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The Dovahkiin class is inspired by a warrior type build from Skyrim. It combined the features of a Fighter and a Bloodrager. My apologizes that the tables of class features is hard to read, but I can't find a good way to post tables.

A mortal born with the soul of a dragon (or other powerful entity) that makes him capable of great feats.
Role: Direct combat with some spells casting and magical abilities.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str)
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Level | BaB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th
1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Bonus Feat, Bloodline Power, Martial Training | - | - | - | -
2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Bravery +1 | - | - | - | -
3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Bonus Feat | - | - | - | -
4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Blood Casting, Bloodline Power, Eschew Materials | 1 | - | - | -
5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Armor Training 1 | 1 | - | - | -
6th | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Bonus Feat, Bravery +2 | 1 | - | - | -
7th | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Bloodline Spell | 1 | 1 | - | -
8th | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +2 | Bloodline Power | 1 | 1 | - | -
9th | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Bonus Feat, Weapon Training 1 | 2 | 1 | - | -
10th | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Bloodline Spell, Bravery +3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -
11th | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +3 | | 2 | 1 | 1 | -
12th | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Bloodline Feat, Bloodline Power | 2 | 2 | 1 | -
13th | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Bloodline Spell, Armor Training 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1
14th | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +4 | Bravery +4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1
15th | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +5 | Bonus Feat | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1
16th | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +5 | Bloodline Spell, Bloodline Power | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1
17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +5 | Armor Mastery | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Bloodline Power, Weapon Mastery | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2
19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2
20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2

Class Features

Because attack and saving throw checks (more checks in PF2) always succeed on a d20 roll of'20' and always fail on '1', beyond a certain point further improvements to attacks, armor class, saves, and save DCs have no affect. I propose two solutions to operate beyond these limits using a lookup table and percentile dice OR an additional dice when '1' or '20's are rolled.

When the difference between a DC and a d20 roll bonus is '2' or less there is always a 95% change of success (i.e. AC=10 and attack=+8), and when the difference between the DC and bonus is '20' or greater there is always a 5% chance of success (i.e. AC=20 and attack=+0), with a linear gradient of success between '2' and '20'. This piecewise success function can be well approximated with a Conjugate Error Function or Erfc. I would present the plot comparing these functions (Erfc[(x-11)/10])/2, and Piecewise[{{0.95, x<2}, {(21-x)/20., 2<=x<=20}, {0.05,
x>20.0}}]), but I don't know how to place figures in forum posts. This Erfc function allows d20-like success rates without discontinuities and the limits imposed by piecewise functions. Probabilities of success could be determined by subtracting the bonus from the DC and comparing to the table below, followed by a percentile roll for success.

These values were rounded to the nearest whole percent numbers, resulting in some outcomes having 0 or 100 percent chance of success, indicating tasks that there is less than 0.5 percent change of success or greater than 99.5 percent chance of success, that is, tasks that will be consistently failed or completed practically every time.

For example, a DC 20 check with a bonus of 10 would have a 56% success chance (compared to 55% change on a d20), if the bonus was 5 then the success chance would be 29% (30% on d20), if the bonus was 0 then the success chance would be 10% (5% on d20), if the bonus was -5 then the success chance would be 2% (5% on d20), and if the bonus was -10 then the success chance would be 0% (5% on d20).

ALTERNATIVELY
The d20 system could also be maintained if, when a '1' or '20' is rolled, an additional d10 is then rolled to subtract (for '1' rolls) or add (for '20' rolls) 0-9 to the original value instead of guaranteeing failure or success. This method is less mathematically justifiable but doesn't require an Erfc function or lookup table, is easy and fast to remember and implement, and my players prefer it.

I have devised a method for giving each energy type a unique and balanced special effect so that it can be swapped in for an existing direct damage offensive spell (like Fireball). With the feedback I received from the Making Every Energy Type Unique thread I have simulated and updated each of the elements. Since there are many changes between my unique elements now and what I proposed before, I am creating this new thread for them. As a warning, this thread is written with an intermediate and advanced audience in mind.

