My Pathfinder-Lite- Updated Again and Moving onto Conditions

Here is an updated version of my Pathfinder-Lite. I’ve added starting weapons and HP to all classes. I changed HP for Alchemist, Oracle, and Summoner. Personally I don’t think these classes should start with a d8 HP.

I changed it so Paladins are able to use Tower Shields from level one, as usually they are valiant defenders. It doesn’t mean they start play with one, but they can use them.

I added starting gear to facilitate faster pick up and play.

I’ve added a Feat called Skirmisher and added weapons each race can use as part of culture, etc.

The biggest piece however is conditions. I had a epiphany about how I wanted to handle this.

My issue was attempting to wrap my brain around all of the different conditions in Pathfinder (see below) without having to do a major amount of needless work (like having to rework all of the spells, etc).

I kept going back and forth on this and finally figured out just how I wanted to do it.

Here are the current conditions for Pathfinder and you’ll see that I have subdivided them into different categories.

Conditions-

Physical (Injury)-
Stable
Unconscious
Disabled
Dying
Dead
Deafened
Bleeding
Energy Drain

Physical (Impaired)-
Helpless
Staggered
Stunned
Pinned
Prone
Paralyzed
Petrified
Flat-Footed
Grappled
Entangled

Physical (Illness)-
Sickened
Nauseated
Exhausted
Fatigued
Blinded
Dazed

Mental-
Confused
Cowering
Frightened
Panicked
Shaken
Dazzled
Fascinated

Looking at those categories; Physical (Injury), Physical (Impaired), Physical (Illness), and Mental it basically all boils down to shit that hurts you physically, shit that you can dodge or squirm away from, or shit that affects your mind and makes you wet your pants. All of which fit the Pathfinder Saves mechanic.

Rather than having “conditions/descriptions” which usually have mechanical backing I decided that when a situation comes up that requires a save the GM will determine what is happening in the scene and the severity of it. If it can be avoided through one of the Saves (such as a Reflex Save on a poison trap), then roll. If failure occurs then roll another save for effects (this time Fortitude).

The effects should be determined by what is happening in the scene/what the player is wanting to accomplish.

This is pretty much how it works currently. However there will not be “staggered, stunned, helpless” etc. I basically want to cut out all the names, mechanics, and confusion that comes with them.

I looked at how I handled these kind of these back when I played AD&D. When someone failed a saving throw VS poison it might be the “well you died.. So sorry.. Make a new char.” Or I had the poison do a stat drain of some sort (-2 to dex or con, etc) or I’d say that they became too weak to even lift their sword. This made them an extreme liability to the rest of the group.

I didn’t need to say that they were now “helpless” and go into the various mechanics now in place or normal mechanics that were now affected by this new condition.

I’m not knocking Pathfinder or people who enjoy the level of complexity. I love the system and what Pathfinder has done, but I just am trimming down things that I feel slow my games down too much.