|
I was wondering how people are applying the multitude of splat books to their Pathfinder campaigns?
Are you sticking with the core SRD? if not what sort of rules are you using?
If your using things like the complete series etc. how do you intend to handle requests such as eastern themed classes such as the ninja, samurai or wu jen?
Will you allow the warlock? and if so how do you see it fitting into the world?
It would be great to hear about peoples own Class modifications? I'm looking at modifying some flavor based prestige classes from the forgotten realms to make them fit into Pathfinder.
Will you allow the warlock? and if so how do you see it fitting into the world?
Takasi asked this in the Pathfinder chat the other day, and James Jacobs responded by saying that they would fit with a Chelish background/origin.
For when I do plan to run a Pathfinder campaign (and I do plan on it - oh yes), I'll probably limit myself for the number of books I use in the campaign.
As for adapting prestige classes, that sounds like a fun idea. Sebastian gave me an interesting idea for a "Dwarven Sharpshooter" prestige class based on the Arcane Archer.
|
Our group allows just about anything as long as you have the books and it isn't ridiculously broken (like Persistent Spell + Divine Metamagic + those rods that give you extra turn/rebukes)
We have a warlock in RotRL right now, and Warlocks are probably the easiest class to fit into any game that has Aasimars, Tieflings, Half-Fey etc. Since that's where they tend to draw their powers from. We also have a Favored Soul of Desna (which actually seems more appropriate than Clerics for Desna worshippers) who is going sphere-walker. And the same goes for Swashbucklers.
Even Bo9S characters can fit in relatively easy. Incarnum you might have some issues with though.
Our group allows just about anything as long as you have the books and it isn't ridiculously broken (like Persistent Spell + Divine Metamagic + those rods that give you extra turn/rebukes)
We have a warlock in RotRL right now, and Warlocks are probably the easiest class to fit into any game that has Aasimars, Tieflings, Half-Fey etc. Since that's where they tend to draw their powers from. We also have a Favored Soul of Desna (which actually seems more appropriate than Clerics for Desna worshippers) who is going sphere-walker. And the same goes for Swashbucklers.
Even Bo9S characters can fit in relatively easy. Incarnum you might have some issues with though.
I could see Incarnum being tricky to implement due to the fluff/flavor of the ruleset, but mechanically, it's really not earth shattering at all, unless you're trying to optimize a skill monkey.
I'm allowing pretty much everything that is in the SRD. At one player's request, I'll probably also allow in the Archivist class, since the player's concept works well with Runelords (archivist/wizard/theurge heavily focused on history and ancient lore.)
Instead of using the 3.5 Splat books, in my campaign all of the characters except one are playing classes found in Arcana Evolved by Monte Cook. I've got a Champion, a Warmain, an Akashic, a Ritual Warrior and a Mage Blade. The only regular 3.5 character is the Cleric. It's an interesting party.
For myself in developing NPCs I've limited the possible sources to those already used by Paizo in the course of the path. This is lots, particularly when you include all the Advanced Bestiary templates. I've likewise limited my players to those sources, plus the Advanced Player's Manual. So far I've had no complaints.
I think if I were doing it over I'd be even stricter. I like the idea that the PCs and NPCs are all only drawing on the same sources, and while it's possible for me to use alternate books when fleshing out NPCs I don't want to since it's a big beacon to the players that they're in my stuff instead of Paizo's.
|
|
What I would ask the writers, is that any future Prestige Classes (whether they are totally new, or a re-imagining of a WOTC idea) use the 'Test-Based Pre-Requisites' rule philosophy from Unearthed Arcana (page 210).
The text there does an excellent job of explaining my reasoning.
I have to agree with this, and I'd definitely like to see less "junk feat" requirements like the Sphere Walker had. Feats are hard enough to come by as it is without forcing a player to take something generally useless (unless you're actually playing core only) like self-sufficient or toughness to qualify for a PrC.
|
I'd definitely like to see less "junk feat" requirements like the Sphere Walker had. Feats are hard enough to come by as it is without forcing a player to take something generally useless (unless you're actually playing core only) like self-sufficient or toughness to qualify for a PrC.
