Table of Contents

Major Houserules

Character Progression

Accelerated Feat Progression

You gain a feat every odd level, rather than at 1st and every 3rd level thereafter.

This means a character earns a feat at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, etc.

Free Minor Feat

Every character may take a free “Minor Feat” at level 1 from the minor feat list.

Fractional Base Bonuses

At your option, you may use the “Fractional Base Bonuses” optional rule from Unearthed Arcana. NPCs and monsters generally do not. Using this houserule, you may add the fractional remainders of your class's Base Attack and Base Save bonuses if you are a multiclass character. For example, a Wizard 1/Sorcerer 1 would have a Base Attack Bonus of +1, rather than +0, because each class level gives the character a +.5 to their BAB.

Multiclass Saving Throws

You do not get the additional +2 to a saving throw if you multiclass into multiple classes that have that save as a good save.
For example, a Fighter 1/Barbarian 1 would have a Base Fortitude Save of +3, not +5. This is calculated automatically by the VTT when multiple classes are added to your character.

Flaws

You may take a flaw at any point during your character's adventuring carrer. In return, your character gains a bonus feat. You may take as many flaws as you would like, however additional flaws do not grant bonus feats.

Most flaws have been automated in foundry. They can be found in the 'Flaws' compendium.

Classes and Prestige Classes

Archivist Spells

An archivist can only learn spells from the Cleric and Druid spell lists. Ask a DM if you wish to learn a spell from the Ranger or Paladin list, or a Cleric domain list.

If a spell is available on the cleric or druid list, you must learn it at the level a cleric or druid would. If the spell is on both the cleric and druid list, you may choose either list to learn the spell from.

This ruling applies for other classes with similar spell or power aquisition mechanics.

Druid Spells and Wild Shape

The following spells continue to affect Druids while they are Wild Shaped. All other spells are suppressed while the Druid's shape is changed.

  • Barkskin
  • Death Ward
  • Freedom of Movement
  • Longstrider
  • Magic Fang
  • Magic Fang, Greater
  • True Seeing
  • Water Breathing

Master of Many Forms

The Master of Many Forms is allowed if played in good faith, and is subject to most of the same limitations as Polymorph spells (see below).

Psionic Monks

A Monk's supernatural abilities are psionic, not magical.

Monks gain the “psionic” subtype and gain one power point per class level.

Waiving Prestige Class Prerequisites

At a DM's option, you may ignore some skill, feat, and miscellaneous prerequisites to entering a Prestige Class so long as they are not essential to the function of that prestige class nor would waiving them allow you to enter it at a level lower than normal.

Caster Level, BAB, and class feature prerequisites will typically never be waived. For example, a DM might choose to waive the Hide skill rank requirement for entering the Blackguard prestige class, but it's unlikely that they would allow a Sorcerer/Cleric to enter the Mystic Theurge class with fewer than 4 Sorcerer levels.

Feats

Animal Companion Feats

Animal companions do not benefit from the accelerated feat progression houserule. They gain feats at first level and every third level, as normal.

You may change the feats (though not the bonus feats) of any companion of yours, such as an Animal Companion, Special Mount, or an animal you own and train with the Handle Animal skill. They may be retrained just like feats on PCs. Any replacement feats must be chosen from the list of approved companion feats. Other feats may be approved by a Dungeon Master on a case-by-case basis.

Casting Feats

Feats that allow characters to cast spells or manifest powers (Hidden Talent, Collegiate Wizard, Precocious Apprentice, etc) are allowed.

You do not count as knowing a 2nd-level spell for the purposes of qualifying for Prestige Classes and other options with the Precocious Apprentice feat.

Dodge

When you take the Dodge feat, you may choose one of the two effects:

  • The feat grants a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC against all opponents. If you have another feat or ability that acts as a rider on your dodge target, you must still designate a specific creature for that rider-effect.
  • The feat works normally, but provides a +2 bonus to AC instead of the normal +1.

Endurance

A character with the Endurance feat can also sleep in heavy armor without penalty.

Extra Turning

Extra Turning applies to only one type of turning.

