Pathfinder

The "Dirty Tricks" book is also in the humble bundle.

Yeah, I just read it hence why I learned few tricks used in Rappan Athuk without reading whole thing through

I don't really like the mindset of "crafting more skilled players who craft more skilled gms in cycle" though since it sounds like gm vs players mindset. I do like idea of trolling players occasionally and the book does point out that none of the tricks should be used often, but you can definitely see that writer is old school gm gming for old school grognards. Since apparently his parties would just kill all attractive innocent seeming women assuming they are vampires/succubis/something, which is something only old school grognards do in my experience.

edited 17th Nov '16 12:08:58 PM by SpookyMask

But yeah, Rappan Athuk is apparently originally first edition mega dungeon and it really shows .-.

I mean, my D&D 5ed gm grumbles about how in the old days single big bad monster just killed the whole party while these days they lose in action economy and die easily I can see where he is coming from if this sort of stuff was "standard" back then (that being said, the "impossible" encounter isn't actually singe big bad monster, even though it alone it is already insanely powerful, it has tons mooks as meat shields plus few elite mooks to soften the pcs)

So, I'm G Ming a pathfinder campaign in a sci-fantasy space opera setting I made. One of my players is wanting to make a Jedi-like character who uses swords instead of guns. I'm trying to think of how to make that balanced. An SMG has a range of 40 feet and does 1d12 damage. I could try to make a space sword to compete with that. What sort of damage do you think it should do?

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

Well, iirc, quite a few conversions have a Lightsaber be a Brilliant Energy sword. So why not make it go against Touch AC instead of normal AC.

As for damage.... I'd say have it do 1d8+Strength/Dexterity. No idea what the crit range would be. Also give it the ability to sunder limbs.

Ok. Here's another question: I want the elves in my setting to be Wutai-themed. However, I heard that elves didn't make for good samurai, however. I'm trying to think if I could make some sort of house rule that'd make them into good samurai. Any ideas? I'm leaning towards something like "elf samurais get a bonus to constitution" or something.

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

So you want to have your Elves be Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Feudal Japan then? Well.... I see no reason why they couldn't be the wutai group. If you're going with the basic elves, they'd actually make great samurai. Especially because they have a bonus to Dexterity, as samurai were more archers than swordsmen. Also this would be the Samurai Archetype for Samurai elves.

That being said, Elves with their natural prediliction towards the Chaotic alignments would make less sense to being a Bushido-code based society. Dwarves on the other hand...
Note: If your setting does Elves and Dwarves alignment preferences differently, this comment is irrelevant.

edited 20th Nov '16 10:17:54 PM by BlackSunNocturne

Dwarves in this setting are Vikings.

Ok, then I think I'll go with that, then :)

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

Important distinction:

Surprisingly cleanly and egalitarian but strictly gendered vikings, or rape and pillage vikings?

Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.

The former.

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

Speaking of player races, I've got a question: Who else has worked on a homebrew setting and fleshed out each race's culture for their world more?

Like... While my orcs are pretty standard, I decided to play up the "barbarian" aspect, which ironically made them end up coming closer to Celts.

Though, I actually have to sit down and work on each race's culture, as there's a lot of them^note Humans (and their ethnicities), Dwarves, Elves (Drow and Dark/High/Desert/Frost/Jungle and Wood), Orcs (and all Half-orcs), Lizardfolk, Ratfolk, Tieflings, Aasamir, Halflings and Gnomes are 100% "core", and I may add more

edited 30th Nov '16 9:48:00 AM by BlackSunNocturne

I have. While I didn't monkey with the base stat block for any of them, I did sit there and created drastically different sociopolitical climates for them. The one I enjoyed the most was that I made humans mildly antagonistic towards gnomes and mildly favoring kobolds - in the world in question, the gnome and the kobold nations have been fighting over resources for centuries, and they both had a bad habit of press-ganging anyone they could get a hold of for their war efforts - particularly humans on the other side of that border. The kobolds figured out first that they could play politics to gain the upper hand (they are generally more lawful than gnomes, after all), so they stopped such tactics first and used ambassadors to paint it as a primarily gnomish tactic. Said war between kobolds and gnomes was a cold one for about 50-100 years, so humans have mostly mellowed out, but are still mildly distrustful of gnomes.

Oh, and I did away with any Elves vs. Dwarves posturing. For one, their nations didn't border at all. For another, the elven nation was extremely void of mineral resources, while the dwarven nation had almost no farmable land. The two quickly and easily realized that mutual trade was in their best interest, so in general dwarves and elves like each other. Sure, they don't really know each other very well, but since they generally deal fairly with each other, each side figures that's all they actually need to know.

