Avianmosquito
2017-05-17, 11:54 AM
Below are all of the rules Aelsif changes.
The great NPC buff:
Humanoid characters have been heavily boosted by the rules changes, and NPCs got the best of it.
Unarmed strikes function as weapons:
When unarmed, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity, can make attacks of opportunity and deal lethal damage primarily with the standard -4 for nonlethal. Obviously, though, NPCs fighting will usually take the -4 to avoid killing eachother. Improved unarmed strike removes the penalty for nonlethal strikes, making them far better in a fist fight when they DON'T want to rupture internal organs.
There is no commoner class:
Commoner and aristocrat have been scrapped. That nobody NPC in front of you is probably an expert.
NPCs are higher level:
Almost all NPCs are 3rd level or higher. Even small children tend to be 2nd level, and again often higher. Everybody has at least a few hit dice.
Profession pays much better:
This skill was so ludicrously underpowered it served absolutely zero purpose in-game, so it was overhauled. I somehow doubt players are going to be using profession for long-term employment, unless they're filling the gap between campaigns. Mostly, this is a way to drum up quick cash through temp work and single shifts. And since I never, EVER use Wealth By Level under ANY circumstances, that's not as far fetched as you might think.
You have the option to look for a single shift, temp work or long-term work. Looking for a single shift takes one day, looking for temp work takes one week, looking for long-term work takes one month with the option to look for part-time only, full-time only or both (roll separately). It has a chance of success based on the economy, your skill and your wisdom. A roll within your profession/wisdom bonus is always in your chosen profession, a roll outside of it never is. When you find an employer, roll 1d20 and add a bonus based on the local economy and your profession to determine your wages at that job (in pence/hour), and roll percentile dice to see how many hours your shift is. At this point, you can either take the job or try again. Additionally, you must make a constitution check after each shift to avoid exhaustion, on a success another save must be made to avoid fatigue, and if you are working long-term you make a wisdom-modified profession check every month to avoid termination. Single shifts pay at the end of the shift, temp work pays at the end of each work week, and long-term jobs also pay on a weekly basis.
Roaring economy: 20+Proffession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 0.
Booming economy: 15+Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 5.
Average economy: 10+Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 10.
Recession: 5+Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 15.
Depression: Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 20.
Excellent wages: +25p, +5p per rank of profession
Great wages: +20p, +4p per rank of profession
Good wages: +15p, +3p per rank of profession
Average wages: +10p, +2p per rank of profession
Poor wages: +5p, +1p per rank of profession
Terrible wages: +0p, +0p per rank of profession
Single shift hours:
76-00: 8 hours
51-75: 6 hours
26-50: 4 hours
01-25: 2 hours
Temp work hours:
81-00: 12 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
61-80: 10 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
41-60: 8 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
21-40: 6 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
01-20: 4 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
Long-term (full time) work hours:
61-00: 12 hours, 1d4+2 days/week
31-60: 10 hours 1d4+2 days/week
11-20: 8 hours, 1d3+3 days/week
1-10: 6 hours, 1d2+4 days/week
Long-term (part time) work hours:
61-00: 10 hours, 1d2 days/week
31-60: 8 hours 1d3 days/week
11-20: 6 hours, 1d4 days/week
1-10: 4 hours, 1d6 days/week
Fatigue check DC:
Hard manual labour: 10+ shift hours
Average: 10+1/2 shift hours
Desk work: 10+1/4 shift hours
Weapons are stronger due to material types:
The standard material that functions as in SRD is iron. There are many other materials now, all of which inflict more damage by increasing the size of the weapon's damage dice. The best you can get is four sizes larger, which makes a 1d4 dagger inflict 1d12, a 1d8 sword inflict 2d10, and a 2d6 greatsword inflict 4d8. While the material required for that leap (celestial steel) is exceptionally uncommon, most weapons will have dice 1-2 sizes larger than normal. A dagger will deal 1d6 or 1d8, a sword 1d10 or 1d12, a greatsword 2d8 or 2d10. Better materials also have more hit points and hardness, and enhancement also exists to add up to +5 to each of those.
Rusty: Damage dice decreased one size, hardness 5, 1/2 hp, £/10
Iron: Standard, hardness 10, 1x hp, £
Steel: Damage dice increased one size, hardness 15, 2x hp, £x10
Tempered steel: Damage dice increased two sizes, hardness 20, 3x hp, £x100
Royal steel: Damage dice increased three sizes, hardness 25, 4x hp, £x1,000
Celestial weapon steel: Damage dice increased four sizes, hardness 30, 5x hp, £x10,000
Copper: Damage dice decreased two sizes, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £
Bronze: Standard, decreased one size, hardness 10, 2x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £x10
Jungle bronze: Hardness 15, 3x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £x100
Royal bronze: Damage dice increased one size, hardness 20, 4x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: Damage dice increased two sizes, hardness 25, 5x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage,£x10,000
Wood: Damage dice decreased two sizes, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust, cannot be repaired except by magic, £/100
Stone: Standard, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust, cannot be repaired except by magic, £
Obsidian: Damage dice increased two sizes, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust, cannot be repaired except by magic, £x100
Fixed damage
d2
d3
d4
d6
d8
d10
d12
2d8
2d10
2d12
4d8
Etcetera
Firearms exist and are useful:
Firearms in Aelsif come in a variety of designs, ranging from simple muzzle-loaders to early semi-automatic weaponry, though semi-automatic weapons are exceedingly rare, expensive and require an exotic proficiency. The muzzle-loaders are extremely powerful shot for shot and are fairly cheap, but they get a single shot with a lengthy reload, and their alternate versions have better range but deal less damage. The manually-operated weapons deal much less damage but they hold more shots and have a similar reload time. The semi-automatic weapons deal even less damage, but they hold more shots and have a shorter reload. These do not benefit from material types, however, so they must rely on special ammunition later in the game.
Musket:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 2d12, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Two rounds, one round with a paper cartridge
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 10lbs
Cost: 50£*
Ammunition type: Musket ball
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
*The elven pound replaces the gold piece entirely in Aelsif, with the pence replacing the copper piece and no other coinage being present.
While considered obsolete by the developed nations, muskets are very common civilian and militia weapons throughout the world, and poorer nations continue to use them as their primary weapon. This weapon's .94 ball deals impressive damage, but its lack of range and accuracy make it an inferior weapon in most cases.
(This weapon is based off the Long Land Pattern Musket, or "Brown Bess". It fires a substantially larger ball than Bess did, a cheap attempt by the manufacturers of this obsolete weapon to make up for its inadequacies.)
Musket rifle:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 2d10, pierce
Range increment: 120ft
Reload: Two rounds, one round with paper cartridges
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 10lbs
Cost: 100£
Ammunition type: Minié ball
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
The standard military weapon of most nations in Aelsif is the musket rifle, usually loaded with paper cartridges. While its .79 Minié ball doesn't as much punch as the musket's .94 ball, musket rifles have much better range.
(This weapon classification includes both musket-rifles and muzzle-loading rifles. The difference being musket-rifles are converted muskets and muzzle-loading rifles were built that way. It is most closely based off the P1851 Minié Rifle, a muzzle-loading rifle in .71 calibre.)
Repeating rifle:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d12, pierce
Range increment: 120ft
Reload: Full reload in two rounds, reloads two cartridges in one round
Special: Can fire six rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 8lbs
Cost: 500£
Ammunition type: Repeater cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
The lever-action repeating rifle is considered a state of the art weapon in most parts of the world, able to rapidly fire .47 calibre cartridges. While only the Gnomelands give these out as standard-issue weapons, several developed nations issue these to elite units and wealthy private citizens often purchase repeating rifles for personal use.
(This weapon is based off the Winchester Model 1873. Its .47 has case dimensions of 12x36mm compared to the .44-40's case dimensions of 11x33mm, and is a slightly harder hitting weapon.)
Automatic* rifle:
Proficiency: Exotic
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d10, pierce
Range increment: 120ft
Reload: Full reload in one round
Special: Can fire ten rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 8lbs
Cost: 2500£
Ammunition type: Automatic cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
*This is using "automatic" in the historical sense. In modern terminology, this is a semi-automatic weapon.
While too new to have been adopted by any military, even in the Gnomelands, the .31 Automatic Rifle is produced by a private Gnomish manufacturer, loading with a detachable 10-round box magazine. While it is considered treason to willfully allow automatics to leave the country, there is a thriving black market charging exorbitant prices for these impressive weapons.
