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Hey there!
In the next time, I'll start a new campaign with mostly beginners. I (and them too) want to keep the RP level high, so we want to play this game without much rules and in german only.
I bought the german PDF of the Core Rules and only want to use them. Just one book, where all can look at, no more sources, just for keeping it simple.
Most of the time though, I give my players a starting boon. There are traits - I know - but not for this game.
So I had the idea, to give the characters an NPC bonus:
They choose Warrior, Adept or Expert as Background option and get the benefits of the NPC class without actually getting a level. Warrior won't be an option for full BAB classes, Adept for casters.
To get me right, here are three examples:
A Rogue with Warrior Background:
Gets everything a Rogue would get and the following is added:
- +2 FORT
- BAB is +1, not 0
- 2 additional skill points
- Handle Animal will be a class skill
- Warrior Weapon and Armor Proficiency
- 6 additional Hit Points
A Fighter with Expert Background:
Gets everything a Fighter would get and the following is added:
- +2 WIL
- 6 additional skill points
- 10 bonus class skills of his choice
- 5 additional Hit Points
A Monk with Adept Background:
Gets everything a Monk would get and the following is added:
- +2 WIL
- 2 additional skill points
- Knowledge (all), Spellcraft and Survival will be class skills
- Simple Weapon Proficiency
- 4 additional Hit Points
- Casting as a level 1 Adept
All of then will still count as level 1. They also don't get bonus HP and SP from CON/INT for this level - so I call it pseudo level.
In the end, it provides some good stuff and negates the things I don't like for first level characters, mainly the low HP pool and grants individuality.
So, I'm not exactly sure about the balance of this. What do you think about this booning and the pseudo level in general?
(Commoner won't be an option, because it's just worse than all others and Aristocrats won't be an RP option for the PCs)
Thank you in advance!
Greetings!
I would advise against this because it is not balanced and give casters even more of an advantage than they already have. The benefits of a caster with the warrior background are a lot better than a martial character with either of the others. Having proficiency in all armor and martial weapon is something that is valuable at any level. A few hit points and some extra skill points become less valuable at higher levels. A cleric with the warrior background gets a hell of a lot more than a fighter with the adept background.
This will not add grant any individuality, but rather make all the characters the same. Anyone with any sense is going to choose the warrior background. Now everyone is using the same weapons and armor, using wands, and have the nearly the same HP. At first level all the characters are the same.
Since traits are supposed to be worth half a feat, why not give each player an extra feat. Another thing you could do is to increase the starting wealth. Give the players the equivalent of the rich parent’s trait so give all characters start with 900 GP.
Extra starting wealth is probably the best mechanical boon you can grant 1st level characters. There are a lot of concepts that are difficult to do with starting wealth. Archers and heavily armored characters often find it difficult to get the equipment they should be using. A ranger who wants to start using chain mail, with a composite bow and great sword has used all his starting gold on just those three items assuming he has max gold.
What I would really suggest is not giving a mechanical boon, but a role playing boon. Things like contacts and favors don’t need to be spelled out in game terms. For example if someone is playing a cleric he would be able to get help from his church. It may only be information, or a place to stay, but it could also be anything you want. The rogue could be a member of the local thieves guild and be able to get aid and information from them.
Why shoehorn into pathfinder? There's plenty of less mathy systems out there ready with no modification to play to your heart's desire. I just don't understand the need to overhaul the system to fit the game, it's so much work and usually ends in awful balance. This is from personal experience both doing and playing with modified systems. It's so much easier to pick the better system for the game.
Not trying to derail so my advice is the 3.X system works well for contained modification not overhauling. If you want simple look to a simple system. I can offer some suggestions if you'd like such as the 5e basic rules if you want to stay d20 based.
Something I've used in the past to help with low level survivability is a variation on the Veteran feat in Star Wars: KOTOR. It gives like 20 bonus hp I think but I modified it follows based on starting hit die.
D12 gets 25 bonus hp
D10 gets 20
D8 gets 15
D6 gets 10
I think it works pretty well. It's a nice early bonus but will more or less even out eventually compared to regular hp. You could also drop each category down 5 hp and still be good.