Tell me about your homebrews

[NerdHut]

So it seems most people don't like to go 100% RAW (that sounds dirty) in D&D. Everyone has some homebrew rule or set of rules that they love, and I was curious about some of your (or your groups) favorite homebrew rules. Here are some of mine, as I run my campaign:

-Toughness feat gives 1 hp per hit die, instead of 3 hp total
-No confirmation rolls on critical hits
-Low level spells don't need material components
-If it's a class-skill, you can use it. Even without ranks in it.

[Crake]

I remove the 1 bab requirement on weapon finesse, and the toughness rule you use, there's already a feat for that called improved toughness, which I allow to be used in place of toughness for any pre-requisite. I also change about the levels at which martial initiators get stances to give them more ready access to appropriate level stances instead of the silliness it is by RAW. I also have some homebrew classes, and also use an optional gestalt/LA system which is linked in my signature.

[NerdHut]

and the toughness rule you use, there's already a feat for that called improved toughness

I homebrewed that, too. In light of the fact that toughness usually goes to fighter/barbarian variety characters, I figured improved toughness could add +1 to natural armor, but require the character already have toughness first. For those that go for taking toughness multiple times, it make things a little more sustainable, without becoming ridiculous. Seeing as spellcasters are usually more powerful than physical classes, I think it balances sliiiiightly better.

[DrKerosene]

Well, I allow BAB to be added to Damage Rolls for PCs. Like Power Attack, but it would stack.

I usually give most classes +4 Skillpoints per level. Also extra Point-Buy and favorable HP rules.

I did a bunch more homebrew for a Shadowrun-esque d20 setting, based on E6 and UA rules, but then I found 5e came out and did just about everything I cared about (and better).

[Troacctid]

I have a big ol' list in my signature.

[AlanBruce]

I have a few:

1. If playing a high level campaign ( starting level 10+), your first 6 HD are at max HP.

2. You do not die at -10, you die at negative your (unmodified) Constitution score unless this one were less than 10, in which case the -10 rule applies as normal.

3. Prepared spell casters that get knocked out (but not killed) have a 50% chance to lose all prepared spells, except for Read and Detect Magic once brought back to consciousness.

4. Any natural of a 1 on either character generation or upon leveling up instead gets the average roll.

So for example, you roll a d6 for HP and get a 1, you would instead get a 3 plus whatever Constitution modifier your PC has.

5. Protection from X spells provide the bonus and mental ward only from the X aligned enemy.

So for example, you are facing a NE caster and have Protection from Law on and the caster uses Dominate Person...

The abjuration does not ward you against it.

Granted, that last house rule is being looked into to solve the "what if he or I are True Neutral?", so it might get scrapped.

[Khedrac]

-No confirmation rolls on critical hitsSo if you are fighting something you need a 20 to hit then every hit is a critical? Really?

My main one is on skill points for classes:
2->4
4->5
6 and 8 unchanged.

[Kelvarius]

1. Skills that give a synergy bonus get an additional +1 bonus every 5 ranks. So 5 ranks in Bluff gets you a +2 on Diplomacy. 10 ranks gets you +3. 15 ranks gets +4. Etc.

2. Dying threshold is -10 minus your Constitution modifier. 18 con means you die at -14 HP. This can't go above -10 for negative Constitution scores.

3. Natural healing is 1+ your Constitution modifier per level instead of just 1 per level for every 8 hours of rest. This can't be less than 1 if you have a negative Constitution score.

4. You may choose additional skills to be considered class skills equal to your Intelligence modifier at character generation.

5. Knowledge (Warfare and Tactics), among other things, allows you to lead armies. Additionally, it is also used to find new information such as seeing that someone is preparing for war, or that certain locations are prime for ambushes, or that the enemy retreat seems to be a feint.

There may be others, but I can't think of them offhand right now.

[Thurbane]

- 1/2 Orcs take -2 to Int OR Cha (not both), player's choice

- Fighters get 4 skill points/level from an expanded skill list

- Improved Toughness counts as Toughness for any reqs

- Mirror Image is heavily modified so as to be more simple to run - it's a mashup of the 3.5/PF and 2E version of the spell

- Still not convinced this is homebrew, but RHD count as "class levels" for determining Initiator level (ToB)

[Crake]

- Still not convinced this is homebrew, but RHD count as "class levels" for determining Initiator level (ToB)

Yeah, I gotta agree with you there, I'm pretty sure that's not actually homebrew.

[ILM]

Oh god I have so many. My document currently has 22 pages. There's a handful of additions (third-party classes or feats which I allow), many deletions (mostly game- or world-breaking spells), a few clarifications ("official" stances I take where RAW is unclear) and many changes (actual houserules).