(This weapon is based off the Winchester Model 1905. Its .31 calibre round has case dimensions of 8x32mm, compared to the .32 Winchester's 8x31, and it is a very similar weapon in use.)
Pistol:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 18-20, x2
Damage: 2d8, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Full round action, move action with paper cartridges
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 25£
Ammunition type: Pistol ball
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed without penalty.
A common civilian weapon, the obsolete smoothbore pistol has a large .63 bore but very little range.
(Based most directly off of Queen Anne style Duelling Pistols, old 18th century English pistols most prominently manufactured in .58 calibre.)
Dueling pistol:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 2d6, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Full round action
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 50£
Ammunition type: Pistol Minié
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed without penalty.
The dueling pistol features a rifled barrel at the cost of a smaller .47 bore, which made it the go-to choice of duelists until it was supplanted by the revolver.
(This is based off of later, 19th century percussion cap Duelling Pistols. The rifling here is much heavier than the scratch rifling of the era, but that's because in real life using a rifled pistol was considered "unsporting" and the cheaters had to hide it. Pistols of this type were most commonly .45, so this is a very normal pistol.)
Revolver:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d10, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Two rounds, one round with speedloader.
Special: Can fire six rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 200£
Ammunition type: Revolver cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
Much more common than the repeating rifle, the revolver is widely issued as an officer's sidearm and is a favourite weapon of wealthy private citizens. Accurate and able to sustain a good rate of fire, the revolver's only real drawback is poor stopping power.
(This weapon is based off of the Colt M1892, a very early double-action revolver. Its .39 has case dimensions of 10x30, compared to the .38 Long Colt's 9x26mm, giving it better stopping power, something the M1892 legendarily lacked.)
Automatic* pistol:
Proficiency: Exotic
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d8, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Full-round action.
Special: Can fire ten rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 1000£
Ammunition type: Automatic cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
*Again, this is using the historical sense.
Often just referred to as "The Automatic", the Gnomish pistol is the most expensive handgun in the world, and widely considered to be the best. While manufactured in a variety of sizes and calibres, such as the .31 listed above, the most common is the Gnomish .24, awkwardly small in the hands of men but perfect for Gnomish officers.
(This weapon is based off the Mauser C96, its case dimensions of 8x24 being slightly larger than the 7.63x25mm Mauser and packing a little more punch, though that's not saying much.)
Blunderbuss:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d8, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Two rounds
Special: Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 10lbs
Cost: 50£
Ammunition type: Shot
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
The blunderbuss is a dangerous muzzle-loading firearm commonly used to hunt game and for civilian self-defence. Unfortunately, its short range and poor performance against even the lightest armour prevents it from seeing military use, even in poor nations.
(Based off the Harper's Ferry blunderbuss, as used by the Lewis & Clark expedition.)
Repeating shotgun:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d6, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Two rounds reloads fully, one round reloads two shells.
Special: This weapon can be fired six times before needing to reload. Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 8lbs
Cost: 500£
Ammunition type: Shotshell
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
Rarely produced, even more rarely issued, the lever-action repeating shotgun is mostly a weapon for sport hunting amongst wealthy private citizens and royalty in particular. Its low capacity, short range and poor stopping power make it unsuited to combat, however, and the price doesn't help.
(Based off of the Winchester 1887, a 12-guage lever-action shotgun.)
Dragon:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d6, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: One round
Special: Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 50£
Ammunition type: Dragon shot
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
The dragon is a pistol blunderbuss, known for its great kick and questionable stopping power. While against unarmoured opponents it is very effective, the dragon is ineffectual against even the lightest armour and has no military applications as a result.
(Based off the Royal Mail Blunderbuss, a short-barrelled late 18th century flintlock.)
Repeating shotpistol:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d4, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Two rounds reloads fully, one round reloads two shells.
Special: This weapon can be fired six times before needing to reload. Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 500£
Ammunition type: Shotshell
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
For good reason, this is the least popular firearm in the world. It has great potential damage at close range due to its rate of fire and the combined damage of its shot, but it is often defeated by heavy clothing in a way no firearm should be. Still sees niche use for small game hunting and as a personal self defence weapon against animal attacks, though most people who need something for that purpose can't afford to spend 500£.
(Not directly based off of any particular weapon, but revolvers made for small-bore shotshells do exist, and are usually called "backpacker" shotguns. And yes, they're designed for small game hunting and emergency defence against animal attacks, which is a thing they are actually pretty good at.)
Pistol balls: 5£/20 (4lbs)
Pistol minie: 8£/20 (4lbs)
Revolver cartridge: 20£/30 (3lbs)
Automatic cartridge: 20£/30 (3lbs)
Musket balls: 10£/20 (8lbs)
Minie balls: 15£/20 (8lbs)
Repeater cartridge: 40£/30 (6lbs)
Automatic rifle cartridge: 40£/40 (6lbs)
Grapeshot: 30£/20 (16lbs)
Repeater shotshell: 40£/30 (12lbs)
Dragon shot: 30£/20 (8lbs)
Revolver shotshell: 40£/30 (6lbs)
Heavy weapons can destroy an entire party:
There exist crew-served weapons in Aelsif, primarily cannons and mortars but also including hand-cranked gatling guns. These weapons, poorly approached, can easily result in a TPK. Cannons deal extremely high damage to a single target, mortars deal half that much damage in an area and gatling guns hit multiple times per attack for very ordinary damage and can attack repeatedly before reloading. All heavy weapons use touch attacks or AoE.
Grenades are a thing:
Want a grenade? You can have a grenade. These are old-school fuse-lit grenades, resembling a metal sphere the size of a fist. They deal decent damage in an area, though casters can easily exceed their damage. Firebombs are much the same, only a smaller area and they deal their damage over time to everything in that area, largely acting as an obstacle rather than a functional weapon unless the target can't move and has really low fire resistance.
Molotov:
Range: 30ft + 5ft/STR
Spread: 10ft
Damage: 1d6/round
Duration: 10 rounds
Save: Reflex, 20
Craft DC: 10
Cost: £5
Weight: 2lbs
A molotov cocktail is a glass bottle filled with flammable material, typically petroleum. You must have a means of lighting a molotov to make use of it. You may throw it a distance of up to 30ft plus 5ft for each point of strength bonus. Throwing it at a particular space sets everything currently within that area on fire for 1d6 fire damage per round for 10 rounds. Anything within the area affected by the molotov cocktail takes an additional 1d6 fire damage, as does anything that grapples or is grappled by a creature set on fire by the molotov. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 20 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +4 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.
(Yes, this renders alchemist's fire completely obsolete. It's supposed to.)
Grenade:
Range: 30ft + 5ft/STR
Spread: 20ft
Damage: 5d6 Piercing
Delay: 1-2 rounds
Save: Reflex, 15
Craft DC: 15
Cost: £25
Weight: 2lbs
A grenade is an iron sphere loaded with gunpowder and shot, detonated by a fuse. You must have a means of lighting a grenade to make use of it. You may throw it a distance of up to 30ft plus 5ft for each point of strength bonus. At the start of the next combat round, the grenade will detonate and pelt everything within 20ft with shrapnel for 5d6 points of piercing damage.
Dynamite:
Range: 30ft + 5ft/STR
Spread: 10ft
Damage: 10d6 bludgeon
Delay: 1-5 Rounds
Save: Reflex, 20
Craft DC: 20
Cost: £50
Weight: 2lbs
Dynamite is an explosive consisting of nitroglycerin soaked into diatomaceous earth and encased in a paper tubing. Fairly new to Aelsif, dynamite has revolutionized the mining industry and almost immediately seen use an an improvised explosive weapon. You must have a means of lighting a grenade to make use of it. You may throw it a distance of up to 30ft plus 5ft for each point of strength bonus. At the start of the next combat round, the grenade will detonate and blast within 10ft with a powerful shockwave for 10d6 points of bludgeon damage.
There are now five classifications of armour:
These are clothing, light, medium, heavy and assault. There's two standard armours in each class, three for clothing. These are light, medium and heavy clothing, gambeson (padded armour), byrnie (chainshirt), cuirass (breastplate), hauberk (chainmail), brigandine and plate. Above that are o-yoroi armor, cataphract armor and tournament armor, stupidly heavy gear designed strictly for shock cavalry and unfit for use on foot. The AC progression is still the same. The importance of adding clothing to the list is that you can get 0-2 points of AC without having to have any armour proficiencies, as all classes are proficient with clothing. It also does not cause arcane spell failure.
