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No crafting allowed, =)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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The other big houserule I use is a modification to crafting.
If you take a crafting feat, then at that level and each level afterward, you get an amount of free "crafting gold" equal to 1/4 the difference between the WBL of your new level and the WBL of your previous level.
When you want to craft or upgrade an item, you pay full price (not half price) for it out of this pool. You can save gold from level to level to afford big items. I still require players to make the checks and spend the time involved in crafting (the guy I borrowed this rule from skips the time investment).
Frex, when you hit 3rd level and take Craft Wondrous Item, you get 500 gp of crafting gold (3rd level WBL 3,000 - 2nd level WBL 1,000 = 2,000. 2,000/4 = 500). You could use 250 gp of that to craft an elixir of vision.
At 4th level, you'd get an additional 750 gp. Combined with the 250 you have leftover from last level, that gives you 1,000 gp, which is enough to craft a Cloak of Resistance +1.
Additional crafting feats don't increase your pool, just give you more stuff to do with it.
It adds a little bookkeeping to the game, but I like it because it still provides a benefit to crafting (+25% to your wealth) without doubling the entire party's wealth as one crafter outfits everyone with bespoke gear.
E6. It's the best thing that ever happened to the d20 system.
After I wrap up my current campaign (end of this year, most likely) I'd like to use either E6 or DD5 for my next one. Not sure which yet.
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* Ban all non-spellcasters.
--Why People go on about how spellcasters and non-spellcasters aren't balanced. Pathfinder requires spellcasters in order for parties to be competitive. The simplest solution is to eliminate non-spellcasters from the equation.
Plus the mix of non- and spellcasters just doesn't work for me: I feel like everyone should be using the same method of problem-solving and butt-kicking in-world. So if Pathfinder is going to be magic-centric then I want to use it for worlds where everyone uses magic.Is that strictly all non-spellcasters, or are the semi-casters also banned? There is quite the difference between a Ranger and a Wizard, with the former trekking through wilderness for weeks while the Wizard simply teleports.
I don't really care for Ranger or Paladin anyway. Not sure about the Bloodrager.
Probably should be a class that casts at 1st level, even if the game doesn't start there.
But they get rather nice abilities that are magical or great for the while without magic. Lay on Hands is a rather nice thing to have for status effects. Paladin's are to some, besides the Barbarian, one of the best full BAB class's.
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My house rule is that all magic items re-size to fit the character using them.
My house rule is that all magic items re-size to fit the character using them.
The rules say that they do that... well, at least for everything other than armor and weapons. Do you have armor and weapons resize?
My players don't know it but when I GM I add +5 to every monster attack roll, +5 saving throw and max hp per hit die.
So I'm always looking to see which parts of the game I can improve upon for people, and while I know there are a lot of opinions on a lot of different aspects of the game, I'm most interested in the answer to this question:
If you were a player, in someone else's home-game, and you were allowed to make any one, single house-rule what would it be?
A why would be nice as well.
For example I'd like to have a feat at every level, I always feel super feat-starved no matter what I'm playing, so even-numbered levels tend to feel 'dead' to me.
Anywho, fire away!
Critical hits are always confirmed, no second roll necessary. Saves time during combats.
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Critical hits are always confirmed, no second roll necessary. Saves time during combats.
We do the same thing. Another reason is failure to confirm a crit takes away the joy that shouting "natural 20!" instills in a player.
Yes! A crit is a crit is a crit. If they would like to confirm (and succeed in doing so), I roll off of a crit generator.
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My group runs nat 20's as automatic confirmed crits. We don't let 15-19 auto-confirm since that makes low crit range weapons really powerful.
Be aware, though, that automatically confirmed crits favor A LOT the weaker combatants, since they hit with higher rolls and that means they crit more often when they hit.
The worst happens when a character needs a 20 to hit: he only scores critical hits, basically doubling his potential damage output (which is even worse if the GM uses some sort of crit special effects).
Those were the basic crit rules in 2nd edition and they were changd in 3.0, with the introduction of confirmation rolls, to avoid those weird situations in which a good combatant crits less often per hit than a poor combatant. Going back could not be that good an idea.
Maybe not calling "crit" a 20 could help: it's just an automatic hit (which is already a big deal), and only after the confirmation it becomes a critical hit.
My chase rules. I divide a creature's speed by 5. Thus 30 becomes +6. I then add this to a d20 roll and the other creature gets the same treatment. So chases become opposed d20 rolls rather than the standard rules presented by Paizo.
Have you ever seen these chase rules? They are similar to what you've described, but they allow for skill checks to come into play. For example, if the person being chased pushes a barrel down the stairs behind him, the chaser(s) have to succeed at an acrobatics check to keep up. If the person being chased passes his check to climb over a wall, the chaser has to do the same thing or she falls behind. It factors in other things such as the cost of stopping to shoot at the runner. And it's all simplified by a 6 position "chase track" that instead of tracking distance each person has traveled, tracks how far the chaser is from the person running. I've tried it before, and it worked pretty well.
