Archives of Nethys
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Gamemastery Guide
Chapter 4: Variant Rules
Magic Item Variants
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
Pathfinder’s magic item system is calibrated for a high-fantasy world like Golarion, with plenty of access to magic. However, not all settings, games, or subgenres match those assumptions. Varying from the default magic item system can help your group build games in low-magic settings, where the availability of magic items is unreliable, or where most or all of the power comes from the character and not their gear.
Automatic Bonus Progression
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
This variant removes the item bonus to rolls and DCs usually provided by magic items (with the exception of armor’s item bonus) and replaces it with a new kind of bonus—potency—to reflect a character’s innate ability instead. In this variant, magic items, if they exist at all, can provide unique special abilities rather than numerical increases.
Special Class Features
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
Every character automatically gains the class features on Table 4–11: Automatic Bonus Progression.
Table 4-11: Automatic Bonus Progression
| Level | Benefits |
| 1 | — |
| 2 | Attack potency +1 |
| 3 | Skill potency (one at +1) |
| 4 | Devastating attacks (two dice) |
| 5 | Defense potency +1 |
| 6 | Skill potency (two at +1 each) |
| 7 | Perception potency +1 |
| 8 | Saving throw potency +1 |
| 9 | Skill potency (one at +2, one at +1) |
| 10 | Attack potency +2 |
| 11 | Defense potency +2 |
| 12 | Devastating attacks (three dice) |
| 13 | Perception potency +2; skill potency (two at +2 each, one at +1) |
| 14 | Saving throw potency +2 |
| 15 | Skill potency (three at +2 each, one at +1) |
| 16 | Attack potency +3 |
| 17 | Attribute apex; skill potency (one at +3, two at +2 each, two at +1 each) |
| 18 | Defense potency +3 |
| 19 | Devastating attacks (four dice), Perception potency +3 |
| 20 | Saving throw potency +3; skill potency (two at +3 each, two at +2 each, two at +1 each) |
Attack Potency
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
Starting at 2nd level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to attack rolls with all weapons and unarmed attacks. This increases to +2 at 10th level, and +3 at 16th level.
Skill Potency
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
At 3rd level, choose a single skill. You gain a +1 potency bonus with that skill. At 6th level, choose a second skill to gain a +1 potency bonus. At 9th level, choose one of those skills and increase its potency bonus to +2. At 13th level, increase the potency bonus of your second skill to +2 and choose a third skill to gain a +1 potency bonus. At 15th level, increase the third skill’s potency bonus to +2 and choose a fourth skill to gain a +1 potency bonus. At 17th level, choose one of your three skills with a +2 potency bonus to increase to +3, and choose a fifth skill to gain a +1 potency bonus. Finally, at 20th level, choose one of the two skills with a +2 potency bonus to increase to +3, choose one of the three skills at a +1 potency bonus to increase to +2, and choose one new skill to gain a +1 potency bonus. You can spend 1 week to retrain one of these assignments at any time.
Devastating Attacks
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
At 4th level, your weapon and unarmed Strikes deal two damage dice instead of one. This increases to three at 12th level and to four at 19th level.
Defense Potency
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
At 5th level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to AC. At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2, and at 18th level, to +3.
Perception Potency
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
At 7th level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to Perception, increasing to +2 at level 13 and +3 at level 19.
Saving Throw Potency
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
At 8th level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to saves, increasing to +2 at level 14 and +3 at level 20.
Ability Apex
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 196
At 17th level, choose one ability score to either increase by 2 or increase to 18 (whichever grants the higher score).
Adjusting Items and Treasure
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 197
With this variant, you can ignore as much of Table 10–9: Party Treasure by Level from the Core Rulebook as you want, though you’ll usually want to provide consistent currency. The main area your choice will impact is in spellcasting items, such as scrolls and wands.
Remove all potency runes, striking runes, and resilient runes. Items that normally grant an item bonus to statistics or damage dice no longer do, other than the base item bonus to AC from armor. Apex items do not increase ability scores. If your world still includes magic items, a safe bet is to continue to give out consumable items at roughly the rate on Table 10–9 of the Core Rulebook.
If you choose to eliminate runes entirely, this can reduce the PCs’ damage since they won’t have runes like flaming or holy. If you’ve removed nearly all treasure, challenges might become more difficult, even with automatic bonuses.
Remove all potency runes, striking runes, and resilient runes. Items that normally grant an item bonus to statistics or damage dice no longer do, other than the base item bonus to AC from armor. Apex items do not increase ability scores. If your world still includes magic items, a safe bet is to continue to give out consumable items at roughly the rate on Table 10–9 of the Core Rulebook.
If you choose to eliminate runes entirely, this can reduce the PCs’ damage since they won’t have runes like flaming or holy. If you’ve removed nearly all treasure, challenges might become more difficult, even with automatic bonuses.