Armour also adds damage reduction:
Armour is still primarily about AC, but DR is a useful secondary effect determined by material. The heavier the armour, the more DR it adds. Clothing adds 0-5 (usually 1), light armour adds 0-10 (usually 2), medium armour adds 0-15 (usually 3) and heavy armour adds 0-20 (usually 4). Super heavy gear also exists, which provides 0-25 DR (usually 5). This may not be enough DR to stop incoming attacks from equal-level enemies and there is always one damage type to bypass it, but it does definitely make a difference. Armour also provides energy resistance, equal to its DR. The full table is below.
Note: Super heavy armor is still a heavy load, but prevents a character from running, limiting them to a 2x hustle and no faster. It is, of course, meant ONLY for cavalry.
Light cloth
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +0
Dex cap: +10
DR 1/Slashing
Armor check penalty: 0
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 50
Weight: 1lbs
Cost: 1£
Light leather
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +0
Dex cap: +10
DR 1/Piercing
Armor check penalty: 0
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 50
Weight: 1lbs
Cost: 1£
Cloth:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +1
Dex cap: +9
DR 1/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -1
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 60
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 5£
Leather:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +1
Dex cap: +9
DR 1/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -1
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 60
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 5£
Heavy cloth:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +2
Dex cap: +8
DR 1/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -2
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 70
Weight: 5lbs
Cost: 10£
Heavy leather:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +2
Dex cap: +8
DR 1/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -2
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 70
Weight: 5lbs
Cost: 10£
Gambeson:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +3
Dex cap: +7
DR 2/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -3
Arcane spell failure: 15%
Weight: 10lbs
HP: 80
Cost: 20£
Scale:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +3
Dex cap: +7
DR 2/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -3
Arcane spell failure: 15%
Weight: 10lbs
HP: 80
Cost: 20£
Byrnie:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +4
Dex cap: +6
DR 2/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -4
Arcane spell failure: 20%
Weight: 20lbs
HP: 90
Cost: 40£
Lamellar:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +4
Dex cap: +6
DR 2/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -4
Arcane spell failure: 20%
Weight: 20lbs
HP: 90
Cost: 40£
Breastplate:
Proficiency: Medium armor
Armor bonus: +5
Dex cap: +5
DR 3/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -5
Arcane spell failure: 25%
Weight: 30lbs
HP: 100
Cost: 100£
Hauberk:
Proficiency: Medium armor
Armor bonus: +6
Dex cap: +4
DR 3/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -6
Arcane spell failure: 30%
Weight: 40lbs
HP: 110
Cost: 200£
Brigandine:
Proficiency: Heavy armor
Armor bonus: +7
Dex cap: +3
DR 4/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -7
Arcane spell failure: 35%
Weight: 50lbs
HP: 120
Cost: 500£
Plate:
Proficiency: Heavy armor
Armor bonus: +8
Dex cap: +2
DR 4/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -8
Arcane spell failure: 40%
Weight: 60lbs
HP: 130
Cost: 1000£
O-yoroi:
Proficiency: Assault armor
Armor bonus: +9
Dex cap: +1
DR 5/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -9
Arcane spell failure: 45%
Weight: 70lbs
HP: 140
Cost: 2500£
Cataphract armor:
Proficiency: Assault armor
Armor bonus: +9
Dex cap: +1
DR 5/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -9
Arcane spell failure: 45%
Weight: 70lbs
HP: 140
Cost: 2500£
Tournament armor:
Proficiency: Assault armor
Armor bonus: +10
Dex cap: +0
DR 5/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -10
Arcane spell failure: 50%
Weight: 80lbs
HP: 150
Cost: 5000£
Light cloth, cloth, heavy cloth:
Rags: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Cotton: DR 1, £
Hemp: DR 2, 2x hit points, £x10
Linen: DR 3, 3x hit points, £x100
Silk: DR 4, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial fabric: DR 5, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Light leather, leather, heavy leather:
Hides: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Plain leather: DR 1, £
Treated leather: DR 2, 2x hit points, £x10
Reptile skin: DR 3, 3x hit points, £x100
Chitin: DR 4, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial synthetic: DR 5, 5x hit points, £10,000
Gambeson:
Ragged: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Unstuffed: DR 2, 1x hit points, £
Hair stuffed: DR 4, 2x hit points, £x10
Flax stuffed: DR 6, 3x hit points, £x100
Silk stuffed: DR 8, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor fiber: DR 10, 5x hit points, £10,000
Byrnie/Scale/lamellar:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 2, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 4, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 6, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 8, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 10, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 2, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 4, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 6, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 8, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
Breastplate & Hauberk:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 3, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 6, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 9, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 12, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 15, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 3, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 6, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 9, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 12, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
Brigandine & Plate:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 4, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 8, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 12, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 16, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 20, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 4, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 8, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 12, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 16, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
O-yoroi, cataphract & tournament armor:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 5, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 10, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 15, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 20, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 25, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 5, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 10, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 15, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 20, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
Shields also add their bonus to your reflex save:
What it says. Also, bucklers need a hand because bucklers are ALWAYS centre-grip shields. Shields use the same materials as weapons, with the same effects.
Improvised weapons don't suck:
They no longer get a -4. They don't receive enhancement bonuses, but as long as they are reasonably sized they make decent weapons. That NPC thief with the crowbar? They will smash your skull straight open.
New feats:
Just to enhance this, there are a number of new feats. These include, but are not limited to, "Brutality" (killing an enemy causes remaining enemies to become shaken, especially good at dispersing pack animals), "Edge Alignment" (slash weapons can use dex for damage), "Wounding Strike" (criticals deal constitution damage), and "Armour focus" (+2 AC with armour of a particular type).
The great creature nerf:
Creatures, animals in particular, have been nerfed. There's only three parts to this.
The AC nerf:
Most animals cannot block or dodge. As such, they have lost their base 10 AC. This means most animals will have 10 less AC than they used to. That is, a wolf's AC drops from 14 to 4, a brown bear's AC drops from 15 to 5. That AC isn't completely irrelevant, but most attacks aimed at animals will hit, since they can't block or dodge. Any animal that can dodge but couldn't block (that is, any biped without arms, and any animal flying that is rated average or better) gets base 5 AC. Any animal that could block but couldn't dodge (any non-biped with arms) also gets base 5 AC. Only characters who can both block and dodge (bipeds with arms) get base 10 AC.
The special attack nerf:
Grapple attempts and similar special attacks (trip, sunder) made by creatures without hands get a -4. That includes those made with bites. That -4 also applies to rolls to resist these effects. Whether you're taking the bull by the horns, you're pulling away from a wolf bite or the monkey on a bear's back, you've got a 4 point advantage.
Bites now provoke attacks of opportunity:
Any bite attack provokes and cannot make attacks of opportunity. This means any animal that has no other offensive option eats a shot to the skull each time it tries to attack. This nerf is partly for realism and party because the pierce/slash/bludgeon trifecta would be super OP against armour in ways a real bite simply isn't and needed balancing.
The result of the NPC buff and animal nerf:
Your average NPC will no longer lose a fight with a ****ING HOUSE CAT. In fact, they should win a fight with any animal that they wouldn't lose a fight to in real life. Some larger animals are still a lethal threat to the typical NPC, but weapons and armour overturn that pretty easily, and even without them NPCs can easily kill larger creatures by ganging up on them.
Animal armor:
To prevent rangers from being hit too hard, animals can now wear armour. It is identical to human armor, you use tricks to make them proficient.
Miscellaneous:
There are some other changes, as well.
Wisdom is now faith:
Faith is the new, more appropriately named replacement for wisdom. It represents the strength of a character's convictions, and is closely related to belief and willpower. While high-faith characters suffer in terms of behaviour, largely due to their inherent closed-mindedness, their stats definitely benefit. Faith steals the concentration skill from constitution, but otherwise affects no skills. All of wisdom's skills have been moved to intelligence or charisma. Faith's new benefit is spell resistance, characters now gain spell resistance equal to their character level (NOT hit dice) plus their faith modifier. It isn't much spell resistance, but it's not a bad amount.
Crit immunity is not a thing:
Anything can be critically hit and sneak attacked, end of story.
