Sean "Malachias Invictus" Laney's Iron Heroes House Rules

Chapter Two: Traits

Child of Faith has a new ability option, (described here under Altered Traits).

Perceptive gives the following benefits: +2 to Listen, Sense Motive, and Spot; you do not take -5 to Spot and Listen checks when distracted.

Shadow Born is replaced by Unearthly Ancestry (described here under New Traits).

Chapter Three: Character Classes

Multiclassing will be altered. Stay tuned.

Chapter Four: Skills and Ability Checks

Craft: I have made Craft more similar to Knowledge. When you first put ranks in Craft, you choose a medium (Clay, Crystal/Glass, Hide/Leather, Metal, Stone, Wood - any other suggestions?), and a size category (Trinkets/Tools or Objects/Structures). You may gain an additional size category for 1 skill point. You may gain the use of half your Craft ranks (round down) in a new medium for 1 skill point, and your full Craft ranks for 2 skill points.

For example, a character has 5 ranks in Craft: Metal Trinkets/Tools (T/T). He spends 1 skill point on Wood, which gives him 2 effective ranks in Craft: Wood (T/T). Later, he decides to put another skill point into Wood, giving him his full 5 ranks in that skill. He then puts a point into Objects/Structures (O/S), and therefore now has 5 ranks in Craft: Metal (All) and Wood (All).

For the purposes of sculpting Created elements and spell effects, use the Clay medium.

Alchemy and Brewing are not a part of this structure, and will be dealt with separately (soon, hopefully). I have not decided whether or not to make Apothecary and Herbalist their own skills, and if so, whether or not they should be Crafts or Professions. There is also the issue of a possible Lore Mastery for Alchemy.

Knowledge: Local: Each skill point put into the Local field of study gives the character the ability to choose a number of areas equal to his Intelligence bonus (minimum 1) to apply this skill to.

Chapter Five: Feats

When a mastery feat supercedes a previous one, you may replace the earlier feat with any feat you could have learned at the time you took the earlier feat. The following is a list of mastery feats that can be superceded, followed by the feats that can supercede them, and any alterations thereto:

Armor Mastery (Armor): 2,8 (by 8,10)

Deflect Missiles (Defense): 4 (by 8)

Far Shot (Projectile): 8 (by 10)

Healing Lore (Lore): 2 (by 6), 1 (by 3,5,7,9, which have the cumulative effects of all previous masteries in this group)

Improved Disarm (Finesse): 3 (by 6, which includes the effects of 3)

Manyshot (Projectile): 4,6 (by 6,8, which allow the options of all previous masteries in this group)

Mounted Archery (Projectile): 1 (by 2)

Overwhleming Presence (Social): 3 (by 8), 7 (by 10)

Power Attack (Power): 5,6,9 (by 6,9,10, which allow the options of all previous masteries in this group)

Rapid Shot (Projectile): 2,6 (by 6,8, which allow the options of all previous masteries in this group)

Two-Weapon Fighting (Finesse, Power): 4 (by 7, which includes the effects of 4)

Venom Lore (Lore): 2 (by 8), 3 (by 6, which includes the effects of 3), 4,7,9 (by 7,9,10, which allow the options of all previous masteries in this group)

Vorpal Hurricane (Power): 6 (by 9)

War Leader (Tactics): 3 (by 7)

For spellcasting-related feats, please look (described here, under New Feats and Altered Feats.

Chapter Eight: Combat

Damage Resistance: Damage Resistance from armor is /-, rather than /Magic. Armor DR penetration is still possible, as a property of an item or a quality of a creature.

Damage, Injuries, and Death: When your character's hit points drop to between 0 and -(Constitution bonus), he is Disabled. When they drop to -(10+Constitution bonus), he is at Death's Door.

A character who is at Death's Door and stable may convert reserve points to hit points at the rate of 1 point per hour, rather than 1 point per minute.

If a character runs out of reserve points and has a hit point total of less than -(Constitution bonus), he only heals 1 hit point per 4 days if he gets 8 hours rest each day. Complete bedrest for the full 24 hours heals 1 hit point per 2 days. Being under the care of a healer doubles these rates.

Chapter Ten: Magic

Please see Sean \"Malachias Invictus\" Laney's Iron Heroes/Elements of Magic Arcanist Fix (HTML).

Other

Races: Races other than human are uncommon, particularly in human lands. Other fantasy races are created the same as humans, but with a +1 Level Adjustment to reflect both their rarity and the power of their racial abilities. For most races (including Half-Orcs and Dwarves), I have replaced Darkvision with Triple Low Light Vision (they can see three times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions). Half Orcs also gain the Savage Appearance Trait; see Iron Heroes, page 26. The exception to the Level Adjustment rule is Half-Elves: they are created by taking a human character and taking the Elf Blood Trait, which gives them their racial abilities.