As well as the problem of prerequisites not being relevant to the classes (eg Blackguards need Improved Sunder?! Huh?), there's the fact that skill ranks and some feats are 'invisible' to PCs and NPCs in-game (eg Weapon Focus, Skill Focus, Nimble Fingers, etc), so a mentor can only test if an applicant is good at a task, but has no way of knowing how they got their ability so high. To do so would require meta-gaming and ooc knowledge.
Another problem which UA doesn't touch upon, is that requiring specific feats actually limits when classes can be entered. In our SCAP game, we had the invitation to join the Striders, but the DM seemed disappointed that no-one took up the offer. Even if I had been willing to waste a feat on Run (which I most certainly was not, since it would have set back my arcane career by 3 levels) it was impossible for any of us to buy a feat for another 2 levels. This makes certain story-based developments impossible to introduce, when they would be most useful and appropriate in the game.
I've let my players bring concepts to me for approval before character creation. They've stuck to core with only a few exceptions:
Advanced Bestiary (for inspiration on one of the PC's races, that being a 'fire elf" from the Cinderlands);
The Black Company Setting Book for their variant on the ranger (broader combat styles instead of spells, favored terrain instead of favored enemy);
The Chaos Monk variant from Dragon Magazine (forgot which issue);
I plucked a little gem from the WOTC PEACH boards for the party NPC - a core class called the Gemini Dancer. I thought it would be a cool idea for a Varisian character :)
Going forward - as long as it works thematically without unbalancing things, I'll entertain their ideas.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice Since 1369 DR"
I allow classes from the complete books and players handbook 2 in my game (as well as the spells from the Spell Compendium and items form the Magic Item Compendium). While I allow the classes from those splat books to date the players have all made characters with classes from the PHB (although a couple are working toward PrCs found in a complete book).
I have a fairly interesting mix of traditional and non-traditional PCs. Here's what I've got right now:
A human beguiler 5/mindbender 1 with the Mindsight feat from Lords of Madness (Tsochari section).
A "white-bread" human cleric of Desna 6 who just got reunited with his younger sister (cohort, warlock 4).
A human factotum 5/chameleon 1 who wnats to be able to do anything.
A gnome jester 6 who has taken two of the Fey Heritage feats.
And a half-orc barbarian 3/ranger 3 who's trying to balance the barb melee with the ranger's archery combat style. Oh, and he wants a war mastiff, from Heroes of Battle, for an animal companion.
No problems so far, but that Mindsight feat's gonna be tricky later on... Oh well...
|
|
My campaign's players are:
A Varisian Binder from Tome of Magic
A Chelaxian non-spellcasting Paladin variant from Complete Warrior
A Varisian Scout from Complete Adventurer
A Shoanti Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine
And feats and abilities and such from their associated books. It's running smooth as silk.
-DM Jeff
I have a Scout, a Spirit Shaman, a Knight, and a Wizard in my party. They're working out quite well, but the scout's ambush ability means he's tumbling around (with rolls of 27, 28, 29 every single round) the battlefield twanging off arrows for immense amounts of damage.
Our Spirit Shaman is working well, but is finding his Censure Spirits ability would be useful if he could somehow use it to qualify for divine feats, but is otherwise annoying. His constant protection against evil (spirits) is handy, but it means I can't use fear, confusion, anything mind-affecting against him... annoying to me.
Obviously whether or not splat books are kosher dill depends on the GM. I have been a GM on and off for 15years or so and I have come to look on splat books with a bit of disdain simply because it is hard to run an adventure that wasn't written with a gnome beguiler/dragon shaman in mind and tends to add more frustration on the GM'ing side than I personally care for.
That being said WotC has put out some good splats, and I have allowed variant rules for the basic classes from PHB2 (Spontaneous Rejuvination) in our current RotRL campaign. Alas I am too much of a curmudgeon and a control freak to allow the really new stuff (the new classes represented in the PHB2), and just about every prestige class in existence save the basic epic level ones.