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1. Is there a way, with the current setting, for the concept of reincarnation? I read the Gods of Golarion [sp?] and the one Goddess of Death's entry bothered me in that I like the concept of reincarnation instead of the just one life nonsense. IF there was a way to incorporate it into the setting how would one do it?
If there's no mechanical benefit to reincarnating, and the character doesn't necessarily remember past lives, then there's really no mechanical change necessary.
Just say that Pharasma picks out certain people in line and says, 'You ain't learned nuthin' yet.' and kicks them back to the mortal world to live out another life.
2. Is there ANY way to make a character that gains better defenses as they raise in level aside from purchasing Armor? Many of mine and my friends character ideas eschew armor because it don't fit the concept at all and as it stands you either wear armor or your screwed. There has got to be some way to cater to those style of concepts over the Mail wearing warrior or the Leather dominatrix rogue. I think that was the one thing about Star Wars SAGA I loved was that a characters Defense was their Reflex Defense + 10 + Level + 1/2 Armor Bonus [if the appropriate Feat/Talent was taken] or for that matter all their saves were based on their level which to me made a lot of sense. I am thinking of trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into my Games but still even Pathfinder has to have some way to help incorporate character concepts better.
Pathfinder is more or less intended to be backwards-compatible, so the concept of the Class Defense Bonus from the Unearthed Arcana should be usable. Reading the writeup, you'll see the potential changes to watch out for (less WBL spent on armor by some characters, higher touch AC ratings, etc.). Since the Class Defense Bonus doesn't stack with an Armor Bonus, it's great for Monks, Rogues, Bards, etc. who may not wear much armor anyway, and doesn't suck for people who never got to wear armor anyway, like Wizards, but it may bring the curve up to the point where actual armor wearers, like Fighters and Paladins, might say, 'what the heck?' since they have to put up with Max Dex Bonuses, Armor Check Penalties, times to put on / take off armor, expensive armor enhancements, etc. while the lightly armored types are just getting cool stuff for running around with their moobies hanging out.
If you go with Class Defense Bonus, consider doing something to make life a little more fun for the armor-wearers as well. (Armor as DR, perhaps, or some sort of Armor Optimization ability.)
3. Is there a base XP award for a session in the Core Book by chance?
Not that I know of. I kind of wing it myself...
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4. Is there a way, other than my own house rule, that characters who have improved unarmed strike gain more damage than someone without it?
While it's generally frowned upon for a Monk to take the Improved Natural Attack feat to up his damage die, I'd see no reason to forbid a non-Monk to pick it up.
For that matter, I'd be fine with giving a non-Monk a die step increase for taking the Improved Unarmed Strike feat anyway. Raising 1d3 to 1d4 is hardly going to break the bank of overpowered munchkinry...
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I'm currently playtesting a house rule for the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, where someone with the feat gets to do more damage. The damage progression goes like this.
1-3 level (1d4)
4-7 level (1d6)
8-11 level (1d8)
12-15 level (1d10)
16-19 level (2d6)
20th level (2d8)
Its just the monk progression knocked down a die size. The fact that the Improved Unarmed Strike feat didn't get reworked in Pathfinder kinda sux. The feat just isn't worth it as it stands in the rulebook.
EDIT - This is for a 'martial arts' campaign where everyone is assumed to be badass while unarmed (like in the kung-fu movies).
I'n the case of 1 there is the spell reincarnation. could likely be tied to the green faith. reposting this question I'n the golarion area might work.
for 2 what set said, though I'll add do it across the board say for a swashbuckling buckler game rather than individual characters.
I'n the case of 4 it's un neccecary and possibly unbalancing. most damage comes from the static rather than random bonuses. so a fighter can be made to ouch harder than a monk by virtue of strength power attack and weapon training. ditto a barbarian. adding 1d10 to it
hope this helps
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I'n the case of 1 there is the spell reincarnation. could likely be tied to the green faith. reposting this question I'n the golarion area might work.
for 2 what set said, though I'll add do it across the board say for a swashbuckling buckler game rather than individual characters.
