Oberon Kenobi
2015-08-16, 07:18 PM
This is just a place for me to compile my Pathfinder house rules, so I can link to them in any play-by post games I run. Updated and reorganized whenever I feel the need.
0) If verisimilitude and fun get into a fight, verisimilitude is the one who has to go sit in a corner.
Rationale: I treat Pathfinder the same way that I treat Dungeon World: PCs are High Fantasy God-Damned Superheroes. Internal consistency is not a constraint for you people; good storytelling and gameplay are.
1) Nothing is immune to Sneak Attack, or other forms of precision damage. Anything which is listed as immune to precision damage instead takes half-damage from it; if you have a talent or whatever else that would let you deal reduced damage to normally-immune creatures, that talent instead lets you deal full damage.
Rationale: This is a combat game, and rendering a class's main means of contributing to combat null and void is dumb.
2) If you want to play a caster, use the Spheres of Power system. I can provide you with the relevant pdfs if the system isn't up on the pfsrd yet.
Rationale: It's a lot easier to balance because there aren't a thousand different spells to contend with, it cuts down on the caster-driven 15-minute work day, and most spell effects that I don't personally care for are excluded from the rules.
3) Perfect Strike works with unarmed strikes, natural weapons, and all monk weapons. If you want something else, talk to me about it.
Rationale: A feat made for monks that monks can't use unless they stop doing one of their iconic monk things is dumb. Also I feel that if you're going to have a prerequisite for something, then the prerequisite should actually be utilized by the something.
4) You don't need Feral Combat training to use unarmed feats and effects with natural attacks. You can, however, take the feat if you want to apply unarmed feats to a given weapon; e.g., you could take Feral Combat Training (Longsword) if you wanted to use style feats and your monk unarmed progression with a longsword.
Rationale: If you know how to punch something in a special way, you know how to slam, scratch or headbutt something in a special way. It's part of your body; of course you know how to use it. As for the second part: the unarmed combat chain has a lot of cool tricks, and I am perfectly okay with people using them.
5) Blanket rule: if you can take a feat at first level without taking any other feat first, you can ignore it anywhere it appears as a prerequisite for something else.
Rationale: Speed bump feats are dumb; you shouldn't have to take a feat you don't really want just to get access to something you do want. Consequently, ask me about other speedbump prerequisites that don't fit into the above.
6) Natural attacks do not have their own separate subsystem for determining how many attacks you get. You treat natural weapons the same as you treat manufactured ones, and gain iterative attacks based on your BAB (or two-weapon fighting or whatever other extra-attack rules you have access to).
Rationale: I just want to keep everything under one umbrella. I know that it screws a lot of natural attack builds, but having an entire different ruleset for those just rubs me the wrong way.
7) Level drain and ability damage/drain/burn do not exist.
Rationale: These effects make hit points irrelevant, and I think that's bad. They also force you to recalculate stats in the middle of gameplay, which is a headache. Just use negative conditions for that, it cuts out the middle man.
8) Extra Ki Power is a feat that can be taken once you gain access to Ki Powers (generally, if you're an Unchained Monk). It does exactly what you think it does.
Rationale: Rogues get Extra Rogue Trick; Magi get Extra Arcana; Witches get Extra Hex. It's silly that Extra Ki Power doesn't exist, so in my games, it does.
0) If verisimilitude and fun get into a fight, verisimilitude is the one who has to go sit in a corner.
Rationale: I treat Pathfinder the same way that I treat Dungeon World: PCs are High Fantasy God-Damned Superheroes. Internal consistency is not a constraint for you people; good storytelling and gameplay are.
1) Nothing is immune to Sneak Attack, or other forms of precision damage. Anything which is listed as immune to precision damage instead takes half-damage from it; if you have a talent or whatever else that would let you deal reduced damage to normally-immune creatures, that talent instead lets you deal full damage.
Rationale: This is a combat game, and rendering a class's main means of contributing to combat null and void is dumb.
2) If you want to play a caster, use the Spheres of Power system. I can provide you with the relevant pdfs if the system isn't up on the pfsrd yet.
Rationale: It's a lot easier to balance because there aren't a thousand different spells to contend with, it cuts down on the caster-driven 15-minute work day, and most spell effects that I don't personally care for are excluded from the rules.
3) Perfect Strike works with unarmed strikes, natural weapons, and all monk weapons. If you want something else, talk to me about it.
Rationale: A feat made for monks that monks can't use unless they stop doing one of their iconic monk things is dumb. Also I feel that if you're going to have a prerequisite for something, then the prerequisite should actually be utilized by the something.
4) You don't need Feral Combat training to use unarmed feats and effects with natural attacks. You can, however, take the feat if you want to apply unarmed feats to a given weapon; e.g., you could take Feral Combat Training (Longsword) if you wanted to use style feats and your monk unarmed progression with a longsword.
Rationale: If you know how to punch something in a special way, you know how to slam, scratch or headbutt something in a special way. It's part of your body; of course you know how to use it. As for the second part: the unarmed combat chain has a lot of cool tricks, and I am perfectly okay with people using them.
5) Blanket rule: if you can take a feat at first level without taking any other feat first, you can ignore it anywhere it appears as a prerequisite for something else.
Rationale: Speed bump feats are dumb; you shouldn't have to take a feat you don't really want just to get access to something you do want. Consequently, ask me about other speedbump prerequisites that don't fit into the above.
6) Natural attacks do not have their own separate subsystem for determining how many attacks you get. You treat natural weapons the same as you treat manufactured ones, and gain iterative attacks based on your BAB (or two-weapon fighting or whatever other extra-attack rules you have access to).
Rationale: I just want to keep everything under one umbrella. I know that it screws a lot of natural attack builds, but having an entire different ruleset for those just rubs me the wrong way.
7) Level drain and ability damage/drain/burn do not exist.
Rationale: These effects make hit points irrelevant, and I think that's bad. They also force you to recalculate stats in the middle of gameplay, which is a headache. Just use negative conditions for that, it cuts out the middle man.
8) Extra Ki Power is a feat that can be taken once you gain access to Ki Powers (generally, if you're an Unchained Monk). It does exactly what you think it does.
Rationale: Rogues get Extra Rogue Trick; Magi get Extra Arcana; Witches get Extra Hex. It's silly that Extra Ki Power doesn't exist, so in my games, it does.