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Hi, I am planning to use the following houserules for a campaign I may (or may not) run in the near future. I would like to ask for some feedback - what do you think?
GENERAL:
Background skills are in. 2+ int and 4+ int classes get 2 per level, 6+int and 8+ int get 1.
In case of multiclassing or prestige classes, use fractional BAB and save calculation.
Alignment restrictions are only for classes with a specific code and an active entity granting them powers (i.e. paladins, clerics, etc).
All spell-less full BAB classes get combat stamina as a bonus feat.
All casters cap out at 1 less spell slot per level from their max - i.e 3+specialization for wizards, 4 for bards, 5 for sorcerers.
CLASS:
Barbarian:
Use the unchained barbarian version, but a barbarian can assume a known stance know as an immediate action upon entering rage.
Barbarians can be lawful and do not lose their rage feature.
Cleric:
All cleric use the variant channeling rules.
Fighter:
Bravery is +1 to saves vs fear, DC to intimidate and combat stamina per 2 levels. As an immediate action, a fighter can burn stamina up to his bravery bonus to get the bonus to any save. This cannot be done if the fighter is flat-footed. Archetypes that lose bravery instead get it at half the rate.
Armor mastery – a character can elect to take a flat +1 to armor class when wearing armor as an advanced armor training
Weapon mastery: the bonus also applies to any CMD roll when armed with this weapon and as an insight bonus to AC against attacks with such weapon (defensive weapon training lets you use the AC bonus of a fighter of your level or gives +2 to fighters). The bonus to damage rolls is doubled. Weaponmaster gloves give you +4 to your level for all bonuses
Heroic effort: at level 8, a fighter can burn 10 stamina points to get one of the effects of a hero point. This can be done once per day, plus once more at level 16
Kineticist:
Kineticists get a d10 HD.
The kinetic buffer starts full whenever the kineticist removes burn
There is a universal talent that allows kineticists to get a -1 to their attack to reroll any 1s on their kinetic blast damage dice. The penalty increases to -2 at level 7 and -3 at level 13, at which point the kineticist can reroll any 2s and 3s respectively
There are magic items (amulet slots, priced as the amulets of mighty fists) that give +x to attack and +2x to attacks with blasts of a certain element
Monk:
Use the unchained monk version, but with the HD and saves of the standard monks (d8, good will save).
Monks can be non-lawful and keep leveling.
Rogue:
We are using the unchained rogue as the rogue/ninja with the following change:
At level 2, rogues get a luck pool that functions as the ninja ki pool with the following changes
rogues do not get the acrobatics bonus to jump
they can spend a luck point to reroll an attack roll (after the roll was made, before the result is announced) up to once per round instead of an extra attack. Both ninjas and rogues also have the option to spend a luck/ki point or to get a luck bonus to their AC or any save as an immediate action
Ninjas are a rogue archetype with different talents and trading trapfinding and danger sense for poison use, no trace and light steps
Summoner:
By player choice, a player can use either the pre-unchained eidolon and the unchained spell-list or vice versa.
Swashbuckler:
Charmed life does not take an action.
Swashbuckler weapon training is changed as weapon training and swashbucklers can take advanced WT with feats as fighters. For the purposes of AWT options, they count as having weapon training in light blades.
FEATS:
Critical feat giving you +1 to stamina on a crit, +2 for x3 weapons,+3 for x4 weapons.
Weapon focus, weapon specialization, shield focus and spell focus give the “greater”bonuses at BAB or CL 10+ (I am considering that for the greater maneuver feats, but that would disable them for anyone until BAB 10+).
Taking improved TWF also gives you the benefits of Greater TWF at BAB 11+
Combat expertise reduces the attack penalty of fighting defensively by 1 (2 for CMB checks), but this cannot reduce the penalty to 0, and improves the AC bonus of fighting defensively or total defense by +1
Risky striker is accessible to other small races (gnomes and goblins for sure)
WEAPONS:
Quarterstaffs are finessable if used as dual weapons.
Greatclubs are simple weapons
Tridents cannot be thrown but have a x3 critical.
The question is...why?
Most of it feels like unnecessary buffs (why does the kineticist get a d10 HD when they already get rewarded for maxing out their Constitution?) while others feel like unnecessary nerfs (why does the monk get a d8 HD?)
Overall, not really houserules I like.
Yeah.
I'm sure your attention is to help classes that need help, but the summoner and kineticist for example are two that do not. I'd force unchained summoner, unchained spell list to bring it more balanced.
I don't actually see any logic behind forcing clerics to do variant channeling, its far more powerful, so why not leave it as an option rather than forcing it?
My general idea was to buff a few classes in order to secure a solid niche for them, combine a few feats so they scale better and fix some minor peeves of mine.
On kineticists - burn can be a very frustrating ability that in a sense "eats" their high constitution, so a higher HD (which is a near equivalent of toughness) helps them not be so squishy when they are at near max levels. And compared to properly done blaster casters, kineticists at max burn are neither tougher nor significantly better at doing damage (I think they might even be weaker, unless the DM throws encounter guides out the window and, say, doubles your daily encounters).
The heroic effort is an extra ability. I was looking at the fighter table and essentially, up to level 19, they have 3 abilities - bravery and armor/weapon training. Sure,there are extra feats, but it is a rather poor table for a class with no extra mechanic at all.
