Hello.
I haven't actually game-mastered before. But I was wondering.
What are some examples of house rules? What are some house rules you use? When is it okay not to enforce a rule? If I allow someone else not to follow a rule, do I have to do that for everyone?
Where is the best place to post this at?
Thanks. Have a good day.
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This might be better to the house rules section of the boards but for the sake of helping a new DM here is my list of house rules:
House rules:
1) Spontaneous casters have normal casting time when using rods.
2) Vital strike works on charge and spring attack but not pounce like and spring attack like effects.
3) Half-orc ferocity is the same as orc ferocity.
4) The paladin's capstone banishment effect doesn't end the smite if the evil outsider makes the save.
5) Monks are proficient with all monk weapons.
6) No leadership.
7) No antagonize.
8) All PrCs that give spellcasting level increases also gives spell known for spontaneous casters.
9) All rods are considered light maces.
10) The rogue talent combat trick can be selected more than once.
11) The snap shot line and the zen archer's reflexive shot work.
12) The scatter firearm attack can't be used when using the smiting shot deed.
13) Haste can give an extra attack with unarmed strike.
14) If you have double slice then when you use power attack you get the -1/+2 ratio with your off hand attack(s).
15) Flaming and similar elemental weapon enchantments require a free action to activate instead of a standard one.
16) Flaming and similar elemental weapon enchantments can be upgraded to burst effects by adding +1 enchantment worth to the weapon.
17) Low and medium fortification armor enchantments can be upgraded to medium and/or heavy fortification enchantments by paying the (enchantments cost) difference. The same thing applies to the shadow, slick, energy resistance and spell resistance armor enchantments.
18) The +2 to attack and damage rolls of the bane weapon property can't be used to add more than +5 (overall) to the attack and damage roll.
19) The +2 to attack and damage rolls of the furious weapon property can't be used to add more than +5 (overall) to the attack and damage roll.
20) The oathbound paladin's aren't required to have one of the listed gods as a patron deity, instead there are some gods that if being a patron for a paladin then the paladin are excluded from taking a particular oath (example: Abadar and Shelyn for oath of vengeane, shelyn and Abadar for oath against undead, abadar for oath of charity etc.)
21) You automatically disbelieve your own illusions.
22) Runestones of power can hanged in the character's body (neck, wrist etc.) without occupying the slot and can be used as long as the caster has one hand free.
23) Clerics and inquisitors of deities who have a simple weapon as a favored weapon gain weapon focus with that weapon for free at 1st level.
24) Rods and staves can be enchanted as weapons without the +50% to the price of the magical enchantments.
25) Echoing spell + spell perfection does not equal infinite loop.
26) The guardian weapon special ability does not work with GMW, also the it can't be put in a non-hand held item, in addition it can't be put to either armor spikes or shield spikes, also the hand that weilds the weapon with this property can't be used for anything else other than attacking.
27) You can't weild armor spikes without TWFing.
28) Wildblooded bloodlines are valid targets for the eldritch heritage feats.
29) The Paizo blog on intelligent animal companion is mostly disregarded.
30) Both the skill focus feat and CHA requirements for the eldritch heritage feat line is disregarded with DM's permission (no you can't have your CHA 7 fighter with abbysal or orc bloodline).
31) Both the powerful sneak and the deadly sneak rogue talents don't carry a -2 penalty on attack rolls when used.
32) The rogue talent hide in plain sight also can be used if the chosen terrain doesn’t grant cover or concealment.
33) Oracle mysteries aren't tied to specific deities.
34) Conductive weapons of any type can be used for either melee or ranged sorcerer's bloodline abilities.
35) The spell focus, greater spell focus, elemental focus, greater elemental focus, spell penentration and greater spell penentration feats can be chosen as a wizard bonus feats.
36) Arcane armor training and arcane armor mastery do not require a swift action to use instead they are permanent effects.
37) Weapon proficiencies do not have +1 BAB as a prerequisite.
38) The heavy repeating crossbow costs 75gp.
39) The light repeating crossbow costs 50gp.
40) Torag has the War domain and the tactics subdomain (in addition to the normal list of domains and subdomains).
41) Cayden Cailean has the Liberation domain and the freedom subdomain (in addition to the normal list of domains and subdomains).
42) Crossblooded sorcerers have a minimum of 1 spell known at each spell level.
43) Crossblooded and the Wildblooded archetypes can be used together.
44) The Dazing spell metamagic uses a slot 4 levels higher instead of 3 (metamagic rods of metamagic are priced accordingly), in addition each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect as a full round action.
45) The snowball spell belongs to the evocation school and is subject to SR.
