House rules that affect game play

[dalamb]

The following house rules affect how the game is played, so may be harder to accustom yourself to than the character creation house rules. Rules that only affect the character sheet are in a separate thread.

• Combat.

• Contacts.

• Defensive bonus.

• Extraordinary abilities from skills.

• Hit points and subdual.

• Skill rules changes.

• Spellcasting changes.

• Unearthed Arcana rules.

 

[dalamb]

Rules from Unearthed Arcana

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Here are the options from Unearthed Arcana that I currently use.

• I adapted the UA Defence bonus; see my own rules.

• Fractional BAB and saves with modifications.

  • Saves: The "poor" save is +1/3 per level. The "good" save is +1/2 per level, +2 for the first level at which you get a good save. This is a nerf from the standard rule: you no longer get the extra +2 when you multiclass into something else with the same good save.

  • BAB: The progression +1 +2 +3 ... (ranger, paladin) is +1 per level. The progression +0 +1 +2 +3 +3 ... (cleric, rogue) is +3/4 per level. The progression +0 +1 +1 +2 +2 ... (sorceror) is +1/2 per level. There is a new +1 +2 +3 +5 +6 ... progression for fighters that is +5/4 per level.

I don't use UA's LA buyout or flaws, but have my own mechanisms for buying LA and extra feats.

[dalamb]

Spellcasting Changes

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There are two buffs to spellcasting:

• Cantrips and orisons (0-level spells) are at-will. Consequently the Cure Minor Wounds orison is now Stabilize (as Pathfinder)

• Racial spell-like abilities equivalent to 0-level spells are also at will, unless we find one like Cure Minor Wounds that would have too significant an impact.

There are some nerfs as well:

• All method of reducing the cost of a metamagic feat are banned (no divine metamagic, metamagic rods, or class features)

• All PrCs that increase two kinds of spellcasting or other special class feature (such as manifesting) are banned (thus no Mystic Theurge or Cerebromancer)

[dalamb]

Hit points and subdual

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I want it to be common to be able to capture a prize ship without killing everyone who resists, so am making it easier to subdue someone than to kill them. This will also make it easier for player characters to survive tough combats, and to make "status quo" encounters against far superior opponents more survivable.

1. Player characters and significant NPCs get max HP per die. This on average gives significantly more HP (percentage depends on CON mod, but for +0 is roughly doubling)

2. What would normally be lethal damage is now split 50/50 between lethal and nonlethal. As usual, when the sum equals max HP, the character is unconscious.

3. If damage is an odd mumber, the extra one point is nonlethal.

4. Half your nonlethal damage heals after a short rest (nominally 1/2 hour). All of it returns overnight. Cure spells cure equal amounts of lethal and nonlethal damage (that is, rolling a total of N cures N nonlethal and N lethal).

5. Someone with at least one rank in the Heal skill heals the skill modifier (ranks plus Wis mod plus effects of feats) in nonlethal damage; this check can be made at the end of each short rest. Only one person can heal each wounded character this way at each rest break.

6. Some creatures don't take subdual/nonlethal damage: constructs and undead, in particular. All damage is lethal for them.

7. Excess non-lethal damage never converts to lethal damage.

[dalamb]

Contacts

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I use the Contacts rules in the SRD with the following modifications:

1. You start with one free contact at first level, no matter what.

2. You add contacts in accordance with the table in the SRD. For classes not listed, we can negotiate which column to use.

3. You add (Cha mod) contacts; these can be taken at any level in your build if there is some background-related reason for delaying past first level. This will be negative if your Charisma score is below 10. In this case you have to wait to earn more contacts by other means. For example, an orc fighter with Cha 6 (mod -2) has to get to 15th level to earn a second contact.

4. You can use the Extra Contacts feat from Cityscape to gain four contacts; these must be taken at or after the level at which you take the feat. For the Cha 6 orc who takes Extra Contacts at level 1, they start the game with one free contact plus two from the feat (offset by their negative charisma mod).

5. You can leave some contacts undefined, and allocate them as you meet appropriate NPCs during play.

Nothing in these rules prevents you from having NPC friends; it's just that contacts will be useful, reliable, and usually easy to find.

Creating contacts in a far-flung seafaring game is going to require some negotiating and worldbuilding. We can defer some contacts until your character is accepted, or until you find suitable NPCs in game, but I'd like to see one or two as part of your application.