My chase rules. I divide a creature's speed by 5. Thus 30 becomes +6. I then add this to a d20 roll and the other creature gets the same treatment. So chases become opposed d20 rolls rather than the standard rules presented by Paizo.Have you ever seen these chase rules? They are similar to what you've described, but they allow for skill checks to come into play. For example, if the person being chased pushes a barrel down the stairs behind him, the chaser(s) have to succeed at an acrobatics check to keep up. If the person being chased passes his check to climb over a wall, the chaser has to do the same thing or she falls behind. It factors in other things such as the cost of stopping to shoot at the runner. And it's all simplified by a 6 position "chase track" that instead of tracking distance each person has traveled, tracks how far the chaser is from the person running. I've tried it before, and it worked pretty well.
That sounds interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks!
My house rule is that all magic items re-size to fit the character using them.The rules say that they do that... well, at least for everything other than armor and weapons. Do you have armor and weapons resize?
So everything other than the things that matter most? Haha! Yes weapons and armor resize. Otherwise small PCs have a hard row to hoe in almost all published material.
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I use a fair number of house rules, but if I had to pick just one? It would be to ignore all ability score prerequisites for feats/talents/whatever.
No longer do you have to pass an IQ test to learn to trip someone or be the most dexterous person in town to learn how to fight with two weapons at once.
If I could toss in another to speed things up at the table a bit:
If you examine a non-artifact magic item while using detect magic you learn it's properties, no roll required. In situations where an item is cursed, the GM will make a check in secret for the character to determine if they become aware.
Likewise the value of an "art item", gem, or other treasure piece that isn't coins is simply told to the players when they find it rather than requiring an appraise check.
No APG Summoner.
My chase rules. I divide a creature's speed by 5. Thus 30 becomes +6. I then add this to a d20 roll and the other creature gets the same treatment. So chases become opposed d20 rolls rather than the standard rules presented by Paizo.Have you ever seen these chase rules? They are similar to what you've described, but they allow for skill checks to come into play. For example, if the person being chased pushes a barrel down the stairs behind him, the chaser(s) have to succeed at an acrobatics check to keep up. If the person being chased passes his check to climb over a wall, the chaser has to do the same thing or she falls behind. It factors in other things such as the cost of stopping to shoot at the runner. And it's all simplified by a 6 position "chase track" that instead of tracking distance each person has traveled, tracks how far the chaser is from the person running. I've tried it before, and it worked pretty well.
Wow dude! 9 pages of chase rules? Isn't that a bit much for chases? Granted I have done some HEAVY rewrites on different aspects of D20 myself, however those were always for Combat / Magic which is used during every encounter, but how often to Chases come up? I suppose if you are in a campaign were they are very common such rules would really add something, the rest of the time however they are likely to sit there collecting dust (not unlike the way grapple checks tend to do in most games).
On the topic of Critical Hits:
At my table we used both the Armor as DR rule (AC 5 = DR 5), and the Class Defense bonus. Thus a natural 20 is always a hit, bypasses Armor DR completely, and does max damage. Further a crit confirmation of a 2nd 20 added an additional + 2 to the multiplier. These help considerably to offset the Armor as DR rule, while still maintaining its effectiveness (especially at low levels).
3 Natural 20's were an instant kill.
NOTE: The campaign level is capped around level 10 and thus by the time that the Armor / crit rules above would become a scaling issue the characters have pretty well maxed out anyway so it becomes a moot point.
So everything other than the things that matter most? Haha! Yes weapons and armor resize. Otherwise small PCs have a hard row to hoe in almost all published material.My house rule is that all magic items re-size to fit the character using them.The rules say that they do that... well, at least for everything other than armor and weapons. Do you have armor and weapons resize?
Know how I know you don't play arcane casters? :)
Seriously, though, yeah, frequently small PCs don't get much advantage from looting the bodies of the dead. But the groups I am in (both as a player and as a GM) nearly always sell almost everything to get what they want anyway. What use is a small-sized bastard sword +1 when the character has Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in Longspear?
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I have some house rules about the spell teleport.
1) You can use teleport to duplicate the effects of dimension door.
2) If you can see the destination by line-of-sight, there's no error. (I.e. Teleporting from the summit of a mountain to a plain below.)
3) You have to have a reasonable idea of both where you are and where you're going. If you don't know current location, the chance for error increases.
4) Scrying on a person usually does not provide enough information to teleport to that person's location. (I.e. "scry-and-fry" is not a valid tactic.)
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We use a few house rules of course, but I'd say the number one change that has improved the game most was implementing my Scaling Combat Feats from the New Paths Compendium
We allow most of the classes and other goodies from the book as well, but Scaling Combat Feats has been the biggest improvement ...
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Is it cheating if I say my obe house-rule would be allowing the use of 3pp and homebrew material?
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I started running Mummy's Mask a few months ago for a new group. I kept it very by the book because they were so new. However, I did have one player who wanted to play a Paladin of Cayden Cailean. Chaotic Good. The player had a good concept for who he was and what he believed in, mostly and abolitionist. I said, give me your code of behavior and stick to it. He did and he has. I haven't had any issues.
