#pathfinder unchained

 A good long while back, we looked at the esoteric material component system from Pathfinder Unchained, which provided a way to enhance spells further with special expensive material components, either on their own or as a supplement to the limited magic subsystem in the same book.

It's been a while, so I’ll do a quick refresher on how the subsystem works.

Essentially, there are five special esoteric components, four of which are associated with two of the eight schools of magic, and a fifth one that can be used with all spells. Essentially, when an appropriate amount of the component is used with the right spell, it has additional potency. These vary by the component, but generally do things like improve duration, increase damage dice caps, increase area size or range, increase the difficulty to resist, and so on.

Additionally, in the case of using this subsystem in tandem with the limited magic system, these components would also help enhance spells back to their power level that is the norm for Pathfinder, rather than the reduced power associated with the limited magic.

 Which brings us to today’s subject, a set of feats meant to be used with this subsystem that let a spellcaster utilize the properties of these esoteric components to squeeze a little more power than they already grant.

Entropic resin, associated with enhancing the damage of evocation and necromancy spells, can be further enhanced with Esoteric Evocation, which causes elemental energy to flare from when casting spells, blasting nearby foes in addition to those targeted normally. Meanwhile, with Esoteric Necromancy, the caster can grip one of their targets with fear. Either way, knowledge of these techniques also increases the potency of the greater effect of entropic resin, increasing their damage cap even further.

Geodes, the most mundane of these rare esoteric components, is associated with abjuration and transmutation, potentially increasing the duration when used in sufficient amounts. With Esoteric Abjuration, you can work in a minor ward to the spell that helps one target resist harmful effects while the spell protects them. Meanwhile, Esoteric Transmutation works in a minor enhancement, bolstering attack accuracy and actions done with one physical aspect. Both also help increase the duration of spells enhanced by the rock formations.

Enhancing conjuration and illusions, prismatic sand is useful for spellcasters hoping to enhance the range an area of such effects. Esoteric Conjuration lets summoned, called, or otherwise conjured creatures ease their way into the plane slightly slower, causing them to be slightly out of phase, possibly avoiding attacks. With Esoteric Illusion, the difficulty to see through long-lasting (but not permanent) illusions increases. Both feats also increase the range or area effect of the sand as well.

Verdant Salts alter perception, and therefore are useful for divination and enchantment spells, making it harder for foes to resist them or sort through the visions. With Esoteric Divination, the chances of getting useful information out of spells, be it chances of accurate information, noticing useful things with remote viewing, or getting an extra question, improves. Meanwhile, Esoteric Enchantment allows the verdant salts to further addle the mind of their target, briefly debuffing them in an additional way for a few seconds in addition to the other effects of the spell. Both also enhance the basic greater effects of the salts as well.

Additionally, there is one more esoteric feat: Unstoppable Esotery, which can be used with any school or esoteric component, and improves concentration and the spell’s resistance to being dispelled.

 This group of feats can be quite useful if you’re using the esoteric material component system, especially if you are also using the limited magic system, where every bonus and buff to your casting level is a godsend. I’m not personally a fan of low-magic systems, so I’d personally never require players to play in a system where your personal gold supply is sucked away in order for your class features to be effective, or even function at all, but used in a standard power game it can be a fun way to get a little extra power out of a spell if you just happen to find some in a treasure hoard, and these feats enhance that further, but perhaps not so much so that I’d recommend taking it them in a higher magic game unless you really plan on spending a lot of gold or downtime gathering these materials.

On another note, it is interesting that with the exception of Unstoppable Esotery, none of these feats work with the rarer and more universal fifth esoteric component: yliaster, which not only can replace expensive material components no matter the magic level, but also automatically enhances spells in various ways. I think I understand why this is. For one, yliaster is more expensive to use on spells than their more specialized counterparts thanks to being able to be used with any, but it is still universal, so these feats being limited to specific components does make those components still relevant.

Pathfinder Family Trait

You carry a weapon, shield, ring, or other heirloom that carries the unique blessing of your ancestors. As your power grows, so too does the honor that you bring upon them.

Art by Brett Neufeld, used under a non-commercial license through the Purple Duck Collective Patreon program.

You begin play with a single, non-magical item from your family, your religious order, or another group of great personal significance.  This item may be of masterwork quality and made of any material, provided that the total price of the item does not exceed 450 gp. Alternatively, the price may be up to four times this amount, but the item has the broken condition until you use your ancestral ritual ability to repair it (see below).  The broken condition may not be removed or ignored by any means until this ritual has been completed, and the broken item is no more than scrap (worth 4d10gp) to anyone other than you.

 Though they don’t get as much spellcasting ammunition as their spontaneous counterparts, even prepared casting classes eventually get to the point where they have dozens of spell slots to work with.

Now, an experienced player can no doubt hash out the individual spells they wish to prepare each day fairly quickly, particularly with classes that have a spellbook or otherwise limited selection of spells, though with enough experience even prepared divine casters that have full access to their entire spell list can pick and choose what they want very quickly, especially if either example knows what they are likely to face each day.