Also, known only to a couple of high nobles from each nation, the dwarven nation actually is the home of a world blight that has to be kept in check by all the divine powers - and the dwarves willingly chose their land for it. Some of the elven rules were around for it, and they feel like they owe a life debt to the dwarves (who just volunteered because the area in question was a resourceless desert anyway), so they tend to give favorable terms to them.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Does Pathfinder setting generic material even have dwarf vs elf conflict? I don't think Golarion has it, but I can't remember whether Pathfinder material has it besides maybe one racial trait?

Golarion's Elves Versus Dwarves isn't that they hate each other, but more because Dwarves are Lawful and Elves are Chaotic, so they don't usually see eye to eye. And the Iconic Rogue, Merisiel Sillvari, according to the "Ask Merisiel" thread, she finds Lem's jokes about dwarves hilarious.

• Elves vs. Dwarves: Consciously averted. Elves actually are really good neighbors with Dwarfs in this setting due to both being fairly isolationist. According to one sourcebook this is because "good fences make good neighbors". Lead designer James Jacobs explained that it's because Elves vs. Dwarves is a prominent trope in Forgotten Realms, and Paizo wanted to avoid comparisons between the two settings.
  • Apparently played straight as of the Advanced Race Guide, which includes character options for both elves and dwarves which divide up their favored enemy bonuses between the standard orcs...and each other, thanks to the usual ancient grudge.

That last part.... so you have the Dwarves from Dragon Age?

edited 1st Dec '16 9:54:48 AM by BlackSunNocturne

Yeah, Golarion does away with active antagonism, but the homebrew world in question was first designed back in the 3.0 days (not even 3.5!), so it was way more radical of a design choice when I first started it. Also, by the time I converted everything to Pathfinder, I hadn't yet read any Golarion-specific material, so I hadn't known that Paizo also did away with it.

As for Dragon Age - I don't know; I haven't played it. I have no idea if their idea of a world wound is similar to what I came up with. Though I won't take credit for any variety of originality - my world wound was caused by the gods deliberately imprisoning and very slowly destroying a deity-level world-destroyer. It's got clear analogues to several other tabletop sources, including Rovagug (who I didn't know about at the time) and Tharzidun (who I did know about, and I freely admit to swiping ideas from). The main difference is that the imprisoned power in my setting was such a problem for the others that it wasn't just the Asmodeus analogue that agreed to help the good gods - even the Chaotic Evil gods of undeath and slaughter were on board, even if only for self-preservation reasons. And that, I cribbed from various 2e sources that talked about the good powers interfering with the Blood War - it was my attempt at asking "what could be so bad as to make a temporary halt to the Blood War?".

In terms of video game sources, it also has some analogue to areas scarred by Sin in Final Fantasy X, except more long-term.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

To explain what I meant by Dragon Age: In it, the Dwarves are the first line of defense from the endless hordes of the Darkspawn which inhabit the Deep Roads. To quote the character page:

The Darkspawn are the standard "monsters in the shadows," darkspawn are the boogeymen of Thedas. The darkspawn's entire purpose of existence is to repeatedly attempt to wipe out all life in the world, spreading a virulent, ecology-destroying plague called the taint in the process. Normally mindless and disorganized, the darkspawn live in the Deep Roads beneath the earth, unseen and rarely thought of (except for the dwarves, who have to live with them). At least until they find one of the Old Gods. When that happens, they infect it with the taint, making into a Archdemon which organizes the hordes and drives them to the surface, attacking and destroying everything in their path. Such events are known as Blights, and can take decades to defeat, and always with staggering cost. The Grey Wardens were formed specifically to combat and keep an eye on the darkspawn.

TL;DR: Darkspawn are Tolkien Orcs combined with The Corruption, come from underground and the Dwarves are the only ones somewhat keeping them back.

Though this reminds me: I've yet to really sit down and work on my world's cosmology. The only big stuff I had is the Heaven War, ie: The schism that created the Devils, lead by Asmodeus whom later died and his Dragon, Astaroth^note I may change him to a different Goetic demon, became the Dragon Ascendant and leader of Hell

edited 1st Dec '16 12:12:22 PM by BlackSunNocturne

I love what the Dragon Age setting does with the races. It doesn't completely break away from the stereotypes, but makes them feel more real than most fantasy settings. For example, Dragon Age Orcs (because come on, the Qunari are the orcs of the setting) are aware of their violent tendencies and they developed a hyper Lawful Neutral society because it was the only way to keep themselves in check. Which makes them infinitely more dangerous than typical orc barbarians.

Played with Elves vs Dwarves

There are four primary breeds of Dwarves and three of Elves. The Sea Dwarves have very little history with Elves and have their own thing going on.

