I think the Appraise DCs are low, so I changed them as follows:

Double the DC to appraise non-magical items.
ID magic items: DC 20 + 2x caster level

Prior to this change, the elven wizard was auto-identifying every magic item with just Detect Magic.

Identifying items simply bogs down the PC's and wastes time. Identifying items "on-the-fly" doesn't break the game. So they get to use the stuff a little bit earlier... it's no big deal. At high levels it’s almost an auto identify anyway. Most players find identifying stuff irritating, I've never seen anyone "role-play" identifying something, they just pay some gold and you tell them what it is.

I'm using the Unearthed Arcana "spell recharge" rules for the game I'm currently DMing for the same reason.

fanguad wrote:

I think the Appraise DCs are low, so I changed them as follows:

Double the DC to appraise non-magical items.
ID magic items: DC 20 + 2x caster level

Prior to this change, the elven wizard was auto-identifying every magic item with just Detect Magic.

What was the problem with that?

Identifying items simply bogs down the PC's and wastes time. Identifying items "on-the-fly" doesn't break the game. So they get to use the stuff a little bit earlier... it's no big deal. At high levels it’s almost an auto identify anyway. Most players find identifying stuff irritating, I've never seen anyone "role-play" identifying something, they just pay some gold and you tell them what it is.

With my raised difficulties, it doesn't become auto-identify on high-level items. And at that level, I don't really care anymore if they auto identify +1 swords.

Bitter Thorn wrote:

Am I the only one who banned the spiked chain?

No, I did it, too. I once saw a quote in someone's sig that amounted to the spiked chain being there to help breed stronger DMs who weren't afraid to ban things from the core rules. For the record, I banned it before I saw the quote.

stuart haffenden wrote:

fanguad wrote:

I think the Appraise DCs are low, so I changed them as follows:

Double the DC to appraise non-magical items.
ID magic items: DC 20 + 2x caster level

Prior to this change, the elven wizard was auto-identifying every magic item with just Detect Magic.

What was the problem with that?

Identifying items simply bogs down the PC's and wastes time. Identifying items "on-the-fly" doesn't break the game. So they get to use the stuff a little bit earlier... it's no big deal. At high levels it’s almost an auto identify anyway. Most players find identifying stuff irritating, I've never seen anyone "role-play" identifying something, they just pay some gold and you tell them what it is.

I like there to be some mystery to the magic items they pick up. I'll admit this is definitely a preference thing. But I want to have the option open to slip in some cool item or unique item or cursed item that the players don't immediately recognize for what it truly is. I suppose I could do that even if they auto-identify everything, but then they'd instantly be able to pick out "special" items vs. items they're just not sure what they do.

With my raised difficulties, it doesn't become auto-identify on high-level items. And at that level, I don't really care anymore if they auto identify +1 swords.

Mistah J wrote:

Kyle Baird wrote:

1) I hate that a +1 weapon will overcome DR 20/magic. One of my houserules is that each enhancement bonus will overcome 5/magic. So a +3 weapon will negate up to 15/magic. If you face a BBEG with 20/magic and have a +3 weapon, the BBEG effectively has 5/magic vs. your weapon. This system adds significant value to +2 and +3 weapons.

I like this too, but I am curious how you resolve it with regards to monks and their ki strike ability. They just get "magic" added to their unarmed attacks without any plus.

It progressed with their level, don't remember how exactly though right now. :)

Now that I'm not on my phone, I'll elaborate a little more. The Monk got the appropriate "+" equivalent at levels when everyone else would start being able to afford a +X weapon per character wealth guidelines. I don't exactly remember what levels they were at, probably because I've never DM'd a monk into anything past the first few levels.