[dalamb]

Extraordinary abilities from skills

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Skilled characters often find their skills are overwhelmed in usefulness by spellcasting, even at relatively low levels. On the other hand, there are tales of legendary “non-spellcaster” heroes doing extraordinary things beyond the limits of normal humans. So if you have skill focus in a particular skill, you can choose to pay character points to gain access to what amount to spells, albeit limited to effects that are reasonably related to the skill itself, but they count as extraordinary abilities instead of supernatural or spell-like (and are thus not affected by anti-magic fields or spell resistance).

Rationale

I have tried a couple of version of this, and here is how I decided on the current rules.

I had to answer the following questions:

1. What is the highest level of spell a character should get as a skill-based extraordinary ability? I once chose level 4, but that eliminated some things that were possible in the old campaign, so I now choose spell level 6.

2. At what level should a character get this highest level? I chose character level 20, mostly from the feeling that level 20 was where the most spectacular things should become possible – perhaps influenced by Pathfinder’s “capstone” abilities.

3. What “spell progression” should I use? Rather than make up my own I decided to go with an existing one, the choices for level 6 as the max being Bard, or the earlier levels of Sorcerer, or Wizard. I used Ranger when the max was level 4; now I choose Bard spell progression.

4. What level of character should have access to level 0 extraordinary abilities? In the old campaign that was level 5 because of an ancient opinion piece saying 5 represented the maximum of “normal” human ability. In a fantasy campaign, the limitation of conventionality reality isn’t necessarily the best basis for a choice, and I’m fighting over 40 years’ worth of living with a mindset that “fighters (mundanes in general) can’t have nice things.” So
   I chose character level 1, then after step I realized the formula was simpler if I picked character level 2.

5. How do I choose the intermediate levels? The mathematician in me decided a linear formula was best rather than some sort of table of my own.

This might seem to amount to a major game-play change, but it can be represented entirely by what you write on your normal character sheet.

The new mechanics are as follows:

1. There is a new character feature, Extraordinary Skill Group, costing 1 character point, which establishes a set of spell slots dedicated to a particular ability score (Dex, Cha, and so on).

2. You can take this multiple times, once for each ability score.

3. Establish the “skill group level” for this group as the highest number of ranks for any skill with skill focus based on this particular ability score, minus 3.

4. The number of spell slots for the group is taken from the Bard table, with “bard level” being (skill group level)*4/5, rounded down, with “bard level 0” meaning no spell slots.

The “spells known” associated with each skill group are as follows.

1. Find the list of spells for each skill based on the appropriate attribute for which the character has skill focus.

2. If a particular skill in the skill group has fewer ranks than the skill group level, ignore spells higher level than would be available if it were the skill that established the group level.

3. Add all the other spells of appropriate level to “spells known.”

The following list of “extraordinary skills” may change before the game starts, and possibly even afterwards, as the players and I slowly work through non-PHB spell lists (particularly the Spell Compendium). When there is no spell of a particular level, bear in mind that you can use higher-level spell slots for lower-level spells. Some spell lists overlap, such as Spellcraft and Use Magic Device.

Appraise

• 0:

• 1: Detect Magic

• 2: Identify (Bard)

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Balance

• 0:

• 1:

• 2: Balancing Lorecall (SpC 23)

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Bluff

• 0:

• 1:

• 3: Glibness, Suggestion (Bard)

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Climb

Climb speed 10*(skill ranks/4 rounded down)

• 0:

• 1:

• 2: Spider Climb

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Concentration: none yet

• 0:

• 1:

• 2:

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Craft

(only for the kind of thing you can craft)

• 0: Mending

• 1:

• 2: Make Whole, Wood Shape (requires craft: woodworking)

• 3: Stone Shape (requires craft: stoneworking)

• 4: Minor Creation

• 5: Fabricate, Major Creation

• 6:

Decipher Script

• 0:

• 1: Comprehend Languages (written text only),

• 2:

• 3: Secret Page

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Diplomacy

• 0:

• 1: Charm Person, Remove Fear

• 2: Good Hope

• 3: Charm Monster (Bard)

• 4:

• 5: Mass Suggestion (Bard)

• 6: Mass Charm Monster (Bard)

Disable Device

• 0:

• 1: Golem Strike (SpC 106)

• 2: Shatter

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Disguise

• 0:

• 1:

• 2: Alter Self

• 3:

• 4: Polymorph (self only)

• 5: Seeming

• 6:

Escape Artist

• 0:

• 1: Expeditious Retreat

• 2: Blink (without “etherial plane” fluff), Blur (self only)

• 3:

• 4: Freedom of Movement (self only)

• 5:

• 6:

Forgery

• 0:

• 1: Erase

• 2: Secret Page

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Gather Information: none yet

• 0:

• 1:

• 2:

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Handle Animal

• 0:

