Get ready to shake up your game! Within these pages, the designers of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game unleash their wildest ideas, and nothing is safe. From totally revised fundamentals like core classes and monster design to brand-new systems for expanding the way you play, this book offers fresh ideas while still blending with the existing system. With Pathfinder Unchained, you become the game designer!
Pathfinder Unchained is an indispensable companion to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 15 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into a new era.
Pathfinder Unchained includes:
New versions of the barbarian, monk, rogue, and summoner classes, all revised to make them more balanced and easier to play.
New skill options for both those who want more skills to fill out their characters' backgrounds and those seeking streamlined systems for speed and simplicity.
Changes to how combat works, from a revised action system to an exhaustive list of combat tricks that draw upon your character's stamina.
Magic items that power up with you throughout your career—and ways to maintain variety while still letting players choose the "best" magic items.
Simplified monster creation rules for making new creatures on the fly.
Exotic material components ready to supercharge your spellcasting.
New takes on alignment, multiclassing, iterative attacks, wounds, diseases and poisons, and item creation.
... and much, much more!
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-715-4
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
Having completed a couple of adventure paths as GM and gearing up for my third, I felt I had enough experience under my belt to see about implementing some of the alternative rules systems from Pathfinder Unchained. The book presents 254 pages of different or additional ways to do things in Pathfinder, and it’s certainly worth a look if you’re planning a new campaign—chances are there’s something for every GM. These aren’t little things like a new feat, but major redesigns of entire classes, monster creation, magic, and more. The only caveat is that the more you stray from the Core rules, the more unresolved issues are likely to arise, so think carefully through the implications of a change and make sure players are willing to buy in to any adjustments. Anyway, there’s a ton of material to discuss, so let’s get to it!
I’m not a big fan of the cover. The golem or animated statue or whatever it is has a crazy narrow waist that really annoys me for some reason, even though I do acknowledge the whirling chains are a nice nod to the book’s title. The introduction (2 pages long) notes that Pathfinder was released seven years earlier (at that point) and that it’s time to offer a workshop full of tools for GMs to select from to update and customise their game. It provides a brief but useful overview of the major new changes, and is worth a skim.
Chapter 1 is “Classes” (36 pages) and contains the most widely adopted changes across the Pathfinder community. The chapter presents new “Unchained” versions of the Barbarian, Monk, Rogue, and Summoner, and even PFS allows them because they are almost unanimously accepted as more playable (and better balanced) revisions. The Unchained Barbarian has simplified calculations for rage duration (though it still lasts too long, in my opinion) and makes it easier to use rage powers. The Unchained Monk has a simplified Flurry of Blows and new ki powers for versatility. The Unchained Rogue gets skill unlocks (discussed later) and important abilities like debilitating injury, weapon finesse, and (eventually) Dex to damage. The Unchained Summoner is frankly a nerf, but a much-needed one; the biggest change is to the eidolon, but it also fixes the Summoner spell list. I’m happy with all the class revisions, and I only wish Paizo got around to making Unchained versions of some of the other problematic classes out there. The chapter also contains a new method to compute BABs and saves to help multiclass characters, but it looks too complicated to me. Finally, there’s a new “staggered advancement” mechanism that sort of allows a character to partially level up as they go instead of doing it all at once when they reach a new XP threshold; I think it’s more effort than its worth.
Chapter 2 is “Skills and Options” (44 pages). It starts with an optional “Background” skills system, which essentially gives each PC a free rank each level to spend on a non-combat oriented skill like Craft, Perform, etc. I tried it once in a previous campaign but found it was rarely used to flesh out a character and was instead just dumped into learning another language or another point in a Knowledge skill. I do like the expanded skill uses for Craft, Perform, and Profession—they’re easy to integrate into a campaign because they essentially give the GM a list of uses and DCs to make those skills more valuable in ordinary gameplay (such as using Craft to determine what culture made an item, for example). Another optional change is a consolidated skill list that cuts the number of skills in a third! This is essentially what Starfinder did, and I’m not a fan at all because it makes for too much homogeneity within a group. Another proposal is “grouped skills” which makes PCs more broadly skilled but less specialised; complicated but interesting. Next, there are alternative Crafting and Profession rules. I like the changes to Crafting (simplifies and details DCs better) but it doesn’t address magical item crafting which, frankly, is the most likely to be used and abused. The changes to Profession are only for running a business. Perhaps most pertinent are the “Skill Unlocks” for Unchained Rogue (or any other PC who takes a particular feat)—these allow a character who has 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill to gain a particular ability with that skill. These aren’t game-changers for the most part, but they do speed up their use or remove penalties, and are worth having for the most part. Last, there’s a new way to handle multiclassing; essentially, you give up feats to get the secondary powers of another class. I found it interesting but ultimately unsatisfactory.