Here is how they work. If you have a spell, such as Fireball, you could replace the standard effect (1d6 fire damage per level) with any of my elements, such as Incendiary which would deal 1d4 fire damage per level and set subjects on fire. There is no change to level, duration, area, etc., unless specifically stated, there is just a change to the damage (usually reduced) and a special affected added to compensate for the reduced damage. I wanted to make every element feel truly unique.

To balance each element I conducted simulations with two identical groups of icon characters fighting each other. Each group had 12th level Seoni, Merisiel, Seelah, and Valeros in identical starting formations. I used a number of variance reduction techniques as follows to accelerate convergence of results. Each character of the same name (such as Valeros 1 and Valeros2) shared the same d20 rolls, acted simultaneously, and performed the same actions (as much as possible), so that in a perfectly fair fight both groups would be defeated at the same time, every time. I used statistical averages when possible. For example, given Valeros' attack, damage, crit range, and his target's AC he may deal on average 15.3 damage for an attack. I recorded fractions of hit points and numeric affects when possible. The only difference between the groups was that Seoni 1 used my unique elements while Seoni 2 always used the standard damage. Both Seoni's always cast Chain Lightning, unless unable to do so. Between simulations I tweaked the effects of the unique elements and reran the simulation until both groups were defeated at approximately the same time. For this I assumed that ALL numeric effects from unique elements stack and that here is no lower limit to attributes, although you may choose to use different assumptions if you use these unique elements. I have also not associated elements to specific classes yet, so you will need to use your best judgment for that. Results from these simulations were sometimes surprising but the affects I am reporting are those that lead to a fair fight.

Some elements have been renamed to avoid confusion with mainstream energy types. I have also analyzed the Black Tentacles spell and generalized its affects into a new element.

Here is a list of the unique elements and summary of what they do:
Incendiary (evocation) - deals fire damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> 1d4), and every 5 points of damage causes targets to burn for that much damage every round for 4 rounds. Burning targets can attempt to extinguish the flames with a full round action and Ref check against the DC of the spell (+2 if rolling on the ground).

Freezing (evocation) - deals cold damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> 1d4), every 5 damage reduces Dex by 1 and every 2 Dex reduction reduces move by 5 feet and attacks by 1. Casting spells requires DC (10+ Dex penalty + spell level) Concentration. Movement cannot be reduced by more than half. Dex recovers at 1 per minutes. As the Dex penalty is reduced so are the movement and attack penalties.

Caustic (evocation) - deals acid damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> 1d4), and every 10 damage imposed -1 on attacks, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks and casting spells requires a DC (10 + penalty + spell level) Concentration check to cast. Penalties are reduced by 1 every 10 minutes.

Shock (evocation) - deals electricity damage, increased damage by one step (d6 -> d8). After any damage reduction (saving throws, electricity resistance, etc.) any remaining damage is split evenly between lethal and non-lethal damage (an odd extra point becomes non-lethal).

Annihilation (transmutation) - deals disintegration damage, increased damage by one step (d6 -> d8), overcomes hardness and regeneration, every 5 points of damage inflict one point of bleed, and damage can be reduced by half with a Fort save (in addition to any other save). Bleed can be ended with a full round action and a DC (15 + 1 per point of bleed) Heal check, or is reduced 1 for every 2 point of healing received.

High Momentum Material (conjuration) - deals bludgeoning, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), every 5 damage imposes -1 to attacks, AC, and -5 movement. If movement is reduced by half or more then subjects cannot run or charge. All penalties can be removed by taking a move action that provokes and attack of opportunity (getting up). Every casting also attempts a Bull Rush to push targets away from the source of the spell with CMB = spell damage. Bull Rushed subjects take 1d4 lethal/non-lethal damage per 4 feet of movement if they strike a hard/soft surface. Can count as a special material if a weapon of that material is used a focus during casting.

High Kinetic Energy Material (conjuration) - deals bludgeoning/slashing/piercing (casters choice) and can count as a special material if a weapon of that material is used a focus during casting.