46) If a subject makes the initial save of the terrible remorse spell then the subject isn't staggered but only takes -2 penalty to AC.
47) The burning disarm spell has a will saving throw instead of a reflex one. In addition when the subject makes the save he takes 5d4 fire damage, when the subject fails the save he drops the held item.
48) The emergency force sphere spell is a 5th level sorcerer/wizard spell instead of a 4th level spell.
49) The acute senses spell gives a +5 enhancement bonus on Perception checks (+10 at 8th caster level and +15 at 16th caster level) instead of +10 (+20 at 8th and +30 at 16th).
50) The subject of the spell irresistable dance, who made his save, can act normally (but take the associated penalties) while dancing for 1 round.
51) The subject of the spell suffocation who makes his initial save isn't staggered.
52) The spell feeblemind doesn't carry a -4 for it's save for arcane caster subjects.
53) The subject of the spell cacophonous call each round on its turn, ay attempt a new saving throw to end the effect as a full round action.
Banned:
1) No guns.
3) No eastern weapons and armor.
4) No gunslingers.
5) No archetypes of any class with guns.
6) No samurais.
7) No ninjas.
8) No summoners
9) No monks.
10) No witches
11) No paragon surge spell.
Clarifications:
1) The qinggong has the option of swapping a monk power or not for a qinggong power, meaning that he can select other archetypes by forfeiting the choice of the power selected.
2) The rogue talent offensive defensive doesn't stack with itself.
3) The double pistol doesn't give you manyshot for every attack you have, by firing both barrels you simply get double damage die.
4) The lightning reload deed allows you to reload as a free action any firearm as long as you use alchemical cartiges or have the rapid reload feat with that weapon.
5) When picking the sylvan bloodline for eldritch heritage you gain the animal companion.
6) The sable company ranger archetype only gives up the first favored terrain.
7) You can't use somatic components when using most of elemental body forms.
8) You can use somatic components when using most of monstrous physique forms and most of undead anatomy forms.
9) Your equipment resizes when using monstrous physique.
10) Thassilon specialists also get the arcane school powers and can choose a focused school if they wish.
Keep in mind that my list is fairly old (a little more than a year) and i didn't have to update it. Also keep in mind that this list is, mostly, things i have changed about the rules, campaign specific stuff like no evil alignment or core races only aren't included.
As to your other questions:
When do you enforce a rule? Always (or rather almost always)
If I allow someone else not to follow a rule, do I have to do that for everyone? Yes everyone (keep in mind that this means NPCs too).
If you are new I would avoid house rules. I find they are often used to fix problems that don't exist. If you play a whole game and found somerhing was an iasue then maybe look at them. If you do use them make sure to write them down. This does two things. One it makes it clear what the changes are and two it avoids the problem of people mistaking house rules for rules.
An example of a common house rule is stairs being rough terrain. However several groups I've playee with are not even aware its a house rule.
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1. Run the game with Rules-As-Written a few times.
2. See if anything bugs you.
3. Decide if and how you want to change it.
4. Check if changing the things that bug you won't trip over some other aspect of the game. (For example: Deciding that Cure Minor Wounds should be back in the game and not realizing that with at-will cantrips in Pathfinder, you just gave your players free infinite healing. Or deciding that all those sneak attack D6s are soooo scary that you'll limit sneak attacks to one per round.)
5. Proceed.
Gorbacz you shouldn't be joking with such things, there are people who might take such a comment at face value.
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Gorbacz you shouldn't be joking with such things, there are people who might take such a comment at face value.
My post wasn't a joke. Actually, I thought that your list of 563 house rules was a parody of the "here's my very short and concise list of house rules" posts...
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If you are new I would avoid house rules. I find they are often used to fix problems that don't exist. If you play a whole game and found somerhing was an iasue then maybe look at them. If you do use them make sure to write them down. This does two things. One it makes it clear what the changes are and two it avoids the problem of people mistaking house rules for rules.
An example of a common house rule is stairs being rough terrain. However several groups I've playee with are not even aware its a house rule.
Yeah, I see that a lot. For clarity the rule is that stairs are normal movement rates up or down but you can't run on them and acrobatics DCs are 4 higher.
I guess Mom would yell if you ran on the stairs...
Gorbacz you shouldn't be joking with such things, there are people who might take such a comment at face value.My post wasn't a joke. Actually, I thought that your list of 563 house rules was a parody of the "here's my very short and concise list of house rules" posts...
Wasn't that "deciding that all those sneak attack D6s are soooo scary that you'll limit sneak attacks to one per round" part a joke?
