Obligatory House Rule Post

House Rules 

• Start 2nd character level. One rogue (bard) level and one other character level. Characters provided. 

• Ability Score 25 point buy. The maximum any ability score can be (before racial modifiers) is 18. Players many reallocate ability points of they so choose. 

• Players will have a favored class to choose, class features, skill points to spend, and spells to pick for their character.

• Spellcasters are restricted from taking other similar caster classes of the same spellcasting type. 

• Retraining non-story feats is encouraged for preselected feats. See DM on which feats qualify. 

• Bonus Feats at 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, etc. must be trained (using downtime rules for retraining). Characters may not train fellow characters for this house rule. 

• Maximum hit points received up to 4th character level, then again each time a character receives an ability point. 

• Hero Points will be used. 

• Athletics is a STR-based skill that functions as one skill for all feats of strength, climb and swim skill checks. If the character takes any finesse feat or possesses a finesse class feature, that character may choose to change the Athletics skill from STR-based to a DEX-based skill. This is a permanent character change.

• After a confirmed attack critical failure, character suffers disadvantage on all d20 attack rolls (including attacks of opportunity, etc.) until his next turn. 

• A creature's '5-foot step' equals that creature's natural (un-enhanced or modified) reach. 

• Common monsters with CRs < player level act on initiative of 10. 

• Bonus Weapon Feat. Calimshan characters gain the martial weapon feat, but only with the falchion, jambiya, or scimitar.

• Learning the Alzhedo language, the Divine Language, requires 2 ranks in the linguistics skill and must be taught by a cleric. Calishite characters (Faruk) may begin play knowing Alzhedo.

• Drinking a potion or applying an oil is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Only 1 potion or oil may be activated each round. Source. 

• Clarification on how light and darkness will interact. (see graphic below)

Haggling

Calimport is a trade-city like no other. Individuals and organizations vie for wealth and power and while most anything can be found or crafted. Calimshan operates with an enhanced economy where haggling and bartering is an art. 

Haggling is to dispute or bargain persistently over the cost of something. To haggle down the cost of something make an opposed Charisma or Perform (Haggling) skill check. Success means the seller acquiesces to the buyer and sells the item(s) without unreasonable upcharge (sells at book price). Failure indicates this seller cannot be persuaded to reduce the cost of an item or lot of items and the buyer must find another means. 

Further haggling attempts against the same seller in the same 24-hour period suffer a cumulative -5 penalty. Haggling takes a minimum of 1 hour, plus 1 hour per 10k gp value of the item(s). 

Close the sale: add +5 to the haggling roll to settle for half the upcharge difference. 

 

Massive Damage (Unconsciousness from)

If you ever sustain damage equal to half your total hit points or more from a single attack or effect and it doesn’t kill you outright; make a DC 15 Fortitude save. If this saving throw fails, you fall unconscious regardless of your current hit points. Unconscious creatures are prone, and helpless. The unconscious condition lasts for 1 round plus 1 round for every 5 points the Fortitude save was failed by. Natural '1' failure on this save indicates you are stunned for one round after you regain consciousness. 

Magic Item Attunement 

Magic items that occupy a body slot require a character to form a bond with them before their magical properties can be employed. This bond is called attunement. With the exception of most slot-less items, weapons and armor, and expendable one-use items, a wonderous magical item requires 24 hours to attune to a character. This focus can take the form of practice, meditation, or some other appropriate activity, but usually wearing the magic item will suffice. 

An item can be attuned to only one character at a time. A character's attunement to an item ends if the magic item has been more than 100 feet away from the character for at least 24 hours, immediately if the character dies, or if another character attunes to the item. 

A character may attempt shorten the magic item attunement process to a single hour by making a Spellcraft, Use Magic Device, or Character Level check (Character Level checks suffer a -2 circumstance penalty) against a DC equal to 11 + the caster level of the item to be attuned.

 

• Elves and Half-elves ignore the -2 circumstance penalty and instead receives a +2 racial bonus to Character Level checks to shorten the magic item attunement process. 

