Interest check for a “Low Fantasy” Pathfinder Game.

Consolidated/Updated Summary of House Rules and Character Creation


Characters will start at 7th level and we will be using the slow progression experience chart.

The following classes are available:
Alternate Barbarian
Explorer(Expert with the following modifications: Good Reflex saves, Bonus general (only) feats at 1st,2nd, and every other level thereafter, Loremaster lvl 5/11/17, Jack-Of-All-Trades lvl 10/16/19
Fighter (4 skill points per level)
Monk with the following modifications: deals unarmed damage amount with monk special weapons instead of the weapon’s normal damage dice, still mind replaced with pounce.
Ranger with the following modification: choose one form of hunter’s bond at level one, gain the other at level 4. If you choose animal companion at 1st level, you do not subtract 3 from your level. No spellcasting abilities.
Rogue
Swashbuckler
Vanguard

The following races are available:
Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Human, Orc, Tengu (No Half Breeds)

Starting Equipment:
Choose from +2 Armor, a +1 Mithral Armor, or Bracers of AC+3.
OR
A +1 weapon with a +1 quality OR three +1 weapons.
OR
Two minor items from the ring or wondrous item charts.
AND
300 gold to spend on other gear.

NOTE: magic Items will not be for sale or able to be sold, so pick things you actually want. Also, in this vein, feel free to send me a list of “also wants” with your character sheet. As rarely as magic items will come up, I will try to make sure they’re off these want lists.

Only the following monster types will be used: Animals, Dragons, Humanoids, Magical Beasts, Monstrous Humanoids, Plants, Vermin

Vitality, Health, and Healing

Vitality

Vitality represents the ability to turn potentially deadly wounds into scratches, bumps, bruises, etc. Throughout most combat, it is your character’s Vitality that will be reduced by attacks. As your character grows in level, his Vitality will increase, allowing him to survive longer battles and/or deadlier opponents. Your Vitality is figured the same way Hit Points are figured in standard play: maximum Hit Die plus Con Modifier at first level, roll the Hit Die and add Con Modifier for every level after that.

Health

Health represents more serious wounds, ones that will take time to heal, and could potentially be life threatening. Characters take Health damage when their Vitality is depleted and from Critical Hits. Once the character’s Vitality reaches 0, all damage is marked off the Character’s Health. On a Critical Hit, the damage from the dice rolled is applied to Health instead of Vitality, and any bonus damage comes off Vitality.

If a Character’s Health reaches 0 or below, the character gains the staggered condition until his Health is brought above 0 by healing. If A Character’s drops to a negative amount greater than his Constitution score but less than his maximum Health score, he is helpless and must make a Will Save with a DC equal to the amount of negative Health he has each round to remain conscious and able to speak. Once his Health is a negative amount equal to or greater than his maximum Health, he must make a Fort save a DC equal to the amount of negative Health he has each round or perish.

Health is figured with the following formula:

Constitution Score + Racial Modifier* + Hit Die Modifier**

*Racial Modifier

A Character gains a one-time bonus to his Health based on his race:
+5 Health: Dwarf, Hobgoblin, Orc
+3 Health: Gnome, Human, Tengu
+1 Health: Elf, Goblin, Halfling

**Hit Die Modifier

Each time a Character gains a Hit Die, he gains a bonus to his Health according to the following chart:

Hit Die Bonus
D12 +3
D10 +2
D8 +1.5
D6 +1

Healing

Vitality is recovered fairly quickly, as all it takes is giving your muscles a chance to recover and regaining your wind. A Character heals 1 point of Vitality per level per hour of rest. If he is being given Long-Term Care (see Heal Skill pg 98-99), he doubles that rate (2 Vitality per level per hour.)

Health recovers under the standard rate of 1 per level per 8 hours of rest, and is treated as Hit Points for all the other entries under the Heal skill.

Optional Grievous Wounds Rule:

If brought below a negative amount of Health equal to or greater than your Constitution Score, you have received Grievous Wounds and heal much more slowly until you are brought above 0 Health by healing. Your healing rates (including Vitality) are all dropped to ¼ normal (round down) during this time.

