Handy Dandy Homebrew Fixes

[ekarney]

MetaMyconid's Handy Dandy Homebrew Fixes

As much as all of us love 3.5 it's not the most well-polished game and quite a few things in it are broken - not in the "Wizards are God-Emperors of the world" way, which is a whole other kettle of aboleths. I'm talking about the "My fighter doesn't work!" way.

So what I'll be doing in this post is compiling a list (or hopefully, a compendium) of little fixes that will help make the game a little more polished. At the moment, I have less than a handful of adjustments available due to the fact that as a DM I run RP heavy campaigns, and that as a player my builds tend to be a little abstract. However, I'm going to put down what I have.

Handy Dandy Bonus Reading
Andorax's Rules As Common Sense Dictates (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?240218-quot-Common-Sense-quot-approach-to-rules-%28RACSD%29&p=13092074#post13092074post13092074)

bekeleven's Houserule List (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361894)

Dire Stirge's LA-Assignment Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?485938-The-LA-assignment-thread)

Troacctid's 3.5 Houserules
(https://docs.google.com/document/d/11LTxnol6FWCvYZdxZ-epELiYCo3PxAzGt5cr2ub716s/edit#heading=h.2x5o7hbdzdh8) Personally, I run houserules that are pretty similar to this list, albeit, much less organized and nicely formatted.
The Rules.


"But Mr. Myconid, why do you have rules for a list about altering rules?"

Well Little Timmy, it's so that I can easily categorize things.

1. Obviously, please state the fix itself.

2. State how the fix helps, and what it affects. Does it change a class by giving/removing something? Does it alter the way a feat or feat chain works? So on, so forth. Try to keep this short, please.

3. Tag the very top of your post with as many of the following that apply. I'm asking this, because if the thread gains traction, I'm going to be finding this almost exclusively via tags and ctrl + f. FIX - This is obvious, this is your fix, that you posted. RCON - Requires Confirmation, this is a fix you like in theory but aren't sure if it will actually be that great in practice. DEB - Debated, if someone disagrees with your fix, please add this tag to your post. DIS - Discussion, this means your post either does not contain a fix or you're arguing with someone about their fix. 3.3rd - "3.3rd Party", this is a fix or alteration that has been published by someone else, either Pazio, or a 3rd party publisher. CONF - Add this only to your debated fix, or fix that required confirmation, and only once you and the person arguing have worked it out together.

I know, it's a big effort and massive pain, especially the tagging system but it's also a massive help for me.
Please note I: If your fix requires confirmation, or is currently debated I'll add a blue asterisk.
Please note II: If you initiate a debate regarding someone's fix, please in your first response, keep a quote of the fix in your post. Also please quote either the fix, or the new, agreed upon fix once you've confirmed it.

How I'll post the fixes
I'll post them here, in this thread, in this post. Here's a spoiler tag of what a fix may look like:



General Fixes



Feat Chains

*Feat Name: Paraphrased version of the fix. Small explanation of how it works.

NOTE: Usually, the name of the feat will hyperlinked to either the original post if not debated, if it is debated, I'll link to the person's post whom responded to the fix first, or the confirmed version of the fix.

Caution: I'm updating slowly and kind of anarchically, so if your fix hasn't been posted, don't worry I'm either mulling it over, or there's a lot of text so I really need to think about my paraphrasing. Thank you for staying patient <3

The Fix List!

General Fixes


Feat Chains

TWF Simplified: Upon taking the first TWF feat, you will acquire the rest of the feats in the change, for free, as soon as you meet the requirements. This is to reduce feat hungriness of a TWF and allow more versatility.


Combat Expertise for Dummies: Lower the Int requirement for Combat Expertise and subsequent feats to 10 OR 4 ranks in any combination of knowledge skills. This is to reduce MAD juggling.


bekeleven's Feat Chain Changes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21271838&postcount=3): (I need to format this part)
Two-Weapon Fighting includes Improved and Greater
Two-Weapon Defense includes Improved and Greater
Dodge includes Mobility and Spring Attack
Iron Will includes Blind-Fight
Lighting Reflexes includes Quick Draw
Great Fortitude includes Toughness and Improved Toughness
Point-Blank Shot includes Far Shot
Weapon Focus includes Weapon Spec and both Greater versions


Abilities

*SAD Mundanes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21271775&postcount=2): Any NON-caster, martial class may choose a physical ability score to qualify for all combat feats. This is done to reduce MAD juggling.

Individual Feat Fixes

Fighter Bonus Feat Fixes

Power Attack Versatility (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21272022&postcount=5): Power attack now grants the 2H bonus to 1H weapons, and the 1H bonus to light weapons. This is done to improve the damage of sword and board, and TWF characters.

Rapid Reload Versatility (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21271838&postcount=3): Slings can be rapid reloaded. This is done give sling users a necessary boost.



Class Fixes

Rogue Fixes

Rogue Love (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21271775&postcount=2): A first level rogue gets their choice of Weapon Finesse or Point Blank Shot. This is to help an early level rogue.

*Skirmish Attack: Rogues of first level, and subsequently Scouts are able to choose between gaining either Skirmish or Sneak Attack as their class feature, you may only make this choice once. A Rogue's Skirmish counts as sneak attack for the purposes of meeting requirements. This is done to add versatility to a build.


Monk Fixes

Monks off the Chain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21271775&postcount=2): Use Unchained version instead of the standard version. Presumably this is done as the unchained version performs better.


Hexblade Fixes
Grim Reader's Educated Hexblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21285106&postcount=25): Adds Witch hexes to the Hexblade. This is to increase the overall power and versatility of the Hexblade, see full post for details
Efrate's Hexblade Overhaul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21287193&postcount=29): Full Hexblade overhaul. See the full post for details.

[Efrate]

A few I've been using.


General Fix

RCON Martial/mundane become more SAD.

For a martial class (IE NO casting) You can pick a single physical stat (str, dex, con) to qualify for prereqs for all combat feats. You make this choice at level 1, and you cannot change it. The stat you choose replaces ALL ability score requirements for all combat feats. You must meet all other prerequisites. Combat feat is anything not metamagic, nor related to casting in any way. Fighter bonus feat list is a good place to start. Monks may choose wisdom, but see below.

