Rules (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Rule Zero

The following are NOT used in my games.

• Massive Damage
• Fortitude save to avoid death from Coup de Grace.
• Resurrection.

Skills

• All characters gain 2 additional skill points per level.
• Skills checks can get a critical success or fumble; on a roll of 20 you can roll again (much like when verifying a critical hit) and of the second roll would have been a success against the DC of the original task, it somehow succeeds spectacularly well. The same applies on a 1; you roll again and if the second roll fails to meet the DC, you fumble.
• User options to modify skill checks are applied after the roll, when the result of the skill check is knows. For example, after you have passed a Climb check with a margin of 5, you can decide to apply the accelerated climbing modifier.

Some skills have gained additional uses.

• Acrobatics (Dex)
• Appraise (Int)
• Bluff (Cha)
• Climb (Str)
• Craft # (Int )
• Diplomacy (Cha)
• Disable Device (Dex)
• Disguise (Cha)
• Escape Artist (Dex)
• Fly (Dex)
• Handle Animal (Cha)
• Heal (Wis)
• Intimidate (Cha)
• Knowledge # (Int)
• Linguistics (Int)
• Perception (Wis)
• Perform # (Cha)
• Profession # (Wis)
• Ride (Dex)
• Sense Motive (Wis)
• Sleight of Hand (Dex)
• Spellcraft (Int)
• Stealth (Dex)
• Survival (Wis)
• Swim (Str)
• Use Magic Device (Cha)

See Also

• Abstract Skill Resolution
• Unchained Skill Unlocks

Abilities

Incorporeal An incorporeal creature takes full damage from force and positive energy attacks, such as positive channeled energy and searing light.

Low-Light Vision This allows the creature to see in dim light as if it was normal light. Outdoors at night, it sees as on a cloudy day.

Increasing Abilities by Level

As long as you use your level-granted ability increase (normally gained at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20) for an ability increase resulting in a score of 15 or less, you get two ability improvements, neither of which can give you an attribute score exceeding 15. You can apply both improvements to the same ability score, as long as your final score ends up at 15 or less.

Racial and inherent attribute modifiers are considered part of the ability score for this rule; it does not matter if you arrived at the score trough a racial or inherent modifier.

Metamagic

Forget the original metamagic rules except when creating magic items.

Applying metamagic turns a casting a spell with a casting time of standard action into a full-round action (which is different from a casting time of one round). All classes apply metamagic as the spell is cast, not when it is prepared. A spellcaster can apply metamagic that brings the effective spell level of a spell up to the highest level of spell he can cast, without using a higher-level spell slot. The caster can apply the same metamagic feat several times to the same spell, with additive effects. Heighten Spell, Persistent Spell, and other metamagic save DC modifiers applies only to the initial saving throw - any later saving throws use the basic save DC.

Multi Class Caster Level

A muticlass spellcaster always bases his caster level on character level, not class level. Some classes still have a penalty on caster level (notably paladins and rangers).

The same applies to the game statistics of mounts, familiars, animal companions, and eidolons - but not to the special abilities they gain by level, such as evolutions.

Crafting Magic Items

Magic items are crafted at the rate of Caster Level times 5 gold pieces per hour or cl times 200 per week. This means a higher-level character crafts magic items faster. The break-even point is at level 5. To participate in a crafting project, a character must spend at least 4 hours a week or one hour per day on it. This time is sufficient to provide the prerequisites for the project. Anyone with a caster level can contribute time (and thus value) to the project, making this good work for low-level apprentices.

Combat Rules

First Combat Round

If both sides are aware of each other before the start of a combat, neither side is flat-footed. The mutual flatfooted condition that is the default applies when two sides encounter each other without being prepared, such as after opening a dungeon door, moving around a bend in a forest, or when one side suddenly turns hostile. At any time when initiative could reasonably have been rolled beforehand and it was only by convenience that combat was started at this time, creatures are not flat-footed.

This is generally the case in boarding actions.

Attacks of Opportunity

Combat in three dimensions is fast and fluid

Creatures that are not standing stable on the ground - such as when standing on a slippery or tight surface, prone, riding, flying, swimming, or climbing - do not get to make any attacks of opportunity triggered by movement.

Readied Actions

Readying an action (and subsequently performing a readied action) does not affect initiative in upcoming rounds.