• 1: Calm Animals, Hide From Animals, Speak With Animals (Druid)

• 2: Animal Messenger (Bard), Animal Trance

• 3: Dominate Animal

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Heal

• 0: Detect Poison, Stabilize

• 1: Cure Light Wounds

• 2: Cure Moderate Wounds, Delay Poison, Remove Paralysis, Status

• 3: Cure Serious Wounds. Remove Blindness / Deafness, Remove Disease

• 4: Cure Critical Wounds, Neutralize Poison

• 5: Mass Cure Light Wounds

• 6: Heal, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds

Hide

• 0:

• 1:

• 2: Invisibility (self only)

• 3: Nondetection

• 4: Greater Invisibility (self only)

• 5:

• 6:

Intimidate

• 0:

• 1: Cause Fear, Command

• 2: Scare

• 3: Fear (Bard)

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Jump

(all are currently self only)

• 0:

• 1: Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Jump

• 2: Levitate

• 3: Fly

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Knowledge

• 0:

• 1:

• 2:

• 3:

• 4: Legend lore (Bard)

• 5:

• 6:

Listen

• 0:

• 1:

• 2:

• 3: Clairaudience (paired with Clairvoyance if both are available)

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Move Silently

• 0:

• 1:

• 2: Silence (centred on self)

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Open Lock

• 0: Open / Close

• 1:

• 2: Arcane Lock, Knock

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Perform

• 0: Lullaby (with song or any instrument capable of being played quietly), Summon Instrument (any in which you are trained)

• 1:

• 2: Enthrall (using trained Perform skill)

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Profession: none yet

• 0:

• 1:

• 2:

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Ride

• 0:

• 1: Mount

• 2:

• 3: Phantom Steed

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Search

• 0:

• 1: Detect Secret Doors, Detect Snares and Pits

• 2: Find Traps, Locate Object

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Sense Motive

• 0:

• 1: Detect (Chaos, Evil, Good, Law)

• 2: Detect Thoughts

• 3:

• 4: Detect Lies (Clr)

• 5:

• 6:

Sleight Of Hand

• 0: Prestidigitation

• 1:

• 2:

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Speak Language

• 0:

• 1: Comprehend Languages

• 2: Tongues (Bard)

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Spellcraft

Same list (currently) as Use Magic Device

• 0: Detect Magic, Read Magic

• 1: Identify (Bard)

• 2:

• 3: Arcane Sight

• 4:

• 5:

• 6: Analyze Dweomer

Spot

• 0:

• 1: Detect Secret Doors, Detect Snares and Pits

• 2: See Invisibility (Sor/Wiz)

• 3: Clairvoyance (paired with Clairaudience if both are available), Darkvision (Ranger)

• 4:

• 5: Prying Eyes, True Seeing

• 6:

Survival

• 0: Create Water (Druid), Goodberry, Know Direction, Purify Food and Drink

• 1: Endure Elements, Pass Without Trace

• 2:

• 3: Create Food and Water, Tiny Hut

• 4: Commune With Nature (Ranger), Locate Creature, Secure Shelter

• 5:

• 6: Find The Path

Swim

Swim speed 10*(skill ranks/4 rounded down)

• 0:

• 1:

• 2:

• 3: Water Breathing (self only), Water Walk (self only)

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Tumble

• 0:

• 1: Expeditious Retreat

• 2:

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

Use Magic Device

Same list (currently) as Spellcraft

• 0: Detect Magic, Read Magic

• 1: Identify (Bard)

• 2:

• 3: Arcane Sight

• 4:

• 5:

• 6: Analyze Dweomer

Use Rope

• 0:

• 1: Animate Rope

• 2: Rope Trick

• 3:

• 4:

• 5:

• 6:

 

[dalamb]

Combat

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I have changes to the way iterated attacks work.

I use fractional BAB, which means you get fractions at each character level, add them up, and round down to get your BAB at your current level.

• The 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, ... progression for mages is +1/2 per level.

• The 0, 1, 2, 3, 3, ... progression for clerics is +3/4 per level

• The 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... progression for most fighting “full BAB” classes like rangers is +1 per level.

• New 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, ... for fighters (only) that is +5/4 per level. This means fighters get their iterated attacks every four levels, not five.

There are also several new rules:

1. Iterated attacks are still a full-round action, but do not get the -5 penalty for successive attacks; all are at maximum BAB.

2. You can use an “attack” in an iterated attack to strike as usual, but also:

   1. Any PHB I move action except “move” itself, such as draw or sheathe a weapon. The implications for everything else deemed a “move action” in supplements are currently unclear; I may add more that fit what a fighter might want to do.

