Ghostfoot's Variant Rule Playtest [PF1]

[Ghostfoot]

Warning: The main purpose of this game is to test out some ill-conceived house rules & variant rules. The game is intended to be fast-paced, roll-play not role-play, and will very likely be unbalanced & perhaps require tweaking “on the fly”.

Exact adventure tbc

Spoiler: The Big 16

Show

1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?

Pathfinder 1E

2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?

To be agreed by the players, most likely a single dungeon from a Paizo AP.

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?

4

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?

Here - GitP forums.

Ideally at least 1 brief post each day to keep things moving. Mechanics only, no fluff needed.

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?

Level 1 (0 xp).

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?

150gp.
No alchemy items to be purchased (except holy water)
No magic items to be purchased.

7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?

Only official Paizo classes are allowed.
Must use Unchained variant where available.

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?

PC must be Human only.
Cohort (see below) may be any official Paizo race.

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?

PF 15 point buy, with a range of 3-18 (That's right you can go below 7).
Humans have a maximum starting score of 18 after racial adjustments.

Max hp for 1st level. Half max + 0.5 (rounded up) thereafter.
You can buy extra maximum hp using retraining rules here (not that it matters for your level 1 PC).

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?

Yes and it is mechanically significant (see below).

11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?

Standard rules. You may use variant multi-classing for your character (VMC) if you wish.

12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?

All die rolls on the GitPs forums - either in the OOC forum or in spoilers in the IC forum please. I will roll initiative, saves and certain skill checks for you. Basically anything reactive I will roll in order to speed play up. You can do all of the proactive rolls for your character.

13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.

2 traits allowed
1 drawback (+ 3rd trait) allowed

Major gameplay changes:

1. Bell-Curve Rolls (based on Alignment)
   
   • If you are Lawful you roll 3d6 in place of 1d20
   • If you are Neutral you roll 2d10 in place of 1d20
   • If you are Chaotic you continue to roll 1d20 as normal
     New Critical Threat ranges will be provided for Lawful & Neutral characters.
2. Damage Conversion (3.5 UA)
   
   • When damaged with an attack vs AC, an amount of hp damage = Armour bonus is converted to nonlethal damage
   • This damage (less hardness) is also incurred by the armour
3. Slower Magical Healing (3.5 UA)
   
   • Magical healing converts lethal damage to nonlethal damage.
   • Magical healing only heals nonlethal damage once lethal damage is completely healed (ie sequentially not concurrently).

Major character generation changes:

1. Cantrips are nerfed (details tbc). They can be cast as nerfed 0-level spells or as 1st level spells with normal effect.
2. Everyone gets Combat Stamina as a bonus feat
3. Every PC gets a variant Leadership as a bonus feat
   
   • PC Leadership score is (level + Cha bonus). -1 penalty if party is 4+ PCs. -1 penalty for each X/Y alignment step difference of PC vs Cohort.
   • If Leadership is 0+ then PC receives a Cohort
   • Cohort minimum level is ½ (ie level 1 NPC Class). Subject to the minimum, the maximum Cohort level is PC level -2.
   • Cohort has a 3 point buy (15 point buy once heroic classed)
   • Cohort can be any playable race
   • Cohort begins with 0gp wealth, clothing only. You must pay to equip them.
   • Half max + 0.5 (rounded up) hp (again, you may purchase hp for them)
   • Warrior class Cohort can swap Medium and/ or Heavy AP for Combat Feats
   • Aristocrat class Cohort can swap Medium and/ or Heavy AP for non-Combat Feats
   • Cohort is generally player-controlled - but in combat must roll Int or lower each round or GM determines action for that round
   • GM will determine Cohort Morale periodically as needed

Minor character generation changes:

1. Background skills are in effect.
2. Illiterate
   
   • Bonus literacy in (Half Int bonus rounded up) languages, or spend a Linguistics skill point
3. Knowledge skills don’t identify monsters
   
   • You can take untrained ranks in new skill Monster Lore (separate skill per creature type)

14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?

None.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?

Hack & slash, no RP. This is an experiment.

16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?

1pp Paizo

Party roster

Player	Character	Alignment	Race	Class	Cohort
Pelanan	?	?	Human	?	?
?	?	?	Human	?	?
?	?	?	Human	?	?
?	?	?	Human	?	?