I'm toying with the idea of a super-hero style pathfinder system.
(Kind of a "what if" deal. More mechanics play than anything else)
For the lols I figured out the speed you'd need to move (6702 ft per turn) to break the sound barrier.
The base class would grant you an extra 70 squares (or 350 ft) of movement per turn. (That way you could move more than the speed of sound per turn)
Thoughts?
Like what would the effect be of a sonic boom be from someone breaking the sound barrier? (a d6 for every level 2 of speedster? A set damage would be nicer) What about the area?
(If your interested, I'd be adding "Heavy Hitter", "Genius", and "Observer" as the other classes... though they are still just concepts.)
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A true speedster would probably be the most broken class in the Pathfinder system, because economy of action is probably the most important aspect of a turn-based game, and I can imagine a speedster getting super haste, multiple extra move, standard, and swift actions per round, the ability to move between each iterative attack, dervish dance, etc. etc.
Probably really REALLY fun to play, but it would have to be played with and against other characters of a similar power level.
And, ironically enough, a speedster character would probably take the longest to play, round by round, because it would be rolling tons of dice.
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My group toyed around with this and played a game up to 5th level. We used the Eidolon table in the advanced players guide as a power point buy in system. We used the majority of the Eidolon powers and add point values to powers others wanted. It workedout pretty well but the power level was Less Marvel Universe and more like Hero's the TV show.
Yeah... it would be a LOT higher powered game.
I've played a few supers games using d20 Modern and the "Blood and Vigilance" 3rd party supers supplement. It would mesh pretty well with Pathfinder with a minimum of conversions. It introduces Power Points, which are like Skill Points, but for Super Powers. And there are feats specific to specific super powers. Also Stunts, which are feat-like, but just allow special uses of super powers. Very module, very easy to use, very scalable.
Yeah... it would be a LOT higher powered game.
Not really. As long as you understand that 'superheroes' shouldnt be less then say level 10(twice the level of where normal human ability lies ala 1-5). A level 10th character can fight a dragon with it's bar hands (monk), travel vast distances in the blink of an eye (Teleport spell). Pick up absurd weights over his head (look at the carrying of a max strength dragon disciple with a +4 item). I could easily imagine several kinds of 10th level characters straight out of pathfinder parked right in the dc or marvel universe.
To the OP you might want to take a look at mutants and masterminds for inspiration. Since it is (sort of) d20 based, it should offer some assistance in coming up with useful 'pathfinderized' rules.
That's a fair point to make.
However, I don't see players punching something through a building like superman. One of the biggest problems would be diversity. (She sheer number of powers) I think if feats where replaced with "powers", it would work.
That's a fair point to make.
However, I don't see players punching something through a building like superman. One of the biggest problems would be diversity. (She sheer number of powers) I think if feats where replaced with "powers", it would work.
First of all, superman has all the cheat codes on. He isnt a high level character, he is a god. Even in the high powered dc universe superman and his offshoots (superboy, supergirl, powergirl) are epic level characters. There is no getting around that. Batman, flash, and even green lantern are on par with high level dnd characters. Superman, the hulk, thor, darkseid, etc, they break the mold.
In a super hero setting however there is an absurd variety of things that can be done, and even for characters that do similar things, they are presented very different. You need to make the system VERY flexible to accomodate that or you need to accept that you arent going to be able to create every possible superhero. Like i said mutants and masterminds is really something you should take a look at. If you want to make a system that works for all kinds of super heroes you need to abandon a class system and work directly off powers and points.
If you want a little more focused, and are willing to sacrifice some variety, then you should probably have classes who's class features are all 'talents' ala d20 modern, and each talent is a power, or an upgrade of an existing power. Different classes (speedster, strongman, energy manipulater, supersuit, etc) would be able to pick from a specific pool of talents assoiciated with their class.
"Blood and Vigilance" has a very scalable and balanced system. Basically, you get 3 power points per level (x4 at 1st level) and can spend them on different powers. So, you can be a relatively focused character concept (Max ranks in Super-Speed, Super-Dexterity, Fast-Healing), or you can be more varied, but weaker in each varied power (Some Super-Strength, some flight, some invulnerability, some laser vision, some super-speed, some super-Constitution, some super-hearing, etc. etc.).
And it has 4 different "levels" of supers: Street (Sin City/Batman), 4-Color (Xmen, Avengers), pre-epic (Green Lantern, Silver Surfer), epic (superman, thor).
(I forget the names for the higher level campaign types)
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Superman? High-level?