High Momentum Force (evocation) - deals magical bludgeoning, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), has full effect on incorporeal targets, every 5 damage imposes -1 to attacks, AC, and -5 movement. If movement is reduced by half or more then subjects cannot run or charge. All penalties can be removed by taking a move action that provokes and attack of opportunity (getting up). Every casting also attempts a Bull Rush to push targets away from the source of the spell with CMB = spell damage. Bull Rushed subjects take 1d4 lethal/non-lethal damage per 4 feet of movement if they strike a hard/soft surface.

High Kinetic Energy Force (evocation) - deals magical bludgeoning/slashing/piercing (casters choice) and has full effect on incorporeal subjects.

Lux (illusion and evocation) - deals fire damage, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), every 2.5 points of damage imposes -1 to Dex and visually reliant skills, +5% spell failure chance (somatic spells only), and affected subjects must make a DC (5 + Dex penalty) Acrobatics check to move faster than half movement without falling prone. Subjects becomes vulnerable to Sneak Attack if their Dex penalty exceeds their Dex modifier (-2 penalty minimum). All penalties are removed after 1 full round or by effects that cure blindness.

Acoustics (illusion and evocation) - deal sonic damage, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), every 2.5 points of damage imposes -1 to Dex and audiologically reliant skills, +5% attack miss chance, and affected subjects must make a DC (5 + Dex penalty) Acrobatics check to move faster than half movement without falling prone. Subjects becomes vulnerable to Sneak Attack if their Dex penalty exceeds their Dex modifier (-2 penalty minimum). All penalties are removed after 1 full round or by effects that cure deafness.

Death (necromancy) - deals negative energy damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> d4), every 5 damage also inflicts 1 point of Str damage (even to creatures normally immune to ability damage). Creatures healed by genitive energy are healed by 50% of the damage deal and heal one point of physical ability damage per 5 points of healing, if they are already at full hit pints then they gain 25% of damage in temporary hit points for 1 minute per spell level. 0th level spell do not cause healing. And has full effect on incorporeal subjects.

Life (necromancy) - deals positive energy damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> d4), every 5 damage also inflicts 1 point of Str damage (even to creature normally immune to ability damage). Creatures healed by positive energy are healed by 50% of the damage deal and heal one point of physical ability damage per 5 points of healing, if they are already at full hit pints then they gain 25% of damage in temporary hit points for 1 minute per spell level. 0th level spell do not cause healing. And has full effect on incorporeal subjects.

Toxic (necromancy) - deals poison damage, reduces damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), deals 1 dice of Con damage per round for 1 round per dice of damage (any static bonuses to damage apply to the first round of damage only). Each round subjects can made a Fort save to negate the Con damage for that round. Counts as poison and can be treated as a poison, although using magic to dispel or suspend the poison requires a caster level check against the DC of the Toxic spell. And has no effect on incorporeal subjects.

Plague (necromancy) - deals disease damage, no damage dice, and caster inflicts a mundane disease with a DC equal to or less than the save of the Plague on subjects. If the disease has a lower DC than the DC of the Plague spell, the disease DC is raised to match the spell DC. Subjects immediately becomes infected with the chosen disease and must make a save or immediately suffer the effects of the disease. Subjects make daily saves to resist the effects of the disease for 1 day per spell level or until the required saving throws are made to end the disease, whichever is longer. Counts as a disease and can be treated as a disease, although using magic to dispel or suspend the disease requires a caster level check against the DC of the Plague spell. And has no effect on incorporeal subjects.

Distraction (divination) - No direct damage, imposes -1 per spell level to attacks, saves, skill checks, ability checks, spell/ability DCs, AC (Max equal to Dex bonus to AC), and casting spells requires a DC (10 + spell level) Concentration check (don’t forget the penalty to checks). Penalties last for 1 minute per caster level. And has full effect on incorporeal subjects.

Mind Blast (enchantment) - deal non-lethal mental damage, reduced damage by 1 step (d6 -> d4), every 5 point of damage deals 1 point of Wis and Dex damage (even to creatures normally immune to non-lethal and ability damage). Has full effect against incorporeal subjects. Has no effect on subjects with zero intelligence.

