Here are some of my house rules for comment and review. Please let me know what you think.
Take the average of your Dex and Con bonus and add it to your Base Rate of Movement. This is a characters Personal Speed.
For any stat reaching a level of 20 or multiples of (40, 60, etc) you get a bonus feat related to that stat.
Some Feats from 3.0 and 3.5 can still be used based upon the agreement of the Game Master, i.e.: Ambidextrous, the original vow of poverty, etc
Roll 1D6 for handedness: 1-2 left hand, 2-5 right hand, 6 ambidextrous.
Magic Missiles can hit anything you wish it to, like wands for example.
Quick note of a campaign that allowed the use of this spell in this manner...
A near godlike being who was confined to the swamp was increasing the swamplands; hence enlarging his range. To talk with him is to fall under his spell (some sort of fascination thing). The being was also faster than a quickling on speed.
The GM had been trying to get my wand of magic missiles away from my wizard for a long time (this is something to keep in mind)
We had some characters who were trapped nearby and most of the party were on the way back to town to get help when this godlike being showed up to 'talk' to my mage.
"Sorry I can't hear you, oh, I have something for you." she said as she produced the wand and tossed it to him.
"Thank you" he started to say when the mage cast magic missile on the wand.
The only thing the GM asked after that was, "how many charges were left?"
I sacrificed a powerful weapon against an enemy that was far more powerful than the party as a whole and I would do it again...if I had another wand.
Magic users may cast multiple spells per round, so as long as the combined spell levels do not exceed the BAB.
Lastly, no matter how many class variants are published there never seems to be one that exactly fits what you are after. To fix this I allow one to remove certain class features and replace it with a feat of their choosing.
All mods are subject to GM approval. Any thoughts?
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Here are some of my house rules for comment and review. Please let me know what you think.
Magic Missiles can hit anything you wish it to, like wands for example.
Quick note of a campaign that allowed the use of this spell in this manner...
A near godlike being who was confined to the swamp was increasing the swamplands; hence enlarging his range. To talk with him is to fall under his spell (some sort of fascination thing). The being was also faster than a quickling on speed.
The GM had been trying to get my wand of magic missiles away from my wizard for a long time (this is something to keep in mind)
We had some characters who were trapped nearby and most of the party were on the way back to town to get help when this godlike being showed up to 'talk' to my mage.
"Sorry I can't hear you, oh, I have something for you." she said as she produced the wand and tossed it to him.
"Thank you" he started to say when the mage cast magic missile on the wand.
The only thing the GM asked after that was, "how many charges were left?"
I sacrificed a powerful weapon against an enemy that was far more powerful than the party as a whole and I would do it again...if I had another wand.
This 1st one sounds ok the magic missle thing helps it stay a bit more viable at later levels but it can get really busted as your wizard/sorc just starts using it to break every weapon your enemies are holding. I think i remember it written up somewhere that it can't hit particular zones and that the missile always just goes for the 1st exposed part of the target it sees hence the low dmg. All in all I wouldn't want to use it but if you plan on it just remember to throw a lot of goons at your party before your BBEG so that the wizard doesn't sunder him down his skivvies in the first round.
Magic users may cast multiple spells per round, so as long as the combined spell levels do not exceed the BAB.
This sounds terrifying, really cool but terrifying. I think it could be balanced so long as you don't modify the amount of spells they get, making it a trade off between overpowering the other guy and burning out. Ohh actually now that i think of it they pretty much have this with the word casting system, here's the link
Lastly, no matter how many class variants are published there never seems to be one that exactly fits what you are after. To fix this I allow one to remove certain class features and replace it with a feat of their choosing.
All mods are subject to GM approval. Any...
Do this all the time myself, this is fine for the most part so long as you, the GM find it ok. My usual rule of thumb on the whole issue is to at least make sure that whatever we replace the skill with should be something that the class can get from some other archetype and replaces the same thing. My best example of this was with the vivisectionist archetype for the alchemist which i thought was really cool but had no interest in sneak attack and would prefer bombs (allowed him to knock out specimens with gas grenades or bio bombs) and wanted to just flip that back. They key is to not get into more then you can handle or remember.
I forgot to mention about size vs. damage...If a medium size character and a large character have the same Strength in number there is still a difference in what they can carry (the large can carry 2 times as much) so I translate that as a multiplier to the Str bonus to damage. i.e. Str 20 bonus +5 (x2 for Large) This puts fear back into the equation against big critters.