You now die at -100%:
This is straight forward. See your max HP? You now die at negative that. If you have 13hp, you die at -13. If you have 150hp, you die at -150. However, you cannot regain consciousness without first recovering all of your negative hit points, you don't have a 10% chance of just miraculously getting back up after stabilising. Instead, all it means is you won't actually die. Any damage while under 0 HP will start you dying again.
Magic doesn't stabilize:
Being healed by a spell does not automatically stabilize you, ot even if you are healed to 0 or into a positive hit point total. You are still disabled at 0 while dying, and still fully functional above 0 while dying. Only a heal check, natural stabilization, restoration (including lesser) or returning to full HP will stop you from dying. The heal DC is now 10 plus how far below 0 the target is, and stabilisation chance is 1%.
Alternative massive damage:
The new massive damage threshold is equal to twice your hit dice. There is no save. Failure causes you to start dying, but you don't immediately lose consciousness. See above. Creatures immune to wounding, bleeding or critical hits are immune to massive damage as well.
SR is voluntary:
It only applies when you want it to, as it is fluffed as stemming from mental focus against magic. A "Reject your reality" kind of thing. It will not prevent buffs or healing.
Cantrips and orisons are infinite use:
See Pathfinder for details. In exchange, cure and inflict minor wounds have been removed entirely. And virtue never stacked, by the way, don't try and pull that.
There are NO alignments:
Alignments do not exist. If you want to make a LG character, you can, but it has no bearing on the game. You can't detect it, you can't target it, enemies aren't going to hit you with word of chaos or blasphemy, there is no alignment listing anywhere in the game so it's just your opinion and your ideal of your character's behaviour. That's it.
There are no outer planes:
Summoning and calling work radically differently, at least in lore, and plane shift is replaced with greater teleport, which is a seemingly infinite range teleport, its stated range is so far above and beyond (10,000 miles per level) you can effectively teleport anywhere. Well, anywhere on THIS planet, that is. Word of Recall also has a range limit applied of 10,000 miles per level. There's a damn good lore reason for that, I assure you.
There's no resurrection, either:
Technically you can resurrect things in a very limited and restricted manner in-game, but we're talking a good-length quest to bring back one reasonably fresh dead guy. You are not just casting a spell and making death utterly meaningless.
New age categories:
Aelsif revamps the age category system. Age category primarily affects stats, but at the high and low end it affects movement speed and at the low end it also affects size.
Infant: (Unplayable)
Stats: -6 Str, -6 Fth, +6 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 2.
Speed: 10ft
This is an actual infant, anywhere from birth to two years. The stats above are based off an infant of around one year old, a fast crawler but unlikely to be walking or talking much just yet. This age category is not meant to be playable. They're weak, they're slow, and while they're certainly cute it doesn't make up for the burden they place on the party. Give mom some maternity leave, you don't want baby in the party.
Toddler: (DM discretion)
Stats: -4 Str, -4 Fth, +6 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 1.
Speed: 15ft
This is a toddler, anywhere from two years to four years. The stats are based off a toddler of about two years. A toddler may be a severely underpowered party member, but they make an adorable mascot. Unfortunately, that's about all they're good for early on. They aren't as much of a burden as an infant because they can walk at a decent-ish speed and have better stats, but they are a burden. That charisma bonus does have some uses, though, especially with a few particular classes like sorcerer and favored soul.
Child:
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Fth, +2 Dex, +4 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 1.
Speed: 20ft
Children are about what you'd expect, ranging from four years to ten years. The stats are based off a child of about six years. These characters are competent enough, but you may consider giving them adult supervision. Their movement speed is reasonable, in the sense that a halfling's movement speed is reasonable, their stats are overall decent and unlike other small, slow-moving party members they're unlikely to be offended if you have to carry them.
Adolescent:
Stats: -2 Fth, +2 Cha
Speed: 30ft
Adolescents are in the awkward years between ten and sixteen. The stats are based off a 12-year old preteen. These characters may be considered children or adults depending on jurisdiction. The fact that age of consent and age of majority are frequently 12 or below says some really unpleasant things about Aelsif, but it's important to keep in mind when you go travelling. They are also definitely competent enough not to need you to hold their hand. Their stat adjustments are all fairly negligible and they have no speed penalty.
Young adult:
Stats: Default.
Speed: 30ft
Young adult is also exactly what it sounds like, ranging from sixteen to twenty-six. The stats are based off somebody around age 20. This is the default age for a reason, it's the most common age for new soldiers, mercenaries, couriers, missionaries, explorers and just about everything else. Very few of the adventurer professions hire older than this, if you're just starting out you're probably a kid.
Adult:
Stats: -1 Str, -1 Dex, -1 Con, +2 Fth
Speed: 30ft
Adult is one of the largest age groups, ranging from twenty-six to thirty-six. Its effects are fairly simple, a -1 on all physical attributes, but +2 faith. While this is simple, a lot of variables will determine if that's worth it. Like whether you care about all three of those stats, and how long the campaign is. In the short-term it's definitely a strong starting point, but in the long run those stat penalties may be more significant.
Middle Age:
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Con, +4 Fth
Speed: 30ft
Middle age is the dreaded years from 36 to 50, where you're not as strong, as spry or as tough as you used to be, men lose almost all of their testosterone, women go into menopause, your hair starts falling out, you're sick half the year and you're ALWAYS tired. At the very least, it's better than what happens next. Sure, you're still good to do your job, but that won't last.
Elder: (DM discretion)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, +6 Fth
Speed: 20ft
As an elder between fifty and sixty-five, you know being old really, REALLY sucks. Take all the issues of middle age and add on "performance" issues and incontinence, a rapidly degrading mental state and even worse physicality than you already had. This is the point where your body is out of warrantee, and predictably you're falling apart. Age is definitely a net negative by this point, but in a faith-based class you may still be useful, so if you think you still have it in you grab your cane and start walking.
Senior: (DM discretion)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha, +8 Fth
Speed: 15ft
This is the senior citizen zone, from sixty-five to eighty. The stats above reflect pretty well the collapse of one's mind and body, as there's very little worthwhile left within you. But you do have one thing, you're stubborn and your faith is stronger now than it's ever been. Granted, that's because the smart part of your brain is failing and the dumb part is trying to compensate, but the people around you will mistake your animalistic ritualism for wisdom and it does genuinely make you a better caster in a few classes.
Ancient: (Unplayable)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, -4 Int, -4 Cha, +10 Fth
Speed: 10ft
This is the age class for people who really should be dead by now. Year-wise, it ranges from eighty on up. There's no true maximum age in this game, but suffice to say as an adventurer your life is over. You've degraded too far now, senility is in full swing and you can barely walk. It's about time to quit. This age category is not meant to be playable. Stop pushing the wheelchair and put grandad in a home.
Adjusting age for the 16 player races is easy, though they adjust much less than in other settings.
Lizardfolk, Sahuagin, Orcs & Kobolds: -25%
Humans, Hobgoblins, Goblins & Halflings: Listed ages
Dwarves, Gnomes, Korobokuru & Nezumi: +25%
Elves & Spirit Folk (bamboo, sea and river): +50%
This does not affect starting level.
If your race has a listed speed of 20ft, than:
Fast ages move at 20ft
Medium ages move at 15ft
Slow ages move at 10ft
Very slow ages move at 5ft
If you are a barbarian and at a load that makes you subject to fast movement:
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 40ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is now 10ft.
Armor:
Encumbrance:
If you take an armor penalty (medium or heavy armor) to base move speed, than:
If your speed was 40ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 10ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 5ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is still 5ft.
The heavy armor penalty to run speed still applies, characters in heavy armor can only run 3x speed, 4x with the run feat.
Encumbrance:
If you take an encumbrance penalty (medium or heavy load) to base move speed, than:
If your speed was 40ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 10ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 5ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is still 5ft.
The great NPC buff:
Humanoid characters have been heavily boosted by the rules changes, and NPCs got the best of it.
Unarmed strikes function as weapons:
When unarmed, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity, can make attacks of opportunity and deal lethal damage primarily with the standard -4 for nonlethal. Obviously, though, NPCs fighting will usually take the -4 to avoid killing eachother. Improved unarmed strike removes the penalty for nonlethal strikes, making them far better in a fist fight when they DON'T want to rupture internal organs.
There is no commoner class:
Commoner and aristocrat have been scrapped. That nobody NPC in front of you is probably an expert.
NPCs are higher level:
Almost all NPCs are 3rd level or higher. Even small children tend to be 2nd level, and again often higher. Everybody has at least a few hit dice.
