Owen K.C. Stephens's Blog, page 56

Power Fantasy for the first edition Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

Sometimes, you just want to pretend you are a hero of vast and spectacular power. And if you are a fan of PF1, there are lots of ways to build a campaign that does that.

All of these are ideas designed to make characters that totally break the expected power curve of characters of a given level. For each idea you implement, you can treat characters as 2 levels higher when determining APL for encounters. However, for the epic power level feel, it’s best to double the creatures in an encounter, rather than use higher-CR foes. Yes, four 1st level characters using three PFOs (Power Fantasy Options) can usually* take a single CR 7 foe. But it’ll feel more epic if you put them up against sixteen CR 1 foes as a challenging encounter.

(*Characters using multiple PFOs should have the bonuses and numbers needed to take on more powerful single foes, but may not have access to higher-level options to overcome some specific powers. Check if creatures have incorporeality, drains, flight, planar movement, or things linked explicitly to HD, and if those powers are beyond the reach of the abilities and spells available to the PC’s actual level, rather than their power level.)

Here are some PFOs.

[image error] (Art by Grandfailure)

Amalgam Characters
Amalgam characters pick two classes, and blend them. They get the best of the two classes’ skill points, hit dice, base attack bonuses, and base saving throws, and all the proficiencies, spellcasting, and class features of both classes.
All of the abilities of both classes are considered to be native to the amalgam class. This can be important for rule interactions. For example, an amalgam magus/wizard treats all their wizard spells as being magus spells when determining if they can cast spells without suffering from arcane spell failure.
Some amalgam class combinations are much more powerful than others. A ranger/paladin has lots of options, but doesn’t benefit from blending abilities nearly as much as a magus/warpriest. A cleric/shaman or druid/monk can be horrifying. This PFO also makes significantly more powerful characters if you use the power fantasy ability score buy.
It’s a good idea to outlaw any character that ends up with multiple animal companions and/or familiars, just because they end up with a lot of time spent dealing with those and their extra actions on their turn.

Bonus Esoteric Feats
Pathfinder has… a lot of feats. So many feats it can be tough for characters to delve into many of the more esoteric ones from beyond the core rulebook. So, this PFO gives characters 3 bonus feats, plus one bonus feat per character level above third… but the bonus feats must be taken from sources other than the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.

Custom Gear and Bonus Progressions
Rather than random starting money and only random treasure, characters all begin with 2,500 gp of equipment at 1st level as their “core gear”. At each character level, they may reselect their core gear up to a total value equal to half the average wealth per level for that character level. Also, beginning at third level, character gain automatic bonus progression.
This is on top of whatever random treasure they receive. This option also allows GMs to not have the buying and selling of magic items in the campaign, since characters have plenty of ways to get the bonuses and options they need through this PFO.

Horrifically Overpowered Feats
They exist. Don’t take this option. Don’t use these feats. Don’t even buy the pdfs.

Mythic
Yeah, the mythic rules are a very different system. But it would be remiss of me not to mention it, as it’s a well-established, expansive system designed to power up characters. That said, you should use the mythic rules regarding CR adjustments for PCs and foes if you add mythic rules, rather than my simpler PFO options. That said, you could treat one mythic tier as a single PFO.

Power Fantasy Ability Score Buy
Using the ability score point costs, rather than using the value for high fantasy (20) or epic fantasy (25), you use the value for power fantasy–50 points to buy ability scores. Characters still cannot begin with a score above 18 (before adjustments for species). It’s also totally reasonable not to allow characters to sell ability scores down below 10 with this option… though really at this point it won’t make a huge difference unless someone is building multiclass amalgam characters.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

Diligence and Patience

For PF1. And Starfinder. Any any other game system you like them for.

DILIGENCE
You can go slowly and carefully, when the situation calls for it.
Benefit: When you Take 10 or Take 20 on a check, you can choose to take twice as much time as normal, and gain an additional +2 bonus to your check total.