Dark, Wood and High Elves had each their own empire back in the day, each own bartered and curried the favor of the major dwarven clans of each breed, Mountain, Forest and Flame respectively.

The Dark and High Elf empires suffered from a more sudden and violent collapse. The Dark Elves blame the Mountain Dwarves for reneging on their alliance for this, while the Flame Dwarves claim the High Elves stabbed them in the back in a vain attempt to hold on to their fast fading glory. Ancient emnities that persisted through the generations were set-up then.

The Wood Elf empire, always more of vestigial attachment to the other two empires, more slowly dwindled away than anything else. The power of the Forest Dwarves had from their alliance suffered accordingly, but the period of recline is seen by both side as them weathering the storm together. They are actually fast and remaining friends.

I had to really overhaul orcs, because the standard fantasy orc really shouldn't get much traction in the face of organized nation states.

In mine, while they do somewhat trend chaotic, it isn't nearly to the extent usually portrayed in various fantasy settings - their nation is under constant upheaval between various orc and human factions (and in the "present" time, currently ruled by a half-orc prince), but the families are usually much more cloak-and-dagger rather than outright civil warfare (which, hilariously enough, most recently happened in the dwarven kingdom, with a splinter of duergar-like dwarves attempting and failing at a coup). Though because of this, they typically don't strike outside of their kingdom - they don't consolidate their power enough to give them time to focus attention outward. The fact that they border elven lands does make the traditional "elves vs. orcs" rivalry still quite active (elves do still patrol their borders on fear that some orcish prince will eventually consolidate power), though it's much more muted in the case of "orcs vs. dwarves" (the latter are distrustful due to how orcs treat elves in general, but they typically go on a case-by-case basis rather than blanket prejudice).

Also, technically, the various divisions of elves do exist, but those are mostly as guilds. There is a group of elves that are recognized as "wood elves," but those are just the elves that specialize in agriculture, dealings with fae, and wood wardens. Two "wood elves" could have a child that goes off to join the academic caste (the "grey elves") without anyone batting an eye.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Very interesting. Kind of makes me think of how the Orcs in my setting are.

As I've mentioned before, they're kind of like Warcraft orcs mixed with Warhammer orcs, but with a more Celtic-inspired culture. They're a Proud Warrior Race and not primitives as some people think, orcish technology is dependent on their environment. If the environment is barren and resource-less, they tend towards the stereotypical "orcs are savage brutes" in terms of tech-level, otherwise they tend to match whoever their neighbors are^{An example} In my setting, while Dwarves first invented gunpowder as a mining tool, the orcs were the ones to invent guns. Mainly this was because, of all weapons, guns seem very orcish.. They tend towards Chaotic alignments, but their honor-based society keeps them from devolving into the stereotypical Always Chaotic Evil orc mindset that I keep seeing pop up.

I haven't thought much regarding Elven, Dwarven and Orcish relations with each other, much aside from their grudges is due to some weird shenanigans happening waaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the past^note so far that even the oldest dragons have no idea wtf happened. Each group says the other two betrayed them. While they don't outright hate each other, they're still very leery of each other.

Also side note: Does anyone else think Paizo had a misprint they never caught with the Tetsubo (it's a Kanabo damn it!) being an Exotic Weapon.... despite not having anything going for it? Like.... it's a fucking metal baseball bat. If they wanted to justify it being Exotic, make it do more damage and give it a bonus to sunder attempts. As is, it's just a greatclub with a x4 crit.

Speaking of Time Abyss, I went ahead and modified how aging works, especially to avert Our Dwarves Are All the Same.

Aging: Most everyone will use Human aging, unless otherwise noted. Those with PC classes are filled with invigorating powers and are something more than humanoid, and will use the Halfling aging.

Elven Aging: Elves begin life seeming to age as humans do. At some random point, they will stop aging. They generally do so between 25 and 30, dropping like a bell curve at younger and older ages. When they do, they instinctively know it, as well as the fact that they have exactly 100 more years to live before they just drop dead.

Dwarven aging: Mind and body becomes reinforced with their subrace's element as they age, gaining cumulative bonuses and penalties to differents stats than other races, mostly good for their body but hindering their minds. Upon timely "death", their minds are snuffed out but their bodies continue on as appropriate elementals.

