[PF] Critique my house rules!

[Der_DWSage]

So, I've started running a more 'classic' campaign for some friends of mine. However, after so many years of D&D I simply can't run something vanilla. On the other hand, I want to see if the Hivemind of the GITP boards can point out anything I've overlooked on this.

Some points to keep in mind...

1)This is Pathfinder, not 3.5. Any backwards compatibility is on a case-by-case basis.
2)Most of the people in this campaign are first or second-timers at Pathfinder in general. I don't expect them to come up with the really broken tricks. (This is also why I've allowed them to use Spell Points rather than Vancian casting.)
3)This is an E6 campaign, and most level 7 or 8 class features become available as 'Signature Feats' that they can only take one of.
4)This is somewhat low magic. Mages have trouble finding scrolls. Clerics must scribe spells similar to the Magus and Wizard. Spontaneous Casters are untouched. Magic items are rarer. To compensate for this, there is an 'Anti-Christmas Tree' inherent bonus that is listed near the bottom.
5)Except for the exact items listed, everything from the d20PFSRD is allowed. If you see something broken, assume I haven't noticed it.

With that in mind...

Houserule 1:Feats
The following feats are combat options with Stat or BAB requirements, as noted. For the purposes of qualifying for feats or prestige classes that have these as pre-requisites, you only need the stat or BAB noted alongside the feat.

Power Attack:Str 13
Combat Expertise:Int 13
Two-Weapon Fighting(Entire line):Dex 15
Quick Draw:BAB +1
Weapon Finesse:Higher DEX than STR
Combat Reflexes:Dex 15
Deadly Aim(AKA Ranged Power Attack):Dex 13
Defensive Combat Training:All 3/4 BAB classes
Dodge:Waived as a pre-req, still a feat
Endurance:Con 13
Diehard:Con 15
Intimidating Prowess:Str 15
Point-Blank Shot:Waived as a pre-req, still a feat
Catch Off-Guard:BAB+1
Throw Anything:BAB +1
Weapon Focus:Waived as a pre-req, still a feat
Teamwork Feats:Allies do not need the same feat, Inquisitors gain 2x numerical bonuses


Houserule 2:Spells
Spellcasting follows the Spell Point rules found at http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm . In addition, the following houserules are in effect.


Must make a DC 10+(Spell level) skill check. (Knowledge:Arcana for Wizards and Magus, Use Magic Device for Sorcerers, Heal for Clerics, Survival for Druids, Perform for bards, Craft(Alchemy) for Alchemists, Diplomacy for Oracles.) Failure means the spell is not cast, and does not use MP.

(I tried to make it a class skill based off their key casting stat in all cases, simply to avoid the idea that I'd be favoring Wizards and Magus for keying everything off Spellcraft. This does have the oddity for Oracles, since that's their one charisma based skill...a fix here would be appreciated.)



Must make a DC 12+(2x Spell Level) skill check. (Knowledge:Arcana for Wizards and Magus, Spellcraft for Sorcerers, Knowledge:Religion for Clerics, Survival for Druids, Perform for bards, Craft(Alchemy) for Alchemists, Diplomacy for Oracles.) Failure means the spell is not cast, MP is not used, the caster takes 1d2 (Key Casting Stat) damage, and that the caster is nauseated on their following round. Regardless of success or failure, the caster is fatigued. (Repeating this does not put the caster to Exhaustion, but it does stack with other sources of fatigue.)


Must make a DC 15+(3x Spell Level) skill check. (Knowledge:Arcana for Wizards and Magus, Spellcraft for Sorcerers, Knowledge:Religion for Clerics, Survival for Druids, Perform for bards, Craft(Alchemy) for Alchemists, Diplomacy for Oracles.) Success means that the spell is cast before the caster falls unconscious for 1d4 minutes. Failure means that the caster takes 1d6 (Casting stat) damage that can only be restored after a Lesser, Greater, or regular Restoration spell, full day's rest, or three days 'camping' rest, in addition to falling unconscious for 1d4 minutes.