Trip vs. Fliers

A flying creature that it tripped becomes disoriented and immediately plummets downward a distance equal to it's flying speed. This movement does not trigger attacks of opportunity. If this causes the creature to touch down, treat the downwards movement as a fall.

Size in Combat

Movement

You can move into the space of a smaller creature, triggering an attack of opportunity as usual. If you end your move in the space of a smaller creature, that creature can choose between trying to block you (which turns this into an overrun). If the overrun succeeds or the smaller creature chooses to move aside, it is moved out of your space.If the overrun fails, you end your move in the last space where there is room for you. This forced movement does not trigger attacks of opportunity.

Size Code	Range Multiple
Fine	x1/3
Diminutive	x½
Tiny	x2/3
Small	x1
Medium	x1
Large	x3/2 (+50%)
Huge	x2
Gargantuan	x3
Colossal	x4

Size and Range

The range increment of ranged weapons are affected by a character's size. The given range of each weapon is for a Small or Medium-size character. The following table give range multipliers for characters of different size.

Conditions

Flanked Condition

When an creature is flanked, all enemies striking that target get the flanking bonus, not just the those causing the creature to be flanked. "Flanked" becomes a condition under this rule - you are either flanked by all or none of your assailants. Ranged weapons cannot benefit from flanking.

Prone Condition

The following are changes to the effects of the prone condition.

• Prone characters cannot make attacks of opportunity and do not count for flanking purposes.
• A prone character can stand up as a move action, This triggers an attack of opportunity, unless accompanied by a successful Acrobatics roll against CMD of those opponents who would ordinarily be allowed attacks of opportunity. This works like a Move Through Threatened Squares.
• A prone character can crawl at half land speed, but cannot take a step.
• A prone character can take the withdraw action.
• A prone character is subject to sneak attacks from adjacent attackers.

Damage

Coup de Grace

A coup de grace does not involve a death save, but can be done against objects.

Critical Stacking

Effects that improve critical hits do stack, except spells and weapon abilities that double the threat range of a weapon. So the keen weapon property and Improved Critical feat do stack, and both stack with bless weapon, but the keen weapon property and the spell keen edge do not stack.

Damage to Objects

Objects can suffer critical hits and coup-de-grace, but the critical multiple is always x2. Weapon damage to unattended objects is halved, except if the object is judged to be particularly susceptible to this kind of attack - which generally only applies to a few weapons.

Cutting blades and are good against grass, brush, cloth, rope, and other very soft materials (Hardness 0), notably the cutlass, dagger, scythe, and sickle.

Picks are good against soft materials such as wood or earth (Hardness 1-5): heavy pick, light pick, and pickaxe.

Hammers work against stone and metal (Hardness 5+): earth breaker, light hammer, and warhammer.

Axes are good for working with wood; shaping, building, and felling, but not the brute destruction needed here.

These two rules tend to cancel out, as you usually do coup-de-grace to objects. It does not apply to constructs, even if they have hardness they are not objects. Neither do weapons you are trying to sunder take half damage.

Falling Damage

Acrobatics can reduce damage by more than one increment; each multiple of 15 on the Acrobatics roll removes another increment of falling damage.

The normal falling damage increment is 1d6 for a creature of medium size, but falling damage scales with size. An elephant takes much more damage falling than a squirrel does. This rule scales falling damage by size to reflect this effect.

Falling damage scales by size, each die becomes lesser for smaller creatures and grater for larger creatures. Each die of damage a fall would normally cause (after subtracting for Acrobatics), read on the below table to see what it ends up as, based on size.

Size	Fine	Diminutive	Tiny	Small	Medium	Large	Huge	Gargantuan	Colossal
Falling damage die	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6	2d8	4d6

Hit Points & Healing

Hit point damage does not really represent wounds. A character is only wounded once he has taken 50% of his total hit points in damage (also known as being Bloodied), and even then the damage is not serious. Only at negative hit points does damage represent actual wounds.

Bloodied

A character that has taken 50% or more of his full hit points in damage is considered bloodied. This has no game effect, but is generally clearly visible - the character receives his first actual wound. A Free action spent seeing this indication of who is wounded. A duel fought to "first blood" is fought until one side is bloodied in this way. It is generally considered honorable to retreat or surrender once you have been bloodied. It is also a kind of a rite of passage - a character who has been bloodied in combat at least once is considered a veteran and may receive a honor similar to the purple heart.

Dying

A character taking damage resulting in negative hit points gains the dying condition and may bleed to death unless stabilized.

