House Rule Bonanza!

[Crafty_Pat]

Wait, does it really count as a house rule if the developer of the system uses it?

However, it's not how I run it, at least not all the time, which illustrates perfectly why the system is built the way it is (as a true toolkit, rather than a dedicated rules set).

I'll actually be highlighting my approach and rationale in an article you'll see later this summer on one of our partners' sites, P&PG. The basic gist is that I tailor action die use to the situation, sometimes giving the player full control and sometimes reserving most of it to my end of the table, as needed to support the unfolding story.

[Sletchman]

Looking forward to that Pat.

Not so much a house rule, but I sometimes totally ignore the magic item rules.  I've had a suit of armour that gave the player Many-Armed [even if they weren't unborn], a sword that had the extraordinary attack Soul Draining [it was suppose to represent a Silver Sword, Githyanki style] and have plans for more that don't fit the normal rules.

[Krensky]

One that I use is that I allow any skill to be used to aid on a check (especially Dramatic Conflicts) if it makes sense and the player can give me a rationalization.

For example, during an interrogation I let the Explorer roll Analysis to fact check and cross reference the subject's answers, the Medic roll Medicine to provide psychological insight, and Intimidate for the Soldier's bad cop routine. I had the players burn though their action dice and everyone was involved and contributing to the Sleuth's mental abuse of the Nazi scientist under the lights.

[glimmerrat]

I grant an action die any time a player describes an action in a cool way. The action die is granted before the roll, and must be applied to that roll, or it is lost.

I like the stunt system from Exalted. I like it a lot.

[Psion]

I almost forgot a pretty everpresent one I use: I ditch point buy stats for my card-based fixed total method.

I also use my "you can try, but no skill ranks apply" variant on banned checks.

[Crafty_Alex]

It's nice to hear that some of the house rules described here won't have to be house rules much longer

[Sletchman]

I grant an action die any time a player describes an action in a cool way. The action die is granted before the roll, and must be applied to that roll, or it is lost.

I like the stunt system from Exalted. I like it a lot.

Yes!  I love Exalteds stunt system.

[warwelf]

A couple Campaign Qualities I houseruled:


Arcane Fate:  Magic in the campaign world works by altering the fate of the universe in small ways - rewriting the past, present, and future to achieve the desired effect.  Overuse of magic, however, can cause subtle reality backlash: When a character confirms a critical threat on a Spellcasting check, the GM gains Action Dice equal to the number of Spell Points the spell would have cost (minimum 1).  Basically, the more magic is thrown around, the more complicated things get.

Deadly Arrows: Arrows and bolts do 1d12, rather than 1d6 damage. (Messes with game balance, but this is mainly in reaction to fighting types charging groups of archers, beatsticking them to death, then casually yanking out 6 or so arrows each and marching on without a second thought.  I like to make reckless people pay in pride and vitality.)

[Sletchman]

Something I'm doing with bows and crossbows for my next game:

Bows will have a strength rating, anyone without adequate strength can't fire it.  It will do extra damage equal to its rating.  So, a strength 16 bow will do d6+3, but needs strength 16 to fire - it's supposed to represent different draw ratings on bows.  I'm considering some kind of penalty to fire a bow that has to high a draw for you, rather then a flat "can't do it", but I'm not sure how much.

For crossbows, I'm thinking of something like a goats foot - IRL I can load a fairly heavy hunting crossbow as a half action with a goats foot, so load 5-7 doesn't work for me, at all.  Also a very high strength character could probably just pull the string back with their hand.  I'm thinking that the draw strength of the crossbow might relate to the strength required to load it with a goats foot [maybe light requires over 10 and heavy over 14].

(click to show/hide)

[aegis]

I'm considering some kind of penalty to fire a bow that has to high a draw for you, rather then a flat "can't do it", but I'm not sure how much.

Untrained + no damage bonus?

[Mister Andersen]

I was thinking about bows the other day -- specifically the bit about only Ulysses being able to string his -- and I do miss the 3.5 mechanic that added strength mod damage.

An interesting idea would be to that you only get to add your strength mod if you match or exceed the bow's strength rating.

Or that the strength rating is also the bow's keen value; if you're strong enough to use it, that bow is going to really fuck up people on the receiving end.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

One I thought up based on the question "What good is a high Prudence at a high starting level?":

Previous Savings: When your character starts at a career level above 1 add an amount to your starting silver equal to "((level - 1) X 100) X your prudence value".  This represents (generously) what your character saved prior to joining the adventure.

[EloiseCartwright]

Something I'm doing with bows and crossbows for my next game:

Bows will have a strength rating, anyone without adequate strength can't fire it.  It will do extra damage equal to its rating.  So, a strength 16 bow will do d6+3, but needs strength 16 to fire - it's supposed to represent different draw ratings on bows.  I'm considering some kind of penalty to fire a bow that has to high a draw for you, rather then a flat "can't do it", but I'm not sure how much.

For crossbows, I'm thinking of something like a goats foot - IRL I can load a fairly heavy hunting crossbow as a half action with a goats foot, so load 5-7 doesn't work for me, at all.  Also a very high strength character could probably just pull the string back with their hand.  I'm thinking that the draw strength of the crossbow might relate to the strength required to load it with a goats foot [maybe light requires over 10 and heavy over 14].

(click to show/hide)

How about adding the massive quality?

[Desertpuma]

Or that the strength rating is also the bow's keen value; if you're strong enough to use it, that bow is going to really fuck up people on the receiving end.

This is the ruling I would use since it rewards a strong archer. If you have a 16 Strength than your extra is demonstrated not just in using the bow to its best capacity but also to deliver more damage.

[mind flayer]

How changing Berserk Stance to read:

Berserk Stance (Stance)- Your Strength and Constitution scores rise by 3 each.  You may not make skill checks while in this stance, though you can oppose them as normal.  When you leave this stance, you become fatigued.  Becoming Sprawled doesn't cause you to leave this stance.

As it is now, it seems a little unfair for barbarian-style characters to end up fatigued every time someone succeeds a trip action against them...