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Okay, love that setting, and I've gotten pretty much everything they've produced in that line so far, and... ...I'm now waiting for more.

I assumed "Pantheon: Gods of War" was going to lead to more products featuring the other deities of KoL, such as the rest of the Twelve, the Fallen, the Primordials, maybe even supplemental materials on Archdevils and Demon Lords. But nothing so far.

I'm hoping there's more in the works.

Has anyone tried creating new Inevitables? They're among my favorites of the "Extraplanar embodiments of a Concept", but I find their limited variety stifling, and it's a damn shame they're so neglected when compared to Fiends of various types.

Has anyone else worked on creating new types of Inevitables? I was considering creating a variety that regulates the weather by taking the Thunderbird and modifying it into an Extraplanar Construct.

I've known about Monte Cook's World of Darkness for years now, but never really bought it until I saw the PDF on sale yesterday at drivethru.rpg. So I bought it and got it. I have to say, I do love the basic concept, although kinda iffy on some of the rules and systems used. Like limiting the Lycanthropes to "Just Werewolves unless you take this specific Power that lets you change your Hybrid form into some other Species," which is kinda lame.

Although now I'm curious about the notion of a Pathfinder Modern game set in this world of unleashed horrors in a near post-apocalyptic world. I've got Races of Blood and Races of the Mood, so Dhampirs and Skinwalkers could be used to represent "Rogue" Vampires and Werewolves, with Tieflings for Rogue Demons. Use Bloodragers and Sorcerors with those races to represent "racial abilities", even. There's a guy on tumblr called "That Boomer Kid" who routinely posts awesome ideas for Modern-Dark Pathfinder builds and houserules that would also work great in such a setting.

I'm thinking an alternate take on the original setting concept, where instead of a single Intrusion Point, there are several across the globe. One in Japan, one in Central Europe, one in Africa, etc, right alongside the North-American one. Thus, the horrors of the Iconnu are a global threat, which is a great justification for busting Japanese Yokai or fighting horrific Boogiemen in German Forests. I'd also consider adding the Fair Folk as another kind of supernatural creature; specifically the darker twist on them. Although playable Half-Elf "Changelings" could be an interesting option for Characters.

Okay, I've settled on my Campaign revolving around the Party being in a race to stop a Villain from acquiring a set of Magical Armor and weapon that would give the villain great power, and the authority to claim rulership of a struggling Empire. The Artifacts I was considering are:

The Emperor's Crown (Helmet)
The Emperor's Armor (Breastplate)
The Emperor's Greaves (Boots)
The Emperor's Grasp (Gauntlets)
The Emperor's Sword (Longsword)

I'm considering replacing the Gauntlets with a Ring. Now, the question I'm wondering is what kind of magical enhancements to give those items, and whether or not to make them Intelligent. I intend to have the items jump hands during the campaign; sometimes in the villain's hands, sometimes in the heroes' hands, sometimes in the hands of a third party. The end goal for the armor set is to make the wearer a powerful, charismatic, nearly unkillable warrior king.

I'm also considering at least one of the Items would be Intelligent, seeking to restore the Empire, and not caring what it has to do to accomplish this goal.

Any advice, everyone?

Hey, some online friends and I have discussed starting a new Pathfinder Campaign, with me acting as GM. The catch is, instead of using standard races for the most part, we'd be running it as an "All-Anthropomorphic Animals" Setting. Somewhat like Ironclaw, but in an original setting, and with Pathfinder rules. Now, the first concern I have is obvious: building furries in Pathfinder.

I actually have a number of options already available, thankfully. There are already a few available furry races, both from Paizo and 3rd Parties. Plus, I have both the ARG's Race Builder, the 3rd party Fursona furry building system, and the many Animal Races sourcebooks from Eric Morton Presents. I have the Manimal Template from Advanced Bestiary so I can just take any animal and make them humanoid. And finally, I can reskin existing races. I've figured I can take the Merfolk race and reskin them as Seals, giving them the Strongtail alt trait so they can walk more easily on land. And for odd throw-away NPCs, like a Brigand, a Barmaid or a Temple Acolyte, I might just treat them as fuzzy humans.

