Lvl 2 Expert
2016-06-14, 11:36 AM
Since the best experiments are thought experiments: a thought experiment.
I’m sure a lot of use have considered running low powered campaigns at some point. Often E6, sometimes even an NPC class campaign. (I’m also sure a lot others of us are now thinking “why would you ever do that?”.) I present to you today a framework for a kind of very low power campaign for D20/Pathfinder, whichever you prefer, using NPC classes with variant multiclassing from Pathfinder (I can't find a D&D source for it, so I'm assuming it's a Pathfinder original) as a source of differentiation. Would this kind of campaign work (similar recent thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?490967-The-Casterless-World)), and how much does the DM need to change the way an adventure is layed out to accommodate it? What would be a good challenge rating worth of monsters to send at these folks? And most importantly, would this in your opinion actually be fun to run and play, or too boring/impractical/third option?
Rules:
1 Players can only pick NPC classes. Warrior, adept, aristocrat and expert (and commoner, but there is no game mechanical reason to do so, and I wouldn’t recommend it outside of maybe the first level for flavor). These classes can be freely multiclassed with each other without penalty.
2 Variant multiclassing (VMC) is allowed with any one class for which this feature exists, including classes that normally do not exist in D20. Players do not have to choose their VMC until the first powers kick in at level 3. So even if you know you want to go paladin, you don’t have to adhere to the code of conduct before that point (although it would surely help your case if you didn’t go full murder hobo to “get it out of my system”. Schools and such, provided they have absolutely no effect on the level 3 characters, can wait until level 7 (or dropped entirely if that power doesn’t use them either).
3 Maximum level (ECL) is seven. After that advancement only grants extra feats, like in other games of E(X). Patch in a few of those extra feats for ability score improvement and stuff as well.
4 Because it fits thematically character generation is 66 point buy starting from 0 = 18 point buy starting from 8 (so an average ability score of 11) where every improvement to 16 or higher (before racial modifiers) costs 2 points and no starting stats over level 19 are allowed. And I suppose we’ll place a minimum of 3 after racial modifiers for any stat for the minmaxers (who can still go for 3 3’s, an 11 and 2 19’s on a no bonus race).
5 Standard rules for races with racial hit die and level adjustment apply.
Normally E(X) is best played with even numbers, like E6 or E8, but in this case E7 may work well because all the VMC’s get their second ability at 7th level, making for a good capstone ability of sorts, launching the PC’s into the “epic”/non-leveling (except for feats) phase of the game. On top of that, Adepts, being probably the most useful class in general (placed in tier 4 on the famous list while expert is ranked as 5 and the rest 6) get third level spells at level 8 (provided they have a large enough wisdom modifier), so level 7 loads them up on as many 0th, 1st and 2nd level spells (the adept gets a new 1st and a new 2nd level spell per day for its capstone) that can help the group as possible without giving them 3rd level show stealers. (If this means nobody wants to play adept and we all die from a lack of magic, oops…). While the adept almost exclusively has spells built for helping others I think the little she does get makes her more than capable of defending herself, compared to the other NPC classes at least (obscuring mist, invisibility, web, sleep, scorching ray etc). I also like how warriors can still get their second attack with a “dip” of up to three levels in other classes (two for adept and for commoner), but any combination without at least four levels of warrior does not get it. (Edit: O wait, you can still get it with warrior3/expert or aristocrat4....) I expect warrior4/expert3 (Edit: or as mentioned a sentence earlier, the other way around) (with the first expert level taken first for the extra skill points and the warrior kicking in at level 2 for the proficiencies) will be quite effective for rogue or ranger like builds, ad warrior5/adept2 gets a familiar and 4 spells per day. Outside of the two-attacks classes, adept4/expert3 is pretty decent as well, getting to second level (bonus) spells with a BAB of +4 and a bunch of skill points. And an aristocrat dip for warriors and adepts gives them a broad skillset without making them suffer in / while building up extra hit points.
Challenges: Since VMC’s replace feats and NPC classes were not getting a lot of feats and class features anyway they could end up hurting for special abilities. Especially for feat heavy concepts (like dual weapon wielding) this is a problem. Up until level seven that is, because after the break the game starts favoring feat heavy concepts. Magic-wise, among the 3rd level spells the party is not getting are remove curse, remove disease and neutralize poison. Some very handy abilities to have when up against any monster over CR3. These spells don’t need to be completely missing from the world of course, maybe there are high level clerics everywhere, maybe specially trained groups of worshippers can cast them in rituals. But any solution will still leave availability of these spells much lower than having people in the party who can cast them. And while the VMC’s do give some very cool abilities, as seen from the perspective of an NPC class, it’s not a lot of extra fighting power. The rogue VMC for instance gets 1d6 sneak attack at level 7. Woopdidoo. (Magus might be one of the better VMC's, giving characters actual combat magic.) A full party of these guys at “capstone” level could probably get their butts kicked quite handily by just a single character from one of the higher tiers of equal level (and optimization rate, and players skill).