I run a fairly low op/skill game (mostly new players) but this helps our martials a ton with letting them have stats relevant enough to feel like they are doing there job. Yes you can choose con and dumb everything, but strength penalty on attacks/damage is still a thing and there is worse abuse (hi gate) in spells alone.
Currently testing this in my campaign, no abuse, seems fine.

Rogue love(a bit 3.3rd)
A level one rogue gets their choice of weapon finesse or point blank shot for free at level 1 without having to meet the prereqs. I stole half this from pathfinder and it makes so much sense.

3.3rd : Monk Monks use pathfinder unchained monk. Its just better. No one has taken this since our last monk died, but if they go here not sure on how the first fix interacts with this, I think it would be fine though.

[bekeleven]

Are you familiar with RACSD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?240218-quot-Common-Sense-quot-approach-to-rules-%28RACSD%29&p=13092074#post13092074post13092074)? I use most of those.

Besides those, I have my own houserules list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361894). It's mostly bans, but a few other elements like:

Fractional BAB and Saves (+2 bump added once), No rolled HP, no multiclass XP hit, LA Buyoff, and many other common rules.

Hexblade uses the Creator's Fix (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/hexblades-handbook.html).

Slings can be rapid reloaded.

Various feat combos:
Two-Weapon Fighting includes Improved and Greater
Two-Weapon Defense includes Improved and Greater
Dodge includes Mobility and Spring Attack
Iron Will includes Blind-Fight
Lighting Reflexes includes Quick Draw
Great Fortitude includes Toughness and Improved Toughness
Point-Blank Shot includes Far Shot
Weapon Focus includes Weapon Spec and both Greater versions

[ekarney]

DIS


Are you familiar with RACSD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?240218-quot-Common-Sense-quot-approach-to-rules-%28RACSD%29&p=13092074#post13092074post13092074)? I use most of those.

Besides those, I have my own houserules list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361894). It's mostly bans, but a few other elements like:

Fractional BAB and Saves (+2 bump added once), No rolled HP, no multiclass XP hit, LA Buyoff, and many other common rules.

Hexblade uses the Creator's Fix (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/hexblades-handbook.html).

Slings can be rapid reloaded.

Various feat combos:
Two-Weapon Fighting includes Improved and Greater
Two-Weapon Defense includes Improved and Greater
Dodge includes Mobility and Spring Attack
Iron Will includes Blind-Fight
Lighting Reflexes includes Quick Draw
Great Fortitude includes Toughness and Improved Toughness
Point-Blank Shot includes Far Shot
Weapon Focus includes Weapon Spec and both Greater versions

Just looking for clarification, are those feats granted straight up, or when the applicable prerequisites have been acquired?

[Zaydos]

Off the top of my head...

Skills:
Permanent Int increases retroactively increase skill points (but +X Int items don’t).
Each rank in Hide grants 1 rank in Move Silently (or vice versa). These skills are not compiled so that things like "I am small" don't add to Move Silently, and 'I have a silence spell' doesn't add to hide.
Same is true for Spot and Listen.
Open Locks is now part of Disable Device.
Gather Information is now part of Diplomacy and Knowledge (Local); either type of check may be used to perform its function.
Decipher Script, Forgery, and Speak Language are all one skill, Linguistics. Each rank of Linguistics grants a language known, you still do not have speak language checks.
Balance and Tumble are one skill, Acrobatics.
Psicraft is a function of Spellcraft.
Use Psionic Device is a function of UMD.

Feats:
Power Attack grants the two-hander bonus to one-handed and two-handed weapons, and can be used with light weapons at the normal 1-hander bonus. It makes it so sword-and-shield isn't as completely inferior to two-handers.

Spell Schools

Creation is an Evocation subschool - Not only does Creation fit the theme and description of the school that creates things out of nothing more than the one that summons things from other places, but it fixes power disparities to some extent and with the low level teleportation spells from Spell Compendium and PHBII it's viable (you can't do it in Core only because it leaves Conjuration at 1 or 2 spells/level at lower levels which is probably why when 3.0 came out they moved a bunch of 2e Evocation spells to Conjuration and when 2e came out they moved a bunch of Evocation spells to Conjuration... these make up all the spells that were in older editions and are now Conjuration (Creation)).
Healing is a Necromancy subschool - There's no real mechanical reason for this, it's just that it makes more sense. Evocation or Transmutation also make more sense than Conjuration though.

[Lorddenorstrus]

I apply pathfinders changes to the Skill system to my 3.X games. stealth, perception, acrobatics to me helped condense the skill tax a bit and allow people to spend spare points into random previously useless skills. It's proved effective so far I've seen players using skills that never before had been touched. This so far is the only 'solid' and absolute change I've done, other than that I am constantly testing rebalance changes in games I run.

[bekeleven]

Just looking for clarification, are those feats granted straight up, or when the applicable prerequisites have been acquired?
All granted when prerequisites are met.

[Gemini476]

I'm fond of this fix:

FIX
Full-attacks (and actions based on full attacks, like Flurry of Blows) are a standard action. This makes it so that combat stays as mobile at level 6-20 as it is at level 1-5, since you can move and attack.

On the other hand, this also gets rid of the defensive advantage that was inherent in the system before - when full attacks are full-round actions, the aggressor needs to move into melee and only gets one attack while being met with a full attack. Then again, that might be a good thing if you want your players to be aggressive and proactive in combat rather than giving their enemies the initiative! But then yet again, this makes things even more rocket tag and laughs in the face of the concept of "tanks".

At the very least, it makes Monks actually have some synergy between class features.

[Zaydos]

I'm fond of this fix:

FIX
Full-attacks (and actions based on full attacks, like Flurry of Blows) are a standard action. This makes it so that combat stays as mobile at level 6-20 as it is at level 1-5, since you can move and attack.

On the other hand, this also gets rid of the defensive advantage that was inherent in the system before - when full attacks are full-round actions, the aggressor needs to move into melee and only gets one attack while being met with a full attack. Then again, that might be a good thing if you want your players to be aggressive and proactive in combat rather than giving their enemies the initiative! But then yet again, this makes things even more rocket tag and laughs in the face of the concept of "tanks".

