General Game Rules
Be respectful of others.
This goes for everyone, including myself. As the GM, I have the final say in most decisions, but that is not a cudgel with which to beat the players into submission. Try to be kind and not a jerk.
It is a team game, act like it.
Lone wolves end up dead. It's a team game, so act like it. Your character should be someone that is at least generally agreeable to group action. This also comes with a general prohibition against theft from the party and other disruptive behavior that should logically lead to a party splitting up or PVP.
Be flexible.
I've also heard this concept "don't be in love with the future". In essence, be willing to change things around if the situation changes. I've set you up with a fairly powerful base for your character, and taking some sub-optimal choices during your progression won't result in your certain failure. You don't need to plan ahead ten levels in order to have a successful adventure with this game.
Communicate like it is your job.
Poor communication is no one's friend. If you have a concern, you aren't having fun, you feel something is unfair, or you just want to chat, shoot me a PM. If I'm annoyed by something but none of the players are, I might just assume it's me and deal with it. If I get complaints from players, I'm more likely to fix it.
Posting Rules
Posting Rate
To get this out of the way first, the target posting rate for this game is
a game post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you miss a post occasionally, you are still in good standing. If you frequently miss posts, I may ask you to reconsider your participation in the game. There is no shame in being a poor fit for a game or having your RL shift so that you can't play in a particular game - only in not admitting to it.
I will also occasionally miss a post, but I will strive to keep the game informed about disruptions. I may also post about not posting in a situation where the PCs are clearly discussing things. I will usually include in this a reasonable deadline for the conclusion of the discussion and/or any voting criteria we'll use on a meta-level to resolve the debate more quickly.
Absences
If you disappear from the game for more than
one week without posting ahead of time, I may reach out to you via PM (or I may not, depending on if you've been checking in but not posting or other factors).
At two weeks, I will remove inactive players from the game. I tend to be more lenient if your absence happens around the same time as a vacation or other absence on my end (since that always disrupts a game).
Post Format
I expect the majority of posts to be 1-3 paragraphs of in-character text (50-500 words with the majority of posts tending toward 100-150 words). Posts should be made in past tense and include action or dialogue where possible.
Dialogue should be picked out with a color of your choice (I don't mind if players share colors - but
red and
orange are reserved for GM use). OOC text should be at the bottom of the post and colored in
orange (under a horizontal rule, for preference).
I'm also a big fan of well formatted posts that enhance their clarity by use of
fonts and
colors.
White space is also your friend!
The Golden Rule of Posting
If a game is not moving forward, it is dying. Help me keep things moving and we will probably get along well. At the same time, do give others a chance to contribute!
House Rules
Combat: Nuisance Battles
This game is an AP, and APs often include a number of small battles along the way to justify the experience rewards necessary for you to face tougher challenges later and to sap your resources. Due to the nature of PBP, this can lead to a lot of effort going into what amounts to essentially nothing useful. To that end, I've developed a Nuisance Battle system that I've used in two other games. I feel like it does a good job of what I mean for it to do - reducing the number of fights we actually play out so that we spent our time on the interesting, challenging stuff.
When a nuisance combat appears, the GM will give a general description of the coming fight and ask the PCs to describe how they approach it along with rolling 3d6.
Players may pre-spend extra effort (in the form of resource units) to gain a bonus on this roll. The GM may also apply a penalty or bonus to the roll from -2 to +2 if the players have a clear advantage or disadvantage. The following table describes the results of this roll and should be reflected in your IC post. The GM will summarize the ending of the battle once everyone has rolled.
| Roll | Result |
|---|
| 3- | Dire Consequences |
| 4-6 | 3 Resource Units + Minor Consequence |
| 7-9 | 2 Resource Units |
| 10-12 | 1 Resource Unit |
| 13-15 | Nothing lost |
| 16-17 | Nothing lost + Minor Boon |
| 18+ | Exceptional Boon |
Consequences and Boons will be described by the GM and include anything from poison, disease, morale bonuses, to additional treasure.
If such a condition would normally allow a saving throw, you can still attempt the saving throw. You will also frequently spend resource units due to the roll (or before it to gain a bonus on the roll). Resource units are:
| Resource Units |
|---|
| 1 Unit | Hit Points equal to your level |
|---|
| 1 spell of your highest casting level |
| 3 spells of any level |
| 2 rounds of an ability that has a maximum duration measured in rounds |
| 1 minute of an ability that has a maximum duration measured in minutes |
| 1 use of an ability that has a maximum of four or fewer daily uses |
| 2 uses of an ability that has a maximum of five or more daily uses |
| Reduce low on all mundane ammunition (reducing you to 1d6+level shots, total) |
| Charges from a wand equal to (your level) / (wand spell level), rounded up |
| |
|---|
| 2 Units | 2 points of ability damage |
|---|
| 1 non-wand consumable magic item |
| 1 use of a 1/day ability or magic item |
Combat (Non-Nuisance)
I use "team" initiative whenever it makes sense. For monsters, this usually means that I roll a single initiative with an average of their modifiers applied to it. On the first round of combat, players that have a higher initiative than the monsters (assuming a lack of a surprise round) should post their first round of actions along with their initiative. On subsequent rounds, all players may act, with posts resolved in generally the order they were made (though you may explicitly tie your action to someone else's if you wish).
Dice Rolling
Don't roll dice for an action unless the GM requests it. I don't find a skilled player failing at an easy task to be interesting and thus will often resolve an action based on your skill modifiers and your RP. For instance, if you make a charming introduction to the butler and have a +10 diplomacy, the rules might technically require a Diplomacy check, but I will often let you skate past. If you're rude and unkempt, I will likely call for the roll.
