House Rules: What kind do you use and how do you feel they enhance your game?


Homebrew and House Rules

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Hi there everyone! I'm new to Pathfinder and this is my first post on the forums so I thought I'd make it about house rules. It seems most everyone uses them and I am very eager to find out from others which ones they use and how they feel they enhance the game.

In my current game (based on the world of Berserk with some DnD conceits, i.e. high magic, high magic items) I am using the following house rules:

Initiative is a set number, we don't roll. If the monster and a PC have the same number the PC goes first. (We did this because for some reason I have a hard time keeping track of the turns and I'm so lazy I refuse to just use a marker or write it down.) This leads to the PCs always going first because they choose abilities that inflate their initiative as high as possible but I don't mind.

Area of effect damage and negative effect spells cast by PCs don't effect other PCs. We did this because we originally thought that's how it worked and once we found out that was not true we still liked it enough to keep it around. I always remind my PCs though if they play in someone else's game at some point don't keep dropping fireballs on your friends=)

Rogues get a talent at every single level and hide in plain sight is a major talent. This is for a single player who joined recently and has played pathfinder before but thinks rogues are to weak but wants to play one.

Spells that do die/level damage now do 2 die/level. This is because I give my monster's high hp but don't want damage spells to become to completely obsolete compared to save or defeat spells.

Max hp and 30 point buy for characters. My players become a great deal more invested in the game when they are playing superheroes =) Still use regular treasure though.

I never use monsters from a book but just make up the stats for them on the fly, allowing my players to know some of them if they make the appropriate knowledge checks. In general my monsters have lower AC and higher saves than most book monsters so that melee types nearly always hit even on their last attack but casters are less likely to completely disable a beast in one shot. No real complaints from casters though because if I can tell the player in real life really wants the spell he is casting to work I often fudge the numbers so he is successful.

I cheat constantly but in ways the players never figure out to make the story more dramatic and exciting. I'm very good at making a boss monster seem nearly unstoppable at first but then juggling the numbers so that the PCs win by the skin of their teeth for a emotional satisfying victory that appeared to be gained through sound game mechanics and clever play. As my players get more experienced with the game they're going to figure out at some point that I'm full of it but oh well I'm sure they'll still appreciate it.

The last two things were more play style things than house rules I guess but I'm interested in what people do with those in their games too. So please share I'd love to hear all about your house rules and play styles to get new perspectives and perhaps adopt a few of yours for my own games.

Scarab Sages

Wow. Those are some pretty "out there" house rules. But if you're group likes them, I say "go for it!"

Most of my house rules are clarifications of existing rules and spells. Mostly I don't add or subtract much, but where there are gray areas I try to nail them down a bit more.

I have a PDF of mine on my web site, if you care to see them. I should note that the point buy number chosen for the latest campaign was too high -- I didn't account for Paizo having changed the point costs! >D And some of my house rules are similar to what Paizo settled upon (like death causing a negative level; I originally got that from Andy Collins) but there are differences.


Wow! Thanks for sharing! Yes your house rules are are a great deal more clear and relevant than our own sometimes nearly nonsensical reading and rewriting of rules. I especially like your clarification of how you think certain spells should work it gave me a lot to think about I'll definitely adopt some of what you said to our game. One Question I have about your house rules about character creation: Why did you decide PCs gain HP at a fixed rate? In our own game the reason we did is because we learned that consistently bad HP rolls seemed to hurt the players far more the consistently good ones helped so we just said what the heck let the players have max HP they'll live longer across the board. Is that why or is it simply a preference and balance thing?


azhrei_fje wrote:

Wow. Those are some pretty "out there" house rules. But if you're group likes them, I say "go for it!"

Most of my house rules are clarifications of existing rules and spells. Mostly I don't add or subtract much, but where there are gray areas I try to nail them down a bit more.

I have a PDF of mine on my web site, if you care to see them. I should note that the point buy number chosen for the latest campaign was too high -- I didn't account for Paizo having changed the point costs! >D And some of my house rules are similar to what Paizo settled upon (like death causing a negative level; I originally got that from Andy Collins) but there are differences.

I'm about 2 minutes into the PDF, but I already will tell you I love the changes to the Rage Powers, especially "Knockback" I might just steal those for myself.

Good Stuff!

-Idle


Agreed!

Liberty's Edge

I don't use too many anymore, but I don't run all that much anymore (note to self: Threads d20 is never a good idea)

Anyway! You asked for house rules, and I can provide what little I use when I run!

Action Points: You get an action point pool equal to 3 + half your level, which you can use to automatically stabilize if dying, or add +1d6 to any d20 roll. Every day, you regain one action point. All PCs and some plot-important NPCs have action points.

