So back when Jim and I first started collaborating, I was reviewing some work he had done on a Soldier class for a fantasy game built adjacent to Star Wars SAGA edition. The lore was deep and the setting made choices that weren’t Tolkien rehashes and weren’t entirely burdened by forty years of Dungeons and Dragons history. These are my notes, and recollections of these conversations, not exactly Jim’s manifesto on a different fantasy setting.

Jim really liked the 2nd Editon Complete Priest’s Handbook in which the priests devote themselves to a deity and that deity only grants powers and spells based on their domains in the pantheon to which they belong. Unlike modern D&D, all clerics won’t have access to a master list of abilities, just the powers granted by their deities. Loris has its own pantheon and Jim wants the clerics to only receive powers granted by their deity under their domains or spheres of influence.

No Per Day powers, while many great strides have been made to prevent the 15 minute adventuring day, Per Day powers were some of the biggest offenders. Per Encounter Powers and Short Rests have helped to alleviate some of that feeling that after a few fights your characters can’t go on.

No Spell Slots, unless your campaign takes place on Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth, spell slots and Vancian magic can fuck right off. Wizards and clerics don’t spend years learning magic to forget everything they had learned by the middle of the afternoon and resort to crossbows. Casters need to be competitive with Martial classes in that they always have something they can do that is in line with their abilities.

Loris is a lower magic world than many folks are used to, it’s not the Epic Fantasy that Pathfinder holds to, not even Tolkien. So don’t expect magic shops everywhere, which means consumable magic probably can’t prop up the “caster can do anything, tomorrow” paradigm many players are used to.

If we blow up the basic four character classes everyone is used to, how can they be expected to fight, heal the party, ponder the great mysteries and find all the traps? What if you like heists and capers OR you want to play a conman gambler style rogue, can you do that in Loris? Does my choice to play a nonstandard cleric or rogue hamper the party’s ability to go on crazy adventures? Well, blowing up the classes, is very likely going to be predicated on blowing up forty years of dungeon crawl and murder hobo expectations that made people think the party has to be the basic four with a well-defined set of abilities.

There will be more Ritual magic, Jim liked the Pathfinder 2e ritual magic and we’re going to use more of it.

Pathfinder 2e runes will be some form of token that is easier to move around and not inscriptions that are written over and over again into the item.

The races aren’t exactly the usual.

Jim and I talked about releasing a 5 level quickstart, possibly a playtest document that lets people try out the changes we’re trying to make and provide some feedback.

If you have any feedback about this post or our books please feel free to contact us.

Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com