I'n the case of 4 it's un neccecary and possibly unbalancing. most damage comes from the static rather than random bonuses. so a fighter can be made to ouch harder than a monk by virtue of strength power attack and weapon training. ditto a barbarian. adding 1d10 to it
hope this helps
I'd like to see a 10th level unarmed specialist fighter beat up a 10th level monk unarmed. Good luck with that. Also I just don't understand all the hatred for the monk I see on these messagboards. Monks rock! (A little OT but still true)
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3. Is there a base XP award for a session in the Core Book by chance? I may have missed it but as for my games I give 100 XP x average party level for each session even if no combat or anything happened.
Thanks in advance
Chris
You won't see this, since;
a) there's no set definition for the length of a 'session'; some people grab a few hours where they can, others pull marathon gaming nights that go on into the next morning.
b) the activities in a session vary wildly in difficulty and fatality. Making contacts at the Duke's ball, and negotiating for your life with the mob boss may both be pure RP sessions, but one is far more worthy of xp in my book.
c) the relevance of the activity to the plot. Going to the Duke's ball and making contacts may be worth xp, or maybe not. Are you going because you need to avert a war, or simply because you feel like getting hammered and hobnobbing with the toffs?
There is an audience that believes 'All RP is xp-worthy', but the problem with that is that if you follow that to its logical conclusion, every twenty-something barfly will be 20th level, as every time he chats to his mate and improves his mood, he's deemed to have 'beaten' an encounter of his own CR.
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There is an audience that believes 'All RP is xp-worthy', but the problem with that is that if you follow that to its logical conclusion, every twenty-something barfly will be 20th level, as every time he chats to his mate and improves his mood, he's deemed to have 'beaten' an encounter of his own CR.
Nah, that won't work since you can only get XP for 'defeating' someone once.
I'm currently playtesting a house rule for the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, where someone with the feat gets to do more damage. The damage progression goes like this.
1-3 level (1d4)
4-7 level (1d6)
8-11 level (1d8)
12-15 level (1d10)
16-19 level (2d6)
20th level (2d8)Its just the monk progression knocked down a die size. The fact that the Improved Unarmed Strike feat didn't get reworked in Pathfinder kinda sux. The feat just isn't worth it as it stands in the rulebook.
EDIT - This is for a 'martial arts' campaign where everyone is assumed to be badass while unarmed (like in the kung-fu movies).
1. Reincarnation tied to religions different from the mainstream religions the mentioned green faith might be a good example and not at all out off place since ur believes and actions decide where your soul ends up, such religious believes might be closely tied to some kind of karmic reward / punishment in the next life.
2. The defense rating mentioned by Set is a decent option to start with, though I think it is a bit too generous on casters and monks, I would :
- drop armor bonus to AC altogether and replace it with defense bonus, armors worn give DR x/adamatine equal to half the armor bonus (rounded up) with enhancement adding to that on a 1 on 1 basis, characters can still wear it, but it would reduce their potential armor class significantly because of the max dex bonus and would hamper movement and skill checks.
- Change magic items like bracers of armor to add to defense rating on a scale of 1 to 5 like armor enhancements and allowing to add abilities to it like armor.
- tunics / robes / clothing can be enhanced with either defense bonus to AC or an enhancement bonus to provide DR like conventional armor
- Classes get a defense rating :
full BAB get 1/3 levels or fraction
average BAB get 1/4 levels or fraction
poor BAB get 1/5 levels or fraction
Add 1, 2 or 3 to the rating if proficient with light, medium or heavy armor respectively.
monks are treated as full BAB, this replaces their normal 1/4 level progression, but still add wisdom as usual and are proficient with light armor and do not lose monk abilities when using it.
fighters add 1/2 levels instead, to compensate for lack of armor training, I'd also give them 4 skillpoints to compensate for increased movement and armor check benefits in armor.
Some spells need adjustment, mage armor can give +2 deflection instead, magic vestment can either gives DR when cast on clothing / armor or a shield bonus to AC when cast on a shield.