As for your other comments, Thank you very much for the feedback! Side note on magic missiles: They would have a hard time sundering most weapons, but the magic enhanced wooden stick (wand) ... call the bomb squad. lol
I couldn't follow the link you gave me...maybe due to me not accepting cookies...The dark side may have them, but the good side has the milk. (choke on that dark side!) Then again the Neutral side has the plates and glasses.
Should Armors hardness be used to see if an attack penetrates the armor(when using Armor as DR instead of AC)?
Should Armors hardness be used to see if an attack penetrates the armor(when using Armor as DR instead of AC)?
Well, I am glad you asked that, 'cause I was wondering the same thing. I believe the hardness would only come into play if the opponent was trying to sunder your armor...there is also something else to take into account. Certain armor is only effective against certain weapons, so like creatures that have things like DR/ Silver, armor should have something like DR/ Piercing.
It's like talking to myself.
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This is part of the reason I'm not going to make extensive house rules... fear of breaking the game badly like this.
This is part of the reason I'm not going to make extensive house rules... fear of breaking the game badly like this.
'This' part is not house rules. Sundering is in the book. I was just commenting on how certain armor can allow certain attacks to bypass it.
Just curious, how did shooting the magic wand kill the Quicksilver godling thing?
The target was the wand. The game master, at the time allowed targeting of objects. He also figured the power left in the wand for the spell and the number of charges it had. He figured the minimum damage and then the maximum damage and took the middle.
Oh, so the wand exploded?
I didn't know that would happen.
If a magic item gets broke the magic has to go somewhere and fast! I had a player throw a sunrod into a sewer system and it cracked when it hit the rocky bottom. Now the town has streetlights of blue flame coming from the methane burning sewer. lol
Here are some of my house rules for comment and review. Please let me know what you think.
Sure! At first glance, they seem to be pretty upsetting the game as experienced. Please don't see the criticism as scornful, but expect it to be rather harsh...
Take the average of your Dex and Con bonus and add it to your Base Rate of Movement. This is a characters Personal Speed.
Ok, interesting one.
Quick question: why CON and not STR? Sprinting has more to do with STR, while endurance running has more to do with CON. Unless you have concern about overland movement, what's your reason to pick CON? Also, bonus is is squares or feet?
For any stat reaching a level of 20 or multiples of (40, 60, etc) you get a bonus feat related to that stat.
Why? You already have a uber-high stat, why would you bonify it even more? Creature with stats of 40 and 60 already have enough HD to afford sweet feats. I'm just hoping you're not thinking of characters with stats of flat 40s and 60s? What with stats made of temporary boosts, even if "temporary" means all day long?
Roll 1D6 for handedness: 1-2 left hand, 2-5 right hand, 6 ambidextrous.
This can be interesting, but you're missing the houserule about handedness having a mechanical impact on the game (as it hasn't as RaW). Ambidextrous has been subsided into TWF and as far as I understand, it serves no purpose in post 3.0 games. Even left-handedness was undefined as far as I know (although I admit my 3.0 knowledge is weak). If it has not impact, it's nice to know but it belongs next to "eye colour" and "number of tattoos".
Magic users may cast multiple spells per round, so as long as the combined spell levels do not exceed the BAB.
10th level wizard casting 5 magic missiles of 5 missiles each in a single round? That gives me twitching memories of the awfully broken 2ed Spellweaver thingy. Clerics could go from zero to hero in a single round. Many combos would become rather scarily awesome if they happen all simultaneously. The game is already generous with spellcasters as it is IMO, not need to give them extra ammo.
Magic Missiles can hit anything you wish it to, like wands for example.
This combined with the above would give me the creeps as a DM, especially with exploding wands and what-not. I can get pretty creative with 25 missiles per round and 50-125 points of damage no-save no attack roll...
'findel
Here are some of my house rules for comment and review. Please let me know what you think.
Sure! At first glance, they seem to be pretty upsetting the game as experienced. Please don't see the criticism as scornful, but expect it to be rather harsh...
Take the average of your Dex and Con bonus and add it to your Base Rate of Movement. This is a characters Personal Speed.
Ok, interesting one.
Quick question: why CON and not STR? Sprinting has more to do with STR, while endurance running has more to do with CON. Unless you have concern about overland movement, what's your reason to pick CON? Also, bonus is is squares or feet?
