Character Creation 1: Backgrounds, skills and class access.
The following is still under heavy construction. If you have questions, hit me over the head with something and then ask the question so I know what to answer.
Starting characters are level 3.
For stats, you can roll matrix or use pointbuy (35 points).
Matrix rolling generates a consistent, higher-end stat line by rolling 4d6 drop the lowest 36 times and arranging them in a 6x6 matrix, like so:
11 12 13 14 15 16
16 15 12 05 10 09
18 11 14 13 14 11
15 15 12 07 11 11
13 11 12 03 17 16
12 13 10 11 11 11
Then you pick the row, column or diagonal that you like best. Me, I'm going for that column with the 5, the 7 and the 3. Awww, yeaaaah.
Everyone gets 4 trait points. I haven't written up traits for modern pursuits yet, so if you want something in that venue talk to me about it and we'll work something out. Alternately, if you want to make a palette swap of a trait that's locked to a particular race or region or whatever, that'd probably be doable too, but ask first.
Everyone also gets a Background. This represents your character's training and abilities that they've spent most of their life, or at least the last few years, working towards mastering. Each background has several fun features such as:
==========Backgrounds:==========
Every background aside from Occult Initiate and Trained in the Old Ways grants the Basic Tech Proficiency feat for free. Academic:
You prefer the company of ideas and information to people or natural sunlight. People with this background might be librarians, archaeologists, professors, researches, or members of think tanks.
The skill list for this background is: Appraise, Computers, Knowledge(Any, taken individually), and Linguistics.
Academics do not get a bonus feat, instead picking three additional Knowledge skills as Theme Skills.
Academics begin play with a portable computer costing less than 600 CBux, and an additional 2d20x20 CBux. Some fields are in more demand than others.
Adventurer:
You have one or more jobs or hobbies that involve putting your life at risk for the sake of excitement. You may be a professional daredevil, an explorer, a relic hunter, an extreme sport enthusiast, or even a field scientist, but if you're ever completely safe you're probably also bored.
The skill list for this background is: Acrobatics, Athletics, Escape Artist, Fly, Heal, Perception, Stealth, Survival.
The feat list for this background is: Acrobatic, Athletic, Cat's Fall, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Longarm Proficiency, Run, Survivor, Small Arm Proficiency.
Adventurers begin play with an additional 2d6x10 CBux and a weapon, either a single-handed melee weapon or a pistol worth less than 600 CBux.
Blue Collar:
You weren't exactly practicing for your life as it is now; you were just a normal working joe.
The skill list for this background is: Appraise, Craft, Handle Animal, Repair, Pilot, Profession.
Blue Collar workers don't get a feat, instead getting a commuting vehicle (either a moped, compact car or sedan) and 4d4x20 CBux from having a steady, low-risk job.
Celebrity
You are an actor, comedian, musician, influencer, or other celebrity, at least when you're not adventuring. The income is good, but the fame is better. If people know your face, you can sometimes get favors out of them; if your face is hidden as part of your work, that might give you some hoops to jump through. This functions like the Leadership feat, except for the following differences. First, you can get it at any level, and you treat your minimum level as 8 for the purposes of calculating your Leadership Score. Second, the followers you attract do not attend to you at all times and aren't guaranteed to be able to do anything useful. Third, you do not have a Cohort. If you later take the Leadership feat with the intent of weaponizing your fan club, having the Celebrity background allows you to apply your Charisma score twice when calculating your Leadership Score.
The skill list for this background is: Bluff, Diplomacy, Perform (Any, taken individually), Sense Motive.
Celebrities do not get a feat, because the fan club is honestly way better.
Celebrities get 3d4x10 CBux from their work, and one device that is essential to their craft. This can be a musical instrument, a makeup kit, or a computer set to recognize your face and display you as an anime character to your viewers.
Criminal
Whatever you've been doing with your life, the law doesn't like it.
The skill list for this background is: Any. Pick three of them.
The feat list for this background is: Any. Pick two.
Criminals start with no money aside from what they roll for their class.
Doctor Dilettante Entrepreneur Heir
You are the heir apparent to an empire, financial or otherwise. You are expected to live up to the high standard set by the current lord of your future domain, which implies a long list of obligations, duties and best of all, enemies from both within your domain and without. In exchange for lining your tender flesh with plot hooks, you are rewarded.
The skill list for this background is: Any, but only relevant to your duties as heir. Pick three.
The feat list for this background is: Any appropriate.
Heirs start with 10d10x100 CBux. Yes, really.
Law Enforcement Lay Clergy Military Rural Scavenger Street Fighter Street Samurai Student Technician
You're a guy who fixes things, which means you're always in high demand. Maybe you fix vehicles or personal electronics, or maybe you do electrical or plumbing work in an area that's kicked the maintenance bots out. Either way you've found it pays to have a breadth of knowledge so that you can not only fix the main thing you work on, but the bits related to it.
