** Game Changing House Rules **
Definitely give me some feedback on these, if the group is against any of them we can use default pathfinder rules.
Arcane Gems
A new system will replace the previous enchantment system, you can find details here. Wondrous items will still exist but will be extremely uncommon and created by unconventional means only.
Armor as Damage Reduction
Armor will now provide damage reduction, this amount depends on the type of armor (light, medium, heavy). Mundane armor has reduction of #/Piercing or Slashing or Bludgeoning while magical armor (+1 enhanced or better) has #/magic damage reduction. Armor made from special material can improve the Damage Reduction type. Shields add to this damage reduction but bucklers do not. Creatures not proficient in an armor do not gain this damage reduction bonus.
Armor Type
|
Mundane DR
|
Enhanced DR
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Light Armor
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2/Slashing
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2/Magic
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Medium Armor
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4/Piercing
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4/Magic
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Heavy Armor
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6/Bludgeoning
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6/Magic
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Natural Armor > +4
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2/Magic
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-
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Natural Armor > +9
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4/Magic
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-
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Natural Armor > +14
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6/Magic
|
-
|
Light Shield
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+1 DR
| |
Heavy Shield
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+2 DR
| |
Tower Shield
|
+3 DR
| |
Note: For ease of play the shield adds the same type of damage reduction as the armor, so a Knight wearing +2 Full Plate with a Mundane Tower Shield has a 9/Magic Damage Reduction. If a creature has armor and natural armor then take the greater value of the two.
Full Hits and Glancing Blows
There are now 2 different hits which can be accomplished on an attack roll.
Full Hit: The Attacker must beat the Defender's Armor Class (unless the defender is flat-footed or helpless), if the attacker does so then they inflict full damage per usual. A natural 20 is always a full hit.
Glancing Blow: The Attacker beats the touch armor class but not the full armor class (or flat footed armor class if the defender is flat footed). This means the attacker hits but doesn't gain the full effect of their attack due to armor. On a glancing blow roll damage as normal but subtract the opponents cumulative armor bonus (Armor class from Worn Armor and Shield or Natural Armor, whichever is highest) as if it were Damage Reduction (This value replaces the armor's natural damage reduction as outlined above). A glancing blow does not gain the benefit of precision attacks (Sneak Attack, Precise Strike, Etc.) and cannot be a critical threat.
Example: Helva is a hobgoblin rogue who is attacking a heavily armored Goblin, she rolls an 18 on her attack roll which beats the Goblin's touch armor class (14) but not his full armor class (20, +6 from armor). She rolls her damage and gets a 12, due to it being a glancing blow she hits the goblin for 6 total damage.
Active Defensive Rolls
Whenever an attack roll is made the target of that attack gets a defensive roll, this d20 will replace the default base 10 armor class. This essentially makes armor class variable instead of static. Classes which focus on defense gain bonuses on this roll. This roll includes any Combat Maneuvers attempted against you as well.
Weapon Critical Hits
Weapons will use percent chances to crit instead of crit ranges on a d20 dice. The chance to crit will be equal to 5 + the player's dexterity modifier + twice the crit range of the weapon they are using. For example, Helva is a Hobgolbin rogue with a 24 Dexterity (+7) and uses a Rapier (18-20 Crit Range) her critical hit chance would be equal to 5 (base) + 7 (Dexterity) + 6 (Twice the 3 crit range) = 18% (1-18 on a percentile dice). Because of this new system no confirmation is required for a critical threat, a natural 20 is always a full hit but not always a critical hit. Critical hit % can be affected by feats / enchantments.
To speed play I would recommend rolling your percentile dice, d20 to hit dice and your damage dice at one time instead of each one separately.
When a critical hit is scored treat it as a standard Pathfinder critical hit.