I used Con because the only real payoff on this one is running distance. Because it is added to your base it is in feet, not squares, but you make a valid point for Str. I just didn't want to use 3 Stats for one score. Eventually, if Stats are improved enough you can add another 5 foot square to your move compared to others of the same race.
For any stat reaching a level of 20 or multiples of (40, 60, etc) you get a bonus feat related to that stat.
Why? You already have a uber-high stat? Why would you bonify it even more? Creature with stats of 40 and 60 already have enough HD to afford sweet feats. I'm just hoping you're not thinking of characters with stats of flat 40s and 60s? What with stats made of temporary boosts, even if "temporary" means all day long?
Well, I can understand where you are coming from, but I see Stats of 20 to be like Class levels of 20. You normally see a payoff in your class at 20th level, so why not a payoff for an attribute that did the same? The payoff for lifting weights is stronger than others so you can do things others can't. You stretch every day like no one else, so you are flexible enough to do things others can't...just examples.
Roll 1D6 for handedness: 1-2 left hand, 2-5 right hand, 6 ambidextrous.
This can be interesting, but you're missing the houserule about handedness having a mechanical impact on the game (as it hasn't as RaW). Ambidextrous has been subsided into TWF and as far as I understand, it serves no purpose in post 3.0 games. Even left-handedness was undefined as far as I know (although I admit my 3.0 knowledge is weak). If it has not impact, it's nice to know but it belongs next to "eye colour" and "number of tattoos"
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Again it is mostly for flavor and fleshing out the character, but when you roll Ambidextrous and take TWF it is possible to remove all negatives from TWF...You can't take Ambi...you have to roll it.
Magic users may cast multiple spells per round, so as long as the combined spell levels do not exceed the BAB.
10th level wizard casting 5 magic missiles of 5 missiles each in a single round? That gives me twitching memories of the awfully broken 2ed Spellweaver thingy. Clerics could go from zero to...
A 10th level Magic User should be able to make small armies shake in their boots, but I probably think that way 'cause I am a fan of Skeeve the Great! 1000xp for those of you who know. Honestly though, it does tend to make the wizard seem powerful, and he/she is ...for a little while. They also burn out of spells faster. So...they have to be careful because I am not upping the amount of spells they have, just how fast they can cast.
I do thank you for your input. Having to explain why I do what I do makes me reevaluate what I have done. Sometimes I find the error of my ways and sometimes....squirrel!
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I don't know if this deserves its own thread, but seeing as how it is a house rule, I shall post it here.
I would like to know what others think of this...seriously.
Removing certain things that make a class and replacing it with a feat...in essence creating a more personal class.
Here is an example of what I mean.
Say you remove some of the weapon groups from a fighters and replace them with a feat each...You would want to keep at least 4 weapon groups for the fighters weapon focus abilities...Yes, this means you could get a great number of feats to begin with. This is creating a custom Arch-type class, after all.
A friend of mine wasn't very sure about this idea until I explained I was treating weapon groups as feats unto themselves for the fighter. If I went with the rules then the martial weapons would count as feats individually...That would be a larger number of feats than counting them all as one feat.
He agreed after that.
I also just came up with something else...I may have to create two new threads...
A preview of the idea is using a feat that gives you a +2 to a skill to meet the prereq for prestige classes or other feats. That would mean if you needed 5 skill points for a feat and you have 3, but you also have a feat that grants +2 to that skill...you have met the prereq.
Please feel free to comment, just remember these are ideas for house rules.
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I was just thinking about this during a discussion of magic items in 5e, grant it this idea may not work with old hat min max groups but could work incredibly well as a way to circumvent the loot fatigue that comes about as you level. The key problem I've always noticed is the loss of mystique magic items suffer as you level with most adventurers compiling this laundry list of stuff that they know all about which makes finding new magic items something more like shopping at the grocers then acquiring a new item of mysterious and interesting power.
1st treat the magic item special abilities section of the pfc as like a list of ingredients to build interesting items instead of as a list of abilities.
