Savage Company's "Infantryman's Handbook" Is a Lovely Little Addition To High-Caliber Pathfinder Games

I've had guns on the brain of-late, and since my entry Guns Really Aren't as Powerful as You Think in Pathfinder seems to have attracted a pretty large amount of attention I figured I'd embrace the black powder spirit this week. Because as I mentioned pretty explicitly in that post, I was talking about the common sorts of early firearms you find in most traditional Pathfinder games. If you wanted to overcome some of the major handicaps these weapons had, then you needed to advance the timeline a little and field firearms with a much bigger punch.

And that's where the Infantryman's Handbook comes into the picture.

For those who wondered if Doom Guy was secretly an orc...

Before I get into the meat of this, wanted to remind folks to subscribe to my weekly newsletter if you haven't done that yet. Also, since I've been staying away from the outside world, I've become something of a kitchen goblin. If you're wondering how that side project is coming, consider checking out 5 Things You Should Be Putting Mio In (Other Than Water).

What is This Book All About?

If you're not familiar with the Savage Company Campaign Setting, and you missed my review "Savage Company" is Out (And You Should Totally Get Your Copy Immediately!), I'll give you a very brief run-down. The game is compatible with Pathfinder's first edition, and it embraces the high-caliber kind of adventure you can have when you really cut loose with the weaponry stocked in the armory. Following the adventures of the titular Savage Company, a mercenary band made up largely of monstrous races, outcasts, and other unwanteds, the campaign guide provided a big slew of content. From new classes and races, to shiny new weapons, vehicles, and rules, it was all there and ready to rock. One part Mad Max, one part Warhammer 40k, and all parts Pathfinder, it was a refreshing breath of air for those who wanted to really double down on the first edition.

The Infantryman's Handbook builds on that by giving us a new and improved version of the signature class; the infantryman.

You've got to mold them into what you want.

In the original release, the infantryman was the child of the gunslinger in much the same way the samurai was the child of the cavalier. It was more than just an archetype, but there was enough common DNA that there was still a very noticeable relationship.

What this book does is offer a bunch of different archetypes for the infantryman. From the battering ram of the breacher, to the special forces style snake eater, all of these options allow you to customize your soldier's skills and roles so that you could realistically make an entire party of infantrymen to act as your adventure's main squad if you so desired. There's some fun bits of fiction woven into the document as well, but the other big additions all come in the gear section. From chain bayonets, to rocket launchers, to three dozen different types of grenades, there's plenty of extra firepower in the back if you're looking to really bring the thunder when it comes time to open up with the big guns in your game. And even if you're not really interested in more class options, the dakka is more than worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

By itself, Infantryman's Handbook is a lovely little piece of work. Though if you don't already have your own copy of the Savage Company Campaign Setting, I'd highly recommend picking that up as well. They two of them really work best if they're both in play!

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Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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Guns Really Aren't As Powerful As You Think in Pathfinder

It has been nearly 10 years since Ultimate Combat dropped from Paizo, and with it the gunslinger class. And despite having had the following conversation in dozens of different forums, Facebook groups, and threads, I figured that I'd collect this all in one place in order to create a simple, easy-to-reference piece for any game runners out there who are worried that guns are just "too powerful" for your game.

They're really not. And I can break down why pretty easily.

There's about to be a lot of shots fired.

Also, for those who want to make sure they don't miss any of my updates, consider subscribing to my newsletter! And if at the end of this you've got a hankering for putting a shooter on your table, then consider checking out my Pathfinder character conversions for The Punisher, Doc Holliday, and John Wick.

 

Lastly, if you're looking for high-caliber action with the sort of guns that are as powerful as a lot of players seem to think, then you should really take a look at the Savage Company Campaign Setting as well as the recently released Savage Company Infantryman's Handbook. That's where you'll find the big guns.

Lastly, if you're looking for some additional fun and flavor, then you might want to check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Gunslingers. Honestly, I think it's one of the more instructive articles in that particular series.

Let's Talk About The Touch Attack

The thing that gets a lot of people wound up is the fact that firearms are touch attacks. But a lot of players and game masters alike seem to skip past all of the fine print and qualifications that actually puts this into perspective.

Just some provisos... some quid pro quo...

First of all, an early firearm (the sort you're going to have access to in an average game run by the core setting's rules, or which you acquire as a class feature as a gunslinger) is only a touch attack within the first range increment. After that it takes the normal -2 to attack for distance, and resolves against standard armor class. That usually means you have to be within 20 feet to 50 feet at the very longest, which is more than close enough for the angry enemy they shot to charge them on their turn.

Secondly, a touch attack is not some huge upset that's going to reduce difficulty to nearly nothing. Size modifiers, Dexterity modifiers, cover, concealment, and a slew of other things still apply. Ducking behind a rock, or planting a tower shield, is often enough to keep one safe from even the deadliest gunfighter. Because it's true that someone firing a pistol is more likely to hit their target than they would if they were firing a hand crossbow... but it's no more likely than if they were shooting a wand with a ray spell. And chances are good the ray is going to have a lot better range.

Guns Aren't All That Powerful On Their Own

The other misconception people seem to have is that firearms are this encounter-killing mechanic that completely wrecks challenge level if they're present. Smaller firearms deal 1d6 of damage, and the largest reasonable two-handed firearm deals 1d12 damage. The double hackbutt deals 2d12 but it is not something you can easily acquire, and the damn thing is wheelbarrow-mounted, so it's not something players should be walking around with unless you're allowing ogrekin at your table.

And if you're doing that nonsense, guns are really a drop in the bucket.