As for the monk, I am returning the "traditional" save and HD, because while I am mostly happy with the unchained monk, for me the all good saves were a staple of the D&D monk and the loss of the will save was a big deal,even for a class that tended to have good wisdom score. I decided to just reverse those two changes.
I generally like the new summoner, but I think their spell list was made a bit too bland. While they had a ton of early access spells before, now their list was cut down to the point that I find it excessively mediocre compared to that of other 6-level casters, nevermind conjurer wizards or sorcerers. I am comparing it to other summon specialists, and I don't like where it stands in this comparison.
Regarding the variant channeling, I do not necessarily see it as weaker, but it helps differentiate the playstyles of different clerics, and I find them a bit too similar in that regard. Full casters already get a nerf on their spell slots.
Anyway, I appreciate the replies. Anything else you can think of?
Has a player asked if they can play a Barbarian Monk? as I can only think of that as the reason for the removal of the alignment restrictions. I would test the ramifications of a mix of the two classes before allowing this, rage and ki together could be a bit over powered and some of the archetypes would be a bit over the top too.
Kineticist seems... super strong with the buffs provided. i would say split the difference in number of changes. Either the d10 hd or the Feat to re-roll damage. It would be irresistible with that to not play a super-burner (fire every time).
All the others look cool to me.
A lot of the classes you're buffing just don't need it.
Also, understand that making the monk have a lower HD will NOT make them "squishier." You'll just force the player to have a higher Constitution and therefore reduce their damage output. Allowing them to be non-lawful means the barbarian becomes an amazing dip for a monk, which can make them overpowered.
If you want burn to be less annoying for a kineticist, then just houserule that burn doesn't cause damage. That's a better choice than giving them a bigger Hit Die, and it eliminates the annoying bookkeeping of managing those nonlethal points of damage.
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Lower Damage output is squishier. If I can't kill something before it kills me, then I'm squishier.
Has a player asked if they can play a Barbarian Monk?
This is my personal opinion, but as I am reading alignments a lot of law vs chaos comes down to ethical issues and individuality vs community. I do not see how harnessing an inner rage or developing your ki do not tie in with your philosophical or ethical views. As I see it, unless your mojo comes from someone who can give and take away as they see fit, your morality or ethics have little to do with it.
I can sort of see it for archetypes or PrCs that have to represent narrow niches (like the assassin), but broad templates like a barbarian or monk, not that much.
As for reducing the maximum spell count, as far as I have seen spellcasters at higher levels do not really run out of spells unless they really go nuts. I would like to test a slightly lower number of spells at mid- to high levels to see how it would work. I specifically aimed at the top spell slots to avoid the issue of hitting them where they are weaker early on.
Kineticist HD helps them take one more burn-causing action per day. Essentially, it is about equal to getting toughness on a class that essentially spends HP as a resource. Alternatively, I was thinking of increaasing the maximum on their elemental overflow so they can really go nuts. What do you think of that?
Regarding the cleric, I like the variant channel rules to make channeling feel different for the different deities. IMO clerics already have a bit of an issue in not having all that much variety. Anything else I can do instead?
Any feedback on the fighter btw? This is the one I was most unsure about. I was also considering having a mechanic to regain stamina on a critical hit (higher modified gives more) in the 10+ levels, perhaps via feat. It would be powerful, but these are the levels spellcasters really throw out some crazy stuff.
As I said, if the issue is that burn is annoying, then change burn. If the issue is that burn deals damage to the kineticist, then remove that. Besides, beyond the first or second level, it's rarely ever the case that the kineticist can't burn because their HP is too low. You're just buffing a class that doesn't really need buffing in a way that they don't need a buff for.
I'm not crazy about the fighter changes because it buffs the fighter in ways that they don't really need buffing. They can already do a lot of damage and can get heavily armored.
Also, there's no such thing as a "CMD roll."
Forcing variant channeling for the cleric sounds pretty awful. Most players don't like variant channeling, especially ones that want to emphasize healing.
Lower Damage output is squishier. If I can't kill something before it kills me, then I'm squishier.
You missed my point. I'm refuting the common mistake of thinking that lowering the Hit Die for a class that needs a good amount of hit points is a good way of making them feel like a glass cannon. It does the opposite, because it just forces the player to invest more in Constitution at expense of offense and other areas. It's emergent gameplay at work.
I'd say all your changes are solid. perhaps combat maneuvers could be folded together (improved and greater versions as one feat that expands as you level?). Perhaps something similar for style feats as well.
one change i sometimes use is to remove the positive and negative energy planes, and the energies tied to them. thus all heal/cure spells always cure, even healing undead, while all harm/inflict spells always harm, even harming undead.
I was consindering merging the combat maneuver feats to make them scaling, but this means you cannot "rush" both feats early on. Do you think this could become a problem?
I am actually cool with positive energy harming undead and vice versa, tbh. I guess I just accepted it as a given. What I sometimes miss are the specialty clerics from 2E who did not use the same chassis. That is hard to do in pathfinder, though, what with clerics not having all that many features to exchange in archetypes.
Any other classes that I have missed that you think really should get a patch?