Again, I don't plan on using the standard Fantasy races, but instead I'd use some stand-ins. Unicorns in the forest easily replace Elves, I can use Spider-Anthros in place of Drow, "Wild" Predators (as in Predator races who see nothing wrong in eating Anthros) in place of Orcs and Goblins, etc. I do have plans for Dragons that involve giving them all the ability to assume a humanoid "dragon-man" form. I've seen Feats and Spells for that in Eberron.

For the Non-Anthropomorphic Wildlife, I plan on using a combination of Dinosaurs, Giant Vermin, and Hybrid creatures as from the Avatar series (stuff like Iguana Chicken or Badgermoles). I can reskin a lot there, and occasionally use another Advanced Bestiary Template, the Amalgamate template, to splice together more elaborate hybrids. Then again, even the world of Avatar had the occasional non-hybrid animal, so we'll see there. After all, Apes do co-exist with Humans here.

Now, with all that in mind, I'm still open to suggestions and ideas for such a setting.

Okay, here's a concept for a somewhat different Fantasy Campaign. In the S.M. Stirling series of novels "Island in the Sea of Time", the entire Island of Nantucket is set back to the Late Bronze Age, along with a Coast Guard training vessel. And once there, they inevitably become involved in the politics of the world.

In the Eric Flint novel "1632", a small West Virginia mining town is somehow transported back in time ~ land, people and resources and all ~ to central Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. And once there, they inevitably become involved in the politics of the world.

This lead me to consider a similar concept for a Golarion-based campaign. Let's assume a sizeable Island off the North-American coast (or maybe the coast of Europe), big enough to have some farmlands, a single city with a port, an airport and maybe a National Guard base (maybe combined with a Navel base) somehow ends up teleported to Golarion, perhaps somewhere in the Steaming Sea?

Clearly, they would instantly draw the attention of the Powers of the Inner Sea and the Pathfinder Society. Andoran would see kindred spirits in these people from a Democratic society, while Cheliax and Taldor would both seek to acquire technology from this Island for their own purposes. And then there's the matter of the people of this Island discovering that Magic exists, and some of them can learn to use it. And the religious beliefs of the Islanders might suffer a real shock when they see that this world has real, active deities.

Such a Campaign would heavily use the rulesets of Game Room Creation's Modern Path and/or Super Genius Games' Anachronistic Adventures.

Here are some Adventure Seeds I was considering:
-An Islander tech company finds out from a Trader that Numeria holds vast troves of advanced alien technology, and begins to fund expeditions to sneak into Numeria and steal tech devices to smuggle back to the Island under the nose of the Technic League.
-The Island University becomes associated with the Pathfinder Society, and begins funding research into Magic and Cryptozoology.
-A military commander from the Guard/Naval Base decides to try his luck at Nation-building, and runs off with some of his most loyal men to the wild frontier of Varisia.

Okay, it's an idea I didn't like in 2nd edition, and really didn't like seeing it getting brought back in Pathfinder; the name "Antipaladin" for the moral opposite of the Paladin.

I like the concept of the "Evil Counterpart" to the Paladin, I just think Antipaladin is a dumb name. I just can't help but remember that Nodwick comic where the Paladin and Antipaladin collided and exploded.

Especially since there are such much better options for names. Black Knights, Dark Knights, Blackguards, Fallen Paladins, Oathbreakers, or even just Dark Paladins.

Frankly, ANYTHING sounds better to me then Antipaladin. Am I the only one who thinks that way, or am I just weird?

Hey, I'm looking for some good third-party sourcebooks with rules for customizing dragons to make them more unique. Any suggestions?

Okay, kind of thinking that the Machinesmith 3rd party class would be a very effective addition to the lands of Numeria, perhaps developing there as a result of the Technic League. The class already has all the skills necessary, and you could easily add the spells from the Technology Guide to the Machinesmith spell list without unbalancing he class.

And Machinesmiths would make for natural members of the Technic League, or could be "wild" techno-mages acting independently of the League's Technomancers.

What do you guys think?

