| So I was playing around with the idea of what Shadowrun's priority
| system would look like if applied to pathfinder. My rendition is almost
| certainly not balanced but I put it together to get a feel for the idea
|
| Then realized I have no bloody idea how to make a table on this forum
*
Priority Race Abilities Class Skills Wealth
A Core + Template CR+1 30 pt buy Wizard, Arcanist, Druid 10 + Int Mod/lvl 5000 gp
31-40 RP Cleric, Witch, Shaman
B 21-30 RP 25 pt buy Sorcerer, Oracle, Bard, Skald 8 + Int Mod/lvl 2500 gp
Magus, Summoner,
C 16-20 RP 20 pt buy Alchemist, Investigator, Warpriest, 6 + Int Mod/lvl 1000 gp
Inquisitor, Hunter, Paladin, Ranger, Bloodrager
D Advanced 15 RP or less 15 pt buy Barbarian, Swashbuckler, Brawler, Slayer, Gunslinger 4 + Int Mod/lvl 500 gp
E Core Only 10 pt buy Fighter, Rogue, Monk/UCM, Cavalier, Samurai 2 + Int Mod/lvl 100 gp
~~~~~
If you can follow that mess, I'm impressed. The basic gist of priority is that each piece of character creation gets assigned a priority from A through E, and the strength of each is based on the assigned priority. I made this assuming it was for a 1st level party, although if you pick priority A for race, technically you might not be CR 1 (handwave) but the general idea of priority is no matter what you pick everyone ends up relatively balanced against each other by the end of it.
The class selection looks a bit like a tier list, both intentionally and not so intentionally. I figured the simpler classes (mechanically and thematically) should end up on the lower end of the spectrum. That and magic takes a great deal of devotion, so if you want the most powerful magic, you miss out on other stuff.
This is all basically personal discretion, but it seemed a neat thought experiment.
also if anyone knows how to fix that table, it would be greatly appreciated. In the mean time, quote my post and copy it whole cloth into notepad and you'll be able to at least read it without your eyes bleeding.
What you could have done to make it easier to read, even though it would require more typing was put the priority for each category such as:
Class(then list priority levels)
Point Buy (then list priority levels)
Another idea is to use an google sheets or google docs, and then link to it.
With that said I don't think this will be balanced. It will be difficult to keep everyone on the same field as the levels go up. Casters and martials are a lot closer in power at lower levels than they are at higher levels, and even less gold and point buy won't stop that.
The above assumes the players are equally skilled, and trying to optimize(but not trying to build super powerful characters).
I think a priority system would be cool for Pathfinder, but I don't think it would work the way you're trying to. Priority system is all about opportunity costs, but Pathfinder classes already have that baked in. And it's not a good idea to base the race power on RP -- it's better to actually list the available races in question.
I suggest having the table vary on the following:
Race (discrete selection of races at each priority)
Spellcasting (selection of classes based on spellcasting with 9-level being the highest and the fighter, rogue, brawler, etc being the lowest)
Money (max should be no more than 2500. That's enough to buy a +1 weapon)
Ability Score Point Buy (15, 20, 25, 30)
The concern about my suggestion is that ability scores are extremely valuable for every character. Pretty much any character except a wizard would pick this at the highest. So it might be better to do something like (15, 20, 20, 25)
Class
A- 9th level spells
B- 6th level spells
C- others that have spell casting (Ranger, Paladin, etc..)
D- no spell casting
Money (starting with WBL= http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/gamemastering.html#table-12 -4-character-wealth-by-level )
A- WBL + 4
B- WBL + 2
C- WBL + 1
D- WBL
Ability Score Point Buy
A- 25
B- 20
C- 15
D- 10
Race
A- 25rp
B- 20rp
C- 15rp
D- Core only
I don't like the rp values . and if it was me I would come up with more powerful races that I can put under each priority.
How would it interact with multiclassing?
I would assume, if you didn't take the appropriate priority you could never take a level in the appropriate class. That's how I would do it.