Monkey Grip

The penalty on attack rolls when using Monkey Grip depends on the size you wield weapons as. A medium-sized creature takes a -2 penalty, a large-sized creature takes a -4, a huge-sized creature a -8, a gargantuan-sized creature a -16, and a colossal one -32. A small-sized creature only takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls, and a tiny or smaller creature takes no penalty at all.

Powerful Build and similar features make you count as one size category larger for the purposes of wielding weapons also increases the penalty you take accordingly.

Rapid Reload

A character with this feat can reload a Musket or a Revolver as a Move Action.

Superior Unarmed Strike

You may take the Superior Unarmed Strike feat from Tome of Battle. A monk who takes this feat's effective monk level increases by up to four (but cannot be higher than the monk's total hit dice) for the purposes of calculating the monk's unarmed strike damage.

Toughness and Improved Toughness

The Toughness feat grants you 3 hit points or hit points equal to your level, whichever is higher. The Improved Toughness feat is superseded by this and so does not exist. You may still take the Toughness feat multiple times, but each additional feat grants only 3 bonus hit points.

Weapon Specific Feats and Weapon Groups

When taking a feat that requires a character to choose a specific weapon to apply the feat's benefit to (such as Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, or Weapon Specialization), you may instead choose a group of similar weapons to apply the benefits of this feat to.

This rule does not apply to feats that grant weapon proficiency, however. Feats such as martial or exotic weapon proficiency still require you to pick a specific weapon.

Examples of valid weapon groups are listed below. If you obtain a weapon that is not listed as part of one of these weapon groups, a DM can help you find or create an appropriate weapon group.

Axes

handaxe, battleaxe, greataxe, and dwarven waraxe

Blades, Light

dagger, punching dagger, rapier, scimitar, and short sword.

Blades, Heavy

bastard sword, falchion, greatsword, longsword.

Bows

shortbow, longbow, composite shortbow, and composite longbow.

Crossbows

heavy crossbow, light crossbow, repeating heavy crossbow, and repeating light crossbow.

Greatweapons

greataxe, greatclub, and greatsword.

Impaling Weapons

lance, javelin, spear, shortspear, longspear, and trident.

Maces and Clubs

club, light mace, heavy mace, and greatclub.

Peasant Weapons

club, quarterstaff, sickle, scythe, and sling.

Picks and Hammers

light pick, heavy pick, light hammer, warhammer, and maul

Polearms

glaive, guisarme, halberd, ranseur, and scythe.

Swords

short sword, longsword, bastard sword, and greatsword.

Races

The following races have been changed from their counterparts in the core materials.

Gray Elf

Gray elves have the following bonuses in addition to the standard elf traits:

  • +2 Intelligence. This is in addition to the standard high elf ability score increases.
  • Spell-Like Abilities: Gray elves can use the following spell-like ability once per day: magic weapon. Caster level equals the gray elf’s class levels.
  • +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities.
  • +2 racial bonus on Craft checks.
  • Favored Class: Wizard.
  • Level Adjustment: +1.

Sun Elf

Sun elves have the following bonuses in addition to the standard elf bonuses:

  • +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence. This is in addition to the standard elf ability score increases.
  • Sun elves gain Skill Focus as a bonus feat.
  • Favored Class: Wizard.
  • Level Adjustment: +1.

Drow (Dark Elf)

Female drow may choose to gain a +2 bonus to Wisdom rather than Intelligence.

Blue (Psionic Goblin)

Blues gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity and do not receive a penalty to Charisma.

Hobgoblin

Hobgoblins have the following statistics:

  • +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom. Hobgoblins are fast and hardy, but relatively weak of will.
  • A hobgoblin's base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Darkvision out to 60 feet.
  • +4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
  • Automatic Languages: Common and Goblin. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Elven, Orc, and Infernal.
  • Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass hobgoblin's fighter class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
  • Level Adjustment: +0

Skills

Iaijutsu Focus

Iajutsu Focus not a skill. Instead, it is a Samurai class feature. The Samurai's bonus to iaijutsu focus is equal to their Samurai level plus their Charisma modifier.

With DM permission, thematically-similar prestiege classes may be allowed to stack with your samurai level when calculating your bonus.