The skill list for this background is: Computers, Craft (Any), Knowledge(Electronics, Mathematics, Mechanics, Physical Sciences), Profession, Repair.
The feat list for this background is: None. Instead, pick an additional two of the above skills.
Technicians also begin play with a masterwork portable tool set, 4d4x30CBux, and an assortment of professional licenses that they can probably open doors with.
Transporter
You and your vehicle are essentially one, and you have what it takes to get the job done.
The skill list for this background is: Craft (Mechanical), Knowledge (Local), Pilot, Repair.
Transporters don't get an additional feat. Instead, they get a vehicle of the type they specialize in, with up to 2000 CBux of customizations.
White Collar ===Special Backgrounds===
Occult Initiate:
You practice 'psychic magic', a system of spellcraft rooted in emotional energy and the collective unconscious rather than higher reasoning and the laws of nature. Your style of magic probably looks overwrought and hokey to others, and this is something a lot of practitioners of the art use to throw off suspicion - most people don't even believe psychic magic is real, and this includes people whose job it is to know better. Being a fabulist can allow you to practice your craft in plain sight and get away with it, if you're willing to look silly.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Any Occult Magic class.
The skill list for this background is: Bluff, Knowledge(Arcana), Spellcraft, Perform, Use Magic Device.
The feat list for this background is: One Occult Feat that you qualify for.
Order Training: Bard
You have been trained in the multitudinous arts of bardic magic. Yours is an occupation that lives on the edge of the law, and your goal is to become so popular nobody can touch you, or else so underground that nobody comes looking.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Bard. What, you need anything else?
The skill list for this background is: Bluff, Computers, Diplomacy, Knowledge(Any, taken individually), Spellcraft, Perform, Use Magic Device.
The feat list for this background is: One non-combat feat you qualify for.
Order Training: Hunter or Ranger
You have been trained in the ways of living in harmony with nature, which means surviving your place in the cycle of tooth and claw. This might seem a strange profession on a world that is mostly city, but that's only to people who don't realize that urban life is only different from the wild because everyone's agreed to play nice - for now. In times when that agreement goes out the window, the urban jungle is as feral as anywhere else.
Also there's enough green parkland on M4 to cover Australia. Seriously.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Hunter or Ranger.
The skill list for this background is: Athletics, Acrobatics, Fly, Heal, Knowledge (Geography, Local, Nature), Perception, Pilot, Ride, Survival.
The feat list for this background is: Any one feat for which you qualify.
Order Training: Investigator
You have been trained to question everything; including your boss, if they're scrupulous. Most aren't. Investigators fill key roles in a number of organizations throughout Mangrea, whether as police detective, private eyes, spies, counter-intelligence operative, or counter-counter intelligence operatives. We're pretty sure that last one is a thing that's real. Maybe you got in because you love spy thrillers, maybe you read way too many pulps, maybe it's a family tradition, or maybe you were just the smartest kid in a government-run orphanage. But now, armed with a hyper-deductive mind and an array of useful gadgets, you are ready for anything that might get in the way of discovering (or smothering) the truth.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Investigator
The skill list for this background is: Pick any two.
The feat list for this background is: Any one feat you qualify for that isn't Amateur Investigator, so help me...
Order Training: Paladin
DEUS VULT, INFIDEL
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Paladin
The skill list for this background is: Athletics, Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Fly, Knowledge (Arcana, Nobility, Philosophy, Religion), Pilot, Repair, Sense Motive.
The feat list for this background is: Any one feat you qualify for that isn't heresy.
Trained in the Old Ways:
Modern humans don't know how magic really works. They treat magic as a property of the material universe, rather than acknowledging that there is anything outside of that single system. You have been taught by someone who knows better, whether that's a magic-practicing alien, a human who has been keeping an ancient casting tradition alive, or a tome of mystic wisdom.
Pick one of the following restricted classes; you may take levels in that class. You may multiclass with any non-restricted classes you like save for Adept. With GM permission you can also multiclass into classes normally unlocked by other backgrounds, if you were trained by an appropriate group; for instance, a Cleric who is trained by the Order of Saint Thomas could reasonably also be a Paladin trained by the same Order.
People with this Background consist exclusively of those who practice spellcasting in ways frowned upon by M4Gov.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Arcanist, Bloodrager, Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Magus, Omdura, Oracle, Shaman, Sorcerer, Summoner, Warpriest, Witch, Wizard. Pick one and write it down.
The skill list for this background is: Knowledge(Arcana), Knowledge(Religion), Spellcraft, Use Magic Device.
The feat list for this background is: Spell Focus, Spell Mastery*, Spell Penetration, Familiar Bond, Iron Will. Alternately, pick one metamagic or item creation spell that you qualify for at character creation.
*=Spell Mastery can now be taken by any arcane caster that prepares its spells.
