D&D 4E Adding a little 4E to my Pathfinder

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Making it a feat makes sense, though you might also want to consider making it available without the feat (at a price).
It could be a combat maneuver - maybe take a -2 penalty to attack for getting the chance for the opportunity attack.

You could allow people that take the Defensive Stance or Total Defense action to apply the dodge bonus to an ally instead yourself. And the same might be possible for Combat Expertise (if that still works in a way it used to.)

I would not allow the bonuses to allies or the penalties to enemies to stack, just to be on the safe side.

A fun thought: Create a feat that increase the dodge bonus granted to an ally by Defensive Stance/TotalDefense/Combat Expertise. Now you can have to Fighters fighting alongside, covering each other backs. They get a benefit from it and it seems very... stylish.

Considering the findings presented in Trailblazer*, I'd suggest that you create feats for higher levels that chance the bonuses from AC benefits or attack penalties to damage mitigation in form of damage resistance.

*) Basically - at high levels, monsters will hit most of the time, so defensive benefits that just manipulate the chance to hit have will likely have little impact, why temporary hit points or damage reduction might help a lot more.

 

[bouncyhead]

We're using passive perception, bloodied. I'm thinking about action points.

 

[Drkfathr1]

Sounds good as feats, I see nothing wrong with that! The good thing about that is as feats, players can take them if they want, and aren't stuck with them if they don't want.

I'm actually considering adding healing surges, the condensed skill list, saves as defenses, and attack rolls for spells...

 

[WesSchneider]

All really neat ideas. I really like the whole cobbling the best from various systems approach. Heck, if we could, I might even be tempted to get some Call of Cthulhu brand sanity stuff in the system. But we'll save that for the day when all game systems are open and we can make PathDungeons & Cthulhus (Cthulhus & Dragonfinders?).

You know, as an aside since we're talking about things 4E does nicely. One thing 4E has done quite well is attracted a number of folks who have never played an RPG to the game. I think an incredible example of this is over on the Penny Arcade forums, where you see tons of threads from folks saying they've never played a tabletop RPG but 4E really appeals to them. This makes sense for a variety of reasons - totally not being snarky here - but I do think there are elements of 4E that appeal to folks well trained in video game RPGs and MMORPGs, and it doesn't hurt that the guys running Penny Arcade and the characters in the comics are 4E fans as well. That's all very cool actually, as in my opinion anything that gets new players invested in the hobby is a total win. The quandary I've been mulling over recently, though, is how do you introduce someone who's played video games all of their lives and has just now been introduced to 4E to other game systems? Sure, in the game stores and person to person works, but I'm starting to feel like there's a very insular sub-community that's formed - folks that don't read ENWorld, don't know or really care about the history of the game, and just play the game they've just found and like while discussing it on forums formerly devoted primarilly to video games. (Again, I think the PA forums are one good example of this, but honestly I've still developing my hypothesis here.) And really, that's all cool, but I think there's the potential to find some very interested and energetic fans should someone figure out how to crack that video-gamer-turned-RPG-gamer shell.

 

[EATherrian]

All really neat ideas. I really like the whole cobbling the best from various systems approach. Heck, if we could, I might even be tempted to get some Call of Cthulhu brand sanity stuff in the system. But we'll save that for the day when all game systems are open and we can make PathDungeons & Cthulhus (Cthulhus & Dragonfinders?).

Where can I preorder said hefty tome? I've actually been tinkering with sanity and fear rules for my games. Once I feel they're perfected I may have to post them.

 

[WesSchneider]

Where can I preorder said hefty tome? I've actually been tinkering with sanity and fear rules for my games. Once I feel they're perfected I may have to post them.

Just a heads up too, our GameMastery Guide is going to cover a lot of GM options and subsystems, with Sanity being one I'm particularly excited about.

 

[Drkfathr1]

Just a heads up too, our GameMastery Guide is going to cover a lot of GM options and subsystems, with Sanity being one I'm particularly excited about.

Awesome.

And as to your comments on 4E bringing new people to the game, I can agree. It's funny, but I kind of see 4E as "Basic D&D" now, and Pathfinder as "Advanced D&D". Hopefully 4E will be the gateway for many that will find their way to Pathfinder.

 

[EATherrian]

Just a heads up too, our GameMastery Guide is going to cover a lot of GM options and subsystems, with Sanity being one I'm particularly excited about.

Sounds good. I just hope it's not better than mine or I'll have wasted my time.