GM Munroe's "Very Simple" Explanation of his Pathfinder 1e Campaign

Proposal

Gamemaster seeking new players for in‑person participation in a short adventure arc (3 to 5 sessions) in Pathfinder 1e with the possibility of a longer campaign to follow. Play would start at level 0 and progress in a horror‑themed campaign. The campaign would employ a number of rules that are variants or alternates from the base game assumption. These rules would be used primarily to enhance the sense of horror, dread, and dynamic action. Three to five sessions should see surviving characters reach level two.

About the Mini‑Campaign / Campaign

The game will take place in the country of Ustalav of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting in the year 4712 AR. For those not familiar with Ustalav, it is Pathfinder's gothic horror‑themed country, taking heavy inspiration from Ravenloft.

The game will inevitably be undead‑heavy, which means over a long enough period of playing there will be level drain and other draining effects. I say this because I had a player tell me he hated level drain once. I feel like I should offer the warning.

The game will use Lines and Veils strategy to help maintain a comfortable play environment for all parties. This is something we can discuss prior to campaign start to help establish boundaries.

Character Creation

Characters will be generated with 2d6+6 Ability Score generation. I usually do 4d6 Drop Lowest, but I want to try 2d6+6 method.

Class‑specific Character Creation Guidelines

Paladins must worship a deity. This is not spelled out in the Core Rules but I do require that paladins have a deity that is either LG, NG, or LN.
Furthermore, paladins are affected by changes to fear immunity as detailed blow.
Clerics must have a deity and their domains/subdomains must match their deity's allowed domains/subdomains.
They also must be within one step of alignment from their deity.
All rogues in the campaign are unchained rogues as detailed in Pathfinder Unchained.
All summoners in the campaign are unchained summoners as detailed in Pathfinder Unchained.
If a player wishes to start the game with a gunslinger or other character with firearms proficiency or access, please talk to me about it as firearms are available with limited access.

Other Character Creation Guidelines

Pending Additions: Playable Race Restrictions
Characters begin play with two Traits. One is drawn from the Traits published in Advanced Player's Guide or another published Paizo source and one campaign trait is selected from the list of available campaign traits provided by the GM. A character may not have more than one trait of a kind, so the campaign traits presented in Paizo published material are not available. Speak to the GM about developing a campaign trait with a similar narrative or effect if a campaign trait from Paizo published material obviously fills a gap in the available campaign trait options.
Characters starting at level 0 or level 1 start with standard starting gold for their class unless they start with a trait that grants additional starting gold, such as the Rich Parents social trait from Advanced Player's Guide.

Specific Mechanical Details (Variant Rules and House Rules)

The campaign starts at level 0.
- At character creation, players select a class and gain access only to that class's proficiencies, class skills, and level 0 spells, but otherwise the characters function as the basic commoner NPC class. (Classes that require an additional element, such as a witch's familiar or a wizard's spellbook, will also have access to that class element in its most basic capacity.)
- Characters remain in the level 0 phase for the first 1000 XP of the campaign. (This is roughly 1/3 of level one.) After this the characters advance into their level one class, including gaining maximum hit points for their first level, as is standard for level 1 characters.
The campaign uses a modified XP advancement track.
- Gaining levels two through seven follows the Slow Advancement Track of Pathfinder 1e.
- Gaining level eight occurs at 64,000 XP.
  (This is halfway between level 7 on the Slow Advancement Track and level 9 on the Medium Advancement Track.)
- Gaining levels nine through eleven follow the Medium Advancement Track for Pathfinder 1e.
- Gaining additional levels beyond eleven resort back to the Slow Advancement Track.
Player Characters joining the campaign after it starts will join at specified XP milestones and starting gold values.
- Player Characters joining the campaign after the start of play but while play is still in the level 0 phase will join with the same XP as the existing character with the lowest XP.
- Player Characters joining at level 1 after the level 0 phase will join at 1000 XP or, if the party is already over halfway to level 2 they will join at 1500 XP (equivalent to halfway to level 2).
- Player Characters joining the game after the start of level 2 will join at the start of the level shared by the lowest existing character or, if that character is over halfway through the level, will join at the halfway XP for progress through that level.
- Player Characters joining the game after it has started but before the party reaches level 2 will start with the same gold and equipment as if they had started at the beginning of the game.
- Player Characters joining the game after the start of level 2 will receive starting gold according to the Character Wealth By Level table in the Core Rulebook. No more than half of a character's starting wealth may be spent on a single item.
Combat Stamina feat from Pathfinder Unchained is an automatic bonus feat to all player characters.