Spell Critical Hits
All spells will be eligible for a critical hit, each kind of spell has a different effect. Spells will also use a percentage crit range which is equal to the 5 + primary mental statistic modifier. Critical hit % can be affected by feats / enchantments. Any spells which require an attack roll use the caster's spell critical hit chance, rolling a 20 is an automatic hit but not a critical. Creatures immune to critical hits are still susceptible to spell critical hits.
Damage Dealing Spells
If a caster critically hits with a damage dealing spell it is cast as if it were a maximized spell; if a spell is cast as a maximized spell and is also a critical hit then treat it as a maximized empowered spell.
Non-Damage Offensive Spells
If a critical spell has no damage component but has a saving throw, then the spell is cast as if it were a heightened spell equal to the maximum spell the player is able to cast.
Defensive Spells
If a defensive or buffing spell critically hits then treat it as if you had cast it with the extend metamagic.
Healing Spells
If a spell which is meant to cure damage critically hits then calculate the amount of damage to be cured regularly and then double it. If a critical spell is meant to restore the target’s vitality then it removes all ill effects, as Greater Restoration.
Spell Fatigue
Casting spells in Krona is a challenging activity both mentally and physically, due to this spellcasters will find it difficult to cast continuously for long periods of time without allowing themselves time to rest. This really only comes up in combat where, in the heat of the moment, they are not able to properly prepare or given time to recover. Due to this each spellcaster has a certain Maximum Fatigue Level which, if met, will greatly hamper their spellcasting. Whenever a spellcaster attempts to cast a spell while fatigued they suffer a 30% spell failure chance, if their Fatigue level ever reaches 150% of their Maximum they become exhausted. While exhausted a spellcaster suffers a 75% spell failure chance and must spend 1 hour to recover. If a spell caster has a fatigue level above his maximum all spells increase his fatigue score by double the spell level, until the caster allows himself to rest. Players who become fatigued or exhausted by other means also suffer the spell failure chance.
Maximum Fatigue Level = Player's Caster Level + Player's Constitution Modifier
Whenever a player casts a spell their Fatigue Level increases by the spell level of that particular spell, this includes modifications from metamagic. If the player spends a round casting a spell which has no effort or does anything other than cast a spell they reduce their fatigue level by the player's Constitution Modifier.
Spell Regeneration
When spellcasters are in the heat of combat they do not have the time to rest or think for more than a moment. This means that spontaneous spell casters use up their magical energy without being able to restore it and prepared spellcasters do not have the time to concentrate on new spells. However, after combat these characters may regenerate their prepared and spontaneous spells given enough time. This regeneration comes in 2 different "waves"...
1st Wave : Immediately after leaving initiative the spellcaster regenerates an amount of spell levels equal to their maximum fatigue level less their current fatigue level when combat ended, to a maximum of having all their spell slots or spells per day available. The player does not gain this wave if their fatigue level is above their maximum fatigue level. This does not allow prepared spellcasters to prepare new spells.
2nd Wave : 5 minutes after the first wave of regeneration the player reduces their fatigue level by their constitution modifier and regenerates the same amount of spell levels, this happens every 5 minutes until their fatigue level reaches 0. The spell regeneration does not occur until the player is not fatigued, exhausted or has their fatigue level above the maximum.
Smaller Changes and Rule Clarifications
These aren't really a huge deal, just wanted a place to advertise some changes and clarify how I will enforce some rules.
Armor Penalties
Reduced movement speed due to armor will be enforced, as Armor Speed, but feats will be available to remove the hindrance. You also will not be able to sleep in heavier armor without being penalized. I will not enforce the extensive time to remove / put on armor, assume both actions are 1 full round.
Carrying Capacity
Limitations on carrying capacity will be loosely enforced, basically I won't let you carry x40 great swords and x34 plate armors to sell in town unless you have the means to actually carry all that weight. When it comes to currency, equipped items and things like tents/bedrolls/food/water I won't be too strict. It is a high possibility that the party will receive some form of magical storage at some point, hint hint wink wink.
