Defenders of Kathrakopolis

WIP 3.PF tweaks for a superhero-themed game

Setting Notes

Adventurers as we typically understand them do not yet exist, nor do superheroes (yet); the PCs will be the first of their kind.

Kathrakopolis is a bustling, world-leading city, where the state of the art is practiced in every art -- but the state of the art in arcane magic is enourmous rune-covered monoliths that bring slow, subtle blessings to the city (and look like skyscrapers).

About 65% of the citizens are human, 15% Strix, 10% giants (mostly ogres, cyclopes, and the homebrew Mirror Giants), and 10% half-humans (Aasimar, Ifrits, Fetchlings, etc.).

General character creation

So we have enough levels to build proper supers, the game will start with 8th-level characters.

Stats are either 20-point buy, or 4d6 drop lowest (with reordering allowed). Remember you get a +1 stat increase to those at 4th and 8th level.

For fluff reasons, players are encouraged to build Strix, Ogre, half-human or human characters (rather than elves, dwarves, etc).

Except for a few egregiously broken things (chained Summoner, etc.), there are no hard race or class restrictions. However, spellcasters are heavily nerfed -- check the house rules below before building one.

Languages

The following languages are commonly spoken in Kathrakopolis:

Common
Giant
Runic (the language of magic, and of the rune-carved pillars; replaces Draconic)
Strix
Gilman (language of many visitors to the city from the Great Ocean)

Smaller groups within the city speak these languages:

Aquan
Auran
Cyclops
Druidic
Ignan
Quixotic (international language of tricksters, fools, heroes, and Spaniards)
Sphinx
Terran
Tengu

Finally, these languages are of interest mainly to traders or researchers:

Abyssal
Aklo
Axiomite
Celestial
Elven
Infernal
Protean

Religion

While the familiar deities of Golarion don't exist here in any recognisable form, most residents of Kathrakopolis honour the gods of the Ring of Twelve:

Name	Title	Alignment	Areas of Concern	Domains	Favoured Weapon	Holy Symbol	Other Symbols	Colours
Telatek	The Inspired	N	Inventors, crazy schemes, giants, the disabled	Artifice, Trickery, Fire	Crossbow	Pulley	Flax, snails	Black and Green
Aei & Oe	The Princess / The Prince	CG	Children, innocence, beauty	Liberation, Nobility, Animal	Fighting Fan	Flute	Lilies, baby animals	Pink
Bracaden	The Cipher	N	Sorcery, secrets, mathematics	Knowledge, Magic	Sword Cane	Right-angled Triangle	Beans, cicadas, compass and straightedge	Red and Green
Pheia	The Endurant	LN	Patience, labourers, commitment	Strength, Animal, Community	Quarterstaff	Sandal	Burr, tortoise, pebble	Brown
Esdore	The Full Moon	LG	Defence, hunting, chance	Protection, Luck, Animal, Darkness	Longbow	Medusa's Head	Cypress, Deer	Silver
Loden	The Dark Moon	N	Execution, endings, time	Void, Death, Erosion, Ruins	Greatsword	Hourglass	Yew, gibbet	Yellow, White
Nesen	The Bedecked	CN	Strix, astronomy, wells	Knowledge, Freedom, Luck, Darkness	Sling	Dandelion	Bat, constellation	Purple
Kalagon	The Lasting	LN	The state, laws, monoliths	Community, Law, Nobility, Rune	Handaxe	Rune-carved pillar	Castor oil, owls	Red
Ienna	The Pearl	CN	Love, audiences, media	Charm, Water, Knowledge, Glory	Rapier	Scallop Shell	Roses, songbirds, mirrors	Copper
Baket	The Kind	LG	Medicine, pacifism, alchemy	Healing, Law, Community	Unarmed Strike	Mortar and pestle	Chooks, wax, mould	White
Helta	The Armed	N	Soldiers, athletes, colonisation	Strength, Glory, War	Javelin	Laurel Wreath	Dogs, discus	Red and Gold

Although not part of the Ring of Twelve, a few other gods are also widely worshipped:

Name	Title	Alignment	Areas of Concern	Domains	Favoured Weapon	Holy Symbol	Other Symbols	Colours
Gat	The Last	N	Endings, accepting fate, martyrdom	Repose, Darkness, Madness	Sap	Hemlock	Black flame, salmon	Black
Asham	The Unseen	N	Prophecy, funerals, turning points	Repose, Knowledge, Death	Butterfly Swords	Blindfold	Mushrooms, spiders	Turquoise
Nam-Tarrag	The Impending	CN	Monsters, disasters, limits	Animal, Weather, Fire, Destruction	Warhammer	Domino	Banksia, lightning bolt	Orange, black
Ulalla	The Chorus	CN	Wild places, wild parties, wine	Charm, Animals, Strength, Liberation	Falchion	Amphora	Wolf, pine	Blue and Maroon
Oecon	The Centre	LN	Harvest, cooking, home	Plant, Community, Earth, Healing	Flail	Cornucopia	Ants, fireplaces	Brown and Yellow

Kathrakopolis also hosts a wide variety of mystery cults, so feel free to make up a deity if you want.