A character can accumulate negative hit points equal to his Constitution + Hit Dice before dying.

An unconscious character always succeeds at saving throws against damaging area attacks.

The optional rules for Massive Damage are not used.

Rest & Healing

A creature at positive hit points recovers all hit points from daily rest. As long as any of these conditions are fulfilled, daily rest restores all hit point damage:

• Has over 50% hit points remaining (not bloodied)
• Succeeds at a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw
• A successful Heal check (DC 15) for Long Time Care

If the character is unconscious or none of the above options succeed, healing proceeds normally.

Equipment

Armor

The times to don armor should be read in rounds (full-round actions) rather than minutes.

Traps

The base cost of a mechanical trap is CR^2 x 10 gp.

Weapons

Cutlass

The cutlass has the same special rules as the rapier.

• Benefit: You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a cutlass sized for you, even though it isn't a light weapon.
• Drawback: You can't wield a cutlass in two hands in order to apply 1-½ times your Strength bonus to damage.
• Weapon Feature(s): finesse

Lance

The lance is not a reach weapon.

Razor Whip (8 gp, 4 lb)

A razor whip is a whip with metal wires woven into the whip and a hardened end. It is identical to a whip but can do damage even to armored targets.

Scorpion Whip (5 gp, 3 lb)

A scorpion whip is a segmented lash made of metal or chitin, with sharp barbs and a wicked stinger at the end. The scorpion whip uses the listed qualities; disarm, performance, reach, and trip. It is a completely separate weapon from the whip.

Genral Rules

Feats of Endurance

A character may use his Fortitude saving throw in lieu of Contitution bonus for checks to pass stunts like Constitution checks made to continue running; Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march; Constitution checks made to hold your breath; Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst.

This is basically the same tasks the Endurance feat applies to, and the bonus from Endurance applies to such checks.

Metric Measurements

This translates some of the Pathfinder measurements into metric units for easier real-life comparisons.

Distance

Map Scale

The standard map we use has a scale of 23.3 mm = 1 square = 5 ft = 1.5 meters. This gives a scale of approximately 1:65.

Commercially printed maps tend to use the scale of 1 inch = 25 mm = 5 ft. = 1.5 meters. Scale 1:60.

Movement

Translation of the Movement Table of the SRD into metric measurements:

One Round (tactical)	15 feet	20 feet	30 feet	40 feet	60 feet
Walk	5 m	6.5 m	10 m	15 m	20 m
Hustle	10 m	15 m	20 m	25 m	40 m
Run(x3)	15 m	20 m	30 m	40 m	60 m
Run(x4)	20 m	25 m	40 m	55 m	80 m
One Minute (local)	15 feet	20 feet	30 feet	40 feet	60 feet
Walk	50 m	67 m	100 m	133 m	200 m
Hustle	100 m	133 m	200 m	267 m	400 m
Run(x3)	150 m	200 m	300 m	400 m	600 m
Run(x4)	200 m	267 m	400 m	533 m	800 m
One Hour (overland)	15 feet	20 feet	30 feet	40 feet	60 feet
Walk	2.5 km	3 km	5 km	6.4 km	10 km
Hustle	5 km	6.5 km	10 km	13 km	20 km
Run(x3)	7 km	10 km	15 km	20 km	30 km
Run(x4)	10 km	13 km	20 km	25 km	40 km
One Day (overland)	15 feet	20 feet	30 feet	40 feet	60 feet
Walk	20 km	25 km	40 km	50 km	75 km
Hustle	40 km	50 km	75 km	100 km	150 km
Run(x3)	60 km	75 km	115 km	150 km	230 km
Run(x4)	75 km	100 km	150 km	200 km	300 km

Temperature

Not many temperature measurements are given in the SRD, but here are a few translations.

Spells

• Endure Elements makes temperatures from -45 C to +60 C comfortable.

Weather

• Extreme Cold is defined as below -30 C.
• Severe Cold is defined as -30 C to -15 C
• Cold Weather is defined as -15 C to 5 C.
• Moderate Weather is defined as 5 C to 15 C.
• Warm Weather is defined as 15 C to 30 C.
• Hot Weather is defined as 30 C to 45 C.
• Severe Heat is defined as 45 C to 60 C
• Extreme Heat is defined as above 60 C.

See Also

Other rules-related Apath Pages.

• Feats
• Technology and firearms
• Ship Combat - Abstract Ship Combat
• Spells

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