| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've decided to form this thread because I'm kinda tired of debates about the value of a theoretical future edition, when I think it's more interesting to talk about what, among the options in Pathfinder Unchained and elsewhere that exist right now , do I like?
So I thought: what would MY Pathfinder be like? They say there are as many ways to make chili as there are people who make it. Since, with Pathfinder Unchained, Paizo has given us a smorgasbord of options for our tables, I'm curious to see what other people are using from Pathfinder Unchained and other places to make their version of Pathfinder!
Here's what I'm thinking of using from Unchained:
* The 4 revised base classes in Unchained. I don't feel like I lose anything by shelving the previous versions of these classes.
* Fractional Base Bonuses. Sheesh, it makes more sense, is more balanced, and why not?
* The 12 consolidated skills in Unchained. My main concern is my middle-school kids who encounter Pathfinder for the first time not being overwhelmed by the complexity. Also, this shorter list is more conducive to a new GM being able to apply them to new situations.
* Background Skills Already in my home campaigns I've been giving one free skill rank at Level 1 that could only go toward a Craft, Profession, or Perform skill. This expands on that idea.
* Stamina and combat tricks exclusive to fighters. I think the Fighter couldn't hurt from a little boost, and I want it to have more niche abilities that no one else can have!
* Diseases and Poisons Yes! I've always thought that diseases and poisons should be more feared in Pathfinder instead of just be a minor inconvenience, which is all I've seen it as in play.
* Automatic Bonus Progression Particularly, I want to use the variant that eliminates Wealth by Level and starts Level 1 characters at Level 3 on the chart. Magic items are rare and precious!
For me;
*New classes. Monk isn't all that hot but still checks out. I don't feel like shelving the classes they would replace because I had little issue with them to begin with.
*Skill Unlocks, Unchained Rogue only.
*Combat feat tricks, Fighers only.
*Consolidated skill list, expanded to include Craft which combines with Knowledge Engineering. Run 1/2 skill by level and delete some feats but none of the other changes for simplicity reasons.
*Automatic Bonuses, revised to require enough of a bonus to activate weapon special abilities, that way the Magus' Arcane ability isn't redundant.
*Maybe alternate action economy. It seems weird at first but could actually simplify a lot of things.
*New disease and poison function.
*Scaling items, mostly homebrewed so that each item responds to how big your attuned enhancement bonus.
Things I'm NOT using:
Staggered Level Advancement -- I rather like the dramatic effect of gaining a new level. The kids who are my players love it, and I don't find that verisimilitude is a big concern to them (lol).
Revised Action Economy -- I'm thinking of switching to this if I find higher-level play is
Wound Thresholds -- I'm concerned that this will increase the rocket-tag nature of higher-level play. And again, my players are not too concerned about believability.
Simplified Spellcasting -- My players are not very OCD about their prepared spells and usually stick to the same spells every day. I also have a separate printed sheet of their usual printed spells, and I ask them to write on it ahead of time if they want to cast new spells, so that they don't hold up the group.
Scaling Magic Items -- My players LOVE to find new magic items, and so I don't feel much of a need to introduce these to my campaigns. Also, since I'm lowering the number of magic items by eliminating WBL and using Automatic Bonus Progression, I will use inherent bonuses on monsters and NPCs so that they're not dropping +1 weapons in their wake.
|
I like the dynamic magic items creation crafting stuffs...just for the fact that I can throw perks, quirks and flaws on my magic items, to make them a bit more unique. I'll definitely use it, either as signature of some npcs like magic items made by aberration would have tentacles and eyes like soul edge kind of deal.
Things I'm NOT using:
Staggered Level Advancement -- I rather like the dramatic effect of gaining a new level. The kids who are my players love it, and I don't find that verisimilitude is a big concern to them (lol).
Revised Action Economy -- I'm thinking of switching to this if I find higher-level play is
Wound Thresholds -- I'm concerned that this will increase the rocket-tag nature of higher-level play. And again, my players are not too concerned about believability.
Simplified Spellcasting -- My players are not very OCD about their prepared spells and usually stick to the same spells every day. I also have a separate printed sheet of their usual printed spells, and I ask them to write on it ahead of time if they want to cast new spells, so that they don't hold up the group.
Scaling Magic Items -- My players LOVE to find new magic items, and so I don't feel much of a need to introduce these to my campaigns. Also, since I'm lowering the number of magic items by eliminating WBL and using Automatic Bonus Progression, I will use inherent bonuses on monsters and NPCs so that they're not dropping +1 weapons in their wake.
Not criticizing, just giving my perspective:
Staggered Level Advancement - I have been considering this off and on since Sean K Reynolds introduced it on his site many yahrens ago. The reason for me is not verisimilitude but speed. I want to slow down advancement and concentrate on character play, allowing a decent amount of history to build for the group before they hit high level and, Gods forefend, 20th. So, I want to be able to give something regularly for PC development.
Simplified Spellcasting - One neat aspect of this system is adaptability. As he masters his magic, even a prepared caster is able to choose his lower spells on the fly. I think it needs tweaking, with a more generous pool to counter the loss of slots, and probably cost per slot level to cast the lower spells.