After I wrap up my current campaign (end of this year, most likely) I'd like to use either E6 or DD5 for my next one. Not sure which yet.
Sorry, but a google search did not return information about DD5. How is it different from E6?
Wow dude! 9 pages of chase rules? Isn't that a bit much for chases? Granted I have done some HEAVY rewrites on different aspects of D20 myself, however those were always for Combat / Magic which is used during every encounter, but how often to Chases come up? I suppose if you are in a campaign were they are very common such rules would really add something, the rest of the time however they are likely to sit there collecting dust (not unlike the way grapple checks tend to do in most games).My chase rules. I divide a creature's speed by 5. Thus 30 becomes +6. I then add this to a d20 roll and the other creature gets the same treatment. So chases become opposed d20 rolls rather than the standard rules presented by Paizo.Have you ever seen these chase rules? They are similar to what you've described, but they allow for skill checks to come into play. For example, if the person being chased pushes a barrel down the stairs behind him, the chaser(s) have to succeed at an acrobatics check to keep up. If the person being chased passes his check to climb over a wall, the chaser has to do the same thing or she falls behind. It factors in other things such as the cost of stopping to shoot at the runner. And it's all simplified by a 6 position "chase track" that instead of tracking distance each person has traveled, tracks how far the chaser is from the person running. I've tried it before, and it worked pretty well.
I don't think it's that bad, but the author could probably trim the fat on that PDF. If you want a shorter version, that PDF is just a revision of this original blog post, which is shorter. The PDF just expands a few options and justifies each element of those rules.
After I wrap up my current campaign (end of this year, most likely) I'd like to use either E6 or DD5 for my next one. Not sure which yet.Sorry, but a google search did not return information about DD5. How is it different from E6?
I wondered the same thing. I think DD5 is short for D&D 5th edition.
CR for Kn rolls to identify based on a creature's rarity rather than CR. With higher results giving you blocks of info according to what the player deems most important to know (basically : how can it kill me ? how can I kill it ?)
CR is already used with the rarity as a modifier. Are you saying that you ignore the rarity as part of the equation?
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Does a sub-system qualify?
If so, I choose the Blackfang Mana system.
Since it would alter all caster's rules, it is quite an intrusive houserule, but I've always loved using it.
Mostly because it gives less spells cast per hour, but more throughout the day. That discourages dungeon delves and the five-minute workday, and encourages hit-and-run, prolonged warfare and sandbox adventures.
Also, it gives more flexibility to shutting down magic-casters, as one can drain mana with spells and feats.
This is awesome. I was going to say something else, then I read your post. Then I agreed with you.
I would want a rule that eliminates the dependence on the big six magic items. The automatic bonus progression from unchained does the job just fine, though I use a homebrew heroic progression. I've found this to be a fantastic change. It eliminates the need for items that do nothing but give a numerical bonus, which ends up making magic items more interesting across the board. In addition, it makes players feel more heroic, because they know that it's not their shiny gear that makes them awesome, but their own skill and innate might.
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I have never played with anyone who made you confirm a crit if you roll a 20. A natural 20 was always a hit and crit, unless the creature is immune to crits, then it is just an auto hit.
Heck my players have rolled so poorly, even skipping the confirm roll they have yet to get a crit.
A friend of mine and I have a rule of adjusting the DC of pretty much anything if the player describes their action extremely well or makes it a very dramatic action. As it makes the game more dramatic and encourages people to be a little more creative.
Basically a wow factor bonus.
Back when we played with 3.5 books, we ruled no one was allowed to use a race with racial flying.
Now that we play pathfinder, we don't really have TOO many. Although my favorite is max hit points on level ups.
Rule One: The GM gets the comfy chair.
EVERY time.
I wondered the same thing. I think DD5 is short for D&D 5th edition.After I wrap up my current campaign (end of this year, most likely) I'd like to use either E6 or DD5 for my next one. Not sure which yet.Sorry, but a google search did not return information about DD5. How is it different from E6?
Yes, sorry, 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
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I have a few, but my biggest one is that archetypes can stack even if they effect the same class feature. Just depends how they affect that feature. For example, if one archetype changed a classes casting to spontaneous and the other reduced the numbers of spells they could cast per day by 1, I'd allow that to stack. Its a case by case basis thing, but I always tell my players that if they wanna see if two can be combined, they just have to ask.
Automatic Bonus Progression from Unchained. Having to invest so much of a character's wealth into boring magic items that the game assumes you are going to get anyway is the worst. It makes so much more sense to add these into the leveling charts along with feats and ability score increases, which this does.
Plus it comes with the added benefits of allowing magic items to be "magical" again, which is also good.
However, since that is really an alternate system introduced by Paizo, I am going to cheat and say that it isn't really a house rule and make everyone play on a hex map instead of a grid. The movement is more organic and removes the annoying math of counting diagonal movement.
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No ability scores above 16 AFTER racial adjustment.
This puts a dent in the power of the most disruptive builds- god wizards (and other full casters), super strength barbarians, and the like, while not affecting the classes that are generally considered weaker. It also allows the GM to be more generous with the point buy, without disrupting PC power levels.