TWLD Rule Clarifications

0 Level Spell Like Abilities: I am going to modify the ability to use spell-like abilities that are based on 0 level spells. Rather than once per day, these abilities, for this campaign, will be considered unlimited use (just as they are as 0 level spells.) This rule mod will also apply to other creatures in the game (NPC's and monsters too.)

Acronyms: AC=Armor Class; AP=Action Point; CM=Combat Maneuver; CRB=Pathfinder Core Rule Book; HP=Hit Points; ICD=Invisible Castle is down; OOC=Out of Character (also refers to the OOC Thread); PbP=Play by Post (the style of game we are playing); PC=Perception Check;

Absences from Game: If a character is gone for more than a few days, I would appreciate (as would the group I'm sure) a short note in OOC so everyone knows what is up. Major posts (validations) will get 2 full days for responses to come in. So if I post on a Monday night, I will wait till Thursday morning before posting another response. Unless I know that everyone has posted and we can move on--then I may move quicker than that. But in general this will result in roughly two major posts per week, which is a realistic pace for everyone I believe. Under this guideline, if after the two days someone has not posted, as long as there is no direct response we are waiting on (in response to a direct question or necessary action) I will assume that a PC has nothing to add to the current events and move on with the next post. If I ever do pass someone over who would have liked to do something but did not get to it before I posted again--just give a shout out and we can do a little history makeover and fit things in.

Action Points: This campaign will use Action points as described here. They will be rolled over as players advance in levels, unless a player chooses to not allow this for his character (essentially you have the ability to reject your chance for "luck" as a player.) If you choose to do this you will have to log them on your own (possibly under notes) as TOS+ does not support this feature. There will be additional uses of Action Points available such as...

Die Rolls other than d20: You can choose to spend one action point, before you roll, to add 1/2 of the die points to the roll (to the maximum allowed). So, for example, after first level (which is maxed) hit points will be rolled normally: so a wizard using an action point this way would be guaranteed to receive at least 4 points on their roll up to the maximum of 6 points for any roll over 3. Action Points can also be used this way for damage rolls (physical and magical attacks), healing, etc. If, for example, the damage would normally be 3d6+3: the use of an Action Point would guarantee a minimum of 12+3 points of damage.

Severe Consequences: If an action taken by a PC results in severe consequences to self or others, and the player realizes this is the case, the use of two action points can be used to modify the action in a way that changes the results, at the discretion of the GM, but in the favor of the PC's. This essentially emulates a form of Limited Wish spell. This use of Action Points is related to the storyline in this Campaign, which will be detailed in other posts.

Free Action Points: You may have noticed I like complex interweaving story lines. I also don't like making mistakes. SO I would like all of you to keep an eye on me and let me know if you catch any story flaws, goofs, bloopers, or whatever. If you catch me in a mistake and I agree that it is a mistake, you'll get an extra Action Point to use in the game for your character.

Arguing: I have absolutely no problem with people arguing with me, by the way. If you have a point you want to make and don't think I'm getting it--just keep hammering away until you are satisfied we are both on the same page. In any discussion where there are two opposing ideas someone is going to eventually be able to make or break their case--and like I said--I prefer you do that rather than just backing down and feeling resentful. No fun there at all... Worse case I may say I don't feel this will work in this campaign--DM's choice is always an option--but I will never do that in an arbitrary way. I have a deep seated need to make sense of my surroundings--the "because I said so" ruling is bad juju for me--so I don't use it on other people either.

Armor and Shields in TOS+: Working on someone's character sheet I noticed that they had armor in the equipment section. This is in error--armor and shields are already calculated in the total weight when they are "geared up" in the Armor and Shield boxes on the Back workpage. So if you didn't realize this go back and check--you may gain yourself a bunch more #'s by getting those items out of your equipment area...weapons do need to be added as they are not automatically calculated when entered in the Front workpage.

Balance: Balance as a concept is all relative--I hate how people bandy that word around like a bible. There are so many ways to create balance--and ultimately there is nothing balanced about the game really--it is high fantasy designed to be fun. The balance for me comes in trying to get everyone participating in ways that are enjoyable for each person. The equipment is just a little piece in the equation.

Charge & Overrun: A Charge can be implemented through an occupied square, if this square contains a non-engaged ally by using the Overrun CM.

Class Powers: All Class Powers based on rounds of 6 seconds (Bard Performances, Cleric Granted Powers, Sorcerer Bloodlines, etc.)will instead be based on minutes per day (or 10 rounds.) Many of these are based on 3 + Charisma, so they will now be a minimum of 3 minutes per day usage (assuming no bonus/penalty). One caveat--once activated the affect will last in full minute increments--so with no Charisma bonus that means the ability can be activated 3 times per day max for 1 minute per activation (or 3 full minutes at once).

Concentrating on Spell: Concentrating on a spell is a standard action. You can't attack and concentrate.

Concentrating to Maintain a Spell: Some spells require continued concentration to keep them going. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can keep you from concentrating to maintain a spell. If your concentration breaks, the spell ends.