2nd don't plant magic items in places they shouldn't be and use special non magical items in loot as often as possible to help keep up the illusion of rare (ie drop a cold iron/mithril/adamantine piece of armor or weapon into a loot horde long before +1) and try to give each weapon or armor you drop around something that makes it unique even if it's just fluff like a cool description or some built in history that will encourage the players to keep it and get attached
3rd don't show/let players look up magical items and item abilities especially for things like weapons & armor as it has a tendency to make it like shopping around for the most effective item rather then allowing them to find an item that makes them interesting and enhancing their character flavor
4th don't let player who craft magical items to know what spells craft a magic item off the bat and allow them to guess at what spells they need to make what they want or have to find books in game to craft the magic item they want. This helps turn it into a mini adventure in and of itself as the pc's try and fail at different combinations to try to make that electric sword or stumble onto cool ones they didn't know about before (think about how fun it would be to stumble into making a vorpal blade).
"Magic users may cast multiple spells per round, so as long as the combined spell levels do not exceed the BAB."
You're going to have to explain the houserule you have for changing casting times then. I agree that casters are already powerful enough, giving them extra nova ability is excessive.
Spells that take more time to cast supersede the house rule casting time. As for multiple spells in one attack...something to keep in mind is they aren't gaining extra spells...instead they are burning through what they have faster.
Yeah but you have to keep in mind that the fight is still going to take them the same amount of spells (or less), since they can end it sooner. It's just giving ridiculous burst potential to casters.
I do see your point, but I do have to mention that the problem has not come up in my campaigns seeing as how my players never really take advantage of this ability. So basically it is there...and that all it is. Kind of like a lot of feats.
I've had it happen before and I have done it before. When I played a mage with this ability of casting multiple spells in a round she burned through her storehouse of spells very quick and had to be rescued after she vanquished the BBEG. It took everything she had and it played out as hard as it should have been. Though the GM and I had agreed she was a prodigy, she was still outclassed by almost every spellcaster she came across.
The prodigy part came in with how we were rating magic abilities. Con times Base Stat for Spells plus hit points. It wasn't a perfect system, but it worked well enough for low level characters.
To answer an earlier question about not using Str in calculating movement...Str is already factored in as far as carry capacity and speed, so that leaves Con and Dex for speed and the ability to keep up the pace.
I am open to other suggestions. I'd also like to hear your house rules as well.
I am now thinking of making some feats 'free' for all players.
Okay. I have given out several 'beginner' feats to the crew today, but only after they completed 'basic training'. The crew had fun and figured it was a great expatiation for the bonuses.
I plan on rewriting the feats to simplify them down to an easier to maintain system. Until then I have included a feat that allows you to increase an attribute by one point.
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The multiple spells in one round thing does sound pretty horrific, and controlled only if the PCs aren't allowed to rest at will. The main effect it might have is to make enemy casters terrifying. An 8th level wizard, RAW, takes some 16 rounds to cast all his spells, cantrips aside. With this rule, that comes down to 7. So you've doubled his firepower, which is not far short of +2 CR.
And what about cantrips? I'd suggest 1/2 a level. Otherwise I'm casting Ray of Frost 500000 times.
The extra feat for a 20 stat rewards SAD classes, who generally don't need the help (especially with the above rule). Pity the poor monk who won't see a 20 until he's old and grey.
MM against objects sounds OK, provided that each attack has to overcome the object's hardness separately and magic items get some manner of saving throw. Otherwise sundering wands and potions is just too easy. I can see why you did it; it's always seemed odd that an MM couldn't hit an object.
I have included a feat that allows you to increase an attribute by one point.
Everyone Would Take This. Because the chargen system generally gives you 2 or 3 odd characteristics, this often equates to +2 in a stat. Which means, for example:
Str: +1 to hit for melee, +1 damage, ie Weapon Focus and half of WpnSpc for everything. So at least 3 feats worth.
Dex: +1 to hit for missiles, +1 AC, +1 init, +1 skills. ie WpnFocus, Dodge, 1/2 LR, 1/4 ImpInit, 1/3 SkF. So at least 3 feats worth.
Con: +1 HP, +1 Fort. So Toughness, 1/2 GF. At least 1.5 feats worth.
Int: +1 skill point, +1 spell DC, more spells. So multiple Spell Focus, Skill Focus, Skill Focus. So at least 3 feats worth.
Wis: +1 spell DC, +1 Will, +1 skills, etc. At least 2 feats.
Cha: +1 spell DC, +1 skills, etc. At least 2 feats.
Yup, that's broken.
Okay. I have given out several 'beginner' feats to the crew today, but only after they completed 'basic training'. The crew had fun and figured it was a great expatiation for the bonuses.
