Houserules Collection: are these a 3 or an 18?

[lucky9]

Hello all!

For several years I've been trying to refine my list of... adjustments to good ol' 3.5 Now it's time for some peer review.

I will be posting one change, or group of changes, at a time to hopefully allow for a little more discussion/ tweaks/ general thoughts, if you would be so kind

A note before starting: I am aware that this edition is.. unstable, especially at higher levels. My rules don't necessarily aim to completely eliminate that issue, too large a task. What I'm going for is general playability, a certain feel I have about things, and of course, fun for all players including those running muggles. With that said, do let me know if I've horribly broken anything. Also, feel free to ask for any clarification.

Thank you in advance for all the help!

Now let's start with some of what I think are the farther reaching changes. General rule changes.

First one:

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Nothing can ever cause a character to lose experience points.

Any effect with an experience points cost, such as a spell or item creation, instead costs the character 5 gp per experience point that would normally have been lost. This cost in gold is in addition to any existing material costs.
Also on magic item creation:

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Any items that require a particular Item Creation feat require the creator to make a Spellcraft, or applicable Craft skill, check equal to 10 +Caster Level for the item in question. Failure by 5 or more results in the creation of a cursed item; roll on the Common Curses Table found in the Dungeon Masters Guide.

In all other respects, item creation follows the same rules as outlined in the DMG.

Characters that die and are brought back to life do not lose a level of experience. They instead receive a permanent -2 penalty to Constitution as would normally be applied to a level 1 character that died and was raised. This penalty is incurred each time the character is raised by an effect that would normally have resulted in a lost level of experience.

The experience point cost to characters incurred by the death of a familiar shall be replaced by a permanent -1 penalty to Constitution. This penalty cannot be healed. However, if the same creature is raised from the dead, the -1 penalty is lifted.

Characters may still be level drained or receive negative levels.

Links to other rule sections:

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General Rules

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Massive Damage Variants
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...r-an-18-Item-2

Size/ Space Sharing
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...r-an-18-Item-3

Races
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...or-an-18-Races

Classes

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Multi-Classing
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-an-18-Classes

Classes w/ Minor Change
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...w-minor-tweaks

Bard Overhaul
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-overhaul-Bard

Monk Overhaul
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-overhaul-Monk

Sorcerer Overhaul
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...rhaul-Sorcerer

Skills
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...r-an-18-Skills

Feats
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...or-an-18-Feats

Magic
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...or-an-18-Magic

[The Kool]

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Nothing can ever cause a character to lose experience points.

Any effect with an experience points cost, such as a spell or item creation, instead costs the character 5 gp per experience point that would normally have been lost. This cost in gold is in addition to any existing material costs.

Characters that die and are brought back to life do not lose a level of experience. They instead receive a permanent -2 penalty to Constitution as would normally be applied to a level 1 character that died and was raised. This penalty is incurred each time the character is raised by an effect that would normally have resulted in a lost level of experience.

The experience point cost to characters incurred by the death of a familiar shall be replaced by a permanent -1 penalty to Constitution. This penalty cannot be healed. However, if the same creature is raised from the dead, the -1 penalty is lifted.

Characters may still be level drained or receive negative levels.

I like it. Delving into Pathfinder a bit there. I recommend you don't use the conversion for magic item crafting, I suggest you just use the Pathfinder rules on it (which I absolutely love). The short version is that there is no XP cost, material costs are the same, and a skill check is required to make it successfully.

[nonsi]

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I suggest an almost identical rule in my overhaul codex.
It makes a lot of sense, it streamlines the consequences of resurrection and it removes XP as a tradable comodity. I personally prefer to add item creation rules that include failure chances, to circumvent the advantage that this houserule grants spellcasters when it comes stand-alone.

[The Kool]

I personally prefer to add item creation rules that include failure chances

Heh, that's one of the beautiful things about the skill check in Pathfinder. It's entirely possible to unintentionally get a cursed magic item.

[lucky9]

I've looked into Pathfinder but never so much as built a character. I will check those crafting rules more closely though as I'm loving the sound of skill checks!

Note, I've added links to the other parts of the rules I've posted so far. Only one more section to add, Spells, but that will be delayed by for a while. Work

Thank you for the input so far!

[rferries]

I strongly disagree with the permanent Con penalty - death shouldn't be cheap, but this is the sort of thing that penalises martials more than casters, and in any event can have a harsh feedback effect (less Con = more likely to die in future = even less Con etc). XP at least can be earned back.

Heh, that's one of the beautiful things about the skill check in Pathfinder. It's entirely possible to unintentionally get a cursed magic item.

I love that idea, and would like to read more. Is it in the PfSRD?

[The Kool]

That depends on whether death is intended as a setback, or something to avoid at all costs. I personally prefer the philosophy that death is a Bad Thing, and if you die it should be felt by your character. I've played in (and caused) a world where death was a speed bump, just throw a little gold or some planning at it and you don't even have to sit out the rest of the session. In me experience this leads to a 'no consequences' player philosophy, and if that's your thing to go full speed and play the invincible heroes then you do you, but it's not for me. On the surface it might seem like it penalizes martial characters more but it doesn't, really. If 2 points of con was the difference then your martial character was too close to death already, and a caster losing some con makes them all that more susceptible to a stray lucky shot or a mook slipping past the front line. Everybody benefits from Con, everybody suffers from the loss of it, and it puts a timer on your character's life. No matter how high you level, there is a limit to being brought back and a cost to dying. No one wants to die, not even once, and they will all work to avoid it.

EDIT: Yes those crafting rules are in both SRDs, go take a look. There's also some interesting things you can do like rush the crafting and work without meeting all the requirements.

[lucky9]

Ok so I've done a quick and dirty patch based on the Pathfinder rules for item creation, and added it into the above. Anything missing or not quite right?