Bags of Holding: There is only one type of Bag of Holding (the type I). I discard the weight/volume capacities as well as "if a sharp object tears the bag from within the bag is wrecked" because I never particularly liked these rules. My only limit on what can go into the bag is "if you can get it through the opening, you can get it into the Bag."

Hit Points: When rolling HP for a new level, you can reroll a 1 once. If your Constitution is 20 or better, you can reroll a 1 or 2 once. (If you have 30+ Constitution, you don't GET an HP reroll because you're already getting at least 11 HP anyway so stop complaining. =p)

Shortswords: Shortswords inflict either Slashing or Piercing damage, whatever you the wielder think is more helpful.


Makes sense I can see how those simple additions would help your game.

Liberty's Edge

A rule I recently introduced (which was inspired by a crit/fumble thread here,) is using what I've imaginitively labeled "critical points." (Or sexy points, as one of my players has decided they're called.)

We have the crit and fumble cards from Paizo (which are pretty awesome,) but I've never liked the way they're handled. So I decided that instead of making fumbles a matter of chance, I put the choice in the player's hands.

If a player rolls a natural 1, they can either:
a) Ignore the fumble, count it as a normal miss.
b) Automatically confirm the fumble and take a card.

If they take a card, they accept whatever the card says. However, they also get a critical point, which they can then use later. When they get a critical hit (and confirm it,) they can use a critical point to take one of the crit cards and add its effects on top of their normal critical damage.

So far it's worked pretty well. The fumbles are often pretty entertaining, and the extra crit damage/effects have been helpful.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The reason I call them House Rules is because they're used "in house" they are rules that fit my particular game and player group. That doesn't mean that I would recommend them to any thing else.

They're mostly in the nature of broad guidelines. Such as "certain things don't need to be rolled for." Such as if you get into the middle of a fight between two very pissed off strong people and you turn your back on one of them... I don't need to roll if that person can get a free shot at you, or an automatic grapple.

Rules that enhance my game... may very well kill yours.


In response to Lord Riffington that's actually the cleverest way to use the decks I've heard so far, and I like how it adds to player options. In response to LazarX while that's true many people's house rules contain original ideas that I feel could benefit my group greatly, the reason I started this thread is it's a good way to hear great ideas that I won't find in any official book.


OOOOOooooo... I like the way you use fumble/crit decks. The way we currently use them is if you fumble, you get a card, however if you have weapon focus and fumble you get two and pick the one you want. As for the crit, you may draw as many cards as the crit modifier -1 and can choose between them. For example if I am wielding a scythe and crit I draw 3 cards and can choose between them.
But I like your way better :-)


Lordjimbo wrote:
Initiative is a set number, we don't roll. If the monster and a PC have the same number the PC goes first. (We did this because for some reason I have a hard time keeping track of the turns and I'm so lazy I refuse to just use a marker or write it down.) This leads to the PCs always going first because they choose abilities that inflate their initiative as high as possible but I don't mind.

I’ve played with and without this rule. It speeds up the game tremendously! Players sit in initiative order around the table, everyone always knows when their turn is coming and can plan for it, etc. The only thing I add is that I make it possible for enemies to surprise the party by using good tactics. (Just because you have high initiative doesn’t mean you’ll get to act before the invisible guy who announced his presence by shooting you!)

Outside of those surprise rounds, I don’t find it terrible that the PCs usually go first. They still don’t go before brownies, pixies, and other monsters that are all about being quick, which is nice. But generally speaking, they’re an adventuring party! They’re a band of professionals who are moving through enemy territory on high alert. Why should 50% of the random encounters they come across start with the opposition being more prepared for a fight than the advanturers?

Lordjimbo wrote:
Rogues get a talent at every single level . . .

I like this one too. I expect that, instead of making rogues too powerful in or out of combat, that it encourages the player to pick a mix of in-combat and non-combat talents.

Lordjimbo wrote:
I never use monsters from a book but just make up the stats for them on the fly, allowing my players to know some of them if they make the appropriate knowledge checks.

I use a lot of made-up or modified monsters myself, but I tend to borrow stat blocks from the books to do most of the number crunching for me. For example, I’ve had a party going through a jungle fight something the locals call, “Stone Lemurs”. They’re just basilisks that look like monkeys, but it’s more interesting than finding the common basilisk in a land that’s supposed to be foreign. Also, how many times do you really feel like pretending that you don’t know you’re fighting XYZ monster, just because you happen to be playing a new-ish character?

Lordjimbo wrote:
I cheat constantly but in ways the players never figure out to make the story more dramatic and exciting. I'm very good at making a boss monster seem nearly unstoppable at first but then juggling the numbers so that the PCs win by the skin of their teeth for a emotional satisfying victory that appeared to be gained through sound game mechanics and clever play.