Profession pays much better:
This skill was so ludicrously underpowered it served absolutely zero purpose in-game, so it was overhauled. I somehow doubt players are going to be using profession for long-term employment, unless they're filling the gap between campaigns. Mostly, this is a way to drum up quick cash through temp work and single shifts. And since I never, EVER use Wealth By Level under ANY circumstances, that's not as far fetched as you might think.
You have the option to look for a single shift, temp work or long-term work. Looking for a single shift takes one day, looking for temp work takes one week, looking for long-term work takes one month with the option to look for part-time only, full-time only or both (roll separately). It has a chance of success based on the economy, your skill and your wisdom. A roll within your profession/wisdom bonus is always in your chosen profession, a roll outside of it never is. When you find an employer, roll 1d20 and add a bonus based on the local economy and your profession to determine your wages at that job (in pence/hour), and roll percentile dice to see how many hours your shift is. At this point, you can either take the job or try again. Additionally, you must make a constitution check after each shift to avoid exhaustion, on a success another save must be made to avoid fatigue, and if you are working long-term you make a wisdom-modified profession check every month to avoid termination. Single shifts pay at the end of the shift, temp work pays at the end of each work week, and long-term jobs also pay on a weekly basis.
Roaring economy: 20+Proffession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 0.
Booming economy: 15+Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 5.
Average economy: 10+Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 10.
Recession: 5+Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 15.
Depression: Profession+Wis% job search success. Termination DC 20.
Excellent wages: +25p, +5p per rank of profession
Great wages: +20p, +4p per rank of profession
Good wages: +15p, +3p per rank of profession
Average wages: +10p, +2p per rank of profession
Poor wages: +5p, +1p per rank of profession
Terrible wages: +0p, +0p per rank of profession
Single shift hours:
76-00: 8 hours
51-75: 6 hours
26-50: 4 hours
01-25: 2 hours
Temp work hours:
81-00: 12 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
61-80: 10 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
41-60: 8 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
21-40: 6 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
01-20: 4 hours, 1d6 days/week, 1d6 weeks
Long-term (full time) work hours:
61-00: 12 hours, 1d4+2 days/week
31-60: 10 hours 1d4+2 days/week
11-20: 8 hours, 1d3+3 days/week
1-10: 6 hours, 1d2+4 days/week
Long-term (part time) work hours:
61-00: 10 hours, 1d2 days/week
31-60: 8 hours 1d3 days/week
11-20: 6 hours, 1d4 days/week
1-10: 4 hours, 1d6 days/week
Fatigue check DC:
Hard manual labour: 10+ shift hours
Average: 10+1/2 shift hours
Desk work: 10+1/4 shift hours
Weapons are stronger due to material types:
The standard material that functions as in SRD is iron. There are many other materials now, all of which inflict more damage by increasing the size of the weapon's damage dice. The best you can get is four sizes larger, which makes a 1d4 dagger inflict 1d12, a 1d8 sword inflict 2d10, and a 2d6 greatsword inflict 4d8. While the material required for that leap (celestial steel) is exceptionally uncommon, most weapons will have dice 1-2 sizes larger than normal. A dagger will deal 1d6 or 1d8, a sword 1d10 or 1d12, a greatsword 2d8 or 2d10. Better materials also have more hit points and hardness, and enhancement also exists to add up to +5 to each of those.
Rusty: Damage dice decreased one size, hardness 5, 1/2 hp, £/10
Iron: Standard, hardness 10, 1x hp, £
Steel: Damage dice increased one size, hardness 15, 2x hp, £x10
Tempered steel: Damage dice increased two sizes, hardness 20, 3x hp, £x100
Royal steel: Damage dice increased three sizes, hardness 25, 4x hp, £x1,000
Celestial weapon steel: Damage dice increased four sizes, hardness 30, 5x hp, £x10,000
Copper: Damage dice decreased two sizes, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £
Bronze: Standard, decreased one size, hardness 10, 2x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £x10
Jungle bronze: Hardness 15, 3x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £x100
Royal bronze: Damage dice increased one size, hardness 20, 4x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: Damage dice increased two sizes, hardness 25, 5x hp, immune to rust and half acid damage,£x10,000
Wood: Damage dice decreased two sizes, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust, cannot be repaired except by magic, £/100
Stone: Standard, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust, cannot be repaired except by magic, £
Obsidian: Damage dice increased two sizes, hardness 5, 1x hp, immune to rust, cannot be repaired except by magic, £x100
Fixed damage
d2
d3
d4
d6
d8
d10
d12
2d8
2d10
2d12
4d8
Etcetera
Firearms exist and are useful:
Firearms in Aelsif come in a variety of designs, ranging from simple muzzle-loaders to early semi-automatic weaponry, though semi-automatic weapons are exceedingly rare, expensive and require an exotic proficiency. The muzzle-loaders are extremely powerful shot for shot and are fairly cheap, but they get a single shot with a lengthy reload, and their alternate versions have better range but deal less damage. The manually-operated weapons deal much less damage but they hold more shots and have a similar reload time. The semi-automatic weapons deal even less damage, but they hold more shots and have a shorter reload. These do not benefit from material types, however, so they must rely on special ammunition later in the game.
Musket:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 2d12, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Two rounds, one round with a paper cartridge
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 10lbs
Cost: 50£*
Ammunition type: Musket ball
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
*The elven pound replaces the gold piece entirely in Aelsif, with the pence replacing the copper piece and no other coinage being present.
While considered obsolete by the developed nations, muskets are very common civilian and militia weapons throughout the world, and poorer nations continue to use them as their primary weapon. This weapon's .94 ball deals impressive damage, but its lack of range and accuracy make it an inferior weapon in most cases.
(This weapon is based off the Long Land Pattern Musket, or "Brown Bess". It fires a substantially larger ball than Bess did, a cheap attempt by the manufacturers of this obsolete weapon to make up for its inadequacies.)
Musket rifle:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 2d10, pierce
Range increment: 120ft
Reload: Two rounds, one round with paper cartridges
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 10lbs
Cost: 100£
Ammunition type: Minié ball
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
The standard military weapon of most nations in Aelsif is the musket rifle, usually loaded with paper cartridges. While its .79 Minié ball doesn't as much punch as the musket's .94 ball, musket rifles have much better range.
(This weapon classification includes both musket-rifles and muzzle-loading rifles. The difference being musket-rifles are converted muskets and muzzle-loading rifles were built that way. It is most closely based off the P1851 Minié Rifle, a muzzle-loading rifle in .71 calibre.)
Repeating rifle:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d12, pierce
Range increment: 120ft
Reload: Full reload in two rounds, reloads two cartridges in one round
Special: Can fire six rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 8lbs
Cost: 500£
Ammunition type: Repeater cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
The lever-action repeating rifle is considered a state of the art weapon in most parts of the world, able to rapidly fire .47 calibre cartridges. While only the Gnomelands give these out as standard-issue weapons, several developed nations issue these to elite units and wealthy private citizens often purchase repeating rifles for personal use.
(This weapon is based off the Winchester Model 1873. Its .47 has case dimensions of 12x36mm compared to the .44-40's case dimensions of 11x33mm, and is a slightly harder hitting weapon.)
Automatic* rifle:
Proficiency: Exotic
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d10, pierce
Range increment: 120ft
Reload: Full reload in one round
Special: Can fire ten rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 8lbs
Cost: 2500£
Ammunition type: Automatic cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
*This is using "automatic" in the historical sense. In modern terminology, this is a semi-automatic weapon.
While too new to have been adopted by any military, even in the Gnomelands, the .31 Automatic Rifle is produced by a private Gnomish manufacturer, loading with a detachable 10-round box magazine. While it is considered treason to willfully allow automatics to leave the country, there is a thriving black market charging exorbitant prices for these impressive weapons.
(This weapon is based off the Winchester Model 1905. Its .31 calibre round has case dimensions of 8x32mm, compared to the .32 Winchester's 8x31, and it is a very similar weapon in use.)
Pistol:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 18-20, x2
Damage: 2d8, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Full round action, move action with paper cartridges
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 25£
Ammunition type: Pistol ball
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed without penalty.
A common civilian weapon, the obsolete smoothbore pistol has a large .63 bore but very little range.
(Based most directly off of Queen Anne style Duelling Pistols, old 18th century English pistols most prominently manufactured in .58 calibre.)