Nah, he starts as a 0th-level, and goes up to something like a 5th-level paladin. But the "Kryptonian on Earth" template is worth about CR+20, so... meh. It gives him an incredible fly speed, the ability to see through stuff, a base speed that's off the charts, some huge +50 or so to all the physical stats, and a 'miscellaneous powers as plot demands' ability.
Better superheroes to model your system after:
Batman
Green Arrow
Green Lantern
Wonder Woman
Daredevil
Hellboy
The cast of the Magellan webcomic
The Flash
The X-Men (most of them)
Well, you get the idea.
Superman? High-level?
Nah, he starts as a 0th-level, and goes up to something like a 5th-level paladin. But the "Kryptonian on Earth" template is worth about CR+20, so... meh. It gives him an incredible fly speed, the ability to see through stuff, a base speed that's off the charts, some huge +50 or so to all the physical stats, and a 'miscellaneous powers as plot demands' ability.
Sorry for the thread jack, but I have to say this. Originally, Superman wasn't suppose to fly. It was a writers error.
I like the concept of different level campaigns (Not levels)
Level up could go slow.
I was considering doing a handful of archetypes with sub-classifications like they did in Saga edition.
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A true speedster would probably be the most broken class in the Pathfinder system, because economy of action is probably the most important aspect of a turn-based game, and I can imagine a speedster getting super haste, multiple extra move, standard, and swift actions per round, the ability to move between each iterative attack, dervish dance, etc. etc.
M&M basically dodges the whole issue by ruling that every character gets one action a round. A speedster can punch way above his weight class by using his speed rating to determine his damage category (represented as punching someone at ridiculous speed, or by hitting someone a hundred times in a second, but still counting only as a single rolled attack with a set damage value), or attack everyone within an area with a single attack roll (representing him running around and punching everyone once with his lower-damage normal strength punch, with a single die roll being compared against everyone's defense numbers / toughness).
It hugely limits the speedster, in some regards, but, at the same time, pretty much allows either of the typical uses of super-speed attacks in the comics, either hitting someone really fast for big damage, or hitting a whole bunch of people in a single turn.
The only other multiple attack option in M&M is a kind of split attack where someone divides their damage up over a pair of targets, which has it's own downside (being basically good for smacking a pair of adjacent flunkies with a single attack).
Other games, like Villains & Vigilantes, took no such precautions, and it was commonplace for people to try to sneak by Initiative scores of 45 or so, to get three sets of actions each turn (either by taking heightened agility, heightened speed or using an open power like heightened senses or mutant power to explain heightened reaction speed). Aberrant also ran the risk of bogging down combat with extra actions, since it used a form of the ST systems split dice pools mechanic, and high Dexterity and Mega-Dexterity dice pools were already pretty intense, with powers like Temporal Acceleration allowing one to get almost as sick as a raging Garou or celerity-ed up Brujah. :)
The M&M 'one action / round, no exceptions' rule may seem a bit draconian, but it sure did nip that problem in the bud.
A true speedster would probably be the most broken class in the Pathfinder system, because economy of action is probably the most important aspect of a turn-based game, and I can imagine a speedster getting super haste, multiple extra move, standard, and swift actions per round, the ability to move between each iterative attack, dervish dance, etc. etc.M&M basically dodges the whole issue by ruling that every character gets one action a round. A speedster can punch way above his weight class by using his speed rating to determine his damage category (represented as punching someone at ridiculous speed, or by hitting someone a hundred times in a second, but still counting only as a single rolled attack with a set damage value), or attack everyone within an area with a single attack roll (representing him running around and punching everyone once with his lower-damage normal strength punch, with a single die roll being compared against everyone's defense numbers / toughness).
It hugely limits the speedster, in some regards, but, at the same time, pretty much allows either of the typical uses of super-speed attacks in the comics, either hitting someone really fast for big damage, or hitting a whole bunch of people in a single turn.
The only other multiple attack option in M&M is a kind of split attack where someone divides their damage up over a pair of targets, which has it's own downside (being basically good for smacking a pair of adjacent flunkies with a single attack).
Other games, like Villains & Vigilantes, took no such precautions, and it was commonplace for people to try to sneak by Initiative scores of 45 or so, to get three sets of actions each turn (either by taking heightened agility, heightened speed or using an open power like heightened senses or mutant power to explain heightened reaction speed). Aberrant also ran the risk of bogging down combat with extra actions, since it used a form of the ST systems split dice pools mechanic, and high Dexterity and...
Neat.
In Pathfinder, you might multiply damage by BAB or something crazy like that to simulate swinging 20 times a round.
*sigh*
I miss being a garou.