I don’t consider this a form of cheating. I consider it one of many different forms of GMing. Some players love it, some hate it, quite a few love it as long as you ever tell them explicitly that you’re doing it!

azhrei_fje wrote:


Most of my house rules are clarifications of existing rules and spells. Mostly I don't add or subtract much, but where there are gray areas I try to nail them down a bit more.
I have a PDF of mine on my web site, if you care to see them. I should note that the point buy number chosen for the latest campaign was too high -- I didn't account for Paizo having changed the point costs! >D And some of my house rules are similar to what Paizo settled upon (like death causing a negative level; I originally got that from Andy Collins) but there are differences.

I like a lot of your house rules, and I especially like that you’ve published them for your players. My personal #1 house rule about house rules is, “Either I announce it before it has any effect on the players, or it doesn’t happen until the next campaign.” I hate discovering a house rule that gimps my plan after I’ve already committed to the plan, so I try never to do that to my players.

Lordjimbo wrote:
Why did you decide PCs gain HP at a fixed rate?

I use almost exactly the same rule, and I use it for the same reason I use fixed array or point-buy rather than rolling for attributes -- The game is already random enough on a round-to-round basis, I want the build of your character to be stable rather than influenced by random rolls.

Lordjimbo wrote:
Bags of Holding: There is only one type of Bag of Holding (the type I). I discard the weight/volume capacities as well as "if a sharp object tears the bag from within the bag is wrecked" because I never particularly liked these rules. My only limit on what can go into the bag is "if you can get it through the opening, you can get it into the Bag."

I really like this one, and have occasionally used similar methods myself.

LordRiffington wrote:

If a player rolls a natural 1, they can either:

a) Ignore the fumble, count it as a normal miss.
b) Automatically confirm the fumble and take a card.
If they take a card, they accept whatever the card says. However, they also get a critical point, which they can then use later. When they get a critical hit (and confirm it,) they can use a critical point to take one of the crit cards and add its effects on top of their normal critical damage.

That’s the first use of fumbles I’ve liked in 20+ years of playing the game! It brings in the “interesting crazy descriptions” that fumble and critical tables produce, without the wildly random and unbalanced game effects that usually accompany them.


Well thank you for your positive and insightful feedback Blueluck. Also the bag of holding is a misquote that was Snorb!


Lordjimbo wrote:
. . .the bag of holding is a misquote that was Snorb!

Thanks for the correction! I'm unable to edit the original post, but Snorb, you have my apologies for not giving you credit.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
TOZ's 3.5 Houserules wrote:

Alignment

Aligned spells will only affect outsiders and other creatures for whom alignment is a part of their existance. Examples are Blasphemy, Dictum, Protection from X, Detect X, and so forth. Humanoids will still have alignments, but these are meant to be a guideline for their habits and will not cause them to suffer ill effects from aligned spells. The exception is clerics and paladins and other characters who gain an Aura of X. These will be treated as normal, while all others will be considered Neutral for the purpose of resolving spell effects. Smite X is under review and may still work normally to prevent paladins from an unnecessary nerf. High level spells Blasphemy and company that that affect all non-X is under review for a lesser effect.

Examples: ('humanoids' is used as a blanket statement for all creatures changed by this ruling)

Blasphemy: Affects only nonevil auraed creatures normally, humanoids get +5 bonus for determining spell effects to a maximum of equal caster level.

Chaos Hammer: Humanoids are treated as neutral for the purposes of effects, regardless of alignment.

Purpose: Humans are not defined by their alignment, and therefore are not as strongly effected by spells that are against them, and are still harmed by those for them. An evil fighter will now take damage from his cleric buddies Unholy Blight, but the good fighter won't take extra. The good cleric won't hurt himself with his Holy Smite, but do more damage to the evil blackguard.

Saves

Saves for multiclass characters will be calculated by totaling the number of levels with good and poor saves and using that total to determine bonus according to the table on pg. 22 of the PHB. So a Cleric 2/ Fighter 2 will have +4 Fort, +1 Reflex, +3 Will. BAB will be treated in the same manner. A Cleric 2/ Rogue 2 will have a +3, not a +2.

Purpose: To prevent single level dips and out of whack save bonuses.

Hit Points

Negative HP before dying will be equal to Con score. (Con of 12, death at -12)
All HD per level will be maxed.

Purpose: Increase character survivability at low levels without overpowering high levels more. This campaign is known to be hard. I can count five deaths in my previous game along with many, many close experiences. Revivify from Spell Compendium is a recommended spell choice.

Buff Spells

Specifically, Bull Strength and the like. Duration is returned to 3.0 length of 1 hour/per level to reduce bookkeeping.

