Pathfinder House Rules


Pathfinder House Rules

Pathfinder RPG is a follow on game to Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons building upon that rules set.  The recent remastered 2nd Edition makes a number of name changes to move away from its source for legal reasons. For example Magic Missile has been renamed Force Barrage.

To help with balance the game uses "Rare" and "Uncommon" tags on some Backgrounds, Feats, Spells or other abilities.  This means they cannot be taken without GM permission and, possibly, an in game quest.  There are a lot of source books and we will not be using everything.  Assume that anything not in the following books has a "Rare" tag.
  • PF2 Core Rule Book (the pre-remaster rules)
  • PF2 Player Core 1
  • PF2 Player Core 2
  • PF2 GM Core (for magic items)
  • PF2 Treasure Vault (extra equipment and magic items)

Character Creation and Levelling

You do not need to roll any dice for character creation.  Each choice you make will give you Boosts, and possibly a flaw, to your abilities.  There are are four steps to character creation picking an Ancestry, Background, Class and Development.

Ancestry: Pick one of the Core Ancestry options.  These are: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Leshy, and Orc! You also pick a Heritages for your ancestry which can include the mixed ancestry, Changeling and Nephilim options from Player Core 1. Finally select  one of the first level Ancestry Feats available to you.

Background: Pick any common background.  Each one gives you two boosts, training in a skill and a skill feat.

Class: Pick one of the 16 classes from Player Core 1 or 2.  You get a single boost for your primary ability and  get to select a subclass or feat depending on the class selected.
  • Player Core 1: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Witch, and Wizard
  • Player Core 2: Alchemist, Barbarian, Champion, Investigator, Monk, Oracle, Sorcerer, and Swashbuckler
Development: You get four additional Boosts to round out your character.  Each boost applies to a different ability.  This means that everyone can start with a +4 in their classes primary ability and either a +3 or pair of +2's in supporting abilities.

Starting Level: We will begin the game with all characters at level 2.  Your starting wealth for equipment will be 35gp.  Remember to pick a new class feat and anything else, such as skills and spells, needed for level 2.

Retraining: The game allows for characters to retrain during downtime when they level up and replace feats with different ones should they wish.

Regional Uncommon Weapons: Pathfinder Society Play grants access to the following weapons based on a characters home Region. For ease of play all these are available for starting characters.
  • Bladed Scarf, Kama, Katana, Katar, Khopesh, Kukri, Mambele,
  • Naginata, Nunchaku, Sai, Shuriken, Tekko-kagi (Tiger Claws), Urumi, Wakizashi

Rules Changes and Clarifications

  • Stunned says "You cannot act".  Clarification this includes preventing the use of Reactions.
  • Incorporeal says the creature is immune to "Strength based checks" which would include swinging a sword but not shooting them with a bow.  In my view this should be "Immune to effects that are normally strength based skill checks".  Which are mostly Athletics actions such as Disarm and Trip even if you have an ability that lets you make the check with a different skill.
  • Battle Medicine says to use "the same DC as for Treat Wounds".  It is unclear if this also include the degrees of success.  Clarification it does have the Critical Success/Failure of Treat Wounds.
  • Spellcasting Archetypes. The wording on page 215 is misleading.  Clarification gaining the Basic Spellcasting Feat counts as having a spellcasting class feature for the purpose of activating an item with a Cast a Spell activation (for example wands and scrolls).  This is because you need spell slots, as described in the spells chapter, to count as a Spellcaster.
  • Light Cantrip vs Darkness Spell. Once people read the Light Trait it appears the Light Cantrip will function in, or even dispel, magical Darkness.  Clarification this is not the case since the cantrip targets an object not the effect and even when heightened a 5th Rank Cantrip is weaker than a 1st Rank Spell (see Player Core page 298) and thus will not penetrate a 2nd Rank Darkness Spell.

Resting and Healing

Unlike traditional D&D it is very easy to regain HP between combats using the Medicine skill and Focus Point healing spells.  A short rest only requires 10 minutes during which these activities can be performed.  Other characters may be spending this time repairing shields or performing other preparations.

Image Credits
Playing D&D I found on Reddit by: chanley012

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