House rules for my campaign

[donJulio]

1. Any skill (that requires 1d100)can be taken twice for an extra 10% on the roll. Perhaps even three times. We'll see.
2. Unless the character has a back-story of being a mute, or is studying lost languages, then Literacy requires Spoken.
3. Go with the Rifts 2nd edition versions of physical skills (i.e. Forced March gives PE and Spd bonus).
4. Cartography is available (lifted from the class that has it in Rifts 2nd edition) and is a Technical/Scholarly skill. +5% with Land Navigation. +2% with Art (more likely to sell). (need a good reason to be in the Old Kingdom)
5. Fencing (from Rifts 2nd edition, which matches the class in Timiro Kingdom somewhere) is a Weapon Proficiency (like Paired Weapons)
6. High PP can give a bonus at the same rate that IQ boosts skills, but only for skills requiring dexterity (climb/scale walls, prowl, acrobatics, etc.)
7. Wilderness Survival: +5% with Rope Works (and rope).
8. A natural 20 can not be parried, but can be dodged. The dodge roll, with bonus, must be higher than the attackers natural 20 + their strike bonus.
9. Two attacks for living (although I think this is canon now) and adjust all NPCs from older source material accordingly.
10: Spider-Man Homecoming-like origin story: "The spider is dead." Instead of a whole movie-long origin story, sum it up in one sentence and get to business. by that I mean: who cares how unlikely the party composition is (RCC and OCC), just roll with it: You're together and that's that. What do you want to do now? (I am a Danzi (GMPC) and my son is a Wolven wizard, just have fun)

what do you think? Does anyone else have cool house rules to share?

[kiralon]

There are a few topics on that already.
eg
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=141128&hilit=house+rules\

But just do a search for house rules and you will find discussion on most of the pfrpg topics.

[Hotrod]

1. Any skill (that requires 1d100)can be taken twice for an extra 10% on the roll. Perhaps even three times. We'll see.
2. Unless the character has a back-story of being a mute, or is studying lost languages, then Literacy requires Spoken.
3. Go with the Rifts 2nd edition versions of physical skills (i.e. Forced March gives PE and Spd bonus).
4. Cartography is available (lifted from the class that has it in Rifts 2nd edition) and is a Technical/Scholarly skill. +5% with Land Navigation. +2% with Art (more likely to sell). (need a good reason to be in the Old Kingdom)
5. Fencing (from Rifts 2nd edition, which matches the class in Timiro Kingdom somewhere) is a Weapon Proficiency (like Paired Weapons)
6. High PP can give a bonus at the same rate that IQ boosts skills, but only for skills requiring dexterity (climb/scale walls, prowl, acrobatics, etc.)
7. Wilderness Survival: +5% with Rope Works (and rope).
8. A natural 20 can not be parried, but can be dodged. The dodge roll, with bonus, must be higher than the attackers natural 20 + their strike bonus.
9. Two attacks for living (although I think this is canon now) and adjust all NPCs from older source material accordingly.
10: Spider-Man Homecoming-like origin story: "The spider is dead." Instead of a whole movie-long origin story, sum it up in one sentence and get to business. by that I mean: who cares how unlikely the party composition is (RCC and OCC), just roll with it: You're together and that's that. What do you want to do now? (I am a Danzi (GMPC) and my son is a Wolven wizard, just have fun)

what do you think? Does anyone else have cool house rules to share?

Those all seem sensible to me. The "Any % skill can be taken twice for +10% and professional quality" is already canon for several skills at least, and it seems reasonable to extrapolate this. Importing Rifts versions of existing physical skills seems reasonable. Cartography is a great skill (I'm obviously a big fan of Cartography; see my signature). Fencing seems like a suitable addition; I might add it as a noble/scholar skill rather than a W.P.

The High P.P. skill bonuses make logical sense, though I'm not a big fan of making P.P. matter even more than it already does, as many players tend to assign it their highest rolls (if you allow that, be ready for it).

The natural 20 avoidance rule is neat; I really like that. It brings an element of split-second tactical decision-making into combat, and making combat more interesting/choice-driven is good in my book.

As for the origin story, while I agree that it's important to have a pithy summary for your character, I'm quite alright with players who want to write more, especially if they include elements I can work into an adventure.

I've been developing a set of house rules designed to make melee combat and equipment choices more interesting. Short version: two-handed weapons do double damage, Initiative is driven by weapon reach, armor is much more important and less destructible, shields are much more important, and true giants are utterly terrifying in combat (double damage, better initiative, cannot be parried).