Chapter 3 is “Gameplay” (46 pages) and is a real grab bag of options. The first involves alignment: either making it a bigger part of the game by tracking PCs’ alignment more finely and providing bonuses accordingly, or removing it altogether (which would require a *lot* of GM legwork). Some people like the revised action economy (a version of which was implemented in PF2), which changes the admittedly initially confusing dichotomy of Free/Swift/Immediate/Move/Standard/Full to just “Simple” and “Advanced”. However, I’ve also heard issues with how it handles certain classes. Another proposal is to remove iterative attacks; it looks interesting but too complicated for easy adoption. Next are “stamina points” and “combat tricks”—basically, a pool of points to use for a bonus on an attack or to do certain tricks that improve combat feats; I could certainly see using this. Also tempting is the idea of “wound thresholds”, which means there’s a degradation of fighting ability the more hit points are lost—this would create some new tactical considerations though it would also require some more GM tracking. Last are Starfinder-style disease and poison progression tracks, which make them *much* deadlier (I think they’re too hard to integrate at this stage in Pathfinder, however).
Chapter Four is “Magic” (38 pages). It starts with “Simplified Spellcasting”, in which a spellcaster only prepares spells for their three highest spell levels with all lesser spells grouped in a pool; this provides them even more flexibility, which is anathema to those (like me) unhappy with the caster/martial disparity at higher levels. Next are “Spell Alterations”, and some of these are more my jam: limited magic, wild magic, spell crits and fumbles, and material components have a cost for every spell (old school!). I know a lot of groups use the “Automatic Bonus Progression” rules, which provide a fixed bonus at each level so that the “Big Six” magic item slots can be used for more interesting and flavourful things than just stat boosting gear. Next are magical items that scale; I think one or two of these in a campaign could be really fun (and manageable), though I wouldn’t want to overdo it just because of the complications. Last up is a new way of handling magic item creation that involves the whole party overcoming challenges in order to add unique powers to items; it’s certainly flavourful and worth considering.
Chapter Five is “Monsters” (62 pages). It presents a whole new (and allegedly much faster) way of creating monsters. It’s the method adopted in Starfinder, and is based on arrays and grafts rather than building a creature from the “ground up”. I’m personally not a fan of it (I like knowing monsters follow the same “rules” as everyone else), but I do sympathise with the homebrewers out there who want a faster way to stock a dungeon with custom creations.
And that’s Pathfinder Unchained. If you’ve been playing or GMing for a while and have a good sense of the Core rules, it’s certainly worth a look.
Some of the suggested mechanics are worth the entire price
Automatic Bonus Progression is enough to justify the entire price of the book. Better versions of the Rogue and Monk, as well as fixes to the summoner and streamlining the barabarian seal the deal. There is a lot of other good stuff in here as well. Well worth it!
I love the idea of this book, I wish this happened more often. They took what they saw wrong with their game and spent proper time and effort to come up with proper solutions. It's pretty rare for a company to spend this much effort on tweaking things. The new proposed mechanics for combat and skills are unique and great ideas to help customize your groups' gaming experience.
I hope they release more books like this in the future. I've love for more variations for multiclassing, and I'm still waiting for a summoner archetype that removes the class summon monster ability and focuses more on the eidolon.
Highly recommend it, especially for anyone interested in how someone goes about making a gaming system. It provides awesome insights.
It's been a while since it took me so long to digest a Pathfinder book, and boy, did Unchained ever keep me digesting. More optional rules than you can shake a stick at, to be implemented in modular or wholesale fashion, to tweak your game to your heart's content, and with top-notch art throughout, to boot. Excellent work by Paizo and one of their finest offerings in a while.
