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Yeah, I said what I said.
This is collective imagination, people! Brain Trust stuff! Get after it!
What variety of content would you most like to see?
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I mean. I feel like there's a couple of reasons for that.
1. A lot of people I've met on here seem uninterested in creating content themselves. Some people want to sit down and play a published adventure path with no deviation from that rules whatsoever.
And that...is hard for me to wrap my head around. The creative element of this hobby has always seemed, to me, to be the primary reason to participate. But I was obviously mistaken.
2. Homebrew threads don't have the same tendency to get heated like the Rules threads. And there's a fairly powerful addictive property to arguing online. The allure of *winning* a conversation, of being superior in one's knowledge of the thing one's passionate about.
3. 2nd edition is here, so it would make sense that a lot of people who felt the desire to come up with new content would check out the new version of the game, too.
But I agree. I wish my threads in Homebrew got a wider spread of replies, and nothing makes me want to post more than a new monster, magic item or a request for encounter ideas.
I've started sort of idly wondering where another forum out there that's more storytelling focused might be, but just haven't really committed to the idea of moving on.
Most of the stuff I make is tailored to my group, or meant to replace some part of the game that's glossed over with a rules light solution. It makes it hard to justify asking for input since it's either niche or a pages long effort. My table also has an apparently unique playstyle, so my input on homebrew stuff couldn't be very valuable either.
Also, it's at the bottom of the page and I forget it's there.
What variety of content would you most like to see?
The same content that's already on there, but I guess I just wish it was more active like the General/Advice/Rules Forums are.
It makes it hard to justify asking for input since it's either niche or a pages long effort. My table also has an apparently unique playstyle, so my input on homebrew stuff couldn't be very valuable either.
Honestly, I've always found your comments to be quite valuable. It's rare to find someone who can consistently offer a fresh perspective that also appeals to your individual taste and process. If you have anything you think would be worth sharing, I'd definitely be interested.
I think that touches on something else, though:
4. Homebrew is probably the place where people are open to other's ideas the least. It's all opinion and style in these particular threads, so it can be hard to hold a conversation with someone who's approach is so vastly different from you own, let alone offer/receive critiques.
I know when I ask "how would you build an X with Y?", thr bulk of the responses usually seem to be "I wouldn't use Y. Or even X. I'd use Z and Æ", which...okay, sure. Thanks for the input. Anything is better than nothing, and sometimes that *is* helpful. But it's not what I was looking for at all.
I feel like pride is a big thing in ttrpg's, especially amongst GM's. For numerous people I've met (and for myself, for a long time), accepting other's input is akin to admitting a flaw in your original design, which is basically confessing that you are less than perfect at running game sessions/telling stories, which means you might as well give up.
I've thought about why this is quite a bit. Still not there, really. But I've at least gotten to a point where I'm more open to suggestions than I was. Though I know for a fact that my confidence/surety in my ability as a story-teller still comes off as arrogance if I'm not careful.
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Well, I posted there a bit a while ago, but for me it looked like people only wanted apprecation for their ideas. They didn't want to hear about problems with their ideas, proposals for improvement or that something similar already exists. So I figured it's not my place, and both sides are better off if I don't post there.
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I have only ever homebrewed, though with liberal cherry-picking from anything I find cool or useful. The only module I ever ran was "The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga" from an old AD&D1e Dragon Magazine (or was it "Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut")? Anyway. I have never been able to run a published module. I don't know why. I learned how to play D&D in a homebrew setting and that's how I've always done it. My campaign setting was started in 1991 and I still have nearly all the players who were there from the beginning.
Sadly, I rarely ever write any of it down. It's all in the collective memory of the group. I encourage my players to get involved with the world-building, too, and nearly everything they've ever come up with has become canon in my (well, OUR) setting. I'll steal things right and left from other sources but the great bulk is totally made up.
If I may interject? I would like to see more builds of various race and classes. My other favorite rpg Mutants and Masterminds has a plethora of builds. Established characters or homebrew. As far as Pathfinder, I've seen builds of certain themes before, like Darkness. I would like to see scenarios as well. Something like taking on certain type of enemies in a certain type of environment. A Golden Axe or Double Dragon type map and beat em' up style of play.