PATIENCE
You know some things require time and effort to accomplish.
Benefit: When you attempt an ability check, skill check, or attack roll (without taking 10 or taking 20) and fail, if you next action is to attempt the same check (with the same tools or weapon, against the same challenge or target), you gain a +1 bonus to the result. If this fails and your next action is again to attempt the same check as before, your bonus increases to +2. If this fails you can try third and subsequent times consecutively with a +3 bonus. If you take any other action, your bonuses end until you fail again.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

Appendix O: Sortition as a Plot Device

Okay, yes, “Appendix O” is a cheesy and derivate name for a column title. But I really did love the inspirational appendices of some of my early RPG purchases in the 1980s, and genuinely learned a lot from them. Not as academic sources themselves, but as starting points for me to hunt down ideas and historical or philosophic context of ideas I first encountered in ttRPGs.

So when I realized I wanted a column title for just starting points of ideas I could pitch and explore a bit for gaming, I settled on this… in about 5 minutes without much serious though. I may or may not do more Appendix O articles. If you have an opinion on the idea, let me know!

Given it’s Election Day here in the U.S.A., I thought I’d tackle a government-related idea I’ve been playing with for some time as a potential plot device — sortition.

What is Sortition?

As a broad definition, sortition is the act of selecting, sorting, or deciding something by drawing lots. In governance, sortition is the selection of governing agents through random selection from a bigger pool of qualified candidates.

In 6th century Athens, sortition was considered a crucial part of democracy. The idea was that if positions of power were allowed to be filled through election, competition for those positions would inevitably lead to oligarchy as people made promises, cut deals, and build power bases to ensure they would get elected and re-elected. By assigning governing officers at random (from the male citizens who self-selected to be potential candidates).

However, sortition CAN use anything as qualifying for candidates, or nothing at all. Looking at some of the interesting governments proposed on early ttRPG sourcebooks, a Mageocracy might use sortition to assign important governmental positions to randomly selected spellcasters within the kingdom. A Theocracy that worshipped a god of chance (or has a strong tradition of using random fortune-telling methods to determine the will of the gods, or perhaps the collective will of a whole pantheon of gods) might use sortition to assign those positions not held by the church, or to decide who within the church holds government positions through sortition.

Sortition has been used in many forms over the centuries. In the US, juries for trials are essentially selected by sortition (and it’s easy to see why electing jurors would be seen as rife with corruption.) Sortition has been used to replace just a legislatural body, or to form policy boards, and even to select community leaders.

So, how can a government determined by chance be used in a ttRPG as a plot point?

[image error] (Art by Grandfailure)

Congratulations, High Minister

If you present a sortition government to PCs, and explain that anyone who meets certain qualifications can be selected to serve, the PCs may still be surprised when one of them is selected to fill an important role. Depending on the government, the selection may not be something a character is allowed to decline.

This allows a GM to introduce political elements to a campaign without worrying about political parties, campaigning, votes, or even re-election. A PC is handed a position for one term, which could be as short as a few weeks (especially if they are filling in for the end of a term of someone who died in office), and no actions on the PCs’ part is going to get them another term.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, King

You could also have an ally, patron, or even adversary of the PCs have vast political power dropped in their lap–or have them need to rush to complete some project or pass a law before their term ends, since they know they have little chance of keeping the power to do so after the next random assignment of power.

Luck as Political Power

Many ttRPGs have chance-manipulating abilities in the hands of PCs. If a government is strongly influences by sortition, those abilities can be seen as political power. A player might be woo’d by a candidate to skew luck in their favor… or accused of doing so when the PC did no such thing.

Open Field

Rather than force a plot on PCs, a GM could also just establish a major sortition government as an invitation for PCs who are interested. If candidates must express interest in running for office, but are then chosen by lots, it allows PCs to decide to get involved in politics very spur-of-the moment.

Critical Failure

One of the common criticisms of sortition is that it does not select for skill or morality. A GM could use that as a plot point, having a stable, rational, well-liked set of government officials replaced by idiots and crooks with a particularly bad set of randomly assigned positions. This could cause nearly overnight change, and potentially riots and cries for revolution. It can also place the PCs in a position where they must choose between the well-established law of the land, and wishing to replace an objectively terrible ruler, judge, legislator, or all of them above.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Appendix O ideas, (or game theories, Pathfinder 1st edition thoughts, or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

Really Wild West “Doomstone” Campaign — After-Action Report (Game Session 6)

It looks like there is enough interest in session notes from my Really Wild West: Doomstone campaign for those to become a regular feature. So here’s a write-up adapted from notes taken by my wife Lj (who is playing the fenrin operative bounty hunter named “Sawyer”) as a quick report for Session Five!

