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petrea_mitchellPathfinder's second edition does a lot of things I applaud, but one big issue for me is character backgrounds. You have to pick one from a list of standardized backgrounds that provide both stat modifiers and the character's backstory, and many character concepts may find that none fits well. Even the official blog post meant to get us all excited about the new character creation system ran into this problem.
Also, while I think the overall approach that 2e uses is best for people who know exactly what they want, and that will be most gamers, I miss randomness.
So I made a thing for randomly generating character outlines. You get a random heritage, background, and class specialty (if applicable), and then build a character around that.
With the SO witnessing, I rolled up an arctic elf wizard, specializing in abjuration, with a Barrister background. (Yes, there are a few weirdly specialized backgrounds in the list.) An ironic result, since part of this exercise is to break out of the box, and I tend to play spellcasters when left to my own devices. And the first character I randomly generated by first edition PFS rules was also a wizard. But, I belong to that cranky old school of gamers which believe that you have to play the first thing you roll, which is why the button disappears after you roll. At least there's an unusual combination with lawyering background, since Pathfinder elves tend to be chaotic-aligned and not so much about following procedures.
So, Losseyel hails from the icy Lands of the Linnorm Kings, where she gained a reputation as a negotiator between her small elven community and the various local kingdoms. When she was not being useful, though, her pedantic insistence on following rules made her tiresome to the other elves, and they eventually convinced her that more of the world could benefit from her talents. She meant to settle in Absalom, but discovered along the way that she rather enjoyed travel, and soon joined the Pathfinders. During her training, she became entirely at ease with human society, even taking up worship of one of their gods: Abadar, deity of law, commerce, civilization, and following the damn instructions.
Losseyel has an arctic fox familiar, and she goes into battle with mage armor and a rapier. Yes, line things up right in this edition and your wizard can use a sword.
I like her! Now I just need to find a game.
Also, while I think the overall approach that 2e uses is best for people who know exactly what they want, and that will be most gamers, I miss randomness.
So I made a thing for randomly generating character outlines. You get a random heritage, background, and class specialty (if applicable), and then build a character around that.
With the SO witnessing, I rolled up an arctic elf wizard, specializing in abjuration, with a Barrister background. (Yes, there are a few weirdly specialized backgrounds in the list.) An ironic result, since part of this exercise is to break out of the box, and I tend to play spellcasters when left to my own devices. And the first character I randomly generated by first edition PFS rules was also a wizard. But, I belong to that cranky old school of gamers which believe that you have to play the first thing you roll, which is why the button disappears after you roll. At least there's an unusual combination with lawyering background, since Pathfinder elves tend to be chaotic-aligned and not so much about following procedures.
So, Losseyel hails from the icy Lands of the Linnorm Kings, where she gained a reputation as a negotiator between her small elven community and the various local kingdoms. When she was not being useful, though, her pedantic insistence on following rules made her tiresome to the other elves, and they eventually convinced her that more of the world could benefit from her talents. She meant to settle in Absalom, but discovered along the way that she rather enjoyed travel, and soon joined the Pathfinders. During her training, she became entirely at ease with human society, even taking up worship of one of their gods: Abadar, deity of law, commerce, civilization, and following the damn instructions.
Losseyel has an arctic fox familiar, and she goes into battle with mage armor and a rapier. Yes, line things up right in this edition and your wizard can use a sword.
I like her! Now I just need to find a game.
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Date: 2019-08-12 05:43 am (UTC)I am well on my way to having the Halfling version of Simo "White Death" Hayha.
THIS PROGRAM IS STARTING TO SCARE ME -- HOW DOES IT *KNOW*? >:)