Review: Advanced Class Guide Playtest

"I'm surprised by how much I enjoy these new classes. Each appears to balance roleplaying and combat effectiveness and is unique enough to inspire ideas for characters I'd love to see on the table."

This week, Paizo released a playtest version of their upcoming Advanced Class Guide. The playtest includes 20-level write-ups for 10 new classes, each a merger of two current classes. You can download your copy of the playtest here.

The classes include:

Arcanist: Sorcerer and Wizard
Bloodrager: Barbarian and Sorcerer
Brawler: Fighter and Monk
Hunter: Druid and Ranger
Investigator: Alchemist and Rogue
Shaman: Oracle and Witch
Skald: Barbarian and Bard
Slayer: Ranger and Rogue
Swashbuckler: Fighter and Gunslinger
Warpriest: Cleric and Fighter

Behind the Screen: They Be Goblins

Spoiler Alert

The Behind the Screen series is intended for GMs looking for ideas on running Jade Regent, or advice about running long-term campaigns. Posts will include information that my players already know about the Jade Regent storyline, but may include spoilers for those who haven't played yet. You've been warned.

The original map of the Licktoad Village, suspended on 10' stilts.

The Licktoad Village was built using Dungeon Tiles from Mage Knight Dungeons. The trees were all handmade by my friend Ty. The statue of Lamashtu and the watering holes were a part of the Mage Knight Dungeons sets. Chief Gutwad's enormous throne was painted by my friend Doug Easterly. The barrels and supplies in the storage room were painted by Will Gustwiller. The barricade pieces and folding base were bought from War Zone Gaming Terrain.

Behind the Screen: The Rusty Dragon Inn

Spoiler Alert

The Behind the Screen series is intended for GMs looking for ideas on running Jade Regent, or advice about running long-term campaigns. Posts will include information that my players already know about the Jade Regent storyline, but may include spoilers for those who haven't played yet. You've been warned.

In the Beginning

Starting a campaign is a tricky thing. You need to hook the players, set the tone of your game, introduce the world, and people your setting with vibrant NPCs, while keeping the PCs the center of the story. Replace 'players' with readers, 'game' with novel, 'NPCs' with supporting characters, and 'PCs' with protagonists and you find yourself with the same challenges every modern writer faces when starting a new novel or short story. So why not borrow some tricks from the professionals?

Combat Reactions: Teamwork in Pathfinder

I love teamwork on the table, but it's one of those things that the Pathfinder rules don't promote as much as I'd like.

A few years ago, BadAxe Games put out a supplement called Trailblazer. I recently discovered it while wandering down an internet hole that started at a post on the Pathfinder Google+ community. The folks at Bad Axe apparently had the same thought as I did because they created a great set of rules called Combat Reactions.

A combat reaction allows you to take certain actions even when it isn't your turn; attacks of opportunity are a classic example of a combat reaction. Trailblazer pulls actions like Aid Another into the same family as AoO, allowing characters to use their often-wasted AoO to promote teamwork on the field.

Around the same time I discovered Trailblazer, I read an intriguing post from gamer and blogger Brandes Stoddard at Harbinger of Doom on what he calls 'Giving Ground,' a technique that fits beautifully under the combat reaction umbrella.

I've adopted both of these ideas, tweaked them a bit and will be playtesting them in my Jade Regent game soon.

Combat Reactions

Combat reactions allow you to perform special actions any time during a round, not only on your own turn. Combat reactions are considered immediate actions and you may take 1 combat reaction per round at 1st level. You gain an additional combat reaction when your Base Attack Bonus (BAB) reaches +6, +11, and +16. The Combat Reflexes feat gives you a starting number of combat reactions equal to your Dexterity score.

Aid Ally

If you are threatening an opponent that is engaging an ally in melee combat, you can assist your ally as a combat reaction. Multiple allies can aid the same target. Aid ally combat reaction bonuses stack with each other, but not with other circumstance bonuses.

System Agnostic: Splitting the Party

Rich Burlew isn't stressed by splitting the party,
you shouldn't be either.

Last week on the Pathfinder Google Community, there was a conversation about party splitting. It started with a question like this:

"How do you handle nights when your party is splitting up to accomplish personal interests? Two players have business in one part of the city, another has a profession they are working on and a couple others have NPCs they want to visit. I feel like I am doing an OK job of giving everyone their own turn but, I'm curious how other GMs might handle this?"