Skill Checks

Diplomacy, Concentration and possibly Tumble will have their DCs adjusted by enemy modifiers rather than be static targets.
Spot and Listen will be rolled into Perception, Hide and Move Silent into Stealth.
Concentration is removed in favor of level checks to maintain spells.
Spellcraft will use Knowledge: Appropriate For Spell. (Wizard/Sorceror/Bard = Arcana, Cleric = Religion, Druid = Nature.)
Use Rope is now a part of Survival.
Open Lock is part of Disable Device.
Perform and Profession will grant one type per 2 points spent.

Purpose: Enough bonuses make checks automatic, and that hasn't sat well with me, even when it was me using Tumble. The consolidation is something many people agree with judging by forum discussion, Pathfinder, and 4E rules.

Skill Points

All 2/level classes get 4/level.

Purpose: Low Int characters still need skills.

XP

XP will not be given out during the game. Characters will level at predetermined times in the campaign.


I run two groups at the moment at the first I'm the DM and we use a few houserules, see: http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/round-2/wikis/houserules

I would pinout two of them here:
char creation: 7x 4d6, dropp lowest - this allows strong characters, but hey they are heros. :)
HP per level: roll, take your roll or after you know the result say the DM should roll again, then you have to take the DMs roll, even if it’s lower - this gives you a chance to get more avarage HPs (no level 10 Figther with less HP then the Wizard.^^)

The second group use much more house rules, but most to make the game "easy flow".
One I don't like is the flanking one:
Enemys has a facing direction and you can only flank them, if you hit from behind and anotherone is at the creatures front.

Another one I like is from "Feng Shui":
As long the GM don't say something isn't there it's there. This allows a much more creative play (if it's not abused), we use it mainly for City Design, so the City get much more life. ("Wasn't there a blacksmith near the city gates, let's ask him if we can repair our stuff there").


TriOmegaZero, your notes make mention of the campaign your playing in being very hard just out of curiosity which campaign was that?

Dark Archive

My HP rolling rule that I have been using forever is that if you roll less than half on the die, round it up to half.

I once played a rogue that rolled 1,2,1,1,2 for his first 5 levels, so that he became pretty much unplayable.

Richard


Tryn wrote:
As long the GM don't say something isn't there it's there. This allows a much more creative play (if it's not abused), we use it mainly for City Design, so the City get much more life. ("Wasn't there a blacksmith near the city gates, let's ask him if we can repair our stuff there").

I also use a version this rule in games I run. "If it helps the story or helps build the world, go for it! Unless there's a reason not to, I'll make it so."

I got to town on a horse, but lost it gambling my first night. - OK
I brought enough horses for everybody, they've been waiting outside. - Not OK

There's a blacksmith near the town gate, let's ask him. - OK
The blacksmith is my brother, but he hates me, so I'm not going in with you. - Great!
The blacksmith is my brother, so he gives me free stuff. - Not OK

You can see where I'm going with this, I'm sure.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
Lordjimbo wrote:
TriOmegaZero, your notes make mention of the campaign your playing in being very hard just out of curiosity which campaign was that?

Shackled City. Some people found it hard, others didn't. My first group were all brand-new players, so that probably skewed their results. My current group is a little savvier.

Also, the 42 point buy helps.


Stat rolling:
1 x 6d6, keep highest three
1 x 5d6, keep highest three
3 x 4d6, keep highest three
1 x 3d6, keep all

Yes, we've had a Charisma of "3".


These are some really good ideas for house rules. I have a few myself on my website for my world, feel free to have a look at them. We had hero points since first ed, and added more uses since then. Tell me what you think, and have fun. www.sites.google.com/site/prysmworld


To TriOmegaZero, I've heard some good stuff about that adventure path. My friend has the whole thing in one big book maybe I should borrowed for my next campaign.

To Bogarvus, for some reason that address isn't coming up as anything for me. Post the rules here if you would be so kind?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

If/when you run SCAP, or any of the first three paths, check out the community material for ideas on tweaking it to your party.


Alright, thanks!


Melee/Thrown Weapon Universal damage range. (exotic weapon become martial weapon under this system)

Light weapon = 1d6 damage and crit 18-20/x2
Medium one-handed weapon = 1d8 damage and crit 19-20/x3
Large two-handed weapoon = 1d10 damage and crit 20/x4

Why... because i like to encourage players to use any weapon they like, and encourage weapon diversity. So more people play using hammers, tridents, picks, even saps. Also, easy to remember, so less time looking stuff up, and more time having fun.

Range weapon:
Small (slings, darts, shuriken, bolos, hand crossbows) = 1d4 damage and crit 18-20/x2...range 50
Medium (short bows, light cross bows) = 1d6 damage and crit 19-20/x3...range 100
Heavy (Long bows, Heavy cross bows) = 1d8 damage and crit 20/x4...range 150

What can i say, like simple, fast, and fun rules.


To Oliver, yeah I can see how homogenizing weapon stats can add to the fun, I played in a game once where the DM did something similar because he was tired of having "right" choices when it came to weapons and armor and wanted the PC's to choose equipment based on a coolness factor instead of game mechanics. Makes sense.