Okay, one idea I had regarding the Modern Path and other Pathfinder sourcebooks, was using them to create a "Masquerade World" Urban Fantasy setting. A Conspiracy Kitchen Sink world where Secret Factions war in secret, using ancient magics and modern technology (and maybe sci-fi tech too) to battle one another, as well as all manners of mythical creatures, keeping it all under wraps in the process.

Naturally, Modern Path's Classic Heroes and Shadow Heroes sample settings would provide good frameworks for such a concept. Kinda wondering what other sources I could tap to for such a campaign concept. Any other 3rd party sourcebooks for modern or pseudo-modern Pathfinder stuff?

Okay, looking at the rules for Firearms, and then the optional rules for Armor as Damage Resistance, I was wondering about using the two rules together.

Since Firearm attacks resolve against the target's touch AC when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon, does it do the same when using the Defense Score optional rule, since it's similar to touch AC + shield bonus and enhancement bonus to armor?

What about Firearms and Damage Resistance? Since this optional rule makes Guns no different then swords or arrows against armor, would this mean that firearms can instead ignore DR/-?

All right, just something I've considered about Firearms in Pathfinder, and how armor reacts to them (that is, no AC). I'd like to propose a house rule idea for a magic armor special ability enchantment.

Bulletproof Armor. Armor and Shields with this Special ability retains (some or all) of its AC against Firearms, protecting against Firearm rounds as if they were arrows or other missiles.

Still fiddling with this concept, such as the price for such an enchantment, whether or not it should be in degrees (Like 25%/50%/75%/100% AC coverage), and other small details.

What are your opinions on this concept? Has someone else worked on an idea like this?

Been checking out some music on YouTube, and found a classic from FFIX: the Vamo'Alla Flamenco. And it got me to wondering where you'd find this music playing in the Inner Sea region.

My first guess would be to go with Taldor, although I think Cheliax might work as a second option.

Okay, back during the age of 3.5, a lot of third party products came about, and one of the titles I found most interesting was Arsenal, by Perpetrated Press. It's a supplement that introduces Techno-Magic Firearms to the d20 system.

The concept behind Arsenal and it's sister title Factory, is the idea of taking d20's Magic system and ask "what if people took Magic and built a technology out of it?" Factory covers the topic of Robots and Computers, which are imagined as "advancements derived from Golem construction", while Magic Firearms are essentially more advanced versions of Wands.

Now, what was bothering me was whether or not these weapons were compatible with Pathfinder. I know the Firearms rules were changed a bit from 3.5 to Pathfinder in Ultimate Combat, but I'm uncertain how that would apply to the Techno-Magic weapons.

Here are the stats for one standard Arsenal weapon, a Blaster Pistol, which fires a bolt of Force energy:

Blaster Pistol - 1 to 5 d4 of damage (depending on the setting), 1 charge per setting, Crit x2, Range 20, RoF 1, Caster Level 5, 3 lbs, 200 g.

Pistol batteries hold 50 charges, weight 1 lb and cost 50 g.

I don't think these need much of an adjustment to work in Pathfinder, but I'd appreciate some feedback.

I'm also curious as to wonder how they would relate to the regular Firearms rules from UC, including the Gunslinger. Arsenal splits Firearms into multiple Weapon categories: Simple Firearms include hold-out pistols, pistols, heavy pistols, rifles and heavy rifles. Martial firearms include assault rifles, sniper rifles, SMGs, HMGs and auto-cannons. Exotic weapons include grenade and rocket launchers.

Now, at first glance this would clash with the Gunslinger, which is supposed to be Proficient in all firearms. But looking at the categories of firearms available in Ultimate Combat, there are only pistols and rifles, with Shotguns counting as rifles. So, if applying Arsenal's rules, the Pathfinder Gunslinger would only be proficient in Simple Firearms. This opens up the road for a Gunslinger Archetype that gains proficiencies in Advanced Firearms, though.

Any opinions on the subject?

Okay, here's the thing... I have both the Otherverse Games sourcebook Fursona (and Fursona II), as well as Paizo's Advanced Race Guide. And I've decided to build myself a new homebrew fantasy setting, building my own races (mostly Anthro, admittedly).

Now, question is, which Race-building system should I go with? Both have a lot of race-building options the other doesn't, although I think it should be easy enough to steal Traits from one to adapt to the other.