Use Psionic Device

Any class with Use Magic Device as a class skill also has Use Psionic Device as a class skill.

Spells

Bestow Curse

Players may not use the “50% chance to miss turn” option of Bestow Curse

Detect Alignment

Spells that detect alignment can only detect the alignment of a non-Cleric, non-Undead, non-Outsider if they have at least 5 hit dice.

Entangle

A creature can break free of an entangle spell by dealing a cumulative 10 points of damage to the plants, which have a hardness of 5 (bypassed by fire and slashing damage). This spell has no effect in an area without enough nearby plants to entangle a creature.

Grease

A creature standing within grease does not need to make a balance check to avoid falling prone in reaction to taking damage. A creature that is prone in grease can use a move action to crawl 5 feet, with no chance of failure. In addition, a creature standing on grease can move into an adjacent, non-greased square at half its speed without needing to make a check or save (this first square of movement is still at half speed). A creature is only considered “in the grease” if all of its spaces are greased; thus, a Huge or larger creature is never affected by grease under ordinary circumstances.

Limitations on Polymoprhing

Polymorph spells tend to have balance issues because they can give access to many different “solutions” within a single spell. DMs have final say on whether you can take a given form, and may change their answer depending on what you want to do with it. For example, a DM will probably veto you turning the Rogue into an octopus so they can make eight sneak attacks, but would probably be fine with you turning yourself into an octopus just to breath underwater. Using alter self to turn into obscure humanoids with special abilities (especially flight) is specifically banned.

Creatures under the effect of a polymorph spell or similar effect cannot cast spells, and cannot benefit from the effects of any beneficial buff spells.

Limitations on Summoning

Summoning spells tend to have balance issues because they can give access to many different “solutions” within a single spell. DMs have final say on whether you can summon a given creature for a particular task. For example, a DM will probably veto you summoning a Thoqqua to melt down a stone door, but would probably be fine with you just summoning it to fight an enemy.

Reduced-Cost Metamagic

Features which reduce the cost of applying a metamagic feat to a spell do not stack. Metamagic cost reduction feats do not work on magic items and cannot be used in conjunction with Divine Metamagic or similar features.

Additionally, the pre-reduction level of the spell with metamagic applied cannot be higher than the highest level of spell your character can cast.

Reincarnate

The material component cost of the reincarnate spell is 3,000 gp instead of 1,000.

System

Critical Failures

When you roll a natural 1 on your first attack roll during a turn, confirm the attack as if it were a critical hit. If this confirmation fails, the attack is a critical miss. Roll a d8, and consult the following table. Many DMs do not use this houserule; never roll unless asked to.

d8Result
1The attack hits yourself
2The attack hits an ally within range. If there are no allies within range, reroll.
3Your weapon gets stuck in the wall or ground, and you must use a standard action to pull it free. If your weapon is a ranged weapon that uses ammunition, its string breaks (or it jams if it is a firearm), and you must use a standard action to restring or unjam it.
4You overextend yourself, granting a +4 circumstance bonus on any attacks against you for the next round.
5You drop your weapon and fall prone.
6You provoke an attack of opportunity from each creature that can reach you. If there are no hostile creatures within range, reroll.
7You temporarily injure yourself and take a -4 penalty on attck rolls until the end of your next turn.
8A strange, unrelated event occurs. Its exact nature is up to the DM's discretion.

Magic-Psionics Transparency

The game assumes full magic-psionics transparency. Spells, powers, and effects that affect magic/spells also affect psionics/powers, and vice-versa.

Polymorphing

Creatures under the effect of a polymorph spell or similar effect (including Wild Shape) cannot cast spells, and cannot benefit from the effects of any beneficial buff spells.

Druids with Wild Shape may still benefit from a small subset of spells.

Out of Game

Game Summaries

If a party member writes a recap of an adventure in the Game Summaries channel, every member of the expedition gains 10 XP per character level.

GM Points

Every adventure run by a DM earns them 10 “GM Points”. Each GM point can be redeemed for either of the following:

  • 10 × level XP (1% of a level-up)
  • 20 × level GP (20 gp/level)

DMs may also earn GM Points by performing clerical tasks, such as importing classes and monsters into foundry.