However, maybe you’re indecisive, or you’re inexperienced with the class, or maybe you’re just afraid of dragging the game down. Personally, I’d get GM permission to begin preparing as soon as it is confirmed that the night has passed with no further incident, but that’s just me.

For those that legitimately want a faster way of doing spells, we have the Simplified Spellcasting optional rules from Pathfinder Unchained, which only focus on the highest levels of spells that the mystic has access to.

Needless to say, this option only applies to prepared casters, since all spontaneous casters draw from a predetermined group of known spells anyway. Interestingly, however, something similar to this actually cropped up again in the way that Starfinder handles spellcasting NPCs, essentially not listing their lower-level spells as they are unlikely to be used by a foe that is not likely to survive the encounter, or at least not stick around after their strongest magics have been used up.

 In any case, this system works for any full or mid-power prepared casters (minor 1-4 spellcasters don’t gain anything from this system, really), and once the spellcaster gains access to 4th-level spells, they gain a pool of general spell slots based on their level, key ability score, and bonus slots from class features with which to spontaneously cast spells below their top three spell levels, which are calculated normally.

This does mean that spellcasters using this system will inevitably have less total spell slots than those using the core systems, but the advantage is that they need no longer prepare lower level spells ahead of time, and can be assumed to just have the right spell on tap, at least until those lower level slots run out.

Of course, this is less useful if your build includes spells at lower level that retain their usefulness even into high levels, where you might want to have full access to your total spell slots.

 When it comes to the concept of classes, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking of them as metaphysical constructs rather than broad categories of skill sets that a hero can accrue over a lifetime.

This is why multiclassing and archetypes are a thing, diversifying the skillsets of characters that so desire it.

Now, the thing about multiclassing is that when it comes to the base bonuses of attack and saves, the numbers for each level are the rounded-down result of progression based on which ones are considered strong for that class, and which ones are not. Purely martial classes get a 1 to 1 on their base attack bonus, while casters get a more fractional one.

Thus, when it comes to multiclassing, you simply add those numbers together. The issue that some have, however, is that because the numbers are rounded down before being added, multiclass characters can end up having lower than average stats for characters of that level in general, even with the solid +2 to strong saves that taking a level in a new class can provide.

 Today’s subject seeks to remedy this. The fractional base bonus system has a character add their base attack and base save totals from multiple classes together with the fractions included before rounding off the final number, resulting in numbers that are more in line with what one would expect from a character with levels in only one class. As a matter of fact, a single-class character would experience no differences at all.

There is, however, one caveat with this alternate method of determining your base stats: If two classes grant you a strong progression in the same save, you do not get the +2 from both, because that +2 is supposed to be considered a “class bonus” of sorts, similar to how in-class skills get a one-time bonus. So sadly, your future mystic theurge won’t quite have the near-unassailable mind they would get in core rules, but they’d still be quite strong mentally.

 I believe it was Gary Gygax himself who said that hit points were an abstraction not just of a capacity to take injury and keep fighting, but also of fighting spirit, vitality, and perhaps a bit of divine investment in the success of the character or creature. In this way, a blow that would kill a first level character in one swing might be a light graze, proportionally, for a character in the upper limits of mortal power.

This system, however, is admittedly not very realistic. Even with the use of healing magic, injuries tend to wear on the body, as pain and physical damage make it more difficult to perform at full capacity.

While other systems might use complex wound systems that represent the debilitating damage and even loss of body parts, today we’ll be looking at a happy medium between the hit points of old and wound charts. I give you, Wound Thresholds.

 Essentially, the wound threshold divides the total hp of a creature into four groups. In the first quarter, a creature is still perfectly healthy despite their wounds, in the second, they begin to feel the weight of their wounds, weakening them slightly in every aspect, from combat to skills to saves to even their ability to focus on higher-level spells. Past the halfway point, the pain and penalties mount, and this continues into the final quarter, where they are struggling to maintain consciousness.

What’s more, in this system, characters can stay conscious below 0 hp if their constitution is high enough.

While this system provides a realistic edge to combat and rewards you for actually using healing spells at times other than the character being near-death, it is also a system that can really punish those who have already suffered, leading to a rapid downward spiral, or even longer combats as both sides begin to struggle to even hit each other in significant ways. What’s more, in big combats with a lot of foes, GMs are recommended to only count the halfway point when determining wound penalties, as this is easier than keeping track of countless enemies individual wound thresholds.

That might appeal to you, and there’s an even grittier version as well which doubles all the penalties for each threshold, making mortality even more dread-worthy than normal. In the end, this is a system that makes the game a bit harder by making health management much more important.

 An unfortunate fact of life about the Pathfinder system, and 3.5 before it, is that in part the survivability of your character is in part determined by the magic items you gain, providing bonuses to saves, AC, and important stats.