We use a system called Boons, which are sort of feats that you earn through play. For example, you might get elevated to Knighthood, which gives you a Title Boon (Knight), a Privilege Boon (Low Justice) and a Wealth Boon (Land). Each has its own mechanical advantages (Titles grant a social bonus on Diplomacy/Intimidate, Low Justice lets you arrest and fine crooks, Land earns annual revenues if developed).
I'd also like to hear your house rules as well.
Back when I GM'ed 3.5 I got tired of fight's ending too quickly. And I also got tired of seeing people playing supposedly tough fighters or barbarians but rolling 1's or 2's for hp when they leveled up.
So I made a houserule that everything (PC's, NPC's, Monsters) received max hp on all hit dice. Martial classes always got the full use of their larger hit dice instead of just when they rolled high, Fights lasted longer and were more dramatic as a result, and had a side benefit of letting martials exploit their non-dependence on limited resources (i.e. spells) while also making spells that could remove an opponent from a fight quickly have a bigger impact.
Me and my players loved the result and if I ever GM a Pathfinder game I will definitely incorporate this rule.
I think I would allow people to reroll 1s and 2s for hit points. There are other ways to max hit points.
We don't roll to confirm crits, but there are classes and feats that revolve around it. How can these meet in the middle?
I think I would allow people to reroll 1s and 2s for hit points. There are other ways to max hit points.
We don't roll to confirm crits, but there are classes and feats that revolve around it. How can these meet in the middle?
The houserule I use is that a natural 20 auto-confirms criticals (but only the damage multiplier; critical-related effects must be confirmed as usual).
Extended critical range has to confirm any critical threat that is not a natural 20 (like a scimitar rolling a 18)
About HP, what I do is that if a character always gets at least half his hit die.
e.g.: If you level up and roll a 3 in a d10 hit die, it counts as a 5.
My favorite house rule, though, is probably shortening long feat chains. TWF, ITWF, GTWF and Double Slice are just 2 feats; Improved/Greater Combat Maneuver feats are all turned into a scaling feat and do not require neither Combat Expertise nor Int 13. This kind of thing.
All of that sounds reasonable. I will have to run that by my group Lemmy. ty
Glad I could help.
Turning feat chains into scaling feats is a bit of extensive work, but it's worth it, IMO.
The other suggested houserules, however, are quite simple to implement.
Well, technically, I also give them "free feats", but just those things that you really shouldn't need a feats to do, but someone decided to restrict them.
(e.g: Strike Back, Blundgeoner, Bullseye Shot, Body Shield, Equipment Trick, most skill tricks, etc...)
What you wrote about spellcasters casting multiple spells per round is similar to what we came up with:
Spellcasters may cast multiple spells per round, so as long as the combined spell levels do not exceed the character’s highest BAB score (including any level adjustments for metamagic, etc.), nor can the character cast more spells than she has attacks per round. Further, the spells have a maximum casting time of 1 standard action; spells with a casting time longer than 1 standard action (i.e., a full round, 1 minute, etc.), cannot be cast in combination with other spells. Lastly, cantrips and orisons cannot be cast multiple times in the same round.
Casting multiple spells in a single turn is considered a full round action; all the spells come into effect just before the beginning of the turn in the round after casting began. Thus, your spells take a full round to cast, you must continue the invocations, gestures, and concentration from 1 round to just before your turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration after starting the spells and before they are complete, you lose all the spells.
You only provoke attacks of opportunity when you begin casting your spells, even though you continue casting for at least 1 full round. While casting multiple spells, you don’t threaten any squares around you. This action is otherwise identical to the cast a spell action described under Standard Actions in the Pathfinder Core Rule Book.
We have been quite happy with the results; most spellcasters have a maximum BAB of 10-15 @ level 20, and we rarely play the same characters past level 17-18, so we haven't "tested" the results beyond that. Since the number of spells was limited to the number of attacks/turn, we found that the extra spell didn't really tip the scales since the cleric and druid were level 8, and the wizard was level 12 - which ticked off the player since it was her suggestion. The Ranger benefited earlier - at level 6, but he didn't have enough spells to make casting multiple spells in the same round worth the effort. In the end, we hardly used the house rule until the characters were all in the early to mid teens. After that point, however, I had to start adjusting the CR of their opponents; in most cases, I simply advanced the creature template to compensate.
Good idea with the cantrips! Ty kaishakunin.