VoodooMike's page

As someone who really enjoys the Words of Power rules from Ultimate Magic, I really wish more work would be done to widen and refine them. I'm planning to suggest the following addition to the "Selected" target word:

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Boost: Instead of one target, the wordspell affects up to one target per caster level, no two of which can be more than 30 feet apart. The wordspell may not cause or cure damage, nor may it give any numeric bonuses or penalties, and selected targets must all be willing or the spell fails to affect them. The casting time of the wordspell is increased to 1 minute.

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The reason for this addition is that certain party utility spells simply fail to manifest as wordspells, such as Plane Shift, or are ridiculously overpriced, level wise, under wordspell rules, like party-wide Teleport. As a wordspell, Plane Shift can only be created using the Dimensional Shift effect word (level 7) but affects only one selected target.. boosting Selected to affect multiple targets, under base wordspell rules, ups the effect level by 3, making multiperson plane shift a level 10 (impossible) spell. I don't think the Words of Power rules are meant to make magic less useful overall, just to trade some level of per-spell power for improved versatility.

The minute-long casting time prevents the cheap (no level change) boost from being of any real use during combat, and the limitation on damage/healing prevents cheap mass cure spells and the like.

Does anyone see any issue with this addition? I'm mainly looking for potential wordspells where this additional boost option would create a significantly overpowerful effect.

Forums put your name on your posts already - you don't need to include a self-reference in the titles. It's tacky, desperate-looking, and unfortunately seems to be increasingly frequent.

If your ideas are good enough then people will acknowledge you and it without need for self-promotion.

Thanks in advance! xoxo

A little while ago someone inquired as to how they could run Pathfinder games without using maps and minis, and the consensus was either "you can't" or "wing it", more or less. It got me thinking, and the result is the following system. As always, feedback is welcome, and there's always room for improvement:

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NoMin Combat System
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The NoMin (No Miniatures) combat system is designed to allow groups to have a miniatures-free/no combat map based Pathfinder game without sacrificing the use of existing feats and combat maneuvers, and without giving up the strategic feel of the normal combat system.

NoMin does not use maps or miniatures, but does require a bit more mental book-keeping for the DM and players. It modifies how certain combat actions work, and introduces some new (optional) combat actions and feats. If the NoMin system is not being used exclusively, the feats should be completely ignored.

Relative Combat Conditions (RCCs)
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Relative Combat Conditions are a type of temporary condition that exists only in relation to one other combatant. These conditions may (and likely will) change, be added and be lost during the course of a combat. Each RCC that a combatant has is specific to one other combatant, and needs to be noted as such. For example, the "adjacent" RCC of Player 1 may be "adjacent to Orc 2". These RCCs are the basis for the NoMin system.

Combat Conditions
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[Far]

A combatant that is Far is not in the melee combat fray. This is a general Combat Condition rather than a Relative Combat Condition, as it applies to the combat as a whole. This condition affects certain movement and attack options.

[Close]

A combatant that is Close is near enough to other Close enemy combatants that they can be moved to with a 5-foot step. Like Far, this is a general Combat Condition, not relative to a specific enemy or ally.

[Adjacent] (RCC)

A combatant that is Adjacent to another combatant is within weapon's (or assistance) reach of that combatant.

[Guarding] (RCC)

A combatant that is guarding another combatant is actively attempting to prevent enemies from reaching and attacking the person they are guarding. Any movement that adds or removes the Close or Far conditions, or which removes the Adjacent RCC relative to the ally they are Guarding, removes the Guarding RCC. Being rendered prone also removes this RCC.

[Flanked]

Any combatant that is Adjacent to two or more enemies that are not denied their ability to threaten squares, is considered Flanked, as per the normal PF status.

Movement
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The following actions may be used for movement during combat.

[5-foot-step]

The NoMin 5-foot step follows the same rules as the normal PF 5-foot step. When a combatant uses a 5-foot step they may do one of the following:

- Give themselves and another combatant the Adjacent RCC, as long as both they and the target have the Close condition, or both they and the target have the Far condition and are allies.
- Remove the Adjacent RCC from themselves and another combatant as long as the acting combatant has a reach equal to or greater than that of the target combatant.

[Move Action]

Any movement action that uses a move action provokes attacks of opportunity from any enemy that is Adjacent to the acting combatant. The acting combatant has the option to use acrobatics to mitigate these attacks of opportunity.