Disabled and Dying, house rule

Disabled
Hit Points ≤ 0 but ≥ Negative Constitution Bonus
When a character’s current hit point total drops to a number
between 0 and his Constitution bonus (if any) expressed as a
negative number, he becomes disabled. He is not unconscious,
but is close to it. He can take only a standard or a move action
each round, and if he performs any strenuous activity, he takes
1 point of damage after the completing the act. Strenuous
activities include running, attacking, or using any ability that
requires physical exertion or mental concentration. A disabled
character makes all attack and damage rolls, saving throws, and
checks at a –2 circumstance penalty.
If the character has a Constitution bonus, any hit point
total from 0 to a negative number equal to his Constitution
bonus results in disabled status. This means that a character
with a +3 Constitution bonus has a disabled range of 0 to –3.
If the character at 0 hit points takes a strenuous action, his hit
points drop to –1, and he remains disabled. If he drops to –4
hp, the character is dying. A character with no Constitution
bonus or one with a Constitution penalty becomes disabled at
0 hit points and is dying at –1 hit point.

Dying
Hit Points < Negative Constitution Bonus but &#8805;
Negative Constitution Score
When a character’s current hit point total drops to a
negative number between his Constitution bonus +1 and his
negative Constitution score (inclusive), the character is dying.
He immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions.
For example, a character with a Constitution score of 16 has
a Constitution bonus of +3. Should that character’s hit points
drop to anywhere between –4 to –16, he is dying.
At the end of each round, starting with the round in which
the character began dying, roll d% to see whether he stabilizes.
The character has a percentage chance equal to his Constitution
score to stabilize. So a character with a Constitution 16 has a 16
percent chance to stabilize. If he doesn’t, he loses 1 hit point. If
the character’s hit points drop to a negative number lower than
his Constitution score, he is dead.
An ally can stabilize a dying character with a Heal check.
The Diffi culty Class for the check is equal to 10 + the character’s
number of negative hit points. Thus, stabilizing a character with
–11 hit points requires a DC 21 Heal check.
If any sort of healing cures the dying character of even
1 point of damage, he stops losing hit points and becomes
stable.
Healing that raises the dying character’s hit points back to
equal his negative Constitution bonus makes him conscious and
disabled. Healing that raises the character’s hit points to 1 or
more makes him fully functional again, just as if he had never
been disabled or dying

Dead
Hit Points < Negative Constitution Score
If a character’s hit points drop to a negative number lower
than his Constitution score, he is dead. A character can also die
from taking ability damage or suffering ability drain that reduces
his Constitution to 0.

Stable Characters
and Recovery
An hour after a tended, dying character becomes stable,
roll d%. The character has a percentage chance equal to his
Constitution score of becoming conscious, at which point he
becomes disabled. If the character remains unconscious, he has
the same chance to revive and rise to disabled status every hour.
Even if unconscious, the character recovers hit points naturally
(see below). He returns to normal when his hit points rise to
1 or higher.
A character who stabilizes on his own (by making the d%
roll while dying) and has no one to tend him still loses hit points,
just more slowly. The character has a percentage chance equal
to his Constitution score each hour of becoming conscious.
Each time he misses the hourly roll to become conscious, he
loses 1 hit point. The character also does not recover hit points
through natural healing.
Even once the character becomes conscious and disabled,
if unaided he still will not recover hit points naturally. Instead,
each day an unaided character has a percentage chance equal
to his Constitution score to start recovering hit points naturally
(starting with the day he regains consciousness); otherwise, he
loses 1 hp.
Once an unaided character starts recovering hit points
naturally, he is no longer in danger of losing hit points (even if
his current hit point total is negative). Thus, a character horribly
injured and left for dead may still recover and crawl back
to safety. In the World of Darkness, though, characters are often
better off dying than being taken alive.

True, they achieve the same aim. But (never having tried them) I fear that the required bookkeeping when a specific spell becomes available again could be tedious and error-prone. In my version, it's just one roll per spell cast right after the combat is over.

I'm with you on identifying items. Some of that goes back to my 1st ed roots and the possiblity of cursed items.

Once a party gets hit with a cursed item, they'll always identify everything "just in case" so the next one you throw at them will probably have no impact. The end result is players having to wait for identification [which most players don't like].

If you use the above "hidden" curse rule [only detectable with a very high check], you get to have cursed items play a more frequent part of your game [if that's what you want].