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Wasn't that "deciding that all those sneak attack D6s are soooo scary that you'll limit sneak attacks to one per round" part a joke?Gorbacz you shouldn't be joking with such things, there are people who might take such a comment at face value.My post wasn't a joke. Actually, I thought that your list of 563 house rules was a parody of the "here's my very short and concise list of house rules" posts...
Sneak attacks are never a joke......
joking...
I'd like to say houserule only when necessary, but it turns out it's never truly necessary.
I'd say I only houserule when it's more fun, but I probably do it less than that.
It turns out I houserule exactly as much as the patience of my players allows...
My personal list of house rules is ... significant, but I've been at this a while. Highlights include:
*Alignment exists solely as a spell descriptor and a creature subtype. So, f'rex, Detect Evil can detect devils, but not the assassin next door. (This was a compromise with the players. I prefer no alignment at all.)
*No Prep casters allowed.
*Costless material components do not exist. Effectively, all casters get Eschew Materials for free.
*The 'natural 1/natural 20' rules are not used.
*Experience points will not be tracked. Level-ups occur based on story.
*Dead is dead. No spells, effects, or abilities can restore life to the deceased.
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Gorbacz you shouldn't be joking with such things, there are people who might take such a comment at face value.My post wasn't a joke. Actually, I thought that your list of 563 house rules was a parody of the "here's my very short and concise list of house rules" posts...
You forgot step 6. "Produce a 300 page PDF of rules changes for your players to read."
No natural 1/20 rules? So, you house rule that luck doesn't exist in your world?My personal list of house rules is ... significant, but I've been at this a while. Highlights include:
*Alignment exists solely as a spell descriptor and a creature subtype. So, f'rex, Detect Evil can detect devils, but not the assassin next door. (This was a compromise with the players. I prefer no alignment at all.)
*No Prep casters allowed.
*Costless material components do not exist. Effectively, all casters get Eschew Materials for free.
*The 'natural 1/natural 20' rules are not used.
*Experience points will not be tracked. Level-ups occur based on story.
*Dead is dead. No spells, effects, or abilities can restore life to the deceased.
Some things you just can't succeed at, some things you can't just screw up. Besides, I hate it when players forgo tactics, or intelligence, or anything else and just randomly fling dice hoping for a 20.
Ignore geography. They start off going east on a road. If they continue on this road, they make it to the town. If they turn around and follow the road west, they make it to the town. If they go off road, through the forest, over some stream, to a beach, across an ocean, through some more woods, they eventually make it to the town. You have made a campaign where the adventurers are traveling to the town. They will end up at this town no matter which direction they go.
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Ignore geography.
If they turn around and walk away, they run into the town.
Get on the rails boys!
When you houserule, seek to enhance the freedom and choice your players experience, not limit it. So I consider Leo1925's list of houserules (serious or not) as detestable because it does as much to limit a players freedom as to expand it. I've seen DM's serious about those kinds of lists, and they can be fine, but just make sure your players are on board with it first. Setting a tone for a certain type of campaign can justify prohibiting certain classes, but should only be done if the players agree.
Common Houserules include Nat 1's are always auto failure, and Nat 20's are always auto success, no matter what you are rolling.
Personally I hate this rule but my players demand I keep this one going so I let them know that I have the power to tell them no at any point.
My personal house rules go like this:
- Paladin alignments are: Any Good; Antipaladins: Any Evil
- Magic Item Crafting cannot have it's construction components bypassed by increasing the DC
- Crafting Magic Items requires investment into crafting reagents and having enough reagents to actually craft the item you want
- 3.5 Spells and At-My-Discretion Magic Items are legal, with the exception being that any Pathfinder version existing supersedes the 3.5 ones
- EXP and CR do not exist, and I manipulate challenges based on what players are there on a week by week basis; I level the PCs by the story
For the most part that's all the house rules I play by. I have had plenty of DMs have several other houserules though that highly influence the way the game is played. Big ones include the introduction of new skills, mainly one called Warcraft which functions like spellcraft but allows martial characters with high enough rolls to identify fighting techniques (mostly feats) of enemy combatants, and creating a second Spellcraft skill, one for divine spells and one for arcane spells.
Out of curiosity why? Some I understand aka summoners, the rest Im like why?Banned
6) No samurais.
7) No ninjas.
8) No summoners
9) No monks.
10) No witches
Most likely for flavor, monks, samurai, and ninjas are all very eastern themed classes and I could see the DM purposely holding off on using them until he can introduce them organically into his own game world. Though I do not enforce such a rule, I can condone it since I like having the same kind of flavor control in my own game.