You can find Session One here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Two here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Three here.
Session Four here.
Session Five here: Part One. Part Two.

If you don’t recognize a reference, it may (or may not) be in a previous session, or at the updated campaign notes page.

Session Six

I decided to playtest my idea for Spotlight Tokens in this session. I got some useful feedback, I may or may not keep using them in this campaign.

These notes are from the point of view of the PCs (specifically my wife Lj, and I adapted them from her notes for her character, the fenrin operative bounty hunter Sawyer).

The Svirfneblin host us and feed us. Dinner includes large roasted pill bugs that taste like lobster. Mushrooms, snails (escargot-style), slugs, beer.
· The svirfneblin give us papers and a copy of The Pact to give to Dwargus Hardfist, with whom they hope to open formal trade.
· The svirfneblin give us “the Door,” a complex set of nested crystal spheres. It will seek a spot within the serpent people Hollow World near its center, and then can be activated (with a combination of three successful Engineering and/or Mysciticm checks in a row) to close the serpent people Hollow World for a century or so. Once activated, it must be guarded for 1-2 minutes (1d10+10 rounds), after which it will open a portal. It then cannot be stopped, but anyone who doesn’t go through the portal will be trapped in the Serpent People dark Hollow World for a century.
· The Svirfneblin can have their Hollow World (the Vault) overlap the serpent people’s Hollow World (Aakath), and deposit us near where we will need to set up “the Door.” As soon as we open the door, the powerful Venom Champion known to the serpent people only as “Her” will know, and is sure to arrive.
· Once Aakath is cut off, the serpentfolk who are currently out in our world, will be stuck. They will still be able to teleport, but will have weaker arcane powers and less eldritch strength.
· The Svirfneblin the PCs found and buried have returned their essences and minds to the Svirfneblin communities. Their “soul sparks” have become soul gems, which those who have fallen offer to the PCs (one each) as thanks for putting them to rest.
o “Who they are” has gone back to the community
o These are the fuel that drove their essence, minds, and bodies.
Soul Gem
· all are +1 Resolve Point (only to stabilize)
· Then there are cuts, each with a different power set.
o Trillions +1 to all saves
o Navette +2 against all afflictions
o Cabochon +4 to all saves against poisons

Into the breach — The Svirfneblin perform the ceremony to place us in Aakath.
· We all take anti toxins
· Things dwell there that are worse than serpent folks
· Be prepared for darkness that defies simple concepts such as evil

Aakath — the Endless Cavern
· Darkness so gray, it might as well be black, but we know it isn’t
· Settlement with inhuman architecture in distance, outbuildings nearby
· Thin glowing green sickly line in the far distance
· Vapor clings to the ground
· Crunching noise beneath our feet
· An alien howl of alarm goes off
· The Door draws us toward a nearby fountain, but there are things between us and it.

FIGHT!
· “The unclean thing” – (GM describes it ‘the bezor that the otyugh spit up’). It is a shapeshifting mass of waste, raw, pulsing organs, and foul ichors.
o It spews digestive juices and waste as an attack out of a sphincter it forms for the purpose
· The alarm turns into chanting
· The green glow flashes and two figures teleport in
o One is a Four-armed Huge snake-legged serpentfolk, with glowing venomous pistols, a green gem in her head, and wicked dagger – this is clearly “Her”

[image error] (Art by Jacob Blackmon)

o Also with HER is a Size-large serpent with ridges on its back
o Damage to HER appears on the serpent, until the serpent is slain.
· The serpent charges for the bounty hunter operative fenrin.
· A Size-large four-headed serpent appears
· The centaur mercenary paladin protects the human robotocist mechanic and half-orc cartographer tecnomancer as they get the mechanism activated.
· Another unclean thing shows up – a minor version
· We finally get everyone down
· The portal opens as we see siege weapons and giant coils rolling this way
· We flee

AFTERMATH
· We all make it through. End up in the same cavern as the Martian embanking machine, beneath Neblin Ridge.
· Heal up

LOOT from Her: Pocket hollow world (clear gem) – teleport (self only, 440-foot range) CL10 as a move or swift action once per day – (goes the the centaur paladin); warmaster’s gloves (swap out weapon you are wielding with those stored on your person without taking an action) – goes to human soldier; Martian capacitor (1ce/day supercharge a weapon as part of the attack) – goes to human mechanic.

