Ok, so I decided to put a game together in my area and after consulting some of the interested parties we all decided to do an Arabian Adventures theme, a' la Sinbad.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I got into my boxes of old gaming stuff and pulled out my TSR al'Qadim setting. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, it neatly dodges the whole issue of Islam v Christianity and/or the Crusades. Secondly, they're waaaay better artists than I am.
What I'm wondering is if anyone has some input on converting AD&D al'Qadim Sha'ir class into a Pathfinder format.
This is a class that uses a minor genie familiar to go 'fetch' spells for the caster. It is somewhat similar to the Daivrat from the Qadira sourcebook, but adjusted to be a basic class.
One of my players is running a human sorceror with the Efreeti bloodline who wants to prestige into the Daivrat, but if I can save him some time by tooling the Sha'ir to fit, that would be better.
Second question: How do other GM's handle the Ride skill with alternate animals? Do you apply any 'adjustment time' or skill checks to a Western style knight trying to ride a camel, or worse, and elephant?
Thanks all!
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Ok, so I decided to put a game together in my area and after consulting some of the interested parties we all decided to do an Arabian Adventures theme, a' la Sinbad.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I got into my boxes of old gaming stuff and pulled out my TSR al'Qadim setting. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, it neatly dodges the whole issue of Islam v Christianity and/or the Crusades. Secondly, they're waaaay better artists than I am.
What I'm wondering is if anyone has some input on converting AD&D al'Qadim Sha'ir class into a Pathfinder format.
This is a class that uses a minor genie familiar to go 'fetch' spells for the caster. It is somewhat similar to the Daivrat from the Qadira sourcebook, but adjusted to be a basic class.
One of my players is running a human sorceror with the Efreeti bloodline who wants to prestige into the Daivrat, but if I can save him some time by tooling the Sha'ir to fit, that would be better.
Second question: How do other GM's handle the Ride skill with alternate animals? Do you apply any 'adjustment time' or skill checks to a Western style knight trying to ride a camel, or worse, and elephant?
Thanks all!
1) If I'm not mistaken, the Sha'ir class was updated to 3.5 in Dragon #315 and the Dragon Compendium. This seems to be the correct link, get it before it's gone. :D
2) It's not governed by the rules themselves, as far as I know. I'd give them a few hours' practice - Ride isn't specific to individual animals like it was back in 3.0 - and then they can apply their skills no problem.
The Legacy of Fire adventure path has lots of goodies for you, including articles on genies and genie-binders, and gazeteers of Katapesh, etc. If you want to do straight up AlQadim, I'll bet you could still make use of those books, plus Dark Markets: A Guide to Katapesh.
@Nekyia, GREAT LINK! Thanks a bunch!
As for the ride issue, I *think* what I might do is allow the player in question to have camels and horses and then have him make Ride checks at a higher DC for more exotic mounts. I mean, the care and feeding of a horse and camel are pretty similar... But an elephant? Not so much. A griffon? Not even in the same ball park.
@Evil Lincoln, I have most of the LoF AP and I'll probably run it up to a point. What the heck, 'Howl of the Carrion King' will likely take a heck of a long time for them to get through anyway.
I started a thread on Kelesh a while back . Here is the section on 0e-3.5e resources for it. Maybe it will come in handy. Incidentally, my campaign is currently in Sedeq, in Qadira, and headed off for Sindbadian adventures in the Obari Ocean in August.
I would love to be part of that group!
Do you live in the San Jose area?
Thanks for the link, Jeff! LOTS of great stuff there.
I have a couple of resources you might find useful. If you don't know them, Osprey Publishing is one of the premier houses on military history. They publish several series of small booklets on various subjects that are both accessable for the casual fan and include excellant biblographies, and really nice photos and color artwork. The series I'm referring to are Men at Arms, Osprey Elite, and Warrior. You can find them at the Osprey website at:
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/
I've found Warrior 10: Saracen Faris and several titles in the Men at Arms series to be VERY useful for illustrating to players much of what I'm describing.
My players went through my getting-to-know-scenario, 'The Caravanserai of Fat Wali' where they rescued a half-orc from the clutches of the mamluks of the Righteous.
This NPC will eventually become Kizzik the Mangler, a ranger who specializes in the spiked chain and a hatred of slavers.
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@Nekyia, GREAT LINK! Thanks a bunch!
As for the ride issue, I *think* what I might do is allow the player in question to have camels and horses and then have him make Ride checks at a higher DC for more exotic mounts. I mean, the care and feeding of a horse and camel are pretty similar... But an elephant? Not so much. A griffon? Not even in the same ball park.@Evil Lincoln, I have most of the LoF AP and I'll probably run it up to a point. What the heck, 'Howl of the Carrion King' will likely take a heck of a long time for them to get through anyway.
I always assumed that since Ride stopped being keyed to individual animals it became a more general thing - ie. 'this is how you ride a wide variety of animals' - though things like elephants and such may be a little more contentious. I'd vote that Rule of Fun takes over and say that their natural aptitude lets them ride such creatures at no penalty given sufficient time to practice (if they're just jumping on them with no prior experience, a Ride check DC increase would be appropriate).
Also, having ridden a few camels, they don't appear to be a drastically different experience to riding a horse. :)
You don't really 'ride' an elephant so much as guide it. I think it would be more like Handle Animal (in the sense of driving a wagon) than riding it.
