Rules (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Character Rules

Skills

All characters gain an additional two skill points per level.

Some skills have gained additional uses.

• Appraise
• Acrobatics
• Craft
• Disable Device
• Linguistics
• Perception
• Profession - Gambling

Skills can get critical success; 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.

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.

Magic Rules

Metamagic

Forget the original metamagic rules except when creating magic items.

Applying metamagic is a free action for all classes, and it is never prepared in advance. You can apply metamagic that brings the effective spell level of a spell up to the highest spell level you can cast, for free. You can apply the same metamagic feat several times to the same spell, with cumulative effects.

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 squared per hour. Multiply by 40 to get the rate 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

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, riding, flying, swimming, or climbing - do not get to make any attacks of opportunity triggered by movement.

Damage

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 take critical hits and can suffer a coup-de-grace. Weapon damage to unattended objects is halved, except if the object is judged to be particularly susceptible to this kind of attack.

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. For each d6 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

Special Attacks

Pounce: Only works with natural attacks. Does not work with weapon attacks of any kind and does not work with Spirited Charge. All pounce attacks must be against the same target.

Equipment

Traps

The base cost of a mechanical trap is CR^2 x 100 gp.

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 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus to damage.
• Weapon Feature(s): finesse

Strength and Missile Weapons

This replaces the normal Mighty Bow rules and works the same way for all missile weapons, including firearms and crossbows.

• A character using a missile weapon adjusted for him can use half his Strength damage bonus with that missile weapon. This damage bonus only applies out to one range increment away.
• Adjusting a weapon this way takes a DC 20 check of the appropriate Craft skill and costs 50% of the cost of the weapon - this is the base price of the weapon, excluding the cost of special materials, masterwork weapons, or magical enhancements.
• A character with a negative Strength bonus does not do less damage with a missile weapon.

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.

Flanking

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 sort of a condition under this rule - you are either flanked by all or none of your assailants. Ranged weapons cannot benefit from flanking.

Size in Combat

Overrun

You can end your move in the space of a creature of a size category smaller than yours when you do an overrun. If, after an overrun, you share the space of a smaller creature that creature is pushed to the free space of its choice closest to you. This movement does not trigger attacks of opportunity.

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.

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

Metric Measurements

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

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

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

• Extrem 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