Dark Archive

Rules we use for the current game:

1. Pathfinder Core Rules as default. This includes the Pathfinder Traits and expanded material from the APG and Tome of Secrets.
2. Unearthed Arcana's Trait & Flaws
3. Unearthed Arcana's Class-Based Defense (with some changes).
4. Greyhawk Regional Feats: Character will receive one free Regional Feat from their chosen Home Region at Character Creation.
5. PHB II's Retraining Rules.
6. Teamwork Benefits from Heroes of Battle & PHB II. (see below)
7. Affiliation Benefits from PHB II & Complete Champion.
8. Classes, Feats, & Spells from 3.5 WotC splatbooks to be "open" (barring DM objection on case by case basis)
9. Classes, Feats, & Spells from 3.0 WotC splatbooks to be "approval-only".
10. Dungeon, Dragon, & WotC website material to be "approval-only", with strong emphasis on checking canonicity & balance issues.
11. Character Creation: Epic Fantasy 28 points, Appearance Stat is now the seventh Ability Stat.
11a. Starting HP: We're using the Racial Option from Pathfinder Beta.
11b. Advancement HP: We're using the "Greyhawk Mean," so half your HD per level, plus one, plus whatever (con bonus, your free HP per level instead of a skill point, etc)
12. Cohorts level with PCs and don't get their own experience or treasure. They start with appropriate wealth-by-level, but anything after that comes out of their leader's treasure.
13. Backgrounds will be generated through Central Casting lifepath source material.
14. Skills and Bardic Lore can identify magic items with varying DC's.

Looking at all of that, it *looks* like a lot, but it's never seemed like that much.


Three main house rules my group uses:

Ascending Crits: If a threat is confirmed with a roll that is high enough to be a crit on it's own, then you roll to confirm again. Each additional confirmation/crit adds to the crit multiplier. This can potentially lead to astonomical damage, but rarely does. It's fun to see when it does happen, though.

Fumbles: If a natural 1 is rolled, the character makes a Dex(10) check. Failure means they either lose their weapon, or fall prone, or some other similar mishap. The ascension rule works here as well - additional 1's make it that much worse - 2 1's, confirmed by failed dex rolls, generally means hitting yourself or a friend with your weapon. I've never seen it get worse than that. Also, any natural 1 end's a character's actions for the round, regardless of whether they have additional actions or attacks left, as they spend that time to recover.

HP for leveling up: Both the Player and GM roll, the GM in secret. Both re-roll 1's. After looking at their own roll, the player can choose to keep their roll, or take the GM's roll, sight unseen. This generally gives higher HP totals, and adds a little (more) excitement to the leveling up process.


To Diabol: With all the options in pathfinder and 3.5 it seems even the most "regular" games have a long list of house rules about what's allowed at the table. By the way I've never read Unearthed Arcana how does class based defense work?


Whoops misspelled your name Diabhol, apologies.


Lordjimbo wrote:
To Diabol: With all the options in pathfinder and 3.5 it seems even the most "regular" games have a long list of house rules about what's allowed at the table. By the way I've never read Unearthed Arcana how does class based defense work?

Those rules can be found here.

For my own house rules, since we've only recently started playing Pathfinder, the only house rule we currently have is we gain an ability point every even level, instead of every four levels.

And we use the dice pool method of attribute rolling, because it leads to some weird and fun characters. (And we use 28d6, because we run pretty high powered games.)


I see, neat!


I've got a lot of houserules, but the ones I'm getting the most use out of right now are the Critical Hit/Fumble decks, and pulling from the Plot Twist deck when a natural 1 or 20 is rolled on an Intimidate, Bluff, or Diplomacy check and interpreting the results negatively or positively, respectively. Everyone gets 50XP for each card they pull.


When levelling up, players can re-roll a nat 1 on their HP once.

When aiding another on a skill check, the players can have the contributor with the highest roll take over and use the +2s from the ones that only hit dc10. Using a fluid leadership structure rewards teamwork, encourages them to work together on anything they can.

Otherwise legal feat, skill point, known spell respeccing can happen at level up with sufficient roleplay justification. We don't like feeling trapped by old or bad choices.


It seems a great deal of people use house rules regarding critical hits and hp acquisition, interesting...

