War Journal
So we always wanted to approach combat in a unique way. The battlefield is so much more then a grid with some character tokens on it. The subtlety of combat is stressed in this book. We particularly took a look at the party as a group and as a unit rather then as a group of people who HAPPEN to be in the same combat. We are very excited to bring this to life for you guys and I hope I can get you half as excited as we are!
What's in the Book:
Party Tactical Archetypes
Party tactical archetypes are a new type of optional rule that your adventuring party may choose to use at the start of a campaign.
Essentially, party tactical archetypes are meant to provide players with certain benefits for playing to certain types or for using certain tactics. Conversely, these rules may be used to balance out certain drawbacks inherent in groups that do not possess certain classic party roles. For example, a party lacking a cleric might be at a marked disadvantage in their adventuring careers as they would be unable to heal as quickly as another party in and out of combat. By taking the Alpha Strikers archetype, the party would be able to deal damage more effectively and thus reduce the amount of damage they would need to heal in the first place.
Each party tactical archetype comes with a party bonus and a party penalty, both of which each member of the party are subject to (+ special feats that only members of a party with that archetypes).
Included:
-Alpha Strikers
“Kill it before it kills us!”
-Survivalists
“Keep going! They’ll run out of arrows before we run out of blood!”
-Tactical Troopers
“Krell! Get into position! Thurk, lead him this way. Now everyone push him off the cliff!”
Mage Coven
“Keep summoning minions! We’ve got to hold out long enough for Tulry and Oren to finish that spell where all the rocks fall.” (Final words of archmage Yorithil)
Heraldry
Heraldry is the art of crafting, designing, arms for a person use. The origins of heraldry lie in the need to distinguish participants in combat when their faces were hidden by helmets. It became a matter of personal pride and political clout. Soon enough, all nobles had heraldry emblazoned on their shield, or their flag. Heraldry exists in almost every culture of the world and has served much the same function. Many a tale exists about the soldiers of a kingdom rallying around the flag of their king or fighting like hellhounds to recover a fallen battle standard. Heraldry is a powerful morale booster and presented below, you will find new ways to use it in your Pathfinder game!
There existed many ways one could display heraldry. Things like standards, banner, coat of arms, and pennons (etc ) where the way of announcing your presence on the battlefield and where a great source of pride. These items boost damage done when “presented” (wielded). The effects are negligible sometimes, but if your character doesn’t have any significant use for a weapon- why not aid your friends?
Included:
-Coat-of-Arms
-Pennon
-Battle Standards
-Different device types (Heraldry of Allegiance, Personal Heraldry, Heraldry of Enmity, Religious Heraldry, Heraldry of Mythology, Relic Standard)
-The Standard Bearer Base Class (Only ten levels long?! See why!)
Veteran Adventurer (Prestiege Class)
“Some characters have no particular allegiance to a specific class. They don’t fight for the good of mankind and they don’t seek rare and valuable artifacts. They don’t seek the ultimate arcane power and they are not interested in the whispers of the gods or perfecting their spirit. Some are just in the line of business we all know and love- adventuring. They get their kicks braving whatever lies around the next bend and living by the skin of their teeth. They learn what they have to, to get to the next adventure and use whatever it is that will keep them thrill seeking for the longest possible time.”
Here's the fun part:
Requirements
Class Levels: You must have at least 1 level in three different base character classes.
Knowledge: Dungeoneering 5 ranks
The class features of this class allow you to mimic weakened/limited use versions of class features from other base classes!
Release Date: Dec. 22nd
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This sounds fantastic! I love synergy options and the listed party styles sound like fun. Nice to see some more interesting mechanic approaches!!!
Thanks Oceanshieldwolf, it definitely adds a new angle to gameplay. They playtests were really enjoyable. It made us feel like a "unit".
The real strengths of the Party Tactical Archetypes are that they have a group of feats associated with it. Those really allow the group to work together nicely.
Watching a group with a few melee/ranged characters and a caviler (for the teamwork feats) do an alpha strikers group brought a tear to my eye. They were a TEAM (and played like one)! The monks in the Tactical Troopers party were NASTY though.
Also, we are finalizing the bill (after we check the page count) and we MAY have another very cool thing to add to this involving the smithing of mundane weapons.
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This one looks and sounds like it's going to be something great. I'll be keeping my eyes open for it.
So!
We had the extra page count!
We have been testing this for a long time but we are adding Mundane Weapon Modifications to the book!
Tired of mages being the only ones who can craft weapons? Well we have a very unique little system that allows you to craft weapons mundanely!
However, we disliked the idea of it being "enchantments, but different" so we created a whole new take on it! Basically someone who uses this new system (by investing a feat) can modify weapons.
It allows you to add special qualities (like "trip", "double", extra damage dice, etc) at the cost of penalties (like removing special qualities your weapon has, lower damage dice, etc). The weapon is specifically made for a character and counts both as the base weapon and as a unique new weapon. The devil's in the detail because this new weapon allows a character to take weapon focus/spec a second time (and the effects stack) when using this new customized weapon!
What's even more fun is that it co-exists with the enchantment system! Go ahead and make your +2 flaming fragile double claymore!
~Red
PS: We had a LOT of fun with this system.
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I think the party archetypes are the selling feature here for me. If I have some spare cash to throw around I might buy it to take a look at those goodies. I very rarely buy 3PP but the party archetype concept sounds like a winning concept to me.
My only worries is that only four are mention here. Did I miss it being mention elsewhere or are there more then four?
This book presents 4. We may explore including more in future works.