If an item is cursed, it usually acts like a standard item. That says to me that most of the time a skill check is going to identify it as the standard item. Just like some near-human races get a +10 to disguise themselves as humans, I would say that unless the succeed at a +10 over the DC, then they only think it is the standard item. They could get a further 'bonus' of adding the caster level needed to create the item to that +10. That could put it up to a +30 needed to identify a high level cursed item properly.

Some of the rules my group uses, with hopefully enjoyable names:

Atlantic City Wants Dealers: Critical Hit and Critical Miss Decks are in full use.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me From the Grave: There are no Healing Belts. EVER.

I Watched Fist of the North Star Until I Got It: No Vow of Poverty. I let one of my Second Darkness players do it, now I have a rule against it! ^_^

Should CharGen Be This Fatal?: Roll 2d6+6 seven times, drop the lowest score, minimum modifier before racial bonuses is +8. Assign scores as you see fit.

Dude, You Rolled Poorly: Reroll natural 1s when rolling Hit Points. Especially if you're a Barbarian or Knight.

It's Pronounced "Ass-imar.": Aasimar and Tieflings are playable now.

Oh, Crap, Who Had the Healing Magick?!: Characters die at -Constitution or -10, whichever's more helpful. Should a dying character actually reach this threshold, they have one! More! Round! to be stabilized before the party starts arguing over who gets the ex-bard's Vorpalized Mithril +5 Flash-Frying Swiss Army Chainkatana of Ungodly Speed.

Missed It By That Much: We use action points, just like d20 Modern's. You can add Xd6 to any d20 roll once per round, or automatically stabilize yourself if you're dying. If you critically miss a target, you regain one action point (to balance out your crappy luck.)

Shelyn Preserve Us: Natural healing rate is Level + Constitution Modifier for eight hours' rest.

I Get Any of These Ones On the List, Right?: Whenever entitled to a normal feat, characters get a "crappy feat" as well. This is usually something like Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Whatever), or any of the "+2 to two skills" feats. Other feats are considered crappy on a class-by-class basis. (Actual Example: Extra Smite is crappy for one of Iomedae's noble Paladins, it is decidedly NOT crappy for a Crusader screaming drunken devotions to Cayden Cailean!) This rule's been falling out of favor with us recently.

My House Rules:

New Feats (either I made or used from other sources:

Skilled: Player gains two additional skill points per level. Feat maybe taken multiple times.

Hit Points Changes
I give one extra HD to each player upon PC creation and is ONLY given to ORIGINAL PC's in the campaign as a boon. SO if you die and change PC's you didn't get the additional HP's. So a Fighter with 16 CON at level 1 would have 26 HP (which is awesome) and a wizard with 14 CON would have 12 hp. Extra HD meant extra con bonus as well. THis was mainlu done to avoid the level 1 bad luck deaths and to encourge players to keep the SAME PC the entiure time so I could link things to players background in the campaigns.

Critical and Fumbles:
I use the crit and fumble decks

Spells:
Identify - spell is VERY differant for me now. I hated the slowing down of campaign to identify magic items. The spell last 10 minutes and doesn't a 100 gp pearl anymore. It can't tell if the item is cursed. Allow the skill add's to the "lore Value" of the player. SO this spell doesn't auto identify.

Skills:
I gave each class a "Lore Value" when it comes to identifing magic items. THis was to allow the speeding up of campaign logistics.

Formula is being reworked for pathfinder rules but basically I assign a base GP value to each rank of skills in Know: Arcane and Spellcraft. Then player can get bonus points for magic item creation feats, and the bard get to add in his bardic knowleage. Each player is told what gp value they can "auto-identify" when they discover magic items. The "Perfect" setup can identify a 120,000 GP item at level 20.
THe higher level magic spells such as legend lore are still needed for those uber items. The auto-identy process NEVER finds cursed items.

Alignment:
WHen running adventure Paths I Banned N, CN, and all evil. I have 10 players and sometimes this was just too needed.