The Tess drives the Martian Embanking Machine out of the mine. We all take a turn driving it. Go back to the Circle Axe Ranch.
· They give us burgers
· Bring Dwargus up to speed. Learn Felspark has been “Recalled East,” by the east Hudson Fur Trading Company.
· He makes us Trustees of the Circle Axe Ranch
· We can take out the tunneling stuff from the Embanking machine and turn the engine into a mobile Base of Operations. Decide to do so before hunting down the infamous Professor Barkane Adrameliche, who we believe has beocme the Venom King, and we think is in Montana.

Divide up the $4000 worth of bounties between us. $800 each.

XPs: 1920
18,970 (23,000 to 7th)

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Why Fantasy RPGS Do Better: A Theory

When I was first getting involved in RPGs in the 1980s, and then in the industry as a professional in the 1990s, people often noted that when discussing success and popularity of Fantasy VS Scifi, movies and TV always skewed much more towards scifi, and RPGs towards fantasy.

Not that there weren’t scifi RPGs and Fantasy tv shows and movies, but they were less common, less popular, and less successful.

And people wondered why.

Now, Fantasy has largely broken the TV/Movie barrier since 2000, and I attribute that to better budgets, effects, and acceptance of fantasy stories as interesting and varied. (And I believe some of that influence came from games… but that’s another essay.)

That still leaves the question of why scifi (and modern, and old west, and so on) ttRPGs simply are not as successful or popular as Fantasy ttRPGs.

It cannot just be momentum or nostaliga. The first scifi ttRPGs came hot on the heels of D&D, and by the time most people were exposed to them there were peltny of both. And ttRPGs have seen several resurgences since their first hitting the public eye, and every time fantasy ttRPGs come out on top.

(There are some AWESOME, world-influencing, trend-setting, society impacting scifi and modern ttRPG IPs. They are just less common than fantasy, and tier-to-tier less successful.)

This of course rasies the question of why. WHY are fantasy ttRPGs better accepted by the general gamer community than other genres of ttRPG?

So, this is my theory:

Players are more forgiving of fantasy.

Yeah, that’s pretty simple, but I have seen it over and over in more than 2 decades of professional game creation, and nearly four decades of play. This increased forgiveness comes in two primary forms.

First, people are comfortable blending a wider range of fantasy concepts together than they are blending modern or scifi concepts.

For example: If I want to play a Knight of the Round Table, you want to play a character inspired by Conan the Barbarian, Jan wants to play a character inspired by Lord Darcey, and Robin wants to play a character inspired by Arjuna, most groups can accept those characters can interact and still feel close enough to their inspirations to be satisfying.

However, if I want to play a character inspired by Captain Kirk, you want to play a character inspired by RoboCop, Jan wants to play a character inspired by Luke Skywalker, and Robin wants to play a character inspired by Char Aznable, chances are we can’t all play in the same game without the differences in our characters making our characters not seem close enough to be satisfying, or having to ignore smart choices in order to stay true to our sub-genres.

Similarly, if a game has special powers fueled by magic, more players accept that magic is not real, and doesn’t need to make a lot of sense and thus just accept the game rules, compared to the number of players who will shrug and ignore rules oddities in science fiction they don’t like.

A simple version of this is that in a game where a target can expect to be hit and damaged with a greatsword 8-12 times and survive (clearly very uncommon in the real world), many players can just accept it. If pistol rules are then introduced and someone can be hit and damaged with a 9mm handgun 8-12 times and survive, a large number of the players who were FINE with the greatsword rules now feel the pistol rules are so “unrealistic” they don’t want to play them.

So, additional scrutiny and less suspension of disbelief is leveled as non-fantasy settings, leading to groups (rather than individuals) gaining mroe satisfaction from fantasy ttRPG properties.

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I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more gaming theories, (or Pathfinder 1st edition thoughts, or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

Gaming by Candlelight

Like most of the state of Oklahoma, I lost internet and power after a huge icestorm hammered the state at the beginning of this week. We had no connectivity for three days, and no power for two. (And many friends and family still don’t have power, and may not for days to come.)

