I've got an idea for a Pathfinder game, that's solely made up of the sort of huge, set-piece fights that are usually reserved for big bosses and climactic moments.  I'm thinking fights with a CR of Character level +3 (maybe lower or higher, depending on how effective the party winds up being.)  They do one fight per character level, then level up and head out for the next fight.  Aside from wondering how much interest there would be for that kind of game, I'm also trying to figure out a few of the specifics.  Such as:

1: What to do about consumables?  Since the party is going through 1 fight per level, obviously single use items would be a lot more valuable.  I was thinking of making consumables cost 5x their base price, and be limited to only spells available to characters of the player's level (not necessarily spells available to the characters themselves.  For example, a level three magus would be allowed to buy a scroll of scorching ray.)

2: Since player death would be pretty common in fights that difficult, I was leaning towards free resurrection for dead players (I mean, they could just make an identical character anyways.)  Likewise, I would be willing to let people make new characters between fights if they don't like the current one.  But I want to have some sort of reward for players who survive fights and keep the same character.  Maybe "Veteran" characters get an extra feat?  Not a new feat every fight, just one feat for as long as they stick around.  Or is that unnecessary?

I'm interested in this game, either as a player or as an ideas guy - I don't have time to help run it (I'm brewing up my own campaign idea) but I'd be happy to help devise the encounters.



1) A simple limit on consumable items might be the easiest option - no player can have more than X potions/scrolls and no more than Y one-use other magical items.  Items used outside of combat (for example, a wizard scribing scrolls into their spellbook) do not count toward that limit.

2) I would reward players for sticking with a character rather than for the character surviving - a Paladin who sacrifices themselves to protect their allies is at least as deserving as the Wizard who stays safely in the back casting spells.  The essential thing is that the reward should not increase sheer power, but instead either offer flavor or improve versatility, so that a replacement player is not outright weaker than a veteran.

For example, a Two Handed Fighter might get a magical composite longbow as their bonus.  It's a good item, and makes falling back on archery more appealing, but it doesn't help with their primary role and so doesn't increase the character's power.

OK... just trying to think of something here. Would we be in some kind of Arena game or is there potential in a kind of game with roleplaying but also with us dealing with "Great Enemies" and "Great armies of lower enemies"? Could we have some roleplaying between fights?

Also, would you allow 3.5 material?

Don't allow any consumables, except...

Characters that survive get their choice of a single selection (determined by you, perhaps with player input) of one-time benefits to use in the next encounter. If it isn't used in the next encounter, it is lost.

Benefits could be anything, including just a consumable or pack of consumables. I would recommend offering only things that primarily benefit the whole team, rather than just one PC.

Also, though, death doesn't have to be common or even likely. The monster or threat could be trying to accomplish something other than killing the PCs, such as completing a ritual, losing them in a chase, trying to destroy or protect an NPC or object or location. Killing the monster should probably result in victory, but it should be possible for the PCs to fail even if they aren't killed.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:14, Mon 11 Apr 2022.

I love the idea, I have my suggestions, but I think I'd probably want to express them in a present tense. I would ordinarily love to play in this type of game, but my RL is such that I have such unreliable web access, that I can only GM, and even then very lightly. I also have no experience in PF in terms of transitioning from beginner to novice. I am still in the former camp. I'd be hard pressed to write up the first three levels of any base class.

One suggestion I have, that worked for games I had in D&D 3.5, is loyalty points. Rewards that only add to new characters by existing players. It allows two things, death being a reward to veteran players, and thus an added cushion to the group in the encounter that player's character goes "all in" with tactic that throws all intentions of survival out, and only devastating the enemy as quickly and severely as possible. If a PC does this, other PC have some added protection, just by their comrade spearheading the suicidal tactic, especially if it's well planned prior.

In D&D, one example I saw was a retribution sorcerer. Every spell they had was tried to dealing damage through attacking with their weapon, or taking damage. Through Fireshield, Mighty Wallop, and many other enhancements they waded into combat. They also (this I think is not applicable in PF) used teleport  and planeshift offensively; whether by teleporting magic items off foes, or sending them into elsewhere to be tracked (with scrying and locate creature) later. Also using teleport to reposition the group into key formations. The result was this constant nuisance, and only added enhanced by their familiar also having imbue familiar with spell ability, ready to flank and cast without concern for its own safety.