The most important of them would be:
- No multiclass penalties
- No class/cross-class skills
- No auto-fail on a natural 1, no auto-success on a natural 20
- You don't die at -10 hp. Instead you enter your Death Throes, which lasts 1 full round. During this phase you're helpless (though not unconscious) and you can be healed as normal to avert death, but get various penalties until properly rested. If you're still under -10 at the end of this full round, then you die. Save-or-die spells take you straight to -10 (unless you were already below that of course). Note: I've also removed all resurrection spells.
- Armor and shield bonuses to AC (including enhancement bonuses) also count as DR/piercing
- Ranged attacks get 1/2 Dex bonus to damage
- Only one metamagic reducer can apply to any given spell (Arcane Thesis being the only exception)
- Deleted spells:

Arcane Fusion (CM) and Greater
Arcane Spellsurge (DrM)
Astral Construct
Astral Projection
Commune
Contact Other Plane
Divination
Divine Power
Find the Path
Ice Assassin
Mage’s Disjunction
Shivering Touch (FB) and Lesser
Simulacrum
Teleportation Circle

- Alter Self, Polymorph, PAO and Shapechange are merged into a new, severely nerfed Polymorph spell.

[Grim Reader]

Hexblades get Witch Hexes and good fort save.

[NerdHut]

every hit is a critical? Really?

No, just natural 20s are Critical hits. By the book, if you roll a nat 20, you hit. You then roll again to find out if it's a critical hit. It benefits the melee guys more than the magic guys, and they really need the help to stay competetive.

[Khedrac]

So if you are fighting something you need a 20 to hit then every hit is a critical? Really?

No, just natural 20s are Critical hits. By the book, if you roll a nat 20, you hit. You then roll again to find out if it's a critical hit. It benefits the melee guys more than the magic guys, and they really need the help to stay competetive.
I.e. if the opponent's AC is such that you need a natural 20 to hit then yes every hit is a critical.

[AnimeTheCat]

I'll give this a go.

- At 4th level and every 4 levels after I give 2 points to be put in to any two different ability scores (a la Star Wars)
- I blend Hide and Move Silently in to Stealth (dex based) as well as Spot and Sense Motive in to Perception (Wis based)
--- if you any one of those skills (move silently/hide, Spot/sense motive) you have the combined skill. You need not have both.
- For stats I have players roll 4d6, reroll 1s, take the high 3 (pretty standard, but its not RAW).
- 3 natural 20s in a row (on attack rolls) is an instant kill on any creature, PCs included, furthermore this creature can't be resurrected by any means

[Jeff the Green]

Well, my houserules are here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qZwrKzFajUlAnJ0XwTHmDnMjQLhQR9pjYLch5oWxh0I/pub). But I dunno if that really counts. My real homebrew is in my sig.

[Honest Tiefling]

I love that Toughness rule, so think of this as another vote for that.

I also try to consolidate skills, like 4e/Pathfinder. For instance, I jam Athletics (Swim Climb and occasionally Ride) into one skill. Swim really hasn't come up all that often to warrant its own skill, and few people have complained about barbarians being able to both easily climb AND swim with the same skill.

One I've wanted to try is the ol' +20/-20 thing where if you roll a one you don't fumble, you just subtract 20 from your roll and vice versa for natural 20's.

[Rijan_Sai]

No, just natural 20s are Critical hits. By the book, if you roll a nat 20, you hit. You then roll again to find out if it's a critical hit. It benefits the melee guys more than the magic guys, and they really need the help to stay competetive.


I.e. if the opponent's AC is such that you need a natural 20 to hit then yes every hit is a critical.

Also, out of curiosity, did you remove all forms of Critical Treat expansion (i.e. Keen/Improved Critical/Dagger = 19/20x2)?

A couple of ours (that I can remember off hand):

Skill consolidation:
(Mostly) following Pathfinder's skills: Hide + Move Silently = Stealth; Listen + Search + Spot = Perception; Balance + Tumble + Jump = Acrobatics; Decipher Script + Forgery = Linguistics; Gather Information is rolled into Diplomacy, while Open Lock is rolled into Disable Device.
Also, we allow you to use Spellcraft for Psycraft checks, UMD for UPD checks and Craft: Alchemy for Craft: Poison checks at a -4 penalty (works both ways: UMD-4 = UPD or UPD-4 = UMD, as appropriate.)

Hit Points on level up:
We use the higher of the die-roll or average.

A few of the "standards":
+2 (at least) skill points per level; no multi-class penalties; Keen/Improved critical stack (one is a weapon property, the other is a wielder property...) (okay, maybe that one isn't so standard...)

