Every group outside of PFS assumingely has some unique rules outside of RAW. What are some of the ones you experienced that enchanced the actual game?
Here are a few I’ve seen and do::
-Must confirm a fumble with a DC 15 reflex. Logic being an experienced fighter should have a chance before he “drops his sword or other silly stuff”
-No pet classes or cohorts in groups above five players. This speeds up action economy in combat so mini encounters don’t take forever.
-surface elf and Drow elf is a different dialect, just speaking Elven there is a 75% chance the other can understand. Think comparing Spanish to Tagalog. Yes they can communicate but there will be moments of confusion.
-Players that drastically break a game mechanically You are automatically killed as the Gods don’t want mortals to be that powerful. Its ok to be powerful but if your under level 6 and could take down a 9+ Solo you have broken a game.
At 0 hit points the character/enemy is down. (Having a different rule for being at an exact hit point number seems weird to me and is a hassle. It's also worth noting that the PCs get the enemies to exactly 0 hit points a surprising number of times!)
-You have until your initiative to die. Meaning if you are hit by an enemy and dead by normal pathfinder rules, you aren't dead until the end of your round.
-Prestige classes work more like how they did in 3.5, you need level 5 minimum, need to work towards it in the story (if you meet the normal requirements, you can't just take it), but it progresses one of your old class at 3/5th rate.
For my games, I'm not a huge fan of doing anything more than feat tax removal and allowing either Path of War/Psionics or 100% conversion to Spheres of Might/Power (as in, no normal wizards, only sphere wizards, normal fighter is okay). I normally throw my players customer items more than bending rules.
I allow paladins of all alignments.
Alignment restrictions: only that divine classes need to be compatible with deity.
Paladins are proficient with deity's favorite weapon.
If you pay a feat for something that you later get for free from another source you may trade the purchased feat for a logical upgrade with no retraining cost/time. (Weapon proficiency to weapon focus for example).
Rogues and slayers are proficient in shuriken.
The Nodachi is an exotic weapon.
Power attack multiplier adjusts when str bonus multiplier changes. IE: 1/2 str bonus is -1/+1 PA, full str is -1/+2 PA and str ×1.5 is -1/+3 PA.
That power attack thing is already a rule.
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There are a few odd corner cases where str bonus and PA bonus do not align in RAW. Flurry with a 2 handed weapon and off handed weapons with the double slice feat for an easy two. The above mentioned HR just simplifies things by having the standard rule always apply.
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some of the ones my group have used in the past, primarily to make life easier for non-caster classes:
* Power Attack isn't a feat, but just something everyone can do, regardless of their STR modifier. It thus doesn't exist as a prereq for any feat
* Vital Strike automatically upgrades to Improved and Greater when you meet the prereqs, eliminating a feat tax for a suboptimal combat strategy
* Weapon Finesse grants Dex to damage
* Point-Blank Shot and Rapid Shot are combined into one feat
* Quick Draw allows you to stove/sheathe items as well as draw them, though only a total number of times per round (any combination of drawing/sheathing) equal to your Dex mod. The feat also works with any handheld item (wands, potions, etc.), not just weapons
* all classes that aren't Int-based casters gain at least 4 + Int mod skill ranks per level
*Unchained Rogues are used instead of regular rogues, and furthermore gain skill unlocks starting at level 1; they gain 5-rank skill unlocks at 1 rank, 10-rank at 5 ranks, 15-rank at 10 ranks and 20-rank at 15 ranks
*resurrection is impossible except via divine-level magic. this is obviously something a lot of groups would loathe, but we like the way having death be more or less permanent adds a level of tension to adventures. we usually use Hero Points to make dying slightly less common
Multiclassing uses the Gestalt rules, with a scaling Level Adjustment. More classes equals more LA.
Grouped Skills, modified a little to integrate with the other rules. Fighters count as a 4 point class.
Wizards, Magi, and Witches prepare and cast as Arcanists. Clerics and Paladins are fixed-spontaneous, Druids and Hunters are standard spontaneous.
Full Attack is a Standard.
I'm working on generally consolidating feats.
