12th level fixed-lister casters vs the Cthulhu Mythos

[Skyrock]

First, for the mechanical premise: Tier 1 casters are completely banned. Their place is taken up by homebrew fixed list casters. (Unsure yet if I should keep T2 spontaneous casters à Sorcerer in or also put them onto the chopping block.)

As usual, I'd use Partial Gestalt and cut down on magic item micromanagement through Chopping down the Christmas tree. I might also do a dragonscale husk-like replacement of armor, as there isn't much armor that is still used in 1920s America other than some surplus WW1 flak vests and steel helmets.

I'll also borrow monsters and other crunch from Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for Pathfinder.

* * *

For the setting, I'd base this loosely on the Witcher of Salem - a 1980s West German dime novel series where characters each are gifted with a different kind of magic (the so-called "witchers") take on the evil forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. The tone is more pulp-y than the stories of H.P. Lovecraft - it's not about turning mad over reading forbidden tomes, it's about casting Magic Missile at shoggoths.

The setting is America in the 1920s, probably the NE in and around Arkham.

Option 1: Group Good
The team consists of good-to-neutral human witchers taking on the forces of darkness. If there are any clerics, they would have to worship one of the Elder Gods (as described by August Derleth, not the Elder Gods of the D&D multiverse).

Race selection is very much limited to humans.

Option 2: Equipe Evil
The evil-to-neutral PCs are serving an outer god or a great old one, and fighting the cults of other eldritch evils. Any clerics would have to serve the group patron. Ritual magic (as per Arhosa) is also an option.

In addition to humans, PCs may be aberrations or Lovecraftian ghouls (although they would still do well being able to hide their true nature). Depending on the patron there may be more options, like Deep Ones for followers of Cthulhu or Yuan-Ti for followers of Yig.

[Skyrock]

Meanwhile I went through my CoC modules collected over the decades and narrowed them down to ones that would be a good fit. Let me know if you already know any of them.
- Curse of Chaugnar Faugn, The (from Curse of the Chthonians)
- Dead Man Stomp / Blues for Marnie (from the core rules)*
- Old Damned House, The (from Mansions of Madness)
- Season of the Witch (from Dreamlands boxed set)
- Terror of Red Mountain, The (by Gerhard Schmeusser, independent internet release)

*Features racist themes and language and has been removed from the newer releases of the CoC core rules

[Stratovarius]

Evil. Kill everyone.

[skydragonknight]

Either.

[the bluez]

Either. I don't know any of the modules

[Nanshork]

Tentatively interested in anything and don't know any CoC modules.

[Skyrock]

• Level 12, PB28
• Generally all of 1st party 3.5 is fair game (re-fluffing and re-skinning is fine), as is my Ravenloft material and my other homebrew. (Exceptions: Artificer class, Leadership feat, Bloodlines (UA) and Item Familiars (UA) - and I reserve the right to ban d2 Crusaders and similar cheese) - Dragon Mag and Homebrew will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
  
• Hitpoints: First level full die size, then half die size +1 (d4 => 3, d6 => 4, d8 => 5, d10 => 6, d12 => 7).
• 2 bonus feats taken up at lvl1/12 respectively. Also note the extra feats available: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/3rd-party-feats/petersen-games-feats/
• Chopping Down The Christmas Tree with WBL cut to 1/5. 1 1920s $ = 1 D&D gold piece. D&D price lists take precedent where the exist. (So $17,600 per lvl12 character barring Vow of Poverty, Aristocrat levels and other mods.)
  
• Fractional BAB / Saves are used (UA p.73)
• There are neither Favoured Classes, nor multi-classing restrictions (as for Paladins and Monks)
• Nightsticks cannot be stacked
• Every rank in Perform grants proficiency in one art form, as in 3.0 - not a separate Perform skill for every art form
• Diplomacy uses the Rich Burlew fix, except that synergies remain as usual and DC is 20+HD+Wis
  
• The applications of Open Lock are rolled into Disable Device
• There is one extra skill, Profession (Yog-Sothothery Philosopher). It is very useful, but makes you more susceptible to fear and madness (see next bullet point)
  
• Fearstacking works very different, and can lead to insanity or heart attacks: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/variant-rules-3rd-party/petersen-games/insanity-and-dreams/

Races

• PF Human (as 3.5 human but with +2 to any one ability score, essentially)
  
• Ghoul, Lovecraftian
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  Lose: Feed on Flesh
  Gain: Consumptive Gift (as Helfarch), +1 to the DC of Ritualist rituals/features, count as Helfarch for prerequisites. May replace feat prereqs and bonus feats that only work with Helfarchs (like Lifedrinker Charge as prereq for Helfarch Ravager) with Ritual Study, ritual feats or racial feats (Helfarch)
• Abberations (probably best sourced from Osle's Monster Classes)

Armor
Armor is not used anymore in 1920s America. There are some surplus flak vests and steel helmets from WW1 floating around, but they are neither practical.
Characters with light/medium/heavy armor proficiency gain a armor bonus of +2/4/6, +1/3 per class level granting that proficiency. Unlike Dragonscale Husk this doesn't impede movement, but neither does it provide any of the other advantages of DSH like damage resistance.