Sure, it's a touch attack. If you're playing a character with a full BAB and a decent Dexterity score, chances are pretty good you're going to hit your target barring other obstacles (there's no concealment, they're within the first range increment, etc.). But if you hit, you've done either the equivalent of a short sword, or a great ax blow. Can that kill an enemy at low levels? Sure, if you're lucky it will blast a goblin's head off, or reduce a skeleton to a pile of bone dust. But even rolling max damage on that attack after a couple of levels is just going to annoy the monster, and mark the shooter out as a target. And if there's more than one threat present on the field, you likely won't have enough bullets to go around.

And the numbers only get worse as you level up.

Guns by themselves aren't a huge threat to one's enemies; they need something to dovetail with them in order to actually be effective. For instance, combining a gun with sneak attack is a great way to deal a lot of damage really quickly, without the need to rely on a spell to get a touch attack. If a gun is combined with class features that let you use them in unique ways (such as the gunsliner's deeds), or with a class that adds bonus damage (precision damage, adding Dexterity modifier to firearm damage, etc.) then that is quickly going to beef them up. Even something like the ranged magus archetype, or the spellslinger wizard archetype that lets you combine your gun with spells is going to give you more bang for your buck. Gunslinging paladins will dole out some serious harshness on devils, demons, and undead if they combine a shotgun with smite. And so on, and so forth.

But just the gun all by itself? Not that much of a threat. Especially when you consider some of the following...

They're Expensive (Both To Acquire, And To Use)

Guns are probably the most expensive non-magical weapons in the game. It's one reason that gunslingers are just handed a busted gat at level one, and why only they can use it without penalty. Basic guns can cost hundreds to thousands of gold just to acquire, and that's without any special abilities, masterwork detailing, etc.

 

We're discounting the fire lance here, because again it's the exceptions that prove the rule.

What did it cost? GDP of a mid-sized nation, since you ask.

And if you do want to buff up your firearms to be sure you can overcome damage reduction, and get some extra elemental effects or special abilities added to your shooting irons? Then you're pouring most of your gold into those upgrades. When you add in the cost of black powder, alchemical cartridges, and other aspects of firearm use, they suck up your adventuring earnings pretty damn fast. There are specific magic items that let you get around those costs, but again, you need to either find or make them.

Financial costs aren't the only thing to consider when it comes to firearm use, though; they're also fairly rare in a lot of locations. So if a player can't fix or modify the weapon themselves, and you're not in an area of the map where there are going to be gunsmiths about, that's going to create a problem. Guns are also pretty feat intensive if you want to really make them effective, and that goes double if you aren't marrying them to a potent class feature like the ones mentioned above.

First, you need proficiency in the weapon to avoid the -4 penalty (this is usually gained from a class feature, but not always). Then you need to acquire several ranged combat feats, such as Point Black Shot and Precise Shot to avoid penalties for shooting into melee while getting a small attack and damage boost. Rapid Reload is often a necessity, because much like crossbows guns can be an absolute ass-ache to keep loaded as combat goes on. Deadly Aim is often necessary for boosting your damage with these weapons, but it's a feat that you get the biggest benefit from when you have a full BAB. For those who want to make every shot count, feats like Vital Strike may be worthwhile. The Gunsmithing feat is often required for keeping guns repaired and loaded, and if a player isn't playing a gunslinger they may not get it for free.

In summary, if you're going to use guns effectively, that's where a great deal of your monetary resources, and your character resources, are going to go. Especially if they aren't just a convenient delivery system for a spell or a sneak attack.

They Come With Built-In Drawbacks

Guns have a lot of drawbacks that you need to overcome in order to use them effectively. Their relatively short range is one, and their expense is another. As mentioned, they can also be murder on your action economy, requiring you to really cut corners, or rely on spells and special abilities to make sure that you've always got a round in the pipe.

They can also blow up in your face.

Guys... I think Flint rolled another 1!

If you roll particularly low on an attack with an early firearm, then you have to deal with misfires. And misfires can cost you... especially if you're a player who rolls a lot of natural 1s, the way I tend to. While there are ways to downplay or negate misfires, their probability also increases when you do things like utilize alchemical cartridges... so they're going to happen at least a few times.

The other major built-in drawback of a firearm is powder. Black powder and ammunition is subject to water, subject to fire, and to all sorts of other situational issues. So if an enemy uses spells to ruin ammunition, or if a gunslinger gets caught in a dragon's breath weapon or a fireball, that incident could become far more costly than it otherwise might have been. Even something like being bullrushed into a river could destroy the ammunition in their weapon, as well as the bullets in their cartridge belt. And even when it does go off, it's loud as hell, which can alert other encounters there's something going on next door.

These are things you can overcome. There are items and magic cases that safeguard your equipment, as well as spells that can silence your area, but those also play into the cost of using a firearm in a hostile world. And while a game master may opt not to use these particular weaknesses to avoid ruining a player's fun and frustrating them, they are still there, and still viable.

Any Weapon Can Be Overpowered In The Right Hands

Hey there... heard someone was talking shit about archers?

I've been at a lot of tables over the years, and I've seen players crack out every, single weapon you could use. From frenzied berserkers whose greatswords can cleave dragons in half, to dagger-wielding assassins that tore encounters apart, to a wizard that turned a first-level spell into a nuclear hellstorm by applying just the right combination of feats, boosts, and metamagic rods... the weapon by itself was just one aspect of the character.

More to the point, though, I've seen a lot of game masters who end up getting steam-rolled by the party not because the party's too powerful, but because they aren't utilizing any sort of strategy for their villains.

I talked about this more in Party Balance is Mostly a Myth. Instead, Ask How You're Challenging The Party, but it bears repeating. Every character is going to be strong in some situations, and not as strong in others. If a target is within relatively close range and has a low touch AC, that is the gunfighter's time to shine. If a target has a high damage reduction, the ability to deflect bullets, is under a lot of cover, or is shrouded by illusion, then they're far more likely to end up shooting at shadows and not doing a whole hell of a lot while someone else steps up to get the job done.

