Darmort's page

I actually had one of my own player characters "die" a couple of weeks ago (Good aligned character tricked into murdering innocents... they're broken now).

My new character was a Paladin who was investigating the deaths of the innocents that had been killed, and was introduced to the party that way.

These new characters often have their own personal quests to achieve rather than someone giving them quests, which gives a natural narrative arc to the new characters as they discuss whose goals are more important.

Thanks for that guys, some great stuff!

alexd1976:
I already am writing down all the changes I'm making, that seems to be an obvious one.

When talking about flexibility I'm overall not worried too much. I'll be upfront with the players that I intend to invite to this campaign about restrictions.

As for the Draconomicon, many things in it just don't work (Prestige classes for Dragons and characters really don't work in Pathfinder). I mostly just use it for the metabreath feats which can add additional challenges to the group, which have been enjoyed so far in this world.

Mysterious Stranger:
Fantastic information, the kind of thing I was looking for! I do indeed want to use these house rules to direct how the campaign shapes out and get a feel for the continent (as it is, it's basically a whole new world even though the people I intend to invite to the game have all played in the world before, as the game is based on another continent which has had limited contact with what they're familiar with). Players are going to be exploring things and making things as much as anything else.

Just A Guess:
Yeah, that's kind of the reason why I've never included house rules before. It's just always been simpler when I've said "This is the game, enjoy!" In my current game I've got some additional ways of earning experience (learning things about the world, defeating major villains, or inputting into the world gives the players additional experience)

Paradygmatic:
There's nothing that I overly dislike about Pathfinder. I've always said so long as it's on the SRD it's fine, and as and when I've needed to I've made rule calls (usually swinging in favour of rule of cool).

As it is, there is a theme I have in mind that I want to share with my players as they help build this part of the world with me.

Hi guys,

First of all, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I am genuinely interested in advise on this.

Anyway!

I'm a long standing GM and for the longest time I've often not delved into house rules. Usually because every time I start a new campaign it has a new player and I end up having to explain any small details that may change or because I dislike limiting my players from all the available resources (Basically if it's on the SRD my players can run wild).

Although recently, I've been shaping up my game world all proper like. This started innocently enough with saying "There's no Gunslingers on this continent" or that I'm using the Draconomicon for all my dragons (because really, why wouldn't I). You know, easy stuff.

Basically, I'm looking on advice on how to implement house rules for my next campaign, which is set in a largely unexplored continent (Think Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania combined).
What I've got so far are several different "races" of humans to reflect the different cultures (For example, the humans that make up most of Europe are Aulustians, it's heavily Greek themed with a smattering of 40k and Percy Jackson inspirations (Humans vs Monsters. All the time). These humans get Weapon Focus with any one weapon, Weapon Proficiency with Martial Weapons and any one Bonus Combat Feat, as well as a +2 racial bonus to Perception. They're effective at fighting because they have to be, but they can't do much else outside of war because they don't know what life is outside of war - I'm hoping)
Then I'm working on a skill overhaul as well - Make things a lot more like 5th Edition Skills so that there are no Skill Ranks, you just have a bonus or you don't, and classes will get a flat amount of skill points at 1st level and that's it. Difficulty Classes will be made so that rolls can be accomplished.

So, to you GMs who do have various house rules...
How radically do people alter things? How drastically do these things affect your campaigns?
Can you offer any advice about informing players of various house rules that alter the game in these regards?

So to confirm, it is literally as worded, you get the powers and abilities listed in the Bloodline/Arcane School, and none of the other benefits?

Good to know.

Quite a simple one, but I'm unsure because of how I initially interpreted it compared to a friend.

With School Understanding, you gain a School Power. Fine, I get that. Using Arcane Reservoir gives you the other Level 1 Power. Fine.

If you take a single Level of Wizard, along with 19 Levels of Arcanist;

Do you count as a 20th Level Wizard for every from your Arcane School, extra School Spells Memorised and all (as well as the Opposed Schools)? This is how my friend interpreted it.

Or do you only get the School Powers? My interpretation.

As for the Bloodline Development, the same situation really. 1 Level of Sorcerer, 19 Levels of Arcanist.

Does this give you all of the Bloodline Powers as well as the extra spells known and additional feats?

Or just all of the Bloodline Powers?

It's usually whatever I feel like playing at the time. My most common fall back character would be a Cleric. Aasimar, if the GM allows the race.
She was blessed by her god when she ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage. She mostly uses this as an excuse to adventure, but ultimately she always ends up helping people because it's the right thing to do.

Other backups I have include a human Illusionist. He's a practical joker, but when it comes down to it you don't want to annoy him. He has a tendency of making sure things die.

A half-orc Fighter/Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple. Never actually got to play him.

A human weapon master who specialises in Falcatas and critting people all day long.

And a catfolk rogue with the minor and major magic talents.

I might be confused as it uses the EXACT SAME NAME as the standard Fighter ability...

That answers that, anyway.

Thanks.

Looking at the Weapon Master Fighter Archetype, there's a few things missing from a couple of the descriptions.

Firstly, Weapon Training. It replaces Armour Training 1, 2, 3 and 4 at their respective levels, which is fine. It does not, however, state that it otherwise works like standard Weapon Training, in that it states a specific weapon, rather than weapon groups.

Secondly, but not as importantly, Unstoppable Strike is gained at Level 19. It doesn't mention what skill it replaces, but I would presume it replaces Armour Mastery.

Very specific to the campaign I'm running, but...

Infernal meddling lordlings!
Airship stealing traitorous wretches!
The saviours have returned!

It's an evil party.