Does anyone who's tried both have any opinions on preferences?

Just something I've been wondering, is where on Golarion would be an appropriate location for an Arthurian campaign of High Chivalry. My first two ideas were Lastwall and Mendev.

Lastwall is an excellent primary candidate due to it's dedicated role as a bulwark against the threats of the Hungry Mountains and the Hordes of Belkzen. It also already has a dedicated order of Knights, which could be expanded into various different orders, much like the Hellknights have been split into separate Knightly orders with different thematics.

Mendev has a similar angle, although it has a bit of a darker edge, what with the nation being focused on a seemingly endless war against an endless waves of demonic invaders. Still, it offers plenty of opportunities for Knightly heroics.

What other nations do you think would work for an Arthurian-themed campaign?

As far as I'm concerned, there's enough overlap between the Fighter and the Cavalier, that it should be possible to merge the two classes into a single class. Especially seeing as both classes are heavily-armored warriors with access to all Martial Weapons. The only major difference between the two classes is a matter of focus: the Cavalier is focused on mounted combat and "seizing aggro", while the Fighter is more of a general fighting machine and weapons master.

Since the Fighter has access to Bonus Feats, how difficult could it be to replace some of those with the appropriate-level Cavalier class ability? Or perhaps turn those abilities into Feats?

Okay, I'm in a campaign where my character is a half-orc Cleric of Gorum, who's currently level 2 Cleric / 1 Barbarian. The closest thing our party has to a "main tank" is a ranger, and a druid's bear companion. In fact, my 2nd level of Barbarian was a suggestion by the GM, and I felt it fit my character perfectly.

What I want to do is build up my character as something like a "Holy Warrior" of sorts, balanced between healing/buffing his allies and being a secondary tank. I already have "Scribe Scroll" that I intend to use for non-essential spells, allowing me to Spontaneously Heal without losing a useful spell. I also have Selective Channel, and my Domains of choice are Destruction and Strength. I wanted to go with the Armored Hulk archetype, but my GM suggested I'd be better off keeping the default Barbarian's fast movement.

I'm looking for advice on how, in the future, to build up my character along the lines I've described. What are my best Feat/Spell options?

Got myself a used copy of Monte Cook's "Anger of Angels" sourcebook (http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Angels), and I'm loving it so much, I was wondering about converting it to Pathfinder.

Naturally, the most interesting aspect to convert would be the 11 angelic races: Cherubim, Kalkudrim, Malakim, Seraphim, etc. Since Pathfinder doesn't use Level Adjustment, they would prove challenging to convert. I suppose it should be possible to replicate them using Monstrous Races build rules from the Advanced Race Guide.

Would anyone have any advice on the subject?

Been interested in looking up alternate magic rules for Pathfinder, and my attention drifted back to one of my old books, Advanced d20 Magic by Guardians of Order, intended both for BESM d20 and the classic d20 system. It holds complete rules for skill-based magic mechanics, guidelines on how to convert traditional d20 spells to work with this system, as well as a conversion to the Magic Item system along those lines.

The Book also includes conversions to use the system with standard d20 classes, although those were controversial as being badly designed; such as the Druid being able to cast spells in animal form without the Natural Spell feat, for instance.

Still, I'm curious about the system's potential, and was interesting in adapting it to work with Pathfinder.

Okay, I have a dilemma. I love Green Ronin's "The Book of Fiends", which introduces both New Demons and Devils, but also their own version of NE Fiends, called Daemons. Now, these Daemons are based on the Seven Deadly Sins, and divided into four major roles: the Watchers, who see when mortals commit sins, the Whisperers, who tempt mortals to sin, the Mercenaries, warriors who will fight for both sides of the Blood War, as well as anyone who will summon them, and the Servitors, lofty beings in direct service to the Exarchs, the seven leaders of the Daemons.

Now, all of these are fun, interesting concepts I wanted to adapt to Pathfinder, but there's a catch. Pathfinder already has Daemons, fiends of Death and Nihilism. And they work too well for me to just remove. But the Sin Daemons don't fit in anywhere else, either. So the solution is obvious: renaming the Sin Daemons.

