Skills & Feats From PATHFINDER UNCHAINED

Pathfinder Unchained is imminent, and Paizo designer Mark Seifter has just provided a new look at the book - this time focusing on skills and feats. He mentions three skill variants- background, consolidated, and grouped skills. He also describes a variant multiclasing system and mentions that every combat feat gets new powers using Stamina, a new resource. It certainly sounds like some of these variant rules drive right to the core of the game! "Stamina is a new resource that allows martial characters to boost themselves and use their feats in new and exciting ways. It regenerates relatively quickly between battles, allowing you to enjoy an entirely new mindset to your daily exploration; a party of stamina-users benefits from hit and run guerilla tactics, emphasizing the value of mobility, stealth, and timing (as opposed to the mindset of "buff, buff, buff, speed through!")"

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[Kramodlog]

The stamina system looks like what could have been done with healing surges. Seems like a nice goodie for those who want more from the fighter. I alwasys wanted a system that had some energy resources you could spend to get some transformation (lycanthrope) or power up like super sayin style.

Stamina System
The stamina system offers new powers for every combat feat in the RPG line. Yes, you read that right: it specifically lists every combat feat in the whole line and then grants each feat new powers. Right from the start, the system offers options for you to just give the system to fighters or to give it to all martial characters, depending on your preference. Stamina is a new resource that allows martial characters to boost themselves and use their feats in new and exciting ways. It regenerates relatively quickly between battles, allowing you to enjoy an entirely new mindset to your daily exploration; a party of stamina-users benefits from hit and run guerilla tactics, emphasizing the value of mobility, stealth, and timing (as opposed to the mindset of "buff, buff, buff, speed through!"). Stamina lets you boost your effectiveness or change the rules of the feat in your favor. These special stamina powers are called combat tricks. While I'm sure that the ways to use stamina to boost your effectiveness will be quite popular (like Critical Focus, where under certain conditions, you can increase your critical multiplier, potentially multiple times if you roll high enough), I'm a fan of the combat tricks that let you retroactively apply an effect (like declare a Stunning Fist after you already know your attack connected), and my absolute favorites are the ones that let you trick your opponent through devious tactical play. For instance, the Combat Style Master combat trick allows you to spend stamina to switch your styles as an off-turn free action. So you can lure people into attacking you and then suddenly be in Snake Style before they can even call off the attack! In the same vein, I also really enjoy the combat tricks that let you use your powers when you normally couldn't, since that has two cool psychological effects: not only can it present great "gotcha" moments, but once your enemy knows you can, say, spend stamina to take a second attack of opportunity against them from the same opportunity, it changes the way they view your threat, and it might allow you to control their actions without even spending your stamina!

I'm not too concern about skills, but a lot of people use them a lot, so the idea sounds good.

Really curious to see how multiclassing will work.

This book sounds like it is full of awesome.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

That Stamina system looks really tedious. I mean, I'm glad that it's all optional, but how much space is that going to take up in the book? And then d20pfsrd.com is going to have to list all of the Stamina effects alongside the combat feats, just like the already list Mythic effects alongside their spells.

Ugh. This is not what I was hoping to see in this book.

 

[Remathilis]

Well, if your going to give fighters a limited-use maneuver mechanic, a pool of stamina that recovers quickly is probably the way to go.

 

[Kramodlog]

That Stamina system looks really tedious. I mean, I'm glad that it's all optional, but how much space is that going to take up in the book? And then d20pfsrd.com is going to have to list all of the Stamina effects alongside the combat feats, just like the already list Mythic effects alongside their spells.

Ugh. This is not what I was hoping to see in this book.

What were you hoping to see?

 

[Ravenheart87]

A lot of these sound so familiar...

 

[The Crimson Binome]

What were you hoping to see?

Mostly small changes that alter the fundamentals and permeate throughout the system. Things like the skill changes. Ideally, a system for armor as DR with AC scaling automatically. That kind of stuff.

Not adding additional uses to a hundred different feats, so I need to re-learn that entire sub-system in order to play the game. The last thing Pathfinder needs is additional content.

 

[Kramodlog]

Ain't what you suggest additional content? Anyway, they said there will be alternative rules for action economy. That could be the crown jewel of this book.

Also, the AC thing, why have it scale automatically? Ain't improving you armor (moving from chain shirt to breast plate to full plate) part of the fun?

 

[Ravenheart87]

Also, the AC thing, why have it scale automatically? Ain't improving you armor (moving from chain shirt to breast plate to full plate) part of the fun?

That's still there if the armor gives you DR.

 

[Azgulor]

Mostly small changes that alter the fundamentals and permeate throughout the system. Things like the skill changes. Ideally, a system for armor as DR with AC scaling automatically. That kind of stuff.

Not adding additional uses to a hundred different feats, so I need to re-learn that entire sub-system in order to play the game. The last thing Pathfinder needs is additional content.

This book was never for you then. A-it's a new hardcover, so it's a whole book of additional content. B-it's a book about options for various subsystems.

Armor as DR & defense were done in Ultimate Combat.

The whole premise of this book is "unchained" - new options, in some cases radically different options. Your critique reads like going to eat at a steakhouse and then being irritated that cooked meat is on the menu...