At the very least, it makes Monks actually have some synergy between class features.

This reminds me of one I've been thinking about trying. BAB 11+ you get 2 attacks on a standard action (either +11/+6 or +11/+1) and 3 at BAB 16+ (either +16/+11/+6 or +16/+6/-4? I don't know) or maybe just as you may make a full attack as a standard action but each attack after the first gets a -10 instead of a -5. So there's still some defensive advantage, but you can in fact hit things as a standard action you'll just not do so as well. Leaves Standard action strikes as having a purpose, throw on that a monk can flurry as a standard action and monks still get their means of hitting a lot. I don't know it's just something I've been thinking about trying.

[Fizban]

FIX, FIX, FIX, 3.3rd

I don't find the debated/confirmed tag idea very useful, there are undoubtedly forumites who will disagree vehemently with anything. You have things in your first post I already disagree with for example (almost half of them), including the classic "just use the Pathfinder version." I have a monk fix, warmage expanded list, and hexblade expanded list I like to recommend.

My monk fix focuses on targeting root issues without building an entirely new class, and the expanded spell lists do what you'd expect. I've mentioned them in previous posts here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?498005-If-you-were-me-how-would-you-feel-about-spell-compendium#post21121849) and here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500908-3-5-Balancing-my-party&p=21214959&viewfull=1#post21214959), and while Cheech didn't mention my monk in particular, Albion's_Angel seemed to like my spell lists.
First: AC bonus. Crank that sucker up, 2+1/2 monk level. People expect unarmored martial artists to be hard to hit, not laughably easy, and the first part of this is giving them an innate AC bonus that actually matches armor. Monk AC bonus should stack with Bracers of Armor (or Monkwraps/robes/whatever of Armor) so they don't lose out on the normal Enhancement scaling, but you can have it not stack with Mage Armor if you want.

Second part: give them Wall Walker from Dungeonscape and Water Step from Stormwrack, in addition to rather than replacing Slow Fall. With the ability to both run up and slide down walls, and move across water, the monk should actually have some mobility. Optionally you might also include the Standing Jump ability from Dungeonscape or a similar feat, but I don't find jumping nearly as important as the other abilities.

Third: very common, allow Flurry of Blows on standard action attacks, so that you aren't massively penalized for moving, and explicitly allow gauntlets/handwraps for enhancing unarmed more easily than a Necklace of Natural Weapons or Amulet of Mighty Fists to once again simply match standard weapon use. Note that flurry just adds one (later two) attack/s, so a standard action flurry still isn't as good as a standing full attack. This may be extended to the Decisive Strike ACF as well, making it a standard action (but not a standard attack, otherwise you could continue into a full attack which the ACF is meant to replace).

Fourth: the Wholeness of Body ability is equal to your full normal hit points instead of some tiny amount (much like a Guardinal's Lay on Hands, except self-only). This makes the ability useful in combat as a 1/day full hp recovery, and makes a Monk stand out from other "mundanes" in that they do in fact recover all hp in a single day without need for magic items.

Fifth: throw in a bonus feat at 10th, 14th, and 18th, from any feat associated with Monks. Optionally, allow players to create their own fighting styles or simply pick from any feat associated with monks for their earlier bonus feats as well, rather than forcing them to find an exact published variant that suits their plans.

And I think that's enough to do the job, everything else can be optimized out of. Optimize weapons for damage, buy/buff appropriate defenses, etc. You can modify later abilities (Abundant Step, Quivering Palm, Empty Body) as well, but I think this all works up through 11th and gets the Monk to a point where their main abilities are worth using rather then as just a dip class
The warmage suffers from being the first spontaneous fixed list caster, and is thus far weaker than the Beguiler and Dread Necromancer, though not nearly as weak as some people will claim. It deals damage and has a number of excellent control spells that seem to be oft ignored. It has what seems to me a pretty clear theme of an energy cycle, a non-energy, a battlefield control, a utility, a "trollish self-buff," and an anti-object spell at each level, but doesn't quite manage to fill them all for some reason. It's spell count is inflated compared to the other two classes by the X Orb spells that do little but change energy types, it's hampered by sourcing spells only from Complete Arcane and the PHB, and when both Beguiler and Dread Necro have Dispel Magic it's inexcusable for the Warmage to not.

Spell Compendium (+PHB)
1: +Corrosive grasp, Ice Dagger, Wall of Smoke, Scatterspray, Blades of Fire (SpC dropped to 1st)
2: +Scorch, Snowball Swarm, Snake's Swiftness?, (Flame Blade)
3: +Acid Breath, Icelance, Chain Missile, Rust Ray
4: +(Dispel Magic), Defenestrating Sphere? ("Divine" Power?)
5: +(Waves of Fatigue), Vitriolic sphere, Earth Reaver
6: +(Greater Dispel magic), +Acid Storm
7: +Radiant assault
8: +Bombardment, Avasculate (and -Incendiary Cloud and Polar Ray because they suck and I hate them)
9: +Black Blade of Disaster

?: Snake's Swiftness, Defenestrating Sphere, and Divine Power are very powerful and appear at levels that have plenty of spells. SS is just a strong spell that can serve at "untyped" damage, Defenestrating Sphere is the big cousin of Flaming Sphere, and Divine Power is the only real "self buff" to consider at 4th (the self buff category is a trap option noted in the original class, as Warmages are not cut out for the front line, but rewards people who use it for a gish anyway). If the DM considers their addition a little too much, they may be considered optional.