Curse (abjuration) - No direct damage, forces subjects to roll twice on attacks, saves, skill checks, and ability checks and take the lower roll, and casting spells requires a DC (10 + level of curse + spell level) Concentration check. If creatures save against a curse they only have a 50% change to be affected for each roll and casting attempt. Curse is fully affective against incorporeal subjects, and last for 1 minute per caster level.

Phantasmal (illusion) - deals mental damage, reduce damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), damage is split evenly between Wis and Dex, and damage can be negated by half with a Will save (in addition to any other save). Phantasmal is fully affective against incorporeal subjects, even if they are normally immune to ability damage. But it has no effect on creatures with zero intelligence.

Desiccation (transmutation) - deals non-lethal dehydration damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> d4), every 10 point of damage deals 1 point of Str damage, and cannot be healed through magical or mundane means until subjects have consumed a full day’s worth of water, or two days’ worth of water if they have suffered lethal damage. Alternatively Heal and Hydrate spells can be used to rehydrate subjects in place of water.

Tentacles (conjuration) - creates areas that attempt grapple checks and deal bludgeoning damage. Every creature within the area of a tentacle spell is the target of a combat maneuver made to grapple each round on the casters turn. The tentacles do not provoke attacks of opportunity and the area they cover is considered difficult terrain, but may be attacked and temporarily killed. Tentacles CMB = caster level (as BaB) + spell level (as Str bonus) + 1 size modifier per 2 spell levels above 1. CMD = 10 + CMB. If the tentacles succeed in grappling a target or maintaining a grapple, that target takes dice (1d3 for level 0, 1d4 for levels 1-2, 1d6 for levels 3-4, 1d8 for levels 5-6, 2d6 for levels 7-8, and 3d6 for level 9) + Str damage and gains the grappled condition. Grappled opponents cannot move without first breaking the grapple or having the tentacles in their area(s) killed. Tentacles receive a +5 bonus on grapple checks made against opponents they are already grappling, but cannot move or pin targets.
A 5 foot patch of tentacles has AC = 10 + CMB, 5 hit points per spell level, and saves (save are hard to print without a table, so ask me if you want them). Each round the patches of tentacles are all restored to full health, even if a patch was killed, as the injured tentacles are replaced by healthy tentacles. Tentacles are not affected by mind-affecting spells or abilities, flanking, or precision damage.
Tentacles spells last for 1 round per caster level. Single target tentacles spells remain in the square they targeted until the end of the spell and receive +2 Str. Tentacles’ are NOT affected by spell resistance and do NOT rely on saves or attacks to affect targets, they always rely on CMB to affect targets. They have no effect on incorporeal targets and their damage can be resisted by DR. At GM’s discretion, helpless targets and debris may be dragged away by the tentacles. Tentacles are NOT affected by Augment Summoning or similar feats.

For the sake of space I have not included every nuance of these unique elements, so feel free to ask for more details on any of the elements. I have determines environmental conditions that can enhance of reduce unique elements, but I have not included them here.

I would like to know what thoughts and constructive feedback people have. My next goal is to add small elemental affects onto spells when they are cast as a full round actions.
[NOTE: since these have already been simulated and found to be balanced, I will only believe that they are unbalanced if substantial evidence indicates such.]

In the rules as written, there is no significant difference between energy types (fire, cold, etc.) and no reason to use one energy type over another unless you are fighting something with vulnerabilities or resistances. I wrote alternate mechanics for every energy type , giving every energy a unique effect. These alternate energy type can be swapped in for any existing direct damage spells (Fireball, Cone of Cold, etc.) with only minor modifications. The unique effect of each energy type is usually tied to the damage, so more powerful spells/abilities have more potent effects. I also made sure that every school of magic had at least one energy type, so that no specialists would be completely neglected.

I would love to hear any constructive ideas people have about my energy type effects.

Here is what I came up with for every energy type:

Fire (evocation): Deals damage and set subjects on fire. Reduce the damage dice by one step (d6->d4, etc.) and every 5 points of damage inflicted causes subjects to take 1 point of burn damage per round for 1 round per spell level. If desired, subjects can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a Reflex save against the DC of the spell. Rolling on the ground provides a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire. Resisted by Ref.