I checked the Pathfinder Wiki, and didn't see the term "Shedim" being used for anything. So I'm going to adapt that classical Judeo-Christian demon species name, and use it for these beings as a whole.

Any alternate suggestions?

I'll admit, one of the last 3.5 products from Wizards of the Coast is the one I find most useful for DMing: the Rules Compendium, which does a better job of organizing it's rules for ease of access then their old PHB and DM guides did.

And admittingly, I often find myself having the same problem finding just the right rule to refer to when I'm GMing a Pathfinder game. So the Rules Compendium comes off as a good extra book to keep in a pinch. But there are changes between 3.5 and Pathfinder, not the least of which is the addition of Combat Maneuver rules and unified skills.

Okay, here's something I'm considering for a campaign...

Removing the split between Arcane Magic and Divine Magic. Or, as I like to call it, the "Shadowrun Approach". Basically, Magic is Magic, all of it stemming from the same source of otherworldly energies, that can be shaped by the will of casters to create different effects.

The only real difference between a Wizard and a Cleric are the mental approach of the different traditions: Wizards believe that magic is shaped through complex formulae. Clerics believe that magic is a gift of the gods. The Former believe the latter are just shaping the same energies through rote formulas that they attribute to "higher powers", while the latter believe the former are misusing divine gifts from patrons they ignore.

(Incidentally, I'll admit this concept encourages a more "agnostic" approach to divine spellcasters, withwhether or not they're actually empowered by gods to be left unanswered. But hey, it worked for Eberron.)

The mechanical changes this concept would leads to include allowing arcane casters to use healing magic such as Cure spells, although I would balance it out by raising the Level requisites for them. So a Cure Light Wounds would be a level 1 spell for a Cleric, but a level 2 spell for a Wizard. And any caster class could use a Wand of Cure Light Wounds or a Wand of Magic Missile.

Now, I'm well aware Purists would call Heresy at the notion of allowing Wizards to step on the Cleric's toes, but I've never been a fan of Niche Protection. Besides, even with Wizards having access to healing spells, Clerics still have spontaneous Casting of healing spells, and Positive Energy Channeling, making them the BEST healers, not just the only ones. And that's without counting their ability to handle melee better then Wizards.

One of my favorite sourcebooks from the old OGL days was, and remains, Relics & Rituals: Excalibur, from White Wolf's short-lived D20 division. In a way similar to Green Ronin's Mystic Vistas series, this sourcebook details how to use the d20 system (specifically D&D) to simulate an Arthurian-style campaign that is both true to the feel of Arthurian Myth, while preserving as much of the Dungeon Fantasy gameplay as possible.

This is a 3.5 book that's easily adaptable to Pathfinder, as most of the more useful content is fluff for roleplaying an Arthurian-flavor campaign, like which Classes fit the setting best, setting-appropriate racial write-ups, which monsters fit an Arthurian theme, and so on. It has some nice twists to classic D&D, like combining the three Goblinoid Races into just "goblins", which come in various "sub-breeds" like how mastiffs and terriers are breeds of dogs. In Excalibur, the term "Hobgoblin" is the common name of the Anhardd, which are to Goblins as Half-Orcs are to Orcs.

One chapter also deals with the topic of religion, especially the delicate topic of Monotheism and how Arthurian settings typically have an "Old Gods vs New Religion" conflict, and how to handle it maturely. The sample "Excalibur" faiths presented are the Daeosian Church, a monotheistic faith with elements of dualism, Druena, a druidic "Mother Goddess" faith, and a set of pagan deities for the Fae, which fit a celtic theme more closely.

The book includes a Knight class that's easily replaceable with the Cavalier, and all of the Advanced Classes (save the Gunslinger) would fit an Arthurian setting rather well. Witches fit Arthurian lore just fine, Oracles make good "Holy Hermits". The Book's Prestige Classes should be easy enough to Convert, and most are flavorful enough to warrant it, like the Fey Enchantress, the Green Knight, the Malefic Enchanter and the Reliquarian.

