Pathfinder 1E Under da sea...

[Sunseeker]

Greenfield's thread reminded me that I am working on a campaign, mostly ideas, but to save myself some trouble, I was curious if there was anyone who had beaten me to the punch: I am planning an entirely underwater campaign, and I intend for the playable races to be mer-variants of the standard set. Ie: Humans are a variety of traditional merfolk, orc perhaps shark-folk, etc... So I was curious if perhaps anyone had ever seen conversions for at least the core 3.5/Pathfinder races. 4e is also acceptable. I realize it may take no more than a visual change, but I'd like to add enough of a touch to the crunch to make it feel like you're playing a bit more than an "underwater elf".

Aside from that, has anyone ever run an underwater game? I intend for the battlefield to essentially be 3-dimensional, but I'm not sure what the best way to approach that is. Any good guides or rulebooks out there that address this sort of stuff?

 

[Scorpio616]

Ugh, I can't recommend this with a tactical grid D&D edition, you'll need elevation trackers for each fig and it will be like everything is flying ( albeit slowly ) from level 1. You'll have enormous clusters of entangled miniatures. stacked atop one another.

Also on a grid, slipping up and getting surrounded lets 8 equal sized foes surround someone. Under water, it is 26, or 17 if on the sea floor.

 

[Sunseeker]

Ugh, I can't recommend this with a tactical grid D&D edition, you'll need elevation trackers for each fig and it will be like everything is flying ( albeit slowly ) from level 1. You'll have enormous clusters of entangled miniatures. stacked atop one another.

Also on a grid, slipping up and getting surrounded lets 8 equal sized foes surround someone. Under water, it is 26, or 17 if on the sea floor.

Well to be fair, I'm not going to be running that many mobs anyway, and even if I do, they'll be not-minion-minions(my twist on 4e minion rules) so I don't expect players to get overwhelmed.

I've thought about putting the burden on players to track their "height" on the map if I'm going to go full-tactical, but I've never really done gridless play so I might experiment with it.

 

[Kinak]

This might actually be a good place to steal from 13th Age. When distances are measured in "engaged," "near," and "far," it handles a 3D environment well.

As for races, from the Advanced Race Guide, you have Gillmen (the "Low Azlanti" in Golarion) and Merfolk. Undines also get an amphibious option. There's also a great article in the second Skull and Shackles issue about races in Golarion's oceans, if you're setting your game there.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Also on a grid, slipping up and getting surrounded lets 8 equal sized foes surround someone. Under water, it is 26, or 17 if on the sea floor.

Which makes burst-shaped damage pretty awesome. I'd want to play a character with electrical damage options.

 

[Sunseeker]

Which makes burst-shaped damage pretty awesome. I'd want to play a character with electrical damage options.

See, something I hadn't considered. Burst and blast become quite powerful when it's 5x5x5 instead of simply 5x5. Further, I hadn't given thought how certain power types might alter underwater. Fire and electricity in particular seem problematic, though ice stuff and earth stuff seems fairly unchanged, I doubt non-elemental energies would be a problem though.

 

[RACER_X?HAHAHA]

Cerulean Seas, from Alluria Publishing is what you need. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/86538/Cerulean-Seas-Campaign-Setting?term=cerul

 

[Sunseeker]

Cerulean Seas, from Alluria Publishing is what you need. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/86538/Cerulean-Seas-Campaign-Setting?term=cerul

Nice, browsing their preview I see some very mundane, but yet un-addressed issues(such as light and pressure), I see that there are other books realted to them, the reviews seem good, have you bought any personally?

 

[RACER_X?HAHAHA]

Nice, browsing their preview I see some very mundane, but yet un-addressed issues(such as light and pressure), I see that there are other books realted to them, the reviews seem good, have you bought any personally?

Oh absolutely! I have all the products in the line. I am biased though, as I've been one of the folks editing them for about a year now. Definitely worth the price, excellent artwork, good mechanics, they really put the love into them.

 

[Sunseeker]

Oh absolutely! I have all the products in the line. I am biased though, as I've been one of the folks editing them for about a year now. Definitely worth the price, excellent artwork, good mechanics, they really put the love into them.

Well I really can't argue with the full-set PDF pack for $25 bucks, but I gotta wait till I get paid at the end of the month.