for when you instantly need things like encounters, ship names, dungeon dressing, market stall goods, and more.

This is actually my Achilles' heel when I write fiction. I over-plan settings and use up all my creativity before I get the ball rolling. In this case it'll come in handing.


That Other Guy wrote:

A lot of GM's have many different styles, so some good values of successful GM's to emulate might be the best way I can help you:

-Confidence: if you don't believe the reality you are setting forth, none of your players can jump in either. Even if you make a GM fumble, you must believe in yourself.
-Know it ALL: Everything.
-Your nPC's, however, SHOULDN'T
-Know your role: you are their narrator, not their enemy
-Know your players' premise: Every player has a different reason why they play this expansive game. Learn what that is for each of them, and then press the right buttons.
-Strive for engagement, then immersion: once you know their buttons, give them goals inside of their premise, then bring their heads into the clouds with you.
-On immersion: describe every thing concisely, but as if you had a blind person passing with your group. And engage all 5 senses, ESPECIALLY SMELL.
-Flexibility: make your stories as comprehensive, thrilling, and grandiose as your want, but be ready to alter or abandon them, preferring the party's decisions.
-make the party's decisions matter: instead of writing the full story, make the cast have motivations, and have all of the cast advance in time, at the same rate as the PC's. Refer to Brewer's guide to GM'ing

Hope this helped

I agreed with and knew about everything except that you are right, I always forget to include certain sounds and smells. Thanks for the reminder, I'll be sure to describe the rotting stench of a zombie's dislodged eyeballs to them while making squishing noises with my mouth!


chbgraphicarts wrote:

It sounds like the rules for Exploration & Movement and the rules for Downtime would help you.

This sounds like the makings of a globe-trotting campaign, so be prepared to have characters go around the world to various locales - maybe look at the various campaign settings in Golarion for inspiration. Depending on how magically-inclined the world is, flying ships may or may not be commonplace, and could be a cool base of operations for the party.

Also, let the players guide the story. Unless you're in college or something where summer break really messes with people being present, a JRPG-style campaign that is semi-railroading isn't great.

I prefer running Sandbox campaigns, personally, since it puts all of the pressure on the party to make decisions, and allows them to determine the course of events - it also lets me as a DM make stuff up on the fly, and not have to be concerned with them hitting certain points in a pre-constructed story.

Finally, familiarize yourself with fringe rules, like duels, chases, etc., just to be prepared. Don't get bogged down with using too many variants, though, if it's your first time DM'ing.

Thanks for the help, had no considered airships and in all honesty I did not realize how JRPG my story idea was. But yes I played Sandboxes before and the only place that I would advise them not to go to is Raydia itself. The rest of the entire world is up for grabs. Already got like ten companions for the setting that will help me.


First I'd like to say thank you to the different people who have helped me out and given me advice and suggestions before. The Pathfinder community on the whole seems a lot more friendly and welcoming then the Wizards of the Coast was, though maybe it was just my experience.

So for the first time I will be doing a five-person group campaign of Pathfinder! I have done a one-on-one run of Kingmaker, where me and my player have been multiple characters, and I've been a party member with friends but never a GM for a full-fledged group, and now I finally get to with some friends from work, my girlfriend and my aforementioned partner-in-crime.

That being said, the three friends from work have never played Pathfinder, and so I was wracking my brain trying to think up a campaign idea for them. One of the hardest parts about starting out with Pathfinder was choosing a class. I loved playing a Bard, a Ranger, and a Paladin before, but it took me a little while until I found true love with my character Tobias, a Caydenite Brawler. Due to this, I wanted my new players to try out some different classes, but not overwhelm them with the variety right off the bat, so I put this list together:

'The Loyalists' Campaign
Prince(ss) ANE (Alchemist, Bard, Rogue, Witch)
Mercenary CN(Archer, Polearm, Tower Shield, Two Weapon)
Guardian AG(Bloodrager, Cavalier, Paladin, Warpriest)
Apprentice AN (Arcanist, Magus, Sorcerer, Wizard)
Acolyte AG (Cleric, Druid, Oracle, Shaman)
Spy CG (Inquisitor, Knife Master, Poisoner, Rogue)

The campaign will take place in the kingdom of Raydia, our Kingmaker-made country, some 100 years after its founding. The players select a role in the story based off of a personality I describe to them. They choose a character and role in the story that is not locked in by gender or race, as Raydia is all-inclusive in culture. There's an upheaval, the Prince/Princess is usurped by a noble tyrant and must escape the kingdom temporarily with their retinue of companions from the palace, train to be strong enough, return and overthrow the evil King!

