Just don't increase the animal companion's size, you do have this choice: Instead of taking the listed benefit at 4th or 7th level, you can instead choose to increase the companion's Dexterity and Constitution by 2. Problem solved ^_^
Until the second session, you can change whatever character details you want. You'd be surprised how much this one is useful. I tend to take this one step further, with my new players. If they choose something that they find useless, and it hasn't meaningfully impacted game play at all, then I allow them to swap. For example, if someone chooses improved steal, and never once uses it... then I'll let them swap it out between session for something more useful.
I lurk a lot on the boards, and the whole disparity that is touted between martial and caster still exists in mythic. I agree that mythic is amazing, and while I have more experience with gestalt (which might bias my opinion slightly) I think they both make for interesting groups. At this point, I'm wondering what might bring them closer to par, like for instance I wanted to run a group of gestalt characters through WotR that don't get mythic. Any ideas to lower the disparity besides Hero Points? Thought that is a good suggestion, it seems to be only a step in the right direction.
This is awesome! Wow, Kirth Gersen and Metal Sonic have made me realize that if I'm going to be using house rules so much I really need to make the time to put them all down on a document for my players to read at their leisure. The showing up on time rules are something I never thought of either, but would be of great benefit, as I have a couple that always show up about 15-20 minutes late each week we play... lol.
HP has always been a sore spot in running games, I really don't like the mechanic of rolling for HP every level, as my heroes are the focus of stories. I've got a slightly more complex rule, but it allows me to calculate my players HP on the fly, as I'm so used to it: Level 1: max
Example: A level 8 Wizard with a Con of 12 and no toughness will have: 49 HP (7+(6*7)) d12 gets 9 per level after 1st
It's not perfect, as it's a little weighted for the not exactly divisible by 4 hit dice (rounding up to their benefit), but it works fairly well, and none of my players ever complain, it makes leveling up a matter of math instead of having to roll dice in front of me, so as soon as a level is earned, they get to work.
These are all fun ideas! I already use the no XP rule in our games, and have for so long I didn't even think to include it in the original post, lol. Only recently have 2 of my players started to get into the minion master style of play, I like the index card idea! It has slowed our games down quite a bit, and that might fix things. ^_^ Keep 'em coming everyone! This is my kind of thread!
As title, I would just like to see some opinions on house rules that you feel enhance the game, either as flavor, or you feel are a mechanical improvement. I'll start: 1) Wis to AC for monk dips: at one time the gaming group I led had 4 out of 6 characters dip 1 or 2 levels in Monk because they had Wis as a main stat. I discussed with them a limiting factor and we decided that it should be tied to the number of monk levels such as the Duelist prestige class limits int to AC: a 1 to 1 basis. So, want +2 to AC? Need 2 levels monk. 2) For the Stonelord Paladin for dwarves, I calculate Lay on Hands off of the Con stat, yes I understand it is a bump in their power, but I don't feel it is overpowered and it fits thematically in my mind as they draw their power from the earth. So, what are some house rules you use, and why do you feel they improve the game?
First off, I'd like to say this thread is enthralling, and has pulled me into actually posting for the first time ever, and I've played Pathfinder since it came out, albeit only homebrew, but eh, fun thread ^_^I didn't do this before, but I wanted to welcome you! Hooray! Welcome to the forums! Please feel free to poke around, read stuff, and ask things! Thank you, I've always wanted to avoid any unnecessary hostility, which sadly seems to be a theme on many forum boards all over the internet. However, while it seems that people are passionate about their opinions, this thread at least is trying to maintain an on topic bent. I shall endeavor to be more involved in the future, as I hope this game continues to thrive and I have many more books to buy in the future! ^_^
Silent Spell: You can cast your spells without making any sound. Benefit: A silent spell can be cast with no verbal components. Spells without verbal components are not affected. Level Increase: +1 (a silent spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell's actual level.) Special: Bard spells cannot be enhanced by this feat. The bolded line explains away Spellsong, sadly. I don't think it can be used as an argument that all spellcasting has some Spellcraft check visual element if Bards are specifically exempted from using Silent Spell, and got Spellsong instead...
I have a question that I'd like to pose to both sides of the debate: What if my character, who specializes in counterspells, has a permanent Arcane Sight spell, (or is a Drow with said racial feats)? Can I then see a Silent/Stilled spell with my readied action? Not to derail things completely, I was just curious if this might make it so playing within either interpretation of the rules would still allow one to make a niche character: the counterspelling master! ^_^
Astral Projection gives you an incorporeal astral body, so hitting the demiplane at any speed is irrelevant. Once you arrive at the demiplane it creates a new temporary physical body, with a copy of all your gear so you could still wreak a lot of destruction. Unfortunately, this is why I said the cold war issue is still a thing, as you can literally go nova, and even if you die, as you are there via Astral Projection, you just snap back to your body with 2 negative levels, which are a minor nuisance to a high level character, Greater Restoration, and problem solved. What's worse, there is a lvl 5 version that allows you to travel in the astral plane without going to the other plane, which means a much lower level caster can find a demiplane. Even if that only allows them to map the 'address' of said demiplane, it means trouble for the inhabitants, as there is no special kind of RAW spell that I know of that extends your senses to the astral plane unless you scry, but what if the BBEG sends a low level henchman you've never met, or even knew about? According to your setting lvl 9 is fairly common (most adults are 10th level) so this shouldn't be hard to accomplish. I've found as a GM the more complex I make a situation, the harder my players try to unravel it... humans are a strange lot. If I leave things vague, I always have less issues with world breaking attempts. Hope this little trick doesn't prevent you from running your game though! ^_^ |