===Very Special Backgrounds===
A Shining New Prometheus:
Don't do it.
Unique restrictions: Only humans can take this background.
The restricted class opened up by this Background is:
Alchemist.
The skill list for this background is: Computers, Craft (Any), Knowledge(Any), Spellcraft, Use Magic Device. Pick four.
Pick any two feats related to building, fixing, or operating technological equipment
CLASSES:
========Classes with no special entry requirements:========
Barbarian, Brawler, Cavalier, Fighter, Monk, Ninja, Rogue, Samurai, Slayer, Swashbuckler.
Players can now take levels in the Adept, Expert and Noble classes, as well.
Where applicable, players may (and probably should) select the Unchained version of the class in question.
There are also a new class: The Magician, a practitioner of magic with modern sensibilities.
These classes all begin play with proficiency in everyday tech. Unless you don't want them to, in which case take a bonus feat and enjoy being a fish out of water.
All classes also begin play with proficiency in two categories of futuristic weapons or armor (four for fighters and samurai).
========Classes requiring a Society Initiate background:========
Bard, Hunter, Investigator, Paladin, Ranger.
Said societies include:
The Society of Greenwar trains Hunters and Rangers. Most graduates are fine, upstanding park rangers or the like, some become bounty hunters, but more than a few become eco-terrorists. (Being an eco-terrorist on Mangrea 4, a world with an ecology rigorously managed by a swarm of robots for the last thirty thousand years or so, makes very little sense. But that doesn't stop people.)
Paladins are typically trained by an order of their religion. Most Paladins are some flavor of Christian, but there are exceptions.
Bards: There are nearly a dozen large colleges for bards, and hundreds of independent instructors besides that.
Investigators: Most societies that train Investigators are either police or police-adjacent organizations such as M4Gov, secret societies trying to rule everything from the shadows, or counter-conspiracy organizations trying to keep things from being ruled from the shadows. There's even more of these than there are bardic organizations, which is worrisome.
Registry for these classes is known to the government, with the exception of Bards.
Investigators are usually trained by the government, and thus are always known unless they have special permission from the GM. It should also be noted that the flavor of alchemy in the Investigator class is usually replaced by high-tech gadgets a la' James Bond.
========Classes requiring a Trained in the Old Ways background:========
Arcanist, Bloodrager, Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Magus, Omdura, Oracle, Shaman, Sorcerer, Summoner, Warpriest, Witch, Wizard.
========Classes requiring the A Shining New Prometheus background:========
Alchemist. Everything in the class is refluffed as mad science, and the entire thing is 'shoot-on-sight' levels of illegal if you use it too openly. You will have a lot more leeway in what you can invent compared to RAW, but your life, while potentially glorious, will be short, even by adventurer standards. This is not a good option for a long-term character that you want to see grow, mature, or succeed at their goals in life. If instead you want to leave a big crater when you go out, this is for you. As a note, this option requires explicit approval not only from the GM but the rest of the party. They're liable to end up in your blast radius, after all.
========Classes requiring the Occult Initiate background:========
Any of the Occult classes.
Training in the Occult classes is a fair bit different from training in more conventional magical traditions, given that it's impossible to quantitize emotions and even experts have a hard time separating the part of occult traditions that really work from the woo - and there's a LOT of woo. This actually works out somewhat in favor of Occultists, however, since most governments will not track them due to not believing they do anything real. At the most, an Occultist might be pestered to register as a mage, or a Mesmerist might be suspected of being a bard.
========A note on Martial Adept classes:========
In order to take levels in any of the Path of War classes, you need to purchase the Sifu Advantage.
Taking a class archetype that grants martial initiation also requires this Advantage. Taking a feat that grants martial initiation does not, however; that limited level of learning can be accomplished by reading treatises or watching videos.
========Disallowed classes:========
These classes are either problematic in their power level (being either over- or under-powered), don't work as player characters for lore reasons, or use rules that aren't a thing in this setting.
Antipaladins: Characters in this class are always NPCs and are specifically illegal under the global government. While some particularly awful district governments will employ antipaladins as secret police or particularly dreadful judges, harboring them is reason enough for a crackdown by M4Gov.
Gunslinger: Modern guns, be they plasma rifles, revolvers or caster pistols, do not work like they do in the standard Pathfinder game. Most importantly, they do not ignore armor or natural armor bonuses to armor class.
Shifter: Pending review.
Skald: Not gonna lie, I just hate this class. When your main class ability makes the entire party unable to use technology, magic, or negotiation, it's just bad for a modern or futuristic game setting.
Vampire Hunter: Not really germane to the setting.
All psionic classes: Not a game balance thing, surprisingly. Suffice to say, don't try to convince the GM to let you play a psionic character unless you are okay with the character eventually becoming an NPC that tries to eat the party.
