I've been considering is having "Party Feats"; essentially like regular feats, but every time the party hits a level milestone, they can collectively choose a feat.
Ostensibly, these will be Teamwork Feats that just function for everyone in the party provided they meet the other requirements of placement, but in theory they could be other types of feats as well that grant party-wide boons (not necessarily all combat).
For one thing, it makes these feats more worthwhile and frees up feats for individual choice. It also gives the party reason to coordinate and position themselves better, perhaps even creating certain "group" fighting styles.
I'm not sure if that would be too unbalancing from a mechanics standpoint- possibly- but I like the idea of it. Has anyone else tried this?
PHB II from 3.5 had a system called teamwork benefits. These benefits had different requirements for task members and task leaders and required some training (two weeks of downtime). I thought that was a smart mechanic, because it rewarded teamwork, wasn't too meta, and required only a small investment of resources from each party member (usually, 1 rank in a skill or a minimum BAB was enough to qualify as a member).
Not quite like that, but I have had a game in which everyone got Stealth Synergy. When 5 people are rolling stealth checks to sneak together, all it takes is one low roll to ruin the expedition.
In my game(s) we use the house rule that for every 4 level the party can choose one "Party Teamwork Feat".
If a new character join the party he has to travel at least one month with the party, then he will get also access to this feat.
The goal of this was to create something more like a group then "some exchangeble travelling companions"
This sounds very interesting and i will follow this from the shadows. Since i am making my end paper on uni these days. But if you havent made somthing amazing by end august. I May do more than just steal your ideas.
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Better yet, setup your campaign so your players are all part of an adventuring organization. I don't know, some kind of, let's say, "society" for Pathfinders. You'll think of something.
Now create an advancement chart for organizations. Every X adventures or missions your players complete, they level up their organization. At various levels, they start to earn followers (non-combat only), land, fame, etc.
Now here's where your original idea comes back in: At every odd level, the organization earns a feat. Write up a bunch of options (more than 10) for them to choose from. Here are some ideas:
Hidden Base: Your organization's base of operations is hidden in such a way as to prevent ordinary people from finding it. Powerful monsters, deities, and storyline villains might still find it, but farmers, thieves, and other adventurers won't.
Symbol of Membership Each member of your organization gains access to an item that all other members instantly recognize, which can be used for various purposes, including identification, access to the base, or signaling (the Horn of Gondor, for example).
Coordinated Reaction After your party rolls initiative, each initiative score may be swapped with any other member of the organization.
Better yet, setup your campaign so your players are all part of an adventuring organization. I don't know, some kind of, let's say, "society" for Pathfinders. You'll think of something.
Now create an advancement chart for organizations. Every X adventures or missions your players complete, they level up their organization. At various levels, they start to earn followers (non-combat only), land, fame, etc.
Now here's where your original idea comes back in: At every odd level, the organization earns a feat. Write up a bunch of options (more than 10) for them to choose from. Here are some ideas:
Hidden Base: Your organization's base of operations is hidden in such a way as to prevent ordinary people from finding it. Powerful monsters, deities, and storyline villains might still find it, but farmers, thieves, and other adventurers won't.
Symbol of Membership Each member of your organization gains access to an item that all other members instantly recognize, which can be used for various purposes, including identification, access to the base, or signaling (the Horn of Gondor, for example).
Coordinated Reaction After your party rolls initiative, each initiative score may be swapped with any other member of the organization.
i liked cthulhudrew's idea more this May be a good idea in some games but it is not really related to the idea presentens in the OP.
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PHB II from 3.5 had a system called teamwork benefits. These benefits had different requirements for task members and task leaders and required some training (two weeks of downtime). I thought that was a smart mechanic, because it rewarded teamwork, wasn't too meta, and required only a small investment of resources from each party member (usually, 1 rank in a skill or a minimum BAB was enough to qualify as a member).
That was a *great* system, and didn't eat up feats or otherwise make anyone in particular less successful at their chosen role.
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i liked cthulhudrew's idea more this May be a good idea in some games but it is not really related to the idea presentens in the OP.
I think it's pretty close to what he was asking for:
every time the party hits a level milestone, they can collectively choose a feat
Except instead of it just being some ethereal teamwork feat, it's an actual organization's progression feat. Seriously, even when my local group isn't playing Pathfinder Society, we still setup our games so all our characters are part of some organization, whether it's an adventurer's league, a knightly order, or a thieves' guild. It makes the game so much better in so many ways, both in and out of character.
I think there is room for some kind of combination of the above, certainly. I definitely think it would be interesting to see some non-combat oriented feats that the entire party could benefit from, that would help to kind of mold them into a team and differentiate them from every other party out there.
Perhaps it would just be some kind of party resource that they could collectively choose to spend on different benefits, like Headfirst's organization suggestions, or teamwork benefits (maybe even some slightly tweaked existing teamwork feats that might be more overall party oriented or something).
I think Leadership is a good example. "The Party" taking Leadership and getting one (shared) Cohort and (shared) group of Followers might be easier to manage than multiple PCs having them.
It somewhat goes along with having a "Group Reputation" (Ultimate Campaign)... and treating "the party" as a quasi-character type of thing goes along with the Kingdom, Caravan, and Expedition type rules.