Pathfinder 1E What are your Pathfinder houserules?

[S'mon]

I haven't come across that problem thus far, as even the wizard in pathfinder isn't very squishy anymore (with d6 hp), for me its the other way around, with a spurt of lucky rolls splattering the villain I spent an hour rolling up :/ still, I hate the feeling of rolling a crit, only to fail that second roll.

PC vulnerability to eg orcs with x3 crit axes is a particular concern for my campaign because it uses an old school "everyone starts at 1st level" approach (and caps at 5th, the max level in the Beginner Box), and I don't want 1st level PCs dropping like flies. Still, I suspect it's much more the 'x3' that leads to PC deaths, confirmation roll or no.

 

[S'mon]

I'm learning how to DM Pathfinder now and have just finished "Everflame". That provided some great instructions but a few things I'm still unclear about. I found quite a few mistakes such as Perception being listed twice with different skill ranks.

1st, I used the 4E rule to give more hit points to the 1st level characters. The "boss" at the end of the module can kill with just one longsword attack. It really hurts the promotion of the game to have a newbie's character die at the very end after several game sessions.

I'm running my Beginner Box campaign as 'old school Gygaxian', so I'm fine with PC death - although admittedly the players may not be! It's noticeable that of the 3 players to play in session 2, the only one of the 4 to return from session 1 was the one guy whose PC didn't die...

I'm running Everflame with the Beginner Box, ways I'm handling it:

1) PCs who have gone through the adventure should be 2nd level before facing the BBEG
2) On hit points, I house rule that you get least half-max hp on each die roll.
3) In the Beginner Box under Toughness, it says Fighters get it for free at 2nd level. That was apparently incorrect, but I'm keeping it as a house rule.
4) I made some very tough pregen Fighters, and luckily one player chose the Elf Fighter with the amazing AC, then found a randomly-rolled +1 magic shield on a dead orc! Plus he has Dodge and Shield Specialisation...

The net result is that the Elf Fighter-2 PC has AC 23 or 24 and I think 20 hit points. His companions Kyra and Alikara (Elf Rogue, like Merisiel but more min-maxed) are a lot squishier but their talents are useful; and Merisiel rolled near max for level 2 hp.

 

[blargney the second]

We have a ridiculous quantity of house rules in our Dark Sun E6 Pathfinder game. I think the coolest one is the change we made to charging. If you're just making one attack, we use the 4e charge rules. If you're making more than one, ie pounce or something similar, we use the Pathfinder charge rules.

 

[Dog Moon]

still, I hate the feeling of rolling a crit, only to fail that second roll.

This. One of the two DMs in my group have gotten rid of confirming crits. It makes it nice because you don't have that YES! feeling of critting only to get that letdown when you follow up the 20 with a 2.

As for scary damage, what we've noticed is that people with low AC are probably gonna be confirmed against anyway but people with high AC still need to be a little afraid of crits. Prevents that overconfident feeling of the tank who can only be hit on a 19 or 20. Roll a 19 or 20 once happens but rolling it a second time in a row? Not as often. But without needing the confirmation roll, gives even those tanks a moment to grimace in pain.

 

[S'mon]

As for scary damage, what we've noticed is that people with low AC are probably gonna be confirmed against anyway but people with high AC still need to be a little afraid of crits. Prevents that overconfident feeling of the tank who can only be hit on a 19 or 20. Roll a 19 or 20 once happens but rolling it a second time in a row? Not as often. But without needing the confirmation roll, gives even those tanks a moment to grimace in pain.

Hm, yes... I'm thinking the best solution is to remove the crit confirmation roll, but tone down monster STR-based bonuses to attack & damage where they seem excessive, eg STR 17 orc mooks.

OK, I'm gonna do it!

 

[Mad Hamish]

I think people are underrating the effect of automatic crit confirmation, it's a fair part of the Fighter captstone ability for a reason...

I'd also say that doing away with opportunity attacks makes it tougher to defend the squishies because the opposition can run straight past the melee classes to attack them.

 

[IronWolf]

I'd also say that doing away with opportunity attacks makes it tougher to defend the squishies because the opposition can run straight past the melee classes to attack them.

I find removing AoO have some odd effects, unless I am doing something wrong. For example, wolves with the trip ability. That trip ability is near worthless. They trip a combatant, now the combatant can stand from prone with no penalty. Now some of the penalties for being prone could come into play with multiple attackers, but for the most part being able to stand from prone without generating an AoO seemed to deflate the trip ability quite a bit.

Of course, I've never found AoO to be that time consuming as other have. So that is likely why I am less likely to part with them.

 

[Ramaster]

After running and playing a couple pathfinder campaigns, I've come up with the following house rules:

- The damage of all bows gets increased to the following dice: Short bows deal 1d8, longbows 1d10.

- A new Martial Crossbow exists as an analogue to the bow. The Great Crossbow is 1d8, costs as much as a longbow (same range) and it's crit is 19-20x2. There is also a similar one, but analogue to the short bow that deals 1d6. They take the same time to reload as bows (free action). The purpose of this is to give more options to ranged combat.

- This new crossbows can do something similar to Composite bows. They are called Scopes and add your wisdom bonus to the damage.

- Weapons get enchanted by "sets". For example, you can enchant two daggers together, or a long sword and a shorts sword or any combination (even a one-handed weapon and a shield), it costs the same as enchanting a single weapon. They only work if the same person is wielding both.

- The price of enchanting weapons is reduced by half, so that now a +1 weapon costs the same as a +1 armor or shield (1.000 GP).

- The two following feats are "upgraded" and an additional feat exists. They are all combat feats:

* Two weapon fighting now automatically gives the iterative attacks as soon as you get the necessary BAB (no improved or greater feats necessary).

* Focused shots gets replaced to Focused attacks and applies to all forms of attacks (melee and ranged)

* Dual Expertise is a new feat: Whenever you take a feat that applies to a single weapon or weapon group, you pick a second weapon or weapon group; all benefits of the feats apply to that as well. When you gain this feat, apply it retro actively to all feats you have.

Prereqs: None

Special: Rangers can choose it on second level in exchange for Endurance.

 

[kalgani]

I only change one feat , so it is better useable and to give an option for dex build melee fightning chars:

- Dervish Dance
Prereqs: Weapon Finesse, DEX 13, light weapons
Benefit: When wielding light weapon(s), you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on melee attack and damage rolls.

 

[TarionzCousin]

My group allows healing spells as a swift action so the party healer(s) aren't stuck doing nothing else every round late in the battle. It works well.