One particularly fun optional rule in the book are the Honor rules, which allows you to track a character's Honor via their behavior and adherance to chivalrous virtues. This is aided by chivalric Orders and Codes of Chivalry (as opposed to Cavalier Orders), with two interesting variants: the Dark Warrior's Code for black knights and other villainous warriors, and the Order of the Gold Octagon, an order of "White Wizards".

All in all, it's a product I recommend. It has a lot of good, useful advice on how to handle an Arthurian-themed campaign.

Recently got the Nyambe: African Adventures sourcebook, and upon looking at the Classes section, I immediately considered dropping the presented notion of using the Custom Classes and Prestige Classes within as a replacement for corebook Classes. Using the right mix of Archetypes should do just as well.

Here are some notes I was considering.
-The Gamba Fighter: this version forgoes heavy armor in favor of mobility and dodging. While the Nyambe sourcebook says Barbarians are only found among Northern visitors, the Pathfinder Barbarian actually fits this class best, especially if using the Hurler (spear throwing), Savage Barbarian, Superstitious or Totem Warrior Archetypes.

That being said, a number of Fighter Archetypes would fit the Gamba Fighter well: the Archer, the Mobile Fighter and the Brawler. but I think it would be possible to create a Gamba Fighter Archetype, replacing bravery and some weapon/armor training levels with the Barbarian's Uncanny Dodge abilities.

-The Mchwai Wizard: more of an RP aspect here, but the demonization of Arcane Magic annoys me a bit, especially when it's set in the suggested rules. I'd just use a variant of standard wizards, trading in the spellbook for a Mojuba bag, with "bargains with Fiends" mostly a matter of superstition.

One interesting variant to consider would be the Elemental College wizard, representing Mchwai who bargain with Elemental Orishas for knowledge.

Alternatively, the Witch Advanced class actually fits the baseline Mchwai concept even better, as it's a class that depends on a supernatural patron for it's magical knowledge.

-The Nanala Rogue: Pathfinder Rogues with the right talent selection replace them easily. Nearly all the Rogue Archetypes would work, especially the Poisoner, the Scout, the Knife Master and the Survivalist.

-The N'anga Cleric: Both the Cleric and the Druid fit the N'anga role. The Cloistered Cleric archetype works best here for Clerics, as do a vast majority of the Druid archetypes, notably the various Shaman archetypes. The Orishas are already treated more or less as deities as it is.

Fitting the Orishas into Golarion should only be a question of deciding which Deity best matches each Orisha; Shanamu the Hunter is essentially Erastil, while Araku's focus on War and Smithing makes him obviously Torag. The Fiendish Orisha are less easily matched, though.

-The Sei Sorceror: born with the blood of dragons, just make a Sorceror with the Dragon Bloodline. More Bloodlines would fit Nyambe well; Abyssal, Infernal, Celestial, Elemental, Infernal, Undead, Aquatic, Dreamspun, Serpentine, Shadow, Starsoul and Verdant would work best within the setting.

-The Dembe, or "monster hunters", might as well just be replaced with Rangers. The best archetypes here would be the Beast Master, the Guide, the Shapeshifter, the Skirmisher (for non-magical hunters), the Spirit Ranger, the Trapper and the Wild Stalker.

-The Engolo, masters of unarmed combat, are just a different kind of Monk. The Martial Artist and Tetori archetypes would work best here.

-The Ngoma, or "drummers", are Bards who focus on the drums. The Archivist Archetype would be a storyteller who memorizes the unwritten lore of his people, and the Animal Speaker archetype would work well for a less powerful kind of N'anga. The Dervish Dancer archetype might also be justified.

That basically covers the base classes, but with a little creativity, different classes could work very well in Nyambe, like the Alchemist. The Oracle would certainly find a place in Nyambe society rather easily.

Okay, had this idea for a Cleric church inspired by the Eight Virtues of the Avatar from the Ultima series: the Church is essentially a massive philosophy, but it's Eight Virtues are essentially empowering forces, treated as deities for the purposes of granting Domains.

The Virtues, and the Domains I can see them granting are as follows: Honesty: Community, Good, Knowledge
Compassion: Animal, Community, Good, Healing, Protection
Valor: Glory, Good, Sun, Strength, War
Justice: Good, Law, Nobility
Sacrifice: Chaos, Good, Liberation, Repose
Honor: Good, Law, Strength, Protection
Spirituality: Good, Knowledge, Magic, Rune
Humility: Community, Good, Protection

I'm also considering adding elemental themes to the virtues, perhaps with Valor having Fire, and Compassion having water.