- Trade the Far condition for the Close condition.
- Give themselves and another combatant the Adjacent RCC and the Close condition. This provokes attacks of opportunity from any combatant that is Guarding the target combatant.
- Trade the Close condition for the Far condition, and remove any Adjacent RCCs that he or she has. This provokes attacks of opportunity from any Adjacent combatants before the RCCs are removed.
- Give themselves the Guarding RCC relative to one target ally that is Adjacent.

[Full-Round Action]

- Trade the Close condition for the Far condition, and remove any adjacent RCCs that he or she has. This provkes attacks of opportunity from all but one (acting combatant's choice) Adjacent combatants before the RCCs are removed.

Attack and Casting actions
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Attack actions are carried out as normal. Any enemy that is Adjacent to an acting combatant is considered to be within melee range of any attacks. All enemies are considered to be within range of ranged attacks and spells (unless they are Far and the DM judges them to be *too* far for a given attack).

[Ranged Attacks]

Any target that is Adjacent to a combatant that is hostile to them, is considered to be engaged in melee combat for the sake of ranged attacks. Ranged attacks provoke attacks of opportunity from any Adjacent enemies.

[Spellcasting]

Any target that is Adjacent to a combatant that is hostile to them, is considered to be engaged in melee combat for the sake of ranged touch attacks. Spellcasting provokes attacks of opportunity from any Adjacent enemies unless the spell is cast defensively.

[Area Effect]

Any effect that affects an area (area spells, splash weapons, etc) must target a specific combatant. For each 5 feet of maximum width of an area effect (radius of a spell, or distance of a cone, or width of a line) an additional target that has the same distance condition as the original target (Close or Far) may be included as a target. Any combatants that are Adjacent to one of the targets of the effect is also affected. The combatant that is attacking with/casting the effect may choose to exclude one (only one) of the combatants that will be affected. In the case of splash attacks, the targetted combatants are affected by the primary effect and those Adjacent to them are affected by the secondary/splash effect.

Combat Maneuvers
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[Bull Rush]

- The bull rush maneuver gives the acting combatant the Close condition and removes the Far condition. It also gives them the Adjacent RCC relative to a target of his or her choice. If the maneuver is successful against the target, the acting combatant may choose to remove the Adjacent RCC between the target and any number of other combatants, including the acting combatant.

[Overrun]

- The overrun maneuver targets an enemy that is Guarding another enemy. If the maneuver is successful, the acting combatant gains the Close condition and the Adjacent condition relative to one of the combatants that the target was Guarding, but does not provoke an attack of opportunity in the process. If the target chooses to avoid you during your overrun attempt, that target also loses the Guarding RCC relative to the combatant you choose to become Adjacent to.

[Drag]

- If the maneuver succeeds you may remove one Adjacent RCC from the target (and the RCC's target) plus one additional Adjacent RCC for each 5 by which your attack exceeds the target's CMD. If your attack allows you to remove more than one Adjacent RCC, you may choose to apply and Adjacent RCC removal (except the first) to yourself instead. All other rules for the Drag maneuver remain the same.

[Reposition]

- The Reposition maneuver, if successful, allows you to force your target into the Adjacent RCC with any one other combatant that has the Close condition, or remove the Adjacent RCC from that target and the RCC's target. For each 5 by which your attack exceeds the target's CMD, you may force the target into (or out of) an additional Adjacent RCC (subject to the Close requirement). All other rules for the Reposition maneuver remain the same.

[Guarding]

- The Guarding RCC is entered into using a move action as detailed above. You may only be Guarding one target at a time. You grant the target of your Guarding with a +1 dodge bonus to AC, and may, as an immediate action, take an attack that is targetting your Guarding target. You must do this before the attack is rolled. The attack targets you instead. In the case of an area attack that allows a Reflex save, you are considered to have failed your save while the target of your guarding is considered to have succeeded at his or her reflex save automatically.

NoMin Feats
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[Improved Guarding] (Combat)
Prerequisites: Int 13, Combat Expertise

You grant the target of your Guarding an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC. Additionally, you are not considered to have automatically failed your Reflex Save when actively Guarding your target against an area effect - you may roll your Reflex Save normally.

Optional Reach Rules
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If you want to include reach as a concept, you can simply alter the rules as follows:

- If a combatant uses a move action to give themselves and a target with a higher reach the Adjacent RCC, the acting combatant provokes an attack of opportunity from their target.
- A combatant with a higher reach than its target may give itself the Adjacent RCC relative to the target without granting the Adjacent RCC to the target, using any of the above actions that would normally grant the Adjacent RCC to both.
- If a combatant with a lower reach than a target may grant itself the Adjacent RCC with a 5-foot step if that target already has the Adjacent RCC relative to the acting combatant.