Dueling pistol:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 2d6, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Full round action
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 50£
Ammunition type: Pistol Minié
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed without penalty.
The dueling pistol features a rifled barrel at the cost of a smaller .47 bore, which made it the go-to choice of duelists until it was supplanted by the revolver.
(This is based off of later, 19th century percussion cap Duelling Pistols. The rifling here is much heavier than the scratch rifling of the era, but that's because in real life using a rifled pistol was considered "unsporting" and the cheaters had to hide it. Pistols of this type were most commonly .45, so this is a very normal pistol.)
Revolver:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d10, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Two rounds, one round with speedloader.
Special: Can fire six rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 200£
Ammunition type: Revolver cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
Much more common than the repeating rifle, the revolver is widely issued as an officer's sidearm and is a favourite weapon of wealthy private citizens. Accurate and able to sustain a good rate of fire, the revolver's only real drawback is poor stopping power.
(This weapon is based off of the Colt M1892, a very early double-action revolver. Its .39 has case dimensions of 10x30, compared to the .38 Long Colt's 9x26mm, giving it better stopping power, something the M1892 legendarily lacked.)
Automatic* pistol:
Proficiency: Exotic
Critical: 19-20, x2
Damage: 1d8, pierce
Range increment: 60ft
Reload: Full-round action.
Special: Can fire ten rounds before needing to reload.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 1000£
Ammunition type: Automatic cartridge
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
*Again, this is using the historical sense.
Often just referred to as "The Automatic", the Gnomish pistol is the most expensive handgun in the world, and widely considered to be the best. While manufactured in a variety of sizes and calibres, such as the .31 listed above, the most common is the Gnomish .24, awkwardly small in the hands of men but perfect for Gnomish officers.
(This weapon is based off the Mauser C96, its case dimensions of 8x24 being slightly larger than the 7.63x25mm Mauser and packing a little more punch, though that's not saying much.)
Blunderbuss:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d8, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Two rounds
Special: Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 10lbs
Cost: 50£
Ammunition type: Shot
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
The blunderbuss is a dangerous muzzle-loading firearm commonly used to hunt game and for civilian self-defence. Unfortunately, its short range and poor performance against even the lightest armour prevents it from seeing military use, even in poor nations.
(Based off the Harper's Ferry blunderbuss, as used by the Lewis & Clark expedition.)
Repeating shotgun:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d6, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Two rounds reloads fully, one round reloads two shells.
Special: This weapon can be fired six times before needing to reload. Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 8lbs
Cost: 500£
Ammunition type: Shotshell
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed at a -4 penalty to hit.
Rarely produced, even more rarely issued, the lever-action repeating shotgun is mostly a weapon for sport hunting amongst wealthy private citizens and royalty in particular. Its low capacity, short range and poor stopping power make it unsuited to combat, however, and the price doesn't help.
(Based off of the Winchester 1887, a 12-guage lever-action shotgun.)
Dragon:
Proficiency: Simple
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d6, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: One round
Special: Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 50£
Ammunition type: Dragon shot
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
The dragon is a pistol blunderbuss, known for its great kick and questionable stopping power. While against unarmoured opponents it is very effective, the dragon is ineffectual against even the lightest armour and has no military applications as a result.
(Based off the Royal Mail Blunderbuss, a short-barrelled late 18th century flintlock.)
Repeating shotpistol:
Proficiency: Martial
Critical: 20, x2
Damage: 1d4, pierce
Range increment: 30ft
Reload: Two rounds reloads fully, one round reloads two shells.
Special: This weapon can be fired six times before needing to reload. Fires 10 pellets. If an attack successfully hits, it hits 1d10 times.
Hardness: 5
HP: 25
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 500£
Ammunition type: Shotshell
Requires two hands to reload, but can be fired one-handed with no penalty.
For good reason, this is the least popular firearm in the world. It has great potential damage at close range due to its rate of fire and the combined damage of its shot, but it is often defeated by heavy clothing in a way no firearm should be. Still sees niche use for small game hunting and as a personal self defence weapon against animal attacks, though most people who need something for that purpose can't afford to spend 500£.
(Not directly based off of any particular weapon, but revolvers made for small-bore shotshells do exist, and are usually called "backpacker" shotguns. And yes, they're designed for small game hunting and emergency defence against animal attacks, which is a thing they are actually pretty good at.)
Pistol balls: 5£/20 (4lbs)
Pistol minie: 8£/20 (4lbs)
Revolver cartridge: 20£/30 (3lbs)
Automatic cartridge: 20£/30 (3lbs)
Musket balls: 10£/20 (8lbs)
Minie balls: 15£/20 (8lbs)
Repeater cartridge: 40£/30 (6lbs)
Automatic rifle cartridge: 40£/40 (6lbs)
Grapeshot: 30£/20 (16lbs)
Repeater shotshell: 40£/30 (12lbs)
Dragon shot: 30£/20 (8lbs)
Revolver shotshell: 40£/30 (6lbs)
Heavy weapons can destroy an entire party:
There exist crew-served weapons in Aelsif, primarily cannons and mortars but also including hand-cranked gatling guns. These weapons, poorly approached, can easily result in a TPK. Cannons deal extremely high damage to a single target, mortars deal half that much damage in an area and gatling guns hit multiple times per attack for very ordinary damage and can attack repeatedly before reloading. All heavy weapons use touch attacks or AoE.
Grenades are a thing:
Want a grenade? You can have a grenade. These are old-school fuse-lit grenades, resembling a metal sphere the size of a fist. They deal decent damage in an area, though casters can easily exceed their damage. Firebombs are much the same, only a smaller area and they deal their damage over time to everything in that area, largely acting as an obstacle rather than a functional weapon unless the target can't move and has really low fire resistance.
Molotov:
Range: 30ft + 5ft/STR
Spread: 10ft
Damage: 1d6/round
Duration: 10 rounds
Save: Reflex, 20
Craft DC: 10
Cost: £5
Weight: 2lbs
A molotov cocktail is a glass bottle filled with flammable material, typically petroleum. You must have a means of lighting a molotov to make use of it. You may throw it a distance of up to 30ft plus 5ft for each point of strength bonus. Throwing it at a particular space sets everything currently within that area on fire for 1d6 fire damage per round for 10 rounds. Anything within the area affected by the molotov cocktail takes an additional 1d6 fire damage, as does anything that grapples or is grappled by a creature set on fire by the molotov. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 20 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +4 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.
(Yes, this renders alchemist's fire completely obsolete. It's supposed to.)
Grenade:
Range: 30ft + 5ft/STR
Spread: 20ft
Damage: 5d6 Piercing
Delay: 1-2 rounds
Save: Reflex, 15
Craft DC: 15
Cost: £25
Weight: 2lbs
A grenade is an iron sphere loaded with gunpowder and shot, detonated by a fuse. You must have a means of lighting a grenade to make use of it. You may throw it a distance of up to 30ft plus 5ft for each point of strength bonus. At the start of the next combat round, the grenade will detonate and pelt everything within 20ft with shrapnel for 5d6 points of piercing damage.
Dynamite:
Range: 30ft + 5ft/STR
Spread: 10ft
Damage: 10d6 bludgeon
Delay: 1-5 Rounds
Save: Reflex, 20
Craft DC: 20
Cost: £50
Weight: 2lbs
Dynamite is an explosive consisting of nitroglycerin soaked into diatomaceous earth and encased in a paper tubing. Fairly new to Aelsif, dynamite has revolutionized the mining industry and almost immediately seen use an an improvised explosive weapon. You must have a means of lighting a grenade to make use of it. You may throw it a distance of up to 30ft plus 5ft for each point of strength bonus. At the start of the next combat round, the grenade will detonate and blast within 10ft with a powerful shockwave for 10d6 points of bludgeon damage.
There are now five classifications of armour:
These are clothing, light, medium, heavy and assault. There's two standard armours in each class, three for clothing. These are light, medium and heavy clothing, gambeson (padded armour), byrnie (chainshirt), cuirass (breastplate), hauberk (chainmail), brigandine and plate. Above that are o-yoroi armor, cataphract armor and tournament armor, stupidly heavy gear designed strictly for shock cavalry and unfit for use on foot. The AC progression is still the same. The importance of adding clothing to the list is that you can get 0-2 points of AC without having to have any armour proficiencies, as all classes are proficient with clothing. It also does not cause arcane spell failure.
