Victor Von Fausten's page

I love archetypes, traits, and drawbacks because they make deep immersion storytelling even better. My personal favorite is a female halfling gunslinger that I'm playing who has the mysterious stranger archetype, courageous, freedom fighter and child of the streets traits, and loner drawback. It really fleshes her out and makes it easier to imagine her more fully. She also has the no name feat.

#1. Make Armor Class a more viable investment for later levels.

#2. Please God drag CMB/D behind the woodshed and Old Yeller it. Go back to opposed melee attack vs. Str/Dex check.

#3. Give fighters the marking ability from Fourth Edition (marked opponent takes a -2 penalty to attack not-you, moving away from you, even to 5' shift, provokes an opportunity attack), the fighter second wind from Fifth Edition (swift action, recover 1d10 + your fighter level HP on the spot, once per encounter tho), and possibly the fighter's BAB from d20 Munchkin (it starts at +2 and goes up, baby, up!!)

#4. Change Knock's range from Medium Range to "Touch; any traps on the object go off, that's your fault for not rolling a rogue."

#5. Add the Alchemist and Magus to the core rulebook classes. Alchemists are cool. Magi are cool.

#6. Everyone gets the equivalent of Spring Attack and Shot on the Run.

#7. Make feats a bit more meaningful than "+2 to two quasi-related skills."

#8. Ninth level should be The Return of First Edition D&D Name Levels.

#9. Fix the damn Jade Regent caravan rules. Those could have been so awesome if done properlike. Realizes that the caravan rules could be adapted for a stripped-down Pathfinder starfaring game.

#2 YES YES YES CMB/D is cumbersome and slows down the action unbearably.

A simulated game is a great way for a DM to test ideas, concepts, etc. I do it frequently in order to get a feel for what a class or creature is really capable of. It is actually something that I recommend to new DMs.

But then again I'm crazy and have papers to prove it, so my advice may not be the best.

Just go all in and call that first one the Crossroads domain. Good idea for a domain Victor.

Thank you, Yeah it is a little crossroads heavy, but what can I say, I've been a Blues and Robert Johnson fan for thirty some years now, and that song just kept running through my head when I was writing it.

Blues: Special ability; Commune - once per night - has to be at a crossroads and the caster must be alone. Heart of the fields and child of the streets are possible traits regardless of the character's race.
first level - command, second level = Ghostbane dirge, third level - Remove Blindness/Deafness, forth level - Spiritual Ally, fifth level - Raise dead, sixth level - Planar Ally, seventh level - Holy Word, eighth level - Planar ally greater, ninth level - miracle.

Ok, I admit this is heavily influenced by Robert Johnson and a lot of the early, at times dark at times light gospel influenced blues.

Folk: I'm going to dip into druid spells for these, American folk has gone through such drastic changes that I'm going to try to get my inspiration on this one from Celtic folk. Special ability; pass without trace at all times. First level - Calm Animals, second level - Gust of Wind, third level -meld into stone , fourth level - Freedom of Movement, fifth level - Control Winds, sixth level - Find the Path, seventh level - True Seeing, eighth level - Whirlwind, ninth level - Foresight.

Survival is a class skill.

I hope this is useful to you.

The Petmaster:

For whatever reason one or two players get everything and the game is designed around them while everyone else just watches and is expected to applaud the pet whenever he/she accomplishes something that was pre-ordained for him/her by the GM.

Sometimes you just have to pull the rotten tooth. If he has already been told that his behavior is ruining everyone else's fun and he refuses to change, then it is time to replace him.

Desert druid? I gleefully consider the "summon nature's ally" spell. It doesn't have to be a big one. How many poisonous scorpions can you dump into your enemies midst? Being a RP heavy campaign you will have all sorts of opportunities to use guile. Subtlety is a good mindset for a Druid. I know scorpions are not on the official list, but other poisonous arthropods are. You may have to speak with your DM to come up with more desert type creatures, but this is one of my favorite Druid spells, since it allows you to move on to the next action while the critter is still wailing away at whatever it is attacking. "Summon natures ally III" allows monitor lizard. Depending upon what level you are playing one or more of those suddenly appearing in the middle of your enemies could really screw up their day. One of the things that I learned playing a Druid is that small and subtle can be better in their hands than big and flashy. Let the arcane casters have the pyrotechnics, you have a lot of other tricks up your sleeve.