House rules

The campaign is mostly using standard Pathfinder rules from the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, and Ultimate Equipment. There are a few additions and exceptions:

* We are using the Kingdom Building rules.
* We are using the Mass Combat rules.
* We are using the Downtime rules.

In addition, we are using a custom variant of hero points and a variant on the aging rules.

## Stats

We're using the point buy system with 25 points. (Ref) Hit points are calculated as the maximum roll for the first level, and then either the average for subsequent levels, or an appropriate roll done in Roll20. When calculating the average hitpoints, round up. For example, for a 1d8 hit point roll, you could take an average of 5 instead. NPCs take the average hitpoints rounded down.

## Classes

All classes from the listed sources are permitted, except ninjas (Ref) summoners, and gunslingers [Citation needed].

## Races

In addition to the core races, Aasimar and Kobolds are also permitted.

## Aging

In addition to the usual aging penalties and bonuses, old and venerable characters take a 10 ft. penalty to movement speed, regardless of original speed or encumbrance. (Ref)

## Equipment

The players start with the average gp for their class, or 150 gp, whichever is higher. (Ref) If players purchase items from merchants who have been supplied with buildings from the kingdom, the players can get a 75% discount on the purchase, and can reduce the cost by another 5% for every 5 points by which they beat a DC 20 diplomacy check. (Ref)

Magical weapons do not need to have a +1 enhancement. This allows for the creation of things like flaming daggers or longswords of frost for only about 2,000 gp, instead of 8,000 gp.

It is possible to identify potions with either spellcraft or perception.

Large bear traps exist. They do 4d8+8 damage, and can be spotted with a DC 10 perception check.

Magical shuriken are not considered ammunition, so they are not destroyed when thrown.

There is a ricochet special ability for ranged weapons. It is treated as a +1 special ability.

Homing sticks of burning exist.

Shields can be serrated. Attacks with the serrated edge do 1d6 slashing/piercing.

Chocobos exist. They cost 75 gp.

## Magic

Detect alignment spells are adjusted by your current thoughts. Good characters thinking evil thoughts detect as neutral.

## Experience & Leveling

The default level cap is level 7. Characters need to do something extremely heroic or villainous to level up beyond this. Examples include:

* Participating in the defeat of a dragon.
* Landing the killing blow on a creature at least one size category larger than yourself.
* Having at least 50,000 gp in savings.
* Carrying out a five month quest.

Each of these only counts once for an initial increase in level cap. Subsequent increases of the level cap using the same method have double the requirements of the previous increase. For example, landing the killing blow on three creatures larger than yourself would increase your level cap by two, while landing the killing blow on seven creatures larger than yourself would increase your level cap by three.

Experience is granted for roleplaying and for encounters. For characters who were absent during an encounter, level-up under the downtime rules is possible up to a maximum of 1 XP less than level 8, or 50,999 experience. Beyond this, only encounters and roleplay can allow for level-up.

## Hero Points

We are using a custom hero point system designed for this campaign. (Ref)

### Awarding Hero Points

No Hero point feats, spells, or racial traits are allowed. You start with 0 Hero points and can have a maximum number of Hero points equal to your Charisma score. You don't gain them upon leveling; they are instead handed out for the following reasons:

**Faith**: In a campaign where the gods play an important role in every character’s life, hero points might represent their favor. In such a setting, the GM can award hero points to characters whenever they uphold the tenets of their faith in a grand way, or whenever they take on one of the faith’s major enemies. Such hero points might be temporary, and if not spent on the task at hand, they fade away.

**Heroic Acts**: Whenever a character performs an exceptionally heroic act, she can be awarded a hero point. This might include anything from slaying an evil dragon when the rest of the group has fled to rescuing townsfolk from a burning building despite being terribly wounded. It does not have to be related to combat. Convincing the reticent king to send troops to help with a bandit problem or successfully jumping a wide chasm might earn a character a hero point, depending on the circumstances. Note that a hero point should only be awarded if the PC involved did not spend a hero point to accomplish the task.

### Using Hero Points

**Act Out of Turn**: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.

**Bonus**: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero Points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

**Extra Action**: You can spend a hero point on your turn to gain an additional standard or move action this turn.

**Inspiration**: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.

**Recall**: You can spend a hero point to recall a spell you have already cast or to gain another use of a special ability that is otherwise limited. This should only be used on spells and abilities possessed by your character that recharge on a daily basis.

**Reroll**: You may spend a hero point to reroll any one d20 roll you just made. You must take the results of the second roll, even if it is worse.

**Special**: You can petition the GM to allow a hero point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would normally be almost impossible. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the GM. Possibilities include casting a single spell that is one level higher than you could normally cast (or a 1st-level spell if you are not a spellcaster), making an attack that blinds a foe or bypasses its damage reduction entirely, or attempting to use Diplomacy to convince a raging dragon to give up its attack. Regardless of the desired action, the attempt should be accompanied by a difficult check or penalty on the attack roll. No additional hero points may be spent on such an attempt, either by the character or her allies.

**Cheat Death**: A character can spend 2 hero points to cheat death. How this plays out is up to the GM, but generally the character is left alive, with negative hit points but stable. For example, a character is about to be slain by a critical hit from an arrow. If the character spends 2 hero points, the GM decides that the arrow pierced the character’s holy symbol, reducing the damage enough to prevent him from being killed, and that he made his stabilization roll at the end of his turn. Cheating death is the only way for a character to spend more than 1 hero point in a turn. The character can spend hero points in this way to prevent the death of a familiar, animal companion, eidolon, or special mount, but not another character or NPC.