On a mechanical level the PF halfling stinks. Yep, I said it. Halflings suck. What halflings do have going for them is a lot of flavour (both figuratively and, I'm told, literally) which is why they've always been a race many people have a soft spot for.

Using the Race Building Guide I made way-back when, which typically puts PF player races at 10 points, the halfling weighs in at around 5. They just don't have much going for them, and they're a slow speed race.

So, today I decided to put some thought into how the halfling might be brought up to the 10 point level such that people not only get delicious halfling flavour, but also some level of mechanical game balance to go with it.

My suggestion is this - keep everything the halfling already has, and add the following racial feature:

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Squirmy (5 pts) - A halfling may take an additional 5-foot step during a combat round. In order to take the additional 5-foot step, the halfling sacrifices their move action for that round, and the halfling must have a move action in order to do this. All other restrictions on taking 5-foot steps apply to this additional step.

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Now, why this? Well, it is an interesting and useful racial ability, for one, and one that fills out the point gap in the halfling. It also isn't profoundly overpowered, as simply giving them two 5-foot steps would be, in the long run. Because the costs the halfling their move action, it prevents a halfling rogue from making two 5-foot steps and then a full attack, for example, so it will be something the halfling uses situationally.

What it does do is provide some situational utility to all sorts of halfling characters. Martial characters can use it to better maneuver into flanking positions, or in a crowd of enemies, and casters can use it when they're caught in melee to get themselves out and safe from the enemy's 5-foot step and full attack the following round.

So the ultimate effect is to make the halfling more close-in mobile without giving it a huge boost in overall mobility and without having the ability become significantly more useful over time. If anything, racial abilities should become LESS useful over time, and the fact that you can't follow up a double-adjustment with a full attack or a full-round cast helps ensure that this falls into that category.

Comments? Criticisms? Alternatives?

I'm sort'v wondering if there's any reason for Pathfinder changing constructs and undead to be vulnerable to critical hits. While I understand that rogues had a rough time against those enemies, I'm sort'v failing to understand why a rogue can now bare-knuckle an iron golem into pieces (I'm always reminded of this scene from Galaxy Quest when I imagine it, really).

Where exactly IS the particularly vulnerable spot on a stone golem that a rogue can poke a dagger into in order to make it fall to pieces? Which bone do you jab on a brontosaurus skeleton to one-shot it as a level 20 rogue?

If there's some sort of justification beyond "we didn't want rogues to cry" then I'm all ears, but at the moment I don't really see why I'd want to adjust the rules for my campaign.

There have been a lot of homebrew races posted in these forums, and a great many of them are quite broken and very one-sided. There ARE some minor guidelines in the pathfinder conversion guide for making or converting races (which are often ignored, I might add) but not a lot of information on building up races that will lack an adjustment. So, after looking over the races I've written up a rough set of guidelines for making a race that will not be game-breaking, and which will be roughly on par with existing races, without having a level adjustment (typically).

Start here for stats. For the purposes of the guidelines, stat category means "physical" or "mental":

• +2 to a stat of choice if the race is at least half human.
  
• +2 to a predetermined stat and +2 to a stat of the other category, balanced with a subtraction from the same stat category.
  

Bonuses are racial bonuses, penalties are untyped penalties. Thus, racial bonuses do not stack, but the penalties do. The guidelines for races in PF are not "any combination of stats that sum to +2" as some people seem to believe.

As for racial abilities, races should have roughly the equivalent of 2.5 feats worth of abilities. To avoid dealing with fractions, we'll convert the 2.5 feats into 10 points... thus, 4 points is equivalent to 1 feat. Here are some examples of racial abilities and their "point cost":

10 point racial ability:

• Improve a racial stat bonus from +2 to +4
  

8 point racial ability:

• A feat of the player's choice
  
• Add a new +2 bonus to a stat that lacks it in a category that already has a bonus
  

4 point racial abilities:

• up to 30 foot fly, burrow, climb speed or up to 50' swim speed
  
• negate -2 worth of racial stat penalty.
  
• switch a racial stat bonus to the other category.
  
• +2 to a stat in a category with no stat bonuses yet.
  
