On further reading, it becomes evident to me that Ultimate Spheres of Power will indeed meet my needs, with a bit of mechanical refitting. The spheres and talents fit my plans quite well, but tonight I’m looking at the drawbacks and boons, and how they are used to build magical …
Here I was, brainstorming ideas for a ‘U Day’ post, and I see a book holding my night table down, Ultimate Spheres of Power from Drop Dead Studios. Two days after I come up with a scheme for spell casting, and here I’m looking at a book with all the …
Long ago, while working on the Echelon Reference Series, I decided that I really wanted to separate ability definitions from the game elements that granted them. For instance, I didn’t like to see ‘evasion’ defined in the rogue class, and then other classes (monk and ranger) saying “gain evasion, as …
Actually nothing to do with loot and other PC rewards. I’m still trying to figure those out. Rather, I think I might have found a solution to another problem. Basic, expert, and master paths are all reasonably gelled in my mind, but champion paths have eluded me a bit. Until …
Hopefully a quick second post for ‘S’, because I need to get onto ‘T’ (either ‘Tiered Abilities’ or ‘Traditions’, and knowing me probably both). Skills hold a conflicted place in my mind. I like the idea, but they’ve never really been interesting. They offer some useful abilities and options as …
Now for a subject I’ve had trouble with since I started… but seem to have found a simple solution. Not necessarily quick. There could be a lot of work in it, but I think I see ways to make it easier. I’m going to leave out all the tedious thinking …
The more I think about it, the more I want the ‘ranger’ to be a more skill-oriented class. They are still warrior-types, but I think I want their prowess to come mostly from knowledge of their foes and gaining advantage from their surroundings. They can still gain combat styles and …
When I started this series, I’d intended to go through the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and trim it down to the bare mechanics, then build it back up with the elements as I wanted them. That got derailed almost immediately. I figured I’d work through the source rule book as a …
A silly word, to be sure, but I find it useful at times to describe certain growth of a companion. Companions in D&D games are in a strange position. On the one hand, a horse is a horse, right? Four legs, two Hit Dice. Horses are bigger and harder to …
For all the time I’ve spent on expert paths, and a lesser extent master paths, I really haven’t spent much on champion paths. I think this is partly because I’ve got a good handle on expert paths and what they should do, and they’re easy to work on. Master paths …
