I was just thinking about some of the house rules I use and the way my group plays. I was wondering how many other people play the game Objectively "wrong" by wrong for example maybe (as the DM if you do it as a player your cheating! ;) ) re-rolling dice, or maybe you don't believe in CR's for your game, maybe you don't use Magic at all in your game. Anything that would be a vast departure from the core rules or what others might think is typical play. Heck PF6 is kind of an example.
When I say wrong i'm being factious btw. I think as long as you and your group are having fun there is no wrong way to play (felt i needed to clear that up.)
Or if you have played in a group that had some strange thing they did and you were like This game is not for me WAY to weird. (nothing mean!)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
This sounds like your asking to see what house rules people use, just using another way of saying it. Or am I missing the point?
If you are interested in browsing other people's house rules I can link mine if you like.
The main GM of our group has a rather detailed doc for his house rules, which is mostly minor tweaks removing the most blatantly broken things and buffing the most underused or underpowered things. Then, I've got my own homebrew doc for the game I run that stacks on top of his, though I change a ton of things regarding magic, alignment, races, and character creation, among other things. Neither of us use XP, nor a number of other game rules.
Honestly, I couldn't imagine myself playing vanilla PF. Too much broken or unfun mechanics. Official erratas take time to come, and sometimes they just make things worse.
| 16 people marked this as a favorite. |
We like to roleplay at my table.
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
We like to roleplay at my table.
Excuse ME sir, but children play this game! You should be most ashamed!
| 11 people marked this as a favorite. |
I flip the table when things go my way.
| 8 people marked this as a favorite. |
In a couple of our campaigns, we use a d30 as follows:
At the start of each combat, when rollng initiative, the players also engage in a separate roll-off. That roll-off can be anything—a d20, d100, 2d6 or whatever (no bonuses/mods applied). The winner of that roll-off claims the d30 for the ensuing combat.
Then, once during that combat, the player can substitute the d30 for any single d20 roll, such as an attack, CL check, save, etc. The numbers from 1–20 function as they normally would with a d20, i.e. a 20 auto-hits and threatens, a 15–20 might threaten (subject to threat range), and a 1 auto-fails. The numbers from 21–30 are simply used as the result, but don't threaten or auto–succeed, except for a natural 30 on an attack roll, which threatens and auto-confirms a crit.
If a player doesn't use the d30 during the combat in question, they don't get to keep it for the next combat (there's a new roll-off every time), but they can use it for their initiative roll right before handing it off to the new roll-off winner.
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
One of the players when he gets mad at dice rolls he throws the offending dice off the back porch as far as he can. The neighbors are getting some free dice in their yards.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I use the Technology Guide for everything.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I use the Technology Guide for everything.
It's even better than the Kama Sutra!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I use the Technology Guide for everything.
So wait does merely quoting you change avatars due to it having the S word in it?
Edit : hehe, that's fantastic
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I use the Technology Guide for everything.So wait does merely quoting you change avatars due to it having the S word in it?
Let's consult the Admiral. Admiral?
IT'S A TRAP!
Ha! You've been smurfed for the holidays!
Merry Christmas!
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
—O knavery Most vile, O trick of Empire’s basest wit. A snare, a ruse, a ploy: and we the fools. What great deception hath been plied today— O rebels, do you hear? Fie, ’tis a trap!”Language was too normal.
Limerick from Dac
There once was an Admiral named Ackbar
Who guided his fleet from star to star,
But the paranoid chap
Thought everything was a trap
So they replaced him with a Captain named Jar-Jar.
Better?
I'm very bad at killing my players. :(
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
My games use very high stats, I allow all books+3pp, custom magic item creation, and I'll work with players to create feats or class features they can have the concept they want.
I'm doing it wrong because I focus on fun over rules. :P
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ditching XP is one of the most best "wrong" ways to play.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's been a while, but in my old home group we used to play wrong all the time. We just didn't care enough about the rules to use them apart from those rare moments, where a conflict couldn't be solved by the players themselves. It was not so much using the rules in a wrong way but more of just outrightly ignoring anything we would probably have had to look up.
Meaning there were a lot of skill checks simply not rolled, a lot of things handwaved, a lot of things simply just talked out between GM and players. We also didn't use any battle maps (if anything, the GM drew a little sketch just so we had insight in how he envisioned our surroundings) but went just with our imagination.
Best game(s) I`ve ever been in.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I don't use XP
Our group uses a "passive perception" check system. A player only has to roll for a Perception check if they actively state they are searching for something (which they can do at any time). At any other time, assuming the characters are not distracted by something like combat, they are assumed to be paying an average amount of attention to their surroundings, effectively giving the characters the benefit of a Take 10 Perception check.