[Gildedragon]

I ought write mine down as a list sometime:
Off the cuff:
Condensed skills
(disable device + open lock; hide + move silently; swim + climb; tumble + jump; UMD + UPD + spellcraft + psicraft; Kn arcana + Kn psi; autohypnosis + concentration + lucid dreaming; speak language + decipher script; spot + appraise + forgery; search + listen; A few others... Not wholly decided on the fusions)

+2 skillpoints per level for ranks in Perform, Language, Craft, Profession or Appraise

[Telonius]

My group is playtesting a homebrew Paladin of mine (loosely based on Incarnum; "piety points" instead of "essentia"; mostly SAD based on Charisma). I'll post it if it works out.

Otherwise?
Multiclass XP rules die a most painful death.
Half-Orcs lose the Charisma penalty. Half-Elves gain an extra skill point each level.
Drop the +1 BAB requirement for Weapon Finesse. (I'm strongly considering making Finesse-able a property of the weapon, not something that you have to take a feat for).
Druids are the PHB2 version (except they do get an animal companion at half-value). Druids get Knowledge (Geography) as a class skill.
Rangers get a fully-charged animal companion.
All Clerics are cloistered. All Clerics gain proficiency in their deity's favored weapon. (War Domain still gives Weapon Focus). Divine Power is a War Domain spell only. No stacking metamagic reducers.
Rogue now has a 20th level (:smallwink:) ; it grants an extra Rogue ability.
Sorcerers get free Eschew Materials at first (for Sorcerer spells; doesn't work for spells gained through other classes), and a d6 hit die.
Applying a Metamagic feat does not take longer for spontaneous casters.
Monks are full-BAB and can enchant their own body as though it were a weapon/armor by spending time/gold/xp.
Fighter-only feats (Specialization etc) scale with level. So does TWF.
Ride-By Attack has its geometry fixed; it now functions as the mounted equivalent of Spring Attack.
Clarification: in no case will a class feature disqualify a character from the class. (i.e. no Schroedinger's Dragon Disciple).
Skills: Hide and Move Silently are combined into a single skill, "Stealth." Balance and Tumble are "Acrobatics." Spot and Listen are "Perception." Open Lock is now a part of Disable Device (a lock is a device, after all).
Spell Resistance does not have to be lowered for beneficial spells.
Most alignment restrictions are lifted (except when gods grant the spells).
All adventurers granted a Handy Haversack and a single MW weapon or armor at first level.
One free 18 in a stat of your choice. For the rest, 4d6, best three; reroll 1s once.
Pun-Pun has already ascended, and is the overdeity of Cheese, Exploits, and Metagaming. He has used his "LOLNOPE" ability to prevent anyone from achieving anything approaching his power.

[NerdHut]

I.e. if the opponent's AC is such that you need a natural 20 to hit then yes every hit is a critical.

I guess I misunderstood what you meant. Still, that's a 5% chance to hit, and unless you have a gnarly weapon, its damage is still a bit limited on each indiviual hit.


Sidenote:
I see that tossing the Multi-class XP penalties is a really popular choice. For my group it's important they stay in effect. I've got two players that love cheese more than a Swiss-American living in Wisconsin, a player that doesn't know how to optimize to save her life, and a new player that's still learning the ropes. If I take out those penalties, the two cheesey players will combine approximately all the classes and become even more OP, while the other two won't gain anything.

[Chronikoce]

Sidenote:
I see that tossing the Multi-class XP penalties is a really popular choice. For my group it's important they stay in effect. I've got two players that love cheese more than a Swiss-American living in Wisconsin, a player that doesn't know how to optimize to save her life, and a new player that's still learning the ropes. If I take out those penalties, the two cheesey players will combine approximately all the classes and become even more OP, while the other two won't gain anything.

Have you considered instituting the don't be an *** rule? I know it doesn't work for all groups but sometimes explaining out of game that attempts to cheese ruin the fun for yourself and the newbies helps. If the optimizers are understanding they should tone it down.

Not everyone is blessed with mature and understanding players so this may not work with your group depending on how they act.

[Maxrim]

In my games, I like martial characters to not have the "move and full attack" hoop to jump through, so full attacking is a standard action.

Optimized casters persist their buffs, and healing combat could use a boost. Any standard action you could take without breaking a sanctuary effect can be taken as a move action.

I think that multiclass characters are fun, and encourage my players to theurge it up. Practiced Spellcaster is lowered to a +3 bonus, but also applies to spells known/per day.

Natural 20s don't auto hit, but anytime you roll one you get +4. Natural 1s don't auto miss, but they get -4.

