What Houserules do you use?

[Toshy]

I know many people use EITR, but I was wondering what other Houserules you all use in your games?

We for example play without crit-confirmation, what probably only works, as nobody plays a crit-fishing build. In addition abilities and feats which only improve confirmation-rolls are either swapped out or simply skipped if they are a requirement for other feats.

We also don't play with negative hit points, instead we switched to the wounded/dying rules from PF2e, also with changing/swapping relevant abilities accordingly.

[TxSam88]

These are our base house rules - as we begin each new campaign they get modified to fit it.

1. No third party products
2. Character creation.
a. Ability stat generation style to be determined by Game Master prior to character generation.
i. Typical styles include:
1. Point build (example: 20 point, place as desired, then apply racial bonus).
2. Dice roll (4d6 drop lowest, place as desired then apply racial bonus).
3. Array (17, 15, 13, 13, 11, 11 place as desired then apply racial bonus).
ii. For Normal Games
1. Initial Stats (Before racial traits) must be between 10 and 17.
b. Allowed races.
i. For Normal Game
1. Core races can be freely chosen.
2. Featured races are allowed with discretion, DM’s approval
3. Uncommon Custom races, rarely with DM’s approval
4. Randomizer with DM’s approval.
5. No custom Races
ii. For Short Games
1. Core Races freely chosen
2. Featured Races freely chosen
3. Uncommon races with DM’s approval
4. Freely use randomizer
5. No custom Races.
c. Banned classes.
i. For Normal Games.
1. Summoner
2. Fighter
a. Archer
3. Undead Lord
4. Arcane Trickster
5. Arcane Archer
6. Anything from Occult Game
a. Kineticist is allowed.
ii. For Short Games
1. No banned list.
iii. At GM’s discretion
1. Gestalt may be allowed.
2. Any banned classes may be allowed.
d. Alignment.
i. Any non-evil alignment is allowed.
e. Equipment.
i. All characters can have “mundane” equipment of their choosing.
ii. No special materials or properties.
iii. Characters still get starting gold on top of “mundane” equipment.
iv. Ignore encumbrance. It is assumed you can drop your gear at the beginning of battle.
v. Unlimited “normal” ammunition except in special circumstances.
vi. No guns/technology except in the “appropriate” campaigns
3. Character Advancement.
a. Experience Points
i. Use “Milestone Levelling”
ii. All party members will be at the same level.
b. Hit Points
i. When rolling for Hit points, reroll until you get a number on the upper half of the die.
1. Example, if you roll a d8 for HP, you can re-roll any result of 1-4.
ii. For Gestalt Games use Max Hit-points
4. Spells and Magic.
a. Use Spell memorization per rulebooks.
b. No spell components are required.
c. Spell Concentration is not used.
d. Use the spell templates we have created instead of the “grid” spell areas.
5. Combat.
a. Bleed is not used.
b. Critical hits:
i. A roll of a 20 is always a critical, unless a 20 is the only way you could hit the opponent. In this case, the Natural 20 is still a hit, but must be confirmed to be a critical.
c. Surprise Round
i. If surprised (unaware) you are considered flat footed until your turn and do not get to act in the surprise round.
ii. If not surprised, you may take a Move or a Standard action.
iii. Even if you have already gone, you are still considered flat footed vs. undetected (Stealth or Invisible) opponents.
d. Precision Damage
i. If any of your attacks qualify for precision damage (backstab) during a round then all of your attacks versus the same opponent qualify for precision damage.
ii. You cannot use precision damage against an opponent who has concealment.
e. Sniping (Attack at range, while stealthy)
i. Can grant precision damage if applicable, typically to a target which has not seen you.
ii. After your attack, if you have not moved, you may make a stealth check. If successful, then you have not been spotted and may attack again from stealth the next round.
6. Movement.
a. Diagonal movement is still 5’ per square, no normal square counts double.
7. Skill and Ability checks:
a. A roll of a 20 is always a success, a roll of a 1 is always a failure.
8. Poison
a. Characters use the Unchained Poison rules. (See Appendix)
b. Encounters use the rules as written.
9. Saving throws
a. A natural 20 is always a success.
b. A natural 1 is always a failure.
i. Items do not need to make a check on a natural roll of a 1.
10. Spell DC’s
a. Spells DC is based on the highest-level spell the caster can cast, not the spells actual level.
11. Magic items and Items carried.
a. Cannot be damaged or broken unless specifically targeted.
i. Unless their description says otherwise.
12. Eidolon
a. Equipment which has been attuned to the Eidolon (worn/wielded for 12 hours) travels with the Eidolon when it is summoned/banished.
13. Feats
a. Use the Elephant in the Room “Weapon groups”
b. “Bladed Brush” does work with Spell Combat and Spell Strike.
c. Banned Feats
i. Leadership
14. Under trial:
a. Automatic Bonus Progression.
15. Fear
a. Modify the different stages of Fear to be as follows:
i. Shaken: -2 Penalty on Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, Skill Checks, Ability Checks. (This is as normal)
ii. Frightened: -4 Penalty on Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, Skill Checks, Ability Checks, Cannot take a full round action.
iii. Panicked: -6 Penalty on Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, Skill Checks, Ability Checks, Can only take 1 action per turn.
16. Sickened and Nauseated
a. Modify the different stages of Sickened to be as follows:
i. Sickened: –2 Penalty on all Attack Rolls, Weapon Damage Rolls, Saving Throws, Skill Checks, and Ability Checks.
ii. Nauseated: –4 Penalty on all Attack Rolls, Weapon Damage Rolls, Saving Throws, Skill Checks, and Ability Checks. Can only take one action per turn. Cannot cast spells with a verbal component.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Not nearly as many as I am tempted to, because at some point it would be less a few house rules and more a rewrite of the game.

Some of the more noteworthy are
- all classes with 2+Int skill points are increased to 3+ (considering bumping them to 4+)
- Meteor Swarm functions as it does in 5e
- Protection From [alignment] does not shut down an entire school of magic
- Chains of Light is Evocation with SR, as it always should have been
- Crafting does not require a Item Creation Feat, but you cannot ignore all other requirements. Crafting without ICFs increases base DC by 10, and you cannot enhance any item you haven't created.

[OmniMage]

Remove arcane spell failure from the game. I think it limits arcane builds too much, and arcane armor feats cost too many feats to learn. This does not give spell casters armor prof feats they didn't have before.

Get rid of trap finding from the rogue. Let any class with the skills find and disarm magic traps.

I think there are too many magic item creation feats. I've reduced them to magic consumables (scrolls, potions, wands, and staves) and permanent magic items (wondrous, arms and armor, rings, and rods). Any character can take craft permanent magic items. It works like rituals; you don't need to be able to cast fireball on a whim by speaking a few words and a wave from you hand to craft magic items. Non-spell casters will need to use appropriate crafting skills though (like craft weapons for magic arms).

Quote:

- Crafting does not require a Item Creation Feat, but you cannot ignore all other requirements. Crafting without ICFs increases base DC by 10, and you cannot enhance any item you haven't created.

I might steal this. :)

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

> Throw out pretty much everything official.
> Use only 3rd-party stuff.

[Azothath]

I use the PF1 Org play rules as it simplifies the game, boots most of the broken stuff, and is all online/easily accessible. Campaign clarifications has a lot of the GM Decisions for usage.
I have a document for character generation which follows PFS. As as alternate I use a point system for level, abilities, and gold when starting above 1st and using custom equivalent character level(ECL) for various races/monsters based on CR.
I add in a bunch of custom stuff. You can see my posts in the Homebrew Forum. I use traits to access weapon/armor/shield proficiencies within a weapon group along with a professional skill. Any trait that offers a class skill with trait bonus instead of the trait bonus grants half a rank with each level (ranks cannot exceed level). Any class can opt for Learned(type) for a type of Class skill which gives them -1 Skl rank for +2 Skl ranks in a type(Craft, Knowledge, Perform, or Profession). I give animals/monsters Survival (1 rnk) bonus, then at 2+HD animals get 1/HD bonus. Monsters usually 75% HPs.
If somebody wants to take a Magic Item crafting feat, not a problem but they cannot exceed half the cost of their current equipment/gear (aka half has to be at full price). All magic items have at least 3 requirements and Each ignored requirement type(ability, skill, spell, etc) adds 20% then 10% for next of same type to crafting cost dropping profitability.

[Java Man]

My houserules:add unchained background skills
Fractional bonuses for multiclassing
Currently experimenting with an alternate system of fcbs (replacing racial options with about three choices for each class, independent of race)
I keep tweaking item creation rules, not completely happy yet.
Any reasonably sized item can be drawn in the same time/action cost as a weapon.
Unchained summoner is the required type, other unchained classes are optional.

[Azothath]

I should mention CHA bonus deducts/adds to mundane Purchasing at 5% per point then half above that (-2:+10, -1:+5, 0:0, +1:-5, +2:-7.5, +3:-10, +4:-12.5). A Cha 6 has 10% added to all purchase costs and CHA 18 Bard/Sor get stuff at 12.5% off... it supplants all the fancy Bargaining rules.

[Java Man]

A couple more: a familiar in contact with its master does not count as a seperate creature for teleport, dimension door, or other instantaneous transport spells.

Wizard bonded objects: a hand holding a bonded weapon, wand, or rod counts as an empty hand for spell casting.

Breath of life is a "cure" spell for spontaneous casting purposes.

[glass]

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Not nearly as many as I am tempted to, because at some point it would be less a few house rules and more a rewrite of the game.

I resemble that remark! Years ago I had a massive multi-page house rule doc, decided it was too unwieldy, and started over with a new shorter one. Which started growing. The shorter one is up to 16 pages now!

TBF, that is partly due to how it presented - some things are spelled out in full rather than (or as well as) being bullet-point changes. For example, there is a table collating what each Knowledge skill covers from various sources, as well as incorporating our own changes. There are also sections covering using 3.0/3.5 content and Multitrack (our version of gestalt), an Index, and a Changelog.

Despite my tendency towards verbosity, I tried to keep the major house rules to a minimum: There are only ten (really nine, because no 3 is a partial exception to no 2):

Major House Rules:

There is no required randomness in character creation and advancement

Ability score point buy depends on class (and possibly archetype, if it changes spellcasting):
• 9-level casters get 20 points.
• 6-level casters get 25 points.
• 4-level and non-casters get 30 points.

As a partial exception to 1.2, a character who intends to multiclass can select a select a 6- or 9-level caster class at first level and still claim the higher point buy. However, if they do so they cannot take any further levels in that class until they have at least three levels in a suitable class, and until that point they gain no spellcasting from the first class other than cantrips (although they still have the spell list for the purposes of spell trigger and spell completion items, and still have their caster level).

All classes that are not Int-based 9-level characters get a minimum of 4 skill ranks per level (before Int modifier, and favoured class bonus or species bonuses where applicable). If an archetype for such a class would increase skill ranks from 2 to 4, it instead increases them from 4 to 6. Archetypes which change the spellcasting ability score or progression may change whether a class qualifies for the 4-rank minimum (in either direction).

The essence, primal, and occult magical traditions exist (with occult being distinct from psychic, although some classes are assigned to both). Appropriate classes are assigned to one of more of these, and sometimes the player can choose – in that case the choice should be made when the first magical ability is received, and is thereafter treated as a class feature for the purposes of retraining. See Appendix 3 for class/tradition assignments.

The skill list is tweaked to better integrate certain variants, improve balance, and reflect actual play and common sense. In particular, the Appraise skill is deleted, the third-party Knowledge (Martial) and Knowledge (Psionics) skills are included (with the latter being renamed Occult), and other Knowledge skills are tweaked. See Skill Changes below for details.

Non-broken third-party & D&D 3.5/3.0 content is available, subject to GM approval - a “3.P” environment. See “Using D&D 3.5 & 3.0 Content”, below.

Using a swift action on your turn does not impact your ability to use immediate actions (and vice versa).
-

There is a much longer list of Minor House Rules, because each time we come across something wonky or unclear and resolve it, we write it down. I am not going to list them all here, but most of the entries in are small QoL fixes, only affect a small subset of characters or situations, or are how you would expect it to work anyway if you had not dug into it.

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Some of the more noteworthy are

- all classes with 2+Int skill points are increased to 3+ (considering bumping them to 4+)

Four as has worked fine for us, although as you can see from the above spoiler, we made an exception for Int-based full casters.

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

- Meteor Swarm functions as it does in 5e

I like that! Word-for-word exactly as 5e, or just the save-once-damage-once aspect?

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

glass wrote:

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

- Meteor Swarm functions as it does in 5e

I like that! Word-for-word exactly as 5e, or just the save-once-damage-once aspect?

Dealing 40d6 points of damage per sphere rather than 8d6, primarily, but also the fact you can only be affected by one sphere per casting, however fun it would be to dump 160d6 damage on someone.

[glass]

Java Man wrote:

A couple more: a familiar in contact with its master does not count as a seperate creature for teleport, dimension door, or other instantaneous transport spells.

Wizard bonded objects: a hand holding a bonded weapon, wand, or rod counts as an empty hand for spell casting.

I feel like we do these, even though none of them are formally in our HR doc. I should probably add them.

Java Man wrote:

Breath of life is a "cure" spell for spontaneous casting purposes.

We have not done this one, but I am tempted to add it too.

[Faily]

Java Man wrote:

A couple more: a familiar in contact with its master does not count as a seperate creature for teleport, dimension door, or other instantaneous transport spells.

Wizard bonded objects: a hand holding a bonded weapon, wand, or rod counts as an empty hand for spell casting.

Breath of life is a "cure" spell for spontaneous casting purposes.

I might steal these in the future!

It's so rare that folks do have Familiars, so it tends to be forgotten many times, but that seems like a better way to handle it.

-

Rules I am currently using for my Ruins of Azlant-campaign (adapted to Mystara):
1. Favored Class options is limited to +1HP to +1SP. This is because I find the alternate ones to be wildly imbalanced to the point where it's not fun.
2. Using Knowledge skills to identify monsters and opponents is a Standard Action (this stops one player from bombarding with request for using Knowledge skills before I even get around to describing a monster, I also stole this rule from a GM in another group I play in).
3. All classes that start with 2 Skill Points start with 4 instead. This is because I find it doesn't break the game and make it possible for players to invest in fluff or background skills.
4. I use Bjørn Røyrvik's houserule for magic item creation.
5. Page of Spell Knowledge has been changed slightly to be more like a magical scroll that can be used repeatedly:

To cast the spell from the Page of Spell Knowledge, the caster must have one hand on the item (either by holding it or keeping it on their person in an accessible place). To create a Page of Spell Knowledge, the creator must have access to the relevant spell.

[Warped Savant]

House Rules:
1) Racial Stats: Races that get +2/+2/-2 to their stats put one of the +2s into any physical stat (Str, Dex, Con) and the other +2 can go into any of the mental stats (Int, Wis, Cha). The -2 can be put into any stat you choose, including one that you've put a +2 into thereby negating the +2.
Humans, half-orcs, and half-elves (any race that gets only one +2) only get one bonus and no negative.

2) With the exception of Grapple*, Combat Maneuvers do not provoke attacks of opportunity
*Having Improved Unarmed Strike allows you to attempt a grapple without provoking

3) Standing from Prone or picking up a dropped item can be done as a full-round action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. (This is to off-set being able to attempt to trip or disarm without provoking)

4) 2 Background skill points per level

5) Background Skills: Appraise, Artistry, Craft, Handle Animal, Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nobility), Linguistics, Perform*, Profession
*unless you gain an ability based off of your Perform skill (See: Bard, Versatile Performance as an example)

6) Zero Hit Points: At zero hit points you are dying (why have a special rule that's only used when you're at exactly 0 hit points?)

7) Healing Potions always provide the maximum amount of hit points they would provide. (Wands, spells, etc, are rolled as normal.)

8) Only Cloaks of Resistance, stat-boosting items (headbands for mental stats, belts for physical), Rings of Protection, and Amulets of Natural Armour can have one additional enchantment placed on them for a 50% cost increase

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

The House Rules I'm using in my Skull & Shackles Campaign

Skull & Shackles Houserules 2.0

At 50 Pages it is... extensive... and the game can barely still be called Pathfinder any more.

[Sysryke]

Dot

[Faily]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

The House Rules I'm using in my Skull & Shackles Campaign

Skull & Shackles Houserules 2.0

At 50 Pages it is... extensive... and the game can barely still be called Pathfinder any more.

You are quite the dedicated man to make all the houserules so neatly laid out!

Some of them are pretty interesting too, even if I wouldn't adapt them for play to my own table, but I might steal some ideas, feats, and spells.

[TxSam88]

[QUOTE="Bjørn Røyrvik"

Dealing 40d6 points of damage per sphere rather than 8d6, primarily, but also the fact you can only be affected by one sphere per casting, however fun it would be to dump 160d6 damage on someone.

While I will admit that 9th level spells should be nasty, and Meteor swarm as written is a bit underwhelming overall, but the potential to deal 40d6 to a single target (much less 160d6) seems a bit over the top.

[PFRPGrognard]

No Spheres of Power/Might unless everyone at the table is using it.

You can charge down steps but not up them.

It is a free action to draw an item from a bandoleer when combined with a move action. Requirement BAB +1

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

TxSam88 wrote:

While I will admit that 9th level spells should be nasty, and Meteor swarm as written is a bit underwhelming overall, but the potential to deal 40d6 to a single target (much less 160d6) seems a bit over the top.

Considering how nasty other 9th levels spells can be, this isn't particularly overwhelming, at least in our experience.

PFRPGrognard wrote:

It is a free action to draw an item from a bandoleer when combined with a move action. Requirement BAB +1

I do this one too

[Liliyashanina]

I do EITR plus:

--Non int classes with 2 skill points per level get 4

--Background skills

--To make enemies more interesting, specific enemies get Gestalted with their racial hitdice on one side, and class levels on the other side. This typically gets them new cool abilities without resulting in too high base stats.

--Craft magic arms and armor is as quick as crafting magic items

--Trashtalking is a free action.

--one knowledge skill per turn is a free action

--Attempting to surrender is an immidiate action

--Intelligent enemies may have, once the party gets famous, a reasonable idea of their capabilities, very intelligent ones also know how they treat defeated foes.

[Oli Ironbar]

We usually run combats so that they last two rounds minimum. Sometimes our GMs are on top of things and they would anyway, but more than once we walked into a swarm room and all said, ‘I got my clasp on, you got yours?’

Same for boss fights, but with the compromise we eventually agreed on that if we want to make a mini-quest to prepare and Alpha-Strike the boss so that it doesn’t have a chance, we don’t roll initiative, just describe how our character contributes and the boss still has a chance to get a parting shot / screw you move.

[Gruingar de'Morcaine]

I once had a GM use max healing if the recipient and caster are of the same faith.

[OmniMage]

I forgot to include favorite class options. I generally allow players to pick which favorite class option they get, instead of it being determined by race. I figure it should be like archetypes and let the player choose which is the best match for them. I may veto their choice if it doesn't seem like a good idea though.

[Faily]

Gruingar de'Morcaine wrote:

I once had a GM use max healing if the recipient and caster are of the same faith.

That is a rather unique and neat houserule, one I might want to steal in the future. It's not often PCs are of the same faith, but there could be interesting roleplay to come from it too.

[Herr Malthus]

Counterspell improvement:

Arcane Countermastery (feat)
You have refined your magical theory and practice to unravel enemy spells with precision and flexibility.
Prerequisites: Improved Counterspell, Spellcraft 5 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 5 ranks
Benefit: You gain an arcane focus pool equal to half your caster level (minimum 1). When an enemy casts a spell, you may expend one use of this pool and a spell slot at least one level higher than the spell being cast (minimum 3rd-level slot) to attempt a counterspell as an immediate action. This functions as the arcanist's counterspell exploit. You must identify the spell being cast with a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). If the check succeeds, you may attempt to counter the spell by making a dispel check as if using dispel magic (1d20 + your caster level against DC 11 + the enemy caster's caster level). Unlike Improved Counterspell, this feat does not require the expended spell to be of the same school as the spell being countered.
Each additional use of this ability during the same encounter costs 1 additional point from your arcane focus pool (the first use costs 1 point, the second costs 2 points, the third costs 3 points, and so on).
Your arcane focus pool refreshes after 8 hours of rest.
Special: You cannot use this feat with spell trigger or spell completion items. Using this feat requires an immediate action, which also uses your swift action on your next turn.
Normal: Without this feat, counterspelling requires a readied action and you can only counter a spell with the same spell or (with Improved Counterspell) with a spell of the same school that is one or more spell levels higher.

[Herr Malthus]

other:

Knowledge Religion: replaces Arcane Knowledge entirely for knowledge about divine spells -> those with Arcane Knowledge know nothing about divine spells

Freedom of movement: grants only +20 to CMB/CMD as far as grabbing is concerned.

Ranger spell Instant enemy: removed from the spell list and granted as a special ability of the ranger 1/day at 10th level + 1/day every 5 levels thereafter.