Your ONE houserule

[Create Mr. Pitt]

I despise all the rules restricting builds to stats the GM likes. Good houserules help actualize characters. I love more skill points and getting rid of feat chains. But my one favorite house rule is clerics of particular gods get powers related to the specific god (in addition to domain powers). I usually offer the choice of these powers or channeling, but I've allowed both before; it's not a big deal.

Cleric is the one place where there really should be some uniqueness to the powers granted.

[Trekkie90909]

Create Mr. Pitt wrote:

I despise all the rules restricting builds to stats the GM likes. Good houserules help actualize characters. I love more skill points and getting rid of feat chains. But my one favorite house rule is clerics of particular gods get powers related to the specific god (in addition to domain powers). I usually offer the choice of these powers or channeling, but I've allowed both before; it's not a big deal.

Cleric is the one place where there really should be some uniqueness to the powers granted.

Is that like the variant channeling rules, or something else?

[Nightdrifter]

Age penalties apply to perception checks.

[Artificial 20]

This isn't the one house rule for myself, but like the thread states if I joined a casual get-together table, it's what I'd suggest for ease of use.

The 2 traits PCs start with by default is the Additional Traits feat, and can be traded in exchange for any other feat with no prerequisites.

This opens up a lot of options, like skill focus and the +2/+4 feats, and if there's a trait you really want you can get it by taking a drawback :).

[KahnyaGnorc]

Dreamscarred Press Psionics are allowed.

[Lady Funnyhat]

Does allowing 3rd party material count?

I allow 3rd party material if it's lore-appropriate and balanced. The only caveat is, if a player uses a non-standard race or class, then they must accept whatever fluff I decide to attribute to them and expect said race/class to have a noticeable presence in the game world. The goal is to present a larger number of options for players to choose from, but also prevent Special Snowflake syndrome.

So far I've allowed ertw's beguiler, and anything published by Dreamscarred Press and Kobold Press is generally allowed. I have yet to encounter a problem.

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm a big fan of Rogue Genius Games' classes, as well, especially the Talented line of classes. But yeah, Dreamscarred Press and Kobold Publishing are definitely welcome at my table.

[Eliandra Giltessan]

Carl Hanson wrote:

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.

I was having a tough time picking between no XP and automatic bonus progression. But if ABP doesn't count...

I've got players who refuse to buy the big 6, or who max their primary ability at the expense of AC. This results in a lack of balance at the table, where my players either roflstomp everything, or just die. ABP keeps everything relatively balanced.

As for XP, I find it to be needless bookkeeping. I feel like a lot of fights in Paizo's APs are grinding for XP, and without it, I can cut the middle fight against mooks without a problem.

[Lady Funnyhat]

I've also long given up the use of XP. An additional advantage I've noticed is that, since removing XP from the picture, my players have been a LOT less aggressive and more open to roleplay. Negotiation, stealth, or straight up running away are now valid options when they realize that killing things doesn't give them bonus numbers.

[Tacticslion]

.

[Headfirst]

It's strange to hear people still using XP on a per monster basis. I haven't played in a game that doled out XP that way in... 20 years?

Everyone I've gamed with across two decades, several US states, numerous conventions, and all across the Internet uses one of two alternate systems:

1) The DM just says "everyone level up now" when appropriate.

2) You get 1 xp per game session you attend and level up every few xp.

Lady Funnyhat is exactly right: This has radically changed players' approach to the game, reducing the need to feel like you have to slaughter everything you meet in order to advance.

[TriOmegaZero]

I think if I were doing something old school, like Rappan Athuk, I might do per encounter XP to focus on the challenge of exploring unknown locations that may or may not be level appropriate.

[Trekkie90909]

Eliandra Giltessan wrote:

Carl Hanson wrote:

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....

I was having a tough time picking between no XP and automatic bonus progression. But if ABP doesn't count...