Critical confirmations are lame as all hell. They're outta here. So are multiclassing penalties.

You can perform a maximum of 30 non-free, non-AoO actions in a turn. Critical threat range is capped at 12-20.

[Scorponok]

I let the Dodge feat just be a +1 to AC instead of having to single out an opponent to get the bonus.

On a roll of 1, we roll a critical failure confirmation. Anything less than a 6 and something bad happens, depending on how low you roll. Rolling another 1 usually means your weapon hurts yourself, while 2 to 5 means either you throw your sword away, trip over your own feet and fall prone, weapon gets stuck in the ground, or other hijinx.

When opening or closing doors on the run, instead of a standard action, you just lose 5 ft. of movement.

[black-jack]

My group recently started allowing Skill Focus to increase your max ranks in the skill by 3 to allow for early prestige class entry. Makes the feat competitive, but losing a feat for that can still hurt a lot of builds.

[Ruethgar]

Most of the houserules I use are just little fixes for things like drown healing, but in pursuit of diversity of content, I am also working on this world (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483916-New-World-In-Progress) using a slew of homebrew.

[illyahr]

Yeah, I gotta agree with you there, I'm pretty sure that's not actually homebrew.

Unfortunately, it very specifically says classes count 1:2. RHD don't provide any, according to RAW. Which is stupid.


I made a massive adjustment for the Fighter class (see my sig) that moves them up to Tier 4. It includes: better Skill Points, more class skills, Weapon Focus tree for free, and actual class abilities. I've even had some homebrew gurus critique it and they like it also.

TWF is a single feat. You automatically get the Improved and Greater versions when your BAB is high enough.

Diehard and Endurance are rolled into one feat.

Dedicated divine casters suffer from spell failure. Paladins don't and Rangers don't in medium armor or less.

Nerf the f#&! out of the polymorph line.

Monk? You mean Unarmed Sword Sage? (Or use the Pathfinder Unchained version)

Dodge gives a static +1 bonus rather than against a chosen foe and is rolled together with Mobility (doesn't stack).

[Telonius]

Oh, forgot one for the Rangers - while TWF and Rapid Shot scale for iteratives, the Ranger combat style feats still do something: decrease the penalty by 1. So just out of the box they can be slightly better at TWF or archery than other characters, without spending any extra resources. (A determined character can still spend the feats, but practically speaking most won't want to; the bonus is small enough that it's not worth a feat but big enough to make a difference).

[illyahr]

Oh, forgot one for the Rangers - while TWF and Rapid Shot scale for iteratives, the Ranger combat style feats still do something: decrease the penalty by 1. So just out of the box they can be slightly better at TWF or archery than other characters, without spending any extra resources. (A determined character can still spend the feats, but practically speaking most won't want to; the bonus is small enough that it's not worth a feat but big enough to make a difference).

That's a good idea. Mind if I use it?

[BoutsofInsanity]

No Multi-class Xp cost
Consolidated Skill List
No class can have less then 4 skills per level plus int
Ignore all class restriction on skills
Improved Toughness replaces toughness
Monks Gain: Wisdom instead of Str. to Damage and Attack Rolls, And at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th their fists increase by +1 as a magical enhancement bonus
Fights gain stand still for free
Power Attack and Expertise are no longer feats and everyone has them and can use them
Dodge gives a +1 to AC
Every Character gets a Bonus skill point to add to a random skill they think their character could have, IE. Cooking, calligraphy, fishing, etc.
Enemies always critical fumble on a 1 and must roll a confirmation roll on natural 20's for criticals
Players always auto confirm critical on natural 20's and always must roll to confirm natural 1's on failures
For Hp you may elect to take Half if you don't like your Hp roll
Skill focus feats scale with level
Everyone gets a feat every odd level. Fighters get a feat every even level
Death occurs at negative unmodified con score
Weapon Focus and Specialization are for weapon types, rather then specific weapons, Heavy Blades, Light Blades, Hammers etc.
Weapon Finesse is a weapon property
The feat Weapon Finesse now allows you to deal dexterity as damage instead of strength with finessable weapons
The save bonus feats have a secondary feat that allows a re-roll of a failed save once per day along with and additional +1 bonus static to your save
Some broken spells are removed, "Ice Assassin, Polymorph, etc..."
Rangers get a full animal companion
Paladins alignment are based on which god they serve
All races are a fair game, but they will be reworked to be brought in line with the rest of the standard races
Lastly: Special Move: Everyone has a one a day power that is unique to them crafted together with the DM: Standard Action: IE: Cleric can once a day summon a thunderbolt and throw it, Fighter can counterstrike for an damage reduction, Sorcerer can overcharge a fireball. Etc...