• Dwarves and Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus to Use Magic Device checks to shorten the magic item attunement process.

• Human characters with spell-like abilities, feats, or traits that grant spell-like abilities do not suffer the -2 circumstance penalty to Character Level checks to shorten the magic item attunement process. 

• All spellcasters receive a +2 bonus to Spellcraft skill checks to shorten the magic item attunement process.  

• Hero Point. If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. 

Spell slots and spell effects. 

Lasting spell effects, like endure elements, protection from good/law, etc. even racial spell-like traits (like a drow's levitate ability) occupy a magic item body slot. Any spell of a duration greater than instantaneous takes up an empty body slot on the person it is cast upon.  

Innate at-will ‘always on’ spell-like abilities that have durations greater than instantaneous effectively remove a body item slot of the players choosing. 

Detrimental spells like curse or the negative effects of a prayer also take up a magic item body slot. If all item body slots are full (with spell effects or magic items), the detrimental effect takes over the highest level spell effect (or caster level of an item) filling a body slot. The spell effect or magic item is suppressed for the duration of the detrimental spell. 

Spells Copied from Another Spell book or Scroll. 

A wizard or eldritch scoundrel may add spells to her book whenever she encounters a spell on a magic scroll or in another wizard’s spell book. No matter what the spell’s source, the wizard must first decipher the magical writing or cast the read magic spell. 

• To decipher an arcane magical writing, a character must make a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the spell’s level). If the skill check fails, the character cannot attempt to read that particular spell again until the next day. A read magic spell automatically deciphers magical writing without a skill check. If the person who created the magical writing is on hand to help the reader, success is also automatic. 

• Next, she must spend 1 hour studying the spell. At the end of the hour, she must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell’s level). A wizard who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from his specialty. See Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook for associated costs.

New Feat 

Ritual Spellcaster (General, Magic)

Prerequisites: 3rd character level, intelligence 10 + ritual level

You may cast a small list of core rule book spells with durations or effects that last hours as a ritual spell and not as a prepared spell. 

Benefit: This feat grants any character, including non-spellcaster classes, the ability to cast a ritual. 

A ritual spell does not occupy a typical spell slot and therefore allows prepared spell casters to save spell slots. 

A ritual spell is recorded and cast from a ritual spell book. To qualify for a ritual spell the character must have a minimum intelligence of 10 + ritual spell level. 

When taking this feat, the character starts with one ritual spell book and two first level ritual spells for free. Characters gain new ritual spells in their ritual spell book through adventuring or purchase where available and not through the level-up process like typical spells. 

Ritual spells and spell books are half the cost of the standard spell and the basic spell book. 

The casting time of a ritual spell from a ritual spell book is always 10 minutes, otherwise a ritual spell works as per the spell. 

1st level ritual spells: alarm, mage armor, endure elements, mount, unseen servant, floating disk

2nd level ritual spells: obscure object, magic mouth, false life, misdirection, protection from arrows, rope trick

3rd level ritual spells: explosive runes, non-detection, phantom steed, sepia snake sigil, tiny hut, gentle repose, secret page, shrink item, water breathing

Light and Darkness

Light and darkness spells functions as a counter to darkness and light spells when cast directly upon opposing light/darkness spell effects of equal or lower level. This is effectively a restricted targeted dispel magic. 

Make an opposed caster level check and compare that to the targeted darkness or light spell (DC = 11 + the targeted spell’s caster level). If successful, the darkness or light spell is successfully countered and both your spell and the targeted spell end. 

If the check fails, both spells function and an overlap of darkness and light effects occurs. (See graphic)

Furthermore, if a darkness or light spell effect is brought into an existing area of magical light or darkness, the result also creates an overlap of effects. 

Low light vision = can see twice as far in an area of dim light. 

Darkvision = ability to see with no light source to a distance indicated. 

See in darkness = can see perfectly in darkness, including that created by deeper darkness.