Kickstarter project featuring my own tactical cartography

Time for some news, folks!

I know I haven't been updating this blog for a while but, things suck, life is hard and... actually, I had a whole lot of work to do, including my first actual collaboration when it comes to tactical cartography, "Map Flats", a Kickstarter project focused on low-cost, high-quality vinyl tactical maps for use with D&D, Pathfinder or tabletop games that use a grid to measure distances.
As this is my first real professional collaboration, I'm excited and worried at the same time. I really do hope this ends up being a nice, successful project.

Check it out if you have time, and drop some dollars on it if you want!

Kickstarter project link

The Weekly Character: Indrila Dostan

Hello everyone, I'm back (at least for a while).
I know I know, it's been some time since the last post, but I've had a rough time with university exams, some health problems, and finally (but this is great) I'm currently involved in a Kickstarter project about tactical maps (I'll share the link as soon as the page is up).

As I said, I'm back. And I'm back with a weekly character. It's gonna be the last one (at least for a bit). This is because I realized I was having troubles creating interesting characters every week, and that restrained me from writing other articles about adventures and the likes. Speaking of adventures, this very character, Indrila Dostan, is one of the main NPCs in a module I'm trying to write down. The adventure's title should be "Grindorf's Twilight", but I'm considering changes since it will take a lot of time to finish and I might change it.

About Indrila: She's a human, daughter of a hunter named Walder Dostan. Walder is Grindorf's mayor but, more importantly, he's Grindorf's hero. During the war against the fey that lived in the woods near Grindorf, Walder Dostan killed the fey prince Driste and broke the enemy's will.
Indrila is proud of her father's deeds, and has followed on his footsteps, becoming a hunter herself. Although she never confronted fey in person, Walder trained her to fight their kind because he fears they will one day return. A wise decision...

INDRILA DOSTAN

CR 3

XP 800

Female human expert 2/ranger 2

N Medium Humanoid (Human)

Init. +3; Senses Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge)

hp 32 (4 Hit Dice; 2d8+2d10+6)

Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +5

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee mwk short sword +4 (1d6/19-20)

Ranged mwk longbow +7 (1d8/x3)

Special Attacks favored enemy (Fey) +2, precise shot

TACTICS

Before Combat Indrila knows she’s a better ranged combatant than a brawler, and always tries to avoid direct fights, usually targeting unaware opponents before they can locate her position.

During Combat Indrila stays far from melee and uses her Precise Shot feat to carefully strike the enemy’s weak spots.

Morale If reduced to 15 hp or less, or if confronted with a close melee fight, Indrila tries to move to a better position. If she can’t, then she flees.

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 13

Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 17

Feats Alertness, Dodge, Precise Shot Skill Focus (Stealth)

Skills Acrobatics +2, Appraise +6, Climb +4, Craft (leather) +6, Handle Animal +7, Heal +6, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (nature) +5, Perception +10, Stealth +11, Survival +9 (follow or identify tracks +10), Swim +4

Languages Common

Special Qualities track +1, wild empathy +3

Other Gear masterwork longbow with 20 arrows, masterwork short sword, studded leather armor, explorer’s outfit

Halfling is resting! Do not disturb!

Hi guys. Just wanted to say the blog will be dead for a while. I'm terribly busy with university exams and haven't been able to build interesting pregens or write articles, so I'll have to wait till end of September/half of October and then maybe things will become easier. Maybe.

Thanks to anyone who happens to read the stuff I write here.

Halfling out! :(

The Weekly Character: Deberos Ferrel

Here we are for the weekly character again. It's gonna be a busy week (I'm moving into another apartment in Bologna, the city where I attend university) and I won't have much time to write on here... or do anything apart from lifting boxes and walking stairs. Sheesh.

Hope you enjoy this week's character: he's a bit of a charmer, you could say.

Halfling in Space!

Hiya all. In the previous article, I wrote about my Star Wars homebrew rules. As always when running a roleplaying session, I make maps to make everything feel more alive... I think that really provides the players with a kind of immersion that is otherwise hard to achieve. So, I thought: Why not sharing some of those maps with you folks?
Although these maps take scale into account, they have no grid or hexagons or whatever. They're here just to provide a visual reference for what's going on (my Star Wars system doesn't have strict rules on distance, instead enhancing the cinematic action and avoiding endless turns with loads of actions).

