| znancekivell |
Hello all.
As someone who enjoys discussing Pathfinder, I wanted to learn more about different, various houserules that other groups use when playing the game. Do you do so for balance? Fun? Story elements? Or just to fix an oversight from the Developers? Discuss!
I'll start things off.
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Perhaps my favorite houserule is that of using Prestige Classes. Instead of the standard rulings, we've modified them to function as such:
A Player who chooses a Prestige Class also chooses a base class they belonged too (can be different each time) at every level, gaining all the features of that class as if they had leveled up within that class. However, the Character uses the HD, saving throws, BAB and skill ranks of their Prestige Class.
In this regard a Player doesn't have to sacrifice most elements of their base class in order to use the advanced features of a Prestige Class. Our biggest issues with PCs was that while they were interesting, flavourful and added powerful options to a Character, taking one always felt like you had to sacrifice too much of your original base class(es), and so nobody ever bothered.
As an example we currently have a Wizard-5/Cleric-5/Mystic Theurge-2 in the group who chose to level up her Wizard class at Mystic Theurge level 1 and her Cleric level at Mystic Theurge level 2, granting her all the benefits of a 6th level Wizard & Cleric. She is having an absolute blast and loves being able to play out a Mystic Theurge in style.
Another character is currently a Bard-5/Pathfinder Chronicler-7 who's effective Bard level is 12, granting him all the bonuses of his base class along with those of being a 7th level Pathfinder Chronicler. He was the most adamant about abhorring Prestige Classes, but with the new ruling thinks they add a fun layer to the game without nuking a character's stats as a whole.
Having playtested this change to Prestige Classes extensively, we've yet to come across anything that breaks or otherwise nerfs the game mechanics. We've made it a mandatory houserule that all Prestige Classes follow this ruling, new players and older players like myself really love the RP this change brings to the game.
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I'll list some other house rules we use at the table later, but for now I want to read about what other groups do with their game.