My players had an occasional desire to switch characters anyway, and while it seldom occurred, sometimes, like above, it was dramatic when it did. In the above example the character was hellbent on being a vassal of the Archons in Heaven, and felt only in death could be be of true service. So it was justified both by the player and character.

The concept is that death adds a dynamic, rather than speed bump. It's still costly early on, but later on it can be tactical choice by a character, and reward for the player. For us, loyalty points gave additional points to ability scores, max ranks that could be put into class skills (which is inapplicable for PF) and a portion of the old character wealth being transferred to the group (which was group boon) and part of the remaining added to the new character; wehile the rest was claimed by...in the above cases a herald of the Archon Lord. Death bring with it new life. I'd not overlook the material wealth provided by a PC death. This can be major factor in strategy, and should be rewarded, but limited, to prevent abuse. ←THIS is why making a duplicate "new" character is subpar. At least most of the time (in games I've been a part of, at least).

Please feel free to contact me if you feel the urge to. Best of luck!  It looks like an excellent game!

If you're concerned about consumables (and want to price them up), perhaps you should instead consider making available Wonderous Items that do the same thing but have a limited number of uses per day.

Oh hey, this post actually got some attention!  After a month with no replies, I took it as a sign that there wasn't any interest in the idea, but now I think I'll actually take a shot at this.

There's some interesting ideas around the consumable idea and the rewards for survival.  Thinking it over, I'm leaning more towards keeping the basic rules towards both.  I wanted to reward survival mostly as a way to make death meaningful in a setting with free resurrections, and discourage overly suicidal tactics.  But I understand the argument that heroic sacrifice shouldn't necessarily be penalized, so I think keeping player death a neutral proposition makes sense for now.  If I feel like players are spending their lives too carelessly during the game, then I might throw in an incentive to stay alive.

Same thing with consumables.  Putting a hard limit on how many consumables one can carry feels a bit heavy-handed, and making them into use-per-day items changes the nature of the game a bit too much for me. (also, by RAW a 1/day wondrous item costs over 50x as much as a scroll.)

My thought on making them more expensive was that in a normal game, spamming a bunch of consumables every battle would quickly result in the party going broke, while it would be barely noticeable in a game where the party only does one fight per level.  But then, this isn't going to be a normal game, and the whole point is that the party should be going all-out every fight.  I think maybe just doubling the cost of potions and scrolls would give a bit more cost to spamming consumables, without being too restrictive on player choice.

As for Kark and Engine's comments:  The game is going to have a nominal story, with a set-up and justification for each fight, but the majority of the gameplay is going to be the fights themselves.  In the last game I ran, I noticed things seemed to run very smoothly during the fight scenes, but grind to a halt during more open-ended stuff like investigation, talking to NPCs, etc.  So I thought: what if we just skipped that part?

Having alternate types of challenges is an interesting idea, like a chase scene, or trying to protect an NPC during an attack.  I'm also toying with the idea of minor side-challenges between fights, like a trapped chest or finding a dead adventurer in a dangerous place, that could result in one or more PCs going into the next fight with some sort of bonus or penalty depending on how it goes.  But the game's bread and butter would lie in knock-down-drag-out fights to the death.

If you're planning on running a combat heavy game, players may feel that doing much of anything else "detracts" from the game play.   As I like a more balanced game, Arena style games don't attract my attention.   but I'm certain that there's more than enough players for what you have in mind.



Actually, it costs 8x that of a potion (see below).  If you need help figuring the math out, let me know.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Cost for a single use per day Wonderous Item: Spell level x caster level x 400 gp
Use-Activated or Continuous: Spell level x caster level x 2,000 gp
Special, Charges per day:  Divide by (5 divided by charges per day)

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@Hunter: My bad.  I'm not sure how I misread the custom magic item rules, but you're right about the costs involved.

Anyways, I went ahead and opened up the game if anyone here is interested.

link to another game