Die Rolls: During the course of play there will be situations were it is easier for me to roll dice as a DM for a player. In certain cases, at my discretion, I would allow you to use an Action Point to re-roll this result (like, for instance, if it is what I would possibly have done as a PC playing your character). If this is the case, I would PM you with this and you could then decide what you want to do. In most cases these rolls (by me for you) will be for checks needed that would damage the flow of the story if I continually had to wait for die rolls before posting. If you have a particular kind of roll that you would prefer to always roll for yourself (that would be a quirk  :)), just send me a PM and we can figure out an alternate plan.

Initiative: I will be rolling initiatives for players and posting those at the start of any combat based encounters. Depending on the initiative of any NPCs or Creatures, there may be a partial PC turn, followed by a partial validation combined with the Creature's turn, and then another PC turn and validation afterwords for the players left. For this method to work, it is VERY important that players follow the initiative roll and take turns based on their die roll. This prevents posts that do not make sense or that need to be changed, due to posts not factoring in the actions of the people whose initiative should have happened first. If your action will not interfere with the flow of other events, and you are confident that nothing anyone else does will change your post, then feel free to NOT follow the initiative posting order, when it is more convenient to post sooner. In most situations where there are multiple Creatures in a combat based encounter, they will all get one initiative and move in concert when attacking or whatever...

Knowledge Checks to Identify Monsters: Here is the house rule I want to try out. All the players really need to worry about is what check to make based on type of monster:

• Arcana (constructs, dragons, magical beasts)
• Dungeoneering (aberrations, oozes)
• Local (humanoids)
• Nature (animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, vermin)
• Religion (undead)
• The planes (outsiders, elementals)

You make the knowledge check and I will determine everything else--but it will be based on the linked house rule. Basically I will determine for each monster a Rarity rating and a Prominence rating which will be used to modify the DC and also to determine the information available to the player based on their roll.

This doesn't apply to weapons use, since they have their own system set up for that. As a PC though if you are trying to determine something specific regarding the difference between a catapult/scorpion/trebuchet then yes--I would expect a knowledge check to determine that. This is the only way to place things in terms of the character (and somewhat eliminate the metagaming thing.) But in this example--would anyone really need to tell the difference between these three things? Most common people would not differentiate between types of catapults or swords--they would just say sword or catapult. This falls under very common items which do not require any checks to know. Now if you want to use one of these things--again there is already a system in place for that regarding weapons. Knowing the difference between three fairly similar items for some specific application would require a check depending on what you were trying to do. Walk out on the street and see how many people know what a scorpion or trebuchet are by name only. Not many will--though most will know the word catapult. And visually--many people would call all three of these things catapult if they saw one on the street (maybe not the scorpion--many people would call that a crossbow I would guess.) Granted these things are not common anymore--but they serve as an example. In many cases I may just gloss over (or allow a metagaming situation) and assume a character knows the difference between even unusual items if the person playing the character does--just to save time--especially if it is not a matter of life or death and if the character has the appropriate Knowledge skill to make a learned check if they needed to (or a high intelligence).

As another example, say you lived with a sorcerer. This should be reflected in your Knowledge/Craft/and or Profession skills (as per the game mechanics). If it is not then you must roll a skill or ability check just like anyone else would to see if your character knows anything specific. There is not a "I lived with a sorcerer" skill so that can't be reflected in the game mechanics properly...

This is not meant to force people to do skill checks for silly common things. Everyone in most parts of the world knows what a cow is for example. You don't have to roll a knowledge check to see if you are actually trying to milk a cat. Does this mean you just know how to milk one or slaughter one? Not at all--those are skills with difficulties associated with them--so you would roll to see if you can do that properly if you ever needed to. Unless you had a profession of farmer say--which would then change milking and slaughtering to very common skills that, in general, any farmer would know how to do--or at least know how to do better than the average joe.

Light: consider the breakdown with 30' bright light for normal vision:

     Normal vision:
   * Bright light: Up to 30'
   * Shadowy illumination: 30'-60'
   * Darkness: 60'+

     Low-Light Vision (LLV):
   * Bright light: Up to 60' (30x2)
   * Shadowy illumination: 60'-120' (60x2)
   * Darkness: 120'+

Melee": You can move through or occupy a square with Kenken as long as there is no melee going on. They are Tiny creatures, so their reach is the equivalent of 0. To attack they have to move into the square of an opponent (which may provoke an AoO). Once there--they can stay and attack repeatedly. Their style, by the way, is to fight low to the ground and use their Trip talent with a successful hit--so I am assuming they will not be in anyone's way who may choose to attack the same creature as long as these methods are what they are using (no penalties to attack if they are in the same square as your opponent.)

Magic: This campaign will be high magic (both for players and creatures). For the sake of game play I am removing the "material" component aspect of spells. For players and all other creatures. This will be for normal casting purposes only--the manufacture of potions and other magical items that "store" a spell will still require the proper material components.