• +1 bonus to all saving throws
  
• +1 AC bonus (armor, natural armor, etc)
  
• spell resistance of 6+class levels
  
• One natural attack that deals 1d6 or two (ie claws) that deal 1d4
  
• anything that resembles an existing feat (ie, gnome magic's +1 DC is identical to spell focus)
  

2 point racial abilities:

• 1 bonus skill point per class level
  
• +2 save bonus vs. small set of specific things (ie, fear, poison, disease... up to 3)
  
• +2 racial bonus to two different skills.
  
• Immunity to one type of effect (ie fear, sleep, poison)
  
• +5 spell resistance if the race already has it.
  
• One natural attack that deals 1d3 points
  
• Amphibious (breath both air and water)
  
• Darkvision 60'
  
• speed not reduced by heavy armor
  
• anything that resembles an existing feat but with half the bonus
  

1 point racial abilities:

• +4 dodge bonus vs. a specific creature type.
  
• +4 CMD bonus vs. one type of combat maneuver.
  
• +2 save vs one very specific thing
  
• +2 racial bonus to a skill.
  
• +1 attack bonus vs. specific creature types (one type - for humanoid and outsider must select up to two subtypes)
  
• Low-Light vision
  
• Weapon familiarity (up to 4 martial weapons - if only exotics for the race, costs 0)
  
• anything that is fairly trivial or minor
  

Things that give you MORE points to work with are generally penalties that are half as powerful as their same-point positive equivalents.

-4 point racial drawbacks

• -2 penalty to a stat that lacks a penalty in a category that has no existing penalties.
  
• -10 foot movement speed (a 5 foot penalty is worth nothing)
  
• Vulnerability to fire or cold.
  

-2 point racial drawbacks

• -2 penalty to a stat that already has an adjustment (positive or negative).
  
• Negate racial bonus to one stat
  
• Vulnerability to electricity, acid or sonic.
  

-1 point racial drawbacks

• -2 penalty to a stat in a category where additional penalties have already been applied.
  
• Light sensitivity
  
• Very situational penalty (ie, merfolk not liking to be out of water for long)
  

These are by no means complete or comprehensive, but they do give a rough guideline for building PF races that have no level adjustment and are on par with the existing examples of races from the Core books. Here's a quick look at a few of the existing races:

Human:
+2 to any stat
bonus feat of choice (8 pts)
+1 skill point per level (2 pts)

Half-Orc:
+2 to any stat
Darkvision (2 pt)
Intimidating (1 pts)
Orc Blood (1 pt)
Orc Ferocity (4 pts)
Weapon Familiarity (1 pt)

Gnome:
+2 Con, +2 Cha, -2 Str
Small (none)
Slow (-4 pts)
Low-light vision (1 pt)
Defensive Training (1 pts)
Gnome Magic +1 DC Illusions (4 pts)
Gnome Magic cantrips (4 pts)
Hatred (1 pts)
Illusion Resistance (1 pt)
Keen Senses (1 pt)
Obsessive (1 pt)

Dwarf:
+2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
Slow (-4 pts)
..and steady (2 pts)
Darkvision (2 pts)
Defensive Training (1 pt)
Greed (none - so specific that its fluff)
Hatred (1 pt)
Hardy (3 pts) - ad hoc +1 adjustment since "spells and spell like abilities" is pretty broad
Stability (2 pts)
Stonecunning (2 pts) - ad hoc +1 adjustment for the utility of 10' notice range
Weapon Familiarity (1 pt)

Merfolk:
+2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Cha
Slow x 2 (-8 pts)
Negate racial penalty (4 pts)
Swap bonus to other category (4 pts)
+2 bonus to another stat (4 pts)
50' swim speed (4 pts)
Ambibious (2 pts)
Low-light vision (1 pt)
Can't (or won't) spend too much time out of water (-1 pts) ad hoc

Goblin:
-2 Str, +4 Dex, -2 Cha
Improve +2 Dex to +4 Dec (10 pts)
-2 Str (-4 pts)
Negate bonus to mental stat (-2 pts)
Darkvision (2 pts)
Skilled (4 pts... +2 to two skills x 2)

Orc:
+4 Str, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha
Improve +2 Str to +4 Str (10 pts)
Negate mental bonus (-2 pts)
Penalty to mental stat with bonus (-2 pts)
Penalty to new mental stat (-1 pts)
Penalty to new mental stat (-1 pts)
Darkvision (2 pts)
Ferocity (4 pts)
Light Sensitivity (-1 pt)
Weapon Familiarity (1 pt)

Hobgoblin (12 pts, thus +1 adjustment... or CR 1/2 rather than 1/3):
+2 Dex, +2 Con
Negate racial penalty (4 pts)
Swpa bonus to other category (4 pts)
Darkvision (2 pts)
Sneaky (2 pts)

