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Pathfinder RPG: Skills and Feats

Skills in Pathfinder are one of the systems that undergo the least amount of change in their new edition. The big exceptions are the additions of Acrobatics, Fly, Linguistics and Perception. (4E combines Climb and Swim into Athletics, which I like)

Acrobatics
Pathfinder combines Jump and Tumble into Acrobatics, basically much as 4E does. This is just some good consolidation of similar skills. You can still tumble around, or through, opponents' squares with an Acrobatics roll, but instead of a set DC, the DC is based on your opponent's Combat Maneuver Defense - something I'll explain later when I delve into system changes.

Fly
Fly is a new skill which is interesting. It sort of makes sense, given the many ways a character might be flying in D20. Basically, you make skill checks to do things like hover or make turns when flying in tactical combat. Fly checks are modified by a creature's maneuverability score, as one would expect.

Linguistics
This is the skill that combines Decipher Script as well as speaking multiple languages. For each rank putinto this skill, your character speaks another language. This will result in characters easily speaking a LOT of languages - as I recall, this is similar to 3.0, where I think one skill rank bought you fluency in a language.

Perception
Perception is just a combination of Listen, Search and Spot, which is a good way to simplify (which 4E also uses).

Next, we turn to Feats.

When I read the Feats section of the Pathfinder RPG, I was surprised at how many there were. There are four full pages of Feats listed in a table much like you found in 3.5 (though it was half as long). Some are genuinely new, whereas others are taken from supplements. A large number of Feats are expansions of combat Feats you're probably already familiar with. First I'll mention a few Feats that are expanded upon (that is, longer chains attached to them), and then I'll pick out a couple interesting individual Feats.

Combat Expertise has 7 Feats it is a prerequisite for, where Critical Focus (distinct from Improved Critical) has 9 in its chain. Dodge has Wind Stance and Lightening Stance as well Mobility and Spring Attack; Improved Unarmed Strike has a total of 8 Feats attached to it. There are also more missile feats, more rooted in Power Attack, and Weapon Focus has 9 in it's 'chain'. (This is good news, considering characters will have a lot more Feats than in 3.5, getting one at every odd-numbered level - giving Fighters a Feat per level, for example).

Arcane Armor Training
There are two Arcane Armor Training Feats, and each reduces your Arcane spell failure chance due to wearing armor. I've always liked this idea, not necessarily buying that arcane spellcasters have any logical reason to be "clothies" other than long-standing convention.

Deadly Aim
This Feat is like Power Attack, but for ranged attacks, which is a cool idea.

Intimidating Prowess
This Feat is a house rule of mine - you add Str to Intimidate checks rather than Cha. This has always made sense to me, since being huge is in itself intimidating, regardless of what your social skills look like.

Vital Strike
This Feat is kind of exciting if you want to just deal out damage. This Feat lets you double your weapon damage dice on a single attack...every time. If you have multiple attacks, then the one at your highest attack bonus doubles it's dice. So that longsword now deals 2d8 if you hit with your best attack, and so on. And yes, you can build on the Feat from there, dealing 3x and even 4x dice in damage with your highest attack.

There are a lot of other exciting Feats in the Pathfinder RPG, but I don't want to go into all of them. Suffice to say, you'll still have hard decisions to make when choosing Feats as you level, and looking through, there are enough Feats to take away the 'obvious' Feat decisions from 3.5's core PHB. This means more versatility and more interesting specialization. I can see multiple Fighter builds, for example, that would be very different from each other, and that in itself is cool.

Pathfinder RPG: Races and Classes

Let's get right down to business, shall we?

In Pathfinder, attributes are no different from 3.x, but races have been beefed up. Pathfinder, in general, makes characters stronger at level 1 - something Paizo and WotC agree on, apparently.

Dwarves
Dwarves have all the usual weird AC and attack bonuses against giants and goblinoids and so on, as well as their usual Stability ability. The main difference compared to 3.x is that Dwarves get a +2 to Constitution and Wisdom to go with their -2 to Charisma. Their fluff is what it always is - gruff blah blah blah honorable blah blah blah stone and metal, etc.

Elves
D&D's metrosexuals get +2 to both Dexterity and Intelligence to balance their -2 to Constitution. Otherwise, they are generally unchanged in fluff and so on.