EXP:
When running the adventure paths (Age of Worms and SHackled City) I offered a 10% XP kick for any session where NO ONE DIED. This was done to enourge team play and get a few people to play a cleric or similar class. THose adventure paths are HARD to run with so many players and at times I had hard times properly scaling things. Also like in all games players would miss a session or two and this rule help people catch up in level. The LEVEL suggestion in the AP aren't suggestions....its the rule ;-)

Other Rules:

- Players can use ANYTHING in the PHB. Anything found in the DMG was at the DM's option and not a "RULE" per se. THe other splat book stuff was ALWAYS at DM' approval due to some of it being outdated, reprintted else where, or just plain broken.

- PLayers must use printed sheets. I had at one point we had 6 labtops in the game. THe heat build up and bad AC was a killer, plus it was to much amps on the curcuit. Sometimes players would leave the sound on and play games and disrupt play. Drove me nuts.

- All players had to use the same format of printed sheet.

Comfort rules:

- PLayers who brought food or drinks to the game where all could share got bonus XP. Less time needed in mid game for pizza internet delivery orders.

- Players who help me build my 10x5 foot gaming table got bonus xp

- Players who help me rewire the game room to add AC, and insulation, and etc. is about to get bonus exp. (we play in my 2 car garage AKA the "MAN ROOM", AKA the only place where the Wife lets me keep 10+ geeks and my gaming stuff)

Semi-Fake Edit:
and last but not least it was -100 xp times your current level to point out the DM's spelling errors and absolute lack of proper english.

I use the Vitality/Wounds Points system from UA, with a modified critical system.

Critical hits skip over Vitality Points (which are equal to normal HP) and go straight to Wound Points (equal to Constisution Score) damage. Damage is not doubled on a critical hit. Weapons with a higher multiplier than x2 are given a wider threat range instead (x3 becomes 19-20, x4 becomes 18-20).

If a player's Wound Points drop to zero, he is immediately disabled. From there, -1 to -9 wound points is unconscious and dying, while -10 is dead, as normal.

Healing goes to Wound Points first, then Vitality Points.

I've found that this lets players last a little longer at low levels, since they effectively get 8 or more HP at 1st level (I use 2d6+6 for abilites), but still allows for sudden deaths at higher levels.

I also use a modified Taint system that is specific to my campaign, and various homebrew feats, templates, and classes to match.

All corebook material is fine, all splatbook material must be approved on a case-by-case basis, as must any prestige class.

For the sake of Pathfinder, now that I have the book, I'll probably have to re-work some of my homebrew stuff, but I'm gonna keep my VP.

Casting defensively DC=10+Threatening creatures BAB+(spell levelx2)

Takes into account the relative power of the threatening creature and the difficulty of the spell. The current rule of DC=15+2xspell level was too easy in our opinion.

We also tweaked the two weapon fighting feat tree.

TWF--Stays the same
ITWF--+1 on all attack
GTWF--additional +1 on all attacks
added a feat Superior TWF--additional +1 on all attacks, available at 16th lvl
Perfect TWF--additional +1 on all attacks, available at 20th lvl.

Hasn't overpowered the Ranger too badly. If Rogues take the feats, they have to take additional feats to apply their sneak, haven't had a chance to playtest this yet.

Houserules? I've had access to the final Pathfinder rules for 2 days, and I'm already up to several dozen pages of recommendations... My players are likely to kill me.

"Kill the GM. Kill the GM." sung to the tune of "Kill the Wabbit!"

Some of the rules my group uses, with hopefully enjoyable names:

Atlantic City Wants Dealers: Critical Hit and Critical Miss Decks are in full use.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me From the Grave: There are no Healing Belts. EVER.

I Watched Fist of the North Star Until I Got It: No Vow of Poverty. I let one of my Second Darkness players do it, now I have a rule against it! ^_^

Should CharGen Be This Fatal?: Roll 2d6+6 seven times, drop the lowest score, minimum modifier before racial bonuses is +8. Assign scores as you see fit.

Dude, You Rolled Poorly: Reroll natural 1s when rolling Hit Points. Especially if you're a Barbarian or Knight.

