Contents
The Old World campaign setting can be used with a number of different systems. Accordingly, the allowed materials list for player characters in the setting, and the applicable house rules, depend on the system being used for any given adventure.
Note: See also the section on magic in the Old World.
All systems
Races
See the Races page for information on available player character races, and their racial traits and qualities.
The setting background section describes what place each of the player character races has in the setting.
Feats
See the Feats page for information on new and modified feats that are available in the Old World campaign setting.
Pathfinder
- Core Rulebook
- All materials are allowed (with the exceptions listed below).
- Advanced Player’s Guide
- Classes:
- oracle
- witch
- summoner
- The summoner class is modified; see the Summoner page for details.
- Prestige classes:
- holy vindicator
- rage prophet
- All other materials (spells, feats, etc.) are allowed (with the exceptions listed below).
- Ultimate Magic
- Classes:
- No other material from this sourcebook is allowed.
Skills
The Knowledge (the planes) skill is not available. (See magic in the Old World for more information.)
When using the Intimidate skill to demoralize opponents, any bonuses to saves against fear (such as those granted by the bard’s inspire courage ability, or by the bless spell) apply to the Intimidate check DC.
Feats
The following feats from the Core Rulebook are modified:
- Greater Two-Weapon Fighting requires Dexterity 17 (rather than 19).
- Improved Precise Shot requires Dexterity 17 (rather than 19).
- Improved Two-Weapon Fighting requires Dexterity 15 (rather than 17).
- Manyshot requires Dexterity 15 (rather than 17).
- Two-Weapon Fighting requires Dexterity 13 (rather than 15).
The following feats from the Advanced Player’s Guide are modified:
- Crossbow Mastery requires Dexterity 13 (rather than 15).
Item creation
- Magic item creation feats are not available.
- Wizards still receive the Scribe Scroll feat as a bonus feat at 1st level; the feat is otherwise unavailable.
- Making potions requires the use of the Craft (alchemy) skill, rather than the Brew Potion feat (which is unavailable). (See Alchemical crafting for details.)
Classes
Bard
Bards do not gain the inspire competence ability. Instead, they gain the following:
Inspire Resilience (Su): A bard of 3rd level or higher can use his performance to inspire resilience in his allies (including himself), making them resistant to physical attacks. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance.
An affected ally gains damage reduction 1/—. The damage reduction granted by this ability increases by 1 for every four levels the bard has attained beyond 3rd (2/— at 7th, 3/— at 11th, 4/— at 15th, and 5/— at 19th).
The damage reduction granted by inspire resilience stacks with a barbarian’s damage reduction (or with any similar ability). Inspire resilience does not apply to allies who are immobilized or otherwise incapacitated.
Inspire resilience is a mind-affecting ability, and relies on audible components.
Bards also do not gain the lore master ability. Instead, they gain the following:
Combine Songs (Ex): A bard of 5th level or higher can combine the effects of two performances. Once per day, a bard who is already maintaining one performance can start a second performance (taking the usual action required to start a performance) and gain the benefits of both. (Normal stacking rules for bonus types apply.) The bard can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels he possesses beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.
Cleric domains
The following domains and subdomains are available for clerics of the deities worshipped in the Old World campaign setting. (Subdomains are listed in parentheses after the base domain. Unless noted otherwise, either the base domain or any of the listed subdomains may be selected by clerics who follow the given deity.)
- Pelor (a.k.a. the Shining Lord, the Radiant One, the Great God Above, etc.)
- Note: Many of the domains and subdomains listed here are provided by various divine intermediaries (saints, celestial lords, etc.). See the section on gods & religion in the Old World for details.
- Air (Cloud, Wind)
- Animal (Feather, Fur)
- Charm (Love)
- Community (Family, Home)
- Earth (Metal)
- Fire
- Glory (Heroism, Honor)
- Good (Agathion, Archon, Azata)
- Healing (Restoration)
- Law (Archon)
- Luck (Fate)
- Nobility (Leadership, Martyr)
- Plant (Growth)
- Protection (Defense, Purity)
- Repose (Ancestors, Souls)
- Strength (Resolve)
- Sun (Day, Light)
- War (Tactics)
- Weather (Seasons, Storms)
- Gruumsh (a.k.a. the One-Eyed God)
- Various evil gods, demon princes, archdevils, etc.
- ??? (probably also someone evil? this sounds pretty evil to me. stay away from this stuff imo)
Magus
The magus’s spell list is as follows (with spells from Ultimate Magic removed):
- 0 level
- 1st level
- 2nd level
- 3rd level
- 4th level
- 5th level
- 6th level
Ranger
The ranger’s favored enemy ability is modified as follows:
Favored Enemy (Ex): If a ranger spends at least a day observing, tracking, or otherwise interacting with creatures of some sort, he may designate such creatures as a favored enemy.
The ranger gains +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against his favored enemies. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A ranger may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures.
A ranger may have one favored enemy at a time (that is, he may only designate one kind of creature as a favored enemy; if he wishes to designate another kind of creature as a favored enemy, he loses his favored enemy bonuses against any other kinds of creatures).
At every fifth level (5th, 10th, etc.), the ranger may have one additional favored enemy at a time. The ranger’s bonuses against favored enemies also increase by +2 at these levels.
Summoner
The summoner class is modified; see the Summoner page for details.
Spells
The following spells work differently in the Old World setting:
Weapons
Replace the descriptions of longbows (including composite and mighty composite longbows, which no longer exist) and shortbows (including mighty composite shortbows, which no longer exist) in the Core Rulebook with the following. (Range, damage, and other properties are unchanged. A heavy longbow’s price is double that of a standard longbow.)
- Longbow: You need at least two hands to use a bow, regardless of its size. You must be standing up to fire a longbow; you cannot fire one while prone, crouching, kneeling, etc. A longbow is too unwieldy to use while you are mounted. You add your Strength bonus to damage rolls with a bow, up to the bow’s maximum pull (+4 for a standard longbow). If your Strength modifier is less than the bow’s maximum pull − 2, you take the difference as a penalty on attack rolls made with the bow. (For example, a character with a Strength bonus of +1 would take a −1 penalty on attack rolls with a longbow, as his Strength modifier is 1 point less than the bow’s maximum pull − 2.)
- Longbow, Heavy: Specially made for exceptionally strong characters, a longbow of this sort has a heavier maximum pull (+6).
- Shortbow: You need at least two hands to use a bow, regardless of its size. A shortbow can be fired while crouching or kneeling, though you take a −2 penalty on the attack roll; you cannot fire a shortbow while prone. You can use a shortbow while mounted. You add your Strength bonus to damage rolls with a bow, up to the bow’s maximum pull (+2 for a standard shortbow). If your Strength modifier is less than the bow’s maximum pull − 2, you take the difference as a penalty on attack rolls made with the bow. (For example, a character with a Strength modifier of −1 would take a −1 penalty on attack rolls with a shortbow, as his Strength modifier is 1 point less than the bow’s maximum pull − 2.)
- Shortbow, composite: A shortbow can be made of several materials laminated together. The resulting design allows the bow to shoot farther than a simple shortbow, but makes the bow more expensive to make and maintain.