That may be well and good for some, but inevitably this magic item tax prevents you from going truly crazy with your magic item choices. You’re expected to devote a certain number of body slots to improving yourself, when what you really want is a cloak of arachnida, or a ring of shooting stars. Sure, you might find space for them, but they get taken by the wayside in terms of priority (not that you shouldn’t splurge to grant a character a grand new weird item). And this is to say nothing of the kooky fun items that need not fill an item slot, but still are rarely ever deliberately chosen, such as cubes of force, or immovable rods.

Rather than try to balance getting the items you really want with those more generic buff items, some might wish to mitigate this by using today’s subject, the Automatic Bonus Progression alternate rule subsystem from Pathfinder Unchained!

 In essence, this alternate system progressively grants save, AC, attack, relevant stat, and other types of bonuses as you level up according to a chart, completely replacing the bonuses granted by magic items that purely exist to grant them. Cloaks of resistance? Gone. Bracers of armor? Gone. Magic weapons? The ones that only grant numerical advantages are gone, while those with special abilities only grant those, reducing the price accordingly.

Armor and weapons are attuned rather than enchanted, allowing you to increase their bonuses based on how high level you are, and even divide the bonus between the two for those of you wielding two weapons or armor and shields, while other bonuses are applied more directly to the character.

The end result is the party picking their magic items based on gimmick rather than bonuses, which sounds like it could be a neat alternative, but also remember that this subsystem also halves the wealth by level, which may not be well-liked by characters seeking truly expensive items or crafts.

 This subsystem provides a neat alternative for those who are dissatisfied with the normal way of doing things, but as an alternate rule set, one is not really stronger than the other, and you lose that feeling of more common magic armaments that are enchanted to be supernaturally accurate and deadly, or protective.

 Unchained Summoner

 The final of the four unchained classes, the unchained summoner is the only non-core class to get such an alternate revision.

Whereas the other unchained classes were created to try and address how holdover components from 3.5 could be seen as holding back older classes, the summoner was given such an optional revision for another reason entirely: Game balance.

While the summoner is fun to play and experiment with as a player, many GMs find it vexing or outright overpowered to try and design encounters around. The reasons for this being that summoners have a strong and highly intelligent companion compared to other companion classes, can change the capabilities of said companion fairly regularly, and the summoner spell list is slightly too diverse for a 0-6th level caster, even getting some stronger spells earlier than others, such as haste as a 2nd-level spell.

Whether you choose to include one or the other, I think their might be a place for both at the table, at least for flavor reasons, with unchained summoners calling upon more specific outsider types, rather than the more varied eidolons.

 The actual summoner class itself… doesn’t change that much at all. Rather, the major changes occur in the eidolon and the spell list.

Unchained eidolons lose a significant chunk of evolution points, but they instead gain subtypes based on various outsider categories as well as a few other otherworldly options. This means that no matter their base form or how their evolutions change them, these beings all gain a static set of abilities based on their chosen subtype, which does not change, helping GMs better prepare for them.

From there, the unchained summoner has a more focused spell list, gaining some spells, but losing others in an attempt to make things more balanced. At the very least shifting those spells that seem a bit too strong for their summoner spell level back to what could be considered more reasonable territory.

Which version of the class you use, or if you use both, is up to you, but both lend themselves to slightly different dynamics which you’ll have to consider carefully.

 Pathfinder Unchained introduced a lot of experimental systems, some of which made their way into Starfinder and P2E. One such subsystem was the Shifts and Affirmations rules for alignment, which measured how individual acts alter the morality of the character, and how, once they’ve settled into a particular choice, they gain morale bonuses to be used later in the same day, themed around their alignment in question.

With these affirmations come a set of feats, one for each of the alignment options, which represent the character becoming a paragon of that alignment, to the point their behavior induces even more morale-related bonuses, and even minor magical effects, a sign of the character becoming an agent of that moral philosophy on the material plane.

Many of these feats allow you to accrue an even greater pool of affirmations, hold onto them indefinitely, and use them in a new way, as well as a bonus to attacks against foes of the opposing alignment.

This group of feats could be a lot of fun if you wish to have alignment grant more practical benefits aside from informing player actions and providing vulnerability or immunity to certain spells and powers.

 Those who become Champions of Righteousness, paragons of lawful good, can burn affirmations to receive divine protection, causing magic that would affect them based on their lawful good alignment to only have as much effect as if they were neutral.

While not necessarily healers, the Champions of Grace can remove afflictions with their affirmations, appropriate for neutral good.

The Champions of Freedom can burn affirmation to be blessed with protection from effects magical and mundane that would impede them, if only briefly.

Champions of Tranquility believe in keeping the peace, and can calm emotions with their affirmations.

Unlike the others, Champions of Balance have no affirmation-based abilities, but are blessed with great skill in combat against all alignment extremes.

Finding order boring, Champions of Anarchy can disrupt the behavior of others, causing them to behave erratically.

Champions of Tyranny brook no opposition, and can use their power to hold the disobedient rooted in place.

Just as their neutral good counterparts can heal, the Champions of Malevolence can harm, inducing suffering with a touch.

Similarly, the Champions of Destruction have a power opposed to their counterpart, providing protection against magics that target chaos and evil.