[NerdHut]

There's another one that's popular in my group, even when I'm a player. Ties go to the player when it's not PvP (which of course is rare).

Say a monster has an AC of 20, and you roll 20, you hit. But if your AC is 20 and it rolls 20, it barely misses. Opposed checks that don't require a large margin to succeed also favor the player. Saves are still rolled as normal, however.

[Bohandas]

\
- I blend Hide and Move Silently in to Stealth (dex based) as well as Spot and Sense Motive in to Perception (Wis based)

Not spot and listen?

[Scorponok]

My group recently started allowing Skill Focus to increase your max ranks in the skill by 3 to allow for early prestige class entry. Makes the feat competitive, but losing a feat for that can still hurt a lot of builds.



Diehard and Endurance are rolled into one feat.



Oh, forgot one for the Rangers - while TWF and Rapid Shot scale for iteratives, the Ranger combat style feats still do something: decrease the penalty by 1. So just out of the box they can be slightly better at TWF or archery than other characters, without spending any extra resources. (A determined character can still spend the feats, but practically speaking most won't want to; the bonus is small enough that it's not worth a feat but big enough to make a difference).

I'm gonna steal, er, borrow these.

[DrKerosene]

One I've wanted to try is the ol' +20/-20 thing where if you roll a one you don't fumble, you just subtract 20 from your roll and vice versa for natural 20's.

I tried this for about 2 years, except +10/-10, the Players got from level 1-14 with it. I would recommend the +4/-4 that someone else said they use.

Getting a -10 usually ended up being for Knowledge checks, or Decipher Script checks, etc, not a lot of real "critical fails" occurred, usually just normal failure conditions.

The first time the Bard used Glibness, the got a natural 20 for a 60+Modifiers. That was the most insane thing I really saw.

[Pyron]

Here's some of the home brew rules that I tried over the last few years:

1) Static HP rolls: Every level, your HD roll is max hit points - 2. (Wizards/Rogues/d6: 4, Clerics/d8: 6, Fighter/d10: 8, Barbarian/d12: 10). This rule was in effect because leveling up was done between sessions, and people wouldn't have to require the DM to roll through email.

2) Cool-down time for item creation: Instead of requiring 1000 gp per day to create a magic item; all items are finished within a hour of crafting. However, there is a cool down time of 1000gp per day before the next magic item can be created.

3) You can use a diplomacy check to get 75% the value from any treasure sold back to merchants. However, if that check fails, you only get 33% (Natural 1 gets you 10%). (I have mixed feelings about this rule).

4) I also home brewed a custom magic spell (3rd level for clerics/wizards) that can swap the enhancement bonus from one item to another (for a minor cost). For example, the the party got a +1 Frost Exotic Trident, the paladin can get that +1 Frost to apply to his masterwork long sword (but not to another magic item without overwriting those enchantments). This was my way to help entice players to keep existing loot (in some form) rather than selling it.

[Zancloufer]

1) HP is usually do one of two ways. Either max HP per HD ( Monsters/NPC get max HP as well) or the "top 25%". Ie: The party still 'rolls' for HP but they always have above half HP. d4= 3 or 4, d6 = 5 or 6, d8 = 6-8, d10= 8-10 and d12=10-12. Monsters/NPCs I just assign one less than max HP per HD.

2) Pile of fixes. Monk has a complete rewrite I found on these forums. Paladin and Ranger I have made fixes for (or allow the players to use their PF versions). Healer and Truenamer have fixes also off the top of my head.

2.5) Feat fixes as well. Mostly mundane and some Epic ones but I have a good ~20 page file on some feat rewrites. Most of them are things like merging feats that kind of do the same thing, adding some scaling (mostly by BaB or skill ranks) to those "+1/2 to a skill/weapon attack" and making some "Epic Feats" have pre-reques more in the level 6-12 range (Ermergerd DR 3/- Super OP pls nerf).

3) Item crafting takes less time and usually doesn't require EXP (I think 8 hours per 1k GP cost is what I am currently using and it seems balanced so far). Depending on the setting there is generally some "special materials" required though. If I cut out EXP I found that it kind of needs some other small road bump to stop the party from going too far. . .

4) Tome of Radiance. The mechanics are awesome and the fluff is quite flexible. Though I have been looking into a Warlock fix since then because of it. . .

[Thealtruistorc]

Let's see

Ignore Dodge as a feat prerequisite. I honestly really don't like that feat and having to take it ends up ruining a lot of creative character concepts.
Paladins and Fighters get 4 skill points at every level, because it seems stupid that they don't
Technological items are all half price, because they aren't worth it as-is
Ignore misfire values on firearms, because those are a pain to deal with and unjustly punish players who wish to get creative.