Which is why I had no blog posts Mon, Tues, or Weds this week. I couldn’t even write them to post later. Normally when the power is out for days at a time I’d go cluster shoulder-to-shoulder with dozens of other people in an internet café or coffee house. But in time of pandemic? Absolutely not.

On our first night in the freezing dark, a friend who still had power came by to bring us batteries and food. And then… sit with us. In the darkness. And cold.

I mean, what else are four gamers going to do with no electricity and no place to go?

…

So, we played a four-hour 1-shot Pathfinder 1st edition game. By candlelight.

[image error] (Yep, public domain candles photo)

The GM kept is simple–humans only, core rulebook only, everyone gets a single +1 item of choices, and 50-point ability buy. (“50 points!!?” “Yeah, you-all are from a harsh place with few magic items and I am limiting options, so LOTS of ability points.”) The setting was similarly simple–a low-tech but sophisticated realm (“Nothing is made of metal, but your stone, bone and wood weapons are as good as metal.” “Your people’s main activity is gathering. It’s second is hunting. You are hunters.”) We began at 4th level.

It took us 30 minutes to make characters. On blank paper, by pencil, in candlelight. Being veteran players we did do SOME houserule customization. The GM said no one had armor, but we got a +2 armor bonus, with an additional +2 for each armor proficiency we got. I played a druid, who got to swap our prepared spells for healing rather than summoning spells (so I didn’t have to keep two books open to read by candlelight). We ended up with a greataxe barbarian, 2-weapon fighter, storm druid, and destined sorcerer.

It was a simple 3-encounter adventure. First, while hunting aurochs, we were attacked by a T-Rex. Then, we discovered our allies back at the hunting camp had been captured by serpent people. We had to track them down, which the GM handled as a 4e-style skill challenge. Then, we ambushed the serpent people and rescued our people.

We ended on a note that the serpent people where beginning to move out of the forbidden valley, and our people would need to find allies to oppose their expansionist assaults.

I played the druid (Tormuk Stormspeaker), and discovered I REALLY like the weather domain’s 1st level power — it does very little damage (and its nonlethal), but a foe hit takes -2 to attacks for 1 round (no save). That retains at least some utility well past the point of the damage being relevant. I had a really nice play experience, burning all but my last 2 buff spells in the first two encounters, and able to augment the barbarian and fighter before ambushing the serpent people, and becoming a wolverine to fight in hth.

I’m sure it helped that we were very specifically just passing time, and we knew if there were hiccups they were a result of it being a very casual, barely-planned session. And as a 1-shot, any weird issue could be shrugged off and never dealt with again. But we also had a LOT of fun… even if we had to point flashlights at the dice to see what we rolled.

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I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more gaming stories, (or Pathfinder 1st edition thoughts, or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

PF1 Essentials, Spell Redesign Goals (and Hold Person)

Obviously if I am doing a redesign of elements of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (and this Index suggests I might be…), one of the things I need to tackle is spells. It’s extremely easy for spellcasters to dominate spotlight time in a campaign, because they have a powerful, flexible toolset that can be applied to nearly any problem. “Fixing” that is a narrow line to walk, since it’s one of the things that appeals to people who love spellcasters, and it’s easy to go too far in the opposite direction, or make spellcasters and other classes so similar they lose their distinctive play experience.

Some of the fix can be done by looking at broader options for other classes. But some spells just need to be reconsidered. They may be overpowered, or underpowered, but most importantly, they may lead to less fun in play. So let’s talk about the most frustrating and swingy spell in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game– hold person.

If your target makes their saving throw, you accomplish nothing that round. Nothing at all. Sure, when a fighter swings his sword and misses he may accomplish nothing, but the fighter doesn’t have a daily limit on how often they can swing a sword. Plus, it’s much easier for a fighter to get multiple attacks per round than for a spellcaster to get multiple spells per round. Ignoring balance, it’s just not FUN when you burn a resource for an iconic spell and nothing-at-all happens.

On the flip side, if your target fails their saving throw, odds are they’re out of the fight. Yes, they could save on their next turn–but while paralyzed they are subject to sneak attacks and coup de grace, and at minimum they lose a full round of action. I’ve been watching hold person get used for 20 years, and 75% of the time if the target fails their save, their dead before they ever get to act again. This is particularly worrying since so much of PF1 encounter design assumes a group of multiple heroes face off against one monster. The action economy already favors the PCs, and if they take a full round of actions from the foe, it’s generally game over. Which, to be honest, is often less fun for everyone else, especially if the spellcaster refuses to risk encounters if they don’t have this spell available.

