| Warden Void |
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These would be traits that represent characters having graduated from one of 15 universities. I also made a reddit post here (https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/1cpsbir/help_with_some_cu stom_regional_traits/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=we b3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
Here's a copy-paste of what I wrote there:
I'm trying to assign regional traits to my homebrewed world. As some background, these would be a set of fifteen regional traits for 15 universities in a metropolis dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. The idea is that each trait is for a graduate. I've revamped some existing traits. Here's my current list.
I'd love some input into whether some of these traits are wildly imbalanced or on any suggestions on what to do. Mind you, I'm not going for a perfectly balanced system. Just some flavorful elements which don't make one player OP compared to the rest.
Five schools (the Corpus Externum) are dedicated to the fundamental forces which tie the world together:
- Ars Arcanum (arcane arts) is Quantium University graduate
- Ars Divina (divine arts) is Kwansai Believer
- Ars Prima (primal arts): Once per day, you can cast Suppress Primal Magic or Influence Primal Magic (only one of them). The effects last for three rounds.
- Ars Occulta (occult arts) is the same as quantium or kwansai, but for psychic spells
- Ars Vis (understanding how all the forces interact with each other): You can make a DC 15 concentration check to add another type of energy damage to a spell they cast that would deal damage
Five schools (the Corpus Vivum) are dedicated to studying the living and the civlizations of my homebrewed world:
- Ars Temporum (studying history): whenever you look into anything that would ask for a knowledge (history) check, you can spend three hours browsing everything at hand to reduce the DC of the check by 5
- Ars Vivens (studying all living things): choose offense or defense. If offense, you get a +1 trait bonus to confirm critical hit (against living creatures). If defense, you get a +1 trait bonus to AC only when ennemies are confirming a critical hit against you (the logic being you understand how your and other's bodies work better than most)
- Ars Creatrix (studying all art forms): you get a +2 trait bonus to perform (choose a category) and craft (choose category) checks. You may choose one to always be a class skill.
- Ars Geographicam (studying cartography and the planet itself): whenever you look into anything that would ask for a knowledge (geography) check, you can spend three hours browsing everything at hand to reduce the DC of the check by 5.
- Ars Systemata (studying how all the previous elements influence culture and social groups): Once per day, when making a diplomacy, bluff, or intimidate check against a crowd, you can choose to take a +5 trait bonus (must be chosen before rolling).
Five schools (the Corpus Faciens) are dedicated to the applied sciences :
- Ars Medicae (healing): when making a heal check for first aid, in addition to stabilizing them, you also grant them one temporary hit point for each round you spend with them (within 5 ft and spend at least 1 standard action with them).
- Ars Factorum (engineering): choose building, construct, or craft. If building, you reduce the amount of time it takes to build a room or building by half if you double the cost. If construct, you can choose craft (construct) as a feat without meeting its prerequisites. If craft (choose category), you get a +3 trait bonus to those checks.
- Ars Crescente (agriculture and other forms of plant cultures): I honestly have no idea
- Ars Potionum (potions and other such concoctions): Diminish the amount of time it would take to prepare a potion, poison, mutagen (and variants), balm or elixir by half
- Ars Artificis (studying ancient crafting and construction methods and attempting to replicate them): you can make a DC 20 knowledge (engineering) check for an item or construct (once per day for a specific item). This takes you an hour. If you succeed, you can attempt a craft check to replicate or repair the item as if you had 3 skill points in the matching crafting category.
| Tottemas |
"- Ars Vis (understanding how all the forces interact with each other): You can make a DC 15 concentration check to add another type of energy damage to a spell they cast that would deal damage"
Like replace one energy type with another? That's soon to be an auto-success and would be an unlimited amount of the Elemental Metamagic. Very overtuned I'd say. Limit it to twice a day and it's still very potent.
==
"- Ars Temporum (studying history): whenever you look into anything that would ask for a knowledge (history) check, you can spend three hours browsing everything at hand to reduce the DC of the check by 5"
Unlikely to ever be useful. Three hours is quite the investment and History is not the most valuable of knowledge skills. Maybe allow Know History to be used in place of other Know skills once or twice per day. Or base it on the (overtuned) Arodenite Historian trait.