Oups! Realizing you're working on something that has already been done.

Hello everyone. Today I decided to write about something that has probably happened to everyone at some point in his life: discovering that something you had put a variable amount of effort into, a "creation" of some sort, (comic book, novel, game system, boardgame...) has already been done by someone else.
Is this a pointless rant? Maybe. But I guess a blog can be a good place for a rant. Now, why this blog? Because this kind of dreaded, unforeseen, discouraging trend has applied to three (THREE!) of my ideas in the last few months. Let's see:

1. I had been working on a Pathfinder adventure that pitched the heroes against a horde of hobgoblins, bugbears and mercenaries. It was meant to be structured as a military campaign, featuring battles happening following a timeline. The PCs would have had a chance to slow and eventually stop the menace of the invading horde. The title on the first draft was: The Black Horde. The hobgoblins would have a distinctive look, kind of a samurai-based armor, to match their belligerent but still lawful nature. And then I got to know that:
   - A D&D 3.5 adventure from James Jacobs (which humorously enough works on Pathfinder) and Richard Baker, The Red Hand of Doom, features an horde of invading hobgoblins, with a timeline of events happening in strategic locations in the Elsir Vale.
   - There's a region in Golarion, called Kaoling, that is ruled by eastern-looking hobgoblins. It's part of the Tian Xia continent.
   ... Hell yeah, not only the whole concept for the adventure was now redundant, I even got to throw away a dozen nice ideas on samurai hobgoblins. NICE.
2. I happen to know some Star Wars - crazy geeks, and they happen to be my friends, and we all happen to like roleplaying. Since I honestly couldn't adjust Pathfinder to work with George Lucas' narrative universe, I developed a quick and slim rule system, using d6s only, that allowed for heavy roleplay and "theatre of the mind" situations, without any grids or movement or anything like that. To further implement a narrative element, I had 1s and 6s on d6s represent aces and troubles, which canceled each other and, if any remained, would allow for bad and good things to happen in addition to the you fail/you succeed dichotomy. The whole character generation took about 15 minutes and the system looked smooth. I had of course no intention to sell something like this (it's Star Wars, so it's subject to copyright) but the system on its own looked nice, and that was my brainchild... until Star Wars: Edge of the Empire came out, and I watched a couple of videos on youtube, and damn. Although the dice system is different, the advantage/threat rules strongly resemble my concept. The fact that it's Star Wars related makes me think that, when confronted with that kind of universe and given the already available RPG sources on it, creative minds come to similar solutions. Which, if you're the one hired by Fantasy Flight Games, is great. On the other hand, if you're the one sitting in front of his computer killing his eyes after a full afternoon of study, things are quite grim.
3. Last but not least, being the tinkering little bastard that I am, in my "spare" time (which is to say, while not working on the other two things) I was throwing down some ideas for a skirmish-size miniatures game. I had been playing Okamiden (stunning game) and thought "all right, I'd love to see some minis with a strong japanese feel. Not anime-like, really, I was thinking about Hokusai. I checked the internet to avoid, you know what? Working on an already existing concept. I found nothing. I was overjoyed. Had I found a little, empty niche for an hypothetical product?
   I worked on it, got the rules ready for playtest, built some characters... and then, while on coolminiornot, I stumbled upon Bushido: New Dawn, an existing game that had the EXACT SAME THEME AND BATTLE SIZE AND CONCEPTS. The rules were different in many ways, but the whole atmosphere was there.

So, you could still say this is a rant. It probably is. But it comes from someone that already has lots of stuff to do, and still can't restrain himself from game design. I understand (really!) that at the same time, different people in different parts of the world can come up with the same idea. It's natural. It happened with some of the greatest scientific discoveries, so why should the tabletop market be any different? Still, when you have to throw away a whole lot of work because of this kind of conjunction, it makes you angry. And then you go on your blogger page and write a stupid rant. Hell.

... When this kind of thing happens, you risk immobilism. I'll try to fight that (I always do), but honestly, three in a row? Holy crap.

The Weekly Character: Maele Azoria

(still in a hurry, terribly busy)

... half-elf cleric, level 1 pregen, 20 point buy, thus legal for Pathfinder Society. Art from the incredibly talented Steve Prescott. That dude never ceases to amaze me.