Witches might just be a 'bad guy' only class as far as I know.
Yeah, I see that a lot. For clarity the rule is that stairs are normal movement rates up or down but you can't run on them and acrobatics DCs are 4 higher.
I guess Mom would yell if you ran on the stairs...
I ran all the time on stairs as a kid. Usually I was running up them, to get to mom first to tell her my version of what happened before my sibling could do the same.
Witches might just be a 'bad guy' only class as far as I know.
They aren't.
They aren't.Witches might just be a 'bad guy' only class as far as I know.
[context]I meant in his particular game world.[/context]
First of all before you change the rules make sure you understand them. I have seen a lot of GM’s house rules that changed things that did not need to be changed, or worse changed things without thinking things through and made things worse. The best house rules cover things that are unclear or ambiguous.
One area where house rules are good is in defining the campaign. Most of the campaigns I run have a house rule the characters must be good. This is usually because most of my campaigns have the party working for a person or organization that is good. My last campaign had the players working for the eagle knights.
Another area that defines the campaign is in allowable races and classes. Mostly this should be done to make sure the characters are appropriate to the campaign you are running. If there are no guns in your world banning the gunslinger and gun based archetypes makes sense. You have to be careful when doing this to not arbitrarily ban something based on the name or description. I have seen a lot of GM’s bane the ninja because they do not want an Asian themed class. Many classes can be reskined to fit the campaign. A ninja could just as easily be the order of assassins in Alamut. Which would defiantly fit into an Arabian Knights based campaign.
Look at the type of campaign you want to run and figure out what is not going to fit. My basic assumption is anything is allowed I do not specifically ban. For the most part I follow what I ban so if I say there are no guns, the villains will not have guns. Obviously alignment is the exception to the rule.
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at this point in pathfinder, id ban the rogue and tell people play the ninja instead...why gimp the party?
That is not a house rule that is just common sense.
This might be better to the house rules section of the boards but for the sake of helping a new DM here is my list of house rules:
** spoiler omitted **...
Unless I'm misunderstanding, #8 and #13 aren't house rules, they're just the rules.
I've never heard of anyone changing the rules to make Eldritch Heritage more powerful.
Why do you have house rules about guns when you ban guns and gunslingers?
I don't understand #27. Is the point of this rule to stop people without melee weapons besides armor spikes to take AOO's?
To the OP, I say play RAW, then change what you don't like. Give the RAW a chance before you go changing anything. You'll probably find that some rules others swear are broken work fine for you, and rules others think are fine your group doesn't care for. The only rule of thumb is if you're going to be making up houserules on the fly, be lenient about letting players get do-overs on actions that don't do what they were planning, or let them re-build character concepts especially hurt by a houserule you adopt.
My only current houserule is that for every natural 20 you roll on attacks, one damage die is maximized.
Waiting to see what other houserules suit my home group. Alignment will probably be totally scrapped as is my usual standard, although it is pretty well unused as things stand already.
Out of curiosity why? Some I understand aka summoners, the rest Im like why?Banned
6) No samurais.
7) No ninjas.
8) No summoners
9) No monks.
10) No witches
Alot of people have a wholly irrational reaction to things with an eastern flavour. Its like people who play a fantasy game have no imagination. I have no idea why anyone woukd ban the witch though.
Unless I'm misunderstanding, #8 and #13 aren't house rules, they're just the rules.This might be better to the house rules section of the boards but for the sake of helping a new DM here is my list of house rules:
** spoiler omitted **...
Also 16, 17, 33, and 37.
And the Rogue talent Offensive Defense can't stack with itself, as you cannot take it more than once.
@Detoxifier
Of course i present the list to my players before a campaign starts, they can question me of why i made each rule and they can even try to convince me to change one of them. In addtion i try not to make a house rule during the course of a campaign, if i have to i offer the players affected by it the option to rebuild.
What exactly do you find detestable? Is it all of it or just the banned things?
Of course they have the option of not playing if they don't want or don't like my house rules.
@MyTThor
I pretty sure that there is FAQ now but when i made that house rule i have seen a PrC or two that didn't exactly spell that they were doing that.
About 13, again when i wrote number 13 it was debatlable whether unarmed strikes and natural attacks can benefit from haste.
About the Eldritch Heritage, are you talking about the no.28? If yes i did it becuase i see wildblooded bloodlines as another bloodline and not an archetype.
I have house rules about guns becuase i spotted issues with guns and i tried to correct them and becuase maybe in the future i run a game where gunslingers are allowed.
The point of no.27 is to not use armor spikes in order to make AoOs when you weild a reach weapon and with bows.