Gnomes
Based on their artwork in the book, Gnomes seem to be the sort of zany trickster' race (whereas Halflings tend to be creepy and childlike). Gnomes get a +2 to Constitution and Charisma and the usual -2 to Strength. One additional ability is Obsessive, which gives them a +2 to a Craft and a Profession of their choice. Their fluff is what you'd expect.

Half-Elves
The other metrosexual race gets a straight +2 to an ability of their choice. They also receive the Skill Focus Feat for free at 1st level. Lastly, Half-Elves choose 2 favored classes, and they get the +1 HP per level or +1 skill rank per level bonus when they take levels in those two classes (and that's how favored classes function - you get one of those two bonuses).

Half-Orcs
Oddly, Half-Orces also get a +2 to an ability of their choice - even though all of their fluff implies a lack of Charisma and their art implies a whole lot of Strength and Constitution. Otherwise, they are Intimidating (they get +2 to Intimidate), and they have Orc Ferocity, which lets them fight on at exactly 0 hit points for one round before they are knocked unconscious.

All in all, I think that Half-Orcs get the short end of the stick...as usual.

Halflings
The wee ones are still wee - not the enlarged 4E versions. They get a +2 to Dexterity and a +2 to Charisma and the usual -2 to Strength. They also get the bonuses they did in 3.5, so nothing big that's new here. Halfling fluff has them as scavengers at the fringes of society when they settle down, or nomadic wanderers otherwise.

Humans
Like both half-races, Humans get a +2 in any ability, and their usual extra Feat and Skill rank.

Now, to the classes...

In listening to a lot of interviews with the Paizo guys and reading what they're writing about their work, they had a goal for each class that every level would give you something more than the basic extra HD and so on. Everyone gets candy at every level. You also get a Feat every two levels - but in addition to the Feat, there is still candy.

Oh, good to note - as we get into caster descriptions, all casters (Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers and Wizards) have 0-level spells that they can cast all day long. This is cool, but I don't want to repeat it :)

Barbarian
The candy that the Barbarian gets is the ability to add effects to her Rage ability, like Animal Fury or Guarded Stance or No Escape (what are these? Buy the book! :). These powers just stack up, so at some point when you Rage, you become a crazy killing-machine. Otherwise, the Barbarian is very recognizeable from 3.5.

Bard
Bardic Knowledge is expanded a bit to make it more versatile, and the end result is that the Bard is the master of Knowledge skills, whether she has ranks in them or not. Bardic Music is also expanded in power and versatility, and the Bard retains her spells. The Bard is one of the classes to get a bump in hit dice, so each level you roll a d8 instead of a d6. As they level, Bards also become masters of using skills untrained, and at level 20, a Bard can kill with her musical performance. Nice.

Cleric
The biggest thing about the Cleric, for me, is the loss of Turn Undead (though it rears its ugly head as a Feat...). Instead, you just channel positive or negative enrgy - if you read the playtest pdf, then you're already familiar with this, as well as the fact that Clerics can use medium armor but not heavy. Another cool change is with Domains - not only do you get the bonus Domain spells, you also get one of two Domain abilities for each of your Domains - and these are cool, colorful, and useful.

Druid
Clerics have Nature's Bond, which gives one option as having an animal companion. The other option is to have a Cleric Domain: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water or Weather, including the bonus spell and powers associated with it. Otherwise, actually, Druids haven't changed much from 3.5.

Fighter
Fighters get an overhaul and a straight infusion of awesome. They still have bonus Feats as in 3.5, but they also get a Bravery bonus to Will saves against Fear (something I've always wanted). They also get Armor Training, which reduces the penalties for heavy armor, as well as Weapon Training, which gives stacking +1 bonuses to categories of weapons so that at 20th level, a Fighter can use one category of weapon and get a +4 to hit and damage, as well as confirming every critical hit automatically.

Monk
Monks are also very much the same, except they have a ki pool, a pool of points that the Monk can spend to make extra attacks, go faster for a round or dodge for effectively.

Paladin
The main difference with Paladins is that their Lay on Hands gets augmented significantly. Now, when a Paladin uses her Lay on Hands, she also has an ability called a Mercy that takes effect. What the Mercy does is it removes one or more conditions from the recipient of the LoH. A Paladin also has overlapping Auras, each granting her immunity to some kind of supernatural effect and granting her nearby allies a bonus to defend against it.