I hope one day I'll get half as good as him.

The Weekly Character: Ediard Lenkar

Hooray! Back to you with another level 1 pregenerated character, 20 points buy and Pathfinder Society legal I guess (half-orc, magus).
Sadly I'm in a hurry (academy paintings need to be done ASAP) so I'll just leave you with my friend Ediard, he's a nice guy. Just don't get him started on the whole weapons versus magic discussion, he'd talk about that for days.

Cheers!

Grayfield Manor: PDF (first version)

It's finally here!...

Clicking the link below, you'll have access to the PDF version of the adventure. It's completely free, so take a look and, if you happen to run it or just have some advice to give me, feel free to write a comment. As I wrote in the title of the post, this is a first version. There's plenty of time to improve!

Grayfield Manor PDF

Enjoy, everyone!

The Weekly Character: Zibog the Hobgoblin

Character came early this week! (actually, I'll probably be busy with university stuff during the coming days and it's wiser to post this now).

The piece above is from D&D 4th Monster Manual: Steve Prescott, folks.

This week the character is an NPC, a hobgoblin cleric of Asmodeus. I chose Asmodeus because he's lawful evil and the society and religion entry for hobgoblins in the advanced race guide for Pathfinder says they usually worship powerful tyrants of hell and other devils. Well, I guess Asmodeus is the most tyrannical, slavery-promoting, intrigue expert of all the devils, and can give his followers a distinctive appearance, with horns, long black and red cloaks, and that heavy, menacing black spiked mace. He also grants his clerics both buffing and offensive powers, in the form of the law and fire domains (that I chose for Zibog here).
About Zibog himself: I love how hobgoblins are like the goblinoid nazis in Pathfinder. I also love nazis from a story-telling point of view: you can do anything to them and never feel guilty. Kinda like zombies. Write a comic where a nazi or a zombie get tossed into a shredder machine and everyone is like "Hooray!"; do the same with anything else and people start getting upset. BUT I digress.
As I was saying, hobgoblins are fantasy nazis, and they're a great monster race for a militaristic, warfare-oriented campaign. I'm currently working on an adventure whose structure is fairly complex: it will probably be suited for 4th level PCs and basically it will be about defending a small province from the growing attacks of hobgoblins and their allies (bugbears, monsters, and even some human mercenaries). The whole thing is still in a very early stage, but I want this to feel like a true conflict, where PCs won't be able to participate in all the battles and will have to choose where to act in order to win the struggle. It will also have significant moments of truce between one fight (or, should I say, "mission", given there won't be just combat encounters) and the other, allowing for the PCs to rest and recuperate their strengths. This gives me a chance to challenge the players with high CR encounters, because they will almost always be at full potential. I'll let you know how things go.

That said, Zibog will probably be one of the baddies in the adventure. He's not the BBEG (mwah mwah I'll never tell you who that is mwah mwah), but he still has some tricks up his sleeve. In combat, he prefers to reach a raised position and hurl divine fire at his opponents; when cornered, his ability to channel negative energy can weaken opponents and even finish them after his soldiers have dealt enough damage.
Mood: Greedy, arrogant but quite intelligent and aware of everyone's qualities and flaws. He's opportunistic by nature and, while not believing hobgoblins are a "master race", he surely thinks they can secure a good portion of the land for themselves.
Goals: Although Zibog's goals will be tied to the adventure, he is basically trying to help his people building a fortress and rule a province from there.
What he likes: Fire. Although not mesmerized by flames the way a goblin is, Zibog takes great pleasure in burning his enemies to ashes, and can sense his lord Asmodeus' glory in the fire.
What he hates: Whatever (or whoever) provides him with material proof of his inferiority when compared to something or someone. Zibog suffers from quite the patological kind of pride.

Here are Zibog's stats, complete with gear and equipment. His Challenge Rating is 3. His abilities array is the standard one for heroic NPCs and his favored class is Cleric (4x bonus hit points).