Cold (evocation): Deals damage and reduces Dexterity and movement. Reduce damage by one step, every 5 points of cold damage deals 1 point of dexterity damage, and every 10 point of damage reduces movement by 5 feet per. Dexterity and movement cannot be reduced by more than half from cold damage. As subjects warm up, dexterity recovers at 1 point per minute, and move recovers at 5 feet per 2 minutes. Resisted by Ref.

Acid (evocation): Deals damage and sickens subjects. Reduce damage by one step and every 10 point of damage imposes a -1 penalty on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, savings throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Every 10 minutes, subjects can make a savings throw against the DC of the spell to reduce penalties by 1 until they recover. Resisted by Ref.

Electric (evocation): Deals half lethal and half non-lethal damage. Increase damage by one step (d6->d8, etc.) and after any damage reductions (savings throws, energy resistance, etc.) any remaining damage is split evenly between lethal and non-lethal damage. Resisted by Ref.

Disintegration (transmutation): Deals damage and inflicts bleed but can always be reduced by a Fort check. Every 5 point of damage inflicts 1 point of bleed damage. Bleed can be ended with a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity and a DC (15+1 per point of bleed) Heal check or by healing any damage. In addition to any other saves, a Fort save is always allowed to reduce damage by half. Resisted by Ref and Fort.

Force (evocation): Deals damage and can push subjects or knock them over. Decrease damage by one step and deal damage as a magical bludgeoning attack (DR does apply). The caster makes a Bull Rush or Trip attempt against all subjects of the spell. For these maneuvers the casters rolls a d20 + 1/3 point of damage +1 for Spell Focus Evocation and +1 for Greater Spell Focus: Evocation against each subject’s CMB. Low-level (0-3) force spell affect subjects with either Bull Rush OR Trip; mid-level (4-6) force spells affect subjects with either Bull Rush OR Trip and if the subjects are successfully affected by the first maneuver then the second maneuver is also attempted against them; high-level (7+) force spells affect subjects with Bull Rush AND Trip. Resisted by Ref.

Light (illusion or evocation): Deals damage and impairs sight. Decrease damage by one step and every 5 points of damage imposes -1 on attack rolls, armor class, Ref saves, and skill and ability checks that involves sight or hand-eye coordination). Subjects with -5 or more to rolls must make a DC 10 Acrobatics check to faster than half speed without tripping and becoming prone, and all opponents are considered to have concealment against the subject. Every round, penalties are reduced by 1 until the subject recovers. Any effects that cure blindness removes all penalties. Resisted by Ref.

Sonic (illusion or evocation): Deals damage, impairs hearing, and disorients. Decrease damage by one step and every 5 points of damage imposes -1 on Initiative, CMD, and skill and ability checks that involve hearing or speaking, and +5% change of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components (+50% maximum). Every round, penalties are reduced by 1 until the subject recovers. Any effects that cure deafness removes all penalties. Sonic spells only have a verbal component, NOT a sematic component. Resisted by Ref.

Death (necromancy): Harms the living and heals the undead. Decrease damage by one step and every 5 point of damage deals 1 point of strength damage to creatures harmed by negative energy. Creatures healed by negative energy are healed by half the damage dealt. Resisted by Will.

Life (necromancy): Harms undead and heals the living. Decrease damage by one step and every 5 point of damage deals 1 point of strength damage (even to undead, which are normally immune to ability damage) to creatures harmed by positive energy. Creatures healed by positive energy are healed by half the damage dealt. Resisted by Will.

(I never understood why death magic was necromancy and life magic was conjuration since they are opposite side of the same coin, like how fire and cold are both evocation, and repairing and disintegration are both transmutation. So I am calling life and death part of the necromancy school.)

Kinetic (Conjuration): Summons and throws objects that deal bludgeoning, cutting, or piercing damage, and may overcome certain material based damage reduction. Damage type (bludgeoning, cutting, or piercing damage) and material type (silver, cold iron, or adamantine) are selected at the time of casting. Selecting a special material requires a weapon (not ammunition) made of that material spell focus. Resisted by Ref.

