These are some houserules I'm thinking of trying:
On Death
The game uses hero points, but instead of the traditional rule for cheat death, you can spend two hero points to earn a twist of fate at any time. This twist of faith is a saved cheat death for the future. A character can only ever buy two of these. This should stop hero point hoarding, and make them game less deadly. So should:
At 8th level you die at 1.5 times your Con score.
At 16th level you die at 2 times your Con score.
Why make it less deadly? Because there isn't any way back:
Raise dead, ressurection, true ressurection, reincarnation et al. are no longer in the game.
Breath of life still is and works as usual.
On Magic Items
The magic items known as the big six no longer exist in the game. These items are: magic weapons, magic armor, rings of protection, amulets of natural armor, cloaks of resistance and ability score boosting items. Character wealth per level is 1/3rd its usual amount. Instead:
[list]
All of the above are quasi-magical effects in nature, measuring the heroes march from humanity to something closer to a demigod. As such they can be dispelled like magical items, returning after 1d4 rounds, and do not function in antimagic zones. The exception to this is the deflection bonus which is of a higher order of power than the other effects and cannot be dispelled or cancelled. Disjunction does not destroy these abilities, but they take 3d6 days to return.
Finally it mentions above that there are no magic weapons and armours. This is not entirely the case. There are no more +1 bonuses to either. However you can still make a weapon magical so that it overcomes damage reduction. This is done by making a weapon ‘imbued’, a quality that costs 500 gp to add, and can be done by any person with Craft Magic Arms and Armour. An imbued weapon can then be further enchanted with special qualities as normal. An imbued weapon counts as a +1 bonus quality however for the purpose of calculating the final price of the magic weapon. Imbuing an armour simply increases its hardness, etc as normally making it +1 would. It only costs 250 gp and functions the same as the weapon with regards to adding magical armour enhancements to it.
On Monsters
This is the most fiddly and contentious part of my houserules, and what needs the most feedback. The following try to have a gamist element in simulationist terms, allowing the game to include lone monsters and hoards of minions with more ease.
Against the Few (Teamwork)
You are used to fighting in large numbers against tougher foes, taking carefully exacting attacks. However you do not fight hard hard individually, believing your foes will be brought down by numbers.
Benefit: When you are within 20 ft. of at least three other creatures with this feat and outnumber your opponents you can choose to organise your aggression, for the rest of this combat you gain a +5 competence bonus on attack rolls and a +5 competence bonus to your AC, but when dealing damage each dice does on half the damage you roll with an additional -1 penalty. As a downside of this combat form, you are more exposed to attacks, you take four times as much damage as usual from attacks that hit you. You do not lose the bonuses until all of the allies with this feat expect for you are unable to fight. The penalties persist until the combat ends.
Legionary’s Defense
You are skilled at avoiding explosive attacks by reading your allies when fighting together.
Prerequisite: Against the Few, Base Attack Bonus +2
Benefit: When using the feat Against the Few you gain the evasion special quality.
Against the Many
When faced by terrible odds you gain a boost of adrenaline allowing you fight in desperate frenzy.
Prerequisite: At least 5 hit dice, capable of being exhausted.
Benefit: When you are in combat alone, and outnumbered by at least 3 to 1, with no allies within 100 ft. you can activate this feat. When it is activated you gain an additional standard action at your initiative -10. You take a -5 penalty on all attack and damage rolls made with this standard action. In addition if you may not use your highest or second highest level spells (this can limit you to no spells) or any spell-like abilities that can be used 3 times per day or less. Any special attacks you use with this action suffer a -5 penalty on its DC. After combat, or if an allied creature comes within 100 feet the benefits of this feat end and you are exhausted.
Last Laugh
When lain low by many foes you can take on last mighty action.
Prerequisite: Against the Many
Benefit: Whenever you are using the feat Against the Many, if you are dropped below zero hp you can immediately take one standard action with no limitations. After this however you take additional damage equal to your 1/2 your HD.
Re: Against the Many, do you get that additional standard action every round or just once?
Every round, the idea is to lessen the unbalance of action economy when a single foe is faced with 4 or so.
I think though that it would work best if I could add careful limitations, but I don't want it to be ridiculously complex, so its hard to know.
If I could get it to work out so the limitations work so that its over all attack power isn't doubled, but spread out more that's be ideal. I was considering letting one use two second highest level spells in a round, just not with a highest, but that was extra wordy. That'd be like fighting two lvl -2 casters in offensive terms though, which would be okay with me. Its a tricky balance. Any suggestions?
I think Against the Few is a good addition. For instance, I want to pit my 8th level PCs against a horde (i.e. dozens) of zombies, but if I advance them too much, they'll be too powerful. This feat is perfect in a sense that they're dangerous in numbers, but still weak enough to be mooks.
My main concern with Against the Many is with creatures with special abilities that are on par with their primary attack methods, e.g. a dragon's breath weapon. even with the -5, it's still a hefty chunk of damage. I'd say it might work, but extensive playtesting with a a good variety of monsters would be a key element in achieving balance.
Have you used any of these in an actual game yet? If so, how did it work out?
I've used Against the Few in games, and done a decent bit of math for it, its a terrible PC feat by design because it only improves damage if you only hit on a 17 or higher and taking 4x damage is suicidal for PCs.
So I think its a fairly solid way to have large groups of mookish enemies that are still a threat, but or rather feel more threatening, which is the point.
Against the Many is a fairly new idea for me, and I'm still fiddling with it. I'm gonna test it abit today, and maybe through into into a game when I think I have it close to right.
Thanks to both for the thoughts