Add from PHB: Grease, Remove Curse
Updated in SpC: Augment Familiar, Phantom Threat, Cursed Blade

Spell Compendium
1st
Augment Familiar
Backbiter
Blood Wind
Critical Strike
Cheat
Distract Assailant
Distort Speech
Know Greatest Enemy
Net of Shadows
Phantom Threat
Shadow Mask
Swift Expeditious Retreat
Swift Invisibility
Weapon Shift

2nd
Bladeweave
Cloud of Bewilderment
Curse of Impending Blades
Earthbind
Entice Gift
Enhance Familiar
Fortify Familiar
Death Armor
Know Vulnerabilities
Greater Alarm
Mesmerizing Glare
Mindless Rage
Miser's Envy
Nightmare Lullaby
Phantasmal Assailants
Phantom Foe
Reflective Disguise
Shadow Spray
Slapping Hand
Surefooted Stride
Wall of Gloom
Wraithstrike
Whirling Blade

3rd
Anticipate Teleportation
Blacklight
Corpse Candle
Know Opponent
Love's Lament
Mass Curse of Impending Blades
Mind Poison
Puppeteer
Regal Procession
Reverse Arrows
Servant Horde
Shadow Binding
Shadow Cache
Spider Poison
Spectral Weapon

4th
Cursed Blade
Corporeal Instability
Draconic Might
Forceward
Ray Deflection
Ruin Delver's Fortune
Sensory Deprivation

The key for adding spells to the Hexblade list is that they've got (very) limited spells known, so harshly limiting their class list is dumb. The main restriction is that you don't want any spells which stack with/step on the toes of Hexblade's Curse in the save or screwed department, but other than that any spell that feels spooky/dark/mean/etc is perfectly okay. They're also supposed to be gishy, so they should get the gishy spells. Master's Touch and Weapon Shift are useless on people without high BAB, but a Hexblade could actually maybe use them, so throw it on, etc. And I threw in a couple actually *good* spells like Blacklight as a stealth buff for the class in general.
And finally

3.3rd I recommend using Sorcery and Steam's stats and rules for firearms. Every other set I've read from DMG "not intended for actual use," to Warcraft "lol breakage," to Pathfinder's "lol touch attacks and more breakage," has been garbage. Sorcery and Steam has actual weapons that actually work. They give their research notes in the beginning of the section, I then checked theirs against my own wiki diving research and found that aside from forgetting to mention breach loading advances they still have loading times that work perfectly. The only jarringly fast reload time you'll find without having a special class ability still requires the most advanced models, a feat, and a high skill check to reach a free action load, and that even comes with a range penalty as the percussion cap models have a shorter range increment.

As I said last time I mentioned it: bottom line, if you want to use firearms then you should be using Sorcery and Steam's. Well you should also be using Black Rain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?99529-The-Sublime-Gunslinger-s-Art-Black-Rain-Discipline&p=5471518), but that's more for it's own merits. Black Rain is solid enough to take any borked set of firearms rules and make them useable, but that doesn't make it any worse with a good set of rules.

[Lans]

Skills- Add 2 skill points a level to non full caster classes that get 2 or 4 skill points a level. Add 3 to classes that get 6 skill points and 4 to classes that get 8 skill points. Let classes choose additional 2 class skills.

[RedMage125]

My 3.5e house rules are similar to Zaydos'.

Most of them are geared towards making the game more fun and less about simulationism.

Hide and Move Silently are one skill, Stealth. It's not very fun to pas your Hide check, and then blow your M.S. check.
Contrariwise, Spot and Listen are one skill, Perception. This so defenders against Stealth checks don't get 2 attempts to notice the stealthed character. It is, however, clear that items like Eyes of the Eagle only add to Perception checks based on vision.
Healing magic, such as cure spells, when applied to a character in negative hit points, resets hp to zero and then applies healing. So if an ally was at -7 and the cleric rolls poorly on his Cure Light Wounds and only applies 4 points of healing. The target is at 4 hp. It's no fun sitting out of another round of combat. And the cleric's player isn't going to have fun if he's not being at least somewhat effective. Even Cure Minor can put someone at 1 hp, allowing them to drink a potion on their turn.
Read Magic is no longer a spell. It's effects are folded into Detect Magic. When detecting magic, you may read magical writings.
The ability to detect magic is one of the most basic functions of the spellcaster. Sorcerers receive it as a bonus Spell Known. Wizards, who have spent year studying magic and how it works, may spontaneously convert any prepared 0-level spell into Detect Magic. This makes detecting readily available to arcane casters, while still keeping the warlock's at-will ability distinct and useful. Divine Casters get no extra benefit.
Once a Class Skill, always a Class Skill
At every level, one feat may be retrained. You may not trade away pre-requisites for other feats or prestige classes that you have.

My players are usually pleased with these.

I also give them the option to choose whether or not to use confirmation rolls for crits. I do inform them that, since PCs typically have higher ACs than monsters, choosing "threat=crit" means they will receive more crits. If they choose "auto-confirm", then they get ONE opportunity to revert to norm later.

[Malimar]

Here's some of the fixes I use in my games, for your consideration:

All listed level adjustments are divided by 2 (rounded down, but with a minimum of 1 for LAs that aren't already zero). Sum your character's total LA before dividing. (It's widely accepted that every monster's LA is too high, except for LA+1s, most of which are legit stronger than most LA+0s, as long as you're not comparing Hobgoblins and Blues against Warforged and Lesser Planetouched and Whisper Gnome. So you might consider bumping Hobgoblins and Blues down to LA+0, bumping Warforged and Whisper Gnome up to LA+1, and banning Lesser Planetouched in favor of regular Planetouched. But I don't personally do those things, I only use the divide by 2 rule with no special exceptions.)

You may 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.

All Trained Only skills can be used untrained at a -10 penalty. Spellcraft may be used in place of Psicraft, and vice versa, at a -10 penalty. Use Magic Device may be used in place of Use Psionic Device, and vice versa, at a -10 penalty.

Caster level equal to half class level (e.g. ranger, paladin, etc.) is no longer a thing. Such classes have a caster level equal to their class level.

Barbarian
Does not gain a Constitution bonus when raging. Instead, gains +2 Fortitude, +2 to Constitution and Constitution-based checks, and temporary hit points equal to 2 per hit die, which go away when the rage ends. These bonuses go up to 3 with Greater Rage and 4 with Mighty Rage. This eliminates "oops, my rage ended, now I'm dead" syndrome, and as a side-effect allows undead barbarians to be more effective.

Alternately, because Barbarian is a common dip for Con-focused builds that benefit in other ways from Con boosts, Barbarian keeps the Constitution bonus, all temporary Constitution bonuses that have durations (so Barbarian's Rage and Bear's Endurance but not Amulets of Health) grant temporary hit points (which expire when the Con bonus does) instead of real hit points.