Currency
The available currency will be in the form of copper, silver, gold and platinum coins. Coins are accepted at almost all merchants.
10 Copper = 1 Silver | 10 Silver = 1 Gold | 10 Gold = 1 Platinum
Detection Spells
All detection spells require concentration to maintain.
Flight
I will be enforcing the rules of flight, as pathfinder’s skill rules, expect to invest some points or monsters will find ways to knock you around while flying. This will also make flight over things like mountains much..MUCH...more treacherous.
Food, Water and Rest
The party will be required to eat, drink and rest as needed to maintain a healthy state; overexertion, dehydration and exhaustion will be taken into consideration. This will be tracked by the DM and fair warning will be given anytime the party may need to rest. Food and water may be summoned magically, found via survival check or stored in the party’s supplies. Camping supplies (tents, flint, bedrolls, etc.) are optional but will affect your state depending on the current conditions; for example, going without a tent on a nice summer day is no big deal, but if it’s cold and raining you may become sickened, fatigued or exhausted. Survival checks can be useful to find caves, fire-wood, clean water, etc.
Healing Spells
All Cure Wounds spells now have a range of Medium (100 ft + 10 ft per CL), these spells have been completely rewritten and can be found here.
Healing Surge
Healing surge is a supernatural ability which cures damage for yourself or others. This ability is dormant within all sentient beings across krona but only becomes active for intelligent subjects. When healing surge is used a glowing star appears on the forehead of both the caster and the recipient, as the stars make one full rotation a healing light cascades over the recipient. There is no restriction on who you may use this ability on, the healing is not considered positive energy and therefore won’t harm undead, using this ability on others causes your vitality to be drained slightly.
This ability is only available to those who have 12+ intelligence; eligible creatures gain 1 use per day + intelligence modifier and an additional 1 use for every 5 character levels, creatures with 3/4 BaB gain an additional 1 use and creatures with full BaB gain an additional 2 uses at first level. Healing surge is a standard action, its reach is medium (100 ft + 10 ft per character level) and heals for (character level * 4) + 1d6 per 5 character levels (1d6 starting at 1st level, 2d6 starting at 5th level...maximum 5d6 at 20th level). Healing surge always uses the caster's character levels. If Healing surge is cast on anyone other than yourself then you receive an amount of damage equal to the result of the d6 dice.
Two charges of healing surge may be expended to cast a single healing surge as a swift action.
*This ability cannot critically hit
Items and Retrieving Them
Items can be in 1 of 3 states which results in different actions to retrieve…
READIED – SWIFT ACTION
Sheathed weapons/shields, arrows in a quiver, items in a bandolier, etc.
CONVENIENT – MOVE ACTION
Items in a belt pouch, hanging from a pack, outer pockets of a backpack, etc.
STORED – FULL-ROUND ACTION
Objects which are packed in a backpack or sack.
Magical packs, such as Handy Haversack can alter these rules and the quick draw feat can reduce the action by 1 step (Swift to Free, Move to Swift, Full to Move).
Play Speed
I will be trying my best to make Play Speed as bearable as possible.
If in combat a player is taking a long time the DM will force them to hold their action until they decide on an action, if they still do not have an action at the end of that round the player loses their turn.
**Conversations will be real-time, that means the NPC will be able to hear any scheming that takes place. Planning before encountering NPCs is recommended but the NPCs will not wait forever! While in conversation the NPC will behave as their personality dictates, some have the patience to talk for hours but some will get annoyed at a lengthy or boring conversation.
When coming to a fork in the road an extensive debate on the direction may attract additional monster encounters, there is no set time and is completely under DM discretion.
Spell Components
All spell casters start with the feat “Eschew Materials” which negates any need for spell components less than 1 gold; which includes all spell components that do not specify an associated value. All other spell components must be retrieved, or bought, and used as needed. All divine casters start with a divine focus and may channel its power without handling it; so it can be a necklace/ring/etc but does not use up an item slot.