Table 10-9: Party Treasure by Level
| Level | Total Value | Permanent Items (By Item Level) | Consumables (By Item Level) | Party Currency | Currency per Additional PC |
| 1 | 175 gp | 2nd: 2, 1st: 2 | 2nd: 2, 1st: 3 | 40 gp | 10 gp |
| 2 | 300 gp | 3rd: 2, 2nd: 2 | 3rd: 2, 2nd: 2, 1st: 2 | 70 gp | 18 gp |
| 3 | 500 gp | 4th: 2, 3rd: 2 | 4th: 2, 3rd: 2, 2nd: 2 | 120 gp | 30 gp |
| 4 | 850 gp | 5th: 2, 4th: 2 | 5th: 2, 4th: 2, 3rd: 2 | 200 gp | 50 gp |
| 5 | 1,350 gp | 6th: 2, 5th: 2 | 6th: 2, 5th: 2, 4th: 2 | 320 gp | 80 gp |
| 6 | 2,000 gp | 7th: 2, 6th: 2 | 7th: 2, 6th: 2, 5th: 2 | 500 gp | 125 gp |
| 7 | 2,900 gp | 8th: 2, 7th: 2 | 8th: 2, 7th: 2, 6th: 2 | 720 gp | 180 gp |
| 8 | 4,000 gp | 9th: 2, 8th: 2 | 9th: 2, 8th: 2, 7th: 2 | 1,000 gp | 250 gp |
| 9 | 5,700 gp | 10th: 2, 9th: 2 | 10th: 2, 9th: 2, 8th: 2 | 1,400 gp | 350 gp |
| 10 | 8,000 gp | 11th: 2, 10th: 2 | 11th: 2, 10th: 2, 9th: 2 | 2,000 gp | 500 gp |
| 11 | 11,500 gp | 12th: 2, 11th: 2 | 12th: 2, 11th: 2, 10th: 2 | 2,800 gp | 700 gp |
| 12 | 16,500 gp | 13th: 2, 12th: 2 | 13th: 2, 12th: 2, 11th: 2 | 4,000 gp | 1,000 gp |
| 13 | 25,000 gp | 14th: 2, 13th: 2 | 14th: 2, 13th: 2, 12th: 2 | 6,000 gp | 1,500 gp |
| 14 | 36,500 gp | 15th: 2, 14th: 2 | 15th: 2, 14th: 2, 13th: 2 | 9,000 gp | 2,250 gp |
| 15 | 54,500 gp | 16th: 2, 15th: 2 | 16th: 2, 15th: 2, 14th: 2 | 13,000 gp | 3,250 gp |
| 16 | 82,500 gp | 17th: 2, 16th: 2 | 17th: 2, 16th: 2, 15th: 2 | 20,000 gp | 5,000 gp |
| 17 | 128,000 gp | 18th: 2, 17th: 2 | 18th: 2, 17th: 2, 16th: 2 | 30,000 gp | 7,500 gp |
| 18 | 208,000 gp | 19th: 2, 18th: 2 | 19th: 2, 18th: 2, 17th: 2 | 48,000 gp | 12,000 gp |
| 19 | 355,000 gp | 20th: 2, 19th: 2 | 20th: 2, 19th: 2, 18th: 2 | 80,000 gp | 20,000 gp |
| 20 | 490,000 gp | 20th: 4 | 20th: 4, 19th: 2 | 140,000 gp | 35,000 gp |
High-Quality
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 197
In this variant, gear can provide bonuses even if it’s not magical. This is useful for games and settings that set out to give fine, non-magical items the same prominence as magic items. High-quality gear requires the corresponding proficiency rank in Crafting to Craft.
High-Quality Weapons and Armor
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 197
High-quality weapons and armor give the same benefits as weapon and armor potency runes (Tables 4–12 and 4–13). To remove magic from weapons and armor, you can use the devastating attacks and saving throw potency entries from the automatic bonus progression variant, or you can have quality also provide the effects of striking and resilient runes, using Table 4–14 and Table 4–15. If you choose to still have magic weapons and armor, the effects don’t stack with quality.
Table 4-12: High-Quality Weapons
| Quality | Item Bonus | Property Rune Slots | Item Level | Price |
| Expert | +1 | 1 | 2 | 35 gp |
| Master | +2 | 2 | 10 | 935 gp |
| Legendary | +3 | 3 | 16 | 8,935 gp |
Table 4-13: High-Quality Armor
| Quality | Bonus Increase | Property Rune Slots | Item Level | Price |
| Expert | +1 | 1 | 5 | 160 gp |
| Master | +2 | 2 | 11 | 1,060 gp |
| Legendary | +3 | 3 | 18 | 20,560 gp |
Table 4-14: Devastating Weapons
| Quality | Item Bonus | Damage Dice | Property Rune Slots | Item Level | Price |
| Expert | +1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 35 gp |
| Expert devastating | +1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 100 gp |
| Master | +2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 1,000 gp |
| Master devastating | +2 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 2,000 gp |
| Legendary | +3 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 10,000 gp |
| Legendary devastating | +3 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 40,000 gp |
Table 4-15: Resilient Armor
| Quality | Bonus Increase | Save Bonus | Property Rune Slots | Item Level | Price |
| Expert | +1 | — | 1 | 5 | 160 gp |
| Expert resilient | +1 | +1 | 1 | 8 | 500 gp |
| Master | +2 | +1 | 2 | 11 | 1,400 gp |
| Master resilient | +2 | +2 | 2 | 14 | 4,500 gp |
| Legendary | +3 | +2 | 3 | 18 | 24,000 gp |
| Legendary resilient | +3 | +3 | 3 | 20 | 70,000 gp |
High-Quality Skill Items
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 197
Items with skill or Perception bonuses don’t have fundamental runes. If an existing skill bonus item costs less than the listed Price for a high-quality skill item or has a lower level, it likely has a feature such as a limitation, so adjust accordingly. A character in a game with this variant can Craft or buy a non-magical item to boost Perception or a skill using the table below.
Table 4-16: High-Quality Skill Item
| Quality | Item Bonus | Item Level | Price |
| Expert | +1 | 3 | 40 gp |
| Master | +2 | 9 | 550 gp |
| Legendary | +3 | 17 | 11,000 gp |
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