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I'm running Pathfinder for the first time, using the Jade Regent adventure path, and I love the idea of traits that tie PCs to the important NPCs in the campaign.
In fact, I like it so much that I'm planning on advising my PCs to create similar traits of their own, based on the ones in the Player's Guide. My inspiration here is "Spirit of the Century," where the PCs start the game by building connected backstories. I'd love for the players in my campaign to have the same opportunity to integrate their characters lives.
So, what I'm thinking is that it would be a small bonus, even the same bonus provided by existing traits. So if a character is a sorcerer who is really passionate about magic, and can't stop talking about it, someone who has been friends with him since childhood might get a +2 to their Knowledge (Arcana) checks. Ideally, I'd like to get each player to write two traits, and all the PCs will choose one NPC trait and one PC trait to start the game.
Has anyone else tried this? Are there any ways that I could adapt it to make it stronger? Am I overlooking any massive potential abuses?
I'm running Pathfinder for the first time, using the Jade Regent adventure path, and I love the idea of traits that tie PCs to the important NPCs in the campaign.
In fact, I like it so much that I'm planning on advising my PCs to create similar traits of their own, based on the ones in the Player's Guide. My inspiration here is "Spirit of the Century," where the PCs start the game by building connected backstories. I'd love for the players in my campaign to have the same opportunity to integrate their characters lives.
So, what I'm thinking is that it would be a small bonus, even the same bonus provided by existing traits. So if a character is a sorcerer who is really passionate about magic, and can't stop talking about it, someone who has been friends with him since childhood might get a +2 to their Knowledge (Arcana) checks. Ideally, I'd like to get each player to write two traits, and all the PCs will choose one NPC trait and one PC trait to start the game.
Has anyone else tried this? Are there any ways that I could adapt it to make it stronger? Am I overlooking any massive potential abuses?
I've heard of DMs using traits (or additional feats) as roleplay rewards, potentially in place of treasure. Most reports I've heard of this, it was taken fairly favorably.
I've taken a different track here ... We are starting Carrion Crown first week of November. So during these next two weeks I've been meeting with the players for 1v1 sessions (about 4 hours each). Now the Carrion Crown AP has the connection to Professor Lorrimor as its campaign traits. What I've done is that the 1v1 sessions will actually be a roleplaying out of their encouter with Professor Lorrimor. For instance last night, our Human Gunslinger who is an Azlanti in hiding on a tengu pirate ship in the Shackles, encountered Prof. Lorrimor as a passanger on their ship who was actually in search of the child of his old Azlanti friends from years back (little did he know that the gunslinger on the pirate ship was that child). After a couple of encounters aboard the ship when all is revealed, he told her about her parents and gave her their inheritance to her (effectively the campaign trait becomes Rich Parents, so she had an extra 900gp to start with). He then asked her to keep in touch ... this happens 2 years before the events of Carrion Crown ... and so her campaign trait was RPed out and the death of Prof. Lorrimor and his funeral has a greater emotional impact for the player. Each of the players in the game will have a 1v1 session similar to this where they will somehow encounter and befriend Prof. Lorrimor at some point in their lives ... and receive some benefit from it. Not sure if that would work with all the AP campaign traits, but its going well for us.