Furthermore, I'm blanket allowing clerics of abstract ideals; they can take whatever domains, favoured weapons, etc. suit the concept. (Although I do reserve the right to reject alignment-incompatible combinations, or things that turn out to be hugely broken.) Deity-specific feats, traits, etc. are more of a problem; talk to me if you want to take one of those.

Traits

PCs get two traits each.

All the normal PF traits are available, except those with setting-specific restrictions (like worshipping a particular deity, or being a member of a particular organisation).

I'm also willing to add campaign traits; if you want an unusual trait effect, or want to take a trait with setting restrictions, let me know and I'll see what I can work out.

These are the campaign traits I've added so far:

Wrestling Prodigy (Religion Trait, Helta): wrestling matches are often dedicated to Helta's name. You have fought often in such bouts, and proven your prowess in the ring from a young age. You gain a +1 Trait bonus to grapple and resist grappling. (This is a copy of the Serpentine Squeeze religion trait from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods.)
Nameless Dreams (Regional Trait, Kathrakopolis): since you gained your powers, you are plagued by dreams of slime, salt, and creatures like nothing you are familiar with. Compared to these, the strange creature of the waking world seem quite understandable. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and (Planes) checks, and one of these is a class skill for you.
Born Politician (Racial Trait, Strix): most Strix focus their minds on logic and physics, but you have always dreamed of great speeches and the respect of crowds. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy and Knowledge (Nobility) checks, and one of these is a class skill for you.

House Rules

I'm using a couple of house rules to produce a superhero aesthetic with the mechanics of PF:

Limited Spell Selection

The existing spell lists are a rich source of ways to represent powers. For instance, a earth-controlling hero might use the Shape Earth spell to represent their powers.

But what will you do with your other spell slots? An optimal build would use a variety of different spells, muddying the original concept and running the risk of overshadowing non-caster-based PCs. Especially at the high levels suitable for superheroes, casters overshadowing martials is a serious concern.

Base Spells Known: 1 per 2 levels

To mitigate this, I'm heavily restricting spell lists: All casters have a base "spells known" allowance of one spell per two levels, which typically means only 1-2 spells of each level they can cast. (But full casters get bonus spells as well; see below)

For spontaneous casters, this just means fewer spells known: an 8th-level bard would know 4 spells, each at most 3rd level.

Divine prepared casters now have a "spells known" list just like sorcerors and bards do. These spells are chosen from the full list they would normally have access to. This means an 8th-level ranger might know Wind Wall, Longstrider, Jump, and Read Magic, but not Bless (which isn't on the Ranger spell list).

Like spontaneous spellcasters, divine casters can adjust their spells known as they level up. Full (9-level) casters swap out spells on even levels, and partial casters on odd levels. (I assume 8th level is high enough that all spellcasters have qualified for this.)

This doesn't make them spontaneous casters; they must still choose and prepare spells in advance.

Divine casters may be able to beseech their god or guiding principle for a spell they can't cast themselves. With the right ritual, sacrifice, and/or quest, it might even work. In other words, they can "trade for" spellcasting services despite this setting lacking consulting spellcasters.

Arcane "book" casters, like wizards, alchemists, and magi, get slightly more flexibility: they can use all spells of a single arcane school (chosen at character creation). But they're still restricted by what's in their spellbook, and that's subject to the "spells known" limit.

For example, an 8th-level alchemist would get 4 "free" extracts in their formula book, rather than the standard 9.

Book casters can still purchase and copy spells as normal, but finding spells to copy or casters to learn from is not guaranteed.

Full Casters and Bonus Spells

Not all heroes have a power for every situation -- but there are a few who are defined by good preparation.

If you're playing a class that gets bonus slots restricted to specific types of spells (e.g. cleric domain spells, or wizard spell slots from their arcane school), you get extra spells known to use with them: one extra spell known per bonus slot, up to a limit of half your level.

