Seeking feedback on class house rules.

Barbarian:
Barbarian DR/- damage resistance stacks with all other DR/- damage resistance.

Bard:
Bards gain Disable Device, Open Lock, and Search as class skills, and gain the rogue’s Trapfinding class ability. This change is not to correct a balance issue, but to give players more options than the rogue and only the rogue, when choosing a trapfinding class for the party.

All bonuses provided by bardic music are music bonuses, and not morale bonuses. They are still mind-affecting.

Bards have the additional bardic music ability presented here:
· Inspire Spellpower (Adapted from Races of Stone.) A bard of 5th level or higher with 8 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use his music or poetics to inspire the spellcasting of himself and allied spellcasters, making their spells more powerful. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear you perform. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears you sing and for five rounds thereafter. The affected allies' effective caster level is increased by 1. At 15th bard level, this bonus increases to +2. Inspire spellpower is a mind-affecting ability.

Fighter:
When using a fighter bonus feat to select a feat that requires the player to choose a specific weapon, the player can instead choose to have that feat apply to a group of weapons. Prerequisites must still be met as normal. The groups of weapons are: ranged weapons; light and double weapons; one-handed weapons (excluding light weapons); and two-handed weapons. Thrown weapons fall under both ranged weapons and the appropriate melee group. A one-handed weapon used with two hands counts as both a one-handed and a two-handed weapon for the purposes of this benefit. A character must be proficient with an exotic weapon to gain the benefits of the feat with that weapon. Two feats of the same type do not stack (for example, a character with Weapon Focus: Light and Weapon Focus: Ranged only gains a +1 bonus to attack rolls when throwing a dagger).

At 10th fighter level, players may ignore all ability score and feat prerequisites when selecting their fighter bonus feats—unless the feat enhances the abilities gained from a previous feat, in which case the character needs to possess that one feat first. For example, a 10th level fighter could select Cleave as his fighter bonus feat even if he did not have any of the feat’s prerequisites, but he could not select Great Cleave without already possessing Cleave (since Great Cleave enhances the benefits of Cleave), and he could not select Improved Precise Shot at all (since he does not have a BAB of +11).

Monk:
That rule about Monks not being able to raise their Monk level once they take levels in another class is a needlessly limiting, stupid mechanic, and has been removed.

The Amulet of Mighty Fists has been replaced by a Vest of Unarmed Strikes as a standard SRD magic item. The Vest is treated in all cases the same, except it only affects Unarmed Strikes, can be enchanted the same way a melee weapon would (including such enhancements as Defending, Holy, etc), and costs the same as a weapon would cost for those enchantments.

Paladin:
That rule about Paladins not being able to raise their Paladin level once they take levels in another class is a needlessly limiting, stupid mechanic, and has been removed.

Players have the option, upon creating their character and upon gaining their mount, to choose either the 3.0e or 3.5e version of the Paladin’s mount. Once the choice is made, it cannot later be changed.

A Paladin's caster level is equal to his Paladin level -3, not half his Paladin level. He chooses spells from both the Cleric's and the Paladin's list of available spells, excluding all Chaos, Evil, and Necromancy spells. For example, the Paladin's 3rd-level spell list includes Heal Mount (a 3rd-level Paladin spell), Cure Serious Wounds (a 3rd-level Cleric Spell), and Greater Magic Weapon (a 4th-level Cleric, but 3rd-level Paladin spell). A Paladin cannot select Magic Circle Against Good (an Evil spell) or Inflict Serious Wounds (a Necromancy spell). A Paladin gains no access to Cleric Domains, nor can they use the Cleric's spontaneous casting ability to substitute Cure spells.

Paladin and Ranger spells per day are far too top-level-heavy. They have been adjusted to match the chart below.
Lvl.......1st......2nd.....3rd......4th
1-3......N/A.....N/A.....N/A......N/A
4.........0........N/A.....N/A......N/A
5.........0........N/A.....N/A......N/A
6.........1........N/A.....N/A......N/A
7.........1........0........N/A......N/A
8.........1........1........N/A......N/A
9.........2........1........N/A......N/A
10........2........1........0........N/A
11........2........1........1........N/A
12........2........2........1........N/A
13........2........2........1........0
14........2........2........1........1
15........2........2........2........1
16........3........2........2........1
17........3........2........2........2
18........3........3........2........2
19........3........3........3........2
20........3........3........3........3

If the player prefers, he may take the Prestige Paladin found in the Unearthed Arcana. I also have a copy saved in a .rtf file if you wish to examine it.

