#players guide

• part of the Player’s Packet (ver 1.3)
• for use with the First Edition Pathfinder Role-Playing Game
• byClinton J. Boomer
• withspecial thanks toAndy Collins,Scott Schomburg,Chloe Michelle,Dennis Detwiller, and George Loki Williams

SPECIAL RULES:

SpellJammer: Shadow of the Spider-Moon uses the Guns Everywhere rules: firearms are simple weapons; in addition, the gunslinger loses the gunsmith class feature and instead gains the gun training class feature at 1st level.

Ability score-sets are generated by d100.

Each party is intended to generate a complex web of Loyalty Scores during the first session of play.

Every PC begins play at 1^st level with +10 to their maximum hit-points.

Rules to eliminate Feat Taxes are in play.

Dynamic Initiative: At the very beginning of the first round of combat, after all the prep and/or surprise-rounds are done, all players and all monsters roll initiative (as normal). At the beginning of the 2nd round of combat, and at the top of each subsequent round, all combatants re-roll.

Peg-Legs & Eye-Patches:

Once per day, whenever a character would normally drop to zero hit points or below, he may choose to instead be reduced to a single hit point and gain a permanent debilitating scar or handicap.

These effects are randomly determined by rolling 1d20 on the table below.

Effects are permanent and cumulative, though the GM should reroll results that don’t make sense (such as a human character losing a hand three times). A gnome-engineered repacement eye or limb may be purchased – and installed – at any large port, usually for about 350 gold.

Battle Scar or Amputation

• 1–5 Minor scar: interesting but otherwise cosmetic
• 6–8 Moderate  scar: cut on face  (+1 bonus on Charisma-based skill checks for first scar only, consider subsequent cuts major scars)
• 9–10 Major scar: severe cut on face (-1 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks** except Intimidation)
• 11–14 Loss of finger (for every 3 fingers lost, apply an effective -1 Dex on all rolls involving manual dexterity)
• 15–16 Impressive wound (-1 Con)
• 17 Loss of an eye (-4 penalty on all sight-based Perception checks)
• 18 Loss of leg (speed reduced to half, cannot charge)
• 19 Loss of hand (cannot use two-handed obects or equipment*)
• 20 Loss of arm  (-1 Str, cannot use two-handed objects or equipment*)

* Losing a single hand or arm does not affect a spellcaster’s ability to cast spells with somatic components.
** At the GM’s discretion, characters with major scars may also be granted a +1 bonus on all Diplomacy checks against other adventurers, as the scars of battle are much admired by those who make their living out in the cold void between worlds.

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ACTION POINTS: Every player receives one Action Point at the beginning of each game session. Action Points may always be banked: there is no upper limit to the number of Action Points that a character may have saved-up at any given time. Spending an Action Point never requires an action, as choosing to spend an Action Point is an out-of-character decision.

By spending an Action Point, you may activate one of the following abilities:

Act Out of Turn: You take your turn immediately; when you activate this ability, you may choose to interrupt an opponent’s action.

Add a Bonus: If used before a roll is made, an Action Point grants you a +8 bonus on any d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You may always choose to use an Action Point to grant this bonus to another character.

Extra Action: You gain one additional action – either a move action or a standard action – this turn.

Font of Majestic Power: You regain use of one expended spell, spell-slot, spell-like ability, supernatural ability, or other ability that may be activated one or more times per day.

Force a Reroll: You immediately reroll any one d20 roll you just made, or force your Storyteller to reroll any one d20 roll she just made. If your roll is 10 or lower, you add +10 to the roll; if your Storyteller’s roll is 11 or higher, she applies a -10 penalty to this roll. You must take the results of your second roll, even if it is worse.

SPECIAL:You may petition your Storyteller to allow an Action Point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would not normally be covered by the rules. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the Storyteller. Possibilities include making an attack that temporarily blinds a foe, knocks an opponent prone, or bypasses its resistances or immunities entirely.

You may not spend more than one Action Point per turn.