ZIBOG
CR 3 (800 exp)

Male hobgoblin cleric (Asmodeus) 4
LE medium humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +0; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Perception +3
---DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +2 shield)
hp 34 (4d8+12)
Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +7
---OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron heavy mace +4 (1d8)
Ranged light crossbow +4 (1d8/19-20)
Special Attacks Channel Negative Energy 2d6 (DC 14, 5/day), Fire Bolt (1d6+2, 6/day)
Cleric spells prepared (CL 4th, concentration +7)
  2nd - cure moderate wounds (DC 15), hold person (DC 15), produce flame*
  1st - cause fear (2) (DC 14), magic weapon, protection from chaos*, shield of faith
  0th - detect magic, mending, read magic, stabilize
  * Domain spell
Domains Fire, Law
---STATISTICS
Str 10 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 13
Feats Scribe Scroll, Selective Channeling
Skills Appraise +5, Diplomacy +6, Heal +7, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (Arcana) +5, Knowledge (History) +5, Knowledge (Religion) +5, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +5, Stealth -2 Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Common, Goblin, Infernal
SQ Aura of Evil, Aura of Law, Orisons, Spontaneous Casting, Touch of Law (6/day)
Possessions mwk cold iron heavy mace, light crossbow (10 bolts), masterwork chainmail, heavy steel shield, scroll of cure light wounds (2), cleric's vestments, silver unholy symbol of Asmodeus, waterskin (full, water), red leather gloves (worth 10 gp), red leather boots (worth 20 gp), black and red cloak.

Playtesting your own Adventure: Can you leave the table unscathed?

Hello everyone (if there's someone out there, actually I don't know. On blogger no one can hear you scream, I guess...).
As I previously stated here on Halfling's Den, yesterday evening I ran my own adventure, "Grayfield Manor", for a group of 7 players (6 males, 1 female). Although I've been GMing for a bit, I never had to "playtest" something that would have been published online. I thought some people might be interested in reading about this kind of experience, so I wrote down a list of "goods" and "bads". Everything in this post (and on this whole blog, actually), is strongly IMHO. Furthermore, please understand that the following text contains some spoilers about the adventure itself, so do mind that when reading.
First of all, the party composition:
- Female 1st level catfolk fighter (melee, weapon finesse and two-weapon fighting).
- Male 1st level oread monk (archetype: monk of the four winds).
- Male 1st level grippli wizard (archetype: spellslinger).
- Male 1st level elf warrior (ranged, longbow plus point-blank shot and precise shot).
- Male 1st level human inquisitor (trickery domain).
- Male 1st level dhampir summoner (quadruped eidolon with bite and reach).
- Male 1st level human druid (with animal companion, deinonychus).

Please note the absence of a strong healer (the total healings the party had were two Cure light wounds spells prepared by the druid, and a Potion of cure light wounds obtained from an NPC. However, they were very solid 25 points PCs, so I ran the adventure as written without making any adjustments, basically assuming my players were a good equivalent of a 2nd level balanced party made of 4 to 5 adventurers including a cleric, a fighter, a wizard and a rogue.

The GOODS
(I like to start with those)

1. The gears are in the right place: Or as you could say, the adventure works, mechanically speaking. The PCs faced the three combat encounters and the traps in the order I had anticipated, and although somewhat limited by their lack of a good number of "tanks" and quite slowed by their numbers (they had a total of NINE models, and the kobolds were 8 to 6 based on the encounter), managed to reach the final fight without losing anyone. Which is good, because the last combat in this adventure can easily kill a couple of PCs, if not carefully managed. Both the players and I rolled incredibly bad and we saw only one 20, while I counted about twelve natural 1s, so the rolls were balanced (although in the boring way; more on that later).
This means I don't have to rewrite any encounter; which is a great achievement.
2. They liked the setting: This is a bit narcissistic of mine, but the players liked the hamlet of Copperwood and its inhabitants. They engaged in a lot of conversation with the patrons at the tavern and even joined the Middenlog brothers playing cards. The names felt right.
3. No one died: Three of the players (the catfolk fighter, the human druid and the elf ranger) were completely new to D&D and roleplaying games. The rest had no experience with Pathfinder, although they played D&D 3.5 so it was easy to get going. Not knowing what to do and how to do it, the newbies were sometimes in danger of getting pierced to death by kobold spears. The more experienced ones helped them creating a plan of action and there were no casualties (the kobolds, on the contrary, died of horrible deaths). I always love when a newcomer to D&D emerges alive from their first game.
4. Funny PCs: When you ask your players to build throwaway PCs, you know you're in for some twisted characters. Although some PCs were OK, like the elf fighter and human inquisitor, the grippli ("Calamity Kermit"), dhampir ("Edward Fallen") and druid's deinonychus ("Denver") were bat-shit crazy.
5. Funny battle plans: When your monk grabs a kobold, holds it in mid-air and then drops it face first in the trap the kobold itself burrowed into the ground, you can't but laugh. When you realize that one hour ago your druid purchased whisky from Copperwood's emporium just to create a molotov cocktail and throw it at the final boss' minions, you realize it's genius. Then a player finds the precious Elixir of red dragon breath that, along with some negotiation, would persuade the kobold sorceress Gonthlarym to simply leave the manor and hand the PCs the medical recipe they were looking for, looks at it for about 1 second, and although knowing the sorceress was clearly prone to negotiation (damn, I had her learn Common for a reason, folks!), drinks it at once and unleashes 7d6 fire damage on the kobold spearmen and the druid, incinerating the kobolds and almost killing the poor druid. CRAZY. The adventure assumed that Gonthlarym, if the elixir was lost or the PCs refused giving it to her and attacked, simply swallowed the recipe the players were looking for. However, the inquisitor cast Command blocking her for 1 round, and then the PCs simply assumed (rightly) that she had the recipe on her and easily got it. I was amused, but there were some problems too. More on this later.