I agree, ABP is great, and that as a whole material from unchained is really good for a situation where you're suggesting house-rules at someone else's table; they're all easily found and understood, and there's little reason to fear (as one poster puts it) 'special snow-flake syndrome.'

All that said, I think we can safely put the suggested changes and optional systems from unchained under the 'expect table variation' section of the official rules (I mean, even PFS uses some of it now) and so ignore them here unless there's a suggestion for an addendum or modification of the unchained material.

[Trekkie90909]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

I think if I were doing something old school, like Rappan Athuk, I might do per encounter XP to focus on the challenge of exploring unknown locations that may or may not be level appropriate.

I'm not sure how I'd run RA without encounter xp; the encounter area is pretty open, and difficulty swings so wildly a level progression metric would be really hard to work out.

Of course, I still use encounter xp in most of my home games anyways, so I'm probably biased :P.

[Trekkie90909]

On a side note: Kudos to the Design Team; a large number of respondants would use elements of unchained if they were allowed to make only one improvement to the system when playing at someone else's table.

[BearsDragon]

xobmaps wrote:

Rocket Surgeon wrote:

I stole a part of our character creation process from another system, though I can't remember its name.

Basically: after character creation; each player tell about an event that was important in shaping the character, the event must be at least 3 years old, but can be older.

Then players take turns telling how their character knows the character on the left. Changing the character's defining event is not allowed, but anything that fits within the campaign outline is allowed and the player on your left must now fit it into his/her story.

Why?
It gives us a group that actually works together, as well as give the game master several clues on how to involve the characters. We've even had campaigns where this process decided the entire story and everything became about the players - which was,honestly, awesome :-)

Sounds Like Fate's system. I am actually using this in the Iron Gods campaign I am going to be starting soon to tie the party together, and the player has to choose their non-campaign trait based on the backstory someone else wrote into their history, just like in fate you make up an aspect based on it.

Speaking as one of xobmaps' players it worked well. Of course it helped that my fighter made out on the deal. Ancestral Weapon. Ancient family weapon was returned to her by the spoiled rich kid medium. Also as a fate GM it makes a party that's cohesive no material what system your using.

[rainzax]

PCs and NPCs get automatic ranks in passive Perception and Sense Motive checks, and are always considered to be taking 10.

I call these their Vigilance and Psych scores.

To use Sleight of Hand or Stealth, you have to beat your enemy's Vigilance score.
To use Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate, you have to beat your enemy's Psych score.
To use Disguise, you typically have to beat both.

Characters who actually train the Perception and Sense Motive skills both improve their Vigilance and Psych scores (respectively) and can use the active functions of those skills.

[Dox of the ParaDox twins]

i always wanted to try con modifier as DR/-

i thought it help represent a pain tolerance or something

[christos gurd]

It's actually two in one but I house rule away ability score punishment by removing them from prerequisites and dropping race ability score penalties(I rewrote goblins and orcs)

[Trekkie90909]

Some cool new ideas and experiences; thanks for sharing!

@rainzax: I like elements of your rule, they smooth over a couple balance issues in game and I could see them speeding up play in certain instances, and it's easy to implement at someone else's table. I do wonder if you find it marginalizes characters which have specialized into stealth and the like?

@Dox: That's pretty nifty, I hadn't considered something like that, but like it immensely; would you implement it as entirely its own thing, or would it replace the health bonus from con/level? Would it stack with other sources of DR? Might that make the invulnerable rager barbarian archetype (and rage-themed classes in general) overpowered? Would the con bonus from raging just increase DR, or would it also give the normal HP boost?

@christos: That's interesting; how does it work with humans? Did they get a buff too?

[Razcar]

We've a lot of house rules (and use several systems from the great Unchained), but if I were to single any one out:

Get rid of all the raise dead magics. These kind of spells totally change the game when they get available around mid-level, and in my opinion does the same to the excitement of the campaign as a laugh track would to a horror movie. It just cheapens the whole experience when the epic question of life and death - the fuel of adventure is danger, after all - is reduced to a shrug and a little bit of coin counting.