As for the negatives, the only thing I can really point out is that the writing can be somewhat scattershot and unfocused in a couple of reasonably complex sections, which would have benefited greatly from examples or bolded formulae.
This book is a great addition. Options are optional, and it's great that this book has so many. It really makes customizing a campaign easy. Of you'll like you never use every option, or likely even half of them in a single you play or run, but having them really gives you a great toolbox to use. Some people are finicky about house rules, so having an official batch of "house rules" to choose from is nice for people who prefer to stick to official products. No book is perfect, but being this book isn't really being forced on anyone (of course I suppose none of the supplements are), and that is a giant bag of options that you can pick and choose from to enhance the game, for those who'd like it enhanced, I give this product 5 stars, especially if I am comparing it to the usefulness of the average Pathfinder product.
To add to what Jason has said, when it comes to unchained, everything is unchained in some way or another, there's really a sliding scale, ranging from "Wow, that's a cool new take on an iconic idea" all the way out to "'The sacred cows are dead and strapped to a catapult while everyone cavorts in the moonlight and watches in awed anticipation as the chains of reality shatter and the entire world dissolves into the Maelstrom". Some combinations from Pathfinder Unchained are going to bring you more towards the second description in terms of how much they will alter the fundamental way you play to bring a completely new feel, but the new classes are more like the first description.
Uh oh! Does that mean that the Inevitables and Axiomites will try to prevent this book from being published?
To add to what Jason has said, when it comes to unchained, everything is unchained in some way or another, there's really a sliding scale, ranging from "Wow, that's a cool new take on an iconic idea" all the way out to "'The sacred cows are dead and strapped to a catapult while everyone cavorts in the moonlight and watches in awed anticipation as the chains of reality shatter and the entire world dissolves into the Maelstrom". Some combinations from Pathfinder Unchained are going to bring you more towards the second description in terms of how much they will alter the fundamental way you play to bring a completely new feel, but the new classes are more like the first description.
So, to use a hypothetical example of a class that isn't under current discussion for Unchained, a theoretical unchained druid would probably not trade out all her spells, wild shape, and animal companions for the ability to shoot a bow with her feet, reliant on her dinosaur pool, a personal pool based on 1/2 druid level + Wis modifier that allows her to transform her foot-bow arrows into dinosaurs midflight (scaling dinosaur type by druid level) with a special feature called Plant Mastery that allows you to gain combat bonuses based on going into your local forest or arboretum in real life and collecting a variety of leaves and other flora that you bring to the game session, each one granting a unique boon (with a sidebar for equivalencies of plants if you play on different continents).
Hmm...that actually sounds kind of awesome in a very MtG Unglued kind of way...
So, to use a hypothetical example of a class that isn't under current discussion for Unchained, a theoretical unchained druid would probably not trade out all her spells, wild shape, and animal companions for the ability to shoot a bow with her feet, reliant on her dinosaur pool, a personal pool based on 1/2 druid level + Wis modifier that allows her to transform her foot-bow arrows into dinosaurs midflight (scaling dinosaur type by druid level) with a special feature called Plant Mastery that allows you to gain combat bonuses based on going into your local forest or arboretum in real life and collecting a variety of leaves and other flora that you bring to the game session, each one granting a unique boon (with a sidebar for equivalencies of plants if you play on different continents).
Foot-bow powered dino druids: confirmed for the August 2015 hardback!
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game contains numerous rules considered sacred by players and GMs alike. Since the system itself was based upon RPG "technology" already more than 20 years old, "backwards compatibility" often meant sticking with the familiar, even if tradition was filled with cobwebs and decades-old assumptions. Pathfinder Unchained dares to take a fresh look at the system itself, altering some of the fundamentals of the game and giving fresh optional takes on classic rules. Inside this collection of alternate rules and options you'll find completely redesigned versions of the barbarian, monk, rogue, and summoner classes. Delve into a new system for resolving player actions designed to speed play and dispel confusion. Many of the new systems (such as the revised classes) work seamlessly with the existing Pathfinder rules. Even the most staunchly traditionalist player will appreciate the book's math-lite system for on-the-fly monster creation and the new system for generating dynamic magic items that go far beyond a simple +1 to add lore and interest to the campaign. Players will love the book's new resource pool for martial characters, allowing for exciting new tactical options, as well as the robust new system that allows spellcasters to modify their spells with powerful spell components.