—–

SPELLJAMMING HELMS

Ahelm (minor or major) may be installed, via a helm mount, in any functional vessel designed for spaceflight; a properly-intalled helm automatically provides gravity, moderate heat, moderate cooling, electricity, water pressure, breathable air, proper air pressure, and motive force – for the activation and maintenance of clockworks – to the vessel in which it is installed.

The communication systems, library, orrery, and any additonal features of a vessel – such as water heaters, water filtration systems, refrigeration units, ovens or heaters, and other luxuries – are frequently dependent on the power supplied by the spelljammer helm but must be independently installed.

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Amajor helm can provide these benefits, and grant flight (see below) to a vessel of up to Colossal size, while a minor helm can provide these benefits and grant flight to a vessel of up to Huge size.

• spelljammer helm, minor 20,000 gp
• spelljammer helm, major 50,000 gp
• lifejammer helm, minor 15,000 gp
• lifejammer helm, major 40,000 gp
• mindjammer helm minor 17,500 gp
• mindjammer helm, major 45,000 gp

Ahelm, once installed, may be ingnited: used to provide flight, either within a gravity well (tactical speed) or through the void of space, making frequent “skips” into and out of the Astral (cruising speed) to the vessel in which it is installed.

The tactical speed and maneuverability of a vessel is based upon its specific size, design, customization, and the quality of its engineering.

Cruising Speeds:

• Travel Point-to-Point on a Planetary Body (1d4 hours): Skipping over the surface of a gravity well, intersecting briefly with the Astral, the vessel moves with absurd speed to another area of the same planetary body (between cities or across continents, for example). The vessel must be in orbit to execute this action. This action can also be used to traveling between two vessels in different orbits around the same planet.
• Achieve Orbit, Exit Gravity-Well, or Descend From Orbit (1d2 hours): This represents a controlled ascent or landing; uncontrolled events may take a much shorter amount of time.
• Reach Satellite or Host Planet (1d8 hours for a Major Helm, 1d8+1 hours for a Minor Helm): From planetary orbit, it takes slightly longer for a vessel to reach one of that planet’s satellite bodies (or vice versa) than it takes to land or to exit a gravity-well.

Note that in the real world, it takes about three days to get from Earth to the moon. NASA’s New Horizons probe (which didn’t slow down, nor attempt to enter lunar orbit) holds the current record for fastest trip to the moon: 8 hours, 35 minutes.

• Travel to Ajacent Planet (1d6+2 days for a Major Helm, 2d6+1 days for a Minor Helm): Adjacent planets – such as Quelya and Verdura, or Perianth and the Celestial Pearl – have wildly different orbits.
• Further Jumps: +1d6 days and +2 to Profession: SpellJammer Pilot DCs per planet skipped for a Major Helm; +2d6 days and +3 to Profession: SpellJammer Pilot DCs per planet skipped for a Minor Helm.

Aspelljammer helm must be ignited by an attuned spellcaster (arcane or divine) or by an attuned creature with spell-like abilities seated upon it; attunement and subsequent ignition require a total of 1d4 rounds. Performing the task of ignition requires the expenditure of a single spell, spell-slot, or spell-like ability of 1st level or higher; while attuned with a spelljammer helm, the pilot may not use any spells or spell-like abilities. Once the pilot exits the helm, ignition instantly fails; the pilot, upon leaving the helm, retains attunement – providing no benefits, but locking-away all use of spells and spell-like abilities – for 1d4 rounds.

Alifejammer helm may be ignited by (and can attune to) any creature; igniting a lifejammer helm deals one point of Constitution damage to one creature, chosen by the pilot, currently touching the lifejammer helm. It then deals one additonal point of Constitution damage in the same way after each hour of continuous operation. Most lifejammer helms are designed with a secondary “throne” or set of chains and manacles attached.

Amindjammer helm functions identically to a spelljammer helm, except that it may only be piloted by a psychic creature or a creature with psi-like abilities.

While a pilot is attuned to an ignited helm, they may see through any part of the vessel; in general, all crewmembers on a vessel may communicate via internal shipboard communication systems.

