post apocalyptic idea


Homebrew and House Rules

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I was watching Z-nation and the fact that our current game may soon come to a end it sparked a idea for me. I was thinking of try to set something like that up for a pathfinder game with maby demons are the reason for the fall of the world.

Some things I though about it is No Money in the game trading only (value of the item to help with the trade and crafting though). Craft skills would be used more in the game. Items made of your not just metal but like bone and stuff.

I was also thinking about 2 things though that could have major effects on the game and I though I would post it here and see what you all though about it. 1) Let the craft skill make magical items with out the feat for it but at a -10 to the DC to craft it.

2) Knowing my players they are going to want to be able to salvage things from thier kill like bones, leather and meat from some of the kill's they make but I do not know what skill or how I should go about it. Has anyone set something like that up before? I was thinking mabey survival with a DC of CR+10 to get 10g*CR from it. It so if they killed a Deer (1/4 cr) the Dc would be 10 and they would get 2.5g worth of meat bone and or Leather. While a Dire Bear(cr 7) would be a DC of 17 and give you 70g worth of meat bone and or Leather.

What do you all think and any ideas for this world. And yes i played DarkSun years ago but we do not want the whole magic will be bad feel.


Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

it never works out well when you try to micromanage stuff like this. it only works in games where a computer tracks it for you. it becomes accountant the game.

just words of warning.

instead, Ctrl+f "Mojo" in >this< document. (i'm only recommending that section, the rest probably you don't need)

This removes magic items and money from the system entirely(though you can still find magic items are rewards). Instead of getting their floating inventory from a market they get it from scavenging.

this will get you the verisimilitude you want and remove the weird complications of you needing money and magic items in this game.


First you need to start with a background. I have found having a backstory helps make it easier for when I start asking the game mechanical questions. You seem unsure on what caused the world to go to waste. Another big question is this your own world or are you using a template like Golerian and changing it to suit your needs. Once you know that part it starts to form a bit allowing you to start asking the game questions. Dark Sun had a great back story as did Kyrin as to why magic was handled as they did.


Agreed with Bandw2, in a post apocalyptic setting scavenging through ruins and finding stuff is where you obtain equipment. Really, in a "just trying to survive" world, crafting goods is more a settled world activity, so would be the absolute minimum. You'd spend time crafting basic weapons, basic armor, clothing, survival gear - not creating magic items (that doesn't make any sense at all).

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

The Survival skill already has a check for hunting and gathering. You can just use that unless the environment is totally different than normal, like a radioactive desert (DC +10) or an abandoned Wal-Mart or recently deserted noble menagerie or the royalty's stocked hunting forest (DC -10).

Honestly, micromanaging PCs' calorie consumption just isn't fun, and basing nutrition on CR is just plain wonky (a CR 13 iron golem is a lot less tasty than a CR 1/4 deer--unless you're a were-rust monster!).

One thing you can do that IS fun is have some types of animals have special items. For example, maybe the heartblood of a dire bear is equivalent to a Potion of Cure Serious Wounds. Maybe the antlers of the (probably unique) albino stag can be fashioned into a +1 composite longbow. Stuff like that. Make things special for the PCs, since they are the stars. Just don't allow industrial slaughterhouses of domesticated dire bears to mass produce Potions of Cure Serious Wounds. And by "don't allow," I mean run a campaign where the characters (PCs AND NPCs) wouldn't be inspired to do that, as opposed to using DM fiat to ban factories or dire animal husbandry.

Grand Lodge

Thank you all so much for your suggestions.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Homebrew and House Rules / post apocalyptic idea All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Homebrew and House Rules