Skills:
Partial applicability: Some skills have multiple fields that are sometimes related. Studying religion will often tell you something about spell use, studying piano will help you play the synthesizer, and knowing how to drive a motorcycle will at least mean you know the rules of the road when you get behind the wheel of a car. If the GM calls for a skill check and you think you have one that might let you know something about the field in question, go ahead and ask; often there's enough bleedover between fields that you can at least get something. If the GM decides that a skill is partially applicable, roll the skill as normal, and the GM can decide what you know based on how related the two fields are and what kind of slant your own expertise might give you on the subject.
In general, you will notice that there are numerous cases in new and revamped knowledge skills where there is explicit overlap with other knowledge skills. This is not an accident: I am trying to rig knowledge skills to that people can focus on what their character is most interested in without sacrificing a useful breadth of knowledge that might be handy outside of that focus.
Changed Skills:
Acrobatics: In addition to the conventional uses, people trained in the Acrobatics skill can attempt a DC 20 check to stand up as a swift action; this still provokes attacks of opportunity.
Climb: Has been folded into the new Athletics skill.
Craft: New craft types include vehicles (by type, such as 'automobile' or 'aircraft'), electronics, robots, power armor, cybernetics, gadgets, and guns (by type, such as 'energy weapons', 'railguns' or 'firearms' for chemical slug throwers).
Fly: Explicitly applies to jetpacks. Can also be used when wearing flight-capable power armor.
Knowledge: The Planes cannot be taken without the Trained in the Old Ways or Occult Initiate backgrounds.
Knowledge: Geography applies to a broad knowledge of the Veejer system and the rings of Mangrea, as well as general knowledge of the galaxy and the alien species that populate it.
Knowledge: Nobility has an increased cache, here. In addition to actual nobolity in the places that have it, it also covers worldwide politics and celebrity culture.
Perform: Every 5 ranks in perform gets you another performance type. Bards start with 2 performance types and get another every 3 levels, instead.
Swim: Has been folded into the new Athletics skill.
=New skills:=
Knowing spells of higher than 5th level gets you put on a government watchlist, and depending on the spell may lead to your immediate arrest after casting such a spell in public. The official criteria for which spells are banned is poorly defined by design to make it easier to catch people that someone wants to have put out of the way while still allowing the favored to do as they like. That said, spells that exert mental influence or are otherwise obviously destructive or 'scary' tend to be easier to single out.
Moreover, the simple fact of the mater is that modern practitioners of magic (anyone not an Occultist or Trained in the Old Ways) are doing it wrong. About eighty years ago, research into the developing field of technomancy lead to the development of a spellcasting method that is more compatible with technology in general. This methodology is more intuitive to grasp at basic levels, but mainly due to omission; by leaving out a wide variety of factors relevant to spellcasting such as planar sourcing and divine influence, it appears more similar to science as understood by people who went to public schools. However, these ommissions also mean that the art is fundamentally incomplete, and as a result higher level effects become more and more difficult until eventually, effects above a certain level are for all intents impossible, at least without a ritual where several other spellcasters play roles that would normally be left to other entities, planes, or laws of existence that you have been ignoring so that you could keep your spellbook on a chip in your skull.
Readers will probably notice that there are several classes on the Society Initiate list that can get 6th level spells. These classes will not be able to learn spells of higher than 5th level without taking the Higher Understanding feat.
Most spellcasters trained in the modern school are Adepts, using the class' abunant build points to expand their spell list and learn additional non-magical skills helpful to their trade. These other skills tend to be either technical (to build devices that enhance the utility of the Adept's magic), social (to better market their services), or a mix of the two.
In the Mangrea setting, Adepts can be either INT or WIS based, but are always prepared casters. They usually need to purchase spells like wizards do, and maintain a book of spells or prayers or what-have-you. In the Mangrea setting this book is not always a physical book.
For stats, you can roll matrix or use pointbuy (35 points).
Matrix rolling generates a consistent, higher-end stat line by rolling 4d6 drop the lowest 36 times and arranging them in a 6x6 matrix, like so:
11 12 13 14 15 16
16 15 12 05 10 09
18 11 14 13 14 11
15 15 12 07 11 11
13 11 12 03 17 16
12 13 10 11 11 11
Then you pick the row, column or diagonal that you like best. Me, I'm going for that column with the 5, the 7 and the 3. Awww, yeaaaah.
Everyone gets 4 trait points. I haven't written up traits for modern pursuits yet, so if you want something in that venue talk to me about it and we'll work something out. Alternately, if you want to make a palette swap of a trait that's locked to a particular race or region or whatever, that'd probably be doable too, but ask first.
Everyone also gets a Background. This represents your character's training and abilities that they've spent most of their life, or at least the last few years, working towards mastering. Each background has several fun features such as:
- A list of skills that you can pick from, complimentary to your theme, that you have put particular focus into.