Armour also adds damage reduction:
Armour is still primarily about AC, but DR is a useful secondary effect determined by material. The heavier the armour, the more DR it adds. Clothing adds 0-5 (usually 1), light armour adds 0-10 (usually 2), medium armour adds 0-15 (usually 3) and heavy armour adds 0-20 (usually 4). Super heavy gear also exists, which provides 0-25 DR (usually 5). This may not be enough DR to stop incoming attacks from equal-level enemies and there is always one damage type to bypass it, but it does definitely make a difference. Armour also provides energy resistance, equal to its DR. The full table is below.
Note: Super heavy armor is still a heavy load, but prevents a character from running, limiting them to a 2x hustle and no faster. It is, of course, meant ONLY for cavalry.
Light cloth
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +0
Dex cap: +10
DR 1/Slashing
Armor check penalty: 0
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 50
Weight: 1lbs
Cost: 1£
Light leather
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +0
Dex cap: +10
DR 1/Piercing
Armor check penalty: 0
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 50
Weight: 1lbs
Cost: 1£
Cloth:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +1
Dex cap: +9
DR 1/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -1
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 60
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 5£
Leather:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +1
Dex cap: +9
DR 1/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -1
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 60
Weight: 2lbs
Cost: 5£
Heavy cloth:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +2
Dex cap: +8
DR 1/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -2
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 70
Weight: 5lbs
Cost: 10£
Heavy leather:
Proficiency: Clothing
Armor bonus: +2
Dex cap: +8
DR 1/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -2
Arcane spell failure: 0%
HP: 70
Weight: 5lbs
Cost: 10£
Gambeson:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +3
Dex cap: +7
DR 2/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -3
Arcane spell failure: 15%
Weight: 10lbs
HP: 80
Cost: 20£
Scale:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +3
Dex cap: +7
DR 2/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -3
Arcane spell failure: 15%
Weight: 10lbs
HP: 80
Cost: 20£
Byrnie:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +4
Dex cap: +6
DR 2/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -4
Arcane spell failure: 20%
Weight: 20lbs
HP: 90
Cost: 40£
Lamellar:
Proficiency: Light armor
Armor bonus: +4
Dex cap: +6
DR 2/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -4
Arcane spell failure: 20%
Weight: 20lbs
HP: 90
Cost: 40£
Breastplate:
Proficiency: Medium armor
Armor bonus: +5
Dex cap: +5
DR 3/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -5
Arcane spell failure: 25%
Weight: 30lbs
HP: 100
Cost: 100£
Hauberk:
Proficiency: Medium armor
Armor bonus: +6
Dex cap: +4
DR 3/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -6
Arcane spell failure: 30%
Weight: 40lbs
HP: 110
Cost: 200£
Brigandine:
Proficiency: Heavy armor
Armor bonus: +7
Dex cap: +3
DR 4/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -7
Arcane spell failure: 35%
Weight: 50lbs
HP: 120
Cost: 500£
Plate:
Proficiency: Heavy armor
Armor bonus: +8
Dex cap: +2
DR 4/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -8
Arcane spell failure: 40%
Weight: 60lbs
HP: 130
Cost: 1000£
O-yoroi:
Proficiency: Assault armor
Armor bonus: +9
Dex cap: +1
DR 5/Slashing
Armor check penalty: -9
Arcane spell failure: 45%
Weight: 70lbs
HP: 140
Cost: 2500£
Cataphract armor:
Proficiency: Assault armor
Armor bonus: +9
Dex cap: +1
DR 5/Piercing
Armor check penalty: -9
Arcane spell failure: 45%
Weight: 70lbs
HP: 140
Cost: 2500£
Tournament armor:
Proficiency: Assault armor
Armor bonus: +10
Dex cap: +0
DR 5/Bludgeon
Armor check penalty: -10
Arcane spell failure: 50%
Weight: 80lbs
HP: 150
Cost: 5000£
Light cloth, cloth, heavy cloth:
Rags: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Cotton: DR 1, £
Hemp: DR 2, 2x hit points, £x10
Linen: DR 3, 3x hit points, £x100
Silk: DR 4, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial fabric: DR 5, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Light leather, leather, heavy leather:
Hides: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Plain leather: DR 1, £
Treated leather: DR 2, 2x hit points, £x10
Reptile skin: DR 3, 3x hit points, £x100
Chitin: DR 4, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial synthetic: DR 5, 5x hit points, £10,000
Gambeson:
Ragged: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Unstuffed: DR 2, 1x hit points, £
Hair stuffed: DR 4, 2x hit points, £x10
Flax stuffed: DR 6, 3x hit points, £x100
Silk stuffed: DR 8, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor fiber: DR 10, 5x hit points, £10,000
Byrnie/Scale/lamellar:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 2, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 4, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 6, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 8, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 10, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 2, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 4, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 6, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 8, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
Breastplate & Hauberk:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 3, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 6, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 9, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 12, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 15, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 3, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 6, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 9, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 12, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
Brigandine & Plate:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 4, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 8, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 12, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 16, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 20, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 4, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 8, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 12, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 16, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
O-yoroi, cataphract & tournament armor:
Rusty: DR 0, 1/2 hit points, £/10
Iron: DR 5, 1x hit points, £
Steel: DR 10, 2x hit points, £x10
Hardened steel: DR 15, 3x hit points, £x100
Royal steel: DR 20, 4x hit points, £x1,000
Celestial armor steel: DR 25, 5x hit points, £x10,000
Copper: DR 0, 1x hit points, immune to rust, £
Bronze: DR 5, 2x hit points, immune to rust, £x10
Hardened bronze: DR 10, 3x hit points, immune to rust, £x100
Jungle bronze: DR 15, 4x hit points, immune to rust, £x1,000
Celestial bronze: DR 20, 5x hit points, immune to rust, £x10,000
Shields also add their bonus to your reflex save:
What it says. Also, bucklers need a hand because bucklers are ALWAYS centre-grip shields. Shields use the same materials as weapons, with the same effects.
Improvised weapons don't suck:
They no longer get a -4. They don't receive enhancement bonuses, but as long as they are reasonably sized they make decent weapons. That NPC thief with the crowbar? They will smash your skull straight open.
New feats:
Just to enhance this, there are a number of new feats. These include, but are not limited to, "Brutality" (killing an enemy causes remaining enemies to become shaken, especially good at dispersing pack animals), "Edge Alignment" (slash weapons can use dex for damage), "Wounding Strike" (criticals deal constitution damage), and "Armour focus" (+2 AC with armour of a particular type).
The great creature nerf:
Creatures, animals in particular, have been nerfed. There's only three parts to this.
The AC nerf:
Most animals cannot block or dodge. As such, they have lost their base 10 AC. This means most animals will have 10 less AC than they used to. That is, a wolf's AC drops from 14 to 4, a brown bear's AC drops from 15 to 5. That AC isn't completely irrelevant, but most attacks aimed at animals will hit, since they can't block or dodge. Any animal that can dodge but couldn't block (that is, any biped without arms, and any animal flying that is rated average or better) gets base 5 AC. Any animal that could block but couldn't dodge (any non-biped with arms) also gets base 5 AC. Only characters who can both block and dodge (bipeds with arms) get base 10 AC.
The special attack nerf:
Grapple attempts and similar special attacks (trip, sunder) made by creatures without hands get a -4. That includes those made with bites. That -4 also applies to rolls to resist these effects. Whether you're taking the bull by the horns, you're pulling away from a wolf bite or the monkey on a bear's back, you've got a 4 point advantage.
Bites now provoke attacks of opportunity:
Any bite attack provokes and cannot make attacks of opportunity. This means any animal that has no other offensive option eats a shot to the skull each time it tries to attack. This nerf is partly for realism and party because the pierce/slash/bludgeon trifecta would be super OP against armour in ways a real bite simply isn't and needed balancing.
The result of the NPC buff and animal nerf:
Your average NPC will no longer lose a fight with a ****ING HOUSE CAT. In fact, they should win a fight with any animal that they wouldn't lose a fight to in real life. Some larger animals are still a lethal threat to the typical NPC, but weapons and armour overturn that pretty easily, and even without them NPCs can easily kill larger creatures by ganging up on them.
Animal armor:
To prevent rangers from being hit too hard, animals can now wear armour. It is identical to human armor, you use tricks to make them proficient.
Miscellaneous:
There are some other changes, as well.