The BADS
(ouch)

1. Bad rolls: As I mentioned before, both the players and the GM rolled poorly during the whole adventure. Heck, as a general rule the rolls were 10 or less. I can't count the times my kobolds rolled 1 on the damage die, thus dealing no damage because of their poor Strength. Don't get me wrong, this is assumed to happen, just not this frequently. High Armor Classes, low rolls: combat lasted too long and people started to get bored. Only the spellslinger, with his ability to negate armor bonuses (see firearms rules), could avoid missing consistently. I hate when this happens, and under normal circumstances would have faked some hits or misses, but I was playtesting the encounter as written and rolled my dice where the players could see them.
2. Funny battle plans: Turns out they were too funny. Now, when I gathered these players for the session I knew what their play style was. Not a lot of dramatic and intense roleplay, doing things "for the lulz" and the likes. Hacking and slashing at things, people, animals, or air if necessary. The newbies (especially the druid) were more of the same. You know how it's going to roll when the first question you're asked after having described a building is "how does it work, destroying walls?..."
Now, these people are not dumb, they're not jerks, and most of all they're not aggressive. They're simply playing to have fun and kill some monsters, no big philosophical questions when faced with a harmless kobold female whose fellow reptilians the PCs had exterminated without even thinking about what they were doing. That's why they got the recipe, killed the kobold (burning down the manor in the process) and exposed Copperwood to retaliation from the rest of the kobold tribe. Kinda like "You're not going to die because of the sickness, guys! However, once you've stopped coughing, take those goddamn spears 'cause there's a whole army of scaly bastards coming for your hides."
3. Well that escalated quickly: I'm not whining, nor am I usually disappointed when players do things in a way I hadn't thought of. But the last hour of the session was simply outrageously crazy. It wasn't just about breaking the constraints of the written module; it was about pinning logic against a wall and breath fire against it. And this taught me a lesson.

The LESSON
(learning from your experiences is fundamental, children)

1. Thou shall have faith in your encounter building/combat math abilities.
2. Thou shall not, however, give your monsters high ACs. More hit points are better. Players feel better when hitting and not killing than when wasting twelve arrows against a 5 hp kobold.
3. Thou shall anticipate the most frequent choices players will make during an adventure.
4. Thou shall not, however, think you're safe from their awesome, crazy ideas. That's impossible.
5. Thou shall write an adventure with a certain type of player in mind (roleplayer, monster basher, chaotic evil jerk).
6. Thou shall not expect your adventure to be fitting for every kind of player.

What this all means, basically, is that I realized it's impossible to know where things will lead once the GM screen is on the table and the character sheets are out. Some say that no adventure can work for any group without a GM to tailor it to suit the needs of his players. That's very, very true. We had a good time; but I'm aware of the fact that, had I not been running the module "letter-by-letter", instead changing things on the fly to better appeal to all players, things would have been great.
Does this mean I won't write any more adventures because "they can't work without a GM"? Hells no. That's the beautiful part of roleplaying: it means something different for everyone, and all you can do when writing is to give someone enough informations to run your story, which suddenly becomes HIS OWN. A hybrid, something along the lines of a cadavre exquis.

