So, I've been developing a set of rules for building random characters for the fun of building high level characters. I've got ulterior motives, such as drawing some of the characters I develop, but I'd like some input if I can get it. What do you think of these?
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Pathfinder Build a LVL 20 Character Rules and Guidelines
- Initial Ability Scores
o To figure out the starting ability scores of your lvl 20 Pathfinder character, use the Purchase method as described on the official Pathfinder PRD (link and information provided below). The reason for this is to prevent any possibility of fudging rolls (anyone can get a full load of 18s given enough time to roll), and, while there are plenty of trust-worthy, good-aligned players out there who wouldn’t dream of sullying their character’s development by doing such a thing, there are just as many (if not more) in the way of darkened creatures more than willing to lay claim to maximum rolls. Not to worry, however, we’re going to be playing on “Epic Fantasy” settings. We shall enjoy a full twenty-five points for purchasing our base ability scores. Enjoy!
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/gettingStarted.html
- Developing Your Character
o Races and classes must come from Paizo-published and Paizo-approved sources only. To be perfectly clear as to what “Paizo-approved” means, it means that, if you cannot find the resource on paizo.com’s store, you cannot use it. Absolutely NO homebrew.
RACE BUILDER IN ADVANCED RACE GUIDE IS OFF-LIMITS.
On that note, please provide links to resources when making use of a race or class outside of Paizo-published resources.
• http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ is the official resource, loaded with all of the base rulings and such. Always have a tab open with this website.
• www.archivesofnethys.com has just about every single book Paizo has ever published neatly sorted and readily available.
• http://www.d20pfsrd.com/home is an excellent secondary source containing information from third party resources. Be sure to double-check paizo.com’s store to make sure the source is there.
o Books which grant an inherent bonus to your ability scores, such as the Manual of Gainful Exercise, can only be purchased at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18. Further, you may only purchase one at a time, so choose wisely.
o In regards to hit point gain per level, just assume the maximum gain. This rule set aims to remove dice rolling as much as possible.
o Spell effects that can be made permanent can be applied to your character. Unless, your character possesses the permanency spell his/herself, it costs twice as much GP as is listed on the permanency spell entry, linked below. If your character has neither permanency OR the desired spell effect, it costs three times the listed amount. If your character has both, the price is standard.
http://archivesofnethys.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Permanency
o Given a sufficient Craft score (ranks, bonuses, etc included), it can be assumed that all items your character CAN craft WERE crafted BY your character, thereby reducing their costs. A sufficient score is somewhere between 20 and 30.
o Regarding traits and drawbacks, operate with a sense of reason. In other words, don’t hand-pick the most beneficial traits and least detrimental drawbacks just to give your character the best edge. It is absolutely recommended that you make use of one of two available background generation tools.
If you feel like doing it by hand, go to Paizo’s background generator. It doesn’t have available all of the background generation for things that came out beyond a certain point.
Or, if you want to automate the process and be able to flip through generated backgrounds until you find one you like, use Nethys’s system, linked here.
Remember, the rule is you can take NO TRAITS, ONE TRAIT, or TWO TRAITS AND A DRAWBACK. There is no deviation from this rule.
When it comes to story feats, as long as your character would complete it, you can pretty much say they did. It’s preferable to come up with a kick-ass tale as to how it happened, though.
• On that note, be sure to mark what level they completed the story feat at. No character is going to complete a story feat at an early level. Just use discretion.
o It’s pretty easy to just say “My character found all of these amazeballs things and now has the draconic template and every stat is above 20, because blurburblurburblur-” As such, you must build your character from the ground up. In doing so, keep to the following rules.
Note each level individually by listing everything gained at that level, such as feats, ability score increases, skill ranks, spells learned, items purchased, etc. This is important as there are many feats and abilities which have prerequisite features one must meet before taking them. Worry not about your gold gain, as you will begin “play” with 880,000 GP as noted on the “Character Wealth by Level” table from the PRD (linked here).
As this page notes, characters with crafting feats can increase their given wealth by approximately 25-50%. For the purposes of this rule set, we’re going to limit that gain to a bonus 25% regardless of how many crafting feats the PC has. Therefore, a PC with any crafting feats has 1,100,000 GP to start with.
Rewinding to the note of templates, the ruling regarding templates is this: absolutely not unless a feat or ability specifically says you gain one.
- Special
o For every 10 levels after 20, add 200,000 GP to your character’s starting wealth.
Sorry about the crappy formatting translation. This was in an MS Word doc, and I guess the forums don't like bullet lists.
*thumb twiddles*
A suggestion: If a character has the bonded item chass feature(wizard ect.) make the price of said item count as if he/she had crafted it. So half price.
And I would suggest that you only allow items that already exist in Paizo materials and not custom made by your players.
An excellent note. To be clear, however, when I'm talking about crafting items, I'm talking specifically about using the crafting costs listed in the book to make wondrous items and the like. Perhaps I was not clear enough about that. Thanks for the heads up!