Sunday, October 12, 2014

New Feats and Combat Rules

Continuing with the space fantasy material, here are some new feats and combat rules.

-Nate


New Feats
These feats are ones that seem appropriate for a space fantasy campaign. As always, the GM should determine which one are allowed for players to select.

Artillerist
You are an experienced artillery commander, familiar with the use of ballistae, catapults and other such siege weapons.
Prerequsite: Base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You receive a +2 familiarity bonus to checks made when firing siege engines.
Normal: Siege weapons are fired by making a check using a character's base attack bonus, Intelligence bonus or penalty, range modifier and other relevant modifiers.

Force of Personality
This character has such a strong personality that she becomes more resistant to magic and other mental influences.
Benefit: The hero applies her Charisma modifier rather than her Wisdom modifier to her Will save.

Heirloom
You begin play possessing an item that has been passed down through your family from generation to generation, one that is unusual in its value or potency.
Benefit: You begin play with a minor wondrous item or a magical item of equivalent value, as determined by you and the GM.

Herbalist
You know how to use local plants as medicinal applications, making your treatments more effective.
Prerequsite: Heal 1 rank; Knowledge: nature 1 rank.
Benefit: You can make a Knowledge: nature check (DC 10) to aid your own Heal check, providing a +2 circumstance bonus if you succeed.
Normal: Characters cannot make Aid Another efforts to help themselves.
Special: This check suffers a -5 circumstance penalty if you are located on a world that you have not previously visited.

Improved Zero-Gee Combatant
You are so accustomed to fighting in the absence of gravity that you perform better than other characters in that situation.
Prerequsite: Base attack bonus +1, Zero-Gee Combatant.
Benefit: You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to attack rolls when fighting in zero gravity.
Normal: Characters who fight in the absence of gravity suffer a -2 circumstance penalty due to the unusual nature of it. Those who have the Zero-Gee Combatant feat do not suffer this penalty, but do not gain a bonus either.

Mental Acumen
This character is so intelligent that he has built up unusual defenses against influences that would affect his mind.
Benefit: The hero applies his Intelligence modifier rather than his Wisdom modifier to his Will save.


Spacefarer
Either you were born on an aethership, or you have taken to space travel as if you had been. Whatever the case, the challenges of aetherial travel are less of a challenge for you.
Prerequsite: Profession: sailor 1 rank; Knowledge: geography 1 rank.
Benefit: You receive a +2 bonus to Knowledge: geography and Profession: sailor checks made in regard to handling aetherships.

Spiritual Determination
Stubborn is one way to describe this character. When she decides on a course of action, it becomes physically more difficult to force her to do otherwise.
Benefit: This hero applies her Wisdom modifier rather than her Constitution modifier to her Fortitude saves.

Unusual Aptitude
Now and again a character possesses some sort of talent that seems completely out-of-the-ordinary for his profession or background. A man of the church might be a highly skilled gambler, for instance, or an enforcer might be particularly knowledgeably about Renaissance art.
Benefit: The hero may choose one skill that immediately becomes a class skill for him.
Special: This feat can be selected multiple times. Each time it is selected, it allows an additional class skill to be acquired.

Unusual Approach
There are also times when a character can perform a particular task in an extraordinary manner.
Benefit: The hero may designate a new ability modifier that is applied when using a particular skill, selected from the list below.
Special: This feat can be selected multiple times. Each time it is selected, it allows another skill to be affected.

Old and New Modifiers for Skills
Acrobatics—Dexterity can be replaced by Strength.
Climb—Strength can be replaced by Dexterity
Craft (visual arts)—Intelligence can be replaced by Wisdom
Craft (writing)—Intelligence can be replaced by Wisdom
Diplomacy—Charisma can be replaced by Wisdom
Handle Animal—Charisma can be replaced by Wisdom
Heal—Wisdom can be replaced by Intelligence
Intimidate—Charisma can be replaced by Strength
Knowledge (religion)—Intelligence can be replaced by Wisdom
Perception—Wisdom can be replaced by Intelligence
Perform (dance)—Charisma can be replaced by Dexterity
Ride—Dexterity can be replaced by Strength

Zero-Gee Combatant
You are accustomed to fighting in the absence of gravity.
Prerequsite: Base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You do not suffer the normal -2 penalty when fighting in zero gravity.
Normal: Characters who fight in the absence of gravity suffer a -2 circumstance penalty due to the unusual nature of it.



New Combat Rules
For the most part, combat between aetherships—along with combat between characters aboard them, or elsewhere in space—functions in the same manner as the rules presented in the Pathfinder core rulebook and Ultimate Combat. There are some exceptions, however.

Air Envelopes
The magical effect that provides breathable air and warmth to aetherships has a limited range. It extends forward and aft, to port and starboard, above and below, to a distance of half the vessel's overall length. For example, the air envelope on the Skylark (detailed above) extends for ninety feet beyond the ship's hull in all directions.

Damage to Aetherships
In combat, damage caused to aetherships can have two notably different effects.
Should the sails and rigging be destroyed, the vessel loses all propulsion. What is more, the air in its envelope begins to turn foul, at a rate determined by the size of the aethership and the size of the crew. The air remains fresh for a number of minutes equal to the vessel's total number of hit points divided by the number of crew members. For example, the Skylark, with 900 hp and 20 crew members, has an air envelope that lasts for 45 minutes after the sails and rigging are destroyed. As far as calculation is concerned, small characters count as half a crew member, large ones count as two, huge ones as four, etc. Refer to page 445 of the core rulebook for the effects of suffocation.

In the event that an aethership's hull is destroyed, it loses its artificial gravity. Additionally, the air aboard it slowly turns cold. Refer to page 442 of the core rulebook for the effects of freezing. Due to the frigid nature of the void, the effects of cold begin to set in immediately after a solar vessel's hull is destroyed.

Falling Overboard
Characters who become separated from their aetherships have a small amount of time in which to rectify the situation before they suffer the effects of suffocation and cold. They drift away from the ship at a rate equal to one sixth the vessel's speed in feet per round. For example, a character who falls overboard from the Skylark while it is traveling at 180 feet per round drifts away at a speed of 30 feet per round; this means that the other crew members have three rounds in which to save that character before cold and suffocation begin to take their toll.

Zero Gravity
When characters find themselves in the absence of gravity, it is disorienting and weird. For that reason, zero-gravity situations inflict a -2 circumstance penalty on attack rolls, Reflex saves and combat maneuver checks. Characters can overcome this penalty by taking the Zero-Gee Combatant feat.

On the other hand, being in the absence of gravity increases the distance that characters can jump—vertically or horizontally—tenfold.

“Sure. Standing on the ground of a world, it's easy to look up at the stars and dream about traveling among them. It could even seem romantic. But if you've ever been out in the black, with your aethership's rigging shot to pieces and the air starting to turn cold, you'll see that the romance rubs off of it right quick.”
-Maximillian, halfling rogue and lookout



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