If a gun could completely destroy your game's challenge, step back and ask why? Especially when you consider all of the weaknesses, limitations, and required support from class features, feats, etc. it takes to make these weapons really dangerous.

Lastly, a Note on Genre

This is Crunch week, and as such I've been largely focusing on the mechanical aspects of firearms (and particularly early firearms) as they're written for Pathfinder's first edition. As such, I have not gotten into setting, conventions, etc.

But I feel that should be addressed.

If you are running a Pathfinder campaign set in Golarion, then firearms are a part of that setting canon. If you are running a different setting (possibly one of your own design) where firearms do not exist, then they are not a part of that setting canon. Some players love guns in their fantasy settings, some players hate them, and some players are indifferent regarding their presence. But that is a discussion you can have on its own merits.

By the numbers, though, guns are not that big of a deal by themselves in a mechanical sense. As long as you run them as they're written, and track all of the things associated with their use, they're barely be a blip on the radar regarding challenge. You aren't required to use them at your table, but if the mechanics are really your concern, you can put that concern to bed.

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

How To Keep Up As A Gunslinger in Scion

White Wolf was best known for the World of Darkness, but one of the most popular titles outside that particular setting was Scion. The premise is that the titans have escaped from their prisons, and the Godwar has resumed. What's your part in this? Well, you are the children of the gods, and as they awaken the ichor in your veins, you need to step up to stop the titans from tearing the world down to its foundations, and burning away everything you've ever known in an apocalyptic inferno.

No pressure, though, no pressure. 

Scions are gifted with extraordinary powers, and they're capable of epic feats. They can lift loads of several tons, leap to the heavens, wrestle giants, and instantly heal from grievous wounds. These are the main tools in their fight against the titans and their spawn... but for players who like to mix the modern with the mythic, it can feel like there's a small hiccough when it comes to weapon choice.

The Scaling Problem of Guns in Scion

When you start off in Scion, guns are going to be your best friend. Pretty much every attack, except for grappling a foe, is your Dexterity plus your relevant skill (Brawl, Marksmanship, Thrown, or Melee). Then, if you successfully overcome the opponent's defense, you roll your damage. Your damage pool for a firearm is made up of the damage dealt by your weapon, and the number of threshold successes you achieved (one die for every success you beat the opponent's defense by), plus one. However, your damage with melee weapons, thrown weapons, or your fists is that, but you also add bonus damage dice to your pool equal to your Strength score (with additional successes from epic Strength factored in).

So, while it might take a little while to invest the necessary points to get both a high Dexterity to actually hit your target and a high Strength to deal a lot of damage, the guy throwing javelins, or the woman swinging the sword, is capable of doing a lot of harm once they hit their stride. Which leads some players who have invested in firearms wondering how they are going to keep up.

Don't panic... seriously, you've got this.

Piercing, Increased Damage, And Threshold Successes

The first thing to remember about guns is, well, they're guns. A firearm allows you to keep some healthy distance between you and an enemy, ensuring that unless they have eye lasers, or the ability to throw a semi-truck a few blocks (not uncommon in Scion), that you might be able to poke them in the eye without them poking back. This is particularly useful if you can turn yourself invisible, or if you want to shoot from behind cover while you and your fellow godlings are trying to take down a rampaging frost giant.

Tactical benefits aside, there are some good reasons to use guns. The first is that they all inherently have the piercing quality, which cuts the damage soak from armor in half unless it has the bulletproof quality. Guns all have a bonus to damage, ranging from +3 to +7 lethal, as well. This allows you to bypass all that bashing damage malarchy, and the traditionally higher damage soak that comes with bashing damage. To compare, no melee weapon offers a higher starting bonus than +5 lethal, even if the wielder could use their Strength to increase the damage.

And when we crunch the numbers...

Where you get money for value with firearms is in your threshold successes (the number that you beat your target's defense value on). Well, that, and because you can't parry bullets without some very specific abilities, which means the target has to use their dodge defensive value. So, in order to deal the biggest amount of damage with your gun, you need to make sure you hit your enemy's sweet spot every time.

The first thing you want to do is make sure you have the highest Dexterity, epic Dexterity, and Marksmanship scores possible (easy enough to do). As a starting character, it's possible to have 10 dice (5 Dexterity and 5 Marksmanship), plus one automatic success to throw around in that setup. Then you add in your weapon's accuracy rating, which for a gun will typically give you another +1 to +3 (though not all guns give you more accuracy to your attack). So, you could potentially be rolling 13 dice, with 1 automatic success from epic Dexterity. If you take the Aim action, that adds between +1 and +3 bonus dice to your attack, or a +2 to a +6 if you have the Trick Shot knack.

So, if you need to make that big shot on the rampaging titan, you could have a dice pool of 19 plus one automatic success with the right skill, attribute, knack, and weapon. Not too shabby. Then, if you want to add on to your pool, a relic firearm can have increased accuracy, which allows you to get even more bonuses to your shots. You could also spend a Willpower to add a number of bonus dice equal to an applicable virtue, which can bulk up your dice pool substantially.

However, if you're an unlucky player, even an attack pool of 20 with a free automatic success might not net you more than 7 or 8 successes. Which is enough to hit an enemy, but not really enough to get you a lot of threshold successes (assuming you're fighting titanspawn who are slightly tougher than a beefy scion). That's why you need to take advantage of defensive value penalties on your target.

The More You Do, The Lower Your Defense

Your defensive values are your dodge, and your parry. However, those values will change depending on the circumstances you're fighting in.

As a good example, if your target is unaware that combat has been joined (or simply can't see you, in many cases), then they can't apply their defensive values against your attack. That means if you quick draw your widowmaker, or squeeze that trigger from 200 yards out, the target won't be able to apply their defensive values against that attack without some kind of power that lets them. In that case, you only need one success to hit them, which means those 7 or 8 successes now nets you 6 or 7 bonus damage dice on your shot.