Pretty standard stuff, but I was curious what you guys thought and wanted to know if you had any tips for a still-newbie GM?


Cap. Darling wrote:
Trumoi wrote:
Cap. Darling wrote:
Trumoi wrote:
I'm surprised that paizo has no archetype for this, but I once read somewhere that what the Germanic tribes called "Berserkers"...

Where did you read that?

And isent the brutal pugilist somthing of a unarmed barbarian?
I think Martial flex, wile good, is nothing compared to rage and rage powers and my brawler would Exchange all the flex for normal rage and 2 rage powers( one at 6 and one at 12 pehaps) in a heart beat.

Brutal Pugilist does not have scaling unarmed strike, which is the main thing I want. I picture the character being an Ulfen/Celt/Viking punching straight through helmet, skull and brain while laugh hysterically. I want high, high unarmed damage and the ability to overcome DR with it.

I have yet to try a barbarian as it's not my particular flavour, so I can't comment on the difference in strength between it and flex. But I have used flex to an incredible extent on my brawler so far by taking a bunch of base feats like combat expertise and deflect arrows and it has made him extremely adaptable to each encounter.

That being said, you're probably right. Maybe give away his bonus feats for rage powers as well? Flex and feats sounds like a fair trade for Rage and its powers, right?

EDIT: oh and I have no idea where I read it, was when I was like fourteen so maybe I'm remembering wrong or I just read it from a bad source. Though the idea of a raging brawler has been around before, for a long time in fiction at least. Though brutal pugilist has a lot of merit too considering Vikings and many other socieities had their own wrestling styles (like 'Glima' for the VIkings).

I the brutal pugilist have some sort or scaling damage since his str is increasing with the better rage types and he can power attack more safety compared to the normal brawler.

The berserkers( there are Many legende about berserkers usually they are sort of elite warriors that can go berserk they are more or less the base line...

Oh I was not talking about Germanic Berserkers, which is where the name comes from, I was using them to say there was an equivalent in the Iron Age when the Celts had clans everywhere from Scotland to Turkey to Spain. The Celts already fought naked, screaming and flailing about while keeping heads as trophies, but when I was younger I remembering hearing about that the largest of the Celts would fight with just their fists to further-prove their bravery. It was from the Celts, not the Berserkers, that I thought of the Brawlbarian. I just nicknamed it Berserker because the Celts had no name for their unarmed psychos.


Cap. Darling wrote:
Trumoi wrote:
I'm surprised that paizo has no archetype for this, but I once read somewhere that what the Germanic tribes called "Berserkers"...

Where did you read that?

And isent the brutal pugilist somthing of a unarmed barbarian?
I think Martial flex, wile good, is nothing compared to rage and rage powers and my brawler would Exchange all the flex for normal rage and 2 rage powers( one at 6 and one at 12 pehaps) in a heart beat.

Brutal Pugilist does not have scaling unarmed strike, which is the main thing I want. I picture the character being an Ulfen/Celt/Viking punching straight through helmet, skull and brain while laugh hysterically. I want high, high unarmed damage and the ability to overcome DR with it.

I have yet to try a barbarian as it's not my particular flavour, so I can't comment on the difference in strength between it and flex. But I have used flex to an incredible extent on my brawler so far by taking a bunch of base feats like combat expertise and deflect arrows and it has made him extremely adaptable to each encounter.

That being said, you're probably right. Maybe give away his bonus feats for rage powers as well? Flex and feats sounds like a fair trade for Rage and its powers, right?

EDIT: oh and I have no idea where I read it, was when I was like fourteen so maybe I'm remembering wrong or I just read it from a bad source. Though the idea of a raging brawler has been around before, for a long time in fiction at least. Though brutal pugilist has a lot of merit too considering Vikings and many other socieities had their own wrestling styles (like 'Glima' for the VIkings).


CHEEPENBULKY wrote:
Trumoi wrote:
CHEEPENBULKY wrote:
Ciaran Barnes wrote:
I would add features to the barbarian instead.

I came to the same conclusion.

so here is an extremely rough draft: The Arvernian

For now i pretty much just slapped some brawler abilities onto a barbarian. This could be broken as all get out, but it lays the ground work.

I like the ground work but we don't seem to take any penalty in order to gain Avernian Strike or Av Cunning. Maybe remove fast movement or something?
av cunning i gave for free, as a gimme for the loss of armor proficiency. as for the strike, i have no clue what to give up to get it... but it is definitely a must.

I didn't not notice the armor proficiency, my bad.

