By these rules I axe!

Worried DM in the front; scheming min/maxing players in the back...

These are the house rules in effect for my World of Xoth campaign.

The World

• Here is the map of the campaign world, use it to create a background for your character.

Rulebooks

• Pathfinder Core Rulebook: By default, everything from the Core Rulebook is allowed, with specific exceptions listed below.
• Advanced Player’s Guide (APG): Players must get explicit permission to use any material from the APG (but permission is very likely to be given, unless it “breaks the spirit” of the house rules below).

Ability Scores

• 20 point buy

Races

• Human only
• You must select a cultural archetype
• Special variant “races” (such as pygmies and others) allowed on a case-by-case basis. Note that as a general rule, the party can only include a single non-human (or special variant race) character

Classes

The following classes are allowed:

• Alchemist (APG)
• Aristocrat
• Barbarian
• Bard
• Cavalier (APG)
• Commoner
• Cultist (a variant of Oracle [APG])
• Druid*
• Expert
• Fighter
• Monk
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Warrior
• Witch**

Most of the alternative class features from the APG are also available, but ask for permission.

* The Druid’s class features are modified as follows:

• Wild Shape: The druid class does not gain the Wild Shape ability. The character gets a bonus feat per daily use of Wild Shape instead.

** The Witch’s class features are modified as follows:

• Healing hex:  “The healing hex can be used a number of times per day equal to 3 + the witch’s Intelligence modifier.”
• Slumber hex:  “This hex can affect a creature of any HD, but if the target has more HD or levels than the witch, he simply becomes drowsy (treat as staggered) instead of falling asleep. This effect can be removed by the same means as awakening a sleeping creature (ie. rousing the creature using a standard action, or dealing damage to the creature).“

Feats

• No item creation feats, except Brew Potion and Scribe Scroll

Skills

• No changes

Equipment

• Regional equipment (more on this later)
• Weapons and armor created by master-smiths get “quality” bonuses that are equivalent to enchantment bonuses in all respects. Such equipment is very rare and expensive.

Spells

• See the “Mysteries of Magic” post for details.

Magic Items

• True magic items are very rare, usually unique relics from older civilizations. The art of crafting magic items has been lost.

Character Improvement (Training)

• Characters can spend time and money on “training” to increase ability scores or gain permanent bonuses to saving throws, armor class. (This will be further explained in a separate post.)

Other Rules

• No alignment
• Players roll all the dice
• Hero Points from the APG (just the points; not the feats, spells and items)
• If an item/equipment is not on your character sheet, then you don’t have it. If the party has a list of shared treasure, the list must specify which party member carries each item; otherwise the party has lost the item.
• By group agreement (majority vote), the Coup de Grace action cannot be used (exception: NPCs can use it against each other).

The mysteries of magic

“And having written, I shall enclose the pages in a sealed cylinder of orichalchum, and shall cast the cylinder from a high window into the sea, lest that which I am doomed to become should haply destroy the writing. And it may be that mariners from Lephara, passing to Umb and Pneor in their tall triremes, will fnd the cylinder; or fishers will draw it from the wave in their seines of byssus; and having read my story, men will learn the truth and take warning; and no man’s feet, henceforward, will approach the pale and demon-haunted house of Avyctes.” — Clark Ashton Smith: The Double Shadow

The core magic rules of the Pathfinder system are based on the assumption that magic pervades the world and is used almost as a substitute for technology.

But, ironically, having too much magic takes away much of the wonder and awe of magic.

At the same time, taking away too much magic or making the magic rules overly restrictive and harsh tends to alienate players, who might consider it unfair that only non-player character should have access to powerful magic. Plus, tampering with the magic rules puts an additional burden on the players, who have to learn the new rules.

Thus, the philosophy of campaigns in the World of Xoth is to change as little as possible of the actual magic rules. The sword and sorcery feel can be achieved in a campaign by restricting or changing a few key elements of the core rules which interfere with the low-magic paradigm, without totally abandoning the fantasy that players expect and enjoy.