Dragonfire Adept
Qualifies for metabreath feats without requiring Power Surge or other shenanigans to acquire a breath weapon with a timer.

Dragon Shaman
Add Knowledge(arcana) to class skills. It just makes sense for a class that worships dragons to have knowledge about dragons.

Druid
Add Knowledge(geography) to class skills. Makes sense for a druid to understand the lay of the land.

This, the most powerful class, also asks for a nerf. There are two decent (but probably mutually exclusive) nerfs you can try:

The less extreme nerf is to give Druid animal companion progression as a Ranger.

The more extreme nerf is to say "Spellcasting; Animal Companion; Wild Shape: Pick any two."

Favored Soul
Add Knowledge(religion) to class skills. On the one hand, you wouldn't necessarily expect a Favored Soul, granted power by a deity without asking for it, to actually know anything about deities. On the other hand, such Favored Souls can simply not put ranks in Knowledge(religion).

Fighter
Gains a fighter bonus feat every level, instead of 1st and every even level. This doesn't bump Fighter up a tier or anything, but at least now you don't have any dead levels on your way to Dungeoncrasher, and it's a "however many feats you want"-level dip instead of a 2-level dip.

Healer
Knows their entire spell list and casts spontaneously, like a Warmage or Beguiler. (I actually rejigger Healer a little more completely than this, but this is a solid start.)

Hexblade
Hexblade's Curse usable per encounter rather than per day.

Knight
Add Knowledge(history) to class skills.

Marshal
I personally nerf Leadership for everybody else, and then un-nerf it for Marshal. You could also consider giving Leadership to Marshal as a bonus feat.

Monk
Full BAB. Literally the least you can do for this sad, sad class.

Paladin
Smite Evil per encounter rather than per day. Consider giving this to everything with a Smite ability, such as Soulborn and Fiendish/Celestial creatures.

Remove Disease per day rather than per week.

When a character uses Smite Evil, the attack also counts as Good for the purpose of bypassing DR/Good. The same applies to all aligned Smites, e.g. Smite Good bypasses DR/Evil.

Ranger
Animal Companion progression at first level, progressing as druid, not as one-half druid.

Samurai
Gestalt the Samurai from Oriental Adventures with the one from Complete Warrior.

Sorcerer
Gain Eschew Materials as a bonus feat at level 1.

Wizards and Sorcerers may begin play with a familiar without having to pay the 100gp cost. Acquiring a familiar after play begins, replacing a familiar, or acquiring a familiar through the Obtain Familiar feat still costs 100gp. Many people don't realize this is a house rule, that Wizards and Sorcerers are supposed to either pony up 100gp when play begins or start without a familiar.

Any prestige class level that advances Wizard or Sorcerer spellcasting also advances familiar abilities as if it were a level of Wizard or Sorcerer. (This is as if all Wizards and Sorcerers took the Forlorn flaw and the Obtain Familiar feat.)

Swashbuckler
Proficient with bucklers. IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE NAME, DAGNABIT.

Swordsage
Skill points: the usual x4 at 1st level, not x6. Obvious typo is obviously a typo.

Wizard
A Wizard specializing in Divination must choose two banned schools, as with every other school specialization, instead of one. Splatbooks give enough Divination options, and "Scry and Die" so favored a tactic, that it's no longer a trash school like it was thought to be in the early days of 3.5.

Also, see familiar stuff under Sorcerer.

[ekarney]

Here's some of the fixes I use in my games, for your consideration:

All listed level adjustments are divided by 2 (rounded down, but with a minimum of 1 for LAs that aren't already zero). Sum your character's total LA before dividing. (It's widely accepted that every monster's LA is too high, except for LA+1s, most of which are legit stronger than most LA+0s, as long as you're not comparing Hobgoblins and Blues against Warforged and Lesser Planetouched and Whisper Gnome. So you might consider bumping Hobgoblins and Blues down to LA+0, bumping Warforged and Whisper Gnome up to LA+1, and banning Lesser Planetouched in favor of regular Planetouched. But I don't personally do those things, I only use the divide by 2 rule with no special exceptions.)


What sorts of results has that gotten? Do you know how players now playing races previously deemed unplayable?
Very interested in this one personally.

[Malimar]

What sorts of results has that gotten? Do you know how players now playing races previously deemed unplayable?
Very interested in this one personally.

A couple people have been more open to playing high-LA races, and one person submitted a character or two with LA before retracting them in favor of no-LA races. Nobody has actually played an LA race with this rule yet. But that's partly because my game starts at level 1 -- I allow Savage Species classes (modified to reflect the lower LA, of course), but even with those in play, early levels are a little rough to be playing a race with LA.

EDIT: Oh, I remembered I do have one player playing a Goliath, but their LA+1 is unaffected by this house rule.

EDIT EDIT: Of course, "use Dire_Stirge's new LA assignments (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?485938-The-LA-assignment-thread)" is likely to result in better results than my "just divide everything by 2" rule, but he's not even through the Ds in MM1 and hasn't even started any other books yet, so it's gonna be awhile before that project is done.

[Darth Ultron]

Fixes:

A bunch....

*Mundane Magic Item Crafting


At 3rd level all non spellcasting classes gain the Create Magic Item Ability. This ability allows them to take magic item creation feats. They may pick one at 3rd level and one more every three levels. Magic item creation is essentially unchanged from the way a spell caster does it. Except that the spell need not be cast by them, or they can drain the spell from a scroll or magic item(destroying the item in the posses).

This allows non spellcaster to make magic items and not be held hostage to spellcasters.

*Magic Item Creation

All magic items need three components: Mundane, Rare and Exotic.
-The mundane component is simply the physical form of the object. It must be made out of special materials to hold the magic.
-The rare component is something that locks the magic effect into the item. This is most often a creature part, but can be any physical thing.
-The exotic component is not physical thing, it is a process. It is what needs to be done to finish the item. It is a process of what to do at a set time and maybe place.