(https://aonprd.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Arodenite%20Historian)
==
"- Ars Vivens (studying all living things): choose offense or defense. If offense, you get a +1 trait bonus to confirm critical hit (against living creatures). If defense, you get a +1 trait bonus to AC only when ennemies are confirming a critical hit against you (the logic being you understand how your and other's bodies work better than most)"
The "+1 to confirm" traits are actually very weak since traits are supposed to be 1/2 of a feat and Critical Focus is a +4 bonus. You could give both bonuses and the trait would still be rather mid in power. I'd give +1 in both and increase one of them (player's choice) by 1.
==
"- Ars Geographicam (studying cartography and the planet itself): whenever you look into anything that would ask for a knowledge (geography) check, you can spend three hours browsing everything at hand to reduce the DC of the check by 5."
Not very flashy. Maybe add another way to use the skill instead. Like, if you have a map of the area you can plan a route to make overland travel faster for you and your group.
==
"- Ars Medicae (healing): when making a heal check for first aid, in addition to stabilizing them, you also grant them one temporary hit point for each round you spend with them (within 5 ft and spend at least 1 standard action with them)."
You definitely want a limit on the amount of Temp HP they can get. Up to 1 HP seems fine. And maybe they turn into real HP after an hour.
==
"- Ars Crescente (agriculture and other forms of plant cultures): I honestly have no idea"
Hm. A bonus vs plant type creatures is the obvious choice but very narrow in scope. Maybe something related to the "nature" classes?
Ranger: Add plant companions to their list of available companions
Druid: May cast Summon Nature's Ally as a full-round action (instead of a 1 round action) 3 times/day.
| Warden Void |
"- Ars Vis (understanding how all the forces interact with each other): You can make a DC 15 concentration check to add another type of energy damage to a spell they cast that would deal damage"
Like replace one energy type with another? That's soon to be an auto-success and would be an unlimited amount of the Elemental Metamagic. Very overtuned I'd say. Limit it to twice a day and it's still very potent.
==
"- Ars Temporum (studying history): whenever you look into anything that would ask for a knowledge (history) check, you can spend three hours browsing everything at hand to reduce the DC of the check by 5"
Unlikely to ever be useful. Three hours is quite the investment and History is not the most valuable of knowledge skills. Maybe allow Know History to be used in place of other Know skills once or twice per day. Or base it on the (overtuned) Arodenite Historian trait.
(https://aonprd.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Arodenite%20Historian)==
"- Ars Vivens (studying all living things): choose offense or defense. If offense, you get a +1 trait bonus to confirm critical hit (against living creatures). If defense, you get a +1 trait bonus to AC only when ennemies are confirming a critical hit against you (the logic being you understand how your and other's bodies work better than most)"
The "+1 to confirm" traits are actually very weak since traits are supposed to be 1/2 of a feat and Critical Focus is a +4 bonus. You could give both bonuses and the trait would still be rather mid in power. I'd give +1 in both and increase one of them (player's choice) by 1.
==
"- Ars Geographicam (studying cartography and the planet itself): whenever you look into anything that would ask for a knowledge (geography) check, you can spend three hours browsing everything at hand to reduce the DC of the check by 5."
Not very flashy. Maybe add another way to use the skill instead. Like, if you have a map of the area you can plan a route to make overland travel faster for you and your group.
==...
Thanks for the suggestions!
Ars Vis: it was adding a single additional energy type to damage caused by a spell. Hadn't thought about the metamagic aspect. I'll limit to twice a day (maybe even once a day?).
Ars Temporum: My players are about to investigate some ancient elements of the worlds (as at least one will be playing a student working on his research paper). So there will be a lot of investigating history in the upcoming campaign. In light of this, do you still think I should replace it with your version (or maybe use your version and add mine as an optional campaign trait)?
Ars Vivens: I'll apply your modifications
Ars Geographicam: That's actually a unique take. Much more interesting than just another version of Ars Temporum. Maybe make the reduction of time 20%? Half seems like overkill
Ars Medicae: could you clarify what you meant by limiting the hp? Is one temp HP max per round not enough?
Ars Crescente: Your ideas seem fine, but I feel like limiting the trait to only two classes is a bit unfair. I originally thought of this "You get a +3 trait bonus to all knowledge (nature) checks that would apply to plant-life (similar to all the traits that grant buffs to checks)". But it's not very unique
| Tottemas |
Ars Temporum: If Knowledge History plays a big part of your campaign then it's a lot better. But simply giving a bonus (or reducing the DC) is a little boring, and the up-front time payment makes it hard to justify using the trait benefit if you're already good at the skill and expect to succeed.