Wait, hold on... I thought we were talking about aspects kept in Pathfinder to maintain backwards compatibility with 3rd Edition, which was published FOURTEEN years ago.
What other things could they possibly be talking about here??
Wait, hold on... I thought we were talking about aspects kept in Pathfinder to maintain backwards compatibility with 3rd Edition, which was published FOURTEEN years ago.
What other things could they possibly be talking about here??
Spell slots. Character classes. Dungeon-focused gameplay.
Wait, hold on... I thought we were talking about aspects kept in Pathfinder to maintain backwards compatibility with 3rd Edition, which was published FOURTEEN years ago.
What other things could they possibly be talking about here??
Updated second edition Players Handbook and DM's Guide came out in 1995, twenty years ago, so perhaps some of the concepts in those books are being considered, like wizards school specializations (instead of just 'magic users and illusionists').
I really don't remember what changed between the first 2nd edition books in 1989 and the new release in 1995, so that might be a bad example...
Most of the sacred cows I was thinking of where stuff like skills and character classes and dice, which have been around longer than twenty years.
I'm looking forward to playing the Commoner: Unchained!
Don't laugh, but I unironically would love to play a commoner that, as he fights things, gravitates to a certain class. But I can't even imagine how to do that...
I'm looking forward to playing the Commoner: Unchained!
Don't laugh, but I unironically would love to play a commoner that, as he fights things, gravitates to a certain class. But I can't even imagine how to do that...
A long time ago, I saw a game in which people started out as Warriors, Adepts or Experts, and then 'graduated' to PC classes, paying the difference between the faster XP they were getting as NPC classes to upgrade each level to a PC class level.
Warrior to Fighter was obviously the easiest back then, since the only difference was spend some XP and get some feats.
I'm looking forward to playing the Commoner: Unchained!
Announced for Pathfinder Unchained: New adjustments to the CR system render NPC classes useless, so they have been removed from the game. The Commoner: Rechained.
Eclipse: Codex Persona comes to mind.
Now that would be a very nice development.
A complete overhaul of magic use could make the distinction between spontaneous casters and learned casters difficult though.
If you look at Dreamscarred Press Psionics for example, which is a nice point system, there are all spontaneous.
Could still say wizards need to learn their spells and can spend les points on them.
I'm looking forward to playing the Commoner: Unchained!
Announced for Pathfinder Unchained: New adjustments to the CR system render NPC classes useless, so they have been removed from the game. The Commoner: Rechained.
I'm looking forward to playing the Commoner: Unchained!
Why wait--start by converting Chicken Infested, Corpse, Delicious, Dirt Farmer, Incomprehensible Accent, Peasant Hat, Pig Bond, Unimportant NPC, Weresheep and XP Farm and make them into commoner talents. Then the Unchained Commoner gains a new commoner talent at each even level, so there are just enough.
Okay so based on the last tidbit of info we got, this will be a new take on the classes and not changing them into something they are not. Which makes sense, I mean now that I think about it there are some feats tied to sneak attacks, rage, and ki so I doubt these things will be removed from the unchained version of the classes. This is especially true for rage powers since the Skald(ACG class) will also be getting access to them.
So now that things are a little clearer on that aspect, we can better speculate what is to come. The rogue will still have sneak attack, trapfinding will most likely remain, I don't see evasion going away either...Ideally I would hope as I've stated before that they would gain an ability that increases their attack bonus, but it needs to feel rogue-ish something very pragmatic and underhanded. Another way to look at it is instead of increasing attack bonus the rogue could drop the enemies AC by a certain amount, but then it would have to work on most if not all enemies and people may think that would be a bit overpowered.
i should HOPE this book helps alleviate some of the more lackluster of classes. you know, the Big Three that we're not allowed to talk about.
one cant stab you in the dark, another cant punch you to save his life, and the last is bland and hilariously underskilled.