We're doing this is in our current campaign (Hell's Rebels) and while we haven't yet reached the roly-poly toy levels we hope to keep the excitement and fear of death all through the campaign.

(Since the game is tuned to jo-jo death we've expanded the negative HP limit - instead of the -Con HP limit, you can now reach a negative of whatever your hit point total is. When in negatives you can still act but you get some severe disadvantages ((the trope of the wounded hero soldiering on)). Also, if you get into negatives no healing will put you into positives until after 1d4 days of rest).

[christos gurd]

Trekkie90909 wrote:

Some cool new ideas and experiences; thanks for sharing!

@rainzax: I like elements of your rule, they smooth over a couple balance issues in game and I could see them speeding up play in certain instances, and it's easy to implement at someone else's table. I do wonder if you find it marginalizes characters which have specialized into stealth and the like?

@Dox: That's pretty nifty, I hadn't considered something like that, but like it immensely; would you implement it as entirely its own thing, or would it replace the health bonus from con/level? Would it stack with other sources of DR? Might that make the invulnerable rager barbarian archetype (and rage-themed classes in general) overpowered? Would the con bonus from raging just increase DR, or would it also give the normal HP boost?

@christos: That's interesting; how does it work with humans? Did they get a buff too?

humans get a free "heart of" trait of their choosing

[RDM42]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

On a critical hit, for each 20 you rolled on the attack, you maximize the result of one damage die.

This prevents a character from rolling less on a crit than on a normal attack for most instances.

You could also just say that minimum damage on a crit regardless of what is rolled is maximum non crit damage plus one per dice or something.

[RDM42]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

I've played with the Triple 20 Instakill. It came up twice in the same campaign, once on a BBEG and once on an NPC ally.

For a little less brutal you could have 'triple twenty prompts fortitude save'. Or 'triple twenty acts like coup de gras'. Or 'triple twenty just does max possible damage on the critical.

[Trekkie90909]

All fair points; personally I like the fortitude save suggestion, but setting a 'reasonable' DC might be a bit hard (maybe something like 10 + BAB + higher of dex/str stat?)... anyhow, do you have a favorite houserule RDM? What would you bring to someone's table if given the opportunity?

[RDM42]

Well, I've taken to gifting everyone with toughness as a feat for free at creation, which reduces early level swinginess but reduces in significance by higher levels.

[RDM42]

Trekkie90909 wrote:

All fair points; personally I like the fortitude save suggestion, but setting a 'reasonable' DC might be a bit hard (maybe something like 10 + BAB + higher of dex/str stat?)... anyhow, do you have a favorite houserule RDM? What would you bring to someone's table if given the opportunity?

You could also add 'triple twenty acts like arrow of slaying in addition to normal crit effects'

[The Sideromancer]

Cold iron does not have a more expensive enchanting cost, but its base cost is 25 gold above a silver weapon of the same type.

[Snowlilly]

No experience - characters advance in level at a pace dependent on the stories needs.

I implement this rule in all the games I run.

[CalethosVB]

Everyone can use the system of magic for their character that they enjoy without it being forced onto the other players as well, but that's your only form of casting. No mix and match. You like standard casting? Cool. Go with it. Like Words of Power? Have fun. Spheres of Power is your bag? It works. Psionics? Yeah, we got that. If there is a first or third party magic system you like, use it. Live it. Own it.

[Wonderhaven]

The one houserule that always seem to use in my games is "healing potions always roll max". This results in cure light wounds potions automatically healing 9 hp, cure moderate always gives 19, etc, etc. This really helps out for lower level characters and keeps potions somewhat viable for out of combat healing at higher levels.

[kyrt-ryder]

Ramping up the Heal Skill into a very valuable asset to an adventuring Party. Valuable enough to make do without magical healing, but best used as a means of preserving magical healing.