A spellcaster recovers (Caster Level) Spell Points every hour, and this rate is tripled while sleeping. A caster with any kind of debilitating status effect, such as Poison, Disease, Fatigued or Exhaustion, do not regain MP for the duration of the effect. (Any duration less than 10 minutes may be safely ignored in regards to Spell Point Regeneration.)


Spontaneous casters gain an additional +1 MP per caster level than the MP chart shows.
Sorcerers and Oracles gain one extra spell of their highest level known per level. At 6th level this gives them 7 1st level spells, 5 2nd level spells, and 3 3rd level spells, in addition to their bloodline and Mystery spells.
Sorcerers and Oracles treat their spells per day and spells known as if they were one level higher, effectively putting them on equal spell levels against prepared casters.

(This portion is simply because I don't like how those with inherent magic gain power more slowly than Wizards.)


Paladins and Rangers ignore the 'Under 1/4 MP' penalties.

Houserule 3:Miscellaneous

A Ranger gains the typical Druid animal companion with Druid progression. A Druid gains a Familiar, but the animal companion still gains +1 Animal HD with all the benefits thereof whenever the Druid gains a point of BAB. The animal companion's benefits are keyed to the Familiar chart, not the Animal Companion chart. (This turns them into a spell-delivering, intelligent animal-which I think is much more in line with what a Druid is.)


Magus:Can take Weapon Specialization as an Epic Feat (To compensate for not getting Fighter Training.)
Magus:Spell Recall instead allows you to switch a single spell prepared with one in your spellbook as a swift action.
Gunslingers:A Blunderbuss cannot fire in a 15 foot cone, but does do double weapon damage to creatures within 10 feet.
Ranged Weapons:Cinematic encumberance on basic ammunition. (Guns, bows, crossbows, and slings do not have to track any nonmagical ammunition.)
Gunslingers:Firearms resolve against full AC, not touch AC, unless using the Deadeye Deed.
Gunslingers:HD is reduced to D8, do not receive good Fortitude saves.
Gunslingers:To compensate for the above, one-handed firearms are treated as light crossbows and two-handed firearms are treated as heavy crossbows in regards to loading time and use of the rapid reload feat.
Glibness does not exist. Period.


Houserule 4:Battling the Christmas Tree
As per the charts from Golden Ladybug at this page. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278041)



So, there you have it. Any thoughts from the Playground at large?

[13_CBS]

What did Gunslingers do to deserve such nerfing? Granted their reload times got buffed, but still...:smallfrown:

[Der_DWSage]

A good question! Lemme break down the individual parts.

1)No longer resolving against touch AC.
This one is obvious, frankly. You deal 1d12+Dexterity damage vs. opponents, as well as being able to use various alchemical cartridges to improve that damage further. Per hit. This means you're hitting hard, and you're hitting accurately, all the time.

You can still do this with the Deadeye Deed, but not indefinitely as you could before. And don't forget that Gunslingers are nearly as SAD as Wizards, able to put everything into Dexterity and ignore everything else besides Constitution and maybe Wisdom.

2)HD reduction, Fortitude Saves
It feels off to me that the Gunslinger, the class that tries to stay out of melee combat and focuses on shooting things from at least 30 feet away, has as high a HD as the Fighter and good fortitude to boot. The argument could be made to improve their Will in place of fortitude, but frankly, I'd find even that to be a wash.

In short, it just feels wrong. And in the end, since this is E6, it really just becomes an average difference of 6 HP and +3 Fortitude.

3)Improved reload time
This is to combat the feeling that Gunslingers are only relevant every other round. Frankly, everyone should feel like they're doing something at all times, even if it's only a single attack action. I've hated their reload mechanic for as long as I've known Gunslingers existed. Especially since various firearms can hold multiple rounds of ammunition, allowing them to ignore the 'balance' that various classes put in place against the Gunslinger's massive damage potential.

So instead of having them feel like they have to get firearms that hold up to 6 rounds of ammunition, or pick up new firearms all the time, I'm just letting them make use of their full BAB and actually get their 2nd attack at 6th level instead.

[Psyren]

I like the feats rule. Should free up martials to take more interesting things like Style feats.

I definitely advise against spell points (unless you've come up with augments for every spell) but if it works for you that's fine.