Poison (necromancy): Deals constitution damage over time. Decrease damage by two steps (d6->d3, etc.). Deals one dice of constitution damage per round for 1 round per number of dice (any static bonuses to damage only apply to the first round of damage). For example, a 10d3 poison spells would deal 1d3 Con damage per round for 10 rounds. Each round, subjects can make a Fort save to negate the constitution damage for that round. The damage dice can be increased by one step if the poison effect is hourly instead of every round. Resisted by Fort.

Disease (necromancy): Infects with chosen disease which may spread to others. The casters picks a mundane disease (not mummy rot, lycanthropy, or anything like that) with a DC equal to or less that the DC of the spell. Subjects become immediately infected with the chosen disease and must make a Fort save against the spell’s DC or immediately suffer the effects of the disease. Subjects must make a daily save against the DC of the spell or suffer the daily effects of the chosen disease for 1 day per spell level or until the required saving throws are make to end the disease, whichever is longer. Infected subject are contagious. Resisted by Fort.

Distraction (divination): Unsettling visions or hypersensitivity prevent subjects of being able to focus. Imposes -1 per spell level and -1 per 3 caster levels on attacks, saves, checks, and skills, for 1 minute per level. Resisted by Will instead. Will to resist.

Mind Blast (enchantment): Mental trauma deals non-lethal damage as well as dexterity and wisdom damage. Reduce damage by one steps and every 5 point of non-lethal damage also deals 1 point of dexterity and wisdom damage. Resisted by Will.

Curse (abjuration): Inflicts bad luck, making subjects more prone to fail at anything they attempt. Forces subjects to roll twice on attacks, saves, checks, and skills and take the lower roll for 1 check per spell level + 1 check per 3 caster levels. The curse ends after the required number of checks, or 1 minute per caster level, whichever comes first. Resisted by Will.

(To abjure is a rebuke or renunciation, therefore I placed curse (which I see as a magical rebuke) as an abjuration effect rather than necromancy.)

Phantasmal (illusion): Traumatize subjects with visions of their greatest fears. Reduce damage by two steps and split the damage evenly between dexterity and wisdom damage. Subjects receive a Will save to disbelieve followed by a Fort save to reduce damage by half.

Desiccation (transmutation): Deals non-lethal and inflicts dehydration. Reduce damage by one step and every 10 point of non-lethal damage inflicts 1 point strength and dexterity damage. Desiccation damage cannot be healed through magical or non-magical means (including fast healing and regeneration) until subject have been successfully treated for dehydration, requiring 24 hours of long term care, double the normal amount of water per day, and a DC 15 Heal check (48 hours and a DC 20 Heal check if the subject sustained lethal desiccation damage). Resisted by Fort.

(I don’t see why removing water from a subject would be necromancy since it doesn’t deal with the subject of life energy, so I treat it as transmutation.)

(I am not completely satisfied with what I have for distraction, curse, or phantasmal spells, and I would appreciate any ideas to improve these energy types.)

If anyone wants a copy of my unabridged file, PM me with your email address and I will email the complete file to you.

This threat isn't meant to start arguments, just imaginative discussions about what people would like to see in a new edition of Pathfinder, when/if another edition is ever made.

I'll go first, since I'm starting this thread.

I have introduced a lot of people to Pathfinder and they have all been confused by the idea that caster level and spell level are different. I would like to see 20 levels of spells to correspond with 20 caster levels.

I would also like to see spells that can be cast at any level, with effects that scale appropriately with the spell slot used to cast them. For example, Vanish, Blur, Invisibility, and Greater Invisibility are essentially the same and could just be the same spell cast from different spell level slots. Even though individual spells would take a lot more text, you would also effectively get many spells from each printed spell. I think this would also really help the problem that spell casters never ant to multiclass since they are delaying their asses to the spells they need to keep up with monsters. This way characters could multiclass and still have the spells they want, just in a weaker version.

I should like to see armor / natural armor add damage resistance rather than armor class. It never made much sense to me that a person in full plate mail would be hard to hit. I would think that he would be easy to hit, but hard to hurt. I think that DR should also apply against most energy attacks since wearing plate mail would certainly protect a real person from a blast of fire (also consider that cooking mitts protect you hands from fire damage). I also think that armor adding DR instead of AC would better facilitate guns and other high tech weapons. The concepts of AC kind of falls apart when you are talking about high tech objects with very thick armor, such a tanks or possibly robots. I know that this option was included in Ultimate Combat, but it is such a drastic change to a core mechanic, that it would require remaking pretty much every monster and was too burdensome for me to use.