[donJulio]

I forgot some:
11) Skills give 25 exp if successful and 10 exp if not.
12) Any skill can only be counted for exp the first three times used in any game day. Ex: cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If cooking is attempted a fourth time the same game day, no exp is awarded, regardless of success. Ex: My son rolled a 26 IQ on his Wolven wizard and I recommended he take cooking twice to farm exp due to the +10% specialization bonus and the high IQ bonus. Side effect: my character doesn't have to cook anymore

The natural 20 avoidance rule is neat; I really like that. It brings an element of split-second tactical decision-making into combat, and making combat more interesting/choice-driven is good in my book.

I came up with this one because to parry a natural 20 requires a natural 20, if the defender still has an attack (which means they can dodge) the smart play is to simultaneously attack as the attacker won't be able to defend at all and you were going to take damage 95% of the time as it was. To me the smart play is to not take critical damage yourself if it can be avoided, but it should have to come at a cost: one action: the dodge. I originally wrote "can not be parried". It can, but it is so unlikely to ever happen that this rule give the player another viable option.

13) Rolling really low (maybe 01-02) on a skill can result in more than failure; negative consequences: food poisoning with several days of reduced stats in the case of cooking. Just use imagination for the really bad failure consequence.

[Hotrod]

I forgot some:
11) Skills give 25 exp if successful and 10 exp if not.

Interesting. I'd actually invert this; I tend to learn more from failure than from success, and from a game development standpoint, it allows lower-level characters to advance a bit more quickly, whereas more-experienced characters will benefit from their players focusing on other means of advancement.

12) Any skill can only be counted for exp the first three times used in any game day. Ex: cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If cooking is attempted a fourth time the same game day, no exp is awarded, regardless of success. Ex: My son rolled a 26 IQ on his Wolven wizard and I recommended he take cooking twice to farm exp due to the +10% specialization bonus and the high IQ bonus. Side effect: my character doesn't have to cook anymore

This seems reasonable as a way to avoid sessions becoming xp farming through repetitive skill performance.

13) Rolling really low (maybe 01-02) on a skill can result in more than failure; negative consequences: food poisoning with several days of reduced stats in the case of cooking. Just use imagination for the really bad failure consequence.

Do you mean "rolling really high?" Success is defined by rolling under a skill percentage, so 99-00 would be the most-failing possibility. Rolling 01-02 might be more of a critical success, where you do something extra-well and possibly gain an unexpected benefit.

Regardless, this seems a bit more iffy to me. By this rule, the best chef in the world would be giving his clients food poisoning about every month and a half. I would go with something along the lines of "if you roll more than 50 over your skill %, then you have a skill failure with additional negative consequences."

[Whiskeyjack]

I forgot some:
11) Skills give 25 exp if successful and 10 exp if not.
12) Any skill can only be counted for exp the first three times used in any game day. Ex: cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If cooking is attempted a fourth time the same game day, no exp is awarded, regardless of success. Ex: My son rolled a 26 IQ on his Wolven wizard and I recommended he take cooking twice to farm exp due to the +10% specialization bonus and the high IQ bonus. Side effect: my character doesn't have to cook anymore

I think this is just going to add unnecessary book keeping. You use a skill you learn.
Your second part isn't needed. Rolling on a skill should only matter when it effect gameplay. Cooking breakfast shouldn't require a roll. Cooking breakfast for a noble you are trying to impress does. Giving experience for using skills just requires common sense. If someone says they are going to do 100 back flips and picks up the dice, just tell them, "you do 100 backflips, some you make, some you don't" and move on with the game. No experience given.

[Hotrod]

I forgot some:
11) Skills give 25 exp if successful and 10 exp if not.
12) Any skill can only be counted for exp the first three times used in any game day. Ex: cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If cooking is attempted a fourth time the same game day, no exp is awarded, regardless of success. Ex: My son rolled a 26 IQ on his Wolven wizard and I recommended he take cooking twice to farm exp due to the +10% specialization bonus and the high IQ bonus. Side effect: my character doesn't have to cook anymore

I think this is just going to add unnecessary book keeping. You use a skill you learn.
Your second part isn't needed. Rolling on a skill should only matter when it effect gameplay. Cooking breakfast shouldn't require a roll. Cooking breakfast for a noble you are trying to impress does. Giving experience for using skills just requires common sense. If someone says they are going to do 100 back flips and picks up the dice, just tell them, "you do 100 backflips, some you make, some you don't" and move on with the game. No experience given.