- If you want the "Casting spells under 1/4 MP" rule to not favor Int casters, make it a concentration check (i.e. d20 + CL + KAM), perhaps with a DC of 5+spell level or 8+spell level. That way Int-based casters get no special treatment but it's still unlikely to fail in a desperate situation (but still adds that element of danger.)

- Casting spells that put you under 0 - I'd make this a penalty instead of ability damage.

- I like the exemption for Paladins and Rangers.

- I don't like that Druids are restricted to Familiars - faced with that rule, I would probably go with the Domain every time instead.

- PF nerfed Bluff so I wouldn't worry too much about Glibness. Specifically you have veto power over truly outrageous lies (like "you're a yellow-footed rock wallaby")

[Person_Man]

Personally, I dislike playing in games with long lists of house rules, and generally dislike the gaming style of DMs that enforce them. It almost always makes the game more fiddly and requires a much higher level of rules mastery.

Your elaborate modifications to the Spell Point system (which in itself, is a very fiddly set of variant rules) is a perfect example of this. If I want to play a Wizard, I just want to be able to use fun magic spells, not roleplay a book keeper for a magical accounting system.

E6 by itself solves the vast majority of balance problems. Everything else can be summarized as "if a certain spell or ability seems to break combat or constantly steals the spotlight, please use it rarely or not at all. If a Feat or class ability seems to weak, talk to me about it on a case by case basis, and we'll come up with a stronger variant or just ignore it as a pre-req."

[Psyren]

Personally, I dislike playing in games with long lists of house rules, and generally dislike the gaming style of DMs that enforce them. It almost always makes the game more fiddly and requires a much higher level of rules mastery.

Indeed, there's some posters on these boards with tortuous and torturous lists of houserules and I find that extremely off-putting. I can understand the desire for consistency but geez.

[Der_DWSage]

Honestly, I'd normally agree with you concerning the spell system and E6-but again, most of the people playing this particular campaign are first timers, and being a wizard of any skill requires some level of system mastery. The old-timers in the group requested E6 specifically to limit their levels of shenanigans, and three of the newcomers wanted to play something with magic.

So this gives them some freedom that Vancian casting would limit, Spell Point Recovery lets them feel like they can contribute something every fight, and the below-0-MP system lets them feel like they're going Beyond The Impossible.



If I were to re-do my houserules for a group of people closer to medium optimization, I'd probably leave spell points out entirely. (The 'Feats as combat options with per-requisites,' however, gets to stay.)

[Saidoro]

If you're using spell points you should use this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194002k).


2)HD reduction, Fortitude Saves
It feels off to me that the Gunslinger, the class that tries to stay out of melee combat and focuses on shooting things from at least 30 feet away, has as high a HD as the Fighter and good fortitude to boot. The argument could be made to improve their Will in place of fortitude, but frankly, I'd find even that to be a wash.
You should probably at least leave them the fortitude saves. If you need a fluff justification just say inhaling that much smoke has given them a tolerance for unhealthy conditions or something.

- I don't like that Druids are restricted to Familiars - faced with that rule, I would probably go with the Domain every time instead.
On a squishy wizard a familiar is a scout. On a gish it's another gish. A small earth elemental with a bonus to natural armor, some extra feats and access to some of your buffs can be dangerous.

- PF nerfed Bluff so I wouldn't worry too much about Glibness. Specifically you have veto power over truly outrageous lies (like "you're a yellow-footed rock wallaby")
From a quick glance at the relevant rule they don't seem to have made any meaningful changes. Not that it matters since there is no glibness in e6.

And I'm going to come out in favor of the house rules as a whole, they're fairly straightforward and they should reduce the chances of someone accidentally making themselves or someone else useless at least a little.

[Psyren]

From a quick glance at the relevant rule they don't seem to have made any meaningful changes.

The following line was added:

"Note that some lies are so improbable that it is impossible to convince anyone that they are true (subject to GM discretion)."

[Saidoro]

The following line was added:

"Note that some lies are so improbable that it is impossible to convince anyone that they are true (subject to GM discretion)."
I must have missed that. Not certain it does anything rule zero didn't, but I suppose spelling it out can head off dumb arguments.