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
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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.
Or you could wait until you see what the fluff is like. Plus psionics didn't ever allow you to play as a bender from what I remember :p
The only thing I found that I would allow from Occult Adventures, a "Bender" character class aka Kineticist. Otherwise true Psionics is what I will continue using.
Or you could wait until you see what the fluff is like. Plus psionics didn't ever allow you to play as a bender from what I remember :p
The only thing I found that I would allow from Occult Adventures, a "Bender" character class aka Kineticist. Otherwise true Psionics is what I will continue using.
I'm using both because they are two different things. Psychic magic is still magic, a different flavor of magic that we have never seen before but still magic. Nothing about Occult Adventure prohibits me from using Dreamscarred's Psionics because none new psychic classes compete with the psionic classes.
Still wrapping my head around people comparing psychics and psionics. Psychics wave their hands over crystal balls to talk to spirits and buy crystals from the oogity boogity store and look at you with spiral pupils to make you act like a duck. Psionics get hit in the head and wake up bending spoons or make things float or shoot Kirby krackle.
Yeah...psychic magic, as Pathfinder is tackling it, is not psionics as Wizards of the Coast and Dreamscarred have chosen to portray it. Honestly, I would think people who like Dreamscarred would be happy that Paizo is choosing to take another tack on things, focusing on a more occult/supernatural approach with roots in historical movements like spiritualism or mesmerism instead. There's plenty of room for both.
...I'm trying to avoid saying something sarcastic about time travelers who clearly know the entire contents of Occult Adventures beyond the playtest versions of the six classes which probably only constitute a chapter (albeit with support from other chapters though they will also probably be supporting preexisting classes), not to mention my feelings on the notions of a 'bastardization' of psionics or 'true psionics', but. In the end, I'm just going to say...should we really be having this discussion in the Pathfinder Unchained thread?
More on topic, I'm really looking forward to teasers in the blog about Unchained...I'm tempted to get it, but still not completely sold on pre-ordering it, so I'm keeping an eye out for a little more crunch to help decide me.
Yeah...psychic magic, as Pathfinder is tackling it, is not psionics as Wizards of the Coast and Dreamscarred have chosen to portray it. Honestly, I would think people who like Dreamscarred would be happy that Paizo is choosing to take another tack on things, focusing on a more occult/supernatural approach with roots in historical movements like spiritualism or mesmerism instead. There's plenty of room for both...........
That's actually exactly how I view it. Psionics=/=Psychic magic and they can both coexist.
Yeah...psychic magic, as Pathfinder is tackling it, is not psionics as Wizards of the Coast and Dreamscarred have chosen to portray it. Honestly, I would think people who like Dreamscarred would be happy that Paizo is choosing to take another tack on things, focusing on a more occult/supernatural approach with roots in historical movements like spiritualism or mesmerism instead. There's plenty of room for both...........
That's actually exactly how I view it. Psionics=/=Psychic magic and they can both coexist.
Also the devs described it as more 'penny dreadful' than anything else. I think only Kineticist kind of blurs the line. There was also podcast somewhere with devs talking about how Occult Adventures started to materialize and it definitely wasn't psionics or psionic-like at it's conception.
For me More classes is always welcome. My approach to it is for world building, lots of classes lets me pick and choose what I want for each new game setting or even tailor a class list for individual nations in a setting.
Occult Adventures sounds like what I would be including for a Mask of the Red Death style setting. Dreamscar Psionics is what I would use for an Obsidian Apocalypse game.
Same applies for Rules. Pick and choose the optional rules that will fit for the game I plan to run. Really looking forward to Unchained for exactly that reason.
If I am running a Greek Odyssey style campaign are the Unchained rules for magic items a better fit than the normal ones. Which combat system will work better, what magic system should I use; the normal one or one of these 3PP ones I have like Spheres of Power.
Options Options Options.
I don't need to use all of them but I love having them available for me to build with.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Greylurker wrote:
For me More classes is always welcome. My approach to it is for world building, lots of classes lets me pick and choose what I want for each new game setting or even tailor a class list for individual nations in a setting.
Occult Adventures sounds like what I would be including for a Mask of the Red Death style setting. Dreamscar Psionics is what I would use for an Obsidian Apocalypse game.
Same applies for Rules. Pick and choose the optional rules that will fit for the game I plan to run. Really looking forward to Unchained for exactly that reason.