I've also dreamed up the Hundred Class Organization made up of different races and classes from Pathfinder and the various third party products, wondering how anyone would logistically such an organization and how it would affect a game world, region or campaign. How would you handle multiple threats? What class with what race? What region would such an organization be based out of? What themes could be applied, one race or one country? Pirates, Luchadores, or Hellknights?
These are some of the things I would like to see in the homebrew forum. Not so much new rules, but new ways to use preexisting rules.
P.s. a hundred might be too much! Twenty?
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1. A lot of people I've met on here seem uninterested in creating content themselves. Some people want to sit down and play a published adventure path with no deviation from that rules whatsoever.
And that...is hard for me to wrap my head around. The creative element of this hobby has always seemed, to me, to be the primary reason to participate. But I was obviously mistaken.
For me, it is a time thing. I used to knit together a series of adventure from Dungeon, writing some filler or side quests to tie everything together into a story arc, But these days between kids, house maintenance, work, boat maintenance, and life in general (and playing virtually) I just don’t have the time. If I couldn’t get ready-to-play APs for FantasyGrounds I might not be playing at all.
If I may interject? I would like to see more builds of various race and classes. My other favorite rpg Mutants and Masterminds has a plethora of builds. Established characters or homebrew. As far as Pathfinder, I've seen builds of certain themes before, like Darkness. I would like to see scenarios as well. Something like taking on certain type of enemies in a certain type of environment. A Golden Axe or Double Dragon type map and beat em' up style of play.
I've also dreamed up the Hundred Class Organization made up of different races and classes from Pathfinder and the various third party products, wondering how anyone would logistically such an organization and how it would affect a game world, region or campaign. How would you handle multiple threats? What class with what race? What region would such an organization be based out of? What themes could be applied, one race or one country? Pirates, Luchadores, or Hellknights?
These are some of the things I would like to see in the homebrew forum. Not so much new rules, but new ways to use preexisting rules.P.s. a hundred might be too much! Twenty?
Happy to help with the latter, but I wouldn't call that homebrew.
If you want a wide variety of races and classes it is hard to tie that to a single organisation. A gladiatorial matchup, a pirate fleet, Hellknights etc. are all likely to have biases in who they appeal to. Though it might be fun trying to figure out how to make luchadores out of atypical classes for that sort of thing. Also what sort of level are you looking at?
If the idea is 'make example builds' it might be easier to use multiple organisations as the structure, or none. If the idea is the organisation it needs more flesh before making builds.
I avoid the homebrew area for a couple of reasons.
With the variety of things already available for Pathfinder, considering its 30ish hardbacks, 20+ adventure paths, more side modules, campaign books etc than I can count, I have found that there is plenty of stuff out there to make virtually any character or setting you could possibly want. I have a limited amount of prep time, so using something that already exists give me a better product for my time. I find there is no need to recreate the wheel. Many times I see people asking on opinions or "how do I" on some homebrew item, and I simply point them to a book that already has what they want in it.
Also while yes, there are a few people out there who can make good homebrew content, I find that most homebrew is done for one of two main reason. 1. they don't want to spend the time to find something that has already been printed that covers their homebrew, or 2. they want to powergame and do things outside of the rulesets.
I think the home brew area suffers from a lack of images. We can’t post things like maps and character art, so they are less fun to talk about.
Happy to help with the latter, but I wouldn't call that homebrew.If you want a wide variety of races and classes it is hard to tie that to a single organisation. A gladiatorial matchup, a pirate fleet, Hellknights etc. are all likely to have biases in who they appeal to. Though it might be fun trying to figure out how to make luchadores out of atypical classes for that sort of thing. Also what sort of level are you looking at?
If the idea is 'make example builds' it might be easier to use multiple organisations as the structure, or none. If the idea is the organisation it needs more flesh before making builds.
Not so much as homebrew, more like ideas, themes, and scenarios. One scenario I thought up would be having Hellnights be deployed against such an organization while on a relic hunt from a couple of heavy Air Dancers from Ships of Skybourne. One of the many vehicles used by the Hellknights. Of course, certain characters are on other missions, downtime, and stuff like that. Which means you're not always going to have the best characters where you need them.