Have a great time playing, folks!

The Weekly Character: Gralgor Copperhall

Whoa-hey! Great news everyone, tomorrow evening I'll be running Grayfield Manor, my one-shot adventure for Halfling's Den, for the first time. I've gathered a bunch of old and new players (a good assortment, given this adventure is for 1st to 3rd level PCs) and I sure hope we'll have a good time. Interestingly enough, one of the newbies is a girl (the first girl to be playing in this group, while the other one I GM for has three) and it will be nice to see how she will, not being too used to boardgames, react to a RPG session. Once we're done with the adventure, I'll post some of my thoughts and stuff like that... I guess.

But I digress. Here we have this week's character. I always loved the idea of a dwarven paladin, however, that damn -2 to Charisma can prevent them to be 100% efficient once at the table. And then I read about the Stonelord, an incredibly peculiar archetype for dwarven paladins. It simply forgets about Charisma and transforms your 5 feet tall, bearded and brawny defender of all that is good into an elementally-fueled basher (see "stonestrike", below, for a thorough description of bashing).

A couple more things: this PC is 20-point buy; this, along with being core-race and core-class, makes it legal for Pathfinder Society play, which is a plus. The art, as noted on the picture itself, is from Eric Belisle, and was originally meant to represent an Antipaladin. However, the kilt-wearing guy never looked that evil to me... As always, if you're the owner of this art and don't like its badassery to be displayed here, just leave a note in the comments down here. I'll remove it.

To use this pregen sheet, just print it and (if you want to use it multiple times) ask someone to laminate the paper. This way you can use a marker to mark HPs and the likes, then erase it with water.

A personal take on a new class: the Warleader

Hello everyone. Today I want to share with you a homebrew class I created to provide one of my players with a play experience similar to that of D&D 4th edition's Warlord. By now, no Pathfinder class grants additional actions to allies as a standard feature: there are spells that do this, but we were looking for a martial leader that simply conveyed his authority on the battlefield (which is to say, his Charisma) to enhance his comrades' effectiveness during a fight. We also wanted this class to provide the means of a diplomatic leader (think King Arthur) while allowing for more "savage" takes (it's perfectly conceivable to tinker with the options and play a savage tribe chief).

Or even an ogre lord from Tian Xia!

Although 4th edition's Warlord could grant his allies additional attacks as an at-will, we chose the Warleader's similar feature, Warleader's command, to be limited by his level and his Charisma modifier.

This class needs good Charisma and Intelligence to shine, and good Strength, Intelligence and Wisdom are great too. Dexterity isn't a dump stat at all, too. Thus, a warleader highly benefits from average ability scores more than others. He can do with a 16 Cha instead of an 18, but you have limited command uses per day, so chances are you'll have to learn how to hit with a sword (or a bow, although to gain the benefits of expose weakness you must be adjacent to the enemy).
Please remember this class hasn't seen much play yet, so I might make changes, add or subtract things, or even come to the conclusion "this class sucks, eww". If you happen to like this class option or have any suggestion based on similar play experiences, please let me know in the comments.

Warleader

Although most warriors are fighting machines by themselves, some of them excel at coordinating their comrades. Often trained by master tacticians and war veterans, warleaders are able to bolster their troops with a few effective words. The ability to shape a battle with their charisma and willpower is not the only weapon warleaders have: in combat they can be as formidable an opponent as the men they command.

Whether a knight at the head of a group of soldiers or the cruel bandit leading a group of raiders, a warleader’s attention is always directed to finding the best possible combination of skills and abilities for the team to shine.

Role: Warleaders are skilled combatants with a focus on supporting their comrades in battle. It’s not uncommon for a warleader to avoid attacking, instead exposing the enemy’s weaknesses to the group and granting allies additional chances to strike. In social situations, warleaders are good orators and excel at the art of diplomacy, but can prove themselves quite intimidating if necessary.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 5d6 × 10 gp (average 175 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class skills

The warleader’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are class features of the warleader.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A warleader is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all armor (heavy, light and medium) and with shields (except tower shields).

