I was looking at the pregenerated characters for Burnt Offerings, and I noticed that each of the 4 pregens has an extra feat. Why is that? Am I missing something?
Creative Director
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The bonus feats are from the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. If/when I run Runelords as a game, I fully intend to let my PCs pick a bonus feat from those listed in the Player's Guide, and giving bonus feats to the iconics is my sneaky way of trying to encourage GMs around the world to do the same.
Bonus Feats are good for the game! Especially when they're tied to the campaign and help to establish new PCs in the world by tying them to feats that are closely associated with the region the campaign takes place in.
The bonus feats are from the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. If/when I run Runelords as a game, I fully intend to let my PCs pick a bonus feat from those listed in the Player's Guide, and giving bonus feats to the iconics is my sneaky way of trying to encourage GMs around the world to do the same.
Bonus Feats are good for the game! Especially when they're tied to the campaign and help to establish new PCs in the world by tying them to feats that are closely associated with the region the campaign takes place in.
Wow... quickest response... ever! Thanks James!! I think I like your style... alot. I always did like bonus feats anyways :)
I fully intend to let my PCs pick a bonus feat from those listed in the Player's Guide...
Any concerns at all about doing that in comparison to the established Encounter Levels and what-not throughout the AP? Or does the general deadliness of the adventures and encounters in previous APs kind make it more worthwhile to run groups with an extra boost?
For instance, I've already given my players breaks by letting them use a 28-point buy instead of the standard 25. I'm also giving them a cost break (two ranks for the price of one) on Craft and Profession skills that can establish them as already having a presence and tie-in to the shops and businesses of Sandpoint. If I included a bonus feat from the Player's Guide on top of all that, will the adventures prove too easy? I already have a group of 5 players instead of the traditional 4 expected when calculating CRs and ELs. So, in your opinion, should any of that worry me as GM when it comes to running the game?
Curious,
--Neil
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For Savage Tide I have a group of 8 players, who mostly tend to be "ok let's go to the next objective" players. I gave them each a player's guide a week before we started and told them that if they gave me at least a page of detailed history on how they were from one of the parts of the city by Wednesday then they could take the bonus feat listed for that part of the city. some took me up on it, others didn't - I tend to not pull any punches in my game, so even with having twice the number of players the adventure is 'designed' for, I have had one NPC and one PC die, and 2 other PCs drop into negatives, and they just got to the worm fall festival in BWG.
I decided against giving out any bonus feats (although the feats in the Player's Guide are available to be taken as normal feats), I did decide to let the players use a 32 point buy for the game though, giving the characters a little bit more of an edge.
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Creative Director
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Any concerns at all about doing that in comparison to the established Encounter Levels and what-not throughout the AP? Or does the general deadliness of the adventures and encounters in previous APs kind make it more worthwhile to run groups with an extra boost?
I wouldn't worry about it. If they do end up making PCs a little tougher or more prone to not getting killed, that's a good thing. The game's a lot sturdier than that—it won't break just because of one bonus feat. Especially if you're letting your players build characters from a wide base of books and non-core sources.
In the Savage Tide game I'm running, there are 5 players. They have 32 point buys and a bonus feat. The game's still quite fun and there's still a sense of peril and danger.
I wouldn't worry about the impact of bonus feats at all, especially since the difficulty of the adventures depends as much upon player skill, makeup of their classes and races, and GM style as much as it does on CRs and ELs.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I'm going to be allowing the bonuses in my campaign because I love 'flavor' feats. I also allow characters in my Forgotten Realms campaigns to take a free 'regional' feat from their character's home area (these feats are listed in the FRCS and the PGtF).
Of course, my Pathfinder campaign is only going to have 3 characters, so they'll need all the help they can get.
I fully intend to let my PCs pick a bonus feat from those listed in the Player's Guide...Any concerns at all about doing that in comparison to the established Encounter Levels and what-not throughout the AP? Or does the general deadliness of the adventures and encounters in previous APs kind make it more worthwhile to run groups with an extra boost?
For instance, I've already given my players breaks by letting them use a 28-point buy instead of the standard 25. I'm also giving them a cost break (two ranks for the price of one) on Craft and Profession skills that can establish them as already having a presence and tie-in to the shops and businesses of Sandpoint. If I included a bonus feat from the Player's Guide on top of all that, will the adventures prove too easy? I already have a group of 5 players instead of the traditional 4 expected when calculating CRs and ELs. So, in your opinion, should any of that worry me as GM when it comes to running the game?