In my own case, the math works out to around 20-25% of the recipient's Max HP, once per combat encounter, can't heal more damage than was inflicted in the most recent encounter. [And takes 5 minutes to perform treatment starting out, gets quicker as the Healer gets more skillfull.]

EDIT: also to note this is without the use of a consumable Healer's Kit, though it likely does require the use of a Healer's Kit for its supply of herbs and equipment. If a Wizard isn't forced to track uses of his Spell Component Pouch then there is absolutely no legitimate reason to force a Healer to track his Healer's Kit.

[SheepishEidolon]

Dox of the ParaDox twins wrote:

i always wanted to try con modifier as DR/-

i thought it help represent a pain tolerance or something

In a way, that's already in, with Con increasing HP. While there are quite a few differences (DR is especially powerful vs. small damage on hit, helps only vs. physical attacks and is stronger early on), both concepts make a PC tougher.

A dwarven fighter with Con 16 would start off with 13 HP and DR 3/- (?), meaning he could take 4 to 5 hits from average CR 1 creatures before dying. Combine this with a solid AC. Up to you whether you want that.

Headfirst wrote:

It's strange to hear people still using XP on a per monster basis. I haven't played in a game that doled out XP that way in... 20 years?

Well, I do. When the players battle their way through a tough encounter or do some decent roleplay, I want to show them 'You get so many XP for that, because you deserved it.'. It doesn't really change the level speed, but I think more detailed rewards feel more rewarding.

[Talonhawke]

Can I claim Kirthfinder as 1 houserule?

If not then my go to of rolling HP differently.

1d4 stays the same
1d6 = 1d4+2
1d8 = 1d4+4
1d10 = 1d4+6
1d12 = 1d4+8

[Zenogu]

I use a modified Automatic Bonus Progression. Got very tired of boring Magic Items that increase Ability Scores or Saving Throws the game expects players to have.

[Thewms]

Zenogu wrote:

I use a modified Automatic Bonus Progression. Got very tired of boring Magic Items that increase Ability Scores or Saving Throws the game expects players to have.

I use ABP in my games.

possible tangent:

What is it that you have modified? Also, do you use Mark S.'s pricing table from the blog or straight from the book?

[Kaelan Ashenveil]

I houserule that Clerics are able to cast with a mace and shield. LIKE THEY SHOULD BE.

[Alzrius]

I'm cheating by slipping two in, but they're thematically related so hopefully it'll slide:

You must worship a deity in order to make use of a divine spellcasting class's spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. Divine spellcasting characters cannot have an alignment more than one step away from their deity's alignment.

[Zenogu]

Thewms wrote:

Zenogu wrote:

I use a modified Automatic Bonus Progression. Got very tired of boring Magic Items that increase Ability Scores or Saving Throws the game expects players to have.

I use ABP in my games.

** spoiler omitted **

Long story short, I use the chart as it is written, minus the Attunements and Gifts. I have a chart at home I reference, which compensates Wealth By Level accordingly, given that the attunements and gifts won't be granted.

[Sindenky]

everyone gets 1 free race feat at level 1.
You must meet the pre-req's for the feat in question.

This really has helped your race feel more important to you, and incentivise choosing some of the race chains over the standard combat chains.

[Lynxden]

We have several that we use at our table, but the most significant one has been a ruling on beginning health. At 1st level, you add your constitution score to your hit die instead of your modifier. This has resulted in people trying out spellcasters who were previously only martial types, because they weren't afraid of "dying by critical via rat" at 1st level (actually happened, and poisoned that player against casters for years).

[Ghray]

When a player rolls a 20 or a 1, they reroll said the D20 again to confirm crit. If they roll another 20 or 1 then they roll the die again. If they get a third 20 or 1, then its considered a super crit (1 in 8000 chance). This generally results in something hilariously epic. I have two of these happen over the course of my campaign.