However, even if your target is aware of you and on the defensive, you can still take advantage of timing and environment to hit them when they're vulnerable. If a target does pretty much anything (like attack, or cast a spell, etc.) that action will give them a defensive penalty. Not only that, but if the target is getting attacked, then they'll be subject to an onslaught penalty as well (receiving a number of attacks equal to Legend rating + 1 before their next action) which reduces their defense by -1. If the target is wearing bulky armor, that reduces their dodge and mobility. If there is poor footing, they're slogging through mud, or some other environmental negative, then their defense goes down even further. This is a great reason to take the Aim action, and wait for your friends to smack the bad guy around. After all, you can interrupt your Aim at any time to take your shot.

One And Done

Godlings are tough, and titans are tougher, but it's important to remember that if you can get past their defensive values, and punch through their soak, they don't have all that many health levels. A scion has 7 health levels, and if you fill all those levels up with bashing, their lights go out, and they're down for the count. You fill it up with lethal, and unless they get some medical attention in a big hurry, they're dead. While titans might have more health levels, or just be harder to hurt because of increased soak, doing even a few lethal damage is not nothing. You put two or three of those "small" holes into them, and they aren't long for this world.

That's all for this week's Crunch topic. Figured folks could use a break from Pathfinder, and for those who want to give Scion a try, it's time to lock and load. For more content from yours truly, check out my Vocal archive, and head over to the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio to take a listen to skits, world building, and advice videos that several talented gamers as well as myself make. If you want to stay on top of all my releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. To help support Improved Initiative so I can keep bringing content right to you, consider dropping some change over at The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. It really helps, and as little as $1 a month gets you some sweet gaming swag as a thank you.

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How To Get The Most Out Of The Surprise Round (In Pathfinder)

Nine times out of ten, the surprise round is something you want to avoid as a player. Commonly thought of as an ambush, page 178 of the Core Rulebook describes the surprise round as something that happens when some, but not all, of the combatants are aware of one another. Those who are aware get to act, taking either a move or a standard action, and those who are not aware get to stand there, staring gormlessly at nothing. If you're not acting, you're also flat-footed, which is why the surprise round is a field day for enemies with sneak attack.

Easier to hit AND 6d6 bonus damage? Oooh... that's gotta hurt!

Now, it's possible to negate some of the pain of the surprise round by making Perception checks, moving stealthily so your ambushers don't know you're coming, and by getting Uncanny Dodge so you can't be caught flat-footed... but that still puts you on the receiving end of the surprise round when it does happen, which is not where you want to be.

But what if you could take control of it? Even when you weren't the one leading the ambush?

Step #1: Act in The Surprise Round

The first step in this process is to choose a class that gives you the ability to always act in the surprise round, even if you normally wouldn't be able to. This is not a common ability, but there are several, notable archetypes that grant it. The diviner wizard is the most common, and you gain it as your 1st-level school power. However, there's also the sohei monk (which gains this power at 1st-level), the fearsome defender barbarian (which gains it at 5th-level, though they always act last in a surprise round), the grand marshal (which gains it at 2nd-level),  and the thronewarden (who can act in the surprise round as long as they have at least 1 grit point starting at level 2), just to name a few.

This is only the first part of the combination, though.

Whichever option you select, it's important to remember this is a multiclass concept. Because acting in the surprise round is fine and dandy, but you need to be able to do more than just take a standard or a move action to really get the most bang for your buck. That's where step two comes into play.

Step #2: Add Four Levels of Rogue

The next thing you need to do is mix-in some rogue. Not just any rogue, though. The bandit archetype gives you the 4th-level ability Ambush. This states that when you can act in the surprise round you can take a standard, move, and swift action, rather than just the normal standard or move action normal characters get.

So, in other words, you turn the surprise round into a full turn.

That's when the mayhem starts.

Ask yourself how many times you just needed one extra action to stop an ambush before it started. How many times did you have just the right spell to block line of effect for those archers, or just the right scroll in your pack, but you couldn't react quickly enough to get them. Alternatively, how many times have you looked at the rogue talent Surprise Attack and thought it was useless? After all, what's the good in enemies being flat-footed to you during the surprise round if you can never act in it?

Now you know.

Step Three: Putting It All Together

Multiclassing always leaves you with some mechanical weaknesses, but it's important to ask how you plan on using these abilities. For instance, are you going to play an arcane trickster whose uncanny reflexes always seem to let them evade danger? Especially if it means adding 2d6 sneak attack onto any spell with an attack roll in the surprise round? Or would you prefer a sohei bodyguard, who makes sure to engage the enemy before they can get close to his charges? Or a reformed bandit that's now a grand marshal, whose guns always seem to be firing before bushwackers can so much as clear their holsters?

There are all sorts of options you have available, but the goal should always be to make the most of the surprise round. If you do it right, your DM might even re-think using ambushes as a tactic.

That's all for this week's Crunch installment. Short and sweet, but it's a simple trick that doesn't take a huge text block to share. If you want to stay up-to-date on all my releases, simply follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And if you'd like to help me keep my head above water, and keep doing what I'm doing, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron today. All it takes is $1 a month to buy my everlasting gratitude, and to get yourself some sweet gaming swag.

Get Your Stormpunk On With Rhune: Dawn of Twilight!

What would it take to get you to buy a new campaign guide for your gaming group? Would it have to be comprehensive, detailing a world that is at once organic, and totally unique? Would it need to be compatible with the system you're playing so that you don't have to buy a whole new library of gaming books? Would it need to have dwarven bards with machine gun mandolins?

Because if that's the case, you should really check out Rhune: Dawn of Twilight.