The themes might be overboard when it comes to making a hundred characters! Maybe have the same goals? Being a big fan of Heroes of battle from 3.0 I was thinking of an army composed of the different classes and races with the region taken into account. I'm going with exploration as a theme.Well, what I thought up so far is fifth level, 18-25 pt. buy as determined by a d8 roll. I picked the hundred classes and races and put them together.
I understand that disire. As someone who enjoys homebrewing various things, but is not as familiar with the rules as I should be, I try to get as much feed back as possible. Sadly I rarely get much.
Not so much as homebrew, more like ideas, themes, and scenarios. One scenario I thought up would be having Hellnights be deployed against such an organization while on a relic hunt from a couple of heavy Air Dancers from Ships of Skybourne. One of the many vehicles used by the Hellknights. Of course, certain characters are on other missions, downtime, and stuff like that. Which means you're not always going to have the best characters where you need them.
The themes might be overboard when it comes to making a hundred characters! Maybe have the same goals? Being a big fan of Heroes of battle from 3.0 I was thinking of an army composed of the different classes and races with the region taken into account. I'm going with exploration as a theme.Well, what I thought up so far is fifth level, 18-25 pt. buy as determined by a d8 roll. I picked the hundred classes and races and put them together.
Dozens of different classes would be difficult even for the administrative infrastructure of a modern army and just totally out of the question for a renaissance/early modern army. It seems more like an army of retinues as per a medieval army, where each little village or clan has its own knight/champion and the feudal system collects them and their followers up.
Do you want to take this to its own thread?
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...it looked like people only wanted apprecation for their ideas. They didn't want to hear about problems with their ideas, proposals for improvement or that something similar already exists.
It can be pretty obnoxious. On the other hand, posting (and much more: running) homebrew puts people in a really vulnerable position. You're basically going "hey, everyone. I made this, from inside my own head. It's like a little piece of me. What do you think?"
And there are quite a few people who just go "hm, eh, well. Here are some issue you might want to consider..." --I've had that happen. I've been criticized by people who've never run a game or created something new in the hobby. And it's like, sure. Feedback is appreciated. But where do you get the gall? It can be hardAl...there are a few people out there who can make good homebrew content, I find that most homebrew is done for one of two main reason. 1. they don't want to spend the time to find something that has already been printed that covers their homebrew, or 2. they want to powergame and do things outside of the rulesets.
I think that is definitely a subset of the threads, yeah. If someone is looking to create a magic item for their character, odds are pretty good that it's far more potent than the rules would normally allow.
I do think that "reinventing the wheel" is okay, though. Not for the sake of it, but because, sometimes, the wheel is square. Or really a series of smaller wheels that work together with pulleys and counterweights. Or it's an ugly color.
Personally, I will happily remake a thousand monsters, rebuild an entire class, customize a wizard's whole spellbook and hand-make every magic item my players find, rather than settle for existing content that doesn't mesh with the tone I'm going for.
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Personally, I will happily remake a thousand monsters, rebuild an entire class, customize a wizard's whole spellbook and hand-make every magic item my players find, rather than settle for existing content that doesn't mesh with the tone I'm going for.
If that's what you want to do, then go for it. I personally don't have the time to re-work the "Monster/Class/race/map/magic item/game rule/setting/module/etc." I need when the "Monster/Class/race/map/magic item/game rule/setting/module/etc." already exists in a piece of official published material.
Homebrew is really weird, especially for PF1, due to the massive disparity in expectations, houserules and assumptions between different playgroups. I think I first realized this when I came across This thread on updating RotRL to make it more challenging for larger groups. When I saw the encounters getting proposed there, I could only laugh at how far beyond the pale they were.
So everyone's homebrew balance is informed by their own group's experiences. Homebrew is inherently personalized. When I read another person's homebrew, at least three out of four times, I'm utterly baffled why they think some particular design is reasonable, appropriate or fun. If I give qualitative feedback, I try to think about how this would work at my own table. However if I give quantitative feedback, I compare them to existing classes, the benchmarking sheets, and to Unchained's simple monster creation rules. Anything else seems like it just wouldn't be useful to people.
Putting out homebrew for feedback is pretty rough. Often your 'genius solution to a problem' is someone else's utterly misguided nonsense.