[Seerow]

Here's a list of most of the houserules I was running in my last campaign:


Healing/HP
-Healing Surges were imported from 4e. Characters get 3+con mod healing surges, and recover 1 healing surge per day.
-A healing surge may be spent to either heal 25% of your max hp during downtime
-A healing surge may be spent to double the effect of any curative spell being cast on them.
-The Heal Skill and full bedrest increase the HP gain from a healing surge spent.
-Cure Spells are treated as maximum caster level. So regardless of caster level a Cure Moderate Wounds spell heals 2d8+10.

My group grew to hate wands of lesser vigor, and we wanted some more resource management. While 4e healing surges were too generous and caused characters to bounce back from anything almost as instantly as an endless supply of wands in a 3.5 game; this strikes a decent medium; with a side bonus of making mid-combat healing a viable option instead of a waste of an action. a level 3 character getting 2d8+10 hp is getting most of his hp, and if he spends a healing surge it is effectively a full heal.

Unconsciousness and Death
-A character who is dropped below 0 HP is knocked unconscious and is dying. They immediately lose 1 healing surge for every 25% of the character's max hp the attack inflicted.
-While a character is dying, each round roll a d20. 1-5 lose another healing surge, 20 stabilize. Dropping below 0 healing surges kills the character.
-An unconscious character who is attacked dies.
-Any amount of healing to a dying character restores the character to 0 hp and stabilizes them
-A stabilized character with 0 hp must be brought to at least 1 hp to awaken. The character may be awakened with a full round action.

We also had a problem with characters spontaneously exploding to crits. This helped with bringing down accidental deaths while still leaving the threat there.

Skills
-Skills follow the Pathfinder rules. Proficiency bonus of +3 for having a skill as a class skill and at least one rank in it. No penalties for cross class investment.
-No x4 skill multiplier at 1st level, skill rank cap is your level.
-All classes gain +50% skill points per level, int mod is no longer added to skills per level.
-Any class without 9th level spells that gets only 3 skills per level after the above change has their skills per level doubled.
-Characters gain bonus 'background skills' in the form of 2+int skill points per level that can be spent on Craft, Profession, Perform, and Knowledge Skills.
-Spot/Listen are combined into Perception
-Hide/Move Silent are combined into Stealth
-Open Lock/Disable Device are combined into Disable Device
-Appraise may be used to identify magic items with a DC of 10+2(caster level of item)

This looks really generous... and honestly it might be. But even a rogue is getting at most 12 skills out of a list of 20 or so, even when removing background skills and accounting for the combinations. This does however make it fairly likely that a party of 4 will be able to cover their bases, with room for a little overlap between characters and be able to take some fluff skills.


Cover
-Cover: +4 AC, +2 Ref. Trace a line from one corner of your square to all corners of the target's square. If any of these lines pass through a solid obstacle, the creature has cover.
-Soft-Cover: +2 AC, +1 Ref. Cover provided by unstable features or other creatures. For example hiding behind a table rather than a wall.
-Total Cover: +4 Ref and Improved Evasion. If no line from one corner of your square to a corner of a target's square can be made, the target is considered to have total cover. A character with total cover cannot be attacked normally, and any area effects targeting a character with Total Cover have reduced effect.

This was a minor change made when I was looking into how to improve the tower shield.

Equipment
-Weapons/Armor can be upgraded to Exceptional/Superior/Masterwork.
Exceptional costs 300g, Superior costs 1800, Masterwork costs 4300.
-Each quality upgrade of weapon provides an upgrade slot which can be used to customize the weapon. (list provided of upgrades/costs. There's an old version in my sig if you are interested)
-Each quality upgrade of armor provides either +1 AC; +1 Max Dex and -1 ACP; or -5% ASF.
-Most base armors have been rebalanced, with heavier armors being stronger overall (light armors totaling 7 AC+Dex; heavy armor totaling 9 AC+Dex)
-Shields follow traditional masterwork procedures (300gp for -1 ACP)
-Tower Shields no longer impose a -2 penalty to hit when being wielded by a proficient user. While in the hands of a proficient wielder, that wielder is always considered to have Soft Cover. While fighting defensively or using the Combat Expertise feat the user is considered to have Cover. While taking a total defense action the wielder is considered to have Total Cover.

This is probably my most comprehensive and favorite homebrew change. I really need to get around to cleaning up the most recent version and posting it here.