You didn't think the dwarf comment was hyperbole, did you?

Rhune: Dawn of Twilight is a setting devised by Jaye Sonia, and it is responsible for a term that had me hooked as soon as I saw it. That term is Stormpunk.

Rhune: A Change From Your Regular Fantasy

Rhune takes an unusual idea, and creates a setting full of possibilities with it. That idea is, simply put, what if you took the basic setup of the world of Norse mythology (where Midgard is the world you play in, and Ragnarok is approaching), and then inject a huge amount of fantasy, mixed with unusual technology? The result is a world thrumming with electricity called from the sky by storm shepherds, where the cities are filled with foundries and war machines, and where the forests are thick with elves who have abandoned the call of mechanization. In the heart of the world the Ragnarok clock chimes its dark tones, and the forces of frost giants and dark dwellers marshal for their march on the south.

You want to play in this setting now, right?

Don't be shy. It really is as cool as I've made it sound.

Rhune has a lot of things going for it, as a game. The world is completely unique, even when compared to other settings inspired by Norse myth like Kobold Press's Midgard setting. The game is Pathfinder compatible, and it provides you all the lore and stats you need without really preventing you from bringing your favorite parts of Paizo's work into the world. It also offers some unique mechanics, Wyrd and Honor being some of my personal favorites since I feel they really draw you into the setting.

With all that said, though, I'm not without my quibbles and nit picks on the game, as a whole.

While I really like the setting, I personally dislike how many classes are tied directly to in-game representation. Cavaliers, for instance, are specifically part of in-game organizations per the lore of the book. This takes away a lot of flexibility players have in terms of how their stories are told, and how their characters are perceived in many circumstances. And sure, a DM could easily just rule that this isn't the case in his or her game (such as if a player wants to put together a paladin who is a wandering do-gooder that isn't a part of a knightly order, and never has been), but the more house rules you have to make, the more stuff you have to keep track of as you play.

My other main complaint is that, as rich as it is, the world feels a little small. Not necessarily in space, but in the scope of ideas. There's plenty of lore, and a huge amount of history, but it feels like games are going to be either city-based games (where players can use sword pistols and fight sky pirates while firing lightning cannons) or forest-based games (where you either have to leave all your fancy toys behind, or try to fight every elf that catches a whiff of the ozone your flash batteries create). While the dichotomy of urban areas developing fantasy tech, and elves drawing away into the forests because they believe said technology is speeding up the end of the world is a big part of the game's lore, it can artificially limit what parts of the world certain characters and parties can explore. Especially if you're playing a mechanized race, or you want to take advantage of characters with cybernetic enhancements or prosthetics. It's nothing a good DM can't overcome, but it is a kink that you have to work through if you intend on running the game in a way that reaches outside just the city, or just the wilds.

Lastly, Rhune: Dawn of Twilight, is a bit on the pricey side. The rule book will run you $65, though if you can catch it at a convention you might be able to pick it up for a little less.

Would I Play It?

Nits and picks aside, if a DM I trusted got hold of me and said, "Hey, I'm thinking about running a game in Rhune, would you be interested?" the only questions I'd have would be where, and when this game is going to happen.

Rhune: Dawn of Twilight is not a perfect RPG setting by any stretch of the imagination, but it is worlds better than many I've seen, and I'd consider it well worth the price. Whether you want the setting, the additional classes, the races, or just a storm-powered Gauss cannon for your ship, the book is full of resources. Not only that, it lets you bring up the word Stormpunk in regular conversation, which I think is reason enough to give it a look.

If you're looking for more information on Rhune: Dawn of Twilight, why not stop by the game's Facebook page? If you've got questions, or want feedback from other players, that's a great place to post them.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday post. I'm glad I have a copy of this game, and I hope that other gamers looking for a way to spice up their Pathfinder nights join me in trying it out. If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, then go to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, and make a pledge. For as little as $1 a month, you'll get some sweet swag, and the knowledge that you help me keep bringing great content right to your screen. Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, what are you waiting for?

The Ballad of Baldric Brimstone Chapter Three: Big Gay Half-Orcs and Utterly Destroying Plot

Because this particular gaming story saga is now complete, I thought I'd list all three chapters here for easy navigation. Yes, I know you're on chapter three, but it's an easier list to mass-produce so that every chapter has its very own links.

- Chapter One: Don't Ever Field a One-Eyed Dragon
- Chapter Two: Why You Never Give Your Party The One Ring
- Chapter Three: Big Gay Half-Orcs and Utterly Destroying Plot

Caught up? Great, because today we're finishing this adventure off with the grand finale!

Chapter Three: Of Cohorts and Kings!

Time Travel and Leadership

When last we left our intrepid adventuring party they'd rescued one plot-relevant NPC and one non-plot relevant NPC from a floating city in the sky run by insane magical college deans. Our heroes return to their headquarters by a long and circuitous route, during which they are thanked for their service. When the NPCs tell the guild master and the royal family about what they heard while captives, our heroes are tasked with trekking into the center of a cursed city on the coast (which is conveniently a half-day's ride away) and investigating rumors of a potential legendary sword that could save the world.

Of course no one's been here in a thousand years... this place is creepy!

 

So, seeing where these rails are going, we saddle up and decide to go investigating. We ride up to the ruins of a once-great city, and find it mostly filled with rubble and poisonous smoke. We follow the open paths, very specifically staying away from the vapors while picking up a few odd coins here and there. We find a wishing well, Baldric throws one of the strange coins in, makes a wish, kills the water-double that comes out, and is gifted with a second gun. Overall pleased with my shenanigans we find the throne room. Seated in the throne room, to the surprise of no one, is a skeleton in the throne with a greatsword through its chest.

Nothing to see here, folks.