If I am running a Greek Odyssey style campaign are the Unchained rules for magic items a better fit than the normal ones. Which combat system will work better, what magic system should I use; the normal one or one of these 3PP ones I have like Spheres of Power.
Options Options Options.
I don't need to use all of them but I love having them available for me to build with.
And Options is exactly what Unchained is about. The way I see it, this year we are getting rule sets that allow us to customize our home campaigns even more than before. You can use Unchained to replace the rules you don't like from Core with ones that work as you might want them to work. Occult Adventures gives us a brand new way of dealing with magic in the venerable game we play.
All in all, I'm looking forward to the myriad possibilities these two books will provide. And we get the first part in just a month! :D
That's if you like the replacement for the rules you don't like or care much for better. There is a chance you might not like the alternate/optional rule for it as well.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Dragon78 wrote:
That's if you like the replacement for the rules you don't like or care much for better. There is a chance you might not like the alternate/optional rule for it as well.
True, but at least you can get some alternate rules to try out and build on.
As for the psychic magic discussion, the OA book is the most interesting and anticipated release of the year...at least for me anyway. I do find it strange that they choose this section to talk about it instead of the OA product section.
As for the psychic magic discussion, the OA book is the most interesting and anticipated release of the year...at least for me anyway. I do find it strange that they choose this section to talk about it instead of the OA product section.
James Knowles wanted to know if psionics was going to be in Unchained and I informed him that psychic magic would be in Occult Adventures and then some minor discussion on psionics or psychic magic occurred.
It was relevant, up to a point, and then it was a full fledged deviation.
As for the psychic magic discussion, the OA book is the most interesting and anticipated release of the year...at least for me anyway. I do find it strange that they choose this section to talk about it instead of the OA product section.
James Knowles wanted to know if psionics was going to be in Unchained and I informed him that psychic magic would be in Occult Adventures and then some minor discussion on psionics or psychic magic occurred.
It was relevant, up to a point, and then it was a full fledged deviation.
It's a messageboard so deviations are kind of normal, I guess, which makes it a...standard deviation.
It's a messageboard so deviations are kind of normal, I guess, which makes it a...standard deviation.
We have noted what you have done, and recorded it in the International Registry of Puns (TM).
We may add a section to our Registry specifically dedicated to mathematical and statistical puns, as we have observed enough of such puns to confidently compute the error bars on their frequency.
I'm mostly stoked to see the monk (love what I'm hearing about full BAB and d10 hp) and summoner rewrites (please don't nerf the spell list...nerf the eidolon if you must but not the spell list!) and I'm mildly curious about the rogue reboot. The barbarian is already playing out really well in our group as is so I don't think we'd jump on a new version of that, but who knows...
They start talking about Unchained about 14 minutes 25 seconds in. They mention lots of things that sound really cool. A lot of the Barbarian stuff sounds like minor buffs to the class in making it simpler to play. Monk is full BAB, and has a suite of abilities to choose from. One of my friends said "oh, so like quingong being standard for monks?" and I think it's probably a little more complicated/simple than that, but whatever.
I'm mostly stoked to see the monk (love what I'm hearing about full BAB and d10 hp) and summoner rewrites (please don't nerf the spell list...nerf the eidolon if you must but not the spell list!) and I'm mildly curious about the rogue reboot. The barbarian is already playing out really well in our group as is so I don't think we'd jump on a new version of that, but who knows...
100% guaranteed, they nerfed the summoner spell list. Although I think of it a little less than nerfed and more as, bring it back in line with power level of every other class list.
Personally? I'd remove the eidolon altogether, leave the summon SLA as is, give summoners strong fort and will saves, and let them quicken self buffs like a warpriest...make them a magus that summons instead of blasts...
They start talking about Unchained about 14 minutes 25 seconds in. They mention lots of things that sound really cool. A lot of the Barbarian stuff sounds like minor buffs to the class in making it simpler to play. Monk is full BAB, and has a suite of abilities to choose from. One of my friends said "oh, so like quingong being standard for monks?" and I think it's probably a little more complicated/simple than that, but whatever.
Can't wait to buy the pdf!
It seems that there will be lots of GM options to spice up their adventures and I fully intend to use them!
Skill options and stamina based tricks for martials sound great and I'm eager to see the new takes on item creation, action economy and iterative attacks, since these are the major threats to the stability of a game unless the GM actively works to fix it.
