I'm GMing pathfinder 1e game form my friends and I'm thinking about giving something special to my players.
So far I have plans for a paladin and a bard.
Start with the bard. Countersong usually sucks because it's so niche even when you can use it you usually don't because you dont remember it existing. So I want to expand on it, and by extension on the whole verbal component in spells.
Basically I want to give him ability to mess with enemy spells making fireballs explode in their hand or applying haste to everyone not just their team.
So all arcane spells will have kind of programs that will be in Latin
So to cast fireball he should say something like "vos (you) ignis (fire) crepitius (explosion)"
Bard with the counter song would be able to change a word in the enemy spell to change "vos" for "ego" to make him cast fireball on himself.
And yes I know that it's not correct latin but I need to keep it simple
 Thalidomide Vintage Ad Shirt $22.14 |
 DMT Has Friends For Me Shirt $21.68 |
Thalidomide Vintage Ad Shirt $22.14 |
yes
It's only autistic if you can't handle it smoothly during an actual game. If you can introduce a new mechanic and not bog down the encounter go wild OP.
Do your friends actually know Latin? Because that seems kind of critical to making this system work instead of being a pointless slog of looking through charts.
One person studies it
However I might to set a limit at "target" words for now
So you would have to know 5 words max
>So you would have to know 5 words max
You have to know every word the spells are going to use in order to have any hope of knowing what effect changing them will have.
That's true but that will be later
They are only level 4 so I won't allow to change the spell itself for now
Just mess with the who it will effect
>Is this too autistic?
>I'm GMing pathfinder 1e
Yes it's too autistic.
Oh and for Paladin I thought of implementing 8 virtues from ultima
https://ultima.fandom.com/wiki/Eight_Virtues
I will keep track of his progress on these, he will collect mantras and after and if he will collect them all I'll give him something awesome like transforming his class into a fighter-cleric hybrid where he will simply take advantage of both of these classes
sounds cool I love specials if they are organic.
I also like the one fo the Paladin, but having two classes for the price of one can be very powerful (or rather is). But if he really play it and earns it go for it! Tbh depending on how smart the Bard is the one from the Paladin sounds stronger.
What are the other group members? lets Brainstorm specials for them too.
I'm confident with the bard player, he introduced me to the ttrpg in general
Paladin is a newbie and doesn't have confidence to role play yet so I wanted give him something to do
There's also a dwarf fighter that will lose an eye soon, also completely new
And a rogue that played that played 5e before but I don't know for how long but he is mostly fine, the most goofy of the bunch
Have no idea what to do with last two yet
why WILL the Dwarf lose an eye? Sounds like Prophecy.
Withour proper knowledge about their characters there can be no good idea.
Because I will introduce a villain for the next 5 sessions or so and I need to wipe the floor with them
So I would figure that dwarf loosing an eye and breaking Paladin's weapon will grant them motivation to hate the guy
Hmm. Well generally yes but the measure is different. I mean loosing a weapon is one thing but loosing an eye is mutilation. Thats hard and some palyers react really badly to this. Though I do not know your players.
In general I always hate Enemies that endanger people/places I like. Last character was moivated to fight against the mafia because his family was in danger should the mafia stay active.
The Dwarf is not a ranged fighter right?? Because then loosing an eye is really rough (theoretically).
If you are set on loosing an eye for him, something akin to "death sight" could be funny. Seeing things usually hidden and such, since his eye is gone (dead) and thus his dead eye can see death. I have nothing specific in mind but something along those lines.
Axe and board
I think I can sell him on idea of a cool eye patch. Besides he can pay cleric to restore it, it will cost them but they have problem with money at the moment.
Also it's an opportunity to maybe give him a magic or mechanical eyeball.
Not sure about that though
Axe and shield, a classic.
We had a few cool characters/NPCs with magical eyes. usually Assassin types. It depends.
have you though about working out their specials with your players? Like what would they want (given your examples for Bard and Paladin) and go from there. Most likely they will be too strong but one can always downgrade.
I spoke with the bard about the language thing and he seems to be down with it
As for paladin and dwarf I don't think they know what exactly would they know because of how new they are.
put it on a feat or magic item to make it optional instead of applying it to the class/system wholesale
it's about on the autism level of sacred geometry
It will be unique to the bards countersong
He may ignore it if he wants
So you want to change a 1st-level feature that mostly has flavorful effects into Power Word: have a nice day. I think whether you're autistic is the least troubling question about your mental state.
Of course it's not gonna be easy
I'll make him roll spellcraft first to identify the spell and then bluff to successfully fool it
Plus he will get it at level 6 or something and will probably spend a feat for that
>So to cast fireball he should say something like "vos (you) ignis (fire) crepitius (explosion)"
Just switch to Ars Magicka.
Pathfinder is a dead end bureaucratic shitshow anyway.
Ok for a dwarf fighter I thought of the artifact. A magical tankard since only notable characteristic that he showed so far is to drink at every opportunity.
3 times per day he can sip from it and one of the following happens.
Heal for 3d8+his level, his next attack will gain +20 (like true strike), next round he gains 50% evasion, vomit and summon a beer elemental, vomit and make a fire breath attack in a cone 15ft., shift alignment to chaotic good and if he is already one gain +1 permanent hp (will lose it if he becomes other alignment), restore spell on self, gain 30ft. speed bonus without provoking AOO.
Have to worship Cyden to gain benefits, and will give him Cydens divine weapon technique
Of and the tankard will mirror enchantments of his primary weapon
For a rouge I thought of giving him a mentor to improve his fencing. Maybe a ghost of a dead pirate or something. In this case he can lose an eye and his eye patch can be the one who can summon a ghost to tutor him.
You're converting a simple spell into a puzzle mini-game that only 1 person in the group will be able to participate in. I think you already know the answer to your question.
But I'm more curious about the paladin's new thing. B/c if you're making mini-games for the rest of the party to use for combat, they're gonna need to be good - the bard could turn out pretty OP when they crack your code here.
>is this too autistic
>I'm GMing pathfinder
Probably.