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If that's what you want to do, then go for it. I personally don't have the time to re-work the "Monster/Class/race/map/magic item/game rule/setting/module/etc." I need when the "Monster/Class/race/map/magic item/game rule/setting/module/etc." already exists in a piece of official published material.
I mean...it is what I want, yes. And I do go for it.
And hey, I know about being short on time. Between work and parenting and school, I don't have a fraction of the time I did 10-20 years ago.
But I'd rather play one game with all the elements present to be *exactly* what I want than play a dozen games with the elements being sorta'-close to what I want, because that's what was available.
I totally get the reverse preference but, at least when I'm posting a Homebrew thread, I'm looking for something very specific.
Granted, I don't know the vast majority of Pathfinder's content; I snatched up every book 3rd and 3.5 printed and...then I realized that I hardly used 90% of it. So there's a good chance there's something close to what I want that I'm not aware of. A reference to that existing material is helpful if it's new to me, but it's not going to be a simple copy/paste, either.
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A couple of folks have already pointed this out, but there are so many people who just lie in wait to ambush anyone who posts about their homebrew settings and try to tell us it's wrongbadfun and we're playing the game wrong and why are you doing that because it clearly says in the Golarion setting that it doesn't work that way and blah blah blah...
I'm not intimidated by these people, I just no longer have the patience to listen to them tell me I'm playing the game wrong if they don't like something I put in it. I might chime in on the "X Number of This, That, or the Other Things" threads because those can be a lot of fun as well as great sources of ideas to incorporate into my own games.
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Anyway, I wonder if maybe some of those concerns are shared by others on these threads?
I think so.
I've almost posted a few things and then stopped when I realized I was perfectly confident in what I had made and wasn't really looking for input.With that said, I've started a lot of threads in Homebrew and been pretty clear in asking for exactly what I was looking for. Like, I'll give the stats for my monster and the bones of the encounter--it's purpose and tone and structure, etc.--and I might ask "how would you deal with this encounter?" or "do you think (insert monster special ability) is too strong?" or something like that, and I still get "I wouldn't use that monster. And I would run this adventure path over here instead. And tell your players to retrain their characters" or whatever--just clearly not what I asked for from the start. In those moments, I don't feel like I'm not being receptive to feedback or stubborn or like I'm just looking for praise; I asked for a specific thing. If a comment isn't even semi-related, it's not relevant.
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Personally, I fall into the Homebrew-everything camp. I'll play AP's as a PC, but I don't want to GM them. I enjoy being able to create everything; I know this is a lot of work, but to me, it doesn't feel like work, it feels like fun.
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Hrm, maybe we need a community-written codex for the Homebrew section: A collection of basic rules like "If the OP explicitely doesn't want something, don't bring it up" and "Don't outright dismiss, point out problems". They should be short, easy to understand - and we shouldn't assume any of them to be common sense.
It won't magically remove all the problems, but people could point to the according thread when a thread goes wrong. If it's signed and defended by some forum veterans, it has nearly the same weight as an official sticky from Paizo.
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Honestly, I planted my flag in PF1 because it was already so expansive. And also, because it was dead in the water... it wasn't going to continue to expand.
There is SO much I am still finding in the printed material, that I have little need to invent my own.
I do love gestalt, though, and have absolutely no problems gestalting entire monster stat blocks into unique hybrid monsters. Like my Gorgotaur... which I used when I ran Kingmaker.
I also will take monsters I want to use and simply advance them to meet the desired CR. No templates or class levels... just, it needs these stats to provide this accuracy/damage/DC... this much HD to have the HP or feats I want it to have... done... send it. Literally zero creative input on my behalf.
I haven't found the need to create homebrew stuff because I am still finding inventive ways to get what I want with what is available. I feel that if I started making $#!+ up at this point, it would be an effort to cheat the system, rather than improve upon it. Like inventing feats that do what I want without BS prerequisites. Or races that happen to fit a niche build I like.
I am not mature enough, yet, to unleash myself in the homebrew section. Lol.
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Dozens of different classes would be difficult even for the administrative infrastructure of a modern army and just totally out of the question for a renaissance/early modern army. It seems more like an army of retinues as per a medieval army, where each little village or clan has its own knight/champion and the feudal system collects them and their followers up.