It's all a matter of personal taste and need. Happy gaming with new toys. Btw, are these the 'only' things you won't use, or just what you have identified thus far?
Originally posted in this thread.
I will be launching a new campaign in a few months, and I will definitely be using:
-Revised Barbarian, Monk, Rogue, and Summoner
-Fractional base bonuses
-Staggered advancement
-Background skills
-Possibly a modified version of the Grouped Skills
-Alternate Crafting and Profession rules (possibly going further in detail on changing crafting times)
-Skill Unlocks
-Variant Multiclassing alongside standard multiclassing (also, I am disappointed in most of the VMC progressions, it's a great idea but poorly executed IMO)
-Removing alignment (Outsiders, Divine and Pos/Neg energy charged things, including Blessed/Tainted locations, will still have alignment)
-Revised Action Economy (love this...hope I can convince my group)
-Stamina Combat tricks for all. (with advantages for the Fighter)
-Wound Thresholds
-(possibly) simplified spellcasting
-some kind of Automatic Bonus Progression
-...aaannd Scaling Magic Items.
Also, I love the approach to Monster creation, I have long wanted boil them down to the skeleton and add classes a la SW d20. This system could achieve much the same effect.
Not criticizing, just giving my perspective:
Staggered Level Advancement - I have been considering this off and on since Sean K Reynolds introduced it on his site many yahrens ago. The reason for me is not verisimilitude but speed. I want to slow down advancement and concentrate on character play, allowing a decent amount of history to build for the group before they hit high level and, Gods forefend, 20th. So, I want to be able to give something regularly for PC development.
...
It's all a matter of personal taste and need. Happy gaming with new toys. Btw, are these the 'only' things you won't use, or just what you have identified thus far?
I've actually been thinking about something similar myself: use one of the E6 variants out there, so that it's more conducive to a sandbox setting, but to use staggered advancement along with it. I DOUBT any of my kids would tolerate having less power however, lol.
Those are all the things I've decided I'm not using, because I still haven't gone through the rest of the book! This book is nothing if not chock-full of options. I'm very happy with this book partially for that reason, actually.
Originally posted in this thread.
I will be launching a new campaign in a few months, and I will definitely be using:
-Revised Barbarian, Monk, Rogue, and Summoner
-Fractional base bonuses
-Staggered advancement
-Background skills
-Possibly a modified version of the Grouped Skills
-Alternate Crafting and Profession rules (possibly going further in detail on changing crafting times)
-Skill Unlocks
-Variant Multiclassing alongside standard multiclassing (also, I am disappointed in most of the VMC progressions, it's a great idea but poorly executed IMO)
-Removing alignment (Outsiders, Divine and Pos/Neg energy charged things, including Blessed/Tainted locations, will still have alignment)
-Revised Action Economy (love this...hope I can convince my group)
-Stamina Combat tricks for all. (with advantages for the Fighter)
-Wound Thresholds
-(possibly) simplified spellcasting
-some kind of Automatic Bonus Progression
-...aaannd Scaling Magic Items.Also, I love the approach to Monster creation, I have long wanted boil them down to the skeleton and add classes a la SW d20. This system could achieve much the same effect.
Ah, didn't know there was a similar thread out there, thanks.
On the Revised Action Economy, I so wish that the developers had improved the presentation for a number of sections in this book. Especially for the Revised Action Economy -- if it was supposed to simplify combat, it should also have included a chart to visually organize the various actions. By not doing so, it makes it harder for (1) me to absorb what is here and (2) sell it to players.
On a similar note, why oh why do the revised classes still list barbarian rage powers, rogue tricks, and monk ki tricks alphabetically only, while some are available at lower levels and others are available at higher levels? It makes it harder for a player to consider the options available to their level. I know there is an SRD out there to help in this regard, but most people don't know that.
I also started this thread to see which parts of Pathfinder Unchained are gaining traction. Because those parts that do will represent an "evolution" of the game and give some feedback to the developers as to what should be in the future for Pathfinder. It's interesting that a number of people are adopting so many portions of Unchained...
Things I'm NOT using:
Not criticizing, just giving my perspective:
Staggered Level Advancement - I have been considering this off and on since Sean K Reynolds introduced it on his site many yahrens ago. .
Why did Sean K Reynolds not get credit for stagered advancement? Did pathfinder just rip it off or flat out steal it.
Why did Sean K Reynolds not get credit for stagered advancement? Did pathfinder just rip it off or flat out steal it.Things I'm NOT using:
Not criticizing, just giving my perspective:
Staggered Level Advancement - I have been considering this off and on since Sean K Reynolds introduced it on his site many yahrens ago. .
I don't think that, within this book, any individual gets credit for the options within this book.
I do wonder, however, how many of the portions of Pathfinder Unchained were already conceived or designed as early as the publication of the original Core Rulebook in 2009. Something tells me that a number of these ideas were stewing in Paizonians' brains for a while...