- Pick two skills to be your Theme Skills. You automatically gain a rank in these skills each level, and they are considered class skills that you are trained in. If your Theme Skills are already class skills for your class, gain a +1 bonus on all checks using that skill.
- Additionally, pick one skill that is your Sure Thing. This can be the same as one of your Theme Skills. You can always take ten on your Sure Thing, and if you roll a natural 1 on this skill, you are treated as if you had taken ten instead.
- A list of bonus feats that you can choose one from. Some backgrounds get other benefits instead of a feat.
- Each background also gets a small assortment of other miscellaneous benefits, such as money and relevant items.
- If a background states that it grants additional starting money, that amount is multiplied by your starting level.
==========Backgrounds:==========
Every background aside from Occult Initiate and Trained in the Old Ways grants the Basic Tech Proficiency feat for free. Academic:
You prefer the company of ideas and information to people or natural sunlight. People with this background might be librarians, archaeologists, professors, researches, or members of think tanks.
The skill list for this background is: Appraise, Computers, Knowledge(Any, taken individually), and Linguistics.
Academics do not get a bonus feat, instead picking three additional Knowledge skills as Theme Skills.
Academics begin play with a portable computer costing less than 600 CBux, and an additional 2d20x20 CBux. Some fields are in more demand than others.
Adventurer:
You have one or more jobs or hobbies that involve putting your life at risk for the sake of excitement. You may be a professional daredevil, an explorer, a relic hunter, an extreme sport enthusiast, or even a field scientist, but if you're ever completely safe you're probably also bored.
The skill list for this background is: Acrobatics, Athletics, Escape Artist, Fly, Heal, Perception, Stealth, Survival.
The feat list for this background is: Acrobatic, Athletic, Cat's Fall, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Longarm Proficiency, Run, Survivor, Small Arm Proficiency.
Adventurers begin play with an additional 2d6x10 CBux and a weapon, either a single-handed melee weapon or a pistol worth less than 600 CBux.
Blue Collar:
You weren't exactly practicing for your life as it is now; you were just a normal working joe.
The skill list for this background is: Appraise, Craft, Handle Animal, Repair, Pilot, Profession.
Blue Collar workers don't get a feat, instead getting a commuting vehicle (either a moped, compact car or sedan) and 4d4x20 CBux from having a steady, low-risk job.
Celebrity
You are an actor, comedian, musician, influencer, or other celebrity, at least when you're not adventuring. The income is good, but the fame is better. If people know your face, you can sometimes get favors out of them; if your face is hidden as part of your work, that might give you some hoops to jump through. This functions like the Leadership feat, except for the following differences. First, you can get it at any level, and you treat your minimum level as 8 for the purposes of calculating your Leadership Score. Second, the followers you attract do not attend to you at all times and aren't guaranteed to be able to do anything useful. Third, you do not have a Cohort. If you later take the Leadership feat with the intent of weaponizing your fan club, having the Celebrity background allows you to apply your Charisma score twice when calculating your Leadership Score.
The skill list for this background is: Bluff, Diplomacy, Perform (Any, taken individually), Sense Motive.
Celebrities do not get a feat, because the fan club is honestly way better.
Celebrities get 3d4x10 CBux from their work, and one device that is essential to their craft. This can be a musical instrument, a makeup kit, or a computer set to recognize your face and display you as an anime character to your viewers.
Criminal
Whatever you've been doing with your life, the law doesn't like it.
The skill list for this background is: Any. Pick three of them.
The feat list for this background is: Any. Pick two.
Criminals start with no money aside from what they roll for their class.
Doctor Dilettante Entrepreneur Heir
You are the heir apparent to an empire, financial or otherwise. You are expected to live up to the high standard set by the current lord of your future domain, which implies a long list of obligations, duties and best of all, enemies from both within your domain and without. In exchange for lining your tender flesh with plot hooks, you are rewarded.
The skill list for this background is: Any, but only relevant to your duties as heir. Pick three.
The feat list for this background is: Any appropriate.
Heirs start with 10d10x100 CBux. Yes, really.
Law Enforcement Lay Clergy Military Rural Scavenger Street Fighter Street Samurai Student Technician
You're a guy who fixes things, which means you're always in high demand. Maybe you fix vehicles or personal electronics, or maybe you do electrical or plumbing work in an area that's kicked the maintenance bots out. Either way you've found it pays to have a breadth of knowledge so that you can not only fix the main thing you work on, but the bits related to it.
The skill list for this background is: Computers, Craft (Any), Knowledge(Electronics, Mathematics, Mechanics, Physical Sciences), Profession, Repair.
The feat list for this background is: None. Instead, pick an additional two of the above skills.
Technicians also begin play with a masterwork portable tool set, 4d4x30CBux, and an assortment of professional licenses that they can probably open doors with.