During the Siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War, there was a Georgian sharpshooter who played his cornet once a day over the course of a month. He played so well and so beautifully that both sides would stop shooting and listen.

While I agree that you shouldn't count irrelevant and pointless skill rolls for experience, I would count ordinary actions like cooking breakfast as a skill roll. There are a great many mundane skills that otherwise become pointless if you don't count them for experience in fairly mundane situations. Skill rolls for experience should be relevant to the situation, and their success or failure should have consequences. They may not be as immediately important as cooking for the High Priest of Ra, but they may well shape how events unfold.

In the case of something like cooking breakfast, a successful roll might yield a hearty breakfast that might well keep the party going longer or provide a modest benefit to how long they can go in difficult conditions without rest or another meal, while a failed roll yields a disappointing meal that might give the party indigestion and/or slow down their progress as they work through the day with a sour feeling in their guts or, depending on how badly they roll, deal with diarrhea or minor food poisoning (requiring a medical skill check to treat, perhaps).

Let's say your party is on a sea voyage. Sailing and Navigation are important for determining if you're going the right way and how efficiently you're sailing; failing these puts you off course or reduces your effective speed. When your ship takes damage in a storm and/or needs some maintenance, then carpentry, boat building, and rope works are important; failing these rolls leads to wasting materials, requiring more repairs, and/or reducing the ship's performance/speed. Cooking is important for keeping your crew/party fed and happy; failed rolls leads to more grouching. Fishing is a key way to keep your food supplies plentiful; failure means you're stuck with hard tack. Singing/Play Musical Instrument/Public Speaking/Dancing are good ways to keep the crew entertained and gain esteem in their eyes; failed rolls lead to mockery and/or increased alcohol consumption.

Let's say you have a character who's been imprisoned who chooses to sing songs of home every evening to lift their spirits. Maybe that act moves a guard to a small act of mercy that makes the difference between life and death for the character and the party.

It's on the player to use skills in a purposeful way and communicate that purpose to the GM when necessary, and it's on the GM to make the outcomes meaningful. In general, I prefer to err on the side of awarding experience.

[Whiskeyjack]

You're kind of reinforcing my point here.
Every example you gave is using the skill with the goal of improving the skill (gaining experience) or is necessary for gameplay.
Do you make your players roll a language skill for every sentence they speak in game?I'm guessing not, even though they are actively using the skill, they are not actually learning anything new in using it. If they were talking to someone who spoke a different dialect, or an ancient form, then that is when you would generally require the roll (unless they don't speak it well to begin with.
I had a GM once make us roll to make toast in the morning (it was a modern day campaign). Being level 1 our skill was low. We went without breakfast because we failed to make a roll to make toast. I think we even had to roll for cereal. I make my wife eggs every morning. I have no where near a 98% cook skill, but I have never messed up the eggs. I am learning nothing more about cooking making the eggs. It will not help me one bit when I have to make a three tierd wedding cake, which I would have to roll on my skill to attempt and would gain some experience as it is a new an challenging task.
Coming back to in game cooking, I would not consider the making of as regular meal from your prepared ingredients that you use every day to be a skill check. Making that breakfast with foraged materials in adverse weather? Definitely requires a roll with a fail resulting in a ruined meal or possible food poisoning (because everyone knows you have to boil Gnome Cap mushrooms before you fry them to remove the toxins).

[Captain_Nibbz]

You're kind of reinforcing my point here.
Every example you gave is using the skill with the goal of improving the skill (gaining experience) or is necessary for gameplay.
Do you make your players roll a language skill for every sentence they speak in game?I'm guessing not, even though they are actively using the skill, they are not actually learning anything new in using it. If they were talking to someone who spoke a different dialect, or an ancient form, then that is when you would generally require the roll (unless they don't speak it well to begin with.
I had a GM once make us roll to make toast in the morning (it was a modern day campaign). Being level 1 our skill was low. We went without breakfast because we failed to make a roll to make toast. I think we even had to roll for cereal. I make my wife eggs every morning. I have no where near a 98% cook skill, but I have never messed up the eggs. I am learning nothing more about cooking making the eggs. It will not help me one bit when I have to make a three tierd wedding cake, which I would have to roll on my skill to attempt and would gain some experience as it is a new an challenging task.
Coming back to in game cooking, I would not consider the making of as regular meal from your prepared ingredients that you use every day to be a skill check. Making that breakfast with foraged materials in adverse weather? Definitely requires a roll with a fail resulting in a ruined meal or possible food poisoning (because everyone knows you have to boil Gnome Cap mushrooms before you fry them to remove the toxins).

