This is a playtest campaign for a rule system I'm developing for PF1e.
Up front info : Level 10, 15pt point buy for stats, start with
12,750gp in equipment. Extra Bonus Feats at levels 2, 6, 10, 14 and 18.
Brief Setting Description; 1600's technology level (not actually Earth, its a homebrew world). Your characters
are owners of a mercenary company with 500 men and a single ship. Your
main client is the Vergismundi Trading Company (VTC) which has several
trading outposts in a foreign part of the world know as the Spice
Islands (equivalent to Indonesia). There are other rival companies from
other colonial nations that have set up trading posts as well as native
kingdoms and sultanates on the island chain that trade spices to the
companies. This setting is tropical. Most of your work is consists of
neutral or evil acts and involves things like privateering, smuggling,
blockading and threatening/strong-arming kingdoms with the occasional
coup. You are "Scum & Villainy".
Rules descriptions:
Massive Damage Threshold (MDT)
When using the Massive Damage Threshold rule, any time a creature
takes damage equal to or exceeding their Massive Damage Threshold (MDT)
in a single attack, they must make a Fortitude save. The MDT is
calculated as follows:
MDT = 10 + Fortitude save modifier + armor bonus to AC + natural armor bonus + size modifier
The size modifier is determined as follows:
Colossal: +8
Gargantuan: +4
Huge: +2
Large: +1
Medium: +0
Small: -1
Tiny: -2
Diminutive: -4
Fine: -8
If the creature's damage exceeds their MDT, they must make a
Fortitude save with a DC of 15 plus the amount of damage that exceeded
their MDT.
If the character fails the Fortitude save, they are reduced to -1 hit points and are considered dying
DR, energy resistances and other effects that reduce damage (such as
taking half damage on a save) are applied before calculating if damage
exceeded MDT
Non-lethal damage that exceeds MDT becomes lethal for every point above MDT
Massive Damage is considered similar to precision damage and effects
that negate precision damage and/or critical hits (such as armor
fortification and creature type) also negate getting knocked to -1 from
Massive Damage
(Please note; this is not yet balanced for direct-damage dealing
spells and so for the time being they do not cause massive damage)
New Feats and changes to existing Feats:
Toughness; Now also adds +1 to your MDT in addition to it's other
effects, this stacks with itself if the feat is taken multiple times
Assassin/Sniper: New Feat, Assassin is for melee, Sniper is for ranged;
Prerequisite is +1 BaB, you can take a full round action to make a
single attack at a -4 penalty, if it hits AND the target is considered
flat-footed (not flanked) then the attack is automatically considered a
critical hit. There is no way to reduce this from a full round action or
remove the requirement of the target being flat-footed. (Keep in mind that Flat-footed is a condition that only technically occurs before acting in combat, being feinted, prone or otherwise deprived of your Dex bonus does not necessarily count as having the Flat-footed condition.)
Items; Early Firearms are common in this setting and are divided into
2 categories, Matchlocks and Flintlocks, Flintlocks work and cost
exactly the same as in PF1e. Matchlocks are detailed below.
A Matchlock costs 1/10th of it's flintlock equivalent
When using a matchlock firearm, characters must spend a standard action
to light the match cord or slow match before it can be fired. Once the
match is lit the weapon can be fired as normal unless the match is put
out. The match sheds light as a candle and is detectable by scent.
Rain doubles the misfire chance of flintlocks and matchlocks.
Rain and Moderate Wind weather effects have a 20% chance each round to
put out a match, this increase to 50% for stronger weather effects, with
the match being put out automatically in the more severe versions
Cannons are now able to be fired as a line attack (Ref DC for 1/2 Damage) DC = 10 + Knowledge Engineering bonus.
Ship Combat; Follows the PF1e vehicle rules except that ships with
have a crew that make the needed checks to maneuver and fire cannons as a
cohesive unit rather than the players individually. Ships will decide
how/where they move and attack at the start of the round and then
move/attack at the end of the round giving players time to react and
plan. Ships using only wind propulsion can never sail directly into the
wind and must instead move at a diagonal to it at 1/2 speed. Players
will beable to act normally during combat and should think of ships more
as moving platforms rather than as a single unit. A ship takes hours to
sink and so destroying the ship does not automatically kill the crew on
board.
Slow moving, melee-only characters will probably not be fun to play
in this setting so you'll want to make sure you have ranged options.
Firearm archetypes like Trench Fighter and Savage Technologist are allowed. TLDR; Game is deadly and uses modified massive damage rules (most direct damage spells don't count for massive damage), has realistic early firearm rules and ship combat using PF1e vehicle/object rules. Combat is meant to be tactical