Combat Stamina allows for characters to perform special actions ("combat tricks") with all their Combat feats by expending points from a stamina pool. Combat Stamina is itself a Combat feat so if a character has no other Combat feats, they can still elect to spend stamina points on the Combat Stamina feat, which exchanges up to five stamina points for attack bonus on proficient attacks.
The campaign uses Critical Hit Deck and Critical Fumble Deck cards.
- Some Critical Hit cards deal normal damage and have an additional effect. If the target is immune to the additional effect, a new card is drawn instead. This does not apply if the card deals additional damage and an additional effect.
- Weapons that normally deal more than double damage on a critical hit (such as x3 or x4 weapons) deal that damage instead of double damage when a Critical Hit or Critical Fumble card lists double damage. If a Critical Hit or Critical Fumble card lists more than double damage (x2), such as triple damage (x3), on an x3 weapon this would be treated as quadruple damage (x4) and on an x4 weapon this would be treated as quintuple damage (x5), and so on. If a Critical Hit card lists "normal damage" this would be one lower for such weapons, rolled as double damage on an x3 weapon or rolled as triple damage on an x4 weapon. If a Critical Fumble card lists "normal damage" this would be treated as normal damage for such weapons rather than increased.
- In a Coup de Grace, regardless of the critical damage multiplier specified on the Critical Hit card, the automatic critical hit can deal no fewer dice of damage than those specified by the weapon delivering the Coup de Grace. If the Critical Hit card would increase the damage dice of the critical hit, the damage dice are still increased. Other critical effects of the Critical Hit card resolve normally in a Coup de Grace.
- A natural 1 on an attack roll always misses. It also threatens a fumble. The character rolls again with the same modifiers. If this second roll fails to hit the target AC, the attack is a fumble. A Critical Fumble card is drawn to reveal the fumble effect.
- A character with the Weapon Focus feat that fumbles may draw two fumble cards and select between them for their fumble result. If a character has both Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus, the character may draw three fumble cards and select which one will serve as their fumble result.
The campaign uses Gritty Mode Wound Thresholds, a variant rule system from Pathfinder Unchained.

Gritty Mode Wound Thresholds applies combat penalties as a creature's health decreases to 75%, 50%, and 25%. This rule will be applied to player characters and non‑player characters alike, though a house rule is being applied that creatures immune to critical hits and precision damage will also not suffer penalties for wound thresholds. This immunity to wound thresholds does not apply to creatures that only have a percentage chance of ignoring the effect of a critical hit, such as from the fortification armor property. Additionally, swarms and troops, or creatures that function like them, also do not suffer penalties for Wound Thresholds. For creatures that can assume swarm form, this applies to the creature only while in its swarm form(s).
- In an effort to make Gritty Mode Wound Thresholds less punishing at low levels, a house rule will be employed wherein the penalties will be gradually phased in rather than being active from the beginning of the game. The penalty at 75% hp will begin occuring at level 1 (1 HD), but will not be applied during the level 0 phase of the player‑characters. The penalty at 50% hp will begin occuring at level 3 (3 HD) and the penalty for 25% hp will begin occuring at level 5 (5 HD). These penalties are cumulative ‑2 penalties (‑2, ‑4, and ‑6 respectively). The expanded disabled period before dying in the Wound Thresholds rules will be active from the beginning of the game for all living creatures, as this is a beneficial mechanical change.
- Creatures with their hit points below zero continue accruing penalties (at the rate of -2 at each new threshold) as their hit points decrease, however the thresholds are much further apart, occuring every time the hit points are reduced to a negative multiple of the creature's maximum hit points (-1x, -2x, et cetera). There is no added numerical penalty between 0 and negative 1x of the hit points as this stage already gains all the standard penalties of either disabled or dying, as appropriate. These penalties below zero hit points are triggered regardless of a creature's total level (or hit dice).
- The Endurance feat functionality is expanded in the Wound Thresholds system. Having the Endurance feat reduces the penalties of Wound Thresholds by one step. This is a house rule change to Endurance in the Wound Thresholds system, which normally only reduces the penalty by 1, not by 2. (The penalty of one step in Gritty Mode Wound Thresholds is -2, while it is only -1 for one step in basic Wound Thresholds.) Standard rangers receive this feat as an automatic bonus feat at level 3 so this is a significant mechanical benefit for the ranger class in the Wound Thresholds systems.
- The functionality of the Critical Cure Wound Thresholds feat is expanded as a House Rule. It has been modified from its standard Wound Thresholds version as it appears in Pathfinder Unchained to be more potent at all levels, scaling with wound severity. Modified feat benefit text follows:
  