[Trekkie90909]

Talonhawke wrote:

Can I claim Kirthfinder as 1 houserule?

If not then my go to of rolling HP differently.

1d4 stays the same
1d6 = 1d4+2
1d8 = 1d4+4
1d10 = 1d4+6
1d12 = 1d4+8

Kirthfinder changes multiple system components, so I'd think of it as several houserules stacked on top of each other even though they're all easily accessible; the alternate hp rolling is cool though.

[Bandw2]

Trekkie90909 wrote:

Arrius wrote:

stuff

It's very involved, but I'd say this one qualifies as one rule (basically 'how spellcasting will work').

Side Note: It's a neat idea, one of my players has been asking for a Sword Art Online-style game, and I've been putting it off for lack of interest in developing a mana-system, so I might just put this to use eventually.

trade all spell castign with >SoP<

[Azten]

CalethosVB wrote:

Everyone can use the system of magic for their character that they enjoy without it being forced onto the other players as well, but that's your only form of casting. No mix and match. You like standard casting? Cool. Go with it. Like Words of Power? Have fun. Spheres of Power is your bag? It works. Psionics? Yeah, we got that. If there is a first or third party magic system you like, use it. Live it. Own it.

I want to play with your gaming group. That sounds awesome.

[Bandw2]

Sindenky wrote:

everyone gets 1 free race feat at level 1.

You must meet the pre-req's for the feat in question.

This really has helped your race feel more important to you, and incentivise choosing some of the race chains over the standard combat chains.

my group came up with something called thematic feats.

we've been improving the rules for them over a year now.

[rainzax]

Trekkie90909 wrote:

@rainzax: I like elements of your rule, they smooth over a couple balance issues in game and I could see them speeding up play in certain instances, and it's easy to implement at someone else's table. I do wonder if you find it marginalizes characters which have specialized into stealth and the like?

Biggest character-creation impact is it "frees up" skill points for all players because it automatically covers some bases - without removing the option for heavier investment.

My Stealth house rules include "situational concealment" which can be used to initiate a Stealth check. It's a subjective term that allows players to be creative (bad example: hiding in the rafters). But they have to move quick because if they end their turn with (only) situational concealment (as opposed to "actual" concealment), they are -10 to their check.

As a result, though the DC is higher, there are more opportunities to attempt a Stealth check in the first place, and since you are rolling over a fixed number (10 + Vigilance), it greatly rewards a character who invests in Stealth - especially when trying to sneak past a group of people (roll Stealth once and check against the groups' Vigilance scores).

[TriOmegaZero]

RDM42 wrote:

TriOmegaZero wrote:

On a critical hit, for each 20 you rolled on the attack, you maximize the result of one damage die.

This prevents a character from rolling less on a crit than on a normal attack for most instances.

You could also just say that minimum damage on a crit regardless of what is rolled is maximum non crit damage plus one per dice or something.

Nah, still pretty happy with my one houserule.

[Elro the Onk]

I use a variant Revised Action Economy, provoked by the Unchained rules, that I find makes martials feel more dynamic & "choice-y" (especially those with nothing much to do with swift actions):

If you could make two+ attacks on a full attack (e.g. via TWF/flurry; multiple natural attacks; feats such as medusa’s wrath, rapid shot/manyshot, or whirlwind attack; or from iteratives from BAB+6),
when you make a standard action attack, you can spend your swift action to make a second attack at the usual attack bonus (e.g. at -5 if it's from iteratives).

Thus you can now attack + second attack + move instead of full attack + swift/attack + move + swift. You can still use any combat actions that require a std action attack (cleave, vital strike etc.) in place of the first attack.

(I also make minor changes to how Haste & Quicken Spell work.)

[Sindenky]

opening a door sized normally for yourself, -5 ft of movement, closing a door -5ft, missized door ie to big or small, move action. Small creatures treat both med and small door as normal size, as they live in a world were med door are interacted with often.