Rather than these two extreme factors being balanced, they create two different but equally extreme unbalances.

So we need a spell that always has some effect, sometimes has lots of effect, but rarely has an encounter-ending effect.

While we are at it, I foresee breaking spells into three categories — arcane, divine, and psychic, to match the three kinds of spellcaster. Spells will also be broken into common, uncommon, and rare. Classes get spells of a given school(s) and rarity. So a wizard might get common, uncommon, and rare arcane spells, while a witch gets common and uncommon arcane spells, and common psychic spells. We can add a few class-specific spells in each category, like oracle’s burden is an oracle-only spell on the cleric spell list in standard PF1. (This system has oodles of advantages over each class having its own lit, which I’ll discuss in another post).

[image error] (Art by Lunstream) (I assume this guy got held in that stupid pose)

Hold Person
School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level arcane 2 (common), divine 2 (common), psychic 2 (common)
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F/DF
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one humanoid creature
Duration 1 round/level (D); see text
Saving Throw Will partial; Spell Resistance yes

The subject is staggered. A target that makes its saving throw is staggered for just 1 round. A target that fails its saving throw by 5 or more is dazed for 1 round, then staggered for the spell’s duration. A target with a CR greater that double this spell’s spell level is never effected for more than 1 round. A target with a CR greater that double this spell’s spell level that makes its save by 5 or more is not affected at all.
A winged creature staggered by this spell must land, and must take 1 action to do so each round while flying.

Hold Person, Mass
School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level arcane 7 (rare), psychic 7 (uncommon)
Targets one or more humanoid creatures all within a 20-foot-radius

This spell functions like hold person, except as noted above.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

PF 1 Essentials, Fighter Class Preview

I’ve done a lot of work on my idea for a revised “PF1 Essentials” rewrite of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, going over a number of feats (which are now compiled here, along with my thoughts on them and a growing index of other articles). I thought it was time to show what i think a PF1 Essentials class might look like, so I did a rough preview of the FPF1 Essentials Fighter.

Obviously this is just a starting point, and I’ll need to integrate a lot of things into it (like how Fighters get to have multiple Stance feat stances going at once, which is likely an advanced combat training option). But as a preview of where I am taking this, i thought people might enjoy it.

[image error] (Art by Lunstream)



Essentials Fighter Class Preview

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 250 gp. In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skill: The fighter’s class skills are Animal Handling (Dex or Cha), Appraise (Int), Athletics (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).

(Animal handling now includes Handle Animal and Ride. Athletics now combines Climbing and Swim. Profession now includes Craft and Profession.)

Skill Ranks Per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Table 1: The Fighter



LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial1st+1+2+0+2Bonus feat, combat style2nd+2+3+0+3Bonus feat, combat training3rd+3+3+1+3Combat training4th+4+4+1+4Bonus feat5th+5+4+1+4Combat training6th+6/+1+5+2+5Bonus feat7th+7/+2+5+2+5Combat training8th+8/+3+6+2+6Bonus feat9th+9/+4+6+3+6Combat training, advanced combat training10th+10/+5+7+3+7Bonus feat11th+11/+6/+1+7+3+7Combat training12th+12/+7/+2+8+4+8Bonus feat13th+13/+8/+3+8+4+8Combat training14th+14/+9/+4+9+4+9Bonus feat15th+15/+10/+5+9+5+9Combat training16th+16/+11/+6/+1+10+5+10Bonus feat17th+17/+12/+7/+2+10+5+10Combat training18th+18/+13/+8/+3+11+6+11Bonus feat19th+19/+14/+9/+4+11+6+11Combat training20th+20/+15/+10/+5+12+6+12Bonus feat, combat mastery

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor.

Obviously the class has had major upgrades in Will saves and skill points. I’ve been working with the basic d20 fighter nonstop since 1999, and I believe these pure power boosts are warranted, and will help make the fighter the go-to class for players who want to be strong-jawed swordsmen and dashing heroes.

Bonus feats are largely unchanged.

