I'm interested to know what are the most commonly used and relatively simple House Rules among everyone here. I'm not looking for any type of complete overhaul of the system because I find this game to be well done as is. I'm just looking for some minor things that our group can implement that will improve or streamline our experience.

For example: I prefer to have Auto-Fire cost 3 Advantage instead of 2.

Some of my most basic ones:

Any permanent changes to Brawn/Willpower likewise changes WT/ST. This includes both increases (such as from Dedication) and decreases (such as from Critical Injuries).

All characters are built using the FaD options of either +10 XP or +5 XP and +1,000 credits or +2,500 credits or +/-21 Morality (only if a Force-user tracking Morality). Starting Obligation and/or Duty cannot be altered for added XP and/or credits.

I do a few things. I do a purple difficulty die per stimpack use against resilience checks to add addiction into play for those specific packs. Each time you inject yourself, take an extra difficulty to see if you stave off the potential addiction.

My favorite house rule is no gungans and no ewoks.

If the party flips a destiny coin to upgrade a check, I cannot flip one to negate the check, and vvice versa. Once per round to flip a coin, unless the multiple destiny flip - upgrade checks will not effect each other.

Not houserules per se, but I would bend the rules for the story or fun of the game. And I try to reward creative thinking.

For example..

Player: "We are about to be killed by these guys! Can my Force Sensitive character reach inside herself and use the Force to smash the leader hard against the wall?.. I don`t have Move Force Powers though..."

GM: "Hmm... Tell you what, flip a destiny point, take 5 strain and invest the xp you get tonight in Move and I`ll let you do it. You still have to roll a force die and use a force point!"

I've been experimenting with a house rule in my current campaign. In my game, there's no XP tax for purchasing additional specializations beyond your initial specialization. All In-Career and universal specs cost 20XP, and all out-of-career specs cost 30 XP. I expected my players to really take advantage of this house rule, but only a few of them have made use of it so far. The biggest drawback is that it's not supported by OggDude's character generator.

I like the above posts and have experimented with various house rules since the Beta off and on. Certainly, the best house rule is rewarding the PC's for a creative solution to an issue whenever possible as that is the heart of the game... having fun within the narrative style and creative solutions within that framework, to me, is the game at its best. That being said, I have a few rules I really haven't changed.

1) I usually roll 1 or 2 Force Dice to help 'set' the Destiny pool. It has always added some depth and entertainment to the game

2) From the outset, I have reduced the cost of additional specializations, similar to the last poster. I have never been a fan of the +10 surcharge (I think I started with 10 and 20 per, but now it is 20 and 30 as the previous post)

I admit, as a long time GM, I am always experimenting and trying to find the right balance with players and my own interests; however, I do find the narrative mechanics of the dice system to be fairly unique in the methods and choices in interpretation. This allows for fewer 'house rules' in implementation of the dice results and the rest being a choice in modifying the mechanics in character creation, XP expenditure and items and attachments for the most part.

My favorite house rule is no gungans and no ewoks.

This made me laugh.

Most of mine are campaign-based. In my current campaign I give cheaper specs (free for in-career, 10XP out of career), because I don't have players that just want to skim the top row of a bunch of specs and get some cheap Grit or whatever. We have this understanding if you branch out, you're expected to spend quite a bit of XP there or in your previous specs before branching again.

I've been put off the space combat rules, and only use them for short chases in terrain (for which they are sufficient), but I am planning something bigger, and then I will use these by Emperor Norton:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/182940-starship-house-rules/#entry1698917

I have my own Force Move tree, but other than that I pretty much go with RAW, except for ad hoc cases like RodianClone described.

I'm interested to know what are the most commonly used and relatively simple House Rules among everyone here. I'm not looking for any type of complete overhaul of the system because I find this game to be well done as is. I'm just looking for some minor things that our group can implement that will improve or streamline our experience.

For example: I prefer to have Auto-Fire cost 3 Advantage instead of 2.

Why?

I always love the house rules that make it tougher on the players.

I am the GM for our group, and the players already have a hard enough time with out me making things up in the mechanics just to make it harder for them. I have very few house rules, but the ones actually help the players, not hinder them. My favorite is great for the "social" characters, but can apply to everyone. If you role play out your interaction for a social type skill, I may award you a boost die. If I feel that the RPing was great, I will award an upgrade. If I feel the RPing was poor, I do not hinder the character. If the RPing was ludicrous or just plain inappropriate, or done in poor taste, I then may make it tougher on them.