Modifying Posts: You can change your post anytime, including the use of action points, up until I make an official validation, in any way you choose. If I have time, I may edit the initiative stats and map to reflect any changes as individuals make their posts--this is not an "official" validation though, and I can always go back and move things if something changes.

Morale: There isn't really a setup for Morale checks in Pathfinder apparently. I do like to add a random effect to this possibility--so just to give you an idea--any time I consider a morale check is appropriate, I calculate (using the infinite power of my brain) a percentile chance for that to happen. In a group I roll this separately for each creature. Then, if at least one creature does bolt, I roll an additional chance that some or all of the rest of the group will panic and do the same (based on the character of the creatures.) I won't show these rolls in the game--but wanted you to have an idea of how it is done...

Percentile Roles: Are always rolled low. A 5% chance means you must roll 1-5. A 75% chance means you must 1-75.

Quirks: Actually this really is a good example of a quirk (being quiet.) Quirks don't all have to be weird obsessive stand out things--we all have quirks--they are what define us in much the way that traits and habits do. Some are strange sure--but many are just things like "being quiet." The difference between a quirk and a trait or flaw is just the degree. Being quiet is a quirk. Being quiet to the degree that it makes people extremely uncomfortable is a flaw...Some of the "quirks" people have chosen should actually be flaws because they have a significant impact on how other people will view them. It seems you are all having fun with them, though, just keep in mind it is ok to back off a bit once the novelty wears off if you are finding that it is becoming difficult to role play some of these really strong quirks. I for one am enjoying how everyone is playing with the quirks...

Ranged Ammunition: Regarding ranged ammunition like arrows--assume you can recover all of these unless you roll a critical failure on the to-hit. A critical failure is an automatic broken arrow. So you can just track broken ones instead of keeping count as you use them. This assumes someone is spending some of their down time re-fletching/repairing.

Ranged Attacks: If a PC misses with a ranged attack, but there are adjacent enemies, there is a 15% chance the missed attack will strike a different opponent (And in a rare case more than 1 opponent if both opponents roll the 15% and they are in a direct line from the attack).

Skill Checks: I do like the auto failure/auto success on skill checks--otherwise there is no chance for the fluke success on very difficult things--and no chance for me to have the PC's do silly things if they roll a 1. So whether or not it is in the rules it will play that way with me as DM... You guys won't roll any 1's anyway right? I also give bonus success for a 20 roll if the check was a success (extra info or whatever is appropriate based on the skill check). If it was not a success due to a high difficulty I just allow some form of success--though it may not be a total success depending on the skill and difficulty...

Spell Range: Range in all cases will be inclusive of the lessor ranges preceding it: Personal, Touch, Close, Medium, Long, Unlimited.

Start Up Money & Craft/Profession Backgrounds: I assume that start-up cash is the money you have to become an adventurer at 1st level. If you develop your character as having had a Craft or Profession prior to becoming an adventurer, I do not include the items from the Craft or Profession in your start-up costs. A good example of this--if you are a blacksmith--you would have made yourself a weapon while being a blacksmith. And it would likely have been a masterwork item (or depending on your circumstances possibly made of Cold Iron or Mithral.) Unless you were a bad blacksmith and that is why you became an adventurer. In which case you would need to buy your weapon (unless your dad is a good blacksmith, in which case, he will make you one...)

Surprise, Charge and Flat Footed (To clarify the Pathfinder Rules):

Surprise Round: If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.

This means you can not move and attack during a surprise round.

"Charge" attack: If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.

Attacking on a Charge: After moving, you may make a single melee attack. You get a +2 bonus on the attack roll and take a –2 penalty to your AC until the start of your next turn.

Flat footed: At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act (specifically, before your first regular turn in the initiative order), you are flat-footed. You can't use your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) while flat-footed. Barbarians and rogues of high enough level have the uncanny dodge extraordinary ability, which means that they cannot be caught flat-footed. Characters with uncanny dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat. A flat-footed character can't make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat.

Being flat footed has nothing to do with Surprise, per say, it just means that until you are able to act (with your initiative) you are incapable of using your dexterity and therefore your Dex bonus (or any related bonuses such as Dodge Feat) is not used to determine your AC. Likewise being flat footed does not imply anyone can use a sneak attack unless they have that ability (typically by being a Rogue.)

Traits: For those who wish to incorporate the Golarion Character Traits (which should be all of you given they are essentially free bonuses), here is a complete list of Traits available at this time. You may choose up to 4 of these for your character--no two from the same Type (as listed on the spreadsheet). You can also create your own within the spirit of how they work if you can't find what you are looking for...

XP: This campaign is an XP intensive experience. The writers of TWLD offer several recommendations of how to balance this out. Pathfinder offers it's own take on Experience Points--allowing for the required experience points per level to vary based on a "slow", "medium" or "fast" game. I've considered the various options and am opting for a method that is simple and fair while still maintaining balance: I will award Levels rather than individual Experience Points. So to put it simply, everyone will level up together at specific places throughout the campaign. I will reward exceptional play/unusual risk in other ways.