My first house rule to the Pathfinder system deals with how we roll critical damage.
We maximize one die roll, then roll the second (or third for x3 damage).
So if Billy gets a crit with his longsword, which normally deals 1d8+4 damage, his crit damage would be 1d8+16.
My guess is you mean he does d8+12 on a critical (8+4)
Having the first die max is nice because it makes it so a critical is always higher than what you could normally hit for, but I suggest rolling all other die rather than only the last one. I believe it would be overdoing things like rapiers or sythes that have a X4, but I would have to look at the die rolls to see.
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My first house rule to the Pathfinder system deals with how we roll critical damage.
We maximize one die roll, then roll the second (or third for x3 damage).
So if Billy gets a crit with his longsword, which normally deals 1d8+4 damage, his crit damage would be 1d8+16.
I was curious, so I looked it up: under this rule, a 3.5 Xanesha would deal (2d6+42 plus 1 Wisdom drain) on a crit.
Back on topic: I guess if you want to take the "swingyness" of multiple damage dice out of the equation, then this is a good house rule.
As a DM I can see this being a way to make crits reflect a bit more nastiness, but as a player I'm not certain I'd like that change unless its a 'player only' change. By player only I mean that pc's get the benefits while NPC's do not. Otherwise this change shifts the advantage more toward the NPC's than I think most DM's would want in their games, especially at low levels. Any rule that enhances the effectiveness of criticals hurts the PC's over the course of their career more than it will effect any monster they face simply due to the fact that the PC's suffer from more attacks and therefore more critcals than any other characters in the game.
Just food for thought.
When normally doubling the damage and rolling double the dice, your average is generally within a few points of rolling Maximum damage as a normal hit anyway. A weapon with a x3 modifier is generally within a few points of Max damage x 1.5.
I've had plenty of players through my 18 years of DM'ing roll double damage dice and score crappy damage.
The thing with 3.5 and Pathfinder is a lot of the damage comes from the little bonus after the dice.
The current barbarian in the party, when raging and power attacking with his greatsword would score 2d6+26 damage on a successful attack. On a normal critical hit he would roll 4d6+52. The average of 4d6 is 14. The max of 2d6 is 12. So, if I max the first dice, he gets 12(being the 2d6 maxed) + 26 bonus damage + 26 bonus damage (for the x2 crit) + 2d6 (extra crit damage from the x2 weapon that is not maxed), for a grand total of 2d6+64 damage. The average of 4d6+52 is 66. The average of 2d6+64 is 71.
My daughter's 1st level character fights with a scimitar, and her damage is 1d6+2. Were she to score a crit, she would deal 8 (being the max of 1d6+2 plus 1d6+2, for a total of 1d6+10. The average of 1d6+10 is 13.5. The average of 2d6+4 is 11. So, not that much different.