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Profession (SpellJammer Pilot)

Plotting a course through the Astral to a planetary body (planet, moon, asteroid, or other) you have visited frequently usually requires access to your ship’s library & orrery, a successful DC 10 Piloting check, and 10 minutes.

Plotting a course to a less familiar planetary body is more difficult and requires information about the destination; navigation is also more difficult if you are currently lost. See the listed DCs, below.

If you fail the check to chart a course between planetary bodies by 4 or less, you realize that you have plotted a faulty course and must attempt the check again before you can make the journey. If you fail the check by 5 or more, you aren’t aware that your calculations are erroneous, and it takes longer than normal for you to reach your destination (usually 1d6 additional days).

At the GM’s discretion, you might instead arrive in an unfamiliar planetary body (plotting a course from there to your actual destination usually requires a successful DC 25 Piloting check), or – when you arrive at your intended destination – discover that one of your vessel’s key systems is damaged:

To determine which system is affected, roll d% and consult the table below. If a system already has the wrecked condition, apply this damage to the next system down on the chart. If you reach the bottom of the chart, one member of the crew is reduced to -1 hit points and begins bleeding out, or – with a DC 20 Relfex save – is reduced to half hit points, rounded down.

If the system isn’t currently damaged, it gains the glitching condition. If it is damaged again, its condition changes by one step of severity (glitching becomes malfunctioning; malfunctioning becomes wrecked).

d% System Effect

• 1–10Food, water, supplies, cargo
• 11–30Library, Orrery, Communications
• 31–60Weapons
• 61–80Steering & Guidance
• 81–100 Helm Mount (Power Supply)

Glitching:Actions involving the system take a -2 penalty.

Malfunctioning: Actions involving the system take a -4 penalty. In addition, crew members cannot take “push” actions using that system. If the Helm Mount is malfunctioning, all actions aboard the vessel – those involving food, water, supplies, cargo, the Library, the Orrery, communications, weapons, steering, and/or guidance – suffer a -2 penalty; this penalty stacks with penalties from damage conditions affecting other systems.

Wrecked:Actions involving the system automatically fail. If the Helm Mount is wrecked, roll twice for all crew actions aboard the vessel (as above) and take the worse result.

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Your familiarity with a region of space determines the DC of Profession: (SpellJammer Pilot) checks to plot a course.

• DC 10: Pierce the Astral to a familiar or frequently-visited spaceport
• DC 15: Pierce the Astral to an unfamiliar or infrequently-visited spaceport
• DC 25: Pierce the Astral to an uncharted or unknown location

The GM can modify these DCs (usually by 5 to 10) based on the amount of information available about your starting location and destination, and whether the location is particularly difficult to navigate (such as near a gravitational whirlpool in the Chain of Tears).

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CLASSES

Alchemist: One of the most common classes in Pyrespace, alchemists are valued as medics, engineers, and even heavy artillery: every known race and culture produced alchemists of one variety or another, including those who use Wisdom in place of Charisma for all class abilities and class features.

Barbarian (and Fighter, Gunslinger, Ranger, Rogue, Swashbuckler): Wrath-fueled berzerkers, icy-eyed shootists, and quick-witted hired-blades are known – and feared, and well-paid – on every world and in every port.

Bard: A charming performer capable of igniting & piloting a SpellJammer Helm is a welcome addition to the crew of any vessel.

Cavalier (andSamurai): Best known among the elves, a heavily-armored warrior atop an elk is a truly terrifying sight.

Cleric (andOracle): True miracles – the actual work of a genuine god – are all-but-unknown across Pyrespace, and the average member of the priesthood possesses no real faith. The great power of the Church of Yondallalies in their unquestioned political power, which includes special protection under the law: any clergyman may ask for their trial to be conducted by Church court, in the city of Lagas or of Beshaba. Average people are left terrified at even a hint of actual deific power, and those rare few souls with the ability to channel holy – or unholy – power are not immediately associated with any religious organization.