There are a couple of reasons for this. A character with a high perception skill doesn't have to risk a bad roll against a mediocre DC and miss a trap or secret door, even if they aren't thinking to say they're looking for one. Also, it doesn't break immersion. How often at your table has the GM instructed the party to make a Perception check, and then everyone failed to notice anything. Immediately thereafter, the entire party knows that something is up, even though the actual characters have no reason to suspect anything.
We roll like this in Carrion Crown as well. While my monk was alive, he generally spotted everything regardless. :)
I don't use XP
Same; just give the PCs a level when it feels like they accomplished something meaningful, and it works out more or less the same with much less bookkeeping.
I also don't use a grid. If positioning is important, I use a big whiteboard where we can use coins or other things lying around to indicate relative positioning. So I am really not careful about how far away x is from y; basically everything is within a move action unless it's actively trying to stay away.
Our most egregiously "wrong" way to play is that we use the critical hit and critical fumble decks from Paizo. Why? Cause they are so cool! and they lead to often memorable battles.
Some object to critical fumbles on the pretext that the higher level you are, the more often you will make attack rolls, and the more often you will fumble. Which I agree is counterintuitive.
But we use an easy fix for that: only your first attack roll in a round is subject to critical fumble chance, and also, after rolling a natural "1" you have to roll a second time, and it's only a fumble if the second confirming roll would be a miss.
Others object that critical fumbles unfairly penalize martial characters compared to spell users, since many spells don't require attack rolls at all. Again, easy fix for that: any offensive spell requires you to roll for a possible fumble, which you then confirm at D20+ stat bonus vs a fixed DD11 (always fumble on a second nat "1").
Works for us. And my players fondly (or painfully) remember the fight where three of them rolled critical fumbles in the space of two rounds, and got cut in half by a giant scorpion construct (The nastiest critter on book 3 or RotRL, IMHO). Great times!
I've actually started using XP for my games for the first time. I always did the abstract "level up when party accomplishes quest objectives... aka when I feel like it". I actually really like XP for a change.
Before, I felt it was completely arbitrary when players leveled up. I basically used the guidelines for an adventure path to make sure that players were at the right level for what they faced. Then I realized that... that's kind of lame. It's like Oblivion level scaling, player choices don't matter as much when they're always going to be at the right level for an encounter.
And then for a sandbox game, like the game I just started, I need XP or else I will effectively be using levels as a way to pseudo-railroad the party. Instead, players have full control over how the progress, based on the game system.
Plus, there's something kinda satisfying about getting a nice chunk of exp after an encounter.
Anyway, my main house rules right now are the following: I allow TWF users (aka, people with the TWF feat) to make two attacks on a standard action. I'm using Background Skills for the first time. I also give Fighters (and Paladins, and Warpriests) 4 +INT skill points, but limit the number of times they can take the Versatile Training AWT perk to 1. I'm very slowly increasing the number of house rules I use, but I'm being conservative until I have more experience.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And then for a sandbox game, like the game I just started, I need XP or else I will effectively be using levels as a way to pseudo-railroad the party. Instead, players have full control over how the progress, based on the game system.
Interesting. I run mostly sandbox games and that's specifically why I dropped XP as a consideration long ago. Specifically, if the PCs decide they need to rob the baron to acquire the artifact in his private collection, the system will reward them with more experience if they just storm in and kill everything in their way than if they manage to get in and out quiet and clean and nobody gets hurt and nobody is the wiser. If I wanted to reward players for being creative and thoughtful and pulling something off I had to directly intervene to give them a bunch of XP even though there were no rules to tell me how much.
At that point, I figured "if half the XP awards I give out are arbitrary, why even bother tracking it at all." Most of the people I play with regularly assiduously attempt to avoid unnecessary fighting, and I see no reason to punish that impulse
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Our most egregiously "wrong" way to play is that we use the critical hit and critical fumble decks from Paizo. Why? Cause they are so cool! and they lead to often memorable battles.
Some object to critical fumbles on the pretext that the higher level you are, the more often you will make attack rolls, and the more often you will fumble.....
Others object that critical fumbles unfairly penalize martial characters compared to spell users, since many spells don't require attack rolls at all. ....
I object to critical fumbles as 1: they are not realistic and
2. I wanna play a hero not one of the Three Stooges.We have also all gone to leveling up, not XP.
And then for a sandbox game, like the game I just started, I need XP or else I will effectively be using levels as a way to pseudo-railroad the party. Instead, players have full control over how the progress, based on the game system.Interesting. I run mostly sandbox games and that's specifically why I dropped XP as a consideration long ago. Specifically, if the PCs decide they need to rob the baron to acquire the artifact in his private collection, the system will reward them with more experience if they just storm in and kill everything in their way than if they manage to get in and out quiet and clean and nobody gets hurt and nobody is the wiser. If I wanted to reward players for being creative and thoughtful and pulling something off I had to directly intervene to give them a bunch of XP even though there were no rules to tell me how much.
