Pathfinder Unchained [RPG]

 

Having completed a couple of adventure paths as GM and gearing up for my third, I felt I had enough experience under my belt to see about implementing some of the alternative rules systems from Pathfinder Unchained.  The book presents 254 pages of different or additional ways to do things in Pathfinder, and it’s certainly worth a look if you’re planning a new campaign—chances are there’s something for every GM.  These aren’t little things like a new feat, but major redesigns of entire classes, monster creation, magic, and more. The only caveat is that the more you stray from the Core rules, the more unresolved issues are likely to arise, so think carefully through the implications of a change and make sure players are willing to buy in to any adjustments.  Anyway, there’s a ton of material to discuss, so let’s get to it!

 

I’m not a big fan of the cover.  The golem or animated statue or whatever it is has a crazy narrow waist that really annoys me for some reason, even though I do acknowledge the whirling chains are a nice nod to the book’s title.  The introduction (2 pages long) notes that Pathfinder was released seven years earlier (at that point) and that it’s time to offer a workshop full of tools for GMs to select from to update and customise their game.  It provides a brief but useful overview of the major new changes, and is worth a skim.

 

Chapter 1 is “Classes” (36 pages) and contains the most widely adopted changes across the Pathfinder community.  The chapter presents new “Unchained” versions of the Barbarian, Monk, Rogue, and Summoner, and even PFS allows them because they are almost unanimously accepted as more playable (and better balanced) revisions.  The Unchained Barbarian has simplified calculations for rage duration (though it still lasts too long, in my opinion) and makes it easier to use rage powers.  The Unchained Monk has a simplified Flurry of Blows and new ki powers for versatility.  The Unchained Rogue gets skill unlocks (discussed later) and important abilities like debilitating injury, weapon finesse, and (eventually) Dex to damage.  The Unchained Summoner is frankly a nerf, but a much-needed one; the biggest change is to the eidolon, but it also fixes the Summoner spell list.  I’m happy with all the class revisions, and I only wish Paizo got around to making Unchained versions of some of the other problematic classes out there.  The chapter also contains a new method to compute BABs and saves to help multiclass characters, but it looks too complicated to me.  Finally, there’s a new “staggered advancement” mechanism that sort of allows a character to partially level up as they go instead of doing it all at once when they reach a new XP threshold; I think it’s more effort than its worth.

 

Chapter 2 is “Skills and Options” (44 pages).  It starts with an optional “Background” skills system, which essentially gives each PC a free rank each level to spend on a non-combat oriented skill like Craft, Perform, etc.  I tried it once in a previous campaign but found it was rarely used to flesh out a character and was instead just dumped into learning another language or another point in a Knowledge skill.  I do like the expanded skill uses for Craft, Perform, and Profession—they’re easy to integrate into a campaign because they essentially give the GM a list of uses and DCs to make those skills more valuable in ordinary gameplay (such as using Craft to determine what culture made an item, for example).  Another optional change is a consolidated skill list that cuts the number of skills in a third!  This is essentially what Starfinder did, and I’m not a fan at all because it makes for too much homogeneity within a group.  Another proposal is “grouped skills” which makes PCs more broadly skilled but less specialised; complicated but interesting.  Next, there are alternative Crafting and Profession rules.  I like the changes to Crafting (simplifies and details DCs better) but it doesn’t address magical item crafting which, frankly, is the most likely to be used and abused.  The changes to Profession are only for running a business.  Perhaps most pertinent are the “Skill Unlocks” for Unchained Rogue (or any other PC who takes a particular feat)—these allow a character who has 5, 10, 15, and 20 ranks in a skill to gain a particular ability with that skill.  These aren’t game-changers for the most part, but they do speed up their use or remove penalties, and are worth having for the most part.  Last, there’s a new way to handle multiclassing; essentially, you give up feats to get the secondary powers of another class.  I found it interesting but ultimately unsatisfactory.

 

Chapter 3 is “Gameplay” (46 pages) and is a real grab bag of options.  The first involves alignment: either making it a bigger part of the game by tracking PCs’ alignment more finely and providing bonuses accordingly, or removing it altogether (which would require a *lot* of GM legwork).  Some people like the revised action economy (a version of which was implemented in PF2), which changes the admittedly initially confusing dichotomy of Free/Swift/Immediate/Move/Standard/Full to just “Simple” and “Advanced”.  However, I’ve also heard issues with how it handles certain classes.  Another proposal is to remove iterative attacks; it looks interesting but too complicated for easy adoption.  Next are “stamina points” and “combat tricks”—basically, a pool of points to use for a bonus on an attack or to do certain tricks that improve combat feats; I could certainly see using this.  Also tempting is the idea of “wound thresholds”, which means there’s a degradation of fighting ability the more hit points are lost—this would create some new tactical considerations though it would also require some more GM tracking.  Last are Starfinder-style disease and poison progression tracks, which make them *much* deadlier (I think they’re too hard to integrate at this stage in Pathfinder, however).

 

Chapter Four is “Magic” (38 pages).  It starts with “Simplified Spellcasting”, in which a spellcaster only prepares spells for their three highest spell levels with all lesser spells grouped in a pool; this provides them even more flexibility, which is anathema to those (like me) unhappy with the caster/martial disparity at higher levels.  Next are “Spell Alterations”, and some of these are more my jam: limited magic, wild magic, spell crits and fumbles, and material components have a cost for every spell (old school!).  I know a lot of groups use the “Automatic Bonus Progression” rules, which provide a fixed bonus at each level so that the “Big Six” magic item slots can be used for more interesting and flavourful things than just stat boosting gear.  Next are magical items that scale; I think one or two of these in a campaign could be really fun (and manageable), though I wouldn’t want to overdo it just because of the complications.  Last up is a new way of handling magic item creation that involves the whole party overcoming challenges in order to add unique powers to items; it’s certainly flavourful and worth considering.

 

Chapter Five is “Monsters” (62 pages).  It presents a whole new (and allegedly much faster) way of creating monsters.  It’s the method adopted in Starfinder, and is based on arrays and grafts rather than building a creature from the “ground up”.  I’m personally not a fan of it (I like knowing monsters follow the same “rules” as everyone else), but I do sympathise with the homebrewers out there who want a faster way to stock a dungeon with custom creations.

 

And that’s Pathfinder Unchained.  If you’ve been playing or GMing for a while and have a good sense of the Core rules, it’s certainly worth a look.