I want to warm up my homebrew campaign setting and fiddle with my prototype houserule set. The campaign setting has a few themes:
Unlike most settings, this isn't faux-European or faux-Asian. It's faux-North American. I find this allows both European and Asian character and story concepts to fit in well, while opening up new concepts. It also seems to complement magitech really well.
The gods were jerks, and eventually their jerkitude got them killed. Only one has survived, and he wants to make humans suffer. He doesn't dare enter the mortal realm for fear of death, however, so he attacks forms evil cults and uses those as proxies to spread misery.
Divine casters typically get their power by learning to speak the same language as the Earth itself. This is typically associated with Druids, Shamans, and the like, but a few Clerics and other divine casters can do it. Divine casters are very rare in this setting (non-spellcasting Rangers are common).
Alchemy is the main system of magic for the world at large.
This setting is capable of both heroic and gothic fantasy. This game has a power level set for heroic fantasy.
The basic setting data is available in Google Doc format, and I have a map. If there is something you need to know to create a character, do ask.
Gold is not tracked unless the player is being ridiculous. Encumberance is not tracked unless the player is being rediculous. Food, water, and ammo just aren't tracked unless it would add to the drama.
Combat Expertise is no longer a feat, it is the way fighting defensively works. If something had it as a prerequisite, it no longer does.
Improved Shield bash is not a feat. If you are proficient with a shield, you do not lose your shield bonus when bashing. If something had it as a prerequisite, it no longer does.
The bonus from Point Blank Shot increases to +2 at 6 BAB, +3 at 11 BAB, and +4 at 16 BAB. If something had Point Blank Shot as a prerequisite, it no longer does.
Vital Strike can be used in conjunction with Spring Attack or Shot on the Run. This does not make Vital Strike an attack action, and does not allow any other non-attack action to be used with Spring Attack or Shot on the Run.
Weapon Finesse can apply to spears and quarterstaffs.
Slashing Grace does not have Weapon Focus as a prerequisite.
Spears count as monk weapons.
The following feat chains scale with level, meaning that if you have the first feat in the chain, you get the subsequent ones at no cost when you meet the prerequisites.
*Two Weapon Fighting/Improved Two Weapon Fighting/Greater Two Weapon Fighting
*Vital Strike/Improved Vital Strike/Greater Vital Strike
*Improved Dirty Trick/Greater Dirty Trick
*Improved Disarm/ Greater Disarm
*Improved Feint/Greater Feint
*Improved Reposition/Greater Reposition
*Improved Steal/Greater Steal
*Improved Trip/Greater Trip
*Improved Bull Rush/Greater Bull Rush
*Improved Drag/Greater Drag
*Improved Overrun/Greater Overrun
*Improved Sunder/Greater Sunder
*Iron Will/Improved Iron Will
*Great Fortitude/Improved Great Fortitude
*Lighting Reflexes/Improved Lightning Reflexes
*Weapon Focus/Greater Weapon Focus
*Weapon Specialization/Greater Weapon Specialization
*Dodge/Mobility
Greater Weapon Focus is not restricted to Fighters, but does have a BAB 6 requirement.
All those +2/+2 to skill feats improve to +4/+4 at 10th level. These feats and Skill Focus both allow rerolling one failed skill check related to the feat once per day at 10th level.
Fighters get 4 skill points per level, and Perception is a class skill.
Witches can choose to have a bonded item (Spellbook) instead of a familiar.
No teleporting magic, resurrection magic, or communing with dieties.
I allow players to replace class features with class features from archetypes on a one by one basis without taking the full archetype if desired.
2 Traits (Can spend one trait to reallocate racial stat +2, +2, -2 modifiers as desired.)
Alignment not used
Max HP
4th level
6000 Enhancement Points
Books
Paizo - CRB, UM, UC, ACG, APG, ARG (for races listed on the Google doc allowed)
I double check 3PP before saying yes as a precaution (I consider both balance and the theme of the game when deciding), but I own and view favorably the following items:
*Alchemist’s Discoveries (Super Genius Games)
*Beyond Bloodlines (Super Genius Games)
*All of the talented PDFs for the Fighter, Rogue, Monk, and Cavalier (Super Genius Games)
*Fey Archetypes (Rite Publishing)
*Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler (Rite Publishing) (I love the archetype, but I would refluff it to not be so like the fae to fit this campaign.)