.
that, and wordcasting additions (don't just tease it and then act like it never happened, paizo) or variant spellcasting types (an 'MP'/spell points system might be fun)
It is ridiculous that a rogue has to take a feat to sneak attack someone in the dark. Last I checked dark alleys could be classified as a rogue's natural habitat.
So excited for this book. I am also glad the fighter is not getting a rework. I suspect that something even more fundamental is happening: Feats, glorious feats.
Personally, I'm hoping for a Barbarian based on the AD&D version from the Complete Barbarian's Handbook. Less berserker, more self-sufficient barbarian warrior. Not that I don't seriously enjoy the current version, but doing this seems like the best reason to actually include it in Unchained that I've thought of, and would create a neat class we don't quite have as of yet.
Ok, I'm a little late to this. Only just heard about it on Know Direction.
Other then the 4 classes in the description above, any info on the other classes like Fighter, etc?
Will they be touched upon as well? I heard in the podcast that all 30 classes will be revisited?
Ok, I'm a little late to this. Only just heard about it on Know Direction.
Other then the 4 classes in the description above, any info on the other classes like Fighter, etc?
Will they be touched upon as well? I heard in the podcast that all 30 classes will be revisited?
Not to be a total ass, but you could have read the comment immediately above yours.
Cthulhudrew wrote:
Jack Rift wrote:
I am sure it has be asked and answered, don't real like looking through all the posts. But what will this do for the basic fighter?
If you read the product description, then you know as much as the rest of us do.
@Tels ,
Ok... There are 480+ posts, just wanted to know if I missed anything. No need to get all offended.
The podcast mentioned quite a bit, I was just hoping that an extra comment on any other class was being dropped by the design team.
I also see you have some interesting ideals for improving the fighter via improving feats, I do hope something a long that line to help the fighter appears in unchained.
I agree with not reading the entire thread, but you could have done a quick search of the thread. There's a search box at the top of every thread that will search the thread for key words you designate.
As for getting offended, I was only kind of annoyed because someone had asked nearly the exact same question right above you and got answered is all.
This product has just been announced and there really isn't much information at out about it at all.
What we do know is that the Barbarian, Monk, Rogue and Summoner will be 'unchained' in that the Barbarian will be made 'easier, the Monk will have full BAB (buffed), the Rogue will be buffed and the Summoner will be nerfed.
We also know that they will be designing the game ignoring the expectation of backwards compatibility.
We know that some classes won't specifically be 'unchained' but that other systems of the game will be unchained, which may drastically effect the class. For example, if Magic is drastically different than now, it will heavily effect all of the casters in the game.
There will be new subsytems like mana pools and resources included and an over-hauled 'on-the-fly' monster creation system.
Other than the above, the PDT has been pretty tight lipped, as they should be. The product was just announced, I wouldn't expect any significant teasers for another 9 months or so until it gets closer to it's release date.
@,Tels
Thanks for the breakdown, Tels!
Sorry for annoying you. :(
Will remember to search more in the future!
And I noticed the Fighter unchained thread. Going to pop in and have a look.
I really do hope they take a look at the fighter!
Hope for: +2 more skill points, allow acrobatics, feat bonuses, reflex good save!
Adding this to my wishlist for the book: official rules for buffing monsters and bosses to compete against optimized parties. It would be interesting to see if Paizo can come up with something more interesting than just slapping on advanced templates or extra hit points, while still being quick.
I wonder if creating a new progression scale for PCs (Ability points, saves etc) would fall into the purview of this to help eliminate the dependency on magic items (or some other way to help address this).
@,Tels
Thanks for the breakdown, Tels!
Sorry for annoying you. :(
Will remember to search more in the future!
And I noticed the Fighter unchained thread. Going to pop in and have a look.
I really do hope they take a look at the fighter!
Hope for: +2 more skill points, allow acrobatics, feat bonuses, reflex good save!
Relax Secane. You were far from the only annoying thing in this thread :D And I don't blame you for not reading hundreds of posts chasing the same couple of ideas around and around... I did and I feel like I wasted some time I can never get back :)