I have never really understood the need for house rules. The people in my group buy the books. They read the books. They come to my game understanding how the game works. Pretty simple I think. But to each their own. If you want auto fire to cost 3 or 10 Advantage, well, it really has no bearing on me.

Why?

....

I have never really understood the need for house rules. The people in my group buy the books. They read the books. They come to my game understanding how the game works. Pretty simple I think. But to each their own. If you want auto fire to cost 3 or 10 Advantage, well, it really has no bearing on me.

Are you sure?..

If the party flips a destiny coin to upgrade a check, I cannot flip one to negate the check, and vvice versa. Once per round to flip a coin, unless the multiple destiny flip - upgrade checks will not effect each other.

You wouldn’t be negating the check if both sides flipped a destiny point, but you would be increasing the odds of both Triumph and Despair.

Why?

....

I have never really understood the need for house rules. The people in my group buy the books. They read the books. They come to my game understanding how the game works. Pretty simple I think. But to each their own. If you want auto fire to cost 3 or 10 Advantage, well, it really has no bearing on me.

Are you sure?..

Sure about what. The bearing? Of course it has no bearing on me. I don't don't even know him. He just threw out a house rule, with no explanation as to why he uses it, so yes, I am curious as to why. The bearing of it on me is irrelevant really. Now I'm just curious as to why he does it. When I said it has no bearing, I mean i am curious, but I have no interest in getting into a debate about it with him. He will do what he wants regardless if I agree or not, so there is no point in trying to be persuasive. I just want to see what he is reasoning is on this.

Ok:)

I'm interested to know what are the most commonly used and relatively simple House Rules among everyone here. I'm not looking for any type of complete overhaul of the system because I find this game to be well done as is. I'm just looking for some minor things that our group can implement that will improve or streamline our experience.

For example: I prefer to have Auto-Fire cost 3 Advantage instead of 2.

Why?

I always love the house rules that make it tougher on the players.

I am the GM for our group, and the players already have a hard enough time with out me making things up in the mechanics just to make it harder for them. I have very few house rules, but the ones actually help the players, not hinder them. My favorite is great for the "social" characters, but can apply to everyone. If you role play out your interaction for a social type skill, I may award you a boost die. If I feel that the RPing was great, I will award an upgrade. If I feel the RPing was poor, I do not hinder the character. If the RPing was ludicrous or just plain inappropriate, or done in poor taste, I then may make it tougher on them.

I have never really understood the need for house rules. The people in my group buy the books. They read the books. They come to my game understanding how the game works. Pretty simple I think. But to each their own. If you want auto fire to cost 3 or 10 Advantage, well, it really has no bearing on me.

As a player, I've seen Auto-Fire marginalize too many encounters. One good roll from a player with decent mods and/or Jury Rigged, and that player can obliterate a Nemesis or clear several Rivals and Minions. Sometimes this can be entertaining, but too often it has just taken the wind out of what could have been an exciting encounter. There are probably groups out there that would love this type of thing.

Bumping it up to 3 puts it more on a level playing field with other players who don't have Auto-Fire. An alternative to that is to limit it to perhaps a single activation, similar to Two-Weapon Fighting, but I don't like this option as much because I would still want them to be able to activate it if they rolled 9-12 Advantage or multiple Triumph as that is a hell of a roll and would almost never be seen against something like a Nemesis.

Also this doesn't directly make it more difficult for the players, because the rule would apply to NPC's as well.

I do love the idea of upgrading Social checks based on how well it is role-played. This is something my GM does as well and I think it really adds to the immersion of the game. It's great to get those boost die or an upgrade for being able to come up with a creative lie or whatnot. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

My nº1 house rule is that you can't spend starting XP on characteristics. Instead, you get 3 points to distribute however you like, with the caveat that no characteristic can start above 4. This gives more XP to spend on what I consider the fun stuff: talents and skill ranks.

-EF

My nº1 house rule is that you can't spend starting XP on characteristics. Instead, you get 3 points to distribute however you like, with the caveat that no characteristic can start above 4. This gives more XP to spend on what I consider the fun stuff: talents and skill ranks.

-EF

Hmmm... I kind of like this. I might use it.

I do a few things. I do a purple difficulty die per stimpack use against resilience checks to add addiction into play for those specific packs. Each time you inject yourself, take an extra difficulty to see if you stave off the potential addiction.

