|
Hola all. I'm a lurker extraordinaire and was at GenCon last week....picked up everything I could carry from the Paizo Booth. Also played a Pathfinder Society Game...The Silent Tide, which happened to be one of the best Convention games I've ever played.
Anyway, most of my group picked up the Beta rules while we were there and I started looking at them for the first time today.....I have two qestions with regard to my biggest two complaints about 3.5.
1. How does the Pathfinder RPG deal with excessive stat "buffs" at higher level play? We had a City of the Spider Queen game where all the characters got combat ready with 8-10 different buffs.......I understand that dispel (and greater dispel) is great for this, but the bookkeeping drove us nuts.
2. How does Beta deal with multiple attacks for characters at higher levels?
Thanks in advance..........
You'll find that neither of these topics are being covered under the Pathfinder system, at least not at it's core.
I highly doubt they will alter these aspects, because most people don't seem them in a bad light, as you seem to. :)
Please see the "High level play" threads.
There are plans on seeing if Jason can address some of the high level play issues. And the two issues that you are raising have been mentioned.
Hola all. I'm a lurker extraordinaire and was at GenCon last week....picked up everything I could carry from the Paizo Booth. Also played a Pathfinder Society Game...The Silent Tide, which happened to be one of the best Convention games I've ever played.
Anyway, most of my group picked up the Beta rules while we were there and I started looking at them for the first time today.....I have two qestions with regard to my biggest two complaints about 3.5.
1. How does the Pathfinder RPG deal with excessive stat "buffs" at higher level play? We had a City of the Spider Queen game where all the characters got combat ready with 8-10 different buffs.......I understand that dispel (and greater dispel) is great for this, but the bookkeeping drove us nuts.
2. How does Beta deal with multiple attacks for characters at higher levels?
Thanks in advance..........
1. As far as I know, they had a suggestion box in the Alpha 3 to limit active buffs to 3 on one character. Do not know if that box can be still found in Beta. I found that number a bit low. Maybe raise the number to 5 for lvl 11+ games.
2. Nope, this is not changed at all and I do not see it changed in any near future. Changing this would need a whole rebalancing of the entire system (HPs, magic, weapon damage).
|
|
I plan to address this issue myself when the focusing lens gets there, but for the moment, I'll toss in my own personal suggestion. I haven't rigorously tested this just yet, though. I divide the six attributes into body (Str/Con), mind (Dex/Int), and soul (Wis/Cha). I've been doing it that since long before 4th. Spell buffs, imho, affect one of these core types. So, as a playtest rule I'm playing with:
You can have a number of active spells affecting your character equal to the higher of the two ability modifiers. Any spells cast beyond that number remove the effect of the oldest spell. Spells with a duration of instant are not affected.
If the highest of the two in the pair is +3, you couldn't have more than 3 spells affecting that area of your character. This would also include ongoing damaging effects and charms.
The major flaw to this is having to identify every single spell in the game by category and the bookkeeping required to keep track of it all. It's a good idea, but I think it has some major flaws.
Arovyn
This sounds like a good idea, although it might be tricky to implement in the actual rules. Wouldn't you need to have something like a "buff" descriptor so that it could function?
I don't think it would be too hard to define a buff spell - a spell with an ongoing duration either with a personal duration or one or more targets.
Hm. Should it include concentration duration spells, like detect magic? Or even round a level spells?
There will be some unclear spells, like... ethereal jaunt or other travel spells. But it wouldn't be too bad. A little tricksy, though.
Dont have the Beta on me so cant say which page but its in there somewhere as an optional rule. Think its in the magic section but dont quote me on that.
I can't find it in the Beta rules (perhaps because it was rather unpopular), but here it is from the Alpha:
Optional Rule: Limiting Enhancements
Spells and powers that enhance your character’s attributes, combat bonuses, and abilities can add a great deal of complexity to the game and can really slow down play. To alleviate this problem, limit the number of spells and abilities that can be active on a creature at any one time to a total of three.Spells and abilities limited by this rule include those that grant ability bonuses, armor class bonuses, bonuses to hit and damage, damage reduction, energy resistances, immunities, save bonuses, speed enhancements, and spell resistance, as well as those spells that grant a special ability (such as freedom of movement or invisibility) or movement type (such as f ly). Only spells and abilities that are beneficial and have a duration greater than one round per level (or one
minute if the duration is set) are subject to this limitation.When a spell is cast on a creature that would put it in excess of this limit, the creature decides which spells and abilities to keep. All other enhancements are immediately dispelled for that creature. Spells that target items carried by a creature are subject to this limitation (although such bonuses are not dispelled if they are in excess of a creature’s limit; they just do not function for that creature). Bonuses
granted by magic items are not subject to this limitation unless the magic item produces a spell effect (such as a potion, scroll, staff, or wand).For example, a half ling wizard has three enhancement spells granting him bonuses, fox’s cunning, freedom of movement, and mage armor. In the middle of a fight against a red dragon, he casts displacement on himself. This spell is not in excess of his limit because its duration is only one round per level. On the following round, the party’s cleric casts resist energy on him to protect him from the dragon’s breath. He accepts this spell, allowing the fox’s cunning to expire in favor of the energy resistance. Later that same round, the bard casts good hope targeting him along with the rest of the party. He decides to forgo this spell in favor of those already active upon him, but this does not lessen the effect for other targets, who can accept the spell if they so desire.
Hmmm, I'd say limit it to five, at least I would, I honestly think a limitation like that should be taken under extremely careful consideration at the very least. Such a change would affect how modules and adventures are constructed as, to my knowledge, they tend to take such things into consideration with the enemies being buffed when players arrived and visa versa, that and I know my players love those rare occasions where they actually get enough of a drop on the enemy to actually buff their characters rather than having the boss be ready for them. I think five would be a reasonable number to keep track of while permitting the players to still prep themselves all nice like for that big battle. Then they can have a greater dispel knock 'em on their asses. :-D