It's Pronounced "Ass-imar.": Aasimar and Tieflings are playable now.

Oh, Crap, Who Had the Healing Magick?!: Characters die at -Constitution or -10, whichever's more helpful. Should a dying character actually reach this threshold, they have one! More! Round! to be stabilized before the party starts arguing over who gets the ex-bard's Vorpalized Mithril +5 Flash-Frying Swiss Army Chainkatana of Ungodly Speed.

Missed It By That Much: We use action points, just like d20 Modern's. You can add Xd6 to any d20 roll once per round, or automatically stabilize yourself if you're dying. If you critically miss a target, you regain one action point (to balance out your crappy luck.)

Shelyn Preserve Us: Natural healing rate is Level + Constitution Modifier for eight hours' rest.

I Get Any of These Ones On the List, Right?: Whenever entitled to a normal feat, characters get a "crappy feat" as well. This is usually something like Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Whatever), or any of the "+2 to two skills" feats. Other feats are considered crappy on a class-by-class basis. (Actual Example: Extra Smite is crappy for one of Iomedae's noble Paladins, it is decidedly NOT crappy for a Crusader screaming drunken devotions to Cayden Cailean!) This rule's been falling out of favor with us...

If I could, I'd use the harrow deck as well. I think it would add a cool flavor to the game, and allow players to have a bit of luck about them.

Mostly @Dissinger:

We only banned Healing Belts because one of the players usually gets shanghaied into playing a healer. (Usually me- Favored Soul of Desna in Rise of the Runelords, Crusader of Cayden Cailean in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and now a Bard in Council of Thieves. At least almost every party member we have in CoT can heal somewhat.)

I know the whole "crappy feat" thing's rather subjective- that's why our group's falling away from it now. =p (Those interested, our list started as Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will, Skill Focus, Improved Initiative, Toughness, Acrobatic, Alertness, Animal Affinity, Athletic, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Endurance, Magical Aptitude, Persuasive, Self Sufficient, and Stealthy.)

We also used to do the 4d6.Highest3, but 2d6+6 stuck with us for some odd reason. =/

Side note, Dissinger: I haven't seen the new aasimar yet, only the new goblin, tengu, and tieflings. Here's hoping aasimar get a stat reduction in the Bestiary!

That's Gonna Leave a Mark: Shortswords are now Slashing or Piercing, whichever you think's gonna be more useful.

Some ones I've been working on:
Damage Threshold: Monsters get a pool of Hit Points that refreshes each round rather then DR to make them tough but to allow the wizard with a dagger to still contribute to a fight.

Wound Points: Equal to the Con Score + level. You'd loose them after you lost hit points. The only thing that would bypass HP would be what had originally caused death effects (or close enough). For instance, Disintegrate would do 5d6 WP on a failed save, 5d6 HP on a successful save. Negative levels on a Vampires slam would do the number of Neg Lvls in damage to Wound Points. You become staggered when you take WP damage, but this only last 1 round if you have HP left.

Numbers of attacks: as you progress in BAB you get access to feats that allow you to attack as a Move, Swift, and Interrupt instead of the multiple attacks that you normally get. You get to make these attacks at your full BAB as the trade off. Things like Two weapon fighting would add an extra attack on the standard action at the normal penalties to all attacks.

Weapons: Each weapon has a base damage and the damage type modifies the critical threat range and multiplier. Martial Weapons would allow an enhancement from a list of abilities and exotic weapons would add another from a larger list. The idea is that you can have your simple viking style broadsword and then you have a medieval/Ren. longsword.

Some ones I've been working on:
Damage Threshold: Monsters get a pool of Hit Points that refreshes each round rather then DR to make them tough but to allow the wizard with a dagger to still contribute to a fight.

Wound Points: Equal to the Con Score + level. You'd loose them after you lost hit points. The only thing that would bypass HP would be what had originally caused death effects (or close enough). For instance, Disintegrate would do 5d6 WP on a failed save, 5d6 HP on a successful save. Negative levels on a Vampires slam would do the number of Neg Lvls in damage to Wound Points. You become staggered when you take WP damage, but this only last 1 round if you have HP left.