Wizards, Magi, and Witches prepare and cast as Arcanists. Clerics and Paladins are fixed-spontaneous, Druids and Hunters are standard spontaneous.
What was your motivation to change this stuff around?
No Critical Hit confirmation rolls.
A fumble results in your foe receiving an AoO against you.
Saving throws are divided into Good, Fair, and Poor columns.
A Player can assign the Saving Throws any way he desires for his character, regardless of class.
There are more but I'm too tipsy to think of them.
Wizards, Magi, and Witches prepare and cast as Arcanists. Clerics and Paladins are fixed-spontaneous, Druids and Hunters are standard spontaneous.What was your motivation to change this stuff around?
I have never been a fan of Vancian, and I've generally approved of how D&D has gone further and further away from it starting with 3e.
Also, in the case of divine prepared spellcasters, I've been irritated by them getting a powerup from every single new book that's published, just for it existing-- and I think Warmage-style casting just makes more sense for the agents of the gods.
Overall that's a power down for wizards, druids, magi, and witches... I guess they're powerful enough to take it.
some of the ones my group have used in the past, primarily to make life easier for non-caster classes:
* Power Attack isn't a feat, but just something everyone can do, regardless of their STR modifier. It thus doesn't exist as a prereq for any feat
* Vital Strike automatically upgrades to Improved and Greater when you meet the prereqs, eliminating a feat tax for a suboptimal combat strategy
* Weapon Finesse grants Dex to damage
* Point-Blank Shot and Rapid Shot are combined into one feat
* Quick Draw allows you to stove/sheathe items as well as draw them, though only a total number of times per round (any combination of drawing/sheathing) equal to your Dex mod. The feat also works with any handheld item (wands, potions, etc.), not just weapons
* all classes that aren't Int-based casters gain at least 4 + Int mod skill ranks per level
*Unchained Rogues are used instead of regular rogues, and furthermore gain skill unlocks starting at level 1; they gain 5-rank skill unlocks at 1 rank, 10-rank at 5 ranks, 15-rank at 10 ranks and 20-rank at 15 ranks
*resurrection is impossible except via divine-level magic. this is obviously something a lot of groups would loathe, but we like the way having death be more or less permanent adds a level of tension to adventures. we usually use Hero Points to make dying slightly less common
That seems too much of power gaming.
Overall that's a power down for wizards, druids, magi, and witches... I guess they're powerful enough to take it.
Druids, certainly, but how is it a nerf for Wizards? Arcanist prep is much more flexible.
lol I just realized I wrote that my group likes to combine Point-Blank Shot and Rapid Shot into one feat, which isn't true. I meant to say PBS and Precise Shot are combined into a single feat.
Overall that's a power down for wizards, druids, magi, and witches... I guess they're powerful enough to take it.Druids, certainly, but how is it a nerf for Wizards? Arcanist prep is much more flexible.
There's a reason that arcanist is widely considered to be worse than wizard. Fewer spells per day than a sorcerer, and fewer spells per day than a wizard, as a trade off for flexibility- which a wizard already has, via fast study or bonded items or what have you. Their exploits give them somewhat of an edge, but wizards with arcanist casting don't get those.
The exploiter wizard archetype was already a better version of arcanist. Now that has been nullified. You may be better off playing an actual arcanist than a wizard now, unless you're married to arcane schools and bonus metamagic feats.
I ran across an interesting rule in a standalone adventure that I liked so much I've tried implementing it in all my games. My players don't seem to like it for some reason though and so I may have to discontinue using it.
It's what I call Crit Fumbles. Basically, if a player rolls a nat 1 to confirm a critical hit or a nat 20 to confirm critical fumble they get both results.
That is, they get the crit and all of its benefits, but they also immediately suffer from a fumble afterwards.
I like it because it means that things can happen in the game that wouldn't normally happen without questionable DM fiat.
"You chop the orcs head off but the momentum behind the blow pulls the weapon out of your hands."
"Your hand slips at the last second and the dagger slams into the wall next to the goblin. But it doesn't stop there, it miraculously ricochets off the wall and plants its self in the goblin's neck. It is however badly damaged (has gained the broken condition) from hitting the wall that hard."