At first level, you’ll gain a combat style. This will set one fighter apart from another at the very beginning, and some combat trainings will require a set style. A combat style might give you proficiency with medium and heavy armor, all shields (including tower shields), and give you a solid armor training/armor mastery path for your combat mastery. Or it might give you bonuses to AC when wearing no more than light armor and give you a panache option combat training path. Or give you an order, oath, light and heavy armor, and a mounted combat/cavalier order combat training path.

It might even give you some combat magic, for a bgeing-at-first-level version of the eldritch knight.

Nearly everything else fighters get has been rolled into “Combat training.” This will be a system much like rogue talents, but focused on different fighting options. Combat training will have all the armor training and weapon training options, and a lot of the things that built off those in Player Companions and archetypes.

At 9th level you’ll gain access to advanced combat training, which will have higher-level-appropriate options, and likely a way to pick up a “second fighting style” if desired.

This system can roll a ton of archetypes and even some base and hybrid classes into a single, flexible class that takes less room than all those options combined, but can actually create more different custom PC builds, all on the same game-balanced chassis.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

PF1 Essential Feats, Part 3: General Feats

Last Friday I tackled some “1st Edition Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Essentials Feat,” a theoretical project to revise all the feats for PF1, cutting down the total number of feats by 80% or so, while maintaining as many character concepts as possible. I also hope to do some rebalancing so feats are all meaningful choices, and possible even tackle class balance issues

I’ve been focusing on Stance Feats, especially the Power Attack stance feats. Today, I decided to work on a many general feats I think can be condensed down to just a few options.

[image error] (Art by Lunstream)

DIFFICULTY FOCUS
You have improved how difficult it is for foes to resist one specific ability of yours.
Prerequisites: Spell, special attack, or class feature that has a save DC.
Benefit: Choose one of the creature’s special attacks, or class features, or one school of magic. Add +2 to the DC for all saving throws against the special attack, class feature, or spells and spell-like abilities from the school of magic on which the creature focuses.
Special: A creature can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time the creature takes the feat, it applies to a different school of magic, special attack, or class feature.

NIMBLE MOVES
You can move across a difficult terrain with ease.
Prerequisites: Dex 13.
Benefit: Whenever you move, you may move through a number of 5-foot squares of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain. The number of squares you can move through each round is equal to your Dexterity bonus. This feat allows you to take a 5-foot step into difficult terrain.

SKILL FOCUS
Choose a skill. You are particularly adept at that skill.
Benefit: You get a +3 bonus on all checks involving the chosen skill. If you have 10 or more ranks in that skill, this bonus increases to +6.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new skill.

SKILL SYNERGY
You understand how two skills work well together.
Benefit: Choose two skills. These skills become class skills for you. If one or both were already class skills, you gain a +2 bonus to those skill checks instead. If you have 10 or more ranks in one or both of these skills, you gain an additional +2 bonus to skill checks with those skills.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Its effects don’t stack. Each time you take it, it applies to two different skills.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!

PF1 Essential Feats, at 2: Power Attack Stance Feats

Last Friday I tackled some “1st Edition Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Essentials Feat,” a theoretical project to revise all the feats for PF1, cutting down the total number of feats by 80% or so, while maintaining as many character concepts as possible. I also hope to do some rebalancing so feats are all meaningful choices, and possible even tackle class balance issues

One of the things I presented were Stance Feats, and I then rewrote Power Attack to be a prime example of such feats. Today, I am presenting what I see as the key Power Attack Stance feats, compiled, revised, and revisiting dozens of PF1 feats to compile into just 9 total feats. (You can follow the link above to Friday’s post to see how I set up Stance Feats and Power Attack.)

It’s worth noting that, at least at the moment, I don’t plan to make the Improved Combat Maneuver feats Power Attack Stance feats, and may not even keep Power Attack as prerequisites for them. That may change once I get deeper into this project, but for now I’m not including them here.

I also suspect one of the things the fighter class is going to get is a way to have multiple stances active at once. But I’ll figure out how and at what levels to do that after I have more feat stance chains built.

