Source
r/Pathfinder_RPG•
negativeview

All custom-race campaign. How are my rules for race building?

Between "serious" campaigns I like to do "silly" ones. This is what I'm doing for my upcoming silly campaign:

Everyone builds a custom race with 5RP for level 1 using the rules in the Advanced Race Guild. Normal classes and everything.

After every single session, you level up with the final session being played at level 20. You also get 2 more RP to work with and can change your entire racial build if you want. This works in the "plot" of the silly game (it has almost no plot on purpose). More details can be found here, though that document was written for a newer player and goes over a lot of basics.

Are there any horrible issues I'm walking into? What are the most OP things you can think of when you combine any first-party resources plus a completely custom race at 5RP-23RP? Should I make this top out at higher than 23?

Posted Sep 20, 2015, 5:54 PM UTC

35
spelingpolice•

I recommend you go a little more power-mad. At level 1 players can invest 1 RP into any of the different race categories, but only 1 point per category. Every level thereafter they can add 1 RP trait to 2 different categories, or replace an ability in 1 category with a different ability worth 1 additional RP. Then at level 20 they get to add a new creature type OR size change.

Edit: I misread the rules! In retrospect I like everything but the total re-write. I would allow the players to re-write the points out of any 1 category of abilities at each level. I might also allow players to roll randomly for 3 1-rp abilities rather than select 2 RP worth of options, but these abilities can't be re-assigned later.

2
negativeviewOP•

I'm doing the rewrite for two reasons:

  1. I expect people to make mistakes because they have never done anything like this AND one of the players is going to be new to Pathfinder in general (less than ideal, but he wants a campaign and I don't want to make him wait THAT long before my next serious one). Being able to redo it means that mistakes don't hurt as much.

  2. It's actually less work for me as the DM. It's just counting RP vs what they have to spend. I don't have to decide when what can be swapped out and when it can't and so on.

2
codydot•

I think the RP distribution shouldn't be linear. At just level one you have a huge degree of control over your stats. 3 RP for DR 5, 7 RP for large size, etc. It's OP, but as long as everyone is, no one is.
However, by level 20, I wanna be a Large Undead with Fast Healing and absurd stats. That's simply not happening with 23 RP.
What do you mean 5RP-23RP? If it's 2 per level, that'd put you at like 43RP at level 20.

I might be discounting the fact that when your race and class synergize, it's stronk. IDK. Just my thoughts.

Quick suggestion. If you plan on doing something like this again, you might look at making everyone an 'eidolon' and letting them pick evolutions as they advance. Almost the same thing, but it could be fun.

2
negativeviewOP•

Oh, yeah, I did my math wrong, it does top out at 43!

Would 43 allow you enough power that you're able to do sufficiently insane things?

I can scale non-linearly, though it complicate the building somewhat. It wouldn't be that bad.

1
codydot•

Let's see, large (7) undead (16) with fast healing (6) and absurd stats (~12) is around 43 =D! In retrospect, linear progression is probably fine.

Also, racial bonuses do not stack. Thank god, because i could easily get an absurd stealth bonus.

1