I have really been enjoying the "What are YOUR Houserules?" thread quite a bit.
Two rules that were brought up that I would love to expand are:
Action Cards: I think someone mentioned (Evil Lincoln?) that they were given out on Critical Fumble rolls. I would love to hear what these Action Cards are, or anyone else's ideas on good cards.
Cursed Magic items: Someone else mentioned that their players could start with one magic item, as long as it was cursed in some minor way. I believe the example given was a magic sword that acted as a beacon to undead.
What ideas for minor cursed items are there?
*Bump*
Action Cards: I think someone mentioned (Evil Lincoln?) that they were given out on Critical Fumble rolls. I would love to hear what these Action Cards are, or anyone else's ideas on good cards.
This one was me.
I've experimented a lot with the concept of cards, probably made 6 or 7 different decks. I like them because they allow a wide variety of possibility without the bother of cross-referencing charts. Cards as a concept however, are better used lightly; you're better of with several charts that with several different decks IMO. I don't think I ever used more than two in a single game.
The one you're referencing was the Battle Event Deck. When a PC, "boss"/main NPC/encounter's leader would roll a natural 1, a card was drawn.
Cards included random events/situations that affected the person drawing the card, its team or the whole battlefield. Things like change of weather, distracting/blinding light, reshuffle of initiative etc. affected everyone. Things like morale check, sudden ending of mass effects, second wind etc affected the whole party. Fumbles (none of which involved losing your weapons!), equipment malfunction, tricky complications such as mud or brambles affected the person responsible. Not all events were bad, but all included some kind of unexpected complication.
Unfortunately, I lost the document when my laptop was stolen (along with my backed-up files), otherwise I'd gladly post them here.
Ultimately, natural 1s became too frequent, so Event Cards became used only on a confirmation roll, then only once per game, then ultimately dropped altogether. It did however showed me how complications can contribute to make combats memorable. Afterward, I started to plan using heavy rain, wind etc a lot more in my encounters.
That's awesome Laurefindel! And it's exactly what I was hoping for.
It's funny, but I always forget to bring weather into play.
Thanks!
When we talk about critical hit and fumble cards - I belive paizo official decks do a good job. I've been using them for some 4 months now and it's just super fun.
I made a houserule though, a critical hit card is drawn on critical confirmation, while you need to roll a d100 after you roll 1 to see how many fumble cards you get. And they do play out nicely and logically.