Search results

There is already an option to disengage without provoking AoOs. What you cannot do without provoking is moving from one enemy to another one, or moving around somebody. In my eyes, it's much less about what kind of movement makes you more vulnerable. It's about the tactical positioning in...

I definitely prefer to have roleplaying and dice rolling together, going hand by hand. But if you force me to choose one of them, I'll go for roleplaying. I may roleplay without rolling dice - in a diceless game or a freeform - and have a lot of fun doing it. I won't have fun from rolling...

I cannot agree with this. I think this misunderstanding is the main reason why many people avoid low-lethality systems. "Not dying" is not equal to "winning". I would never, neither as a player nor as a GM, want to play a game with an assumption that PCs generally win. But being defeated is...

I never understood what fun players see in resurrection. I see no way in which it's better than just low lethality. If characters rarely die, but when they do, it's final, death becomes something meaningful. This, in turn, gives meaning to taking risk, to being scared, to putting one's life at...

1. I've been playing RPGs for about 16 years. Mostly, but not only, as a GM. 2. I think I played more than a hundred games over the years; I definitely don't remember each and every of them now. But I can surely list at least: * Warhammer * Cyberpunk * Earthdawn * Shadowrun * World of Darkness...

1. I really like Celebrim's approach. I didn't think about it before, but I will probably use something similar in my game. 2. I've never found bluff or sense motive to be problematic in my games. I rarely roll behind a screen and rarely use situational modifiers that penalize players. On the...

I don't see any inherent problems in the system you propose, but I would prefer something else as a player. Your approach makes biggest difference for characters that are not dependent on alignment in any way, while it leaves as much "alignment inertia" as RAW for paladins and other...

A few comments and advices. Some of them overlap with what people said here before, some go in different directions. 1. You were probably denied AoOs not because of negative attack, but because of being unarmed. If I were you, I wouldn't care about it. If enemies provoke AoOs from you, it means...

I'm fine with tolkienesque races, if they are done well. I'm fine with human-only fantasy settings (with fantastic creatures clearly not being protagonists). I'm fine with settings where all non-human races are new and strange. I'm fine with taking classic races and twisting the stereotypes. I...

I rarely use maps. I also don't spend much time detailing a lot of places and NPCs - I have a few bullet points with what is important, and improvise the rest. It's quite easy to imagine what should be in a town, for example. So, if players ask about something I feel that should be there, they...

I think there is one thing worth noting: The subtractive design, in its pure form, is exactly the opposite of what game companies are doing. And I don't think it will change soon. Let me explain what I mean here. In subtractive design, you remove everything you don't really need. You examine...

Pergentile - don't forget illusions. ;) In general, I agree with the previous posters. The best tactic for a spellcaster is making the party more effective and making the enemies less effective. Dealing damage is best left to other party members. There is also another aspect of the situation...

If you are implementing fine-grained time tracking, why keep the "jumpy" movement, with long moves in big intervals? I think it would be better to just incorporate movement in other actions. The simplest approach would be to allow characters to move one square every tick, even when they perform...

I'll try to answer directly to OP's questions. First thing to note is that you accidentally mixed two different things, because of similar naming. There are two different things named "design". There is "design" in the sense of "structure", "organization". That's what one means when talking of...

To make such modifications in any sensible way, you have to define clearly what HPs mean for you. A lot of confusion comes from games not doing it (or doing it and then contradicting it by their own rules). Once you know what you're modeling, it should be much clearer where to attach the...

One more thing to consider is that divine spells don't suffer from arcane spell failure. You may prepare all your arcane spell as divine ones and cast in full plate with no problems.

I voted for "being the character", because I think it's quite often the dominant factor in how I play. But it is definitely not the only one. The way I play is a mix of several approaches, in different proportions, depending on what I play and who I play with: 1. I immerse myself in my...

In my 15 years of GMing I ran 2 or 3 pre-published adventures. Even now, with a wife, a baby and a full-time work, I don't even consider running something that's not my own. For me, putting my ideas in play and seeing how players interact with them is what makes GMing fun. Using published...

I'm using "inherent enhancement bonuses" in Pathfinder. All the "+X" items are removed and replaced by bonuses held by the character, not the equipment. It seems to work all right and nearly removes magic item dependence (together with "wealth by level" expectations, magic shops and a lot of...

I think it is quite workable to change the summoning spells like it is described in the OP. One only needs to take care that players get something nice for everything that is taken away. My suggestion: - Remove Summon Monster spells entirely. - Change Summon Nature's Ally so that it only...