  Benefit: When you cast a conjuration (healing) spell, it cures +1 additional hit point per standard healing die if the recipient is grazed, +1d2 additional hit points per standard healing die if the recipient is wounded, +1d2+1 additional hit points per standard healing die if the recipient of the healing is critical, or +1d4+1 additional hit points per standard healing die if the recipient's hit points are at zero or below. The additional healing increases by an additional 1 point per healing die at caster level 6th, and every 6 caster levels thereafter.
The campaign uses Expanded Fear Rules, a variant rule system from Horror Adventures.

In the Expanded Fear Rules system there are seven stages of fear. In a sidebar in Horror Adventures it is recommended that characters immune to fear have their fear immunity reduced to fear resistance. In this variant the fear immunity of sentient creatures is reduced to various forms of fear resistance. Fear resistance requires that a character's stage of fear be tracked, but the character experiences fear two stages lower than their actual stage, so a character with fear resistance can never experience the two worst stages of fear.
House-rules for this variant are:
- Paladins in this variant gain the +4 bonus from their own Aura of Courage ability. The fear immunity granted by Aura of Courage is changed to fear resistance.
- Mindless creatures (such as zombies, skeletons, and most vermin) are still fully immune to fear effects that don't specify they affect such creatures.
- Creatures granted immunity to fear by their Type, such as vampires because they are Undead, remain fully immune to racial fear effects generated by creatures of their Type. Creatures granted fear immunity only by their kind, such as hags, are still fully immune only to racial fear effects generated by creatures of their kind but not to racial fear effects generated by all creatures of their Type. These immunities by Type and kind include being immune to spell‑like abilities that cause fear, but do not include spells that cause fear.
- Creatures with fear immunity replaced by fear resistance are still fully immune to spells and effects with the fear descriptor that do not apply the seven stages of expanded fear, though spells and effects with the fear descriptor that match the mechanical effect of one of the stages count as that stage.
- In addition to fear resistance, sentient undead receive their Channel Resistance as a bonus to saves against Fear effects.
- Creatures that specifically feed on fear are treated as having the fear resistance described here (whether they would otherwise have fear immunity or not), and a +4 bonus to their saves against fear, as well as full immunity to fear effects of others of their kind AND the fear effects of other creatures that feed on fear.
The campaign uses Sanity Rules, a sanity tracking system from Horror Adventures.