I've been collecting the CoT Adventure Path books with the intent of running a campaign with them, but I've also considered adding extra adventures between modules. I figure the Midnight Mirror module would fit in perfectly, due to the obvious connections with Nidal.

But beyond that, I'm unsure which Modules would be compatible. Any suggestions?

Never been a huge fan of Energy Drain/Level Drain for vampires. Traditionally, vampires are about blood, not "Level Loss".

So I'm thinking of taking out Energy Drain from the Vampire and Vampire Spawn, but I'm wondering how it will affect the CR.

I love Golarion, but I was wondering about customizing it. Namely, I have so many sourcebooks with additional new Pathfinder Races (Remarkable Races, the races from Psionics Unleashed, Fursona, etc), that I really wanted to add to Golarion.

Now, concerning the addition of new Races to a setting, I think the best advice I've read would be from the GURPS sourcebook "GURPS Banestorm", where it is suggested that new races added would either be secretive and rare, living solitary lives in the wild, or fairly low-impact.

In your experience, how hard or easy is it to add new races to Golarion, outside of the core races and other suggested races in the Inner Sea World Guide?

One of my favorite Fantasy settings is the world of GURPS Banestorm, from Steve Jackson Games. Designed for the GURPS rules, it's something of a departure from your usual D&D-esque setting in different ways.

The setting of Banestorm is set on the world of Yrth, mainly on the continent of Ytarria. Yrth is a world populated by various races and monsters, including people snatched from our Earth and other worlds by the magical cataclysm called the Banestorm. It is a world where Human nations coexist with Dwarven kingdoms and elven enclaves, and where the Crusades aren't history, but current events.

The Continent of Ytarria is divided into numerous nations: the expansive Empire of Megalos, the Islam kingdoms of al-Haz and al-Wazif, the free nation of Cardiel, the kingdom of Caithness, the Dwarven Nations of Zarak, the nation of Sahud, the Principality of Araterre, the savage Orclands and the barbarian Nomad Lands of the northeast.

Religion-wise, Ytarria lacks made-up deities like Lolth or Pelor, but instead features Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and other real-world religions, as they -might have developped- in a world where magic was real.

The continent of Ytarria itself is currently in a state of Medieval Stasis, even though the calender is currently up to our current era. The Stasis is partially due to the existance of secretive groups like the Ministry of Serendipity suppressing technological and social innovations like gunpowder, democracy and mechanisation.

Basic idea for this project: taking the world of Yrth, from GURPS Banestorm, and adapting it to play with the Pathfinder system, "Dungeonizing" it in the process. In the process thereof, there will be a few challenges to overcome.

Challenge 1: the presence of Diving classes. Default Banestorm lacks the usual D&Dish style of "God of Deity X, basically serving as a Healbot". Especially since the setting uses real-world religion like Christianity and Islam.

Possible Solution: Treat as "Clerics of Philosophies", not directly linked to a deity, and instead free to select Domains based on their beliefs. Thus, while three Clerics may claim belief in Christianity, their different approaches will be reflected by different choices in Domains: a peace-loving healer would take Good and Healing; a Crusader would take War and Strength; and a fanatical Heretic-Hunter might favor Law and Evil.

Furthermore, spell-casting Clerics do -not- form the rank-and-file of any Church. Most priests in Ytarria are Commoners, Aristocrats or Experts, with a rare few Adepts as the occasional holy man. Those Clerics that exist see themselves as Holy Champions, chosen by God (or gods, depending) for some higher purpose.

Other possible Solution: including deities from real-world pagan faiths (and more exotic possibilities), but also giving the Monotheistic Faiths Archangelic "gods" to act as Patrons to Clerics. These would likely follow the model from SJGames' "In Nomine" rpg setting, including their hellish counterparts the Demon Princes. Naturally, this would involve some changes in the cosmology, notably the whole Blood War thing for the Fiends.