[image error] (Art by Lunstream)



Power Attack Stance Feats

POWERFUL ASSAULT (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
You can focus on inflicting inflict bloody wounds that are slow to heal.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance and you damage a foe with a melee attack you inflict 1d4 points of bleed damage, in addition to the normal damage dealt by the weapon. A creature continues to take bleed damage every round at the start of its turn. Bleed damage can be stopped by a Heal check (DC 10 + your base attack bonus) or through any magical healing. Bleed damage from this feat does not stack with itself.
If your base attack bonus is +11 or higher, when you are in Power Attack stance, you may instead choose on melee attack you make each round to attempt to daze your target. This choice must be made before your attack roll. If the attack hits, in addition to the normal damage dealt by the attack that target must make a successful Fortitude save (DC of this save is 10 + your base attack bonus) or be dazed for 1 round. Subsequent attacks in the same round also have a chance to daze targets, but each subsequent melee attack you make in the same round reduces this DC by 5. If the DC drops to 10 or less, there is no change to daze targets.
You cannot use this feat to both cause bleed damage and have a chance to daze targets.

HARDER THEY FALL (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
You can work with an ally to move or knock over a foe that’s too large for either of you to overcome alone.
Prerequisites: Str 15, Power Attack.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance, if the first melee attack you make in your turn successfully hits and damages a foe, your allies gain a +2 bonus to combat maneuver bonus checks against that target until the beginning of your next turn. Additionally, until your next turn allies can attempt to bull rush, drag, overrun, reposition, or trip that target even if it is two size categories larger than them.
Normal: Those combat maneuvers can normally only be attempted against creatures no more than one size category larger than you.

INTIMIDATING SMASH (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
Your terrible attacks strike fear into your enemies.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, Intimidate 1 rank, base attack b9nus +1.
Benefit: You may add your Strength modifier, rather than Charisma modifier, to Intimidate checks.
When you are in Power Attack stance, the first time in your turn you damage an opponent with a melee, you may make an immediate Intimidate check as a free action to attempt to demoralize your opponent.
Additionally when in Power Attack stance, the first time each combat you drop a foe to 0 or fewer Hit Points, you may make an immediate Intimidate check as a free action to attempt to demoralize all opponent within 60 feet.
Alternatively, if you attempt to demoralize a foe within your reach as a standard action and succeed, you may choose to immediately enter Power Attack stance (ending any other stance you are in) and make a single melee attack against them as a swift action. You cannot then attempt to use this feat to demoralize them again on that attack.

ONSLAUGHT (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
No one is prepared for how hard you strike until they see it firsthand.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, sneak attack class feature.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance, you can add your sneak attack damage to the first melee attack you make in each combat, even if the target is not flanked or denied their Dex bonus to AC.

PILE ON (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
You can keep a foe shuddering in fear.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Intimidating Smash, Power Attack, Intimidate 6 ranks.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance, once per round when you damage a creature that is shaken, frightened, or panicked, you can choose to deal half your normal damage in order to extend the duration of its fear condition by 1 round.

PUSHING ASSAULT (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
You can use attacks with two-handed weapons to drive your foes before you.
Prerequisites: Str 15, Power Attack, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance, once per round when you make a melee attack that damage sa creature that is no more than one size category larger than you, you can choose to push the target 5 feet directly away from you. Alternative, you can choose to do half damage to push the target 10 feet directly away from you. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunities, and the target must end this move in a safe space it can stand in. You choose which effect to apply after the attack roll has been made, but before the damage is rolled.

SET WEAPON (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
You can set your weapons to deal extra damage against moving foes.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance, all weapons you wield with the reach special weapon feature are also treated as if they had the brace weapon special feature. Additionally, if you are using a weapon that normally has the brace special weapon feature, if you successfully hit a target an an attack of opportunity the target provoked from movement, you deal double damage.

SHIELD OF SWINGS (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
A wild frenzy of attacks serves to bolster your defenses.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance and make a melee attack, you can choose for all your attacks to do half damage in order to gain a +4 shield bonus to AC and CMD until the beginning of your next turn. The reduction in damage applies until the beginning of your next turn.

SMASH (Combat, Power Attack Stance)
You overcome obstacles by breaking them.
Prerequisites: Power Attack.
Benefit: When you are in Power Attack stance, your melee attacks ignore 5 points of hardness. This has no effect on DR. You also receive a +5 bonus on Strength checks made to knock down or break open doors.

Patreon
I have a Patreon. It supports the time I take to do all my blog posts. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!