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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2599149" data-attributes="member: 172">Well, I'll update my list and tack these on:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Action points, with some tweaks to their distribution. I like pusing characters to their limit but don't want to have characters die off too quickly and build in a little more tolerance for miscalculation and bad luck; this it has done. I also would like to see more use of metamagic; this it has not done. Finally, I wanted to have the players have spontaneous access to feats, treating them as sort of "stunts", this has had some successes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Use lots of additional source material which I won't enumerate here. I like keeping the game fresh and keeping the players guessing with new monsters and npc villains with interesting classes, spells, and psionics.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">New core classes = Priest (AEG Good), Shaman, Psion, Wilder, Psychic Warrior, Martial Artist. I like psionics and think it serves as a more mysterious magic for players to fear; this has worked like a charm. I also like classes that are a little more general in nature to serve as a substrate for NPCs - priests and martial artists are more general and flexible than clerics and monks. I like the cosmology assumptions behind Shamans and think they fit the role of spontaneous divine caster well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Used bard variant performance abilities from Path of Magic - because I feel bards are too pidgeon-holes; a "celtic spell singer" is too specific and should be a PrC. I want the bard to be a more generic "lore keeper" with more cultural variety; this is a half-step in that direction.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Injury house rules inflict penalties from severe damage. It really dimishes the feel that players have accomplished something when they go through a rough fight and the PCs have nothing to show for it the next day. The injury house rules make combat a bit more vivid, but the way I do it, no additional rolls are invoked until the last 1 or 2 hits on a target, so it largely keeps the existing balance of the game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fumble rules from Kalamar's. Because players expect them and it adds a little tension. But usually, it has no effect.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Many spells tweaked (see a thread I started in rules). I also nerf many spells from Comple Arcane, Ultimnate Divine Spellbook and Eldritch Sorcery. As it stands, I consider the sorcerer too weak, and the parsed up spells just make that worse, and many of the 3.5 changes were unjustified in my eyes. OTOH, I consider some complete arcane spells neat, but find the convention of no save and no </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Lots of planar rules variants and variant cosmology. The great wheel is cool, but the additions to the planes is Portals & Planes, Book of the Planes, Book of the Righteous, and Shamans Handbook are cool, so I sort of retooled the cosmology. Call it a creative excercise and a desire for something new.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Class variant rules - Sorcerer abilities from Quintessential Sorcerer make it a bit more competant of a class. Ranger variant rules from Wildscape make it a bit more flexible while letting me plug into existing ranger support (something that cannot be said for variant classes like scout.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I kick using CR for XP to the curb; I use the "XP per level per hour" method in the DMG, and adjust for level spread and grant individual bonuses. I find CR fidgety to use and find that it does not map easily to non combat challenges, so instead I simply grant bonuses for how difficult I consider the adventure and how well the players did (both in terms of cleverness and roleplaying.) (I still use Cr and EL to guage appropriateness for encounters. It does work if the publisher has done their homework.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I am using Airship rules from Bation's Airships as I am about to start using Ouno from Beyond Countless Doorways. I am also planning on using chase rules in Hot Pursuit because I like "teh drama".</li> </ol></blockquote>

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