Challenge 2: Goblins. In Banestorm, Goblins are short (but not Small) green humanoids from the desert world of Gabrook. They are intelligent, civilized and naturally curious, and actually fit well enough into human society. Hobgoblins are their larger, dumber cousins. While a few live amongst Goblins as servants, most remain hunter-gatherers living in small bands in the wilderness. In short, rather different from their default Pathfinder counterparts.

Possible Solution: Use Pathfinder stats for the Goblinoids, but ignore the Fluff, favoring Banestorm's Fluff instead. Only change made to the Goblins is increase size to Medium (lowering AC by 1). Goblins are the civilized city-dwellers, and Hobgoblins the savage wildfolk. Bugbears are a distantly related race.

Challenge 3: The Cosmology. Banestorm lends itself best to a more grounded approach to campaigning, instead of lots of Planeswalking. Thus, we'll simplify things a bit.

Solution: Replacing the Astral Plane with another Transitive Plane, the
Spirit World (from Manual of the Planes, p206). The Spirit world reflects the physical world, but grander in many ways. It is populated by various Spirits, represented by fey, elementals, undead, outsiders and other creatures.

Just wanted to know if anyone's compared the different versions of the Samurai from the Ultimate Combat Playtest files and the 4Winds sourcebook Paths of Power. At first glance, the two classes do look and feel very different, but I can't really say if one looks better then the other.

Been thinking about customizing the Cavalier class, and I immediately realized the best way to do that was to create new Orders with different themes and abilities. Here were some of the ideas I had so far, but I'm still working out Edicts and other traits:

Order of the Wolf
Cavaliers who join this order dedicate themselves to the Art of War, becoming masters of warfare. These Cavaliers tend to become wandering mercenaries, or rise to the ranks of great generals in mighty armies.

Order of the Skull
Only the most black-hearted Cavaliers join this order; Cavaliers of the Skull revere strength above all else, and show disdain toward the weak and the merciful. Edicts should essentially revolve around the "Might makes Right" train of thought.

Order of the Hart (as in Deer Stag)
Cavaliers who join the order of the Hart become dedicated protectors of nature, sworn to the Druidic faith and the protection of nature and sacred wild areas. They are also occasionally known as "Green Knights" for their favoured colour.

I'll come back on these ideas later on.

http://www.rapidejdr.fr/product_info.php?products_id=2118&it=1

Okay, just to let you know, I love this product. Since we can't "officially" use D&D's "Product Identity" monsters like Beholders and Mind Flayers, the "next best things" offered in this book are pretty good.

You can examine the contents here: http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/ibcof

I like these monsters, and being d20 based, they should be easy to convert to Pathfinder.

After getting the playtest files for Advanced Players' Guide, looking at the Cavalier I started thinking this class could work well enough as a Samurai-like class for Japan-like settings, with just a bit of re-packaging. The Challenge class feature fits Samurai perfectly, and the Oaths also fit the concept nicely.

Of course, I'm well aware that the Fighter is a good Samurai swordsman type character also. But the Cavalier does merit a look.

I've come to enjoy Golarion, the default setting for Pathfinder Chronicles, which feels to me like "Forgotten Realms done right" (No offense to FR fans). It has my favorite Dungeon Fantasy elements and tropes, and is overall a very believable, living setting. I even love the baseline selection of gods and cults in Golarion.

That being said, as my favorite "Dungeon Fantasy Pantheon" is the one from Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous, I'm always looking for ways to shove elements from it into other settings. And I think it would be very compatible with Golarion.

Especially since BotR already offers ideas and suggestions for adding elements from its pages to other settings. I think the "The Past Returns" option would work best, with the Gods of the Tree basically being an old, forgotten cult, which has recently been rediscovered and is coming back to the forefront, trying to integrate current gods into its mythos.

Any opinions on the matter?

Something I've been wondering.. ...I don't own miniatures, for one thing, and I like to play online over chat programs and PBEMs. But the Combat rules seem to continue along the lines of 3.5, emphasizing the use of miniatures and battlemats, penalizing mapless, narrative-based combat.

...I'd like to see, if at all possible, rules for running combat without battlemats and miniatures.

Thank you.