 

We walk the throne room a couple of times, and we have the central question of "do we pull it out, or do we leave it in?" Baldric is all for leaving it where it is, but our half-construct fighter pulls the sword. Right on cue the corpse re-forms into the ancient and powerful figure known as the Chaos Emperor, who immediately imprisons us all in huge shells of crystal.

Fast forward fifteen years or so...

We Slept Through The Apocalypse?

We wake up in a ruined city with no idea of what's happened. We make our way back to the capital, only to find that a decade and a half has gone by. The world's at war, the Chaos Emperor has taken over the Citadel, and roving tribes of raiders are everywhere.

Oh, and we gained a level.

So there's that.

 

It's at this point I decide to put something in play for another party member. Her character was a gay, male elf alchemist, and it had become a running gag that the only bi-curious NPCs he could find were half-orcs. I ask the DM if I can take Leadership and he okays it (for those DMs who don't know, that's a foolish thing to do). He lets me design my cohort, and I tell him that he was Baldric's apprentice back when he was still a fire bomber for an orc tribe. I trust our DM to work him in somewhere.

So what does the crumbling command faced with impossible odds ask us to do less than a day out of crio-stasis? Oh nothing big; just go and kill the Chaos Emperor.

Back to The Floating City in The Sky...

We truck back across the map with no idea of what the hell we're going to do or how the hell we're going to do it. We find a city-sized encampment at the base of the tower, along with the villain's three lieutenants.

One of whom looks strangely familiar...

 

Baldric recognizes his old apprentice, grown huge and having forced his way up the chain of command. That night he goes to meet him, and the two catch up on old times. They also get drunk... with alchemist fortitude saves. It isn't a pretty sight.

In the middle of the night the elf comes looking for Baldric, and finds him and his companion. Looks are exchanged, and Davor decides right then and there that he's going to switch sides to whoever that elf is fighting for. Lovely, not only do I have my cohort (who incidentally is how I field-tested my Incredible Hulk character build found here), but he happens to have information about the enemy. Wins all around!

All three of these characters are fetched to the base of the tower, and through a series of unfortunate events find themselves being magically transported up into the sky city itself.

Great Revelations

As I mentioned in the last chapter, Baldric's got a wishing ring up his sleeve. With that ring, and some clever shenanigans, we smash through the encounters our ST had meant to make challenging, leave the tower, and go on the lam back to the destroyed capital we'd come from.

While the 7-foot half-orc and the normally-reserved elf are making sheep's eyes at each other the rest of the party wants to know how the hell Baldric knows this guy. So he reveals his history as Brazen Red-Eye, a wanted war criminal responsible for the deaths of countless villages and all their inhabitants. There's some hemming and hawing from the other party members about this revelation, but ultimately Brazen decides he doesn't have time for it and informs the group what he's doing. The other two alchemists join him, and he marches up to the keep to demand a way to solve this whole convoluted problem.

And make it snappy, I'm sick of your bullshit!

 

The party is then given a series of combats, challenges, and fetch quests, the details of which blended together after a bit. The brute squad, with the support of the rest of the party, powered through whatever challenges were laid in front of them. They were eventually brought to a location that held a time machine. The goal of course is to send them back in time to stop this from happening. Because of course it is, why else would you slingshot a party into the future?

Most of the party is thrilled by this. They can go back, save their friends and families, and make the world how it was. For Brazen, he's finally found his friends and followers. He's in a world that makes sense, and he has a chance to rebuild it into something better and different than it was before. Here he's a man with a small army of followers, a strong right hand, and is a force to be reckoned with. Back there he's just another killer on the run from the rope.

A King By His Own Hand

The campaign was far from over, but it was very clear out of character that if this machine was going to render this future, horrible as it was, non-existent then Brazen, Davor, and probably Tirnel the elf would waste no time in blowing it straight to hell along with anyone who got in their way. Without this deus ex machina the game was over, and the epic final chapter would be impossible to reach without a lot of hand-waving and NPC magical bullshit.

As if we had any shortage of that in this game...

 

So our storyteller and the NPCs alike were quick to assure us that it wasn't linear time travel, but rather that this machine would punch a hole into a parallel timeline. A timeline that could still be saved. Brazen holstered his gun, folded his arms, and told them if they were getting they'd better go. He had shit to do.

Slightly confused, most of the rest of the party went. The players and ST alike were wondering what he was going to do, and so they ended the session by asking the $24 question.

Brazen Red-Eye purchased the cursed city and all of its properties from the Crown for a gold piece and a blot of ink. He took his cohort and followers (mostly alchemists, gunslingers, druids, and witches with a few barbarians and fighters for flavor), and rebuilt the city. He took in refugees of all stripes, and put them to work training for war, manning the walls, growing crops and assembling new structures. In time Lost Home became known as a place where anyone could find a a seat at the table if they were willing to work hard and follow orders. It established a college of alchemy and wizardry, as well as a gunworks where firearms and more dangerous weapons were built. In less than ten years it could field an army of warriors in construct armor, and an air force of dirigibles powered by alchemy and loaded down with smooth-bore cannons. Brazen Red-Eye ruled on the brass throne till the day he died, and he was burned with the honors of a great chieftain. His widow maker was placed in his hand, because wherever he was going he was going to need it.

And that, my friends, is quite possibly the most epic middle finger I have ever had a character give to a plot he was expected to keep following.

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's the end of this tale, but what would you like to see next time on Table Talk? Suggestions are always welcome!

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A Gunslinger By Any Other Name...

At this point in time I've had the "gunslingers don't belong in fantasy games" conversation with an arbitrary number of people greater than 10, and somewhat less than 100. It is amazing to me the sheer resistance some storytellers have to the very idea of the gunslinger (while at the same time giving a free, no-questions-asked pass to the alchemist), despite its inclusion in both Pathfinder's Ultimate Combat and having these characters strongly represented in Golarion's canon. For some reason many storytellers don't even want to hear the name of the class, and they will disallow gunslingers entirely along with any and all variations that give other classes access to black powder weapons. I asked myself why over and over again, but I never came up with an answer until now.