*Grit and Gunslingers (Super Genius Games)
*Heroes of the Jade Oath (Rite Publishing)
*Heroes of the West (Little Red Goblin Games)
*Kitsune Compendium (Everyman Gaming)
*Classes of NeoExodus: Machinesmith (Louis Porter Jr. Design) (I do have the expansion PDF) (This class is an established part of my setting.)
*Class Acts (Witches, Rangers, Alchemists, Alchemist Archetypes)
*101 New Skill Uses
*A Necromancer's Grimoire: The Wonders of Alchemy (PFRPG)
*Path of War (I'm not outright saying no to PoW, but I am a bit sketchy as to how it might interact with my modified feat system.)
The main thing is that this will be a weekend game, not so much a weekday game. I'm typically busy during the week cause of school. Can post, not so much actively GM. If people are interested, we could do some brainstorming this weekend and choose characters next weekend.
Very interesting!
A few quick questions: What do item crafting feats do? Halve the number of enhancement points to build something?
I see Machinesmiths can build servitors from level 1. Curious as to how common they are, and whether servitors you can wear exist.
When you say weekend I am VERY interested, but what sort of time zone are you thinking? I'm in Australia, so my weekend tends to be (in practice) very different from the US.
I could be interested in this. I assume it is to be pbp.
Not sure what to build. Would depend on what the party needs. I do like tanks though.
Very interesting!
A few quick questions: What do item crafting feats do? Halve the number of enhancement points to build something?
Hm. I forgot about consumables. I'll hand out gold, but gold is for buying consumable magic items and staves, which can be crafted at half cost.
I see Machinesmiths can build servitors from level 1. Curious as to how common they are, and whether servitors you can wear exist.
I assume you mean Mechanus and Analyzers, or that drone prototype?They aren't very common, because not that many Machinesmiths have figured out how to build them. There are some that can be worn, but they are again rare. PCs are, of course, not reflective of the population as a whole, so servitors are allowed.
When you say weekend I am VERY interested, but what sort of time zone are you thinking? I'm in Australia, so my weekend tends to be (in practice) very different from the US.
I am at +8 GMT. I was thinking that I'd post when I have time on weekdays, but rely on having the most time on weekends. I do plan this as a "post when you can" game.
Not sure what to build. Would depend on what the party needs. I do like tanks though.
Plenty of room for heavy armor types.
I totally forgot about this:
I'm toying with the cosmetics of the armor system, but not the mechanics. We have a fabric that provides similar protection to metal, and can even be alloyed with metals like adamantium or mithril, but it's supernaturally heavy, can be restrictive, and doesn't really save you any money over steel. You can make any metal armor out of it. It counts as a metal for all game effects. There is another version of the fabric that acts like leather instead of metal. The purpose of this fabric? To make "unarmored" martial characters, such as swashbucklers and maguses who want to wear fancy clothes instead of armor for teh coolz, playable without mechanical detriment, without making armor inferior to unarmored styles or letting players get around armor restrictions.
Furthermore, armors can use the stats of other armors of the same materiel, but the choice to use another set of stats must be made an item creation and cannot be changed later on. What that means is you can buy a breastplate with chain shirt stats, because you are only proficient with light armor but think breastplates are cool, buy a suit of chainmail with a metal fabric tunic that uses full plate stats because you are a sword and board Paladin who uses heavy armor but really like chainmail, wear hide armor with studded leathers stats because you are a Ranger who thinks the idea of bear hide armor is awesome but hide armor has bad stats, and so on. Basically, it gives players far more control over what their armor can look like without impacting game mechanics at all.