It is a little thing, but I would like to see the aligned outsiders remade to fit some consistent pattern. Between demons, devils, angels, etc. there doesn't seem to be any clear pattern of what abilities and deference they each have. Some have multiple energy immunities, while other only have one, some have many energy resistances while other have few, some have powerful auras while others have no powerful abilities. I would like to see all subtypes of aligned outsider (demon, devil, angel, etc.) with more consistent abilities abilities. For example, they could each have one energy immunity, two energy resistances, one immunity to disease, poison or polymorph / petrifaction, resistance to one that they are not immune to, one universal form of communication, and one special ability (auras, see in darkness, etc.).

I would also like to see golem with hardness and treated like objects instead of having DR. That way they would take half damage from most energy spells, and their hardness would apply against energy spells, so spell casters would not feel forced to sit out fights with golems, but the golems would still be highly resistant to most magic.

In my experience, Power Attack is very strong and should be toned down somewhat.

Finally I would like to see Pathfinder rebuilt from the ground up without any rules being safe from reworking. It seems that Pathfinder is still carrying relics from 1st and 2nd edition D&D that may have been fine for their time, but may be outdated today.

I really like what Pathfinder Unchained did with simplifying skills and reworking diseases and poisons, I would like to see those rules carried over.

As I was reading through the Ultimate Campaign I had some thoughts and questions.

Page 212 mentions that magic, such as a Lyre of Building gives a 2 BP discount on buildings per month. If a Lyre of Building costs 13,000 gold, then it could be purchased with 7 BP. Since the Lyre costs 7 BP and saves you 2 BP per month, is there any reason to not just load up on Lyres of Building?

Foundries gain extra bonuses the more mines they are connected, and stockyards gains bonuses for the more farms they are adjacent to. Do bonuses from multiple foundries and stockyards connected to the same mine/farm stack?

Because foundries increase the affects of mines but not quarries, is there there any reason to make a quarry rather than a mine, aside from +1 Stability?

Historically small town tend to form around mines, called mining towns. Am I reading the rules correctly that towns cannot share the same ~150 square mile region as a mine?

A cistern provides +1 Stability because it is a supply of fresh water. Since an everflowing spring (page 216) is also a source of fresh water, is it just assumed that it also provides +1 Stability? If not, then what good is an everflowing spring?

The price of a monastery looks kind of fishy since it used to be 6 BP and now adds less kingdom bonuses than before while taking up double the land. As they are currently printed, why would you ever get a monastery, other than for the favor?

Druids and clerics don't have to learn specific spells like other classes, but are considered to know all the spells that they are capable of casting. As the rules are written, that means that they know every druid/cleric spell ever printed in any Pathfinder book or Pathfinder compatible book (and there were many 3.x books).

As a GM I am uncomfortable letting a druid/cleric automatically know around 1,200 spells, and giving a player a 21+ page list of one-line spell descriptions would be overwhelming, especially to a new player.

I considered making them buy the spells or find scrolls for spells outside of the Core, but that felt to much like turning them into wizards. Aside from the Core spells, what would be a good way of opening up access to spells from other books to players?

I may have missed something in my reading of the rules, in which case it would be great if someone could point out the thing I missed, but it looks to me like edicts, leadership bonuses, penalties for embezzling, and unrest from lot destruction are all independent of nation size.

Therefore:

Increasing the tax rate on a large (or wealthy) nation doesn't bring in any more taxes (bonus economy) than increasing the tax rate on a small (or poor) nation.

Having good leaders will made a huge difference for a small nation since most of the nation's bonuses will come from the leaders, but will make nearly no difference for a large nation with many cities/districts.

Taking money for personal gain from a wealthy and/or corrupt nation will make people just as unhappy as taking the same money from a poor and/or un-corrupt nation.