As the caster level increases, so does the hardness of the components. A 5CL item might only need oak wood, but a 10CL item might need 100 year old oak wood, and a 15CL item might need 100 year old oak wood that has been struck by lightning. A rare component that is a creature part is must be from a creature of HD at least equal to the CL. After 10 CL, many items get extreme rare components, such as a daisy steeped on by a dragon at midnight. Proses get harder as CL's go up. At 5CL the item might just have to be made at night. 10 CL on a high mountain in the winter, and 15CL and above often have a exact location like the ''Fire Pit of Doom''.

Some components are set, but most change depending on the time. A character must research what components are needed, or otherwise gain the information. Or optionally, the character can simply self experiment to know the right components. A set of components only remains valid for roughly three months, then they will change.

It's a lot, but basically it removes the 3X idea of just ''sitting around and making magic items''. The big intent is to make crafting magic items an adventure, not just boring downtime stuff. And as everyone can craft magic items, everyone will be looking for things all the time.

*Scrolls-Using a scroll is a Full Round Action, that provokes AoO and can not be done Casting Defensively.

To stop scroll abuse.

*Clerics are always proficient in the favored weapon of their deity, even if martial or exotic. Temples train their priests in the use of their deity's favored weapon.

Just makes sense

Creation magic:By default, magic that creates objects have as an additional material component a piece of that material worth at least 10 gp x spell level.

Effectively stops most creation magic abuse.

Polymorph magic:By default, magic that changes a creatures shape have as an additional material component a piece of material that was once part of a creature. Pieces of certain exotic monsters will have a high market value. (So Eschew Materials will be ineffective)

Effectively stopping most ploymorphing abuse.

*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.

Just makes sense.

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). 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.)

Stops teleport abuse.

*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.
If the caster does not have a full hour of study on a location, the chance of the teleportation success is only 20%, plus one percent per caster level

Stops more teleport abuse and scry and die.

*Summoning:The strain of binding and controlling a summoned creature imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to caster level for each creature currently summoned.

To balance out the power of a summoner.

*No form of metamagic reduction may reduce the spell's level below its original level.

Makes sense, stops abuse.

*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.

It's common sense such conditions should effect spellcasting as well as other things.

[Malimar]

*Scrolls-Using a scroll is a Full Round Action, that provokes AoO and can not be done Casting Defensively.

To stop scroll abuse.

Do you have lots of players abusing scrolls? I don't know that I've ever seen a player buy a scroll except to scribe into a spellbook; the only scrolls anybody ever uses to cast from are ones that drop as loot. Wands are the cost-effective solution.

Also, drawing a scroll is already at least a move action; making it take a round and a half to use a scroll seems excessive even if you do see a lot of scroll (ab)use.

[Gemini476]

Do you have lots of players abusing scrolls? I don't know that I've ever seen a player buy a scroll except to scribe into a spellbook; the only scrolls anybody ever uses to cast from are ones that drop as loot. Wands are the cost-effective solution.

Also, drawing a scroll is already at least a move action; making it take a round and a half to use a scroll seems excessive even if you do see a lot of scroll (ab)use.

Making a scroll of a first-level spell costs 12gp, 5sp and 1xp. And takes a day, I guess. But if you're a first-level specialized Wizard who can cast exactly two spells per day and don't want to waste a slot on a situational spell you might not use? Yeah, that's a steal.

Wands are cheaper if you measure by the charge, but you need to make a full 50-charge 375gp+30xp wand (with a CL5 prerequisite for the feat). Sure, that's just 7gp, 5sp and 0.6xp per spell - but what if you're not going to use that many castings of, say, Magic Aura? Suddenly you've got a whole lot of unnecessary expenses.
Also, you don't get Craft Wand as a bonus feat at level 1. Like I said, you need to be level 5 for that. Also, if you're buying the wand it's 15gp/charge - more than the price of a scribed scroll.


I'm not sure that making it a full-round action solves the problem, though, since the spells that are best used on scrolls aren't ones you'd be using in combat anyway. Also, five-foot steps are a thing and all casting defensively does is prevent you from provoking an AoO. You can still be interrupted if it's a full-round action, I guess, but at that point it's really in the same category as Sleep and the other existing full-round spells where you just want to be outside their range through whatever method (e.g. actual distance, meatshields, cover/concealment) and jack your Concentration check up just in case. And people aren't exactly saying that Sleep is a balanced spell.

[Fizban]

Do you have lots of players abusing scrolls? I don't know that I've ever seen a player buy a scroll except to scribe into a spellbook; the only scrolls anybody ever uses to cast from are ones that drop as loot. Wands are the cost-effective solution.

Also, drawing a scroll is already at least a move action; making it take a round and a half to use a scroll seems excessive even if you do see a lot of scroll (ab)use.
Wands are only cost-effective if you want at least 15 or so castings, otherwise you're better off with just a few scrolls. You can also draw a scroll as part of a move action using the same clause as drawing a weapon, and since scrolls use the same casting time as the spell swift action scrolls basically mean you don't need to prepare the spell ever.

[Kaje]

Ranger and Druid swap animal companions.

[ekarney]

A couple people have been more open to playing high-LA races, and one person submitted a character or two with LA before retracting them in favor of no-LA races. Nobody has actually played an LA race with this rule yet. But that's partly because my game starts at level 1 -- I allow Savage Species classes (modified to reflect the lower LA, of course), but even with those in play, early levels are a little rough to be playing a race with LA.

EDIT: Oh, I remembered I do have one player playing a Goliath, but their LA+1 is unaffected by this house rule.

EDIT EDIT: Of course, "use Dire_Stirge's new LA assignments (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?485938-The-LA-assignment-thread)" is likely to result in better results than my "just divide everything by 2" rule, but he's not even through the Ds in MM1 and hasn't even started any other books yet, so it's gonna be awhile before that project is done.

I might add a further reading list and put that there as well as the other links people have dropped in this thread, thank you!
I can't see /2 LA being horribly broken, my only problem being feral, but then I realised being LA +1 wouldn't be affected, right?



Do you have lots of players abusing scrolls? I don't know that I've ever seen a player buy a scroll except to scribe into a spellbook; the only scrolls anybody ever uses to cast from are ones that drop as loot.