Armor as DR

From Unearthed Arcana.

Armor grants DR/- equal to half its listed armor bonus (round down) and the armor bonus is reduced by the amount of DR granted. Natural Armor grants DR equal to 1/5 its listed amount (rounded down) and the natural armor bonus is reduced by the amount of DR granted. All DR/- from armor, natural armor, and class features stack. All other armor traits remain the same (Max Dex, check penalty, etc.) Shields do not provide a DR bonus.

Armor Type DR Armor Bonus
Padded 0/- +1
Leather 1/- +1
Studded Leather 1/- +2
Chain Shirt 2/- +2
Hide 2/- +2
Scale Mail 2/- +3
Chainmail 3/- +3
Breastplate 3/- +3
Splint Mail 3/- +4
Banded Mail 3/- +4
Half-Plate 4/- +4
Full Plate 4/- +5

It’s a trap

Taking no damage is better than having the damage reduced by 4. Add to this little access to magical armor and protective gear, and you’ll be getting slaughtered. So, to avoid this trap becoming too deadly, we’ll add ½ your level (round down) to your AC as long as you are proficient in whatever armor you’re wearing, or if you are unarmored.

Are you going for the Sword and Sorcery feel like Conan, Kull and the like? Will there be any possibility of magic or will it just be npc/obscure? For example Conan has some magic, but its usually evil/cursed/damned and not very beneficial etc. They heal using drugs, exlixirs, lotus etc and or resting/drinking lots of liquor..

What day/time were you considering doing this?

sounds interesting. i'd like feudal. i think you should double the fighter's feats to every level. I want to use 3d6. I want armor as DR, but we will still need a lot of downtime if there's anywhere near the combat in standard pathfinder.

i'm afraid if we start at medium, we will never get to high, so i'd rather start at high and be happy with what i have.

If this has a arthur, english feel to it i am interested.

You said there are magical beasts. does this mean that magic exists but is not available to humans. or are you just using the magical beasts as animals.

this sounds a little like pendragon, but that only lets you play knights.

This game sounds like it would be the fun kind of hard. Id be willing to play any day but Friday. As for the Civilization level Id like to go with Expansionist Empire(s).

Depending on the game time and day, i'd definately be interested. Always wanted to play a swordsman in a setting where that means something other than "henchman to the party mage".

RE: Magic: I'm thinking it will be rare to non-existant. However, Supernatural will exist, thus the dragons, magical beasts, etc. Supernatural and Spell-Like Abilities will exist; for instance, Gnomes will still have their spell-like abilities if their charisma is 11 or higher, and rogues can access spell-like abilities through the minor magic rogue talent. What I will not be doing is throwing Spellcasting NPCs at the party. Pathfinder has a method built in for crafting rules without spellcasting (Master Craftsman feat) as long as they are not spell-trigger or spell-activation items, so there may be some magic items, but they will not be remotely common, and certainly not for sale. Dragons may be the only creatures with actual spells, but I may even remove them. I still want Hippogriffs, Chimeras, etc. thus the magical beasts.

RE: 3d6. What Vash is requesting/suggesting is using 3d6 instead of a d20 for skill rolls. What I've found is this makes average tasks much easier and hard tasks much harder. I'm willing to put it to a vote.

RE: timeline; Feudal and Expansionist Empire have been mentioned as preferences; A good compromise might be having a number of Fuedal Lands and a nearby untamed wilderness which you are quested with conquering for the King. There would be some politics, a chance to grow in political stature, gain knighthood or other titles, maybe even become landed, etc. Let me know what there is about those types of settings you want, and we'll try to come up with a plan.

RE: Doubling up on fighter feats; I think Pathfinder fighters do just fine, especially when compared to the other martial classes. I don't think I'll be doing that. But I might consider giving Fighters 4 skill points per level.

RE: Day/Time. It would have to be PM EST, cannot be Wednesday (that's my other PF night). Best days are probably Sundays, followed by Mondays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are possibilities, but would result in it being more likely to have game cancellations based on work schedules.

(edited into first post)

(Edited into first post)