At that point, I figured "if half the XP awards I give out are arbitrary, why even bother tracking it at all." Most of the people I play with regularly assiduously attempt to avoid unnecessary fighting, and I see no reason to punish that impulse
Yeah, I fully intend to give XP out for nonviolent resolution- but it won't be TOO arbitrary. There's definitely some guesswork involved, but my general plan is to hand out XP based on the CRs of any creatures that could have easily become hostile. XP on killing trash mobs (CR -3 or less, provided they aren't in a group large enough to raise the encounter to acceptable levels) and killing innocent creatures will also be significantly penalized. And of course, I track reputations and NPC relations. Ultimately, a bit more XP isn't worth sabotaging the entire campaign by committing a massacre. Nonviolent resolution *usually* results in a better reputation. That's my plan, it's worked so far, but we also have a Paladin in the group.
Of course, this relies on a lot of bookkeeping. In using XP, I'm accepting that there's going to be some more bookkeeping, but I actually enjoy figuring out the XP of encounters.
|
And then for a sandbox game, like the game I just started, I need XP or else I will effectively be using levels as a way to pseudo-railroad the party. Instead, players have full control over how the progress, based on the game system.Interesting. I run mostly sandbox games and that's specifically why I dropped XP as a consideration long ago. Specifically, if the PCs decide they need to rob the baron to acquire the artifact in his private collection, the system will reward them with more experience if they just storm in and kill everything in their way than if they manage to get in and out quiet and clean and nobody gets hurt and nobody is the wiser. If I wanted to reward players for being creative and thoughtful and pulling something off I had to directly intervene to give them a bunch of XP even though there were no rules to tell me how much.
At that point, I figured "if half the XP awards I give out are arbitrary, why even bother tracking it at all." Most of the people I play with regularly assiduously attempt to avoid unnecessary fighting, and I see no reason to punish that impulse
While I know that a lot of people don't play with that rule, aren't you supposed to get XP for any sort of challenge you beat whether or not you use violence and/or the brute force method? So you should get the same XP for sneaking past the guards to the objective as you would for slicing them all up on your way in to get the objective.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
While I know that a lot of people don't play with that rule, aren't you supposed to get XP for any sort of challenge you beat whether or not you use violence and/or the brute force method? So you should get the same XP for sneaking past the guards to the objective as you would for slicing them all up on your way in to get the objective.
Part of the issue is that I always wanted to award more XP for Oceans 11/Leverage style heists than I do for wanton violence, so I had to make up a number for the bonus XP for "you did it the subtle way" regardless.
Depending on the campaign, I've incorporated different mixes of some of the variant campaign rules, such as Wound Thresholds, Hero Points, etc.
The largest and most useful house rules I've used, were in adopting the changes done by Michael Iantorno to eliminate feat taxes (http://michaeliantorno.com/feat-taxes-in-pathfinder/),
including having combat feats such as weapon focus/specialization apply to weapon groups.
The other house rules I use (in addition to some character generation tweaks) as as follow:
I've never liked that clerics, druids and such, have access to ALL their class's spells when preparing for the day. This is compounded by an ever-increasing number of class spells, as new books/products are issued.
My rule initially limits them to CRB spells for their class only.
It's handled like a wizard's spell book, as for what spells they have access to for preparation. There isn't an actual book; it's just a list of what divine spells are in their repertoire.
Spells they have access to, can be increased, much like wizards do: learning with time, research and resources (particularly devout PCs may get some help from patron deity or their church as well). This way, they can get access to spells beyond the CRB.
This doesn't apply to spontaneous divine casters that already have a limited list of spells known. Just to those that normally can prepare from an ENTIRE class list.
Another pet peeve, regarded masterwork weapons/armor. It grated on me that it cost the same (300 GP)to make a masterwork dagger, as it did for a masterwork great-sword. Same goes for masterwork buckler or full plate armor (150gp for either). So I scaled the cost there
Light Armor: +100gp
Medium Armor: +200gp
Heavy Armor: +300gp
Bklr/Lt. Shields: +50gp
Hvy. /Twr Shields: +100gp
Light Weapon: +50gp
One-Hand Weapon: +100gp
Two-Hand Weapon: +150gp
Martial Weapon: +100gp
Exotic Weapon: +200gp
*Weapon cost is cumulative: A one-handed, martial weapon will cost an additional 200gp.
*Adding the masterwork quality to a double weapon costs twice the normal amount.
My last regular house rule applies to languages. Knowledge in language is split between speaking, and being literate.
Characters can speak, and are literate in, the starting language(s) for their race.