Transporter
You and your vehicle are essentially one, and you have what it takes to get the job done.
The skill list for this background is: Craft (Mechanical), Knowledge (Local), Pilot, Repair.
Transporters don't get an additional feat. Instead, they get a vehicle of the type they specialize in, with up to 2000 CBux of customizations.
White Collar ===Special Backgrounds===
Occult Initiate:
You practice 'psychic magic', a system of spellcraft rooted in emotional energy and the collective unconscious rather than higher reasoning and the laws of nature. Your style of magic probably looks overwrought and hokey to others, and this is something a lot of practitioners of the art use to throw off suspicion - most people don't even believe psychic magic is real, and this includes people whose job it is to know better. Being a fabulist can allow you to practice your craft in plain sight and get away with it, if you're willing to look silly.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Any Occult Magic class.
The skill list for this background is: Bluff, Knowledge(Arcana), Spellcraft, Perform, Use Magic Device.
The feat list for this background is: One Occult Feat that you qualify for.
Order Training: Bard
You have been trained in the multitudinous arts of bardic magic. Yours is an occupation that lives on the edge of the law, and your goal is to become so popular nobody can touch you, or else so underground that nobody comes looking.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Bard. What, you need anything else?
The skill list for this background is: Bluff, Computers, Diplomacy, Knowledge(Any, taken individually), Spellcraft, Perform, Use Magic Device.
The feat list for this background is: One non-combat feat you qualify for.
Order Training: Hunter or Ranger
You have been trained in the ways of living in harmony with nature, which means surviving your place in the cycle of tooth and claw. This might seem a strange profession on a world that is mostly city, but that's only to people who don't realize that urban life is only different from the wild because everyone's agreed to play nice - for now. In times when that agreement goes out the window, the urban jungle is as feral as anywhere else.
Also there's enough green parkland on M4 to cover Australia. Seriously.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Hunter or Ranger.
The skill list for this background is: Athletics, Acrobatics, Fly, Heal, Knowledge (Geography, Local, Nature), Perception, Pilot, Ride, Survival.
The feat list for this background is: Any one feat for which you qualify.
Order Training: Investigator
You have been trained to question everything; including your boss, if they're scrupulous. Most aren't. Investigators fill key roles in a number of organizations throughout Mangrea, whether as police detective, private eyes, spies, counter-intelligence operative, or counter-counter intelligence operatives. We're pretty sure that last one is a thing that's real. Maybe you got in because you love spy thrillers, maybe you read way too many pulps, maybe it's a family tradition, or maybe you were just the smartest kid in a government-run orphanage. But now, armed with a hyper-deductive mind and an array of useful gadgets, you are ready for anything that might get in the way of discovering (or smothering) the truth.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Investigator
The skill list for this background is: Pick any two.
The feat list for this background is: Any one feat you qualify for that isn't Amateur Investigator, so help me...
Order Training: Paladin
DEUS VULT, INFIDEL
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Paladin
The skill list for this background is: Athletics, Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Fly, Knowledge (Arcana, Nobility, Philosophy, Religion), Pilot, Repair, Sense Motive.
The feat list for this background is: Any one feat you qualify for that isn't heresy.
Trained in the Old Ways:
Modern humans don't know how magic really works. They treat magic as a property of the material universe, rather than acknowledging that there is anything outside of that single system. You have been taught by someone who knows better, whether that's a magic-practicing alien, a human who has been keeping an ancient casting tradition alive, or a tome of mystic wisdom.
Pick one of the following restricted classes; you may take levels in that class. You may multiclass with any non-restricted classes you like save for Adept. With GM permission you can also multiclass into classes normally unlocked by other backgrounds, if you were trained by an appropriate group; for instance, a Cleric who is trained by the Order of Saint Thomas could reasonably also be a Paladin trained by the same Order.
People with this Background consist exclusively of those who practice spellcasting in ways frowned upon by M4Gov.
The restricted classes opened up by this Background are:
Arcanist, Bloodrager, Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Magus, Omdura, Oracle, Shaman, Sorcerer, Summoner, Warpriest, Witch, Wizard. Pick one and write it down.
The skill list for this background is: Knowledge(Arcana), Knowledge(Religion), Spellcraft, Use Magic Device.
The feat list for this background is: Spell Focus, Spell Mastery*, Spell Penetration, Familiar Bond, Iron Will. Alternately, pick one metamagic or item creation spell that you qualify for at character creation.
*=Spell Mastery can now be taken by any arcane caster that prepares its spells.
===Very Special Backgrounds===
A Shining New Prometheus:
Don't do it.
Unique restrictions: Only humans can take this background.
The restricted class opened up by this Background is:
Alchemist.
The skill list for this background is: Computers, Craft (Any), Knowledge(Any), Spellcraft, Use Magic Device. Pick four.