- Mountain: +Str, Con, Wis. -Int, Cha, Dex. (Earth)

- Sea: +Con, Dex, Int. -Wis, Cha, Str. (Water)

- Forest: +Str, Dex, Wis. -Int, Cha, Con. (Air)

- Flame: +Str, Con, Cha. -Int, Wis, Dex. (Fire)

Orc aging: Orcs, who's lifeforces burn so fiercely and quickly and always so close to death. They start at the Half-Orc aging table, with P Cs moving up to Human.

edited 2nd Dec '16 6:47:08 PM by God_of_Awesome

Some feats I thought of:

Reflexive Reprisal
Prerequisite: Mobility
Once per round, you may make an Attack Of Opportunity against any foes that makes an Attack Of Opportunity against you, as long as that foes is within reach.
Special: If you have Combat Reflexes, you may make a number of Attacks Of Opportunity with this feat equal to your Dex bonus.

Reflexive Ducking
Prerequisite: Mobility
Once per round, you may dodge an Attack Of Opportunity made against you.
Special: If you have Combat Reflexes, you may dodge a number of Attacks Of Opportunity with this feat equal to your Dex bonus.
Special: If you have Reflexive Reprisal, you may not make an Attack Of Opportunity in response to any Attack Of Opportunity that you dodge.

Hit-And-Run
Prerequisite: Reflexive Ducking, Reflexive Reprisal
Once per round, if a foe were normally be able to make an Attack Of Opportunity against you, you may, instead, make an Attack Of Opportunity against the foe.
Special: If you have Combat Reflexes, you make take the action with this feat a number of times equal to your Dex bonus.

Hit-And-Run is kinda already similar to Panther Style.

EDIT: Actually, application is kind of different.

edited 3rd Dec '16 9:26:27 PM by Pannic

I should note that this AoO modification only applies to that which Mobility applies and edit that in there.

In regards to aging: I didn't really change up much, aside from the fact that Elves (aside from Wood/Jungle and Desert elves) can live upwards of two millennia.

As to stuff I've made... Well, I've made some classes (including Wyvern Rider, an Alternate Class of Cavalier), races and weapons.

I also made this:

Hunting Horn
Martial Two-Handed

Cost	Dmg (S)	Dmg (M)	Critical	Range	Weight	Type	Fighter Weapon Group	Special
30 gp	1d6	1d8	19-20/x2	—	12 lbs.	B	Hammers	Performance

A Hunting Horn is much like a hammer, except the thick shaft is hollow and one end of the hammer's head is open. This allows it to be played as an instrument. If a character has any ranks in Perform (Woodwinds) they can use a Hunting Horn as an instrument.

I also ported over the Greatbow (Complete Warrior/Complete Adventurer) from 3.5, as well as making a version of it based on the Dragonslayer Greatbow from Dark Souls, with the latter being an Orcish weapon. Said greatbow:

Orc Greatbow
Exotic Two-Handed Projectile

Cost	Dmg (S)	Dmg (M)	Critical	Range	Weight	Type	Fighter Weapon Group	Special
200 gp	2d6	2d8	x4	140 ft.	20 lbs.	P	Bows	See text

At nearly eight feet in length, an orcish greatbow is a terrifying weapon made for war, hunting the largest, most powerful game, or the slaying of dragons.

Orc greatbows are towering bows made to rain down terrible fire upon their foes. An orc greatbow must be anchored to properly fire. Anchoring or unanchoring the greatbow is a move action. Firing the greatbow without anchoring it first incurs a -4 penalty and can knocks the wielder prone unless he succeeds a DC 15 Strength check. Orc greatbows can do not fire normal arrows, instead firing great arrows, or in a pinch, javelins.
You need at least two hands to use a bow, regardless of its size. You cannot use an orc greatbow while mounted. All orc greatbows are made with a particular strength rating (that is, each requires a minimum Strength modifier to use with proficiency). If your Strength bonus is less than the strength rating of the composite bow, you can't effectively use it, so you take a -2 penalty on attacks with it. The default orc greatbow requires a Strength modifier of +1 or higher to use with proficiency. A composite orc greatbow can be made with a high strength rating to take advantage of an above-average Strength score; this feature allows you to add your Strength bonus to damage, up to the maximum bonus indicated for the bow. Each point of Strength bonus granted by the bow adds 100 gp to its cost.
Orcs and half-orcs may treat the orc greatbow as a martial weapon instead of exotic. Additionally, orc greatbows count as longbows for feats, such as Weapon Focus or Weapon Specialization.

Great Arrow (10)

Cost	Dmg (S)	Dmg (M)	Critical	Range	Weight	Type	Fighter Weapon Group	Special
10gp	-	-	-	-	10 lbs.	P	Bows	-

Great Arrows can also have specialty versions made. A great arrow version of a normal specialty arrow has its price multiplied by ten (so a set of barbed great arrows is 20 gold), unless it is a bleeding or slow burn great arrow, this is instead multiplied by two.

edited 4th Dec '16 11:19:33 AM by BlackSunNocturne