@Cant'tFindthePath
How is number 16 a rule? i would be happy if it were true but the last time (about a year ago iirc) i researched the subject i found it that you need a house rule for that.
The same question about 17.
About 33, how is that a rule? Each mystery in APG and UM has a list of deities that go with that mystery.
About 37, i should have said the exotic weapon proficiency feat doesn't have the +1 BAB prerequisite.
I know that Offensive Defense doesn't (or shouldn't) stack with itself but i have seen a discussion or two here in the fora and there was merit on the side that said that it might stack, their arguements and citetions were good enough to warrant a clarification for my group.
@EsperMagic
The gunslinger and the gun using archetypes are banned for two reasons
a)they don't fit thematically in most APs and modules (which is what my group mostly plays)
b)from my experience most APs and modules can't handle the touch AC mechanic of guns.
The summoner is banned becuase i don't have the time to learn a huge load of new rules, exceptions to them and then another load of rules and more exceptions to them for a single class and it's archetypes.
The samurai and the ninja are banned because they don't fit thematically in most APs and modules, in addition i don't like eastern themed stuff much.
The monk is banned partly for the same reason as the samarai and the ninja but most importantly because most of my players are new players and if they choose to make a monk there is a high chance they are going to end up being useless. I was going to ban the rogue for the same reason but there was an uproar when i brought it up as a possible house rule that i had to not implement it.
Witches are banned because i don't like the class (mostly mechanically) and because i have seen first hand in two different occasions (one DMing RotRL and one playing JR) that APs aren't prepared for the hexes and that they can suck the fun out of the game.
Unless I'm misunderstanding, #8 and #13 aren't house rules, they're just the rules.This might be better to the house rules section of the boards but for the sake of helping a new DM here is my list of house rules:
** spoiler omitted **...Also 16, 17, 33, and 37.
And the Rogue talent Offensive Defense can't stack with itself, as you cannot take it more than once.
Haven't checked 8, but I believe it's already the rule, 13 is a house rule because the extra attack from haste only works with manufactured or natural weapons, and unarmed strikes are neither, 16 is not explicitly stated in the rules, but since a +1 flaming, flaming burst weapon has flaming twice, it's only common sense that the burst would be an upgrade, and any GM that tried to argue otherwise would be likely to see me walk away from their table. Same for 17. No comment on 33, but for 37, Exotic WPs have a +1 BAB requirement, no others do.
Haven't checked 8, but I believe it's already the rule, 13 is a house rule because the extra attack from haste only works with manufactured or natural weapons, and unarmed strikes are neither, 16 is not explicitly stated in the rules, but since a +1 flaming, flaming burst weapon has flaming twice, it's only common sense that the burst would be an upgrade, and any GM that tried to argue otherwise would be likely to see me walk away from their table. Same for 17. No comment on 33, but for 37, Exotic WPs have a +1 BAB requirement, no others do.Unless I'm misunderstanding, #8 and #13 aren't house rules, they're just the rules.This might be better to the house rules section of the boards but for the sake of helping a new DM here is my list of house rules:
** spoiler omitted **...Also 16, 17, 33, and 37.
And the Rogue talent Offensive Defense can't stack with itself, as you cannot take it more than once.
8: There have been some sloppy cut/paste, and just plain oopsie write ups of well established rules over the years. None less so, than the Prestige Classes in the D&D splat books from 3rd Edition. You'd think it was all handled by now.
13: That is pretty sloppy language, that leads me to believe it wasn't intentional. OTOH, if it was, then shame on.....somebody. That is silly.
16, 17: Oh, now I understand the specificity of your house rule, I was thinking of upgrading magic weapons/armor in general. Yeah, what Chemlak said. I guess it just seemed so natural all the way back to 3.0 in 2000, that it never occurred to me that they didn't cover that. Wow. So, according to RAW, if you upgrade a flaming weapon to flame bursting, you will forever have an overwritten and overpriced +1 weapon quality that does nothing but drive the price up. Awesome.
33: I stand corrected...at least in Fluff-As-Written. The Oracle preamble does basically say that you are mostly drawing your powers from the deities that share your beliefs. But that runs counter to the whole point of the fluff of the class! You are supposed to be independent of deities! (I never liked that anyway.)
But, what I meant was that you aren't tied to those deities, any more than the Cleric class and its domains are tied to the deities listed in the CRB.
37: Well, obviously the correction of your comment nullifies mine. :)
Re: Offensive Defense: I know the type who needs such clarification. Still, by RAW, you can't have the talent twice, so it shouldn't be an issue.