Restricting Spell Lists

First of all, certain spells from the core rules simply do not fit well in a sword and sorcery world. Any class with access to spells should have a spell list

customized for the proper atmosphere. Spells can be excluded if they fall into any of the categories below.

Artillery Spells: Avoid spells that turn the spellcaster into a walking piece of artillery, able to wipe out a small army of opponents with a single spell. Fireball and its derivatives (delayed blast fireball, meteor swarm, flame strike, etc.) fall into this category (but burning hands does not). On the other hand, note that certain fire-cults are able to use spells such as wall of fire and flame strike, because that is their special niche and such awesome displays of power remain closely guarded secrets among them.

Life-Restoring Magic: Death is final, and characters cannot count on being raised or resurrected. In the extremely rare cases where someone is brought back from the dead, it will always be through black magic (probably requiring blood sacrifce), and always as some hideous mockery of their former selves, whether a soulless zombie, wizened mummy, or restless, mad spirit.

Convenience Spells: Rope trick is only a 2nd-level spell, yet it creates an extradimensional space where an entire party can hide from the rest of the world; hardly fitting for gritty sword and sorcery. The spell create water is certainly convenient, but the wilderness becomes a more dangerous (and interesting) place without such spells. Similarly, characters should rely on their swimming skills and their Constitution scores instead of depending on water breathing. And so on.

Instant Transportation: Teleport and its varieties make a mockery of long wilderness treks and quests into uncharted waters. Neither should dimension door and other short-range teleportation spells be allowed, because they make it too easy to circumvent defenses and penetrate castle and city walls. In a low-magic world, there are simply no adequate countermeasures against such spells.

Powerful Low-Level Divinations: Detect magic might seem innocent enough, but in the hands of power-gamers it tends to be used as a “radar” to scan areas for anything interesting (such as magical items or traps). Roleplaying improves when there is no such clear distinction of what is magical and what is not. Detect evil does not apply to a world without alignments. Comprehend languages is a mere 1st-level spell, but allows you to understand all written languages. That might not seem very important when dungeon-crawling, but if such a spell exists, there is little point in learning ancient and forgotten languages, and the role-playing aspects of trying to decipher ancient grimoires are lost.

“Superhero” Spells: Flying (through the fly spell) and turning invisible (through invisibility and improved invisibility) are examples of powers rarely seen in sword and sorcery stories. These abilities are especially powerful (and therefore unbalancing) in low-magic settings, where there are few countermeasures available.

Magical items that duplicate these types of spells do not exist either (although there are no rules without exceptions).

It becomes apparent that in many cases, skills become more important for characters when magic spells are restricted. Skills such as Climb, Heal, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival, Swim, and the various Knowledge skills are good substitutes for many of the spells listed above.

The Sign of Xoth

“At another house, where people were stirring, he asked questions about the gods, and whether they danced often upon Lerion; but the farmer and his wife would only make the Elder Sign and tell him the way to Nir and Ulthar.”

— H. P. Lovecraft: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

Many spells and other rules are based on alignments, and they need some adjustment when the alignment system is not used.

Let’s start with Protection from Evil. In the World of Xoth, this common warding spell is called Protection from Witchcraft, and is also known as the Sign of Xoth.

The spell is identical to the description in the rulebook, except replace all instances of “evil creatures” with “magic-using creatures and supernatural creatures”. Note that any spellcaster is a “magic-using creature” under this definition. A “supernatural creature” is a creature that has one or more supernatural (Su) or spell-like (Sp) abilities.

Magic Circle against Evil is called Magic Circle against Witchcraft (or simply Magic Circle).

Cultural Archetypes

In a typical sword and sorcery campaign such as the World of Xoth, the traditional demihumans do not exist, and the majority of player characters and non-player characters are human. The following broad cultural archetypes can be used to distinguish between characters who would otherwise have the same racial abilities.

Savage

Savages include warriors from the frozen north and witch-doctors from the snake-infested jungles of the south. Savages tend to have a close connection with nature, but remain ignorant of many developments that more civilized people take for granted.