Ranger
The Ranger gets bumped back up to d10 hit dice, and on top of the Favored Enemes, the Ranger also gets Favored Terrains. The Ranger also has a new Quarry ability, which is a lot like marking abilities from 4E or MMORPGs, meaning the Ranger chooses one target and murders it.

Rogue
Rogues have talents now that at every even level, alternating with Sneak Attack. Talents include crippling and bleed effects, as well as defensive abilities, some culled from 3.5 supplements and some originals like Dispelling Attack.

Sorcerers
Sorcerer bloodlines are expanded upon, and add a lot of coolness to the class. The Sorcerer is assumed to have her abilities because of her ancestry - she has some kind of supernatural blood flowing through her veins, including undead, demonic, draconic or fey. This bloodline gives her specific bonus spells and a few abilities as she goes up in level which are in line with the bloodline.

Wizard
Wizards now get special abilities when they specialize in a particular school, including some kind of at-will basic attack ability which is a nice bonus for the Wizard, particularly at lower levels when you blow those couple Magic Missiles and then twiddle your thumbs in previous editions.

Basically, every class is improved and made more interesting, as well as more powerful. I can only assume the RPG Bestiary will make all these new powers necessary. Pitting these new classes against 'classic' MM critters just seems unfair...

Next up, Skills and Feats

Pathfinder RPG: First Impressions

At 575 pages, this book is a heavyweight in the RPG world. Not quite Ptolus heavy, but a runner-up, up there with Hero, and potentially just as able to stop a bullet.

From the get-go, it's worth noting that Paizo's Pathfinder RPG is D&D 3.5 with some changes. If you didn't like 3.x, you won't like Pathfinder. If you liked 3.x, then Pathfinder is better in pretty much every way.

Layout and design for the book is pleasing but also simple. There's probably art on every 3rd-4th page, and it is the beautiful, evocative artwork that I associate with Pathfinder.

The chapters are as follows:
Getting Started
Races
Classes
Skills
Feats
Equipment
Additional Rules
Combat
Magic
Spells
Prestige Classes
Gamemastering
Environment
Creating NPCs
Magic Items
Followed by Appendices 1-4

As you can see, this book covers the territory of the original PHb and DMG together, making the price-tag ($50) actually pretty reasonable.

Next, I'll be delving into this heavy tome, focusing on races and classes, then feats and skills, followed by combat and prestige classes, then magic and magic items, and finally some closing thoughts. So an Pathfinder-stravaganza. Before you bother to read all of that, though, I want to reiterate - if you like 3.x D&D, get this game. You will like this better, and I have a feeling that Paizo will stick with this for a long time yet before they try any Pathfinder 2.0 crap :)

How I Made D&D Cooler Part 2: Characters

Here's an example of a character sheet I sketched out for one of the characters in my D&D game:
[Stolen Image from the Internet]

“Cornelius Finch” Lvl 5 Human Huckster of Evil

Str 12 Con 9 Dex 13 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 17
HP 22 [ ] , Bloodied 10, +1 Leather 2, Initiative +4
Surges 7, Healing 4
Melee +4, Missile +6,
Fortitude 12, Reflex 17, Will 18
Feats: Smooth Talker, Dodge
Special: Extra Skill, Extra Feat

At-Will: MW Throwing Knives +6 (1d4+5) or +4 (1d4+5), Bluff +10, Diplomacy +10, History +7, Insight +6, Sailing +8, Stealth +6, Thievery +6, Default +3, Bardic Inspiration (+1 to rolls and damage), Helpful Anecdote +2

*Encounter: Entrancement +8

**Utility: Suggestion +8

***Daily: Charm +8, Lesser Geas +8

Pretty simple; I'll go through it bit by bit. A lot of this is being familiar with the D20 system and working things out organically. As I said before, this isn't a new system or anything, just a way to play D&D without having fifteen books at the table or having drawn-out rules arguments - basically, beginner-friendly with some Doug-ish twists.

“Cornelius Finch” Lvl 5 Human Huckster of Evil
The class is Huckster of Evil based on the players' description of his character concept, which most resembled a fast-talking, capitalistic Bard. Levels work the same as usual - his level is his number of "hit dice" and is also added to d20 rolls and defenses as it is in 4th Edition.

