Hey there everyone. As the title of this thread states, I am currently involved in a rather large project to revise/update/change a lot of the classes, magic items, spells, races, and feats that are presently found in the Pathfinder books. I realize that this is a huge project of course, and was wanting to see if anyone could assist me with it.
The purpose of this revision is mainly to provide a player with more options when it come to their character class, as well as to help simplify and add diversity to already existing classes. The clarification of certain spells, abilities, magic items, etc also plays an important role in this revision, as it also helps players avoid any unnecessary confusion while attempting to play a game that every one of us enjoy.
In addition, these new changes and alterations will attempt to provide better balance among spells, races, and classes, so as to make every aspect of Pathfinder appealing. The following are a short list of goals intended for this revision, as well as brief explanation as to why the changes are needed:
Goal 1- Balance the races
As most of you are aware, humans are typically considered the most powerful race (at least in the core) to choose from when making a character. In my groups, I have rarely seen anyone select a half-orc or a gnome, since it is typically much more difficult to construct a character using their attributes. My goal is to not only make other races appealing, but to also expand core races to other creatures such as drow or merfolk.
Goal 2- Balance the classes
Rogues need an upgrade, Monks still suffer from MAD, and there are a lot of clarifications needed for how certain abilities function. The object here will be to make ALL classes appealing and powerful while giving the player more options to customize their character. It is also important to maintain the unique flavor of each individual class, so the player can still gain the most satisfaction out of their character as possible. I've already done my revisions for certain classes already, but I still need help with classes I am not very familiar with (such as druid, wizard, alchemist).
Goal 3- Fix the spells and Magic items
I think we can all agree that some spells and magic items in Pathfinder REALLY need to be clarified properly. A lot of confusion and frustration can arise when a spell or magic item is too vague on its effects, which is why I intend to remove any ambiguity that such things might have.
Goal 4- Remove anything unnecessary
After having glanced over certain aspects of the Pathfinder game, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of things tend to clutter up the system by making it far more complicated than it really needs to be. For example, if I recall correctly, there are easily over 300 different feats in Pathfinder, and while a lot of them are very enjoyable, there are also a great deal of them that simply have conditions that are FAR too situational to be of any real benefit. The same can also be said for traits and certain abilities as well (such as with certain Rage Powers and Rogue talents). It is my hope to remove/revise these unneeded things to help the game flow more smoothly.
Goal 5- Revise some core features
Does Fly really need its own skill class? Does grappling and stealth tactics still confuse you? These are issues that have come up in my group many times in the past, and as before, it is my intention to address these problems and fix them.
Goal 6- Anything else not mentioned
If there are any other issues that I have not mentioned, it is also my objective to correct them as well, so feel free to list anything that I may have forgotten.
Please understand that this project is not intended to be disrespectful towards the numerous people who have helped to provide us with the Pathfinder game in the first place. Instead, this idea was actually inspired by their hard work and dedication in the hopes of expanding upon a game that me and my friends all love and enjoy. If anyone feels that they would like to contribute to this project, please feel free to reply (I also welcome any Pathfinder representative to comment on this thread as well). I have already begun the revision on several of the core and base classes, but I still would like to run them by other people who can judge the revisions appropriately.
I already have selected a great title for this project as well (and no, its not Pathfinder 2.0 either), so there's no need to worry about that. Please leave your thoughts and let me know if any of you are interested in joining this project. Thanks again.
I think your project sounds great! But A LOT of work (which I'm very sure you're aware of).
I'm very happy with the Pathfinder rules as they stand now, but I hope you get the help you need.
I just wanted to chime in on one thing in your Goal 3 - ambiguity.
You see, I don't think we're ever going to avoid ambiguity in the realm of tabletop roleplaying because, and I know this may sound strange, IT'S NECESSARY. In order to play a game that takes place almost entirely in your imagination, a certain measure of rules ambiguity seem to be a necessary component - I don't want every spell to tell me exactly when and where to use it, I want my players to get creative.
I think that too much power is taken away from the DM and given to THE RULES when we try to narrow things down way too much. This is the primary issue I had with 4th edition. I don't HATE 4th edition, but I didn't feel very empowered as a DM when running it - especially because my players would hit The Encounter Power Button(tm) over and over rather than using their brains.
Anywho - sorry for any derailment, I just wanted to point out that maybe the ambiguity isn't a bad thing.
One Love.
I'm good with Pathfinder as it is, but what I would say is:
Goal 1- Balance the races
Different races appeal to different people. I have one player who loves half-orcs, another half-elves. Some love gnomes. Are they balanced? By and large yes.
Goal 2- Balance the classes
Only the rogue and monk really need a fix, as I see it. Rogues need something extra, and monks need compensating for MAD.
And that's all I'd change myself. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I love the idea of condensing and cleaning the feats up.
I'm actually surprised that more people who enjoy creating their own homebrew classes haven't responded to this thread. Perhaps, if you all like, I can give you a peek at one of the revised classes.
Lets say...the rogue.
I do have a quick question though: because my rogue class is saved on a microsoft word file, is there any way to link that file into this thread (I'm afraid I'm not exactly sure how to do that). I would just copy and paste the file, but I'm afraid it doesn't really come out very 'neat' on thread that way.
I'm actually surprised that more people who enjoy creating their own homebrew classes haven't responded to this thread. Perhaps, if you all like, I can give you a peek at one of the revised classes.
Lets say...the rogue.
I do have a quick question though: because my rogue class is saved on a microsoft word file, is there any way to link that file into this thread (I'm afraid I'm not exactly sure how to do that). I would just copy and paste the file, but I'm afraid it doesn't really come out very 'neat' on thread that way.
Upload to google drive and link from there.
There's a button below the textbox you type in on the forums here that shows how to format your text using BBcode. The link code looks like this[@url=www.google.com]Link to Google.[/url]
Without the '@'
Link to Google.
As for the ambiguity, that gets into rules as written (RAW) v. rules as intended (RAI). Personally, I like it. Ambiguity forces players and GMs to get creative, and that can lead to awesome things.
Well, I hope this link works, but if it does, you'll be able to see the revisions we've made thus far for the rogue class. We basically combined elements from the assassin, ninja, bard, rogue,and archtypes of the classes all into one big class. Let me know what you think.
For feats, you may want to dig up the "Rate the Feats" thread and see if that informs your cleanup.
where can that thread be found?