   2. Some PHB I special attacks that were standard actions: aid another (combat only, not skill checks), feint, and turn undead. Some other special attacks were already allowed during iterated attacks: disarm, sunder, trip.

   3. Ready (special initiative action) as your last iterated attack.

3. You can take a 5-foot step before the first action, after the last, and between two actions, as long as they sum to no more than your normal move.

4. Two-weapon fighting still has the basic penalties for fighting with two weapons from the table in the SRD. However, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting does not add a -5 penalty, and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting does not add the -10 penalty, to be consistent with iterated attacks.

5. Secondary natural attacks do not get the -5 penalty, and thus Multiattack is unneccessary. Monsters with multi-attack will get some other feat to replace it.

 

[dalamb]

Defence Bonus

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Rationale

It is undesirable to have to rely on heavy armour in a seafaring campaign, given the penalties to Swim checks if you fall into the water and can’t breathe the stuff. To some extent that is mitigated by fighters having access to the Armour Training class feature from Pathfinder, but that doesn’t cover the best armour, and isn’t available to non-fighters. Unearthed Arcana has some rules for a “defence bonus” but it is based solely on character level with a one-time boost based on the “most fighterly” class you have in your build; a fighter 1 / sorcerer 8 has the same defence bonus as a fighter 9. So the modified rule is based on BAB, instead, which better tracks fighting ability, or on Tumble, perhaps a better representation of defensiveness for rogues and similar characters.

These rules were inspired in part by Unearthed Arcana and in part by Unarmored Combat in Spheres of Might.

The goals for this revision, in order of importance to me, were

• Be based on a simple formula.

• Make it roughly proportional to actual combat or defence related abilities, possibly with a small offset, not just character level.

• Be at least as beneficial as the standard rules for armour.

• Be at least as beneficial as the Spheres unarmored combat

• Be about as beneficial as regular armour for first-level full-BAB classes.

• Be about as beneficial at high levels for “full BAB” classes as the old UA rules.

At level 1 a fighter can often afford mundane scale mail, +4 armour bonus, and at level 20 +5 full plate, +13 armour bonus, so I decided to get close to this with a simple linear formula. Based on Spheres, 3+(BAB/3), rounded up, does this for pure fighters, who have BAB 25 at level 20. However, fighterly classes like ranger have BAB 20, giving +10 defensive bonus instead, which shortchanges them in a nontrivial way. So that means 3+(BAB/2, rounded up) is the way to go, giving pure fighters +16.

• Level 1 base rules fighter, scale mail, armour bonus +4

• Level 1 defence bonus for fighterly classes, 3+(1/2) rounded up = +4

• Level 20 base rules fighterly classes, +5 plate armour, +13 armour bonus.

• Level 20 defence bonus for “full BAB” non-fighter classes, 3+(20/2) = +13 as with UA.

• Level 20 defence bonus for fighters, 3+(25/2) = +16, better than both UA and standard rules.

This ignores the complication that with defence bonus, high-level fighters still get their full dex bonus instead of being limited by “maximum DEX bonus” limitations of their armour.

All characters get a defensive bonus based on their BAB. Defence bonuses do not stack with armour bonuses; only the larger of the two applies. Unlike armour bonuses, a defence bonus applies against touch attacks. A character’s defence bonus is 3+(BAB/2), rounded up. If a character has skill focus in Tumble, their defence bonus is the larger of the one based on BAB and 2+(ranks in Tumble)/2, rounded up.

[dalamb]

Changes to Skill Rules

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Knowledge

When you start an encounter, you can roll a Knowledge check of the appropriate sub-type to identify properties of a creature you are facing. For every 5 by which you exceed the DC (10+monster’s unaugmented hit dice), you gain +1 to hit and +2 to damage. These benefits are not permanent; it’s about what you happen to notice and recall in the moment.

This benefit stacks with that of the Knowledge Devotion feat (CCha 60).

Lore (Int)

It is sometimes flavourful to have a character know something about a narrow subject than those covered by the existing Knowledge skills. You get two extra skill points per level (without the +3 at first level for normal skills) to spend on one or more Lore skills appropriate to your background, such as

• Lore (Dragons), giving you general (and shallow) information about dragons, or

• Lore (Red Dragons), giving you more detailed information about red dragons specifically, or

• Lore (Vermithrax), giving you very detailed information about a specific dragon, or

• Lore (Andaron), giving you general (and shallow) information about the whole nation of Andaron, or

• Lore (Queenston), giving you fairly extensive knowledge of a specific city.