Savages have the following racial traits:

• +2 to Strength
• Sturdy: Permanent benefit as per the endure elements spell, and a +1 natural bonus to Armor Class.
• Feral: Savages gain a +2 racial bonus to Perception checks.
• Superstitious: Before attacking any supernatural or magic-using creature, the savage must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + half level or Hit Dice of creature) or suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls against that creature until the end of the encounter. Exception: If the character has more levels in spellcasting classes than non-spellcasting classes, the character instead casts spells with a +1 bonus to effective caster level.

Nomadic

Nomads roam the empty wastes beyond the civilized cities; quick to strike and bound by no laws. Nomads live with their animals and usually ride into battle with them; they feel ill at ease without them.

Nomads have the following racial traits:

• +2 to Dexterity
• Proud: Iron Will as bonus feat.
• Unpredictable: The character gains a “wild card” feat. As a standard action, the character can select any feat for which he meets the prerequisites. The selected feat remains active for the rest of the day. After the character rests for eight hours, the wild card feat slot resets to empty.
• Bowlegged: Base land speed 20 ft.

Civilized

Savages and nomads eventually gather together to cultivate the land, build great cities, develop trade, and study medicine, mathematics and languages. In the civilized lands dwell noble knights, wise kings, and learned sages — as well as greedy merchants and cunning thieves.

Civilized people have the following racial traits:

• +2 to one ability score: Civilized characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their versatile nature.
• Educated: One bonus feat at first level, and one extra skill point at each level.
• Frail: Civilized people have a -2 penalty to saving throws against poison and disease.

Enlightened

A few great civilizations rise above others and gain half-mythical status. Learned beyond normal men, people of enlightened cultures are builders of cyclopean pyramids and towers that pierce the skies. Their magnificent buildings can last forever, and likewise the flesh of the enlightened ones can withstand the passage of time like no other mortals.

Enlightened people have the following racial traits:

• +2 to Wisdom
• Uncanny: Once per day, the enlightened can re-roll any dice roll, but must keep the second result, regardless of the outcome. Also, enlightened characters who reach at least 2nd level before the normal human Middle Age (35 years) gain longevity and use the following age categories instead: Middle Age (100 years), Old (200 years), Venerable (300 years), Maximum Age (300 + 3d100 years).
• Expert Builder: Enlightened ones receive a +2 bonus on Perception checks to potentially notice unusual stonework, such as traps and hidden doors located in stone walls or floors. They receive a check to notice such features whenever they pass within 10 feet of them, whether or not they are actively looking.
• Conceited: Too confident in their own abilities, enlightened ones often underestimate their enemies. They suffer a -4 penalty to Initiative checks.

Decadent

Great civilizations reach their peak and eventually start to decline. Such fallen empires are ruled by jaded nobles, corrupt priests and wicked slave-traders. Demon-worship, human sacrifice and drug abuse is all too common in these cultures.

Decadent people have the following racial traits:

• +2 to Charisma
• Insidious: +2 bonus to Bluff, Knowledge and Stealth checks, and an additional +1d6 of sneak attack damage if the character has the sneak attack class ability.
• Arcane Adept: Add +1 to the DC of any saving throw when casting spells.
• Corrupt: -2 penalty to Will saving throws.

Degenerate

The last survivors of decadent civilizations start to feud over dwindling resources, or are driven away by stronger cultures. Fleeing into the wilderness, or deep underground beneath their ruins, they start to inbreed and devolve into something no longer entirely human. Degenerates may outwardly resemble savages, but they carry the evil taint of fallen empires.

Degenerates have the following racial traits:

• +2 to Constitution
• Nocturnal: Degenerates can see twice as far as normal humans in conditions of dim light.
• Ferocious: Once per day, when a degenerate is brought below 0 hit points but not killed, he can fight on for one more round as if disabled. At the end of his next turn, unless brought to above 0 hit points, he immediately falls unconscious and begins dying.
• Unwholesome: Degenerates always have a physical deformity or a mental illness, caused by inbreeding, that sets them apart from other humans. This unwholesomeness can never be fully concealed. Degenerates suffer a -4 penalty on Bluff and Diplomacy checks (except when interacting with other degenerates), and the initial reaction of other cultural archetypes will never be better than Unfriendly.