Also, Gendarmes (the military police, which is the employer of the players) wear dress uniforms for formal occasions and go plainclothes in the field. The dress uniform is a burgundy mid thigh length long sleeve tunic with the royal crest (a gold dolphin over a sapphire ocean) over the right breast and black and gold trim, a black belt with gold buckle, burgundy dress pants, black riding boots, and a red hat with black and gold trim and the royal crest cut in this style. Always wear a jeweled longsword while in dress uniform. Not to do so would be seen as very unseemly and improper. The blade is sharp enough to kill, but not really intended to be used in the field. It should be noted that Gendarmes have a relatively prestigious position, and wear noticably more expensive uniforms than other soldiers. Since characters don't wear this uniform in the field, you can dress mostly as you like, especially since I allow a massive degree of cosmetic armor customization.
Damn. Lost my rather long post.
Editing it in piecemeal. Sorry for the disjoint nature.
I like that armour idea; sounds really good.
I have a few questions please.
Can a Mechanist Combat Engineer buy Craft Wondrous and Craft Construct using mechanist level as caster level?
Teleport spells are banned. Are Summon and Extradimensional spells okay?
Are you okay with reflavouring spells to a more steampunk feel?
Would it be possible to be a member of the nobility - I really like the conflict you've written in between the nobility and the crown.
Trying to get a feel for the technology level, and it seems sort of similar to that in the Bioshock Infinite game? 1900-1920s-ish with occasional magic/advanced-science breakthroughs impossible in the modern world?
Trying to get a feel for the technology level, and it seems sort of similar to that in the Bioshock Infinite game? 1900-1920s-ish with occasional magic/advanced-science breakthroughs impossible in the modern world?
I've been thinking in terms of the second half of the 19th century mixed with Eberron/JRPGs. I'm not familiar with Bioshock.
Can a Mechanist Combat Engineer buy Craft Wondrous and Craft Construct using mechanist level as caster level?
I don't see a reason not to allow it, though non-expendable wondrous items are fairly rare. Constructs are something I imagine a Machinesmith should be able to learn how to build. Don't see why the professional magic engineer couldn't figure out golems. I feel the same about Alchemists.
Teleport spells are banned. Are Summon and Extradimensional spells okay?
Yes. The issue with Teleport is that humans don't know how to pass through a portal without causing fatal damage. Extraplanar creatures do, since their physiology is so different from that of humans. So, an extraplanar wolf can go through the portal the Druid opened and survive, but the Druid would die if he tried to go through the portal himself.
Are you okay with reflavouring spells to a more steampunk feel?
The setting is more based in Eberron/victoriana/old west that outright steampunk (I don't hate steampunk, I just don't see this as a steam setting), but I don't have an objection to reflavoring that fits those themes.
Would it be possible to be a member of the nobility - I really like the conflict you've written in between the nobility and the crown.
Yes. You'd have to explain why somebody with noble leanings is in royal service, but I can see several reasons why that could be.
@Kelsey: bit worried this seems to have become you and I talking. Was hoping someone would weigh in over the weekend.
Seems like a great campaign - I hope it gets up.
Yea, I'm thinking this may end up not being able to be run at the moment. It's a shame, but at the same time I probably should be studying instead of gaming.
Well. For one thing, I'm interested to some degree, but you have a lot of information for folks to read over. Links are usually a turnoff. Adding in House Rules that we probably have to read an entire thread to understand is another added layer of difficulty.
That being said, I've done none of that, yet. I definitely like the idea of wondrous items just being part of the character that bought them... but the entire first page of what you linked didn't detail enhancement points at all. My -guess- is that you can buy 'magic items' worth 1EP = 1GP. So if you have 6k EP, you could grab a ring of protection, and a +2 cloak of resistance... which are now built into your character.
I'll read into the setting a bit today, since I'm not really going to be busy. Do you have any relevant information on things like posting rates you'll expect on the weekends? My weekends tend to be emptyish, including forum-wise.
I don't foresee myself using too much in the way of third party; I'm just not that familiar.
Having looked it over, I'm thinking I'd lean heavily towards playing a skill-monkey bard. Lots of focus on information and the gathering thereof, including Linguistics.
What are your opinions on The Orator Feat
As well as the Clever Wordplay Trait? How would you restrict Clever Wordplay in its interactions with Perform?