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I've seen a thread or two with the search function, but I'm not sure of how the board feels about Necromancy in a non-game sense. So I decided to start fresh, which was fitting with the recent release of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for Wii U and 3DS.
First, a brief summary:
I'm not going for a full conversion, per se. At least not at first. I'm going to stay mostly out of how to do a Hunter, at least until after I look into all the character classes first. I'm more concerned with the Monsters, Weapons, and Items/Technology (and how to fit them in Golarion or whatever world(s) you play).
I wouldn't mind doing the world as it's own setting, but Capcom doesn't give out a whole lot of maps and information about the world. I will have a few notes and suggestions on fitting the people, places, and creatures of the universe into your own games, however.
Speaking of which, a few glimpses into the world of Monster Hunter:
[Tri Monster Size Comparisons -- Just so you know the variety of monsters in the game.
Also, due to me not doing the canon world, I'm also going to be doing some non-canon stuff (maybe the creatures in MH Orage?). An artbook I picked up a while back has some awesome stuff (like armor made out of spellbooks!) from when they originally envisioned the game as a more High-Fantasy world. It doesn't fit the MH world as it is now, but some of it would be perfect for Golarion.
Incedentally, I'll be happy to accept suggestions, constructive criticisms, and your own ideas and conversions for the thread.
For starters, here's my attempt at a Great Jaggi.
Great Jaggi CR 7
XP 3,200 xp
N Huge animal
Init +6; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +14
Defense
AC 22, touch 16, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 34 (4d8+16)
Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +4
Offense
Speed 60 ft.
Melee 2 talons +5 (1d10+2), bite +5 (1d8+2), foreclaws +0 (1d6+1)
Special Attacks pounce
Statistics
Str 23, Dex 17, Con 27, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 18
Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 19
Feats Improved Initiative, Run
Skills Acrobatics +10 (+22 jump), Perception +14,
Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception,
Ecology
Environment: warm forests, deserts
Organization: solitary (with pack of Jaggis/Jaggia)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Call: If there are less than two Jaggi with a Great Jaggi, the Great Jaggi, as a Swift Action, may call additonal members of his pack that are sleeping nearby, or out hunting. Two Jaggi will arrive 1D3 turns later.
Attack Call: Every four rounds, a Great Jaggi may make a howling call. All Jaggi and Jaggia in the area will attack a single creature of the DM's choice (usually the one the Great Jaggi is attacking, or the last one to attack him). The Jaggi/Jaggia will continue attacking the creature until attacked by another creature, at which point they will turn to attack their attacker.
The Great Jaggi is the Alpha male of a Jaggi pack (for Jaggis, add the Young Simple Template to the Dinosaur,Dienonychus entry in Bestiary 1 (p. 84). Jaggia use the entry straight up).
Dotted. I have also thought about running a PF game in the MH setting. Personally, I thought it would be an interesting low fantasy setting.
I was trying to figure out a way to have some magic in game, but could not place a type of magic nor power level of magic to truly fit the setting.
Oracles, Druids, Elementalist Wizards, and perhaps a few types of Sorcs would fit. Or perhaps just, Npc adepts would be a better fit. I also thought fighters, rogues, rangers, gunslingers, and barbarians would be the heart and soul of the classes to be played.
Unfortunately, not all players would want to play this style of low magic setting, but I do think it would be a blast to play.
I also thought about implementing some sort of recipe style mechanic to perhaps make up for the loss of magic that PF would typically have. eg Healing, buffs, etc.....
Well, from what I gather, MH is a world of high technology and extremely primitive magic (Compared to Golarion, of course).
You know how many "native" cultures have the practice of wearing fetishes and amulets taken from beasts to gain a portion of their powers? Monster Hunter, IMO at least, builds on that.
As for recipes, it's a matter of de-simplification. You know how there's the listings on how to make certain magical items? It's usually a simple listing of the spells needed and a flat GP amount worth of materials. Sometime, an item has a Greater and/or Lesser version with more/less GP needed.
It's simple and effective, but maybe not to the satisfaction of those who like building and creating magic items, and maybe would like the option of making their own custom items.
I can see why they did it. After all, how would you determine what materials work better? Should a Metamagic Rod be made of oak, cedar, or brass? This was actually something I was thinking about doing as well, along with things like spells and formulae for making superior materials (like a crystallization spell that can be used to turn various materials (water, blood, acid, etc...) into crystals (Hey, maybe that's the secret to Ioun Stones!).
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My girlfriend is suuuuper into MH and would be all over a MH-inspired game... dot!
The big thing about MH is the crafting, in my opinion. (Besides the massive monster battles, of course!) I think the idea of going out to slay a Great Jaggi and using its bones to craft your first masterwork armor is all kinds of awesome and would be cool in many games, even those not in the MH universe.
I guess you have to start thinking in terms of... rather than having treasure at random points, have monster 'parts' count for gold when crafting items. And of course let them have some creativity in doing so. So if the party brings home a Jinouga corpse they might want to make some electricity-resistant armor from its fur or a wand of lightning bolt from its horns. Etcetera.
In Response to both SAMAS and Alice Margatroid; Would you allow for any spell casting in a MH?
Would you keep it to druidic type of spellcasting with a "nature based theme" to it? Alchemist might also fit in it as well. I have some players that would like the "I built this 2handed sword from the femur of a great Jaggi."
Obviously the previous classes I mentioned before would fit in, but not sure if it would make for a sound PF environment to game with. Make sense?
I think if could start off on the right Building Block it could work out quite nicely.
In Response to both SAMAS and Alice Margatroid; Would you allow for any spell casting in a MH?
Would you keep it to druidic type of spellcasting with a "nature based theme" to it? Alchemist might also fit in it as well. I have some players that would like the "I built this 2handed sword from the femur of a great Jaggi."
Obviously the previous classes I mentioned before would fit in, but not sure if it would make for a sound PF environment to game with. Make sense?
I think if could start off on the right Building Block it could work out quite nicely.
Strictly speaking, If you're trying to do pure Monster Hunter, I would say no. MH is specifically not that High a Fantasy world. Although Alchemist might be doable.
But if you want to incorporate Monster Hunter stuff into Golarion or your custom PF game world, or doing a Hybrid of the two, go right ahead.
Something I wanna go into for the weapons.
Sword and Shield is pretty straightforward. Nothing in the mechanics that feats and the like already in the PF books don't already cover.
Great Swords and Hammers, I wonder some about. Their size pretty much makes them Large Greatswords rule-wise by default (like Amri's). I am a little iffy about their Charge Attacks, Should I keep them as a simple Power Attack feat, or come up with something new?
Switch Axes might be fun just to straight up import to Pathfinder. It's basically the tech/alchemy equivalent to a Magic Weapon when you think about it. It would be a Large Two-Handed weapon, but always takes a Move (or standard) action to draw because of the mechanics. A Move action can be taken to switch forms. That's simple enough.
I wonder about the Vials, though. How many should a Switch Axe have (I'm thinking 3 or 5)? Should the be the standard PF vials, or smaller?
Lancers might need a new Feat or two to use their lances the way Hunter do. Particularly the charge (maybe a Feat to let you use the mounted bonus when Charging/Bull Rushing?) and sweep attacks.
Longswords are much like Greatswords rule-wise, but I'm drawing a blank on how best to implement the Spirit Slash.