"Passive" Rolls
Similar but slightly distinct to the above, I will be generally assuming that you take 10 on all reactive rolls unless your actions contradict this somehow. For instance, if you're having a casual conversation with someone, you may be constantly taking 10 on sense motive and diplomacy. This will set the general tone of such a conversation, but if you wish to accomplish a specific Diplomacy objective or you wish to discern the truth of a particular statement, that can be done with a roll. Similarly, if you walk into a room to scout ahead, I'll assume you are taking 10 on perception and stealth unless you state otherwise.
This is similar to the D&D 4e/5e "passive" skill mechanic, though it's really just an extension of the taking 10 rule. Also of some note is that I tend to err on the side of the players in these things, so this rule probably won't screw you over. In fact, you'll have fewer of those "you step into the room and immediately fall because you didn't say you were looking to make sure it had a floor" moments that some GMs seem to delight in.
Monster Rolling (or the Hand of Fate)
In addition to the two above rules to reduce dice rolling, I also tend to have monsters not roll dice when a check is opposed. Monsters will roll all appropriate dice for attacks, CMB checks, saves, and the like where the DC is fixed, but will take 10 in opposed rolls (such as perception vs. stealth or bluff vs. sense motive). This puts the success or failure of the PCs in their own hands. Monsters will also take 10 on initiative checks.
Alignment
This is less of a house rule and more of a clarification of how I interpret the in-game alignment system. First off, alignment in Pathfinder is not relative but rather objective. The very cosmos of Golarion dictates which actions are good and evil. On the other hand, the majority of actions are neither good nor evil (nor lawful or chaotic). Nor does the performance of most aligned actions have an immediate effect on your personal alignment (Paladin oaths are something entirely separate). Good characters are perfectly capable of the occasional evil while remaining good, just as evil characters often act in a good manner to those they personally know and like.
Low-Light Vision
Low-Light Vision allows you to see in dim light as though it were normal light. This is vastly less fiddly than the PF version of the ability (not to mention it's how most folks play it).
Character Creation Rules
Sources
Please make the bulk of your character choices from the "loose core" of the CRB, Pathfinder Unchained, Advanced XXX, and Ultimate XXX. Some classes (like the Vigilante) may be a particularly poor fit for this AP. PFS legality is also a rough guideline for allowance in this game, though it is by no means absolute (for instance, PFS disallows a number of the non-gunslinger firearms archetypes, but I'll generally allow them here). The
Archive is now the official source for Paizo and shall remain the preferred source for this game.
Optional Rules
The following optional rule systems are in effect:
Background Skills
Variant Multiclassing
Given all of the attrition, loot has been a bit of a mess. Magic item creation feats are allowed, but see the Equipment section below.
The Campaign Guide
You must obtain a copy of the
Iron Gods Player Guide. One of the traits you select (see below) must come from this guide.
Alignment
Player characters must be of a
Good alignment,
Lawful Neutral, or
True Neutral.
Chaotic Neutral and
Evil are explicitly
not allowed.
Character Level
Current PCs start the game at
level 4. See below for details.
Attributes
You have
25 points with which to purchase attributes, but note changes on the chart below. In essence, this is the normal ability chart, but
you gain no points for lowering attributes. The points total was raised to compensate for this. Racial modifiers are applied as normal and may lower attributes below 10. If you want to lower a stat for an RP reason, you may do so, but you still gain no points for doing so.
| Score | Points | | Score | Points | | Score | Points |
|---|
| 10 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 16 | 10 |
| 11 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 17 | 13 |
| 12 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 18 | 17 |
All core races are allowed. Aasimar (and variants), androids, changeling, orcs, and tieflings (and variants) are also allowed, with some occasional tweaks for balance. For instance, android barbarians are not affected by fatigue, but may not rage a second time until the duration of the associated fatigue effect would normally have elapsed.
As a nod to strength of these additional options, Core races gain a bonus trait (see below). Other races may be allowed on a case-by-case basis.
Classes and Archetypes
All Paizo classes with the exception of the APG summoner are allowed (use the Unchained Summoner, instead). Many archetypes are also allowed, with a few restrictions:
1. Archetypes that focus on mass summoning or hordes of pets are generally now allowed
2. Unchained monks may only take archetypes that are specifically designed for unchained monks
3. The synthesist summoner will be revised to be an overlay instead of a replacement of abilities (more like wild shape)
4. Archetypes that require the GM to learn a new combat system (performance combat, psychic dueling) are not allowed
5. Convoluted builds that require me to squint really hard and ask myself "why is this legal?" are probably not allowed
6. PrCs that represent in-game organizations and may not be available to your character during the course of the AP so check with the GM prior to planning on taking one
As a blanket rule,
no 3PP or 3.x material is allowed. Do not expect me to deviate from that.
Skills
The
Background Skills system is being used. Each character receives a bonus 2 skill points per level to be spent only on background skills.
Further,
all classes gain an additional 2 skill points per level. As some of my changes have slightly de-emphasized combat, I wish for all characters to be a bit more prepared for non-combat situations.
Traits
Select
two traits, one of which must be a campaign trait from the campaign guide.
Core races gain a bonus trait chosen from the Racial category. Only one trait is allowed per category, as per normal.
Flaws are not allowed.
Hit Points
Maximum HP at first level and then according to the table at each additional level (adding CON mod appropriately):
Equipment
PCs start with 6,000 gp to spend as they wish. If you begin play with an item creation feat (including Gunsmithing), you may take the associated discount on items you can create, but may not exceed 125% of the starting total. This gives a maximum budget of (4,500 gp for anything) + (3,000 gp for crafted items) for such characters.
Craft skills may not be used at character creation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:40, Wed 10 Apr 2019.