How about this. During their time at the university they've amassed an impressive collection of study notes. These study notes works in all ways like a Pathfinder Chronicle for History checks (https://aonprd.com/EquipmentMiscDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Pathfinder%20Chronic le), and if they fail a History check they can spend 3 hours referencing their notes to reroll the check once.
Ars Medicae: Consider a scenario where the lv 6 fighter goes down. The player with this trait can then spend 50 rounds giving them 50 temp HP. And since temp HP is not lost until the ability says they're lost, they keep this +50 temp HP buffer even if healed up to full HP.
Limiting it so that they can only get enough temp HP to bring them up to 1 HP (if they're at -5 HP, they could get 6 temp HP) stops it from being abused. And it would likely be less strong if it gave real HP instead of temp HP since there's no time limit.
| Azothath |
Regionalism can be a good thing but Rules have to be in effect that impact the choices of race, classes, languages, and other traits. Combined with the fact that trait mechanics language needs to be cleaned up and standardized as there's a lot of incongruity and partial duplication. The trait rules need to be accumulative with class benefits rather than independent.
| Warden Void |
Regionalism can be a good thing but Rules have to be in effect that impact the choices of race, classes, languages, and other traits. Combined with the fact that trait mechanics language needs to be cleaned up and standardized as there's a lot of incongruity and partial duplication. The trait rules need to be accumulative with class benefits rather than independent.
Those are great ideas! Thanks for all the help
| Warden Void |
Regionalism can be a good thing but Rules have to be in effect that impact the choices of race, classes, languages, and other traits. Combined with the fact that trait mechanics language needs to be cleaned up and standardized as there's a lot of incongruity and partial duplication. The trait rules need to be accumulative with class benefits rather than independent.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. As far as I can tell from the list of regional traits on AON, the vast majority are not linked to race or class. Could you clarify?
| Azothath |
Azothath wrote:Regionalism can be a good thing but Rules have to be in effect that impact the choices of race, classes, languages, and other traits. Combined with the fact that trait mechanics language needs to be cleaned up and standardized as there's a lot of incongruity and partial duplication. The trait rules need to be accumulative with class benefits rather than independent.I'm not sure I understand what you mean. As far as I can tell from the list of regional traits on AON, the vast majority are not linked to race or class. Could you clarify?
and that is part of a regional trait 'being generic' problem. The traits only require the PC say they are from an area. The way traits work (one per type) they might as well be generic. You see a lot of trait min-maxing as there aren't any restrictions or interactions and GMs tend to ignore trivial rules like 'being from varisia'. If you make a rule or distinction it has to have an impact to RAW and gameplay (such as; money, XP, weapon profc, armor profc, race, class, lang, other traits & feats) or it's worthless and just a rule to be a rule.
A cash discount or prequalification for a feat would be such an impact to RAW (it doesn't have to be a restriction, sticks & carrots ya know).I think a PC could take two regional traits.
The generic feats could be boiled down to 20 or so...
| Warden Void |
Warden Void wrote:Azothath wrote:Regionalism can be a good thing but Rules have to be in effect that impact the choices of race, classes, languages, and other traits. Combined with the fact that trait mechanics language needs to be cleaned up and standardized as there's a lot of incongruity and partial duplication. The trait rules need to be accumulative with class benefits rather than independent.I'm not sure I understand what you mean. As far as I can tell from the list of regional traits on AON, the vast majority are not linked to race or class. Could you clarify?and that is part of a regional trait 'being generic' problem. The traits only require the PC say they are from an area. The way traits work (one per type) they might as well be generic. You see a lot of trait min-maxing as there aren't any restrictions or interactions and GMs tend to ignore trivial rules like 'being from varisia'. If you make a rule or distinction it has to have an impact to RAW and gameplay or it's worthless and just a rule to be a rule.
I mean that sounds more like you disliking how those rules were written by Pathfinder. As a GM, I do personally care about story coherence over minmaxing. For example, when a player wants to play a character from a certain area, I limit their race choices to those usually found there (and they're fine with that).
In this case, the regional traits do bring some form of limitation since they're supposed to represent graduates from those universities. So, players will have to imagine a backstory where their character attending said university makes sense.
What we usually do in my group is players give me their backstories, and I present them with a selection of traits that would make sense based on said backstories.