Wisdom is now faith:
Faith is the new, more appropriately named replacement for wisdom. It represents the strength of a character's convictions, and is closely related to belief and willpower. While high-faith characters suffer in terms of behaviour, largely due to their inherent closed-mindedness, their stats definitely benefit. Faith steals the concentration skill from constitution, but otherwise affects no skills. All of wisdom's skills have been moved to intelligence or charisma. Faith's new benefit is spell resistance, characters now gain spell resistance equal to their character level (NOT hit dice) plus their faith modifier. It isn't much spell resistance, but it's not a bad amount.
Crit immunity is not a thing:
Anything can be critically hit and sneak attacked, end of story.
You now die at -100%:
This is straight forward. See your max HP? You now die at negative that. If you have 13hp, you die at -13. If you have 150hp, you die at -150. However, you cannot regain consciousness without first recovering all of your negative hit points, you don't have a 10% chance of just miraculously getting back up after stabilising. Instead, all it means is you won't actually die. Any damage while under 0 HP will start you dying again.
Magic doesn't stabilize:
Being healed by a spell does not automatically stabilize you, ot even if you are healed to 0 or into a positive hit point total. You are still disabled at 0 while dying, and still fully functional above 0 while dying. Only a heal check, natural stabilization, restoration (including lesser) or returning to full HP will stop you from dying. The heal DC is now 10 plus how far below 0 the target is, and stabilisation chance is 1%.
Alternative massive damage:
The new massive damage threshold is equal to twice your hit dice. There is no save. Failure causes you to start dying, but you don't immediately lose consciousness. See above. Creatures immune to wounding, bleeding or critical hits are immune to massive damage as well.
SR is voluntary:
It only applies when you want it to, as it is fluffed as stemming from mental focus against magic. A "Reject your reality" kind of thing. It will not prevent buffs or healing.
Cantrips and orisons are infinite use:
See Pathfinder for details. In exchange, cure and inflict minor wounds have been removed entirely. And virtue never stacked, by the way, don't try and pull that.
There are NO alignments:
Alignments do not exist. If you want to make a LG character, you can, but it has no bearing on the game. You can't detect it, you can't target it, enemies aren't going to hit you with word of chaos or blasphemy, there is no alignment listing anywhere in the game so it's just your opinion and your ideal of your character's behaviour. That's it.
There are no outer planes:
Summoning and calling work radically differently, at least in lore, and plane shift is replaced with greater teleport, which is a seemingly infinite range teleport, its stated range is so far above and beyond (10,000 miles per level) you can effectively teleport anywhere. Well, anywhere on THIS planet, that is. Word of Recall also has a range limit applied of 10,000 miles per level. There's a damn good lore reason for that, I assure you.
There's no resurrection, either:
Technically you can resurrect things in a very limited and restricted manner in-game, but we're talking a good-length quest to bring back one reasonably fresh dead guy. You are not just casting a spell and making death utterly meaningless.
New age categories:
Aelsif revamps the age category system. Age category primarily affects stats, but at the high and low end it affects movement speed and at the low end it also affects size.
Infant: (Unplayable)
Stats: -6 Str, -6 Fth, +6 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 2.
Speed: 10ft
This is an actual infant, anywhere from birth to two years. The stats above are based off an infant of around one year old, a fast crawler but unlikely to be walking or talking much just yet. This age category is not meant to be playable. They're weak, they're slow, and while they're certainly cute it doesn't make up for the burden they place on the party. Give mom some maternity leave, you don't want baby in the party.
Toddler: (DM discretion)
Stats: -4 Str, -4 Fth, +6 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 1.
Speed: 15ft
This is a toddler, anywhere from two years to four years. The stats are based off a toddler of about two years. A toddler may be a severely underpowered party member, but they make an adorable mascot. Unfortunately, that's about all they're good for early on. They aren't as much of a burden as an infant because they can walk at a decent-ish speed and have better stats, but they are a burden. That charisma bonus does have some uses, though, especially with a few particular classes like sorcerer and favored soul.
Child:
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Fth, +2 Dex, +4 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 1.
Speed: 20ft
Children are about what you'd expect, ranging from four years to ten years. The stats are based off a child of about six years. These characters are competent enough, but you may consider giving them adult supervision. Their movement speed is reasonable, in the sense that a halfling's movement speed is reasonable, their stats are overall decent and unlike other small, slow-moving party members they're unlikely to be offended if you have to carry them.
Adolescent:
Stats: -2 Fth, +2 Cha
Speed: 30ft
Adolescents are in the awkward years between ten and sixteen. The stats are based off a 12-year old preteen. These characters may be considered children or adults depending on jurisdiction. The fact that age of consent and age of majority are frequently 12 or below says some really unpleasant things about Aelsif, but it's important to keep in mind when you go travelling. They are also definitely competent enough not to need you to hold their hand. Their stat adjustments are all fairly negligible and they have no speed penalty.
Young adult:
Stats: Default.
Speed: 30ft
Young adult is also exactly what it sounds like, ranging from sixteen to twenty-six. The stats are based off somebody around age 20. This is the default age for a reason, it's the most common age for new soldiers, mercenaries, couriers, missionaries, explorers and just about everything else. Very few of the adventurer professions hire older than this, if you're just starting out you're probably a kid.
Adult:
Stats: -1 Str, -1 Dex, -1 Con, +2 Fth
Speed: 30ft
Adult is one of the largest age groups, ranging from twenty-six to thirty-six. Its effects are fairly simple, a -1 on all physical attributes, but +2 faith. While this is simple, a lot of variables will determine if that's worth it. Like whether you care about all three of those stats, and how long the campaign is. In the short-term it's definitely a strong starting point, but in the long run those stat penalties may be more significant.
Middle Age:
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Con, +4 Fth
Speed: 30ft
Middle age is the dreaded years from 36 to 50, where you're not as strong, as spry or as tough as you used to be, men lose almost all of their testosterone, women go into menopause, your hair starts falling out, you're sick half the year and you're ALWAYS tired. At the very least, it's better than what happens next. Sure, you're still good to do your job, but that won't last.
Elder: (DM discretion)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, +6 Fth
Speed: 20ft
As an elder between fifty and sixty-five, you know being old really, REALLY sucks. Take all the issues of middle age and add on "performance" issues and incontinence, a rapidly degrading mental state and even worse physicality than you already had. This is the point where your body is out of warrantee, and predictably you're falling apart. Age is definitely a net negative by this point, but in a faith-based class you may still be useful, so if you think you still have it in you grab your cane and start walking.
Senior: (DM discretion)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha, +8 Fth
Speed: 15ft
This is the senior citizen zone, from sixty-five to eighty. The stats above reflect pretty well the collapse of one's mind and body, as there's very little worthwhile left within you. But you do have one thing, you're stubborn and your faith is stronger now than it's ever been. Granted, that's because the smart part of your brain is failing and the dumb part is trying to compensate, but the people around you will mistake your animalistic ritualism for wisdom and it does genuinely make you a better caster in a few classes.
Ancient: (Unplayable)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Con, -4 Int, -4 Cha, +10 Fth
Speed: 10ft
This is the age class for people who really should be dead by now. Year-wise, it ranges from eighty on up. There's no true maximum age in this game, but suffice to say as an adventurer your life is over. You've degraded too far now, senility is in full swing and you can barely walk. It's about time to quit. This age category is not meant to be playable. Stop pushing the wheelchair and put grandad in a home.
Adjusting age for the 16 player races is easy, though they adjust much less than in other settings.
Lizardfolk, Sahuagin, Orcs & Kobolds: -25%
Humans, Hobgoblins, Goblins & Halflings: Listed ages
Dwarves, Gnomes, Korobokuru & Nezumi: +25%
Elves & Spirit Folk (bamboo, sea and river): +50%
This does not affect starting level.
If your race has a listed speed of 20ft, than:
Fast ages move at 20ft
Medium ages move at 15ft
Slow ages move at 10ft
Very slow ages move at 5ft
If you are a barbarian and at a load that makes you subject to fast movement:
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 40ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is now 10ft.
Armor:
Encumbrance:
If you take an armor penalty (medium or heavy armor) to base move speed, than:
If your speed was 40ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 10ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 5ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is still 5ft.
The heavy armor penalty to run speed still applies, characters in heavy armor can only run 3x speed, 4x with the run feat.
Encumbrance:
If you take an encumbrance penalty (medium or heavy load) to base move speed, than:
If your speed was 40ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 10ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 5ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is still 5ft.