Kobold (0 pt, thus -1 adjustment.. or CR 1/4 rather than 1/3):
-4 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con
-2 Con (-4 pts)
-2 to Mental stat with bonus (-2 pts)
-2 to Strength with penalty (-2 pts)
Darkvision (2 pts)
Armor (4 pts)
Crafty (3 pts) +2 to 3 skills, and two are always class skills ad hoc +1 pt
Light Sensitivity (-1 pt)

As always, the best guideline is to look at a racial ability and say "would I accept this ability as being about as powerful as a single feat? Would I let players have this ability as a feat without reservation?" If no, its worth more than 4 points! In fact, if its something you probably wouldn't let a player have as a feat, the race as a whole probably needs a level adjustment and thus the ability should be worth 8, 10, or even more points. You'll note, for example, that no 3.5 race had "Powerful Build" and 0 level adjustment... Goliaths and Half-Giants were both +1 ECL... and yet maybe a third of the races people post have powerful build with 0 adjustment.

Also notice the diminishing returns on stat penalties in the same category. This prevents people from category-loading their penalties in order to super-charge the race's stats in the other category and/or give lots of racial abilities. The Orc is an example of how you can category-load your penalties and get a pretty decent focus on the other category, but not superhumanly so!

I hope this helps some folks. Obviously when you get into fancy and intricate races you'll need to use ad-hoc point adjustments in conjunction with your common sense - the latter being the best tool of all.

While I like many of the directions Pathfinder has taken to make the various 3.5 base classes more unique and interesting, I'm one of those folks who thinks that the love and effort was spread about unevenly and in some cases randomly. Thus, I decided to revamp all the base classes myself from the ground up.

Now, if you object to this concept then please move on - I realize there are plenty of people who think PF core classes are perfection or whatever, and I don't care to re-hear from you. Thanks!

Anyway, after making my way through the first three classes I realized that I didn't want to be caught in the same trap that 3.5 and PF did, which is to simply adjust the existing base class list to try to balance someone else's list of what classes are needed and wanted, so I'm working on creating a list of what concepts should exist in the base classes, and a list of what concept/roles the existing base classes actually occupy - and I thought I'd see what other people thought.

This is my current rough draft of existing class concept/roles:

Barbarian: melee combat with an emphasis on power/damage rather than finess.
Bard: party support, buffing/debuffing, some minor combat
Cleric: Healing, Divination, Buffing, some combat
Druid: Shapeshifting, wilderness expertise, pet combat and buffing
Fighter: combat with an emphasis on skill and finesse.
Monk: hell if I know. Melee combat and resilience/self-sufficiency?
Paladin: Destroyer of worlds under PF? Mix of melee combat and minor healing... though not so minor under PF anymore. PF Paladin is "boss killer".
Ranger: Again, uncertain. There's little they do that isn't done better by another class.
Rogue: Traps and lock picking! Also huge damage, but only situationally. Stabbity-stab-stab.
Sorcerer: arcane magic with an emphasis on power rather than finesse... like a spell barbarian!
Wizard: arcane magic with an emphasis on skill and finesse, like a spell fighter.

Granted, the role you play in your party depends on how you pick your skills and feats and how you roleplay them, but I'm going for the base, mechanical role for the classes. I'd love some people's own thoughts on the roles of existing classes.

Next, without requiring the use of the above class list, what concepts and roles do you feel are NEEDED and WANTED? For example, the fact that there are non-stop "gish" discussions suggests there's a desire for a full-blooded fighter/magic user class. Don't worry about how it'll be balanced against OTHER classes - keep in mind that there's room to do that when you're building things from the ground up. Many of the existing class concepts are definitely good and useful concepts, but what do you feel is missing... and what do you feel isn't needed, and so on?

My goal is to end up with a base class list from which 99% of players can say "that's exactly what I want", think their character is awesome at each level, be excited to level up, and not feel like they're lesser than any other character in their group, regardless of which classes the other players happen to choose.

The spell description says it creates non-living plant matter. Given that your average cabbage is non-living plant matter, does this mean that minor creation (and obviously its bigger brothers) can be used as a means for wizards to create food?

While it can be argued that the duration can be (depending on the caster level) too short for the material to be digested... but likewise, a poison attack from a summoned creature doesn't "vanish" when the creature's duration ends... it sort'v suggests that anything that is internalized/metabolized during a conjuration spell's duration remains so after the duration expires.

Thoughts?