In the Sanity Rules system a character has a sanity score (equal to the sum of their mental ability scores added together), a sanity threshold (the bonus of their highest mental ability score minus any ability damage to that score, minimum 0), and a sanity edge (equal to half of their sanity score). As characters sustain sanity damage it accumulates. If the sanity damage of an attack or effect equals or exceeds the character's sanity threshold, they gain a madness. If their current total sanity damage is lower than their sanity edge (they have accumulated more sanity damage than half their sanity score), they gain a greater madness, otherwise they gain a lesser madness. This system works as detailed in Horror Adventures.
There are several changes to Skills and how they work in the campaign.
- New skills are added to the game. These are Artistry and Lore. They function as detailed in Pathfinder Unchained. Any class that gains Craft or Perform as a class skill also counts Artistry as a class skill. Lore is always considered a class skill for all characters.
- Skill Unlocks from Pathfinder Unchained are available, both through the unchained rogue class (including rogue's edge class feature and cutting edge rogue talent) and through the Signature Skill feat.
- Occult Skill Unlocks from Occult Adventures are available automatically to characters capable of casting psychic spells and as an option to other characters via the Psychic Sensitivity feat.
- Other assorted skill unlocks may be available in the campaign, but will require the use of an appropriate class or feat as described in their source material.
There are several changes to Spells and spellcasting in the campaign.
- Breath of Life is renamed Cure Deadly Wounds. It functions identically to Breath of Life but now has "cure" in its name so can be cast spontaneously by clerics that can spontaneously cast Cure spells.
- A spell is added: Inflict Deadly Wounds. It functions as Cure Deadly Wounds but with negative energy as an Inflict spell, and can be cast spontaneously by clerics that can spontaneously cast Inflict spells. It can restore creatures with Negative Energy Affinity that have died as Cure Deadly Wounds can restore other creatures. It cannot restore undead that have been reduced to 0 hit points or below.
- All Cure and Inflict spells have each d8 replaced by 2d4. They are still treated as though they have d8s for all purposes except rolling. Roll 2d4 for each 1d8 of the spell. This increases the minimum effects and average effects of these spells without increasing their maximum effects.
- Spells that grant fear immunity function as fear resistance, as described above, but also stack with it for characters that already have fear resistance (so a paladin with a fear immunity spell cast on them would treat their fear level as four steps reduced, for instance). These spells do not stack with other spells (or themselves) that grant fear immunity unless that immunity is a byproduct of changing or emulating a creature's Type or kind. (So if a spell gives a character the properties of undead and they gain fear resistance that way, a spell that grants immunity to fear would stack with that to double the fear resistance if the spells are not prevented from stacking due to some other rules interaction.)
- Multple systems from Pathfinder Unchained are in effect that apply to spells. The campaign is using:
  - Spell Critical Hits with the Critical Hit Deck. If the effect of the card drawn from the Critical Hit Deck does not make sense for the spell (such as doubling damage on a spell that doesn't deal damage), an effect of the spell will be determined by the GM to be doubled instead of using the effect listed on the card.
  - Spell Fumbles with the Critical Fumble Deck. A spellcaster can only suffer the effects of fumbling a spell a maximum of once per round regardless of how many of the spell's targets threaten a fumble with their successful saves that round. Until a fumble actually occurs, each threat of a fumble should be confirmed individually. Spells that have effects longer than a round can threaten additional fumbles in subsequent rounds.
  - Overclocked Spells are available with the risk of mishaps that occur as Spell Fumbles effects.
  - Wild Magic, though only in Wild Zones and while Boost Casting.
  - Esoteric Material Components are available using the Optional Components variant. The Scrounging optional rule does not apply. The Eschew Materials feat is not modified to use the Esoteric Material Components alternative version of the feat as esoteric material components are not common enough to make the change beneficial.
- Standard counterspelling is not changed, but characters also have the option of attempting a Dueling Counter as described in Ultimate Magic. Unlike standard counterspelling, a dueling counter may be attempted without readying to counterspell in advance, though a dueling counter has a narrower chance of success than a standard counterspell.
- Spellblights exist in the campaign and all the optional ways listed to acquire them in Ultimate Magic are actively in‑play.
There is a change to treatment of an item in the campaign.
- The Battle Aspergillum simple weapon, as it appears in Ultimate Equipment and Advanced Player's Guide, counts as a Light Mace simple weapon for purposes of feats and other requirements. Battle Aspergillum is simply a Light Mace with added functionality.
Some playable races have had their starting ages and age categories adjusted.
- Lesser nephilim (aasimar and tieflings) Age Categories:
  Adulthood: 18 years, Middle Age: 150 years, Old: 200 years, Venerable: 250 years, Maximum Age: 250+6d% years.
  Random Starting Ages: Intuitive: +1d4 years, Self‑Taught: +1d6 years, Trained: +2d6 years
- Most geniekin (ifrit, oread, sylph, and undine) Age Categories:
  Adulthood: 18 years, Middle Age: 150 years, Old: 200 years, Venerable: 250 years, Maximum Age: 250+6d% years.
  Random Starting Ages: Intuitive: +1d4 years, Self‑Taught: +1d6 years, Trained: +2d6 years
- Dhampir Age Categories:
  Adulthood: 18 years, Middle Age: 175 years, Old: 263 years, Venerable: 350 years, Maximum Age: 350+6d% years.
  Random Starting Ages: Intuitive: +1d4 years, Self‑Taught: +1d6 years, Trained: +2d6 years
- The geniekin Suli age categories are unchanged. (They are identical to human age categories.)
- Additional Explanation of Revised Age Categories
  