Feats
-Weapon Finesse: Does not requires +1 BAB
-Weapon Specialization: Increases damage die of weapon one step, or +2 damage, wielder’s choice.
-Greater Weapon Specialization: Increases damage die of weapon second step, or +4 damage, wielder’s choice.
-Weapon Focus: Provides one bonus upgrade slot that can be changed with a move action. This replaces its normal benefit.
-Greater Weapon Focus: Provides a second bonus upgrade slot, allows change of one with a swift action, or both to be changed with a move action.
-Stone Power: When used with a shield, double the temporary hit points gained.
-Improved Shield Bash: No longer a feat, baseline to having Shield proficiency and +3 BAB.
-Improved Buckler Defense: No longer a feat, now a baseline effect of using a buckler.
-Precise Shot: No longer a feat. Now baseline to an archer with at least +3 BAB.
-Point Blank Shot: No longer a prerequisite for any ranged feats.
-Toughness: Gain +1hp/level
-Improved Toughness: Req Con 15 and Toughness. Gain +1hp/level, and add con mod to healing value any time healing surge is spent.
-Endurance: In addition to normal benefits, increase max healing surges by 2.
-Diehard: In addition to the normal benefits, can spend healing surge as swift action to regain hitpoints while below 0hp.
-Dodge: Is a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC
-Two-Weapon Fighting: Is a proficiency, not a feat chain. Exotic Weapon Proficiency that rogue-like classes start with for free.

Mostly only changed core feats. Stone Power got a call out because I wanted to make Shields a little more attractive but I don't think anyone bothered with it even so. Pretty much everything else is either buffing worthless feats, integrating with the new systems, or eliminating them as feats and rolling them into baseline competency.


Characters and NPC Hit Dice
-All adult characters have a minimum of 3 NPC hit dice, though they may have up to 6 hit dice.
-Characters with class levels have those class levels gestalted with their NPC hit dice. The NPC class is usually the class most closely associated with their PC class (exceptions possible with reason)
-Player characters start with 5 NPC hit dice. So for example a 1st level character might be Fighter1//Warrior 5, or Wizard1//Adept 5.
-A character playing a race with LA gives up their PC levels but not the NPC levels. So a 3rd level Goliath Barbarian would be Barbarian2//Warrior 5.

So this is probably the most complicated change I made, and probably the one that both caused the most headaches during character creation and made me the happiest in play. The actual concept behind it is that a typical person is far more capable than a 1st level commoner, and this helps out a lot with making the average more capable and interesting. It also provides a stronger baseline for players. They could start at level 1, with level 1 abilities, but be relatively durable giving me a lot more room to play with as far as types of encounters I could run. It smooths out the progression curve a lot between the level 1-8 range, and extends the whole low level range into the same sort of sweet spot that makes E6 enjoyable to play.

If I could go back I would probably just make it straight up free NPC class levels that get retrained as you level (with LA races having permanent NPC hitdice in place of LA), instead of gestalting. It would be simpler to understand and be almost identical in actual effect.

[Bohandas]

Not true homebrew as all my tabletop experiences have gone hilariously wrong and disintegrated before the start of the campaign proper but when playing Temple of Elemental Evil i remove the xp costs for item crafting via the console

[Darth Ultron]

I have a lot...


