Still playing 3e? Share your 3.0 and/or 3.5 house rules

Deset Gled said:

With core-only feats, wouldn't a high level fighter-ranger gestalt end up running out of interesting feats to take? There are options in the core, but not that many with great synergy (especially considering they'll get the TWF tree for free).

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It's not really core-only feats, but rather a removal of the "official" certification from the non-core feats.

It happens that I like the concept of feats, if not always the implementations, or the official conception of how feats are supposed to work in general. (E.g. Toughness being a flat increase to hit points rather than a per-level increase, or Dodge being situtational against specific opponents rather than a simple +1 bonus to AC.) So I'm fairly generous about putting new feats on the Approved For The Campaign list, once I check them out and possibly modify them. I'll add my own to that list, and I'll borrow from various and sundry sources, including random internet ideas and player proposals. I just give short shrift to the argument "It's an official WOTC feat, so you must allow it!"

Edgar Ironpelt said:

It's not really core-only feats, but rather a removal of the "official" certification from the non-core feats.

It happens that I like the concept of feats, if not always the implementations, or the official conception of how feats are supposed to work in general. (E.g. Toughness being a flat increase to hit points rather than a per-level increase, or Dodge being situtational against specific opponents rather than a simple +1 bonus to AC.) So I'm fairly generous about putting new feats on the Approved For The Campaign list, once I check them out and possibly modify them. I'll add my own to that list, and I'll borrow from various and sundry sources, including random internet ideas and player proposals. I just give short shrift to the argument "It's an official WOTC feat, so you must allow it!"

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Agreed on toughness. I HR'd that to the 1ePF version, 3 hp then 1 each level, levels 4 and up. 3.x toughness is really only good during a one-shot adventure, IIRC.

rgard said:

Agreed on toughness. I HR'd that to the 1ePF version, 3 hp then 1 each level, levels 4 and up. 3.x toughness is really only good during a one-shot adventure, IIRC.

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I'd do the same in another 3.5e game.

In the "Brotherhood of Rangers" game I am trying to keep house rules down to a dull roar, so core feats remain unchanged, while I turn non-core feats into homebrew versions that finesse problems with the prerequisite core feats. E.g. Improved Toughness (homebrew) gives 2 hp per level, with prerequisites of Toughness & character-level 3+ Similarily Improved Dodge (homebrew) gives a simple +2 dodge bonus to AC that does not stack with the fussy conditional +1 AC from the core Dodge feat (which means the fussy conditional +1 can always be ignored).

rgard said:

Agreed on toughness. I HR'd that to the 1ePF version, 3 hp then 1 each level, levels 4 and up. 3.x toughness is really only good during a one-shot adventure, IIRC.

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I mean, even 3.5 saw fit to introduce the Improved Toughness feat, which gave you +1 hp/level (and since it only had a prerequisite of base Fort save of +2 or higher, was clearly meant to replace Toughness altogether). It's just a shame it did so in a later sourcebook instead of right there in the PHB.

New idea for Toughness...

Now it gives you max HP per level.

I play (DM) a lot of 3.5 because my wife prefers it. Personally I like both 3.5 and 5E [2014] so it's fine by me.

• The skills Hide and Move Silently are one skill named Stealth.
• The skills Listen and Spot are one skill named Perception (which includes other senses, like smell).
• Not necessarily a houserule, but I'm not tracking encumberance and the number of arrows/bolts the players have. Same with spell components.
• Critical hits need not be confirmed. (Yes, I recently checked, and RAW a critical hit must be confirmed, which often leads to disappointment when the second roll goes poorly. So I got rid of that rule.)
• Quick Draw is something everyone can do; no need to take that feat.

I have no clear rules on avoiding bloat, but my players rarely use anything other than core. If they do, I need to approve it first. That has worked out fine so far.

Reading through this thread, I see a few nice things I might add to my games...

Anyone just expand the Skills a bit using third party options? I find that is what I am doing now--pulling cool uses for skills from other-than-official books.

From what I remember, d20PFSRD has a whole bunch of alternate skill uses, both from Paizo and other 3P books. I have used those before.

_Michael_ said:

Anyone just expand the Skills a bit using third party options? I find that is what I am doing now--pulling cool uses for skills from other-than-official books.

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You mean new uses for existing skills, rather than using entirely new skills? If so, would you mind posting some examples, along with citing what books they're from?

Alzrius said:

You mean new uses for existing skills, rather than using entirely new skills? If so, would you mind posting some examples, along with citing what books they're from?

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Sure!

The best example is from the Ultimate Game Designer's Companion. Take Bluff, for instance. Now, in addition to the normal uses of Bluff, it can be used for:

1. Card Shark (use your Bluff check for card games)
2. Charlatan (convince others temporarily that you are some powerful spellcaster about to blast them)
3. Disguise Spellcasting (hide spellcasting)
4. Flattery (Improve an NPC's attitude by one condition temporarily)
5. Pass the Buck (blame another NPC for your own mistakes)
6. Poker Face (being utterly inscrutable during card games and the like)
7. Seduction (Oooh la la!)
8. Sense of Security (temporarily grants morale bonuses to your followers)

The Concentration skill in that book also gets turned into a monster for Monks:

1. Breaking
2. Body Kung (think wushu kung fu)
3. Balance on Two Fingers
4. Bend Spears
5. Balance on Spearpoint
6. Belly Suction
7. Feign Death
8. Fire Walk
9. Focus
10. Grace Under Pressure

Plus, there's expansions on things like Poison, chariot racing, dwarven craftsmanship, savage craftsmanship, and more. That's why I asked if anyone just used expanded skills as a homebrew solution to adding a bit more depth.

Arakhor said:

From what I remember, d20PFSRD has a whole bunch of alternate skill uses, both from Paizo and other 3P books. I have used those before.

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I'm going to have to pore over this. lol I'm trying to come up with an expanded skill list tailored to my game world to give it a more organic feel and make it more expansive so that magic doesn't become the fall back Deus Ex Machina.

Oooh, one other house rule I've used in the past is to just assign one extra feat at 1st level. I usually save this for the regional feats from various campaign settings as it helps expand the background of the character (which makes it more easy for me to insert plot hooks that call back to those backgrounds). If a character can come up with a solid backstory, I usually reward it somehow with something minor but useful.