I/My players are of a pretty similar persuasion here.
Plus all scrolls really do is save casters spells slots, or allow martials with UMD to help out.

[Troacctid]

I've got a ton of 'em in my signature.

[ekarney]

I've got a ton of 'em in my signature.

Thanks, I've updated to links list to add them in.

[Troacctid]

Thanks, I've updated to links list to add them in.
Cool. You misspelled my name though.

[Grim Reader]

Hexblade:

The Hexblade gets Witch Hexes, at the same rate as the Witch. They work off CHA. The first hex is always the Hexblade Curse, which works like other hexes. (Unlimited uses, a target that saves cannot be targeted again for 24 hours.)

The Hexblade gets Good Fort save progression.

And the "familiar teaching familiar" option for adding more spells known.

Special note: Do not combine with the Dark Companion. If you are playing Pathfinder, you can use the Dark Companion as an archetype that trades out the Curse for it.


Warlock

The Warlock gets the unmodified spellcasting from the Hexblade bolted on.

[ekarney]

Hexblade:

The Hexblade gets Witch Hexes, at the same rate as the Witch. They work off CHA. The first hex is always the Hexblade Curse, which works like other hexes. (Unlimited uses, a target that saves cannot be targeted again for 24 hours.)


Witch is a PF class correct? Is there also a PF Hexblade, or are your referring to the 3.5 one?

Troacctid: I fixed your name up, sorry about that, I wasn't wearing my glasses.

[Grim Reader]

Witch is a PF class correct? Is there also a PF Hexblade, or are your referring to the 3.5 one?

No, the Pathfinder one. Poaching Pathfinder material is quite ok with me. We play 3.P anyway. That was part of the problem. I like all the Gish classes, but allowing Pathfinder classes just made the Hexblade fall even further behind. There were a few other little changes to the bonus feat list, but thats the main change.

[Darth Ultron]

Do you have lots of players abusing scrolls? Also, drawing a scroll is already at least a move action; making it take a round and a half to use a scroll seems excessive even if you do see a lot of scroll (ab)use..

Yes, it's very common. Even with ''normal'' downtime, a spellcaster can load up on tons of scrolls. And that is with nothing to get faster or cheaper or multiple scrolls and such. And the exploits too.

The idea is to make reading a scroll a bad idea and time consuming in combat. And it works.

[Efrate]

FIX 3.3rd

Hexblade, my way. Combines creator's fix with a few additions of mine. I strove to eliminate all dead levels and make then at least potentially viable as a 1-20.

Formatting got weird as a copy paste from pastebin here's the link to the pastebin if it formats weird here based on your/giants settings http://pastebin.com/HZD6sHWV

The copy pasted data

(Complete Warrior variant, p. 5)

Combining the dynamic powers of martial prowess and arcane might, the hexblade presents a deadly challenge to opponents unused to such a foe.

Hit die
d10

Alignment
Any nongood.

Starting gold
300

Skill points
2 + Int

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Hexblades are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light and medium armor, bucklers and light shields. Because the somatic components required for hexblade spells are simple, a hexblade can cast hexblade spells while wearing light or medium armor and using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a hexblade heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (and most do). A multiclass hexblade still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells derived from other classes.

Hexblade's Curse (Su): 1 + Charisma modifier times a day, as a swift action, a hexblade can unleash a curse upon a foe. The target must be visible to the hexblade and within 60 feet. The target of a hexblade's curse takes a -2 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for 1 hour thereafter. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 hexblade's class level + hexblade's Cha modifier) negates the effect. If the target successfully resists the curse, it does not count against the number of times a day a hexblade can curse.

Multiple hexblade's curses don't stack, and any foe that successfully resists the effect cannot be affected again by the same hexblade's curse for 24 hours.

Any effect that removes or dispels a curse eliminates the effect of a hexblade's curse.

A hexblade can utter only one hexblade's curse per round, even if he gets multiple curses per day.

Arcane Resistance (Su): At 2nd level, a hexblade gains a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus (minimum +1) on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.

Mettle (Ex): At 3rd level and higher, a hexblade can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping hexblade does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Dark companion: Beginning at 4th level, you can create an illusory companion resembling a panther, spun from the darkness of the night.
Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magic materials that cost 100 gp. Once created, your dark companion stands with you in battle, hindering your enemies’ defenses. Any enemy adjacent to your dark companion takes a –2 penalty on its saves and to its AC. Your companion’s speed is equal to yours (including all modes of movement you possess) and it acts during your turn each round. It follows your mental commands perfectly—in effect, it is merely an extension of your will.

Your dark companion has no real substance, and thus can’t attack or otherwise affect creatures or objects. It occupies a 5-foot space. Even though any creature can enter a dark companion’s 5-foot space without restriction, it must occupy its own space in order to have any effect on enemies. It is immune to any damage or other effects that might harm creatures, though it can be dispelled or suppressed just like a spell effect. Your dark companion is treated as a spell whose level is equal to 1/4 your hexblade level. If it is dispelled, it automatically reforms at your side 24 hours later. A dark companion can’t create flanking situations, nor does it provoke attacks of opportunity from movement, because enemies automatically recognize it as an illusion.

If it is more than 120 feet from you at the start of your turn, or if you ever lose line of effect to it, it instantly reappears adjacent to you.

Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a hexblade gains the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells, which are drawn from the hexblade spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, just as a sorcerer can. To learn or cast a spell, a hexblade must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, Cha 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a hexblade's spell is 10 + the spell level + the hexblade's Cha modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a hexblade can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1—1. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. When Table 1—1 indicates that the hexblade gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st-level spells for a 4th-level hexblade), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.

The hexblade's selection of spells is extremely limited. A hexblade begins play knowing no spells, but gains one or more new spells at certain levels, as indicated on Table 1—2. (Unlike spells per day, his Charisma score does not affect the number of spells a hexblade knows; the numbers on Table 1—2 are fixed.)

