This is an experimental game. I repeat, this is an experiment.

I am trying to see if all the options of Pathfinder can be manipulated to create a GammaWorldesque game. For those that don't know what GammaWorld is, it's a system where the fall of man happened two to four hundred years ago an sentient life is trying to pry itself back. With it has grown irradiated monstrosities and all new life than what we have currently due to fallout from radiation. Humans now live with humanoid animals and plants as well as robotic remnants of the Great Fall. Gunpowder weapons are prevalent and easily obtainable. Laser rifles and robotic horrors can be found in the ruins of the ancients as well as naturally mutated beings the likes the strike fear in the hearts of common folk.

That said, character creation will be as follows:

New Ancestry Feat:

Mutant (Common)
Any Ancestry Level Any; See text
Prerequisite: See Text

When you take this ancestry feat, pick any other ancestry feat that you would not normally have access to whose level is equal to yours or lower. You must also meet any other requirement for the new feat except ancestral requirements.

You may only chose 1 rare ancestry or 3 uncommon ones ever even if you take this feat again. If you do take this feat again, you may select another ancestry. For example: At first level: Reorx the dwarf takes this feat at first level and takes a first level android feat instead of a dwarven one. He may never take this feat to gain access to another ancestry that is rare, but he can 3 more times for an uncommon ancestry or unlimited for common ones.

Once this feat is taken, you essentially count as this ancestry as well as your base ancestry. Reorx from above would count as a Dwarf, Humanoid, Construct, Automaton and thus be affected by effects that target those ancestries.

Classes
As this game will be more gritty and low magic, the only class that can cast spells is the Psychic. Other allowed classes are the Alchemist, Barbarian, Fighter, Gunslinger, Inventor, Investigator, Monk, Rogue, and Swashbuckler. However, there is still magic and you may take any Archetype and we will be using the Free Archetype rules as described here: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1333 and using the suggested limit as described. Otherwise, any normal limits on amount of archetypes you can take is in effect.

Since I now am running three games, I'm going to try to set a schedule. I will look to update this game on Tuesdays and Fridays with a reminder post the day before. If I miss a day due to work or something else, the make up day will be Sunday. Please get your posts up before the deadline. I live in the EST zone and usually post between 0400 and 0600.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:56, Tue 20 Feb.

For ease of creating your character, feel free to use this site and support the creator if you are able.

https://pathbuilder2e.com/

IF you use pathbuilder to build your character, please make sure to place your build number on your character sheet.

Edit Log: Added build number request
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:18, Wed 13 Dec 2023.

Combat can be chaotic, especially when the PCs need information and that can be delayed due to my work schedule. As such, this is how combat will flow.

I will call for initiative. If there is an action the PCs are currently doing that I think would be a more appropriate skill other than Perception, I will say so for each person in a PM. You will have the choice to pick either the skill I suggest or Perception unless you were actively doing something like sneaking or picking a lock.

If you beat the initiative I rolled, and I roll for them all to have the same initiative taking the best bonus of all, then you can post your actions for that round. I will then take those that beat the DC, post their effects, and then post the attackers' actions. All effects that tick down will be noted on my post to make things easier on everyone remembering what is and is not affecting your character or the creatures, barring the very first round.

To make things flow easier, I will give the AC, Save DCs, and relative health for the creature(s) to help you determine if things happen or don't and you can narrate what that roll means. I also make my round summary post order of actions in the order of comments instead of initiative. This way, no one is waiting for someone else to post their actions. Nothing is worse that waiting on someone else to do a thing and the player suddenly disappears.

Relative Health: If the enemy is at 100-50%, they are healthy, 49-25% Wounded, 24-0% Critical


I like the rule in 5e where if the creature you're attacking is about to go down, you can instead convert your damage to nonlethal without penalty. Maybe you need to question the bad guy. Maybe the fight was a misunderstanding. Whatever the reason, you can only use this if the attack would finish the person being attacked.

I would prefer if you rolled the extra damage you get from Critical hits instead of doubling the damage. This way you're less likely to roll minimum damage. It can happen, but the average will pull more to the middle rather than the extremes. However, that is up to you to determine when you get a critical hit.

When the time comes for secret checks, you can roll them, but must keep them secret in the die roll and then as a Private line to me. If you don't I will reroll it myself. I'm doing it this way to keep the action moving. If you don't want to so that even you don't know what you got, that's fine, I can roll it if you ask for it, just make sure to give me the bonus on the skill you have and we'll go from there. I'm generally quick when it comes to the OCC thread, but usually only check the ICC thread when I'm home.

Due to the low magic nature, I will be using the Magic Item Variant as explained here: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1356

Note: changed HP to relative health and added percentage
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:23, Thu 15 June 2023.

When making skill checks, please include what your level of training is. You may just include the letter for ease of reference. For example untrained would be U, Trained would be T, and so on.

Include this information in whatever skill or ability roll is made where the info is included on your character sheet.