  The Advanced Race Guide had multiple printings during the course of Pathfinder RPG First Edition, each one with errata to the aging tables. In particular, the starting ages and all age categories for aasimar, tieflings, and dhampir were revised.
  
  This was done in part because in the first printing of the Advanced Race Guide, aasimar and tieflings were listed as starting Adulthood at 60 years old, but the adventure Rise of the Runelords featured a seductive aasimar NPC that was described as being the teenage daughter of another NPC that was notably human. So the two books were in conflict about the aging of aasimar.
  
  Similarly, a conflict arose because dhampir were listed in the Bestiary 2 as living as long as elves, so their aging table was listed, originally, as being identical to elves. This meant they did not reach Adulthood until 110 years old, which made them children to human families for far too long, so they also needed their Adulthood changed.
  
  In later printings of Advanced Race Guide the aasimar, dhampir, and tiefling entries were adjusted to have the same Adulthood age as half‑elves (20 years) and otherwise match the age categories of humans, even though the years of training required to advance into character classes was not reduced.
  
  The geniekin races of ifrit, oread, sylph, and undine were likewise listed with starting ages and aging tables that matched aasimar and tieflings in the original printing. The geniekin starting ages and age categories were unchanged in later printings, which still made them problematic for growing up in human households. (The exception is the geniekin suli that is notable for having a weaker genie bloodline and aging at the same rate as humans.)
  
  These changes in Advanced Race Guide were definitely in conflict with the established lore that dhampir live as long as elves, which was repeated again later in Inner Sea Races entry on the dhampir.
  
  In the modified aging information I've provided above, I've tried to have the half‑human races reach maturity at a rate closer to, but not identical to human aging, while still having the longer lives presented in their original entries. I also have the years required to train into classes match those required for humans, though this is still to be added to their respective base Adulthood ages. I did modify the dhampir maximum age so it exceeds that of elves.
Most monsters featured in the campaign are altered from how they appear in the Bestiary.

Some creatures are merely tweaked, others are heavily modified. A full list is not provided. It is safe to assume monsters differ significantly from their creature entries in the Pathfinder Bestiary books. Features of monsters can be learned in-character with appropriate Knowledge or Lore skill checks.
- All moroi vampires and nosferatu vampires have the shapechanger subtype.
- Ghouls, ghasts, and other ghoul‑like creatures may have the ghoul subtype. Creature‑based paralysis effects bestowed by creatures with the ghoul subtype have an additional save to end the paralyzed condition at the end of each turn a creature spends paralyzed. The DC of these saves is reduced by 1 for each round the creature has spent paralyzed, including the current round. This change affects only the paralyzed condition originating from racial abilities of creatures with the ghoul subtype, including racial spell‑like abilities.
- Any Undead creatures that feed, whether on flesh, blood, ability scores, life energy (level drain), or other substances generated by their victims, may be subject to the Undead Hunger rule from Blood of the Night.
  - Creatures of the ghoul subtype do not require that the flesh they consume be fresh. This rule has been altered.
  - Nameless Undead (such as those in random encounters or serving as minions) are assumed to have fed recently enough to not be suffering any mechanical penalties from Undead Hunger.
  - Some Undead kinds, such as ghosts, are exempt from Undead Hunger rules and do not experience hunger in this way.
- Hags and most hag‑kin creatures have the hag subtype. Creatures with the hag subtype are affected by spells and effects that affect fey as though they have the fey Type in addition to spells and effects that affect them based on their actual creature Type. Changelings do not gain the hag subtype as they already have the changeling subtype. Changelings only gain the hag subtype if they complete the transformation into hags.
- Wolves (including dire wolves), worgs (including winter wolves), and werewolves (in hybrid and wolf form only) gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
- All creatures with the demon subtype have the Possess Creature (Su) ability from Green Ronin Advanced Bestiary. This ability does not affect the demon's CR. A creature that loses the demon subtype also loses the Possess Creature (Su) ability; any active possession caused by the Possess Creature (Su) ability ends and the creature is immediately ejected from the possessed host’s body to appear in the nearest open square.
- All Outsider creatures with the extraplanar subtype and all creatures with the incorporeal subtype gain marionette possession as a spell‑like ability usable once per day per 2 Hit Dice. This spell‑like ability variant of marionette possession functions as standard marionette possession except the body of the possessing creature vanishes as in the spell greater possession. This does not affect the creatures' CRs. Temporarily gaining the incorporeal subtype, such as by way of a spell or class ability, does not grant marionette possession as a spell‑like ability.
- All Ooze creatures with a climb speed gain the Ambush Drop (Ex) and Convulsion Launch (Ex) abilities. These abilities allow such creatures an added degree of mobility. These abilities are defined as follows:
  