Do you want to take this to its own thread?
Starting a new thread sounds like a good idea. The infrastructure thing? You ain't never watch G.I. Joe? Army, Airforce, Navy, and Marines all on the same squad. The chain of command was General Hawk, Duke, Flint and then Beachhead. After that, its pretty much up in the air as far as chain of command.
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When I homebrew something I tend to modify something already in print for balance purposes only because I’m guilty of an over active imagination so I need guideline to keep it in check.
While I’ll probably never dabble in a full custom class; homebrew race’s templates and weapons I’ll gladly toy around with.
But mostly I find myself converting stuff from 3.5 I loved like feats and Symbiotes.
Mmm. Not much in the Homebrew sections really screams out to me personally. Most good polished work makes it's way into Third Party Publisher territory. Since I already use Spheres of Power/Might, Psionics, Elephant in the Room feats, Path of War, and now more recently dipping into Final Fantasy D20, I dont really feel compelled to try drafting something up myself. Or if I do, it's just small eyeball changes like Fighters getting 6 skill points per level.
Though occasionally I'll spot something that makes me "ooo" and I'll bookmark it.
... it's just small eyeball changes like Fighters getting 6 skill points per level.(☉_☉) ... they came out with graphic novel skill manuals
*Shrug*
Rangers get 6+skills, accuracy boosters, a great class skill list, a host of situational skill bonuses, AND spells replacing skills.
Fighters can have 4 more skill points.
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It makes it hard to justify asking for input since it's either niche or a pages long effort. My table also has an apparently unique playstyle, so my input on homebrew stuff couldn't be very valuable either.Honestly, I've always found your comments to be quite valuable. It's rare to find someone who can consistently offer a fresh perspective that also appeals to your individual taste and process. If you have anything you think would be worth sharing, I'd definitely be interested.
I think that touches on something else, though:
4. Homebrew is probably the place where people are open to other's ideas the least. It's all opinion and style in these particular threads, so it can be hard to hold a conversation with someone who's approach is so vastly different from you own, let alone offer/receive critiques.
I know when I ask "how would you build an X with Y?", thr bulk of the responses usually seem to be "I wouldn't use Y. Or even X. I'd use Z and Æ", which...okay, sure. Thanks for the input. Anything is better than nothing, and sometimes that *is* helpful. But it's not what I was looking for at all.I feel like pride is a big thing in ttrpg's, especially amongst GM's. For numerous people I've met (and for myself, for a long time), accepting other's input is akin to admitting a flaw in your original design, which is basically confessing that you are less than perfect at running game sessions/telling stories, which means you might as well give up.
I've thought about why this is quite a bit. Still not there, really. But I've at least gotten to a point where I'm more open to suggestions than I was. Though I know for a fact that my confidence/surety in my ability as a story-teller still comes off as arrogance if I'm not careful.
Which is why I've largely stopped posting any of my home brew stuff because rather than "If you do X this will work better" I instead got "No you should use Y your options weaker/op/bad wrong fun." Not all the time but often enough I just got sick of constantly replying "Yes but with what I want does X work." and trying to get them to address my concept rather than the better mechanical option available. I know there are better options than my choices most of the time I make them because I like the flavour.
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I think that is something to be yearned for with the Homebrew forums, and these forums in general for that matter, is that you cannot upload pictures or videos. Sure you can use internet links with [urls], but that's hardly the same if we're being honest.
Being able to upload pictures and videos as attachments to a post would be a 1000% improvement to these forums, imo. Then of course, you run the risk of these forums turning into "meme-drop" and "$%!tpost" forums, so I dunno if that's a good idea either. There's gotta be a healthy medium somewhere.
Because I would love to be able to upload some of the pictures and videos of my homebrew world.
Being able to post photos would definitely be a plus in my book, but you're right about the possibility of it turning into a meme nesting ground.
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I really don't use homebrew stuff because the official rules are already so widespread that managing them without character gen software like HeroLab is more effort than I have time for. I'll homebrew things on the GM side, as they usually don't get used for more than a few encounters, and I'm already duct taping and juggling random mods to the enemies, one more isn't that big of a deal. I want to use third party offerings when playing my own characters but without HeroLab files, it's just not worth it.