Druid: Rare in the extreme, souls devoted to the survival of a single biome or planetary body are an uncommon sight among the stars.

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Inquisitor (andPaladin, Antipaladin): When the strength of diplomacy fails, the Church of Yondalla is quick to employ other, more direct, methods. Although rare in the extreme, the Church produces standard Lawful Good paladins as well as Lawful Evil Tyrants in service to Asmodeus (or to one of his Princes); “paladins” of this type have the following adjustments:

You gain an Aura of Law equal in strength to your Aura of Evil. You also gain brandanddetect chaos at-will as spell-like abilities, exactly as per the Detect Good class ability; the saving throw against your brand is equal to 10 + ½ your class level + your Charisma bonus.

If you would lose the Detect Good class ability for any reason – such as because of the Holy Gun archetype – you retain both brandanddetect chaos. Your smite good class ability is replaced with smite chaos, as follows: You gain all normal bonuses against targets with chaotic alignments instead of good, and you deal additional damage against outsiders with the chaotic subtype and chaotic-aligned aberrations (instead of against good-aligned dragons, good-aligned outsiders and good-aligned creatures with levels of clericorpaladin).

Any time you would gain a cruelty, you may instead gain any mercy that would normally be available to a paladin of your level. You may use your touch of corruption ability to heal – rather than to harm – any living worshiper of Yondalla; you may instead spend two daily uses of that ability to heal any creature with a lawful alignment. In either instance, any mercies you possess are applied to your target as normal. Any creature healed by your ability in this way incurs a debt equal to 10 gold pieces multiplied by your antipaladin caster level (minimum 1) multiplied by your character level; this debt is owed directly to the Church of Yondalla, rather than to you, and you can gain no monetary benefit from this act. However, the indebted creature may make formal and binding arrangements to fulfill the payment and all interest owed in goods, estate, or services to you or to another beneficiary named by you at the time when healing is rendered.

In addition, greater brand is added to your list of antipaladin spells as a 3rd level spell. At 5th level, you may freely expend two daily uses of your touch of corruption to use greater brand as a spell-like ability, subject to the rules above; at 10th level, this cost is reduced to one daily use of your touch of corruption ability.

A paladin of Yondalla – Lawful Good or Lawful Evil – may always may work with another worshiper of Yondalla, regardless of their alignment.

Antipaladins devoted to other extradimensional, godlike entities of supernatural evil and inhuman potency – including Dagon, Lolth, and even The Hive – follow the normal rules.

Kineticist (andPsychic): The agony experienced by a living creature exposed to the raw might of psychic energy cannot be overstated; the obscene alien vibrations are devastating to the mind, body, and soul.

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Magus (and Witch, Wizard): Knowledge is, perhaps, the single most highly-prized resource in the Pyrespace system … but raw genius comes in a close second. Those with the education and expertise to warp reality around them – to say nothing of the ability to ignite and pilot a SpellJamming Helm – are able to name their own price … so long as they’re willing to risk the threat of a horrific death in the empty darkness between stars.

Monk (andNinja): The ten-thousand monastaries of Xhiaae-La have produced impeccable martial combatants, legendary both for their spiritual focus and their unarmed, unarmored fighting techniques, for centuries; since 1493 A.D., warriors (Hin and human alike) trained in these esoteric arts have served the Church of Yondalla – and the ever-shifting merchant-prince families of the Green Fields – as bodyguards, assassins, advisors, and messengers nearly as often as they have simply walked the world in search of understanding. Curiously, many of the mysterious fighting-traditions practiced among the elves of Perianth are guided by forms and meditations nearly identical to ancient methods of combat known only to the most remote mountain-top shrines on Quelya.

Sorcerer (andSummoner): If one cannot afford to hire a wizard schooled at the Brandobarin Archives Timmestre-Falco, or an elven witch with ten thousand years of occult lore locked behind his eerie gaze, one can often make due with some random, orphaned human street-trash with a measure of arcane power floating through his dirty veins. If one is desperate to move one’s cargo, that is.