  Ambush Drop (Ex) An ooze with a climb speed does not take falling damage for falls of distances less than twice its movement speed. Such oozes often fall on top of prey as a form of ambush.
  
  Convulsion Launch (Ex) As a move action, an ooze with a climb speed can convulse its entire body and launch itself directly away from a surface up to a distance equal to its movement speed. It can use this movement in conjunction with its climb ability to move between surfaces, such as moving to ceilings from floors or between opposite walls.
- Most, but not all, instances of creature special abilities that function like magic jar are altered to function like possession or greater possession instead.
- Some sentient creatures otherwise immune to mind‑affecting effects may still experience declines in sanity that cause them to experience madnesses.
- Some creatures may have the minion subtype. This subtype changes creature properties so they're more conducive to horde combat.
  
  Minion Subtype:
  Minion Restrictions: Minions never use heroic classes. They use either racial hit dice or NPC classes. Minions generally should not wield magical weapons or magical items, and any treasure beyond NPC gear should be shared among their group of minions.
  Minion Experience: A minion is worth 1/4 the experience of the base creature; minions should be encountered in multiples of four.
  Minion Hit Points: Minions have 1 hit point per hit die, plus their constitution modifier (or whatever ability modifier contributes to their hit points). Minions with the toughness feat gain 3 hit points, but do not gain additional hit points per hit die or per level.
  Minion Defense: Minions never take damage from a missed attack or after a successful save.
  Minion Weaknesses: Any critical hit that deals damage automatically kills a minion. Minions are treated as having half of their actual hit dice for the purposes of effects related to hit dice, such as Turn Undead, panache, grit, or sleep.
  Minion Damage: Minions deal average damage for any successful attack they make or spells they cast which deal damage. Minions cannot score critical hits, but still automatically hit on a natural 20.
The campaign employs a mix of Disease Templates and Horrifying Diseases from Horror Adventures.
- Disease Templates are applied to multiple diseases in the campaign, including some that monsters carry and inflict. These diseases may not function as they appear in the monster entries in the Bestiary. A prominant example is lingering zombie rot transmitted by diseased zombies.
- Horrifying Diseases from Horror Adventures are a more narrative-focused variation of the Unchained Diseases from Pathfinder Unchained. They function as diseases that progress in multiple stages rather than just triggering the same mechanical penalty each time a save is failed. A prominent example is ghoul distemper, a horrifying disease carried by some creatures with the ghoul subtype.
- Some diseases have been completely replaced with variants. All instances of zombie rot are lingering zombie rot and all instances of bubonic plague are treated as horrifying bubonic plague, a custom version of the disease using both Horrifying Diseases rules and Disease Template rules.
The optional Benefits of Harmful Conditions rule from Ultimate Magic is in effect.

No additional remarks about the Benefits of Harmful Conditions rule. This bullet is just collapsible so it matches the other bullets in the list.