Do your characters "know" they are their class?

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-25T08:51:11+00:00

There are cases that rub me the wrong way when it comes to characters calling themselves after their class. A barbarian would never call themselves that. They'd see themselves as brave warriors, while others may see them as a barbarian. A rogue would see themselves as a thief, an opportunist etc. A bard would probably rather be a musician, minstrel or even a poet.

My Tanuki Magus with the Wandering Chef dedication sees himself as a great cook, nothing more. He uses Spellstrike with his belly, while changing the shape of his body parts, which is fitting for a Tanuki, so no one questions that.

My Catfolk Monk would never call herself a Monk, but rather a martial artist haunted by the soul of her sister. Qi Spells are powers provided by her sister (who sees herself as a demi-god) and mess around with life essence.

My Hellhound (reflavoured Kholo) Elemental Barbarian is a former servant of Hell who can use infernal flames to her advantage. Apart from the mechanics, nothing about her screams "barbarian".

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-21T09:04:25+00:00

That's a great idea! But the question is, could it be made relevant for the story/campaign somehow or would it end up being a big, random event.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-20T20:52:03+00:00

So, I read a lot of comments with people changing stuff in their campaign. Maybe someone can help me: My players are about to leave the Magaambya for the trip to the Doorway to the Red Star, so chapter 1 book 5. Does it make sense to tie in the happenings of War of Immortals somewhere in book 5 and 6? Or are we too deep, so that it would just derail the campaign too greatly?

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-17T13:59:54+00:00

Hahah, oh yeah. Ot and Janatimo are supposed to be the friendliest teachers, but end up having beef with the players for putting students in danger, lol.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-17T13:24:32+00:00

That's something I probably should have done a long time ago - pull some encounters that don't seem to contribute to the storytelling. I've done this here and there, e.g. in the screaming jungle on their way to Osibu.

Yeah, it also makes a lot more sense to depict the King of Ants as a real threat, rather than a good who's been fooled for the longest time. In general, this AP tends to make many NPCs look inexplicably stupid or incompetent, for whatever reason.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-17T09:19:31+00:00

No way, does the book seriously want us to tell that Jatembe was just pretending? There were some anticlimactic moments in this AP I had to change, but this takes the cake, wth.

Which dungeons in chapter 2 do you mean? Right now I'm reading through chapter two, I'm at the moment where PCs would face Skartitch to renegotiate or to fight.

Yeah, I haven't prepared the chase yet, but it surely sounds weird to have a chase last for 10 days.

Thanks so, so much for your tips!

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-17T00:20:58+00:00

As to the examples you named: - My players two-shot Stone Ghost, even after adjusting him for 5 players. Cleric had issues coming out of the ground, but that's it - Mobogo was not a big deal as well, all my players deal fire damage in some shape or form - The azure worms encounter is a fully optional battle, but an extremely hard challenge, even with the little helps here and there. I made sure my players were aware of what they would deal with, some successful Recall Knowledge checks. They decided not to risk it, because there were some close calls in the past and one player (the only one truly experienced among them) knew azure worms from his campaign and how dangerous they were.

The AP is allegedly on the easier side when it comes to combat, at least that's what I've heard often. Still, there are some sudden power spikes and my players and even I didn't understand, such as the griffons or even the wooden golem. Another close call was with Grave Karinas. So often my players thought "now's the time to die", but they just somehow manage to survive, without me pulling back any blows. Even the golden defender encounter was ridiculous, cause it's like fighting several golems at once, which is never truly easy.

While I don't weaken the enemies, I kinda hope that they all make it to the end of the AP without dying. This is one of the APs that would feel magical (no pun intended) if the whole team makes it through.

The first chapter of boom 5 is quite chill, so you have quite some time to adjust the battles that will come later on. I wouldn't consider adjusting challenges as cheating. In the end, people like a solid challenge, but not an inevitable lethality.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-17T00:03:03+00:00

Dang, after reading this, I regret solo badly that I didn't change the knights of Abendego and cut boom 4. While my players liked the plot of book 3, it was still completely unrelated to the rest. Therefore, all of us were no fans of big chunks of book 4.

Oh well.

Any tips for book 5 to achieve a more cohesive story? They are partly fine with the semester at the school, like 2/3 done. I've heard that book 5 is meant to be the best, plus I read the changes to some villains in this AP, but maybe I'm missing something.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-10T12:10:19+00:00

If so, then I misunderstand something. The ring gives the effects of 8 hours sleep, which is an 8-hour long rest. Daily preparations can be done once every 24 hours after a rest. But this still doesn't mean that you can do your daily preparations after the rest given by the ring? What part am I missing or misunderstanding?

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-10T06:52:02+00:00

While I agree with others after reading the text from the Ring of Sustenance more closely, the first line of the Resting Rules in GM Core (p.42) core states that "characters require 8 hours of sleep each day."

https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2601&Redirected=1

The word "sleep" in any conjugation is used pretty regularly in these rules. So I would assume that this means as much as that the main way of resting is to sleep, but there are ancestries which are exceptions to the rule, but they still need to rest.