Sovereign Court

1) 20 Point Buy.
2) Average hit points at each level after first. This is calculated by subtracting .5 from the die's average when you gain hp for even levels, and adding .5 to the die's average when you gain hp for odd levels. So a level 3 Cleric gets 8 hp at first level, 4 at second, 5 at third, etc.
3) Level Adjustment for monstrous races is calculated as CR+1; any race with less than 1 CR is playable at first level unless specifically prohibited by the DM. Note that if the race has racial hit dice, you won't necessarily start the game with a class.
4) Drow are evil. Period. No reformed Chaotic Good drow. Ever.
5) 3.5 material is considered prohibited unless specifically approved on a case-by-case basis by the DM.
6) "Three strikes and you're out" rule. I don't like character death, especially at low levels. As a result, each player has three strikes. Any time a PC would ordinarily die, he or she instead becomes stable at -10 hp (actual amount may vary based on character's Constitution score; obviously, I'll make a character with only 10 Constitution stable at -9 or something) and becomes immune to area spells or effects for the duration of the fight. Each time this happens to a PC, he gains a strike. Once you have three strikes, your character dies normally and must get the appropriate spell for resurrection.


Anything that mitigates unnecessary player death is always a plus in my book. I forgot to mention it in the OT but my game actually uses Fate Points from WFRP(basically twists of fate that work as extra lives)to help with this.

Dark Archive

Lordjimbo wrote:
It seems a great deal of people use house rules regarding critical hits and hp acquisition, interesting...

Hit points can make or break you at low levels (and it's never fun to roll a 1 on hit points, especially if your character concept is "I'm 'da tough guy!")

As far as my own house rules, you can find the document I'm going to hand out for my next game here. It's mostly a list of the small, fiddly things resulting from the 3.5->pathfinder changeover.
==
AKA 8one6


LordJimbo, hit points are something I see house ruled all the time. How I do it is that everyone rolls, but you only roll a d6 and then add the difference applied from your class. So wizards roll d6, rogues d6+2, fighters d6+4, barbarians d6+6. This way there is still some randomness, but the barbarian will never get less hp per level than the wizard (not counting CON)

I give out traits after each level that are related to what the PCs have been doing in the past few sessions. If one player made a swim check that saved another players life that player gets a +2 trait bonus to swimming. My players always love these. Little things like this seem to make them happy, go figure.

I just assume everyone has eschew materials, I will never look at a players sheet to make sure they have enough spiderweb to cast web, so why would I make them track it?

True Sight makes you go insane if you use it too much. It is a very powerful spell, so it should have a cost. I play it up as a very cthulhu type thing. Looking at reality as it really is isn't something a mortal mind can handle. So use it sparingly. This of course means that NPCs are less likely to use it themselves.

Everyone gets a free rank into a profession, perform, or some sort of background skill.

Taking skill focus (in any skill) nets you an additional non-mechanical bonus. So if you took skill focus (perform) you would get a membership to the local music guild, or if you took skill focus (diplomacy) maybe an NPC owes you a favor. I think skill focus is an important feat that players should take more often. This gives players a bit more reason to take it. And it invests them in the game a bit more.

In 3.5 I allowed players to add dex to all ranged damage from bows/crossbows, but I don't think it would be needed in pathfinder as archers are better now.

I have a whole deal with alignment, specifically how you can detect it. I won't get into that here though.

At higher levels when a player is making a new character I get to spend half their gold for them. If you look at any character that worked their way from low levels they never have quite exactly the gear they want. So why would some new guy show up with the exact gear he wants? Not that I give them gear that is bad, but just not quite what they would pick for them self.


azhrei_fje wrote:

I have a PDF of mine on my web site, if you care to see them.

Damn, that is an awesome document!

I'm trying to get through everyone's lists, and really enjoying this thread.

Considering a sort of "best of" list that includes the most common house rules that people add to their games. I think something about fixed/increased HP for PC's seems common, and I would ask everyone to think of some others that are so common, they become a form of alternate rule.


Another house rule, is that all players, creatures, monster etc..

Starting HP is equal to there CON score. So a ranger with Con 12 would start the game with 12 + 1d10 hp at first level. (They do roll for 1st level class hp using this system).

Monster would have Con score added in. (Example Morlock Hp 22 (3d10+6) +15 for con score..).

.....

The idea is to make low level a lot more fun for new players. While the wizard getting hit for a 1d8 longsword, and going down in one hit might be realistic... it is not much fun for the player, to then have to set out the fight. (not much for for DM, who wants them to do more than just do one fight a day, before returning home to heal also).

By adding in the Con, it give low level players a chance to withstand 1-4 hits, before going down. Giving them the chance to run, fight, or heal. It really helps during the 1-4 levels the most.

Anyway, the new player always like the idea.


In response to qlawdat: many of the house rules you mentioned work to help the PCs connect with your game world in meaningful way. +1,000 for helping with immersion!

To Oliver: I can see where that would help. To be honest I've not started a game of DnD below level 5 in ages, PCs below that level just don't feel heroic enough for me. PCs should start out fighting trolls not being threatened with death by things as puny as orcs! (personal opinion completely, not saying that like it's a fact or that I think you should do that or something...)