And if the destruction of 1 lot gives a nation 1 unrest then, the complete destruction of a district will bring 36 unrest, putting any nation well above the 20 unrest limit of anarchy and disabling the entire nation. So to conquer any nation, no matter how large, you would just need to destroy one district of one city and then easily sweep up the rest of the disabled country. This also would mean that a siege would be pointless compared to destroying a few outlining villages.

If I missed something I would love for somebody to point out the rule that I missed. Otherwise, it seems to me that bonus and penalties from leaders and edicts should affect nations as a rate or percentage, like treaties and alliances, or some function of size, rather than a flat bonus. I also think that the unrest penalties are unrealistically harsh since many nations have had a single city destroyed in the past by invaders (or bombing raids) without the entire nation falling into anarchy. Perhaps limiting unrest from a single event, or raising the unrest cap proportionally to the nation's size, or removing the unrest cap completely and just letting it stack up until it becomes unmanageable and the nations starts crumbling.

Undead, many outsiders, and 9th level druids are all immune to poisons but can still benefit from potions and other consumables. Then what happen when they take drugs, which have a mixture of good and bad effects, ability damage, and additions?

If things immune to poison are immune to the negative affects of drugs, then is there any reason for them to not use drugs frequently and with indiscretion? And if they are totally unaffected by drugs, then they aren't really gaining the benefit for what they consume.

In the Serpent's Skull adventure (2/6) one of the NPS, who is a devout worshiper of Gozreh, has the players use a drug to gain a useful vision (unless my GM just added in that part). If using vision inducing drugs may be part of Gozreh's religion, at least for some ceremonies, then it would be strange for highly experienced members (level 9+ druids) to be unable to meaningfully participate in those ceremonies.

What thoughts (hopefully with references) do people have on the subject?

Before play testing the Mythic system I talked to my most experienced gamer friends about it and these were the thoughts we had.

Progression through trials is an interesting and novel way of progressing the through mythic tiers, allowing progression to be based more on story elements. As you increase in tiers though you need to fulfill many more trials, making each tier take longer to get than the previous, therefore tiers will likely not stay in step with every other level. Also the trials felt a lot like achievements and players are likely to start treating them that way. For example: during an easy fight an archmage may ask the rest of the group to drag the fight on so (s)he can cast a spell from each different school.

The mythic spells each seem to have about a 3 level adjustment modification to them, which is really good for balancing. And if a play or GM wants a mythic spell other than the ones listed, then it is easy to just pick the spell you want and manually modify it by 3 levels.

I really liked that each class seems to be able to fit into more than one mythic paths. That should help accommodate different play styles.

The flaws were an interesting idea and I think will be fun since each character will need to keep track of their flaw and how it can be used against them. A bad GM could also start throwing lots of the characters weakness at them because it is their flaw, but a bad GM will be a bad GM with or without the mythic system.

The only major concern I had was that mythic abilities are so much more powerful than regular abilities that this system seems inappropriate for regular level campaigns. I think the mythic system would be well balanced for epic (level 21+) campaigns though. The only modifications I would make for turning mythic tiers into epic levels would be to have the hit points from each tier also modified by constitution modifiers, add a +1 on attacks at every odd tier, a +1 on all saves at every even tier, and some additional skill ranks for each tier depending on the mythic path.

Overall, I think the mythic system is pretty well balanced for very high levels, but would be unbalancing for most games. If my group wants to try to mythic system I will post the results of the play test.

I recently got the Advanced Race Guide and there is one part that is confusing me. On page 219, in the sidebar, it indicates that, starting out, if a person is using a non-standard race, then every 10 racial points after the first 10 adds one level adjustment to the race. But in appendix 4 of the Bestiary on page 314 it indicates that the challenge rating should be the level adjustment.

I looked at the vampire in the Bestiary and figured out how many racial points it has. I calculated it to be about 200 racial points, indicating a level adjustment of 19. But it only adds 2 challenge rating, indicating a level adjustment of 2.

I know the books were written years apart and vampires probably weren't written with the racial point rules, so I expected there to be some discrepancy, but a discrepancy of 17 levels is huge.

Does anyone out there know how to reconcile this discrepancy, in whole or in part?