Upon reaching 12th level, and at every third hexblade level after that (15th and 18th), a hexblade can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the hexblade "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level hexblade spell the hexblade can cast. For instance, upon reaching 12th level, a hexblade could trade in a single 1st level spell (two spell levels below the highest-level hexblade spell he can cast, which is 3rd) for a different 1st-level spell. At 15th level, he could trade in a single 1st-level or 2nd-level spell (since he now can cast 4th-level hexblade spells) for a different spell of the same level. A hexblade may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Through 3rd level, a hexblade has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, his caster level is one-half his hexblade level.
Spells Known
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1st – – – –
2nd – – – –
3rd – – – –
4th 2 1 – – –
5th 2 – – –
6th 3 – – –
7th 3 – – –
8th 4 2 1 – –
9th 4 2 – –
10th 4 3 – –
11th 4 3 2 1 –
12th 4 4 3 –
13th 4 4 3 –
14th 4 4 4 2 1
15th 4 4 4 3
16th 4 4 4 3
17th 5 4 4 4
18th 5 5 4 4
19th 5 5 5 4
20th 5 5 5 5
1 Provided the hexblade has sufficient Charisma to have a bonus spell of this level.

Bonus Feat: At 5th level, and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th), a hexblade gains a bonus feat, which must be selected from the following list: Combat Casting, Curse of Distraction, Curse of Failure, Curse of Ignorance, Curse of Paranoia, Curse of Sloth, Curse of the Stricken, Curse of the Softened Blade, Empower Curse, Extend Curse, Extra Curse (gives 2 uses instead of 1), Foe of the Unlucky, Greater Spell Focus (enchantment, necromancy, or transmutation only), Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Familiar, Obtain Familiar, Practiced Spellcaster, Spell Focus (enchantment, necromancy, or transmutation only), Spell Penetration. See dragon 339 for curse feats.

Swift Casting (Ex): Starting at 6th level, a hexblade can cast any spell he knows with a total casting time of 1 round or less as a swift action. He can use this ability once per day at sixth level, and one additional time per at at levels 8,11,14, and 18

Greater Hexblade's Curse (Su): When a hexblade attains 7th level, the penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls incurred by a target of the hexblade's curse becomes -4 instead of -2.

Forced Omens (Ex): At 9th level, a foreboding sense of doom travels with the hexblade, as candle lights flicker, fresh food turns green, or the air becomes stale. A hexblade adds prestidigitation to their list of spells known. See the spell description on pg. 264 of the Player's Handbook. If a hexblade already knows this spell, the character may choose a different 1st level spell. As a bonus spell, prestidigitation cannot be traded for another 1st level spell.

At 9th level, a hexblade may cast prestidigitation as if augmented by the Silent Spell feat without using up a higher-level spell slot. At 13th level, a hexblade may cast prestidigitation as a spell-like ability, a number of times per day equal to 3 + their Charisma modifier. At 17th level, a hexblade can cast prestidigitation at will. The prestidigitation spell disappears from their list of spells known at this level.

Aura of Unluck (Su): Once per day, a hexblade of 12th level or higher can create a baleful aura of misfortune. Any melee or ranged attack made against the hexblade while this aura of unluck is active has a 20% miss chance (similar to the effect of concealment). Activating the aura is a free action, and the aura lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the hexblade's Charisma bonus (if any).

At 16th level and higher, a hexblade can use his aura of unluck twice per day. A 20th-level hexblade can activate this aura three times per day.

Dire Hexblade's Curse (Su): When a hexblade attains 19th level, the penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls incurred by a target of the hexblade's curse becomes -6 instead of -4.
Ex-Hexblades

A hexblade who becomes good-aligned loses all hexblade spells and all supernatural class abilities. His familiar becomes a normal animal and leaves the hexblade's service as soon as possible. He may not progress any farther in levels as a hexblade. He retains all the other benefits of the class (weapon and armor proficiencies and bonus feats).
Advancement
Spells per Day
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1st +1 +2 +0 +2 Hexblade's curse — — — —
2nd +2 +3 +0 +3 Arcane resistance — — — —
3rd +3 +3 +1 +3 Mettle — — — —
4th +4 +4 +1 +4 Dark Companion 0 — — —
5th +5 +4 +1 +4 Bonus feat 0 — — —
6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +5 Swift casting 1x/day 1 — — —
7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +5 Greater hexblade's curse 1 — — —
8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +6 Swift casting 1x/day 1 0 — —
9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +6 Forced Omens (Stilled) 1 0 — —
10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +7 Bonus feat 1 1 — —
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +7 Swift casting 2x/day 1 1 0 —
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +8 Aura of unluck 1/day 1 1 1 —
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +8 Forced Omens (Sp) 3 + cha mod a day 1 1 1 —
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +9 Swift casting 3x/day 2 1 1 0
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +9 Bonus Feat 2 1 1 1
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +10 Aura of unluck 2/day 2 2 1 1
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Forced Omens (At will) 2 2 2 1
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Swift casting 4x/day 3 2 2 1
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Dire hexblade's curse 3 3 3 2
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Aura of unluck 3/day, bonus feat 3 3 3 3

Class skills

Skill name Key ability Trained only Armor check penalty
Bluff CHA no no
Concentration CON no no
Craft INT no no
Diplomacy CHA no no
Intimidate CHA no no
Knowledge (arcana) INT yes no
Profession WIS yes no
Ride DEX no no
Spellcraft INT yes no

Spell list unchanged.

[ekarney]

Yes, it's very common. Even with ''normal'' downtime, a spellcaster can load up on tons of scrolls. And that is with nothing to get faster or cheaper or multiple scrolls and such. And the exploits too.

The idea is to make reading a scroll a bad idea and time consuming in combat. And it works.

I'll have a think about adding it in, seeing as the point of this is to help players have an "Easier" time I guess

[Elkad]

Ranger and Druid swap animal companions.
Rangers get Druid progression for their animal companion.

As for the druid, I haven't tried the Ranger progression, but I've used "pick either Wild Shape or Animal Companion, not both", with the Animal Companion version getting Companion Spellbond and eventually Natural Bond as bonus feats. Probably need something else at high levels, if I have a druid get that far I'll look at it some more.


I boost sword&board heavily. Small&Buckler give ½BAB to AC, Large&Tower give full BAB to AC. All retain their base values as minimums.
Animated shields pay an additional fee to add the same (based on the creators CL/BAB)