Curious,
--Neil
I understand your concern, but really, it is ONE feat, and they aren't even very powerful feats at that. As bonus feats they are perfect, more flavour than crunch. YOu really don't need to worry about them overpowering your characters.
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Creative Director
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The extra damage vs. larger foes ability is actually pretty (in my opinion overly) powerful. I'll be restricting that one to foes with Int 2 or lower.
I wouldn't call it overly powreful, since larger foes tend to have a LOT more hit points anyway, and in many cases their size and low Dex scores mean that their armor classes are so low that an extra +1 to hit won't really matter much. It probably SHOULD have had a prerequisite though; something like Power Attack or something...
I've got the parameters of my game pegged at SRD content only, 28 point buy, LA +0 only, max starting wealth by class and the choice of one of the bonus feats from the RoRL Player's Guide in addition to feats normally granted by race and class.
I am allowing Psionics, but have tweaked a few of the PrCs in the SRD by opening them up to arcane caster, divine caster OR manifestor progression (such as Arcane Trickster being Arcane, Divine or Psychic Trickster [choose one].)
I've also gone ahead and allowed in chapters 2, 3 and 4 of PHB2 as well. I realize that's a lot more restrictive than most tables, in terms of allowable content, but I wanted to keep the investment for my prospective players (some of whom haven't played since 3.5 first hit the shelves) fairly low.
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The extra damage vs. larger foes ability is actually pretty (in my opinion overly) powerful. I'll be restricting that one to foes with Int 2 or lower.I wouldn't call it overly powreful, since larger foes tend to have a LOT more hit points anyway, and in many cases their size and low Dex scores mean that their armor classes are so low that an extra +1 to hit won't really matter much. It probably SHOULD have had a prerequisite though; something like Power Attack or something...
Favored enemy, perhaps?
Any concerns at all about doing that in comparison to the established Encounter Levels and what-not throughout the AP?
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For instance, I've already given my players breaks by letting them use a 28-point buy instead of the standard 25.
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I already have a group of 5 players instead of the traditional 4 expected when calculating CRs and ELs. So, in your opinion, should any of that worry me as GM when it comes to running the game?
I recently did a statistical analysis of the standard rolling system, in terms of point-buy equivalents. I found that the 4d6 drop one system was roughly equivalent to 30 or 31 point buy, average. That system of course doesn't allow for "perfect placement" of the values, and has a standard deviation of +/-8 "point-buy equivalents".
I had until this point thought that 25 point buy was just fine, if not even slightly generous in the customization level, and had a campaign that required the default elite array (which is based on 25 point buy). Since looking at the stats, I've come to the conclusion that 28 is probably more relative to the power level of actually rolling.
And as far as having 5 players go - its been pointed out by someone on these boards that you really shouldn't adjust the encounters any to provide a bigger challenge at the start. As they get slightly less xp than is intended, their challenges will naturally rise (and remain) at the intended difficulty level. One of the nifty features of the CR/EL system really.
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Bonus feats and skills are good for any game, especially when there's back story and lore explaining why a character has it.
In the Realms campaign I'm running, I had a player that didn't want to be from Thay, but what'd Tattoo Focus feat. She hadn't come up with her character's background yet, so I suggested that she'd been captured at one point in her life by a Thayan slaver and a Wizard experimented on her, forcing a new version of Tattoo Focus on her (+1 caster level in addition to the DC bonus.) I gave it to her as a bonus feat (she was playing an elf) and let her take Spell Focus as her regular one. :)
Been playing with an extra bonus feat ever since 3.0 days. It doesn't break the power level of anything and neither really does the question of 25, 28, 32 or even heaven fend, a 39 point buy... we played with a 39 point buy ( GASP !) for two years in several campaigns, and it didn't matter at all/much, because whether a character died or not was, without fail, not based on the question "my stats weren't high enough" but because of his/her calls. If you play badly or make stupid choices, you die, whether your stat is 18 or 14. But higher stats encourage more heroic actions and activity, making for far more interesting option of choices and a more interesting game.
YMMV
Although we regularly grant the bonus feat out only for an established background (written down and GM's to use and abuse) , and then from a limited-list-only pick for each region/organisation. And yes, the more unpalatable or limiting the background choice, the more interesting and useful the possible feats. Extra skill ranks etc. happen to get granted too, but usually only in second tier skills like profession, craft etc., denoting upbringing and exposure through one's formative years.
Oh, and yes, NPCs (even intelligent monsters) get the bonus feat as well.
Bonus feats based on background or culture are an excellent way to tie characters to the campaign world. The flavor encourages roleplaying and the crunch adds texture to character building. As long as they don't provide too much of power boost, they usually don't give the DM any headaches, either.