As for giving something up for Brawler's strike, you're right, it's tough because there are no spells or other over-arching abilities the Barbarian has that are constant level-to-level. Although the main reason I brought it up as a Brawler archetype was I thought it would be easier to work in and keep balanced.

You and Ciaran Barnes both said you'd prefer making it Barbarian instead, but I was not clear on why that was easier. Could you explain?


christos gurd wrote:
This sounds like a multiclass archetype, imagine this will be in the works. Tht being said if you would like, you can make a request on the thread and we can help flesh it out.

Would love for some help with that!

As I said, it's not that I could not draw up an archetype myself, I even used to homebrew (mostly) balanced classes back in 3.5, but I'm new to PFRPG and so I don't want to try and build something and overlook an ability or rule that might make the class too broken.

If anyone else wants a go at it, I would love to see!


CHEEPENBULKY wrote:
Ciaran Barnes wrote:
I would add features to the barbarian instead.

I came to the same conclusion.

so here is an extremely rough draft: The Arvernian

For now i pretty much just slapped some brawler abilities onto a barbarian. This could be broken as all get out, but it lays the ground work.

I like the ground work but we don't seem to take any penalty in order to gain Avernian Strike or Av Cunning. Maybe remove fast movement or something?


I'm surprised that paizo has no archetype for this, but I once read somewhere that what the Germanic tribes called "Berserkers" had a similar equivalent in the old Celt empire, where the largest Celts would sometimes not only fight naked but unarmed.

This gave me the idea for the Brawlbarian, where we could trade Martial Flexibility for Rage and Rage Powers, as well as possibly increasing hit dice to d12 but then making it so the character only rages when not wearing armor.

Pretty simple idea so not worth making a formal archetype on it myself, lazy and all but any of you are obviously welcome to, but curious as to what everyone thinks. I'm still fairly new and am not sure if this is too broken or too soft or if it's just meaningless.

Is Brawlbarian a good archetype concept?


Checking out tripod machine's Beastmaster class, I was interested in it, mainly for the flavour. I was planning on teaming my beastmaster with a friend's skinchanger and I was curious:

"Battle Roar (Ex)

Starting at 5th level, the beastmaster can unleash a powerful cry as a standard action. Any allied animals within 60 feet who can see or hear the beastmaster gains a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and saves versus fear, while non-allied animals become frightened."

Does the +1 morale bonus apply to Skinchangers/Druids using wildshape? Or only true animals?


Thanks for the answers!


Calth wrote:
Trumoi wrote:

Soon I will be starting the Kingmaker campaign with a friend of mine, his character being the main focus of the story and mine being his childhood friend and tag-along companion. We have a whole party planned and also plan for the campaign to be a long one.

Now, my character is definitely starting as a Brawler, but as within the setting he is a brother to a Sorcerer character, I was toying with the idea of giving him at least a few levels in Bloodrager. My question would be if this is a viable choice, and if so, what would be the ideal balance between the two classes' levels?

Bloodrager is really not an ideal dipping class, at that point its just pretty much a downgrade from dipping barbarian. Honestly, its a poor multiclass candidate period since the vast majority of its abilities are class-level based. If you want to do something, I would recommend going after the Eldritch Heritage featline instead.

Much appreciated, I was looking for Bloodline-based Prestige Classes but none were to be found. So naturally my thoughts turned to Bloodrager as the two big B's of the Advanced Class Guide are two of my favourite character flavours. Was not even aware of the Eldritch Heritage featline, thanks a billion!


Soon I will be starting the Kingmaker campaign with a friend of mine, his character being the main focus of the story and mine being his childhood friend and tag-along companion. We have a whole party planned and also plan for the campaign to be a long one.

Now, my character is definitely starting as a Brawler, but as within the setting he is a brother to a Sorcerer character, I was toying with the idea of giving him at least a few levels in Bloodrager. My question would be if this is a viable choice, and if so, what would be the ideal balance between the two classes' levels?


So it says the Stag Lord's Armor is +1 leather with a bare chest, that despite the chest being bare it magically acts as leather armor and thus the wielder need not wear anything on their chest for the full AC bonus.

I wanted to know, as a new GM, is a character could wear something else that's specified to be only the chest? Like wearing a chainmail or mithral shirt over the chest and the Stag Lord's armor over the rest of his body? And if I would allow it, what kind of benefits and drawbacks should I add? Should it have a full +6 AC bonus with only the max Dex of the Shirt? Should I perhaps limit it to a +4 in total to make up for it? Or should I increase the check penalty instead?