Maybe it's the name of the class.

What's In a Name?

Everything, if you're the man without one.

This sounds like a silly, nit-picky thing to harp on, but consider it for a moment. The word gunslinger has very definite connotations in the minds of most Americans. It brings to mind Clint Eastwood and six-shooters, duels at high noon and flying lead. It also paints a 19th century world, which jars those who were trying to create something more Tolkien-esque. While there are fantasy gunslingers (Stephen King's character Roland Deschain comes to mind, as does Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane), they're few and far between.

Let's re-examine the class, then. Pathfinder's gunslingers have primitive, single shot flintlocks, blunderbusses, and most importantly muskets. They can wear light armor, and they have a knack for deeds of derring-do. They take great risks with little care for their own lives, trusting on luck to see them through. In the flash of steel and the boom of gunpowder these reckless combatants fight through to the bitter end with grit and skill.

You know what that sounds like? The Three Musketeers. Can you get more classic adventure than that?

I maintain that you cannot.

A Little Bit of History

For those who are still on the fence, here's something else you should consider.

What am I missing?

If you look through your Core Rule Book (or your Player's Hand Book, or really most other books for a medieval fantasy game) you're going to see an entry for a rapier. You know the sword; a long, fast blade popular among fencers (and supposedly elves) who fought with dexterity and precision over raw power? You typically pick it because it has a high critical hit range on it?

You know why the rapier exists? Guns.

As I illustrated in this article right here, nothing in warfare is static. As guns big and small became standard parts of the battlefield, old protections went the way of the dodo. Heavy armor and shields were no use against cannons, while maneuverability was. Without steel armor in between your sword and your opponent there was no reason to bring a heavy sword to the fight. Lighter, swifter weapons from cavalry sabers to trench swords became the order of the day.

Blades did not vanish overnight though. Bayonets turned muskets into deadly spears, combat knives were kept near to hand in case a charge didn't falter under a volley, and swords were still used more often than not when fighting got thick. The rapier became the weapon of choice for city-dwellers (making it an ironic choice for an elf), because armor was typically not worn while out on the town. While pistols were popular, they were also dangerous and chancy at best. Rapiers offered personal protection, speed, and they were also in vogue during the Renaissance.

Doesn't it seem a little silly to include weapons that came about because of guns, but to balk at the inclusion of the guns themselves?

The Uneasy Truce Between Science and Magic

There seems to be this strange notion that science and magic exist on a sliding scale. A low-tech world means there's plenty of magic to go around, but a high-tech world means that magic is on its way out. Time and again in popular fiction we see that technology and magic don't mix (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books are a solid example of this trope), or that they're somehow separate but equal (Harry Potter played with this, even though it never explains why wizards who work in London don't understand how technology works). I can't say where this trope originates (A Flight of Dragons is one of the oldest examples I can bring to mind), but it seems to be based on the idea that a world that embraces technology leaves behind its beliefs, its superstitions, and its sense of wonder at the world.

In short, it leaves behind its magic.

There's no mechanic that states this. There are no rules that say the presence of gunslingers suddenly means archmagi lose their spells, or that clerics have a harder time reaching their gods. It doesn't mean that magical beasts are any less of a threat (though it does mean you can head-shot zombies with style and swagger), and it certainly doesn't mean you can take on dragons and expect to win (though again, fighting a dragon with a gun does have a certain, gonzo charm that can't be denied). It just means there's a new class of fighter in town, and she's got a whole new brand of boom to add to the game.

Why Sometimes, But Not Others?

Perhaps one of the last lines of defense for storytellers is that gunslingers (whatever we choose to call them) simply aren't setting appropriate. If someone has created their own setting and disallowed black powder, then that's his or her prerogative. Gunpowder is astonishingly easy to invent, given the fact that ancient China had it, but the issue of whether or not the relatively basic building blocks for the material exist in a world to be harnessed is another matter for another day. The point here is that storytellers against gunslingers will say they have no place in dungeon crawls, or on open fields fighting demons.

But sailing pirate ships, that's perfectly okay.

I'd roll a reflex save, if I were you.

The logic seems to be that there are certain places where gunslingers are allowed, and certain places where they "don't make sense." Swashbuckling adventures in the Shackles, or in the blighted deserts of the Mana Waste are gunslingers' home turf after all, so it would be silly to disallow them. On the other hand if someone wants to play a paladin who captains a privateer vessel the way some of the Knights Templar did, or perhaps take an alchemist to study the peculiar origins of the Wastes, very rarely is that met with the same level of scrutiny as bringing a gunslinger to Varisia or into the mountains of the Land of the Linnorm Kings.

The more specific a storyteller is with when and where a certain class is allowed, the more acrobatics that need to be done for it to make sense. With at least two nations making heavy use of black powder weapons it simply doesn't seem logical to limit whether or not someone can wield them. As long as the player explains who they are, and where they acquired their training and weapons, it should be no more of a story issue than it is a mechanical issue.

And if a fighter having a touch attack screws up the whole campaign, it might be time to re-think how tough your monsters are.

As always, thanks for stopping in at Improved Initiative. Your continued patronage is quite valued, so if you want to see a topic covered then please put in a request. If you want to get all of my updates then put your email into the box on the top right, or follow me on Facebook or Tumblr. If you'd like to help keep me, and this blog, going then click the "Bribe the DM" button and leave a tip, or stop by my Patreon page and become a patron today!

Table Talk: Don't Ever Field a One-Eyed Dragon

Do you have a gaming story of your own? Well we'd love to hear it! Contact Improved Initiative with your best tabletop tale, and we'll feature you on Table Talk. Make your friends jealous, and grab a little bit of the spotlight. You totally deserve it. Also, if you'd like to follow us, drop by Tumblr or Facebook.