Veteran’s Awareness (Ex): Well versed in the arts of battle, warleaders are incredibly aware of their surroundings in any given moment. A warleader cannot be caught flat-footed. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus if the attacker is invisible, if she’s immobilized, or if an opponent succesfully uses the feint action against her, and can still be flanked as normal.

Warleader’s Command (Ex): One of the warleader’s main strengths is her ability to give her allies additional chances to attack, maximizing the group’s efficiency. By shouting orders in the midst of battle, a warleader can grant her comrades extra actions during her turn. Once per turn, as a standard action that doesn’t cause attacks of opportunity, the warleader can choose a single ally within 30 feet. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the warleader (and understand her language). The affected ally can immediately make a single attack action (be it a melee or ranged attack) against a target of the warleader’s choice. The warleader and the ally must both be able to see the target. This additional attack follows the rules of a normal melee or ranged attack, and is made at the ally’s highest attack bonus. A warleader can use her command a number of times per day equal to double her level + her Charisma modifier (thus, a 4th level 16 Cha warleader will have 11 daily uses of his command). A warleader’s command is a mind-affecting ability. A single creature cannot be affected by more than one warleader’s command each round (even if the new command comes from a different warleader).

Command Tactics (Ex): As a warleader gains levels, she learns to guide her allies’ skills in new ways, granting them additional bonus when using her command. Starting at 2nd level, a warleader gains a command tactic. She gains an additional command tactic for every two levels of warleader attained after 2nd level. Whenever she uses her warleader’s command class feature, she chooses one of the tactics she has learned and applies its effect to that single use of the command, in addition to the normal attack given by the command itself. Unless otherwise noted, a warleader cannot select the same tactic more than once.

·       Accurate Strike (Ex): For the purposes of the additional attack granted by this warleader’s command, the influenced ally gains an insight bonus on the attack roll equal to the warleader’s Intelligence modifier.

·       Admonishing Words (Ex): You can apply this tactic to a warleader’s command only if the influenced ally is wielding a melee weapon. The influenced ally’s additional attack deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage, but that ally doesn’t suffer the usual penalties for trying to deal nonlethal damage with lethal weapons.

·       Brutal Impact (Ex): You can apply this tactic to a warleader’s command only if the influenced ally is wielding a melee weapon. If the influenced ally hits the target, that ally may immediately perform a sunder attempt against an item held or worn by that target. This is a normal sunder attempt and provokes attacks of opportunity. A warleader must be at least 6th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Call to Arms (Ex): Before making the additional attack granted by the warleader’s command, the influenced ally can stand up from prone position. Doing so still provokes attacks of opportunity.

·       Create Opening (Ex): If the influenced ally hits the target, any other ally adjacent to the influenced ally can make an attack of opportunity against that target. These attacks count against the maximum number of attacks of opportunity a character can make during a single round. A warleader must be at least 14th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Crippling Shot (Ex): You can apply this tactic to a warleader’s command only if the influenced ally is wielding a ranged weapon. If the influenced ally hits the target, that target’s speed is reduced to 5 feet until the warleader’s next turn. A warleader must be at least 10th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Distracting Assault (Ex): If the influenced ally hits the target, that target suffers a -4 penalty on all concentration checks. This penalty lasts until the warleader’s next turn.

·       Emboldening Strike (Ex): The influenced ally gains temporary hit points equal to the warleader’s Charisma modifier. These bonus hit points last until the warleader’s next turn or until lost. A warleader must be at least 6th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Flaming Anger (Ex): For the purposes of the additional attack granted by this warleader’s command, the influenced ally gains a morale bonus on the damage roll equal to the warleader’s Charisma modifier. A warleader must be at least 8th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Flashing Steel (Ex): You can apply this tactic to a warleader’s command only if the influenced ally is wielding a melee weapon that is at least partially made of metal. If the influenced ally hits the target, that target becomes blinded until the warleader’s next turn. A warleader must be at least 10th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Frightening Determination (Ex): In addition to granting the normal extra attack to an ally, the warleader can make an Intimidate check against an adjacent foe. If the warleader successfully demoralizes her target, that creature is shaken for a number of rounds equal to the warleader’s Charisma modifier.

·       Hit and Run (Ex): Immediately after resolving the attack granted by the warleader’s command, the influenced ally may take a move action. A warleader must be at least 8th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Impenetrable Defense (Ex): The influenced ally gains a +2 morale bonus to Armor Class. This bonus lasts until the warleader’s next turn.