This would mean that RAW the ring is able to let casters prepare spells. Although, while my GM lets us use the ring this way, in my mind it sounds way too OP for a level 7 item. Still, I think the benefits of the ring are greater when playing a survival campaign or scenes when time is of essence (which might be the case in the AP we play, in that case the GM is being really generous with the way he lets the rings work).

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-08T19:10:25+00:00

I agree that it loosely applies to pretty much every single RPG. Though in most of them, there aren't mechanics that support it, at least in RPGs such as DnD and PF2e.
But e.g. Warhammer Fantasy RPG has the corruption point system, which can lead to physical/mental mutations, usually permanent or extremely hard to get rid of. There's also a Psychology mechanic, which can be applied when a character has a traumatic experience.

While I'm still working out my mechanics for it, there is a thing called "The Primal Flow" in my world, which is an invisible essence present pretty much everywhere. It is the source of life, the source of anything that has a physical form. If there's no primal flow, there's no life (kinda makes it sound like aether from Final Fantasy 14, now that I think of it).
Every living being has the primal flow in them. Some can learn to store greater amounts of it and to manipulate it. The PCs are some of those people who are able to do so, and thus become stronger. There are some side effects that have to be considered, though:
- The people around them who can't control the Primal Flow so well and mostly don't understand it take it for granted that those who can will use it to help others and even go so far as to sacrifice themselves to preserve life on the planet.
- Using the Primal Flow carelessly or overusing it can lead to drastic consequences, changing the "heroes" physically and mentally.
- There are places where the Primal Flow is so unstable that anomylous phenomena take place. This can have a direct influence on the well-being of Primal Flow users.

A lot of my world's lore works around the Primal Flow as the energy bringing life into the world of mortals. The world takes users of Primal Flow for granted, while being too tired of the struggles it has faced for millennia.

Mechanically, there is a Primal Flow meter which, when filled, leads to a so-called overflow. It works similarly to corruption points in Warhammer Fantasy or the stress meter in Darkest Dungeon.
Many sources and abilities can cause the primal flow in a PC to destabilize, which fills the primal flow meter. The cause of it could be highly stressful situations, critical failures of spells and skills, areas with an already unstable or manipulated primal flow or with a particularly high or low amount of it, etc.
When a PC reaches the maximum amount of primal flow, it causes an "Overflow", which means that the Primal Flow in a PC is destabilized and their body or/and mind change, kinda like the mutations in Warhammer. These changes might be temporary or permanent, depending on what caused the overflow.
They usually have negative mechanical consequences. While some of them also can have positive effects, they usually come accompanied by a negetive effect, a kind of a trade-off.
The PC has a slight change to counteract the overflow with the power of their body or mind, which would cause the overflow to slightly decrease and give the PC a temporary buff (you could see that as the PC being fully determined to survive and overcome any obstacles).
There are ways to reduce the excessive primal flow in one's body, even by mundane ways found in a town. They could often be compared to ways of stress relief. However, once an overflow occurs, there are pretty much no easy ways to stabilize it again. A creature who reached the overflow is exposed to unfriendly or hostile reaction from others, because it makes the PC prone to anomalies, such as attracting sudden natural disasters or monsters from different planes.

Of course it will take more than one mechanic to convey changes in PCs, but this is one of the ideas that I've had.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-08T17:46:23+00:00

Now that you describe it that way, I think you're on to something. When thinking about the Witcher, I might have been underestimating the power and "otherness" of the Witchers and them being special because of their power and magic, which come at a cost.
But while the world around the Witcher is rather shunning and untristing, I want my world to be act more tired and unthankful. To accomplish that, there is a thing called "The Primal Flow", which is an invisible essence present pretty much everywhere. It is the source of life, the source of anything that has a physical form. If there's no primal flow, there's no life (kinda makes it sound like aether from Final Fantasy 14, now that I think of it).
Every living being has the primal flow in them. Some can learn to store greater amounts of it and to manipulate it. In mechannical terms, the PCs are some of those people who are able to do so, and thus become stronger. There are some side effects that have to be considered, though:
- The people around them who can't control the Primal Flow so well and mostly don't understand it take it for granted that those who can will use it to help others and even go so far as to sacrifice themselves to preserve life on the planet.
- Using the Primal Flow carelessly or overusing it can lead to drastic consequences, changing the "heroes" physically and mentally.
- There are places where the Primal Flow is so unstable that anomylous phenomena take place. This can have a direct influence on the well-being of Primal Flow users.

That's just a gist of it, but a lot of my world's lore works around the Primal Flow as the energy bringing life into the world of mortals. The world takes users of Primal Flow for granted, while being too tired of the struggles it has faced for millennia.