• Flak Vest (vest slot): Maximum Dex bonus +2. +2 Reflex save. On a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, the wearer instead takes 1/4 damage. Slows down movement as medium armor. 40lb. $200.
• Steel Helmet (head slot): +1 Reflex save. -2 to Spot and Listen checks and to initiative. 5lb. $5.

Firearms
Use d20 Modern rules. Use this table to convert Purchase DCs to modern dollars, then divide by 20 to get the value in 1920s dollars. (E.g. a Pathfinder revolver (Purchase DC14) would be worth 350/20 = $17.50)

Thompson M1921 stats, $200

Spells
Note the extra spells in the world of H.P. Lovecraft: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/petersen-games/

Partial Gestalt
Partial Gestalt with the heterodox mix of 1//-, 2//6, 3//5 and 4//4. (PrCs will have their Tier gauged depending on entry.)
Note that there are no T1 and T2 base classes in this game.

Tier List:

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Tier 1: N/A

Tier 2: N/A

Tier 3: Bard, Crusader, Chronomancer, Dragon Fire Adept, Duskblade, Factotum, Fixed-List Caster*, Swordsage, Warblade

Tier 4: Adept, Aristocrat//T5, Barbarian, Hexblade (Bard-Prog-ACF + Jester spells), Ritualist, Rogue, Savant, Scout, Spellthief (w/ Trickster ACF), Warlock

Tier 5: Aristocrat//T6, Battledancer, Dragon Shaman**, Fighter, Gleaner (GitP)], Hexblade, Knight, Magewright, Marshal, Monk, Ninja (CA), Paladin, Ranger (w/o Mystic Ranger ACF), Ritual Warrior, Samurai (CW), Spellthief (w/o Trickster ACF), Swashbuckler

Tier 6: Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert, Sohei, Warrior

*Bard remains unchanged.
Ritualist gets renamed to Arcanist to avoid confusion with the Arhosan ritual magic system.

**Will be adapted to the patron of the party.

Taxation Is Theft
Feat taxes are lame, so everyone gets the following feats for free:

• Combat Expertise
• Improved Shield Bash
• Personal Firearms Proficiency
  
• Precise Shot
• Quick Draw
• Somatic Weaponry
• Two-Weapon Fighting
• Weapon Finesse

Additionally, the following feats are automatically gained on certain tresholds:

• Track - 4 ranks in Survival
• Urban Track - 4 ranks in Gather Information

Changes to Classes

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Adept

• Adepts pick either Int or Wis as spellcasting attribute (non-reversible)
• ACF (Level 2): Lose: Familiar. Gain: Add the spells of a Cleric Domain to your known Adept spells. They gain neither the domain power nor domain slots, nor can they trade this feature away for the coresponding Domain Feat.

Aristocrat

• Aristocrats gain new Aristocrat level x 100gp at every time a new Aristocrat level is taken (including 1st level on top of starting money). Their WBL is also increased by the cumulative amount.

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Quick cheat-sheet table:
1: 100
2: 300
3: 600
4: 1,000
5: 1,500
6: 2,100
7: 2,800
8: 3,600
9: 4,500
10: 5,500
11: 6,600
12: 7,800

Barbarian

• ACF (lvl 1): Barbarians can trade away Fast Movement for Pounce without needing to be Lion Totem Barbs. This also counts for other classes/ACFs copying Fast Movement (e.g. Druidic Avenger ACF).

Druid

• Fleshrakers have died out a long time ago, and spontaneously combust into unresurrectable ashes if they are brought into the campaign milieu from somewhere else. Just don't.

Gleaner

• Gleaners pick either Cha or Wis as spellcasting attribute (non-reversible)

Monk

• ACF (Level 3): Reduce Speed Bonus by 10ft (down to a minimum of 0ft) and gain Pounce

Paladin

• Paladins can deviate by one category from their default alignment, like Clerics. Violations of their Code of Conduct only matter if they are severe and/or regular enough to move their alignment outside of this space.
• At 4th level Paladins automatically gain Battle Blessing as a bonus feat

Samurai (CW)

• Samurai add Iaijutsu Focus (OA) to their class skills

Scout

• ACF (Level 3): Reduce Fast Movement by 10ft (to a minimum of +0ft) and gain Pounce

Spellthief

• "Trickster"-ACF (Dragon Magazine #353) is explicitely allowed and assumed as standard. Spellthieves rejecting it are reduced to a lower tier (see table)