Pick any two feats related to building, fixing, or operating technological equipment
CLASSES:
========Classes with no special entry requirements:========
Barbarian, Brawler, Cavalier, Fighter, Monk, Ninja, Rogue, Samurai, Slayer, Swashbuckler.
Players can now take levels in the Adept, Expert and Noble classes, as well.
Where applicable, players may (and probably should) select the Unchained version of the class in question.
There are also a new class: The Magician, a practitioner of magic with modern sensibilities.
These classes all begin play with proficiency in everyday tech. Unless you don't want them to, in which case take a bonus feat and enjoy being a fish out of water.
All classes also begin play with proficiency in two categories of futuristic weapons or armor (four for fighters and samurai).
========Classes requiring a Society Initiate background:========
Bard, Hunter, Investigator, Paladin, Ranger.
Said societies include:
The Society of Greenwar trains Hunters and Rangers. Most graduates are fine, upstanding park rangers or the like, some become bounty hunters, but more than a few become eco-terrorists. (Being an eco-terrorist on Mangrea 4, a world with an ecology rigorously managed by a swarm of robots for the last thirty thousand years or so, makes very little sense. But that doesn't stop people.)
Paladins are typically trained by an order of their religion. Most Paladins are some flavor of Christian, but there are exceptions.
Bards: There are nearly a dozen large colleges for bards, and hundreds of independent instructors besides that.
Investigators: Most societies that train Investigators are either police or police-adjacent organizations such as M4Gov, secret societies trying to rule everything from the shadows, or counter-conspiracy organizations trying to keep things from being ruled from the shadows. There's even more of these than there are bardic organizations, which is worrisome.
Registry for these classes is known to the government, with the exception of Bards.
Investigators are usually trained by the government, and thus are always known unless they have special permission from the GM. It should also be noted that the flavor of alchemy in the Investigator class is usually replaced by high-tech gadgets a la' James Bond.
========Classes requiring a Trained in the Old Ways background:========
Arcanist, Bloodrager, Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Magus, Omdura, Oracle, Shaman, Sorcerer, Summoner, Warpriest, Witch, Wizard.
========Classes requiring the A Shining New Prometheus background:========
Alchemist. Everything in the class is refluffed as mad science, and the entire thing is 'shoot-on-sight' levels of illegal if you use it too openly. You will have a lot more leeway in what you can invent compared to RAW, but your life, while potentially glorious, will be short, even by adventurer standards. This is not a good option for a long-term character that you want to see grow, mature, or succeed at their goals in life. If instead you want to leave a big crater when you go out, this is for you. As a note, this option requires explicit approval not only from the GM but the rest of the party. They're liable to end up in your blast radius, after all.
========Classes requiring the Occult Initiate background:========
Any of the Occult classes.
Training in the Occult classes is a fair bit different from training in more conventional magical traditions, given that it's impossible to quantitize emotions and even experts have a hard time separating the part of occult traditions that really work from the woo - and there's a LOT of woo. This actually works out somewhat in favor of Occultists, however, since most governments will not track them due to not believing they do anything real. At the most, an Occultist might be pestered to register as a mage, or a Mesmerist might be suspected of being a bard.
========A note on Martial Adept classes:========
In order to take levels in any of the Path of War classes, you need to purchase the Sifu Advantage.
Taking a class archetype that grants martial initiation also requires this Advantage. Taking a feat that grants martial initiation does not, however; that limited level of learning can be accomplished by reading treatises or watching videos.
========Disallowed classes:========
These classes are either problematic in their power level (being either over- or under-powered), don't work as player characters for lore reasons, or use rules that aren't a thing in this setting.
Antipaladins: Characters in this class are always NPCs and are specifically illegal under the global government. While some particularly awful district governments will employ antipaladins as secret police or particularly dreadful judges, harboring them is reason enough for a crackdown by M4Gov.
Gunslinger: Modern guns, be they plasma rifles, revolvers or caster pistols, do not work like they do in the standard Pathfinder game. Most importantly, they do not ignore armor or natural armor bonuses to armor class.
Shifter: Pending review.
Skald: Not gonna lie, I just hate this class. When your main class ability makes the entire party unable to use technology, magic, or negotiation, it's just bad for a modern or futuristic game setting.
Vampire Hunter: Not really germane to the setting.
All psionic classes: Not a game balance thing, surprisingly. Suffice to say, don't try to convince the GM to let you play a psionic character unless you are okay with the character eventually becoming an NPC that tries to eat the party.
Skills:
Partial applicability: Some skills have multiple fields that are sometimes related. Studying religion will often tell you something about spell use, studying piano will help you play the synthesizer, and knowing how to drive a motorcycle will at least mean you know the rules of the road when you get behind the wheel of a car. If the GM calls for a skill check and you think you have one that might let you know something about the field in question, go ahead and ask; often there's enough bleedover between fields that you can at least get something. If the GM decides that a skill is partially applicable, roll the skill as normal, and the GM can decide what you know based on how related the two fields are and what kind of slant your own expertise might give you on the subject.