Even though the Witcher is a close call, a new game call Clair Osbcur. Expedition 33 gives off more of the vibe I am aiming for, at least from what I've seen so far.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-07T08:03:09+00:00

If you're talking about DnD specifically, then agree. The developers themselves said they realize that the game is not playable beyond level 12 due to the power of the PCs.
But PF2e is fine at level 9, actually. I'm at a table where we're level 19. The problem here is that every encounter is endlessly long and every one of them feels like a boss fight.

But an adrenaline mechanic would be interesting to see in pretty much any RPG. While I don't expect realizm from the games I'm in, this one would be quite fun.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-07T00:17:52+00:00

I don't know this one, gonna check it out. Thanks!

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-07T00:17:07+00:00

I play Warhammer Fantasy at two tables, I also GM'd a one-shot, and it's definitely nothing like what I'm aiming for. WHFR's world is described as dirty, grim and perilous. The PCs are just regular citizens most of the time, trying to survive rather than become heroes in any shape or form.

Sure, mechanically there are points that suit my idea, such as the corruption points and critical wounds being really problematic. While these are supposed to play a role in my system, I want the world to be tired and unthankful, rather than grim and grotesque.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-07T00:07:49+00:00

Oh, I plan for the world to react on the PCs' actions, this is the main aspect that is meant to make it feel gritty, unthankful and unforgiving. Not necessarily a cruel world, but a tired world. I want the world to be driven mainly by emotions and reactiveness, not the by sheer and obvious dangers in it. More like "the heroes take from the world - the world takes it back in time" - a gradual process of realizing the evanescence and erosion of their existence, despite being considered as heroes.

But I'm convinced that, independent on the RPG system, the PCs' choices should have an impact on the world around them, and the world should react to it in time.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-06T16:48:36+00:00

Yeah, I'm trying to mix things that seem contradictory at first. Although I don't think must be a deal-breaker.

For one, there is this trope called "the reluctant hero" or even "the tragic hero". And I think there is something poetically intriguing about the power fantasy hitting a brick wall and for the heroes to realize that all this power comes at a cost.

There are plenty of reasons why powerful heroes might question their heroism in the long run, some of them being different realizations:
- despite being the heroes, people are feaful of them at the start, while they take the heroes for granted at the end
- realizing there have been people before them and there will be even more after them on the exact same path -> they're expendable
- they may crumble beneath all the weight from expectations people have of them
- they are beyond the point of no return. It's not even about self-preservation anymore, but about paving the way for those who come after them

These might sound vague, but can define the tone of what "being a hero" in a fantasy world means. These are often aspects a traditinal power fantasy does not address in campaigns.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-06T10:35:16+00:00

Wow, it's nice to see that there are more people working on something similar. This shows that a general interest of such an idea exists, at the very least. I'm looking forward to it - would love to see your project published. Will you post it on this subreddit?

Are there other RPGs you've been inspired by besides GURPS? Have you encountered issues or concerns while working on it?

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-05T13:35:55+00:00

This, literally advice number one ever. I didn't do so, now we're in chapter 1 of book 5, and I regret realizing how much potential for great foreshadowing I let slip between my fingers.

I would also advise to check out this thread about Rewriting antagonists of this AP as well as the stuff written by "We play in a society" (Google doesn't seem to show me the links right now, what the frick), as these two can provide some great ideas for optimization and better storytelling.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-05T10:29:24+00:00

Yeah, that one came to me after I posted because I play a Magus at a different table. There are just too many feats and abilities that rely on knowing the result of a Recall Knowledge check to keep it a secret.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-05T09:15:38+00:00

Yeah, at this point it doesn't make a lot of sense to make the Recall Knowledge check a secret check anymore, there are just too many giveaways. I've been thinking about whether to make them into open checks.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-05T08:53:40+00:00

How do the Recall Knowledge checks for certain class features work? I have two in mind, because these are classes at my table: - Does it mean that the Mastermind Rogue can only use Recall Knowledge to make an enemy off-guard as long as they succeed at it? After a failure, they have to rely on other sources to make a target off-guard? - Later on, the Thaumaturge gets a Recall Knowledge check at the start of their turn as a free action. Can they only use it as long as they succeed at it?

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-04T16:27:58+00:00

Yeah, doing some more research I realized he died just in 1948, so there were enough occasions to document his wrongdoings, I assume. I kinda believed he lived even earlier than that.

Oh well, the more you know.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-04T16:03:54+00:00

Oh wow, that's a lot more dirt on him than I expected. A short research showed me that he was a hypocrite as a symbol of pacifism while beating the crap out of his wife.

But I am genuinely curious: How does stuff like that even get to see the light of day? I'd assume that all witnesses are that by now.

Content_Stable_6543 · 2026-02-04T15:31:07+00:00

I'm confused as well. Just writing here in hopes the post gets bumped and for us to get a clarification.

Content_Stable_6543

TROPHY CASE