The final point for Paladins is not a change, but a caution. If you want to play this class, I strongly recommend you discuss your concept with me first. I have only once in my entire time playing and running games, out of dozens upon dozens of attempts, seen a Paladin played correctly. (And that was in a Gurps Fantasy campaign, an entirely different system.) Do not take this class unless you intend to roleplay it properly. I will not allow ‘gray’ areas, sacrificing the spirit of the rules for the letter, etc etc. I cannot emphasize this enough. I will remove your Paladin abilities without hesitation if you violate the code. This applies to other classes with codes (Rangers and Druids that advocate burning down a forest; or Clerics that violate a tenet of their god, for example)--but the Paladins have the greatest roleplaying restrictions, so they get the most ‘air time’ here. (On the other hand, should you select the Paladin to play, and manage to play the ethos well, I will include roleplaying benefits as well. Since Paladins have such strict roleplaying requirements, it makes sense that they would enjoy a certain amount of prestige as well.)

Ranger:
A Ranger that selects two-weapon fighting as his Combat Style gains the following benefits:
1) Two-Weapon Fighting from my feats list as a bonus feat at 2nd class level, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
2) Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved from my feats list as a bonus feat at 6th class level, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
3) A special ability unique to Rangers that I call Two-Weapon Strike, gained at 11th class level. This ability allows the Ranger to make an attack with his off-hand weapon in most situations where he would normally only be able to attack with his main-hand weapon. For example, when making Attacks of Opportunity, and when making a melee attack as a Standard action, an 11th-level Ranger can also make an attack with his off-hand weapon.

Two-Weapon Fighting [Combat]
Prerequisites: Dex 13+
Benefit: If you wield a one-handed weapon in your main hand and take a full-attack action, you can make a single attack with a light weapon in your off hand at no penalties.

Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved [Combat]
Prerequisistes: Dex 15+, BAB 6+, Two-Weapon Fighting
Benefit: As per Two-Weapon Fighting, except you gain full iterative attacks with your off-hand weapon.

The Ranger uses his Ranger level -3 as his effective Druid level for his Animal Companion.

A Ranger's caster level is equal to his Ranger level -3, not half his Ranger level. He chooses spells from both the Druid's and the Ranger's list of available spells. For example, the Ranger's 2nd-level spell list includes Protection From Energy (a 3rd-level Druid, but 2nd-level Ranger spell) and Tree Stride (a 3rd-level Ranger, but 2nd-level Ranger spell). A Ranger cannot use the Druid's spontaneous casting ability to substitute Summon Nature's Ally spells.

See the Paladin entry for changes to the Ranger’s Spell progression.

Sorceror:
The sorcerer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge: Arcana (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Familiar:
The sorceror no longer gains a familiar as a class feature.

Eschew Materials:
Sorcerers gain their spells from innate, inborn power. Because of this, they have no need to worry about material components—they are, in essence, their own material components. A character with one sorceror level gains the feat Eschew Materials when casting sorceror spells. If a spell has more costly material components, the sorceror still does not need to obtain the material component; if he chooses, he may instead pay a price in experience points for casting the spell. The sorcerer then pays 1/25th of the gold-piece cost of the component in XP (minimum loss of 1 XP). Thus, if a sorcerer casts stoneskin, but does not possess the required 250 gp worth of diamond dust, the sorcerer instead pays 10 XP (250 divided by 25 is 10). Spells that already require an expenditure of experience points are handled normally, in addition to this ability. The sorceror chooses whether to use a material component or spend xp at the time each spell is cast, and any spells cast using this ability are not considered metamagically enhanced. If the sorceror has selected the Eschew Materials feat prior to gaining this ability, he may replace that selection with a different feat.

Bonus Feats:
At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th sorceror levels, the sorceror gains a bonus feat. This feat must be a metamagic feat. When casting sorceror spells enhanced with one of these chosen feats, the sorceror does not need to take extra time to cast due to the spontaneous casting penalty. If the sorceror has already selected a metamagic feat that he would like to apply this ability to, he may do so; he would then choose a new metamagic feat that would suffer the spontaneous casting penalty as normal.

Rods, Quicken Spell and similar feats:
Note that in my campaign, certain feats (i.e. Cooperative Spell*, Dual Spell*, Quicken Spell, Rapid Spell*, Sudden [Metamagic]) can be used by spontaneous casters without increasing the casting time of the spell. If a feat has this ability, this will be indicated in the feat’s description in my Feats file. Also, Sorcerors using Metamagic Rods do not have to increase the casting time of their spells. This change applies to all spontaneous castings, including Clerics and Druids when substituting Cure and Summon spells, but is detailed here since Sorcerors gain the most benefit.

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