My current house rules:
1. Characters are created using 20-point point buy (p.16). Starting gold is the average gold for your class (p.140).
2. Stats cannot exceed 20 naturally (without magic). This means point buy, plus racial modifiers, plus stat increases every 4 levels cannot raise a stat above 20. Belts/headbands, buff spells, inherent bonuses can raise a stat above 20.
3. Characters gain hp equal to average die roll rounding up or can roll the die.
4. Starting at an announced point in the campaign, any new PCs joining the party will come in at 1 level lower than the party level with NPC wealth appropriate for that level. After the party has leveled twice, the PC’s level will adjust to that of the party.
5. The Paladin’s double damage against some targets when Smiting Evil has been removed.
6. The Rogue uses the full base attack bonus (1/level) starting at 4th level. So BAB for the first 5 levels would be +0,+1,+2,+4,+5.
7. Aid Another: DC is 10 + half party level. Failure results in -1 penalty.
8. There is no limit to falling damage.
9. Critical fumbles are confirmed based on character level: on a 1-4 for levels 1-5, on a 1-3 for levels 6-10, on a 1-2 for levels 11-15, and on a 1 for character levels 16-20.
10. Extra dimensional spaces are a pocket space as described on page 501. An item in an extra dimensional space occupies the same location as the magic item (i.e. Bag of Holding). Scry attempts on the item do work and center on the magic item. A scry on a character in a Rope Trick (with raised rope) would see the area the Rope Trick was placed in.
11. Illusion (figment, glamer) spells hide their magic auras as part of the spell making them undetectable by the simple zero-level spell Detect Magic.
12. Comprehend Languages only works on languages currently in use.
13. Dispel Magic and Greater Dispel Magic work as the 3.5 spells (SRD).
14. Greater Teleport works just like Teleport except for the extended range.
15. Instant Enemy spell (APG) does not exist.
16. Mind Blank and Nondetection do not block See Invisibility or True Seeing.
17. The Resist Energy spell has been split into 3 spells:
a. Resist Energy I is a 2nd level spell (or ranger 1) that grants 10 points of energy resistance
b. Resist Energy II is a 4th level spell (or ranger 3) that grants 20 points of energy resistance.
c. Resist Energy III is a 6th level spell that grants 30 points of energy resistance.
18. Wall of Thorns allows a reflex save to get out of the area of effect when the wall is created.
19. Weapons with the Holy, Unholy, Anarchic, and Axiomatic abilities work best when wielded by someone of the same alignment. A permanent negative level is gained for each step the wielder is away from the weapon’s alignment. So a Good character can wield a Holy weapon normally, while a Neutral character gains 1 negative level and an Evil character gains 2 negative levels. (Exception - a true neutral character could wield a Holy Unholy Anarchic Axiomatic weapon with no negative levels).
20. Adamantine weapons ignore half the hardness of items if hardness is less than 20.
21. Both versions of the Bracers of Archery do not work for anyone with 2 or more ranged feats.
22. Heward’s Handy Haversack is a backpack and can only store things that would fit into a backpack’s opening.
23. Item creation: All prerequisites, including caster level, must be met.
24. Certain monsters in 3.0 and earlier had immunity to some or all spells. I will be using the 3.0 rules for these monsters. For example, golems are immune to ALL spells except those that are specifically stated as affecting them.

Scarab Sages

Lordjimbo wrote:
Wow! Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome. I'm glad you found them useful. :)

In fact, I'm rather surprised that so many people even bothered to read them! "Thank you" to all of you that did! And I'd be happy to hear your feedback if you'd like to provide it. You can email me at sales-at-eeconsulting-dot-net. I have the original document in OpenDocumentFormat (via OpenOffice).

You may have noticed the "poison-pf.html" file or the "pageindex.html" file. Both are worth taking a look at. And if you're a JavaScript programmer, you might check out the Spell2JSON directory since there is code that parses the PRD spells into JSON objects (byname-prd-main.html). Very handy if you want to create a JavaScript "database" of sorts.

Our CotCT AP is finishing up in the next couple months (only play 2-3 times a month) and I expect to give the house rules document a complete revamp before starting the next campaign. At a minimum I want to add a table of contents and bookmarks to the PDF.

There are some vestiges of PF Beta leftover in there that need cleaning up, and there are a few things that I'll be adding. For example, I have four PCs who are true neutral. Apparently because they feel it gives them a bonus against aligned items and spells, or more flexibility when dealing with NPCs. I will likely be creating something akin to "protection from neutral" spells that will protect against creatures with any neutral component. And I'll be adding a Blasphemy-like set of spells that are particularly effective against neutral characters. (Or maybe simply remove "if neutral" from the spell descriptions, so the spells become more "anti-evil".) Ditto for weapon alignments. Not sure how I'm going to do this though. It might be via a metamagic feat or combat feat; I haven't worked out the details yet since I don't need to.