I think that the point Hotrod was trying to make here was that its up to the GM to make these skill rolls important, and that by doing so it increases the value of skills that otherwise are mundane and useless. That being said, it sounds to me like your GM was getting a little too detailed in the nitty gritty of the skill use. I also think that they should have taken into account the differences between making toast in a modern toaster compared to some of the examples that you listed above and given you a bonus to your skill's chance of success for it being a ridiculously simple task (maybe like a +30% to the skills chance of success perhaps?). I do agree with you however that asking for a skill roll on something that doesn't need a skill roll (like your language example) isn't something that should really be called for. That being said I don't think that having a native language skill really adds to the game . . . but thats another discussion

Here is what I propose on this one: A character's base chance of success when using a skill can be modified based on the complexity of the task based on the following scale:

Very Easy: +30%
Easy: +20%
Moderate: Normal skill roll
Hard: -15%
Very Hard: -30%
Nearly Impossible (or alien tech): -40%

Thats just my two coppers on the matter.

[kiralon]

I play it using difficulty levels too, but go by,
Make the roll by %10 (Withing 10 of what you need. Say cook is %35, if you roll a 25-35 you just make it and accomplish a very easy task, in this case bread and cheese for breakfast)
Make the roll by 11-20 (easy task, toasted cheese sandwich)
make the roll by 21-60 ( moderate task, Home made toasted Brioche bun with thinly sliced salmon with a lemon and dill sauce, or a toasted cheese sandwich that comes out hot for 15 people)
make the roll by 61-70 (Hard task, Feast for 30 people by yourself)
make the roll by 71-100 (very hard task, making a delicious lunch with a potato and a rock and a bit of salt)
make the roll by 101+ (Impossible task, making a double egg, bacon and cheese roll in the great northern wilderness with some pine needles and a bit of dirt)

I have a perception stat, and prowl for a contested roll.
Prowler makes prowl roll, each %5 the prowler makes his prowl check by gives the guard a minus -1 to his perception check.

And i allow my players to make skills rolls whenever, even for breakfast in the morning, but if they epicly fail a skill roll for example, lets say breakfast, and make a poisonous breakfast, if they don't eat it they don't get any xp for skills for the game, i.e if they roll and epic fail and use the knowledge they epic failed they don't get xp for that session.
Just normal failing is noticeable however, and in this case id just make it use a days rations, so there are ups and down to skill rolls every day for normal things.
Backflipping to level 5 for example, you roll 100 for 1 of them and your face hits a rock and you have knocked yourself out, and you wake up naked missing all your items, but Depending on how blatant they are it might knock break their nose, reducing their PB by 2 permanently, to you have sprained your ankle and can't walk/flip or anything like that for a day or 3. In my game a 01 roll is an epic success and a 00 is an epic fail with 98 and 99 being greater fails

[Library Ogre]

When determining levels of success, I prefer to go with "The highest successful roll is the best successful roll". So, a 01 is a bare minimum success, but if you have a 30%, then 30% is the best you can roll. If I have 30% and you have 50%, and I roll 30% and you roll 20%, I did better than you, this time. But, if I roll a 30% and you roll a 31%, you did better, and you did better in a range I can't even compete in.

I also liked a suggestion I saw elsewhere for opposed rolls, however: Roll d% and add your skill bonus. If I'm 30% and you're 50%, we both roll d% to compete. If my total is higher than yours, I win. Perception v. Prowl? Opposed rolls.

[Zer0 Kay]

All races can have exceptional examples not just those that roll 3D6.

3D6 gets +1D6 for rolls greater than 15 (stated 16+). All races can use this formula.
The 3 in 3D6 is N for number of dice rolled
The 6 is S for sides of dice rolled
Ignore multipliers or +/- modifiers
(SxN)-S produces the number to beat for a bonus die.
If the bonus die is =S then roll another die
For each bonus die that is =S roll another die. The max number of bonus die is =N
So humans and other 3D6 can get up to 3 bonus die for a total of 6D6.

Some people think this can break everything but the chances are better for low roll low dice creatures and for creatures like dragons the first bonus should occur once every other dragon and for the last bonus die is less than 1 in 1000 rolls.

[Library Ogre]

So, how would this work for everyone:

Instead of "Totals of X or higher on Yd6 get a bonus die", what if we went with "reroll all 6s"

[kiralon]

I think you would end up with characters with stats higher than the gods.
I don't think starter characters should have stats close to the gods.