*Mundane Magic Item Crafting-everyone can create magic items.
*Magic Item Creation-The possess to make a magic item s fluid and changes all the time. All magic items need three components: Mundane, Rare and Exotic. The mundane is just the physical shell. The rare component is often a monster part. And the Exotic one is a task that must be done at a set place and time.
*Divine Magic spells are micromanaged by your deity and might be nerfed, altered or boosted on a whim.
*Using a scroll is a Full Round Action, that provokes AoO and cannot be done Casting Defensively.
*Skill Boost-A non-spellcasting character gets an untyped bonus equal to their class level that can be used for skill checks. The character can add any amount of the bonus to a check. A single check for a single action can only have the boost added to it as any times as the characters relevant ability score modifier for that skill. So a character with an 18 in strength can attempt to climb the same tree and use the skill boost four times. This resets itself to zero after a day.
*Action Boost-A non-spellcasting character gains a pool of points equal to their level, plus their constustion modifier that can be used every round. Cost 5=1 round action,4=full round action, 3=standard action, 3=move action and 2=swift action. These actions don’t count against the normal actions the character can take in a round.
*Invisible Spell:You can modify any spell you cast so that it carries no visual manifestation and has no obvious connection to its caster, and no noticeable effects that are not integral to its function.. Only Effect or Area spells that have durations of one round or less can be effected by this feat. No Conjuration (summoning), Conjuration (calling) or Conjuration (creation), can be effected by this feat.
*The fatigued condition imposes a -2 penalty to caster level and a -1 penalty to spell save DCs. The exhausted condition imposes a -6 penalty to caster level, and a -3 penalty to spell save DCs.
*Spells & items that create or morph extradimensional spaces, manipulate time, or involve teleportation risk creating planar breaches each time they are cast/used.
*All spells with the (Healing) descriptor, including Heal, all Cure spells, Raise Dead, etc, are now back in the Necromancy School, as they were in earlier editions.
*Mage Armor is an Abjuration(Force) spell.
*A character does not and can not believe in her own illusions, even if she wants to.
*Illusions that produce a percentage of their effect when a target makes their save, such as Shadow Conjuration or Shadow Evocation, cannot have greater than a 100% effect on a target after a successful save. No effect produced by an illusion can produce a greater effect after a successful save than it could produce with a failed save.
*You can only emulate spells you know or have in your spellbook with shadow evocation and shadow conjuration.
*Arcane Lock: this spell increase the DC to open the lock by your caster level + your primary casting stat
*Teleportation:Teleportation spells of 4th level or lower (which includes dimension door) can’t transport you further than you can see. The range of these abilities is reduced to line of sight. You can’t use them to transport onto the other side of a closed door, or if you’re blinded, or if it’s too dark to see. You can use them to transport through a window (as you can see what’s on the other side). Spells of levels 5 to 7 allow you to teleport sight unseen .You can only teleport a number of miles equal to your caster level. (When teleporting through the use of a racial ability, the distance is limited to a number of miles equal to your total HD.)
*Teleport Destination: The caster must have a clear mental picture of the teleport destination. For the best results the caster must physically be in the target location for a full hour and make careful notes of the sight, sound, smell and feel of the area. The caster must pick a mostly static location, one that does not change with the passage of time. A destination only remains valid if less then 50% of area remains the same to match the mental picture in the casters mind. Small changes, such as a tree blowing in the wind have no effect, however cutting down the tree makes the destination invalid for a caster that has the tree as part of their mental destination picture.
*The strain of binding and controlling a summoned creature imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to caster level for each creature currently summoned.
*When casting a summoning spell, there is a 1% chance per spell level that the spell goes horribly awry and summons something else entirely.
*Magic that summons have as an additional material component a piece of material that was once part of a creature or object of the type to be summoned/polymorphed.
*The use of necromantic spells in particular can endanger the caster’s very soul, and have a corrupting influence on the caster.
*A polymorphed creature might loose their mind in the form....and druids too.
*Ability Damage and Drain: Spells 3rd level and under provide Ability Penalties instead of Ability Drain and Ability Damage
*And a ton of spell rewrites.....

[Atypical_Necro]

Classes: Fighter gets a class feature that allows them to take an additional (non spellcasting) move or standard action once per encounter plus once per 5 levels. Their bonus feats are now feat slots which can be retrained with ten minutes of downtime. They start only being able to hold fighter feats but upgrade to the point where at 15th they can hold epic feats.
Rangers are wild shape variant and get a full-fledged animal companion.

Feats: Str 13 or higher gets free Power Attack. Int 13 or higher gets free Combat Expertise. Dex 15 allows you to auto-finesse and WeaponFinesse grants Dex mod to damage. Dodge is a static +2 to AC that can be taken twice. Two weapon fighting upgrades with your bab.

Skills: Hide and Move Silently are Stealth. Listen, Search, and Spot are Perception. Open Lock is rolled into Disable Device. Gather Information is rolled into Diplomacy. Climb and Jump into Athletics. Balance and Tumble are Acrobatics.

[Telonius]

That's a good idea. Mind if I use it?

Go ahead! If it helps somebody else have more fun, I'm all for it. :smallsmile:

[Crake]

I tried this for about 2 years, except +10/-10, the Players got from level 1-14 with it. I would recommend the +4/-4 that someone else said they use.

Getting a -10 usually ended up being for Knowledge checks, or Decipher Script checks, etc, not a lot of real "critical fails" occurred, usually just normal failure conditions.

The first time the Bard used Glibness, the got a natural 20 for a 60+Modifiers. That was the most insane thing I really saw.

That's actually an official optional rule in the DMG (where it uses +/-10, or rather, treating a 20 as a 30 and a 1 as -10, so it's actually +10/-11), but it's only intended to be used for rolls where a 1 or a 20 would be an automatic failure/success, not for rolls like skills where a 1 can quite easily be a success for a well trained character under normal circumstances. A DM of mine used that rule and we all hated it, and would make jokes about olympic swimmers drowning in swimming pools because of multiple successive 1s being rolled, something like 1/400 times a well trained swimmer went into a pool they should drown by those rules.