Instead of bonus languages for high Intelligence, each modifier point allows them to speak OR be literate in another language.
The same applies to ranks in the Linguistic skill. A rank in the skill provides speaking OR literacy in a language. So you would have to apply a skill rank twice to a particular language to speak & be literate in that language.
I felt one skill rank for both was too generous. Plus this allows for languages the character might not be able to speak (physical limitations), or to being able to read a dead language that no one knows how it sounds. Or to speak a language that doesn't have a written form.
Those are mine.
I'd be happy if anyone found them useful or interesting.
Pod Trooper
We play 1 on 1, but have no time to set up adventures, so the wife runs published adventures.
So to make a single character from a non optimizer have the skills and talents needed to run a game solo - we generate stats that run 16-18, use +1 level 3.x style template, gestalt, then Mythic.
I completely ignore CR and WBL after character creation.
some confusion on what i was after to clarify some people got it down see following posts to see what I had in mind.
Ignotus Advenium, Saldiven, Rednals, Charons little helper(who hopefully is kidding), all the Ditching XP posts, people who ignore rules complelty and dice thrower posts.
Its just what ever makes the game fun or interesting for you but I think hearing the crazy dice throwing stories is kind of fun too :D.
Oh and Johnnycat93 too. Yeah I don't follow WBL very closely myself.
Here's a few things that I do to make things more fun for my group (note that the other GM does not use all of these, he has his own list):
1. You cannot roll less than average hit points before adding in bonuses. If you roll less than average, you get average.
2. We use critical hits and fumbles. There is one caveat: if any one player decides that they are not fun then we do not use them. Everyone has fun without them. I want everyone to have fun with them.
3. XP is given when it's time for the next stage of the adventure. I run Adventure Paths so it's pretty easy. We have a few people who can't always make the game due to work. This works best for our group.
4. The summoner has been "cursed/blessed" to be able to bring in or send away adventurers. She has no control over this. It happens when it happens. Coincidentally, it happens when a player can't make the game or when he finally can make it. It's how I have the PCs that aren't always present come and go rather than just fade into the background.
Here's a few things that I do to make things more fun for my group (note that the other GM does not use all of these, he has his own list):
1. You cannot roll less than average hit points before adding in bonuses. If you roll less than average, you get average.
2. We use critical hits and fumbles. There is one caveat: if any one player decides that they are not fun then we do not use them. Everyone has fun without them. I want everyone to have fun with them.
3. XP is given when it's time for the next stage of the adventure. I run Adventure Paths so it's pretty easy. We have a few people who can't always make the game due to work. This works best for our group.
4. The summoner has been "cursed/blessed" to be able to bring in or send away adventurers. She has no control over this. It happens when it happens. Coincidentally, it happens when a player can't make the game or when he finally can make it. It's how I have the PCs that aren't always present come and go rather than just fade into the background.
I like the ability to send party members in and away would be a useful tool.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh here's a "wrong" thing I do all the time if my players are people I know pretty well.
For stat generation, here's our system: Come up with an idea for a character that you'd enjoy roleplaying as, think about who they are, what they come from, what they've done, and what they're like. Now, write down whatever array of stats you think best fit that character. No stats above 18 post-racials, clear your character sheets with the GM at least a week before the first session.
When you can trust the players are more interested in playing as a person they find interesting, and not remotely interested in roleplaying as "invincible sword princess" this works great.
Oh here's a "wrong" thing I do all the time if my players are people I know pretty well.
For stat generation, here's our system: Come up with an idea for a character that you'd enjoy roleplaying as, think about who they are, what they come from, what they've done, and what they're like. Now, write down whatever array of stats you think best fit that character. No stats above 18 post-racials, clear your character sheets with the GM at least a week before the first session.
That is pretty close to how I run superhero games^^
In addition to standard XP, our GM grants bonus XP for role play, and for in-character journal entries after a session. The points are scaled by APL and each is worth about 10% (+/- a few % depending on quality, commitment, etc.) Obviously, this means you can advance faster if you put in the effort.
About half of our players journal regularly (we're a large group).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I flip the table when things go my way.
I feel there is just not enough emphasis on Goes your way. Nat 20! I kill the monster! *flip Table* you get excited.
I like the ability to send party members in and away would be a useful tool.
The player has no control over it. It's 100% the GM's purview. I've done similar things in that past. I've had PCs trapped inside of figurines of wondrous power, trapped in genie bottles, tattooed on another PC, brought forth and sent away with wild magic, etc. I like to come up with creative ways to deal with a real world issue of us having to be adults once in a while.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
We used to use a blanket of smallness saying they were turned into miniature statues since their souls were missing for awhile. It sounds silly now that i think back on it but when your knee deep in dungeon its weird to have people constantly appearing and disappearing.