Every GM runs into this at one point or another. Some GMs feel comfortable jumping from group to group, keeping the action moving, skipping die rolls and "going cinematic" in non-combat scenes, or running two fights on two different maps as if they're in the same room. Not every GM has honed those skills, and those who have don't always have the energy.

If you're party wants to split up, don't stress. Let the players do the work for you.

Pathfinder Character Sheets

If you're looking for character sheets for your Pathfinder game, I can not recommend Dyslexic Studios complete set highly enough.

These sheets are clean, clear, tightly designed and have specific sheets for the core and base classes in Pathfinder, including 3PPs like Dreamscarred Press' Psionics Unleashed. Pages for animal companions, eidolons, summoned creatures, familiars and mounts are also included.

I've used many a character sheet in my day, from pre-made to hand-made, and these balance convenience, rules support and visual appeal in a way I've never seen. And the best thing is, they're free! Check them out and spread the word.

Here's the breakdown.

Red Hand of Doom

Several years ago I ran a 4th edition DnD game converting one of my favorite v3.5 modules, Red Hand of Doom. You can find detailed images of how we brought the encounter maps to life, gaming hardware, minis and other ideas here:

Red Hand of Doom Photo Blog

Behind the Screen: We Be Goblins, Part 2

Available as a free PDF here

Spoiler Alert

The Behind the Screen series is intended for GMs looking for ideas on running We Be Goblins, or advice about running long-term campaigns. Posts will include information that my players already know about the We Be Goblins storyline, but may include spoilers for those who haven't played yet. You've been warned.

Item Cards

When Paizo first started publishing their item cards I thought they were pretty ridiculous and said so repeatedly. In those first few years they kept sending me free packs whenever I ordered maps and game books. Needless to say, their ploy worked! I have long since eaten crow and admit that I own hundreds of item cards. They are a brilliant way to bring life to your campaign and give players both a visual and tactile connection to their sessions.

The players can win these items at the start of We Be Goblins! by completing a series of gobliny dares:
Cloak of Useful Items, Horsebane Dogslicer, Ring of Climbing, Elixir of Dragon Breath

Before a game, I put together stacks of item cards for each of the encounters. I slip each card into an opaque-backed card sleeve. Protection isn't my goal here. Behind each item is a card that reveals what the item is, but the players aren't allowed to look at it until they correctly identify the item. Once they do, I let them read it themselves. The look on the player's face when they read the card, and the building curiosity of the other players, is far more intriguing than me saying: "You found a +2 dagger."

Behind the Screen: We Be Goblins, Part 1

Available as a free PDF here.

Spoiler Alert

The Behind the Screen series is intended for GMs looking for ideas on running We Be Goblins, or advice about running long-term campaigns. Posts will include information that my players already know about the We Be Goblins storyline, but may include spoilers for those who haven't played yet. You've been warned.

We Be Goblins! is a prologue to the Pathfinder Adventure Path, The Jade Regent. In We Be Goblins!, the players take on the role of goblin heroes looking for a stash of Tienese fireworks hidden in a landlocked ship near their village in the Brinestump Swamp.

I decided to run We Be Goblins! for three reasons: 1) my players are relatively new to Pathfinder, 2) we'll be using some optional rules: Wounds and Vitality, and Armor as Damage Reduction, and 3) it gives the group a chance to experience my GM'ing style, which includes heavy roleplaying, fast-paced fight scenes and lots of props.

My players are already voracious roleplayers, so the opportunity to play insane goblins was a great way to break the ice and introduce them to the new rules without them worrying about playing their freshly-minted PCs "right".

Depth of Character, Developing Character Arc at the Table

Originally Posted at www.gameschangelives.com

-------

The best characters in literature go through change. They start a story in one emotional or mental state and end someplace very different. They may want something or believe they want something at the start of a story, then by the end want something very different. In writing we call it character growth, or a character's arc.

When you are developing a character for any roleplaying game, keep in mind what emotional state they are starting in and how they may change by the time the campaign or story is over. You don't have to know exactly what that change will be, but giving a character the opportunity to grow adds depth and freshness to Player Characters (PCs), particularly in long campaigns. The change may be purely roleplaying, like hating a particular race, culture or non-player character (NPC) then learning to trust them, or it may manifest itself as a game-related change, like adding levels in a new class. Or it could be both.