Numbers of attacks: as you progress in BAB you get access to feats that allow you to attack as a Move, Swift, and Interrupt instead of the multiple attacks that you normally get. You get to make these attacks at your full BAB as the trade off. Things like Two weapon fighting would add an extra attack on the standard action at the normal penalties to all attacks.

Weapons: Each weapon has a base damage and the damage type modifies the critical threat range and multiplier. Martial Weapons would allow an enhancement from a list of abilities and exotic weapons would add another from a larger list. The idea is that you can have your simple viking style broadsword and then you have a medieval/Ren. longsword.

Mostly @Dissinger:

We only banned Healing Belts because one of the players usually gets shanghaied into playing a healer. (Usually me- Favored Soul of Desna in Rise of the Runelords, Crusader of Cayden Cailean in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and now a Bard in Council of Thieves. At least almost every party member we have in CoT can heal somewhat.)

I know the whole "crappy feat" thing's rather subjective- that's why our group's falling away from it now. =p (Those interested, our list started as Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will, Skill Focus, Improved Initiative, Toughness, Acrobatic, Alertness, Animal Affinity, Athletic, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Endurance, Magical Aptitude, Persuasive, Self Sufficient, and Stealthy.)

We also used to do the 4d6.Highest3, but 2d6+6 stuck with us for some odd reason. =/

Side note, Dissinger: I haven't seen the new aasimar yet, only the new goblin, tengu, and tieflings. Here's hoping aasimar get a stat reduction in the Bestiary!

That's Gonna Leave a Mark: Shortswords are now Slashing or Piercing, whichever you think's gonna be more useful.

Oh yes, yes indeed. With the love they gave tiefling, I needs to see it. It was pointed out that like the displacer beast, the aasimar was a Wizard's exclusive product, so they may have to rename the race, but even still a fundamental counterpart to tiefling is just needed.

Comparing the Tengu from Oriental Adventures to their PRPG counterparts, though, I gotta say, PRPG Tengu get the better deal =p

Eh, that kills the Gricks in Second Darkness. They only have 9 HP and their CR 3 is done because they have DR 10 vs. Magic.

That's an interesting concept. I think I recognize it from the SaGa series.

My only problem with this is that swift actions are precious to certain classes, and the lack of actions could really murder them.

I'm just not getting it, its a bit too out of the box for my head to properly grasp.

The only systems I know that use the WP/HP are Star Wars d20 (only seen up to 3.5) and a system called something like Forgotten Kingdoms (a pulp d20 game that came out in 3.0 that we always called the Ugly Orange Book). I'm not familiar with SaGa. I just figured it would satisfy the people who wanted tougher heros and hated save or die effects (never bothered me personally), and take care of my big pet peeve, level drain.

What classes would you say need the Swift action? It would help to flesh out the rule. As for right now, I can say you wouldn't need to take the Feat (I was going to scale back on the number of feats in general to compensate for adding these) and if you did take it, you don't have to use a swift action to attack. This was originally developed in 3.X to boost fighting classes, so they could move and still attack multiple times. Right now I want to see how Cleave and Vital Strike address that problem.

I'll try to give you an example for the weapons. Note that this still incorperates the idea that Monsters that were Immune to Criticals in 3.X would still be resistant. This would drop a critical multiplier down by 1 (to a minimum of 1.5) and drop Sneak Attack and such down a die size (d4s instead of d6s).

A Simple Weapon One Handed Weapon does 1d6 (1d4 for light, 1d8 for two handed reach, 1d10 for two handed)

Edged (covers slashing/piercing) adds 19-20/x2 for threat. Wedged (Axes, Picks, etc) adds 20/x3. Blunt adds 20/x2 and Ignores Critical Resistance.

Martial Weapon would allow an increase in one category such as an increase in damage, threat range, or multiplier.

A simple sword would be 1d6 19-20/x2. a martial longsword would be 1d8 19-20/x2. It's basically designed to let players fight with what ever they want, but still have rules that keep weapons balanced with each other.