Still, I think it sounds like an intriguing concept for a game which does not necessarily need to become a long runner. Anyone (dis)agree?
I’m sure a lot of use have considered running low powered campaigns at some point. Often E6, sometimes even an NPC class campaign. (I’m also sure a lot others of us are now thinking “why would you ever do that?”.) I present to you today a framework for a kind of very low power campaign for D20/Pathfinder, whichever you prefer, using NPC classes with variant multiclassing from Pathfinder (I can't find a D&D source for it, so I'm assuming it's a Pathfinder original) as a source of differentiation. Would this kind of campaign work (similar recent thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?490967-The-Casterless-World)), and how much does the DM need to change the way an adventure is layed out to accommodate it? What would be a good challenge rating worth of monsters to send at these folks? And most importantly, would this in your opinion actually be fun to run and play, or too boring/impractical/third option?
Rules:
1 Players can only pick NPC classes. Warrior, adept, aristocrat and expert (and commoner, but there is no game mechanical reason to do so, and I wouldn’t recommend it outside of maybe the first level for flavor). These classes can be freely multiclassed with each other without penalty.
2 Variant multiclassing (VMC) is allowed with any one class for which this feature exists, including classes that normally do not exist in D20. Players do not have to choose their VMC until the first powers kick in at level 3. So even if you know you want to go paladin, you don’t have to adhere to the code of conduct before that point (although it would surely help your case if you didn’t go full murder hobo to “get it out of my system”. Schools and such, provided they have absolutely no effect on the level 3 characters, can wait until level 7 (or dropped entirely if that power doesn’t use them either).
3 Maximum level (ECL) is seven. After that advancement only grants extra feats, like in other games of E(X). Patch in a few of those extra feats for ability score improvement and stuff as well.
4 Because it fits thematically character generation is 66 point buy starting from 0 = 18 point buy starting from 8 (so an average ability score of 11) where every improvement to 16 or higher (before racial modifiers) costs 2 points and no starting stats over level 19 are allowed. And I suppose we’ll place a minimum of 3 after racial modifiers for any stat for the minmaxers (who can still go for 3 3’s, an 11 and 2 19’s on a no bonus race).
5 Standard rules for races with racial hit die and level adjustment apply.
Normally E(X) is best played with even numbers, like E6 or E8, but in this case E7 may work well because all the VMC’s get their second ability at 7th level, making for a good capstone ability of sorts, launching the PC’s into the “epic”/non-leveling (except for feats) phase of the game. On top of that, Adepts, being probably the most useful class in general (placed in tier 4 on the famous list while expert is ranked as 5 and the rest 6) get third level spells at level 8 (provided they have a large enough wisdom modifier), so level 7 loads them up on as many 0th, 1st and 2nd level spells (the adept gets a new 1st and a new 2nd level spell per day for its capstone) that can help the group as possible without giving them 3rd level show stealers. (If this means nobody wants to play adept and we all die from a lack of magic, oops…). While the adept almost exclusively has spells built for helping others I think the little she does get makes her more than capable of defending herself, compared to the other NPC classes at least (obscuring mist, invisibility, web, sleep, scorching ray etc). I also like how warriors can still get their second attack with a “dip” of up to three levels in other classes (two for adept and for commoner), but any combination without at least four levels of warrior does not get it. (Edit: O wait, you can still get it with warrior3/expert or aristocrat4....) I expect warrior4/expert3 (Edit: or as mentioned a sentence earlier, the other way around) (with the first expert level taken first for the extra skill points and the warrior kicking in at level 2 for the proficiencies) will be quite effective for rogue or ranger like builds, ad warrior5/adept2 gets a familiar and 4 spells per day. Outside of the two-attacks classes, adept4/expert3 is pretty decent as well, getting to second level (bonus) spells with a BAB of +4 and a bunch of skill points. And an aristocrat dip for warriors and adepts gives them a broad skillset without making them suffer in / while building up extra hit points.
Challenges: Since VMC’s replace feats and NPC classes were not getting a lot of feats and class features anyway they could end up hurting for special abilities. Especially for feat heavy concepts (like dual weapon wielding) this is a problem. Up until level seven that is, because after the break the game starts favoring feat heavy concepts. Magic-wise, among the 3rd level spells the party is not getting are remove curse, remove disease and neutralize poison. Some very handy abilities to have when up against any monster over CR3. These spells don’t need to be completely missing from the world of course, maybe there are high level clerics everywhere, maybe specially trained groups of worshippers can cast them in rituals. But any solution will still leave availability of these spells much lower than having people in the party who can cast them. And while the VMC’s do give some very cool abilities, as seen from the perspective of an NPC class, it’s not a lot of extra fighting power. The rogue VMC for instance gets 1d6 sneak attack at level 7. Woopdidoo. (Magus might be one of the better VMC's, giving characters actual combat magic.) A full party of these guys at “capstone” level could probably get their butts kicked quite handily by just a single character from one of the higher tiers of equal level (and optimization rate, and players skill).
Still, I think it sounds like an intriguing concept for a game which does not necessarily need to become a long runner. Anyone (dis)agree?