In general, you will notice that there are numerous cases in new and revamped knowledge skills where there is explicit overlap with other knowledge skills. This is not an accident: I am trying to rig knowledge skills to that people can focus on what their character is most interested in without sacrificing a useful breadth of knowledge that might be handy outside of that focus.
Changed Skills:
Acrobatics: In addition to the conventional uses, people trained in the Acrobatics skill can attempt a DC 20 check to stand up as a swift action; this still provokes attacks of opportunity.
Climb: Has been folded into the new Athletics skill.
Craft: New craft types include vehicles (by type, such as 'automobile' or 'aircraft'), electronics, robots, power armor, cybernetics, gadgets, and guns (by type, such as 'energy weapons', 'railguns' or 'firearms' for chemical slug throwers).
Fly: Explicitly applies to jetpacks. Can also be used when wearing flight-capable power armor.
Knowledge: The Planes cannot be taken without the Trained in the Old Ways or Occult Initiate backgrounds.
Knowledge: Geography applies to a broad knowledge of the Veejer system and the rings of Mangrea, as well as general knowledge of the galaxy and the alien species that populate it.
Knowledge: Nobility has an increased cache, here. In addition to actual nobolity in the places that have it, it also covers worldwide politics and celebrity culture.
Perform: Every 5 ranks in perform gets you another performance type. Bards start with 2 performance types and get another every 3 levels, instead.
Swim: Has been folded into the new Athletics skill.
=New skills:=
- Computers
- Knowledge:
- (Biological Science): A scientific understanding of nature and the how and why of organisms.
- (Conspiracies): The Veejer system is host to a bustling, vibrant ecosystem of people and societies trying to control
- this or that from the shadows, and it's no surprise some people consider it worthwhile to study them. Foil hat optional but advised.
- (Electronics): Understanding how electronic devices work.
- (Mathematics): Understanding 'pure' math. Some overlap with Electronics, Mechanics, Arcana and Physical Sciences.
- (Mechanics): Understanding how mechanical devices work.
- (Psychology): An understanding of how the mind works, and also how people think it might work, maybe.
- (Philosophy): Pretending to understand esoteric modern philosophical systems. Some overlap with
- (Physical Sciences): Understanding physics, chemistry, and the parts of quantum mechanics that aren't woo.
- (Xenobiology): A precise and deep study of alien life forms from across the galaxy.
- Pilot: Used for any vehicle that you do not wear. Jetpacks fall under Fly. Can optionally be used for flight-capable power armor. Specify which type of craft you are trained in piloting: Motorcycle, Car, Large Truck, Aircraft, Small Spacecraft, Large Spacecraft, Power Armor.
- Repair: A general knowledge of how to fix things, as well as build things from off-the-shelf parts. Using the Repair skill to fix a device with a broken part involves removing the part and replacing it with a functional one; making the broken part functional again would instead require the appropriate Craft skill.
Knowing spells of higher than 5th level gets you put on a government watchlist, and depending on the spell may lead to your immediate arrest after casting such a spell in public. The official criteria for which spells are banned is poorly defined by design to make it easier to catch people that someone wants to have put out of the way while still allowing the favored to do as they like. That said, spells that exert mental influence or are otherwise obviously destructive or 'scary' tend to be easier to single out.
Moreover, the simple fact of the mater is that modern practitioners of magic (anyone not an Occultist or Trained in the Old Ways) are doing it wrong. About eighty years ago, research into the developing field of technomancy lead to the development of a spellcasting method that is more compatible with technology in general. This methodology is more intuitive to grasp at basic levels, but mainly due to omission; by leaving out a wide variety of factors relevant to spellcasting such as planar sourcing and divine influence, it appears more similar to science as understood by people who went to public schools. However, these ommissions also mean that the art is fundamentally incomplete, and as a result higher level effects become more and more difficult until eventually, effects above a certain level are for all intents impossible, at least without a ritual where several other spellcasters play roles that would normally be left to other entities, planes, or laws of existence that you have been ignoring so that you could keep your spellbook on a chip in your skull.
Readers will probably notice that there are several classes on the Society Initiate list that can get 6th level spells. These classes will not be able to learn spells of higher than 5th level without taking the Higher Understanding feat.
Most spellcasters trained in the modern school are Adepts, using the class' abunant build points to expand their spell list and learn additional non-magical skills helpful to their trade. These other skills tend to be either technical (to build devices that enhance the utility of the Adept's magic), social (to better market their services), or a mix of the two.
In the Mangrea setting, Adepts can be either INT or WIS based, but are always prepared casters. They usually need to purchase spells like wizards do, and maintain a book of spells or prayers or what-have-you. In the Mangrea setting this book is not always a physical book.
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