Quote:
Yes your house rules are are a great deal more clear and relevant than our own sometimes nearly nonsensical reading and rewriting of rules. I especially like your clarification of how you think certain spells should work it gave me a lot to think about I'll definitely adopt some of what you said to our game.

Thanks. :)

I've been involved in some long threads at ENworld.org over the years. The Wall of Fire spell, the Blade Barrier spell, and a few others are threads that are many pages long. The "elders" over there (HyperSmurf, for example) have opinions on many of them and their knowledge of the rules for D&D3.x is so vast that I often prefer their rulings more than Sage Advice or other official sources. Many of my spell clarifications come from there.

My splitting of Silence into three spells (1st, 2nd, and 3rd level) was due to how I read the Silence spell as being somewhat ambiguous regarding the saves and when to make them. Splitting the spell has worked very well IMCs and removed all of the arguments about how it should work!

Quote:
One Question I have about your house rules about character creation: Why did you decide PCs gain HP at a fixed rate? In our own game the reason we did is because we learned that consistently bad HP rolls seemed to hurt the players far more the consistently good ones helped so we just said what the heck let the players have max HP they'll live longer across the board. Is that why or is it simply a preference and balance thing?

Multiple reasons, actually.

As stated by others, first level PCs need the slight boost from max hp. Especially the spellcasters. It's also easier to "trust" my players when I don't need to trust them. :) If we have a set way of establishing hp then it's easy to "check their math". One thing the players don't particularly like (and isn't mentioned in my house rules) is that I use the same approach for NPCs and monsters. This tends to make the NPCs a little stronger, but the action economy is such that the PCs are victors anyway. However, it does make for more drama as the players know the NPCs are not going to be pushovers. I have a Perl script that I can give it a string, such as "8d8+4d6+12", and it will calculate the appropriate hp for me (using 1d8 at max hp, then HD-2 for each of the others). That makes it much easier to calculate.

Because I use MapTool, I have a macro that converts statblocks into tokens (think "digital minis") that also does this work. This makes it much simpler to copy/paste from a PDF into MapTool and get a token that has been built correctly.

.

Someone else had commented on some of the class-related changes. I think the Barbarian "Knockback" rage power was mentioned, for example. I try really hard not to change too much -- it becomes much more difficult for players to incorporate what they want their PC to be if the underlying classes change too much. So I would never mess with spell progressions, armor/weapon training, or the like; it just changes too many assumptions IMO. Adding a minor item here or there is okay if properly balanced.


In response to Azhrei fje: very wise, I look forward the time when my group and I reach your level of understanding of the rules and can tweak them without too many glaring imbalances=)


I have 5 main house rules, they seem to work for me and my groups.

1. i don't use aliments. (I want my players Chars to have a moral code, but for spells to hurt them just cause their sheet says their "good" i dumb.) plus i dont like haveing to judge if they are playing their aliment "right".
1b. cause of rule 1. paladans sux so i block them, use a cleric.

2. open class skills. (i think it simplifys things and i like to think my players PC to define who they are not the raw. why cant a wiz be preceptive?)

3. max HP per level. (just cause)

4. when a PC fumbles the player rolls a d6.
1-hurt them selfs
2-chance to hurt an ally
3-damages weapon
4-6 its just a miss (sorry...)

5. to simplify inventory i give out quivers of plenty to any one who has a bow. i also assume magic users just have all the materals and focus they need for casting.


My current group uses very few house rules. We stick to the mechanics pretty well, but we have a few.

In order to keep Prestige classes prestigious the rule is that if you take a single level in a prestige class you can't take levels in any other prestige classes until that first one is maxed out. Though you can still take levels in base classes all you want.

With previous groups we had several rule variants, but most of this is 3.5 or lower.

At character creation if you have a single level in rogue you get a +1 to character level for purposes of starting gold. Typically rogues steal a lot.

"home made" magic items were typically ok, but Dm reserved the right to VETO or increase the price if it was over-powered.

It wasn't a rule per-se, but Bluff and Intimidate checks were a lot more negotiable. I remember making a guard wet himself with a ridiculously high intimidate check.

If taking a prestige class allowed you to finish the requirements for that class then that was ok.

I'm sure there were more that I can't remember, but the point of house rules is to keep the game fun. I would always encourage DM's to encourage players to fudge here and there if it keeps them happy and doesn't upset game balance too much.


Thought of another good one.

A natural 1 on a D20 acts as a -10 to the roll whereas a natural 20 acts as a +10. This applies to all D 20 rolls. It's an easy mechanic for the "lucky or Unlucky" shot. If a character is just that badass and doing something which he has a lot of points in he could theoretically completely screw up, but still use his skill to accomplish the goal. Perhaps tripping when trying to fire a bow, but still compensate on the way down to hit the apple off someone's head.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Other houserules I play under.

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