For example, a level 4 cleric would know 2 domain spells, plus 2 spells from the normal Cleric list.

The simplest case is druids with domains, who get their listed domain spells as bonus spells known. (Druids who take animal companions instead are assumed to be focussing their efforts their efforts there, and only get the base one spell per two levels).

Clerics have to pick and chose which domain spells to know. An 8th-level cleric would only have access to four of their normal 8 domain spells.

As a special cleric-only option, a cleric can instead take an extra spell from the normal cleric list (so they get a Cleric spell every level). However, doing this may mean you can't use their domain slot (except for metamagic).

Wizards, being uniquely versatile, can pick any spell from their chosen school as a bonus spell.

Universalist wizards are wholly about versatility, so they get two special exceptions:

A universalist wizard can pick two arcane schools instead of one.
Universalists get a new spellbook spell at every level, from either of their chosen schools, despite lacking bonus spell slots.

All these rules modify bonus spell slots, not the property of being a full caster. If a partial caster has bonus slots, they can take one as a spell known each odd level, until they have a spell for every slot.

Special Bonus Spells

Many full casters get specific spells known as a class feature that are inherent to the nature of the class. The ones I'm aware of are:

Sorcerer bloodline spells (and similar things like Oracle mysteries).
Read Magic for wizards,
Spontaneous cure/inflict spells for clerics,
Summon Nature's Ally for druids, and
Detect Thoughts and Telepathic Bond for psychics.

These class features are over and above the spells known defined above, and don't count towards the other limits.

So an 8th-level cleric gets a total of 12 spells known:

4 cleric spells,
4 domain spells, and
Cure (or Inflict) Light, Moderate, Serious, and Critical wounds.

Other weird cases / extra rules

This doesn't let spontaneous casters learn more high-level spells. An 8th-level bard will know four spells, but at most one can be 3rd level, and at most three 2nd level. To known more than that, they'd have to have learned spells before they could cast them.
On the other hand, a new spell known doesn't have to be the highest-level one you can cast. That 8th-level bard could know four first-level spells if they wanted; they'll just have trouble using their 2nd- and 3rd-level slots. (Metamagic feats, and just preparing spells in over-levelled slots, can help here.)
You only need to learn a given spell once per class. A cleric with the Healing domain doesn't need to take Cure Light Wounds as a domain spell known, because they already have it from spontaneous casting. Similarly, a 4th-level druid with the Fire domain can cast Produce Flame as a 1st-level druid spell because they know it from the domain.
None of this affects your spell list, for the purpose of things like UMD checks and using scrolls. Furthermore, book casters can still copy out-of-school spells into their spellbooks for crafting, even though they can never cast them, and divine casters can still count any spells on their full spell list towards crafting pre-requisites.
Items like the Ring and Page of Spell Knowledge can be used to exceed these limits. These can also be bought as powers with Stars (see next section).

Magic Items as Powers

Rather than purchasing magic items to enhance their abilities, characters will improve their innate superpowers as they become familiar with them.

There will be no magic items that give permanent bonuses in loot or for sale. Instead, PCs each receive a number of "stars", which can be spent to purchase innate enhancement bonuses at the same rate as standard items. For instance, a +2 Strength bonus is 4,000 ✪, exactly as if you spent 4,000 gp on a Belt of Giant Strength.

Most encounters will give ✪ rather than GP loot. These can be converted into GP if necessary (wealth is a power!), but not necessarily the other way.

You don't have to spend ✪ on enhancement bonuses, or even necessarily magic items. You could buy a "hammerspace" power based on the Handy Haversack, a ranged attack based on a +1 Flaming Longbow, or the DR and AC of adamantine full plate. With GM permission, you could build a custom power as a custom magic item.

However, a power also comes with most of the disadvantages of the base item. That fiery attack requires two hands, and must be visibly active (say, as a halo of flames) before you can use it.

The adamantine DR slows you down like physical heavy armour, and is clearly visible -- as gleaming metal skin, or maybe a shimmering forcefield -- unless you have a way to hide it (perhaps by spending ✪ on the glamered quality).

Other House Rules

Oozemorph Shifters in ooze form may use powers bought with ✪ (i.e. magic items) as though they had a full set of humanoid magic item slots.

License and Disclaimer

This document is based on Open Game License (OGL)-licensed material, and I release my original work here under the same license.

I have no affiliation with Paizo or Wizards of the Coast, and they do not endorse this work.