House Rules

[The Shadow]

Size Modifiers

I like this one! It makes sense.

Critical Damage Bonus Change

Interesting. I'll think about it some more. I do like that the scythe becomes REALLY deadly if you get a good hit in.

Focus (Expert)

Clarify, please: Are you altering the way Extra Effort works all the time, or are you saying that the free Extra Effort you get with this feat is limited to those things? If the latter, it's an interesting idea.

Chi's find, and will work for some settings. I'm not sure I'd use it for any of the settings I have in mind at the moment, though.

Wild Shape [Fatiguing]

I dunno about this one. Somehow it feels more "True20ish" to me to take a feat for each form you can take on. I'd rather see Bruin take "Wild Talent: Bear Form" than a generic shapeshifting ability.

Then a full-blown Shapeshift power would have a prereq. of, oh, three or four specific shapes.

EDIT: Alternatively, a Shapeshift or Wild Shape power would fit in with things like Bear Form if it were riskier - like, if there were a chance of being trapped in your new shape, or taking on its mentality.

[Bhikku]

Huh. I was going to use Chi Focus in one of my games, in approximately the way that Psionic Focus is used in the psionic SRD. I've actually got a coupld of feat trees built around it. DevianID's Focus and Chi ideas sound reasonable to me, but they do sound a bit like they'd pump up the power level of a game - which of course may be the whole point. Making super-human heroes calls for a few mods.

I, too, really like the Size Modifier idea. Sadly, I still don't have the pdf (but it looks like there's money on the horizon, so it may be soon!), so I have no idea what the page 84 modifiers look like. Ah well. For the time being i'll just use the same modifiers as attack/defense, but inversed.

The Shadow's suggestion regarding shapeshifting/Wild Shape sounds appropriate for most campaigns, but I can easily envision one where the looser one-power to take many shapes would make sense - for instance, a game where the magic is more of a fairy-tale style than heroic or romantic fantasy. (Enchanted Forest Chronicles? Oooh!)

Here's one I'm kicking around, though: Levitation. Using Move Object on yourself seems a bit off, since even fatiguing yourself would require some hefty rolling, at least for low levels. So here's my proposal:

Levitation [Shaping, Fatiguing]
You gain a fly speed equal to your move speed so long as you maintain total concentration. If you are carrying any equipment (besides the clothes you are wearing), or attempting to carry any creature with you, you must make a check against that total weight [using the Move Object chart]. By risking fatigue, you can carry ten times the listed weight [as per Move Object]. Note that carrying capacity and load rules still apply when levitating, so your speed may be reduced just as if you were walking.
Time: Levitation is a standard action. It requires total concentration to maintain.

Which leads inevitably to a new feat:

Improved Levitation
Prerequisite: Levitation (5 ranks)
You find it easier to levitate your own body. You can levitate as a move action, and only require concentration (instead of total concentration) to maintain the power.

Any suggestions on this idea? The intent is to allow characters who can really travel by floating, like the Strangers in the movie Dark City. I know in a lot of games being able to float is an immense advantage, so I'm wondering if the movement rate should be cut in half, with the option to set it back to full speed by risking fatigue or by taking an appropriate feat. (I just want to find the balance to make it worthwhile without making it too good to be true).

EDIT: I had an additional idea. Without attacks of opportunity and tactical movement and all that, a creature's size is slightly less important, tactically, than in standard d20 rules. I appreciate the simplicity of that, but there's a few monsters that always employed particular tactics in my games, based on their size and reach. So I've added a quality called "Bulk." This dictates the fighting space the creature prefers, and any tactical advantages it gains based on its size. [it will probably be worth noting that i never quite bothered to adapt 3.5 size rules.]

For example, a large monster such as a Yeti might have the note:
Bulk: A yeti prefers to fight in a 10'x10' space; if forced to fight in a smaller area, it is unable to use its Dodge defense but can attack foes up to 10 ft away (even reaching over the heads of other combatants). As a move action, the yeti can block a 15 ft width.

[DevianID]

To clarify extra effort and Focus, if you take the Expert Feat [Focus] you may get a number of 'free' uses of extra effort equal to your Ref save + your Wis. All it lets you do is use extra effort more often, BUT extra effort can double your speed, double your carrying capacity, add +2 to a roll, or allow a reroll to your Will save you failed last round. Basicly you are not fatigued if you use extra effort a few times, in effect allowing someone with the feat to get a +2 to any roll they make on average 6-14 times a day. 6-14 is a bit much, so I might reduce it to only base Ref saves, making it range from 2 at first level to 7 at 10th level.

As for the wild shape power, the reason I dont want it to be limited to only one animal is that I want it to be like enhance self, which gives you a bonus based on what you roll. With wild shape, you choose the form and need to roll to grant yourself the bonus, with the drawbacks being that there is a cap to what animal you can get based on how much of an increase you will get, and before making the check you need to set the DC of the animal size, so that if you want to shape into a bear and fail, you cant form into a wolf instead. Also, you lose any weapons you might use while in animal form, as well as any attack powers or armor, so animal form is not overpowered by any means. If other drawbacks included you getting stuck in the form or your mentailty shifts, then you would just take enhance self and combat sense instead for a similar bonus as a full round action. I might want to increase the ranks needed for a particular bonus though, if the forms are too good, but I dont see a bear being too deadly when compared to a 6th level +14 damage great-axe weilding half orc with a 22 defense and a +10 to hit and a +11 toughness save thanks to plate mail. Then again I have yet to playtest the two together.