·       Invigorating Cry (Ex): The influenced ally may immediately make a saving throw against any condition from an effect that allowed a saving throw (and that the ally failed to save from). The DC is the same of the original saving throw.

·       Safe Step (Ex): Immediately after resolving the attack granted by the warleader’s command, the influenced ally may take a 5-foot step in any direction. As usual, this movement doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.

·       Shield Bash (Ex): You can apply this tactic to a warleader’s command only if the influenced ally is wielding a shield. In addition to the usual additional attack, the influenced ally performs a combat maneuver against the target of the attack. If this attack is successful, the target is pushed back 5 feet. A warleader must be at least 6th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Triumphant Attack (Ex): If the influenced ally hits the target, that ally gains a +1 morale bonus to all subsequent attack and damage rolls. This bonus lasts until the warleader’s next turn. A warleader must be at least 4th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Unexpected Swing (Ex): For the purposes of the additional attack granted by this warleader’s command, the attack’s target is considered to be caught flat-footed. A warleader must be at least 8th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Vicious Blow (Ex): For the purposes of the additional attack granted by this warleader’s command, the critical range of the influenced ally’s weapons is doubled.

·       Warleader’s Challenge (Ex): If the influenced ally hits the target, that target suffers a -2 penalty on attack rolls made against anyone but the warleader herself. This penalty lasts until the warleader’s next turn. A warleader must be at least 4th level before selecting this command tactic.

·       Warning Shout (Ex): The influenced ally gains an insight bonus equal to the warleader’s Intelligence modifier to all Reflex saving throws. This bonus lasts until the warleader’s next turn.

Expose Weakness (Ex): At 3rd level, the warleader has developed a strong bond with her allies. She is now able to create openings in the enemy’s defense, allowing for devastating attacks. Whenever she is flanking with an ally, that ally gains an insight bonus equal to the warleader’s Intelligence modifier to hit rolls against the flanked creature. This is in addition to the normal +2 bonus for flanking.

Bonus Feat: At 5th, 11th and 17th level, the warleader gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as teamwork feats. The warleader must meet the prerequisites of these bonus feats.

Field Medic (Ex): Starting at 7th level, a warleader is skilled at aiding wounded allies in the midst of battle. She can use the Heal skill to stabilize another creature as a swift action, and never causes attacks of opportunity while doing so.

Improved Expose Weakness (Ex): At 9th level, when a warleader is flanking with an ally, the insight bonus applies to both attack and damage rolls against the flanked creature.

Fast Command (Ex): At 13th level, the sinergy between the warleader and her comrades is incredible. She can use her warleader’s command class feature as a swift action instead of a standard action.

Greater Expose Weakness (Ex): At 15th level, when a warleader is flanking with an ally, the insight bonus applies to attack and damage rolls against the flanked creature, and to the ally’s Armor Class against attacks made by the flanked creature.

Rally the Troops (Ex): At 19th level, a warleader can lead her allies’ offensive with a single shout. Whenever she uses her warleader’s command class feature, she can now influence a number of allies less than or equal to her Charisma modifier. To be affected, each of the allies must be within 30 feet of the warleader and able to hear her. All influenced allies attack the same target or different ones, warleader’s choice, but each ally must be able to see the target of her attack, and the warleader must be able to see all the targets she chooses. If the warleader chooses a tactic for her command, she chooses a single tactic and the effects of that tactic apply to each of the influenced allies.

Bolster the Legion (Ex): At 20th level, the warleader has become a master of tactics and an incredible warrior. Once per day, when she uses her warlord’s command class feature, she can choose to grant all allies within 30 feet temporary hit points equal to her class level, and a morale bonus equal to her Charisma modifier to attack and damage rolls. These bonuses last for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the warleader’s Intelligence modifier, and are in addition to any bonus granted by the warlord’s command itself.

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Veteran’s awareness, warleader’s command
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Command tactic
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Expose weakness
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Command tactic
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Bonus feat
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Command tactic
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Field medic
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Command tactic
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Improved expose weakness
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Command tactic
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Bonus feat
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Command tactic
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Fast command
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Command tactic
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Greater expose weakness
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Command tactic
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Bonus feat
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Command tactic
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Rally the troops
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Bolster the legion, command tactic