As you can see, I kept the usual clunky ability scores, where you subtract 10 and then divide by 2 for the actual bonus. This is just a D&D convention that people are used to.

+1 Leather 2
Armor in this version simply provides DR/-, or damage resistance against everything physical. In this case, I divided the listed AC bonus for leather armor by 2 and that was the DR for the armor. Because it is +1 magical armor, I add 1 to that number, for a total of 2. Easy.

Surges 7, Healing 4
Surges, as I said, are a player resource to boost particular actions their characters attempt. They are like a more versatile version of the action points from Unearthed Arcana and the like. The "healing" rating is a flat number that represents the character's rate of recovery from Hit Point loss. I get the number by taking their level and adding their Con bonus - in this case, Cornelius' Con has a -1 penalty because it is a 9. So when he rests for a full night, he gets 4HP back. When someone casts Cure Ligh Wounds on him, he gets a base of 4HP back. When he spends a Surge to have a second wind, he recovers 4HP - you get the idea.

Melee +4, Missile +6
Every character has a base melee and missile attack score, just for ease of reference. In this case, the Bard is trained in either melee or missile, and Cornelius is trained in missile. That means that his melee bonus is equal to 1/2 level + Str mod + Feats, etc. and his missile bonus is level + Dex mod + Feats, etc. He has no combat feats, so the math is simple.

Fortitude 12, Reflex 17, Will 18
In keeping with D20, the Bard has trained Reflex and Will and untrained Fortitude defense. I also used the 4E convention where Fortitude can be modified by either Strength or Constitution, Reflex either Dexterity or Intelligence, and Will either Wisdom or Charisma - that's a cool little rule. So, Cornelius' Fortitude defense is 10 + 1/2 level + Str OR Con mod + Feats etc. and his Will defense is 10 + level + Wis or Cha mod + Feats, etc.

At-Will
For at-will abilities, I include basic attacks, basic (first-tier) Feats, and skills. These are all the things you can do in-game, basically, that will have some set effect on the fiction and that you don't have to pay Surges for.

Encounter
Encounter powers cost 1 Surge to use, and in this case, Entrancement works like an attack against Will defense much as it functions in the 3.5 PHb - you can use it to distract people with your performance. The difference, to make this potentially useable in combat, is that you can use it against targets even if they are threatened. They take a -2 penalty to their first action after the entrancement is broken by taking damage or a bigger distraction elsewhere.

All of the rules for these powers are made up and discussed with the player in question. I take what is in the official books as a starting point and then simplify and streamline what I find.

Utility
Cornelius' Utility power is Suggestion, and costs 2 Surges to use, like any Utility power in this system. This is also similar to the 3.5 PHb, and can have you "suggest" anything short of suicide.

Daily
Cornelius, at level 5, has 2 Daily powers, each of which cost 3 Surges to use. The first he's always had - Charm is basically Charm Person - the target becomes your best friend for a scene. The second is the new one - Lesser Geas. The player specifically requested an ability to create magically-enforced contracts to function in his scam-artistry. Again, much like what is in the books.

The way I work out how many Encounter, Utility and Daily powers a character has is pretty simple, and I use 4E as a starting-point.

1st Level: 1 Encounter and 1 Daily (and technically, here, if you use the Daily, you won't have enough Surges to also use the Encounter unless you earn one...)
2nd Level: 1 Encounter, 1 Utility and 1 Daily (and again, you have to choose, since you only have 4 Surges to start a session)
3rd Level: Move one power down on the list and replace it with another - usually move an Encounter power down to At-Will and add a new Encounter power
4th Level: 2 Encounter powers, 1 Utility and 1 Daily
5th Level: 2 Encounter powers, 1 Utility and 2 Daily
6th Level: the character automatically gets a "Prestige Class", and gets the new abilities from that class

And so on...I haven't gone past level 6, but you hopefully get the idea.

In playtesting so far, this sytem has led to much faster-paced D&D games with a lot more happening. I also really enjoy having social powers, particularly in Cornelius' case, so that a player-character can kick ass between fight scenes. Who enjoys being schooled by the local magic item salesmen at level 10? If one character can kill dragons, another should at least be able to win arguments...

Pathfinder RPG

Just picked up the Pathfinder RPG. At least one review will be forthcoming...