Welcome to Guidance, Private Sanctuary’s source for tips and techniques for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, written by Everyman Gamer Alexander Augunas. Today, we’re going to be talking about converting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Pathfinder.

So about three weeks ago I got sucked into a debate on a friend’s Facebook page. (Sorry Owen!) The topic? Harry Potter. Or specifically, whether or not Harry Potter’s world was compatible with Dungeons and Dragons. The person whom I was arguing with was adamant that Harry Potter and Dungeons and Dragons are completely different entities and are absolutely incompatible with one another.

Folks, when you state grand generalities like this anywhere (least of all the internet), you’re just BEGGING for a fanboy like me to completely and utterly prove you wrong. So, let’s play a game of Wizards & Witches in this installment of World Building!

Background

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

I’m not sure how much I need to talk about Harry Potter’s world before we dive into this, but I’ll give some background information anyway. In the series, witches and wizards are real, as are most of the magical creatures that haunt our legends and stories. This magical world is kept secret from muggles, or non-magical folk, by a complex series of laws enforced by a governmental body called the Ministry of Magic. Roughly 11 years prior to the start of the first book the wizarding world is being dominated by a group of dark wizards that call themselves “Death Eaters” by virtue of their leader, Lord Voldemort. Upon learning of a prophecy that foretells his destruction at the hands of a newborn babe, our titular hero, Voldemort resolves to slaughter the entire family. Harry’s parents die trying to save him, and their sacrifice causes Voldemort’s dark magic to rebound upon him, destroying him instantly. Many parties are had and young Harry is shipped off to his dastardly muggle relatives’ home to be raised “normally.” That is, if “normal” is being forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs. Although they desperately try to “bore” the magic out of him, Harry learns of his heritage and goes off to a wizarding school to be trained in the arts of magic.

I think that’s enough to catch you guys up to speed! Let’s begin!

Qualities of the World

So, what does the Wizarding World of Harry Potter need to be authentic? Let’s take a look.

• High Magic. Obviously, magic is a huge part of this world. That said, we never see divine magic in this world; only arcane. That adds to the danger of the setting, as healing magic is harder to come across. From what we see of the world, students who graduate from Hogwarts have an extremely high proficiency with magic by D&D standards.
• Young Characters. The world should heavily focus on young people as “leveling characters.” Be prepared to play children in this world.
• Mythic. Mythic rules are a necessity in this campaign because of the high-leveled nature of the world.
• Limited Races. Human and several half-blood races are the only racial options in the world.
• Everyone is Magic. This is likely to be the most controversial aspect of the setting; the fact that every playable character has to be a wizard of some kind. After all, playing a muggle in Harry Potter’s world is rather pointless.

All right, so with all of this in mind, let’s get the basic ground rules completed.

Races of Harry Potter

I’m going to be referring to the following products in this section: Advanced Race Guide, Ultimate Psionics.

• Human: As standard Pathfinder humans. This race covers muggles, half-muggles, and magical folk.
• Half-Giant: Use the half-giant race from Ultimate Psionics but trade the naturally psionic, half-giant psionics, and psionic aptitude racial traits for Toughness as a bonus feat.
• Half-Vetala: Use the changeling race from the Advanced Race Guide but they must always take the object of desire alternate racial trait.

Classes of Harry Potter

All PCs in the campaign (and all non-muggle NPCs) are gestalt characters. This functions as follows:

• Youth: All 1st level characters begin play as 1st level adepts. These adepts do not earn XP; instead, track the number of successful RP or combat encounters the player completes. After completing four encounters (fast XP track), five encounters (medium XP track), or six encounters (slow XP track), the character trades its adept level for its first level in its magical class and one level in a gestalt class of its choice (see below) and can begin earning XP normally.
• Magical Class: After completing its adept requirement (see above) a character selects one of the following arcane spellcasting classes to function as its magical class: arcanist, sorcerer, or wizard. Once this choice has been made, it cannot be changed.
• Gestalt: Each time a character gains a level, she gains class features and spells per day as though she gained a level in her chosen magical class plus the class features of a second class chosen from the following list: alchemist, bard, brawler, fighter, magus, rogue, or swashbuckler. For each level attained, she gains the better between both classes’ base attack bonus, Hit Die, skill points per level, and saving throw bonuses as well as the class skills and class features of both classes. A character is not required to continue advancing in her secondary class; she chooses which secondary class she advances on a level-by-level basis. This gestalt class can be a prestige class if the character meets the prestige class’s requirements. At the GM’s decision, this list can be expanded to include any of the following classes: barbarian, bloodrager, or ranger.
• Character Level: A character’s level is always equal to her magical class level. Class features that require levels in a specific class (such as a cavalier’s challenge) use the number of times she selected that class as her secondary class as her class level.
• Favored Class: A character’s magical class is never her favored class; she receives favored class benefits for selecting the same gestalt class multiple times.

Other Rules

Here are some other rules that I would consider using in a Harry Potter setting.

• Attaining one’s first level in an NPC class does not remove the Youth age category; the character is a youth until he or she ages enough to be considered an adult for her race.
• Brew Potion has a prerequisite of caster level 1 instead of caster level 3.
• All arcane spells have an arcane spell focus in addition to any other focuses the spell possesses; a baton that is attuned to the spell’s caster.
• The bard, bloodrager, magus, and ranger classes do not possess their own spells per day; instead they add all spells on their class’s spell list that they are capable of casting to the sorcerer/wizard spell list. For example, a 4th level bard with a Charisma of 12 or better adds all 1st and 2nd level bard spells to the sorcerer/wizard spell list. Levels of alchemist grant the character extracts per day as usual.
• All 1st level characters begin play as Youths; see Ultimate Campaign for rules regarding this new age category.

World Flavor

Last, but certainly not least, here are some notes on how the World Flavor of the Harry Potter world can be accomplished.

• All 1st year students at Hogwarts are Youths. The maximum level a Hogwarts student can possess is equal to double her year. For example, 1st year students have a maximum level of two, 2nd year students have a maximum level of four, and so on.
• 1st year students enter Hogwarts as 1st level adepts and progress out of this NPC class as described under the Classes of Harry Potter section.
• A typical adult wizard’s class level is 14th.
• Powerful wizards such as Dumbledore and Voldemort should be designed with mythic tiers; the Harry Potter world is a high-magic setting.
• Many magic items are discounted anywhere from 25% to 75%; such as flying broomsticks (flight at will); the GM should use her judgment.

Closing Thoughts

Is this a perfect solution to building the Harry Potter world? Probably not. It is perfectly balanced? Heck no, but in my eyes the Harry Potter world should be a high-powered magical setting first and foremost. It shouldn’t look or feel like a typical Pathfinder game because at its heart, it isn’t. This is a world where magic is the norm, where people can fly across the ocean on enchanted broomsticks or teleport miles away using magic dust. This article was designed to show that this setting can be built using Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragon rules because at heart nothing is incompatible with these games. These games are nothing more than rules that GMs twist, bend, and alter to suit their needs. They are compatible with everything as long as you have the patience and creativity to make them work for you.

And that about wraps up my thoughts on Harry Potter’s world as a campaign setting. What did you think of my suggestions? Do these rules make for a faithful adaptation of the Harry Potter world, or am I stretching the limits of the Pathfinder system too far here? Is this something you would want to try at home, or is the heavy emphasis on magic too much for you? What other worlds should I look at adapting to Pathfinder? Leave your answers and comments below and stay classy!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex’s favorite color is blue, his favorite Pathfinder Race/Class combination is kitsune wizard, and his favorite pastime is wasting his life getting into fandom debates with people he doesn’t know on Facebook.