Also, this story is part one of a trilogy, which is now complete! Here's the full list of The Ballad of Baldric Brimstone.

- Chapter One: Don't Ever Field a One-Eyed Dragon
- Chapter Two: Why You Never Give Your Party The One Ring
- Chapter Three: Big Gay Half-Orcs and Utterly Destroying Plot

Now, onward to this week's tale...

Being the new guy in an established game isn't easy. Most of the time you haven't met the other players, you don't really know what's been going on with the story, and you're not always sure if your character is going to gel with what's happening. However, not long after I published my short story "The Irregulars" with Paizo (you can still read it here) I was invited to join a campaign. It was a home-brewed affair that had been going on for some time, and I was told to put together a level 8 character.

Boy, did I ever.

The Ballad of Baldric Brimstone

Have gun, will travel.

The character I created for this game was a reformed villain with a secret history. To all appearances he was a human gunslinger/alchemist by the name of Baldric Brimstone. A quick draw specialist who relied on speed and overwhelming firepower to see him through most situations, he was a fairly good fit in a generally chaotic, and generally neutral, party. However, despite his human-like appearance (I burned a feat slot to take Pass For Human for this back story), he was actually a half-orc.

Bred to a savage tribe for quick wits and fast hands, he had been a fire-bomber who left little standing on any raid he was part of. A disagreement with the tribal chief, who got lit up like dry kindling in a lightning storm, led to this alchemist fleeing, lest vengeance be visited upon him. A frontier family found him half-starved and exhausted, along with some broken bones and no few deep cuts. They took him in and helped him recuperate, and that was his first brush with a culture where "might makes right" wasn't the whole of the law. He learned the trade of gunsmithing, and decided to try and make up for some of his dark deeds by taking up the cause of good. Nothing like a Chaotic Evil to Chaotic Good switch to grant you plenty of motivation.

So, Baldric shows up as a new recruit to a mercenary guild of adventurers. He's assigned to a party, and told to go and deal with a dragon problem.

Hunting Trouble

It should be mentioned that before this game session began I asked the DM very specifically if he first, allowed advanced firearms if the player could afford them, and second, if he allowed called shots. He did, and he did. This needs to be mentioned up-front.

So, the party finds its way to a village that looks like something out of my character's past. Houses are burned to the foundation, people are scattered, and there's little enough left standing. The party is given directions to a certain mountain, and we pick our way along to a cave that looks big enough to house a dragon. We enter, weapons drawn. We see a horde with an unconscious child atop it; no dragon in sight.

So the party, being an adventuring party, starts exploring. We don't find hide nor hair of the dragon, but as soon as the mysterious orphan on the horde awakens a red dragon lumbers in. He's big enough to be full grown, but whether it's a juvenile or a young dragon it's still several challenge ratings higher than the party. However, the DM mentions that the dragon looks wounded. It's covered in deep cuts, it's limping, breathing hard, and one eye has been completely destroyed.

Don't get ahead of me, now.

Because we aren't commanded to roll initiative immediately, the bard begins to parley with the dragon. Most of the party speaks draconic, including Baldric, but he feigns that he doesn't. There are exchanges back and forth, rolls are made, and mechanically speaking the negotiation is going about as well as a thing like this can be expected to. After the third or fourth exchange though, I turn to the DM and declare a readied action. The readied action in question is to draw my pistol, and make a called shot to the beast's remaining eye.

Bulls-Eye.. Er... Dragons-Eye

Despite the out of character knowledge that the negotiation is going well, all Baldric is hearing is that we, the heroes, are negotiating with a creature responsible for destroying lives and attempting the murder of an entire town. So, butting into the negotiation, he demands to know why the red dragon in question decided to just attack the town.

Its response? "Because I felt like it."

Polyphemus, eat your heart out.

I cannot emphasize this enough; no one at this table has seen me game before. For some of them this is their first campaign. We are facing a threat somewhere between 2 and 5 challenge ratings higher than we should be, and before anyone can stop him Baldric drags iron, pulls the trigger, and rolls an 18 on the die. After all the negatives were calculated, that was a 19 on a touch attack against a flat-footed opponent.

I hit.

The Aftermath

Fortunately for yours truly I had built a character with a very impressive initiative. Unfortunately for most of the rest of the party, the dragon went directly after me. I took another shot, and got out of the way. The dragon, being evil, blind, in pain, and a dragon, blew fire all over the cavern. The blast torched most of the party, and dropped a goodly number of them. Baldric remained untouched and kept shooting.

For three or four rounds this fight continued, with flung alchemical weapons and flying lead peppering this already injured creature. The still-standing members of the party got in on the action, and some of the bombs were having a noticeable effect. Before the dragon could be dropped though, it took wing and got the hell out of dodge. The party's in shambles, and standing over them is a lunatic with a smoking gun who not only hasn't taken any damage, but is reloading his pistol and demanding to know if they're going to let that thing get away.

You want us to what now?

I had never seen that many looks of dumbfounded disbelief at a gaming table before. First that I had an extraordinarily stupid idea, and then that it worked out in my favor. Also, the DM learned a valuable lesson that night; no matter what you put on the table, or how powerful it is, someone in the party is going to try and kill it. Always be prepared for that.

The truly funny thing about the whole situation? This was only the second game where I had to roll out hit points for my character. I did not roll well. I was at the controls of a glass hammer who was getting by on little more than a high initiative, brass balls, and a decent intimidate check. Baldric's hit points didn't dramatically improve as he gained levels, either. Despite that he not only survived the campaign, but became a king by his own hand, building an empire from ashes with little more than a fast hand and a can-do attitude.

In time this story shall also be told...