Looking over recent Paizo product there are a lot of really interesting and fun alternate systems that can be introduced into the game, but I'm curious to see just how many of these can work together before it significantly alters how the game has to run.
For example, the Faction system in the Faction Guide can help PCs stay at their Wealth Per Level assumptions by "buying" things like being raised from the dead with prestige points, but if you also use hero points from the APG, and players burn their points to stay alive when they should have died, does this take too much of the sting away from dying?
The Hero Point system is great for giving PCs some control over the randomness of the game when it really counts, but if you use the Plot Twist cards as well, does this tilt the control of the pacing of the campaign over to the PCs and away from the GM?
I'm not saying that you can or cannot use all of the options, or some of the options together, I'm just curious if anyone has thought of potential issues that might come up with interactions inherent in the various systems, or if someone has run campaigns with multiple optional systems and how the campaign has worked out.
We use just about all the options available (and all the prestige classes) with the except of hero points. It's helped us be able to allow each player to have *exactly* the character they want while maintaining power level -- however we do help each other with making sure the mechanics match the character and are in line with the rest of the party.
We tend to run a bit high on the power curve I think (we generally stick with the 20 point buy - with one trait unless it is an AP when you get two).
We don't see "multiclassing" as taking different jobs though -- instead we see each character as a unique "base class" of it's own taking the levels in each class that makes the most sense to get the character the abilities that match with the fluff (and we'll reword mechanics so the descriptions match the fluff).
Well i use alot of feats and classes and such from various sources, but in terms of optional rule sets probably not many.
Right now we are using basic hero points in my game because I like giving my players some control over the dice, and it lets them feel like they have some narrative control. It also gives me a way to let the rule of cool rule the day. For instance we play the two 20's and confirm and its an auto kill. A player the other day rolled two natural 20's and then failed to confirm the second crit. The player looked disappointed after the excitement of 2 20's so I told him if he spent a hero point and made the description awesome, he could get the auto kill. It was a fun moment that everyone at the table enjoyed.
I'm hoping the alternate magic system in Ultimate magic is worth using but we'll have to wait and see.
We noticed that the critical hit deck has made weapons with a high crit range slightly better than those with a high crit multiplier.
Which caused a new house rule: Draw cards = crit multiplier -1, and apply your favorite.
I've allowed my group to use Hero Points. They're racing through them though. If they didn't have them, they'd like be dead a few times over.
I have started my Kingmaker campaign with the use of Hero Points. I sometimes underestimate the lethality of an encounter, so I felt Hero Points were a nice safety measure to have in the player's hands. We've run three sessions so far and no one has used a hero point. I think they are waiting to see how freely I hand out Here Points before spending them too freely themselves.