Pathfinder Persona - Has anyone tried it?

[Calemyr]

Every time I read the summoner rules in Pathfinder, I'm reminded of the old Playstation/Playstation 2 series Persona. I'm just curious if anyone has tried something like this.

Character Generation Rules:
* Character may not have a class with spell casting. (A functionally no-magic setting with magical elements added in afterwards.)

Once the campaign has started (at some point):
* All characters gain the Eidolon feature from the Summoner class.
* Eidolon's features are equivalent to Summoner of the character's class level.
* Eidolon also gains twice as many Evolution Points. Eidolans can cast spells through the X Magic evolutions (Basic Magic, etc).
* Any unnatural (not found on Earth) creature can only be harmed while the Eidolon is active.
* Eidolon should reflect some aspect of the character's psyche.

Or something like that. Would that make for an interesting campaign?

[Kudaku]

It might be an interesting alternative to gestalt if you have a very small party.

Six players with their assorted mounts, animal companions, and 6 eidolons... Well, the action economy advantage would be interesting :smallbiggrin:

[Calemyr]

Are there any non-caster classes that have a controllable animal companion or mount? Even the ranger and paladin have casting.

[rollforeigninit]

Are there any non-caster classes that have a controllable animal companion or mount? Even the ranger and paladin have casting.

Cavalier maybe. Its considered underpowered but its the only PF class that springs to mind. Leadership might work though if it can provide a mount cohort.

[Kudaku]

Ah, I assumed you meant to strip away spellcasting from classes that are not primarily spellcasters.

If you really do remove all classes that can cast spells then you're left with the Fighter, the barbarian, the cavalier, the gunslinger and possibly the monk (depending on how you regard SU abilities).

And yes, cavaliers get (at least one) animal companion, and with the right archetype can have quite a few.

[Drelua]

Barbarians also have the Mad Dog archetype if they want an animal companion. I'm not sure how powerful it is, but it works.

[Kudaku]

That is a good point - there are also a range of archetypes that sacrifice spellcasting for other abilities - warrior of the holy light and stonelord for paladins, skirmisher and trapper for the ranger, and so on.

[Calemyr]

Well, the idea was that the characters would be entirely mundane, except for their eidolon.

That's what Persona is, really - a completely mundane world with a a fantastic world laid over it. A completely normal world where in certain circumstances the normal rules don't apply. Therefore the characters would have to rely on "real world" abilities* unless they have their eidolon.

* Yes, I realize that no class is entirely limited to "real world" abilities, even fighters defy reality with some of the crap they can pull. But the goal is to have normal people who gain exceptional abilities.

[SamBurke]

If you wanna go all-out on the whole real-world thing, I'd use D20 Modern, and overlay the Eidolons on top. That should work a little better for you.

Warning, though: D20M is the most boring, horribly designed set of classes ever.

[Arbane]

You might want to take a look at the 3rd-party Occultist class (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/radiance-house/occultist). It's basically a 3.5 Binder with the serial numbers scratched off, and I always thought a Binder would be good for making a Persona-user.

[Calemyr]

If you wanna go all-out on the whole real-world thing, I'd use D20 Modern, and overlay the Eidolons on top. That should work a little better for you.

Warning, though: D20M is the most boring, horribly designed set of classes ever.

I won't get a chance. I have been unable to find a gaming group to get into during the three years since I moved to this city. Some serious collaborative storytelling withdrawal, here. Dreaming up concepts for a campaign is as close as I'm going to get.

[Kudaku]

Have you tried VTT? You could start games with the people you played with before you moved :smallsmile: