What is your regular set of house rules?

[Titanium Fox]

Every DM has a different play style, and every DM has a different set of house rules to compensate for that. I'm just curious what everyone else uses for House Rules.

I just sent an E-Mail to my players with my list, which is:

Alignment will be determined by the DM based on character behavior, except in cases where alignment is a pre-requisite for something. This eliminates the issue personal interpretation of alignment, and gives everyone an equal baseline.
There is no such thing as a multi-class XP penalty. The book keeping is a nightmare.
You do not immediately level up upon reaching the next XP bracket. Your character needs to rest first, and you are given no indication IC of this happening.
Haggling will be handled as a Diplomacy check against the NPC, and will work mechanically differently than it does standardly. I have a formula I'm working on to determine how much the price will go up or down.
For diplomacy, bluff, and intimidate, actually role play it out. If your character has 18 charisma, say "he says something along the lines of...". I may assign extra bonuses or penalties depending on what your character says and depending on the personality of who he says it to.
If you crit-fail, and there is anyone else in range, it has a chance to hit them. This includes melee and ranged attacks as well as some spells (Rays and Orbs come to mind). If it could not feasibly hit someone else, it whiffs.
You're characters aren't functionally retarted. There is no chance to poison yourself on anything but contact poison when applying to weapons.

[panaikhan]

It's not a house-rule, it's RAW, but I keep on having to re-state it in every game I play (DM or PC)
"The Rule of 1/20 does NOT apply to a D20 check. ANY D20 check. It only applies to saves or to-hit rolls."

[Yorae]

Our DM uses several. She likes us to be a bit stronger than normal so she can make challenges a bit tougher.


Simplified skill system - no such thing as a half rank, all skills cost 1 skill point.
Increased attributes - we roll 5d6, drop the lowest, capped at 20 in any attribute before racials.
Starting gold - We start with half of our class's maximum starting gold + 135.
Fumbles.
Ignore most alignment restrictions if they can be justified by flavor (e.g. class prereqs).
Fractional BAB.
Reduced Multiclassing penalties.
No death by massive damage.


Probably others that I forgot.

[Merk]

Here's my (Pathfinder) houserules:


Barbarians, Bards, and Monks may be of any alignment.
Athletics (Str; Armor Check Penalty) replaces Climb, Jump, Ride, and Swim. When attempting to jump, a character may use the superior of his or her acrobatics or athletics skills (but may only roll one check). Any class that previously had Climb, Jump, Ride, or Swim as a class skill as Athletics as a class skill.

All characters receive an extra skill point per level that must be invested into one of the following skills: Craft, Knowledge, Perform, or Profession.

Craft, Perform, and Profession are class skills for all classes.

We will use the Giant's Diplomacy Fix unless a better alternative is found. The key here is that using diplomacy is less about "making friends" -- now it's framed as "negotiating a deal".

Fractional points of base attack bonus and saves add instead of rounding down.

Classes use spell points in place of spells per day.

[McSmack]

Half of the houserules I was using for 3.5 became RAW in Pathfinder, so that was nice. Here's some of the ones I use.


Natural 1's on attack rolls are standardized (i.e. no fumbles) you simply provoke and AoO and lose the rest of your turn.
No death via massive damage rule
Perception is a class skill for all players
Fractional BAB
No multiclassing penalties
If a crit confirmation roll is also a threat the critical modifier increases by 1
Players never lose items on a botched save.


There are probably a few more.

I'm also really big on finding a way to let players have the concept they want. Whether this means adjusting cosmetics, racial bonuses (letting a warforged pally take -2 Int instead of Cha.) or reworking an entire class (adjusted the Pyrokineticist from XPH for a monk character and mashed up the oracle, cleric, and dragon disciple classes for an Aerenal elf.) I'm at least willing to give it a shot.

[Larpus]

• 1 is a flop, but needs confirmation.
• 20 on a skill check or something gives you some sort of useful bonus
• HP gained on level is never less than half the classe's Hit Die
• Multi-classing needs to be roleplayed
• No multi-class XP penalty, but keep multi-classing realistic
• You can select any skills as class skills as you want, as long as it makes sense and is not "all of them"
• There's Craft (skinner) or Profession (skinner) to get non-obvious loot from monsters (eyes, hide, heart, etc)
• You perform Intimidate, Diplomacy, Bluff and sometimes Perform, gaining bonuses (but almost never penalties) to your roll, depending on how well you do, there might even be no roll
• Potions and unattended items actually break, but only under very stressful situations (such as jumping from the top of a tower), no roll is made
• You have to roleplay your mental scores, you can't be a moron with a high Int (you can act like a moron, not be), or socially awkward with Cha or reckless with Wis
• Wizards (and learned casters in general) don't gain extra spells on level up, however the act of copying spells is much faster (about an hour per spell, less if there are similar spells in your book) and you can actually learn a spell from seeing it being cast with a Spellcraft check

EDIT: Forgot one

[LordBlades]

Here's what my group uses:

-no multiclass XP penalty
-relaxed alignment rules (it translates basically into 'don't be a **** about your alingment and the DM won't be either')

[Undercroft]

Ones i use in the game I DM:
- Action points can be added after the roll
- Natural 1's are always fumbles, and usually result in injury to the wielder or nearby creatures
- Natural 20's are crits for players. NPCs (and more importantly, monsters) still need crit confirmation though
- crital fails or successes (1 or 20 on a d20) for skill checks/saves/etc are in the game.
- I say what your alignment is based on how you play. However alignment restrictions for classes are waived
- no multiclass xp penalty
- Very light on PrC requirements. If you want to play a PrC i'll remove some of the requirements if i feel it'd work better for you (ie remove useless feat chains, etc).
- Bonus feats at first level. It makes characters more flavourful. Also some feats have prerequisites altered or removed

[CigarPete]

That's one thing my DM does that I like. Sure, we can make a diplomacy roll, but we need to detail what we are trying to say or accomplish before he will even let us attempt it. You can't just say, I attempt to schmooze the king, it's got to be I flatter the king, mentioning how well he looks, how strong his army is, how beautiful his kingdom. Same idea for haggling, if I want a discount, I need to point out how overpriced the item is, indicate flaws in it's composition and design or damage to it and then I get to make my diplomacy roll. the roll supplements the RP, not substitutes for it.

[Kefkafreak]

No multiclass XP penalty.
Frenzied Berserker is banned.

Other than that, anything goes. I also tweak some classes if the players ask me to.

[Telonius]

Spoilered for length:

Character Creation
- One free 18. Roll d8+10 five times, rerolling any one, once. (If it comes up as another one, it was meant to be). Arrange as desired.
- Note that the difficulty of encounters will be scaled up slightly to match the more powerful ability scores.

Race
- Half-Elves get one extra skill point per level.
- Half-Orcs lose the CHA penalty and gain a +4 racial bonus to Intimidate.

Class
- Remove favored classes. Multiclass is free.
- There can be Lawful Barbarians, Lawful Bards, and Chaotic Monks.
- All Clerics are Cloistered Clerics.
- Clerics gain proficiency with their deity's favored weapon. (War domain still gives them the Weapon Focus feat).
- Paladins take the alignment of their deity (if any) and must act as a prime example of the ideals of their deity, philosophy, or cause.
- Monks get full BAB, proficiency with Gauntlets (which are also a Monk weapon), and can spend time/gold/xp enchanting their own body as though it were a weapon/armor.
- Sorcerers get free Eschew Materials at first. (This affects only Sorcerer spells). Sorcerer HD improves to d6.
- Rogues get an additional Rogue Ability at level 20.
- Knowledge (Religion) is now on the Druid class skill list.
- Druids use the Shapeshift variant

Skills
- Open Lock and Disable Device are rolled into one skill, Dex-based.
- Balance and Tumble are now one skill, trained only.
- Listen and Spot are now one skill.
- Hide and Move Silently are now one skill.

Feats
- Remove the +1 BAB requirement for the Weapon Finesse feat
- Metamagic feats do not take more time for spontaneous casters
- Natural Spell is stricken from the game. (Shouldn't matter due to Druid rule, but just in case I missed some silly combination).
- The Two-Weapon Fighting feat now scales to include extra attacks with each iterative Attack. Improved Two-Weapon fighting lessens the penalty by 1 for each attack. Greater Two-Weapon fighting lessens the penalty by an additional 1.
- Toughness grants you HP equal to your current HD.

Spells
- The following spells are stricken from the game: the Polymorph school, Time Stop, Wind Wall, Contingency, Knock.
- Divine Power is no longer a standard Cleric spell. It is still on the War domain list.

Miscellaneous
- SR does not have to be turned off in order to receive a beneficial spell.
- All adventurers are issued the following items free, not counted against WBL:
1 Handy Haversack, 1 MW armor or MW weapon, 10 trail rations (kept in the haversack), 1 spellbook (if a wizard), 1 holy symbol (if a cleric or paladin)
- There are no Vorpal weapons in my game. If you ever encounter a Vorpal weapon, you can be assured that you will soon be facing a Jabberwocky, which will be an epic-level foe.
- Dust of Sneezing and Choking does not exist.
- Divine Metamagic exists, but Nightsticks do not.
- Don’t try to break the game. I reserve the right to say no to any race/feat/class/PrC/equipment/whatever combination. If you’re not sure, ask; I’m willing to work with you if it’s not too ridiculous.
- Add Pun-Pun as an over-deity of Cheese, Exploits, and Metagaming. Pun-Pun is aware that he is a god in a fictional gaming world. Anyone that slips something past me in an attempt to break the game will bring down his wrath. He is jealous of his ultimate power, and will personally act to prevent any player/character from approaching it.


I've also considered giving each character a free "+2/+2 skill" feat at first level for fluff purposes, but haven't tried that out yet.

[Kefkafreak]

I also ban the Disjunction spell, but it still exists in the game world.

[BlueInc]

"Monks...can spend time/gold/xp enchanting their own body as though it were a weapon/armor."

That's brilliant. If I ever have a player who wants to roll a monk, I'm using that.

[Curmudgeon]

Common house rules cover rules flubs, convenience, neglected weapons, and realism.

Flubs:
Monks are proficient with unarmed strikes.
You can cast Feather Fall (redefined as an immediate action spell) when flat-footed.
No ranged full attacks without provoking attacks of opportunity. Going strictly by the letter of the rules full attacks (melee or ranged) never provoke, but I treat this as just sloppy work by the rules authors. Each ranged shot provokes an AoO.
Rules Compendium conflates concealment and all other miss chances so they don't stack; however, they provide an out for the DM to modify the miss chance for specific situations. I use that DM option to modify the miss chance to be exactly what it would be without this RC "update".
Bonus damage from the Factotum's Cunning Insight is negative energy damage when used with a spell or effect that deals negative levels or ability damage, making it consistent with the treatment of bonus damage from sneak attack when used with weaponlike spells.
Convenience:
Level 0 spells are always cast spontaneously.
Make Massive Damage saves only when the damage is 50+ and also exceeds half your remaining hit points.
Neglected weapons:
Treat great crossbows (Races of Stone) the same as heavy crossbows for feats and other rules that specify heavy crossbows, since
all the crossbow rules use specifics needlessly:

Choose a type of crossbow (hand, light, or heavy). You can reload a crossbow of that type more quickly than normal.
great crossbows were defined later, after these needlessly specific rules.
Great crossbows remain exotic weapons.
If you like slings: apply the Rapid Reload feat to them, just as you would to a crossbow, for free action reloading. You can also use Manyshot with slings, up to a maximum of four bullets in the sling pouch.
Realism:
Split actual movement around a non-moving move action. Example: move 15' to a door, open it, and then go through the doorway that same round using the rest of your movement. (Or walk and chew gum at the same time. :smallcool:)
Falling damage hits a maximum of 50d6 (for falling 500') rather than the standard 20d6 of the rules for most creatures. The 20d6 limit still applies if the creature has wings.

[aart lover]

no evil alignments unless you truly want to roleplay an interesting evil character(got too many chaotic-jerkwads in earlier games:smallyuk:)
another major one, and probably my favorite, when u roll a natural 1, whether when attacking or making a skill check, it blows up in your face(sometimes literally).

[Kyberwulf]

um outside of combat, healing effect heal the maximum amount of health. This is due to the fact the charcters can take their time and let the potion/healer let the potion work to its greatist effect

Weapon profienciece are not set,.. depending on the class i let them trade out certain profiencies, this is to reflect that prior to becoming an adventure they studied what they wanted to learn.

there are no cross class skills.. only the skill caps

Always maximize health.

[Zaranthan]

- No multiclassing penalties (does anybody actually enforce that?)
- Recharge Magic (my players have agreed to be gentlemen and not walk around town casting wall of iron everywhere)
- Max HP for PCs and mastermind-tier villains

Not a houserule, but something I need to remind my 2E-addled masochist posse: nothing spectacular happens when you roll a 1 to hit. You just miss. On a related note, "natural" 1s and 20s only apply to attacks and saves. Not skill checks, not ability checks, not caster level checks.

[kharmakazy]

We do 1/20 on pretty much everything...
max hp on first (or is this raw?)
No multiclass penalty
Fluff class PrC restrictions almost always waived
Most restrictions on most things are waiverable if they fit thematically and aren't OP
Probably some others that are so ingrained I don't think of them as houserules anymore..

[begooler]

Our main thing that I didn't notice already mentioned:
On a D20 roll where 1 is not an automatic failure and 20 is not an automatic success; add +10 to a natural 20 and -10 to a natural 1.

I like the spontaneously casting level 0 spells, and am going to implement that starting today.

[NOhara24]

No confirmation rolls on critical hits/fails. If an N/PC rolls a 20 or a 1, it's a critical hit/fail, instantly.

High stakes, but everyone likes getting critical hits and our DM is mature enough to handle the additional risk. Last week our monk in the party got hit for 28 damage, it put him down to -8. Undead bulls are serious business.

[Dusk Eclipse]

These are the houserules which I am using to run RHoD:


Skill Related:

All classes get an 50% increase in skill points to a minimum of 4+int
Skill tricks in complete scoundrel can be used at willl with a cooldown of 1d3 rounds
Move silenty and Hide Rolled into stealth
Listen and spot rolled into perception
Disable Device and Open lock rolled into Disable device
Use of The Giant's Diplomacy rules



Classes:
Martial Adept classes (both official and homebrewed) are encouraged
Ranger is separated into two classes, Sublime Way Ranger(using normal FE progression), Mystic Ranger from Dragon
Fighters Full atack routine penalties caps at BAB -5 (if fighter had bab 20 his itteratives would look like this: +20/+15/+15/+15
Warblade can select fighter only bonus feats with his own bonues feats
Specialist Casters (Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Warmage) are encouraged instead of normal wizards
Sorcerers get eschew materials as a bonus feat at level 1 and rapid metamagic as a bonus feat at level 5 They also get access to spell at the same rate as wizards and they get Eccletic learning every 5 levels



Feats:
Feats like stealthy, nimble fingers et al, now make the skill a class skill for all levels
TWF tree is rolled into one scaling feat, ditto for TWD
Non spellcasters can use Devotion feats 3/day (and can take extra turning to increase the number of uses per day)
Feats are gained at level 1 and at every even level (2,4,6....)
Weapon Finesse now, let's you replace Dex for Damage and Hit with all finnesable weapons and let's you use Dex to hit with non finesse-able weapons (a great axe for instance)
Light weapons, rapiers and Spiked Chains can use dex to hit automatically without needing weapon finesse.

Sources
All official WotC books allowe
3rth party allowed on case by case basis (though Hyperconcious has green light from the start)
Setting specific stuff in other setting will be considered
Dragon Magazine on case by case basis


Variants Used:
Chain Variant is allowed (for example a feat rogue trading his 2 and 6 level feats for dungeoncrasher)
Lay Buy off
Non standard environmental variants and races of elemental plane will be considered on case by case basis
Spell touched feats allowed
Traits allowed
Due the increased number of feats flaws are banned

Golden

There are no critical fumbles OR success, a nat 1 is that a 1 and a nat 20 is that a 20