3. Not that I know off, but the exp is hardly a hard rule, every GM I know wings it or prefers story advancement and disregards experience except as a rough guideline.
4. There was a 'Superior unarmed strike' feat in 3.5, the feat worked well enough it had prerequistes +3 BAB and the improved unarmed strike feat.
As I recall it did roughly the same damage of a monk.
something like:
3rd --------- 1d4. 4th-7th ---- 1d6. 8th-11th- ---- 1d8. 12th-15th - 1d10. 16th-20th -- 2d6.
Seems like a fair benefit for two feats.
There's also a belief amongst the elves of Golarion known as 'The Brightness'. There's even an entire PrC in the Elves of Golarion book, Brightness Seeker, that can channel past incarnations for things.
3. Is there a base XP award for a session in the Core Book by chance? I may have missed it but as for my games I give 100 XP x average party level for each session even if no combat or anything happened.
One thing that seems to be popular in modules is to give experience equal to an average difficulty encounter (i.e. an encounter with CR = APL) for passing non-combat challenges, or more for a tougher challenge. That's roughly APL*100 xp for levels 1-7, but it gets higher after that.
Re the XP question, I work backwards. We play weekly. I think that to keep people interested and invested, characters should go up every 6 to 8 games. I take the amount of XP needed to get to the next level, and divide by 8. That gives me an amount of XP I need to give out each game for people to go up quickly enough that they don't get bored. I then design encounters for each session (Role-play, traps, monsters) in such a way to give players that amount of xp. Usually people go up every 6 or 7 games because of various bonuses for smart solutions or awesome role-play. When people go up a level, I see how many XP it takes to get to the next level, and once again divide by 8.
Prawn
I'd like to see a 10th level unarmed specialist fighter beat up a 10th level monk unarmed. Good luck with that. Also I just don't understand all the hatred for the monk I see on these messagboards. Monks rock! (A little OT but still true)I'n the case of 1 there is the spell reincarnation. could likely be tied to the green faith. reposting this question I'n the golarion area might work.
for 2 what set said, though I'll add do it across the board say for a swashbuckling buckler game rather than individual characters.
I'n the case of 4 it's un neccecary and possibly unbalancing. most damage comes from the static rather than random bonuses. so a fighter can be made to ouch harder than a monk by virtue of strength power attack and weapon training. ditto a barbarian. adding 1d10 to it
hope this helps
Id like to Clarify. I like monks they are one of my favorite classes, but unarmed Damage is not the only thing that Defines them
I also find a gy who punches people running around in full plate armor silly /but/ a 10th level fighter can get probly +22 or higher with stats and easy buffs to hit while puching for Alot harder than a monk.
What the fighter wont be doing is leaping 90 feet accross the battle field to kick the enemy wizard in the Nuts then choking him to death or draging him away before his allies can get near.
Its a different style.
i actually dont see why all the monk hate exists, my personal experience playing one or seeing them played does not support it.
I'm not sure what you mean. Pf mimics how the previous 2 versions of the game handled ac. ( if there are changes I'm not aware if them)
and I'n every version of the game ( back to 1e at least I never played the stuff before it) the ability to hit has eventually out stripped the ability to defend.
2. Is there ANY way to make a character that gains better defenses as they raise in level aside from purchasing Armor? Many of mine and my friends character ideas eschew armor because it don't fit the concept at all and as it stands you either wear armor or your screwed. There has got to be some way to cater to those style of concepts over the Mail wearing warrior or the Leather dominatrix rogue. I think that was the one thing about Star Wars SAGA I loved was that a characters Defense was their Reflex Defense + 10 + Level + 1/2 Armor Bonus [if the appropriate Feat/Talent was taken] or for that matter all their saves were based on their level which to me made a lot of sense. I am thinking of trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into my Games but still even Pathfinder has to have some way to help incorporate character concepts better.
Have a look at this character's profile. A savage barbarian gets great AC progression if you know how to use it (at low levels you need to rely on potions of mage armor, at higher levels you can simply have bracers of armor).