My favorite house rule is no gungans and no ewoks.

If the party flips a destiny coin to upgrade a check, I cannot flip one to negate the check, and vvice versa. Once per round to flip a coin, unless the multiple destiny flip - upgrade checks will not effect each other.

In character creation after players spend their initial XP on characteristics they receive a +2 to one stat and +1 to 3 other stats of their choice, but not the same ones. Characters can never go above 5 until in game I feel they have reached the unachievable.

I also start all characters with 300 bonus xp, but if they are force users they can only use 200 of the 300 on anything force related or from F&D.

I never flip a destiny when players do, but if I flip one before a player I don't stop them from doing so.

Players get boost or setbacks based on really good or bad roleplaying as well as good or bad descriptions of an action.

If a player dedicates time in learning a new specialization or have some kind of trainer or master they get a 10pt xp discount to purchase. This usually encompasses a minimum of 3 or 4 sessions working at learning the basics of a specialization. They also gain one rank in two of their new specializations if they don't possess those skills when gaining the specialization. If a player gains many specializations eventually they won't gain any skill ranks.

If a player has at least one rank in parry and one in reflect they gain a one time bonus of 1 to their total parrying or reflecting wounds. Additionally Improved parry and improved reflect only cost two threats or one despair to activate.

In an initial intuitive round of an encounter a player or enemy can spend 3 advantages or 1 triumphs to gain an extra movement in their first round.

My nº1 house rule is that you can't spend starting XP on characteristics. Instead, you get 3 points to distribute however you like, with the caveat that no characteristic can start above 4. This gives more XP to spend on what I consider the fun stuff: talents and skill ranks.

-EF

I like this rule a lot.

But just one question: how would you handle starting Droid characters? Would you give the player more than 3 points and if so, how many? 6 or 7?

If the party flips a destiny coin to upgrade a check, I cannot flip one to negate the check, and vvice versa. Once per round to flip a coin, unless the multiple destiny flip - upgrade checks will not effect each other.

You wouldn’t be negating the check if both sides flipped a destiny point, but you would be increasing the odds of both Triumph and Despair.

That would be correct. But, I said to negate the check. I couldn't find anything in the the rules that said you cannot do that so I made it a house rule. The idea is if someone upgrades a green to a yellow, I cannot flip one to bring it back down and vice versa with my group to me (i know, you would think it would be unsaid.).

I do a few things. I do a purple difficulty die per stimpack use against resilience checks to add addiction into play for those specific packs. Each time you inject yourself, take an extra difficulty to see if you stave off the potential addiction.

My favorite house rule is no gungans and no ewoks.

If the party flips a destiny coin to upgrade a check, I cannot flip one to negate the check, and vvice versa. Once per round to flip a coin, unless the multiple destiny flip - upgrade checks will not effect each other.

We do that destiny flip too, once per turn and who says it first gets it first.

I like it, sort of adds a strategy to using them in my opinion.

My nº1 house rule is that you can't spend starting XP on characteristics. Instead, you get 3 points to distribute however you like, with the caveat that no characteristic can start above 4. This gives more XP to spend on what I consider the fun stuff: talents and skill ranks.

-EF

I like this rule a lot.

But just one question: how would you handle starting Droid characters? Would you give the player more than 3 points and if so, how many? 6 or 7?

It hasn't come up yet, but I would give 8 or 9. I'd also cut down their XP down to around 100 or 110. It's something worth looking into.

-EF

• Armor can stack, in this order thin suit, clothing, armor. Most heavy armor and full suits can only have thin suit and the armor. Some accessory with armor stats may apply, like personal shield, coat/cape over clothing, helmets, etc.

The idea is if someone upgrades a green to a yellow, I cannot flip one to bring it back down and vice versa with my group to me (i know, you would think it would be unsaid.).

I don't have my CRB on hand to verify, but it's pretty implicit that using destiny points for an upgrade can only effect that individual player's dice pool. I'm surprised it isn't RAW or wasn't clarified by Dev questions at some point.

A few I can think of...

I give everyone 1000 credits to start with. Some concepts simply can't afford what they need with 500. (i.e. a tool kit and the other basic necessities).

How I've handled auto-fire in the past is that Jury Rigged only works once per roll. I think to be fair though, if you nerf autofire too much, you've gotta also nerf crits from marauders.

I like most of the starship house rules by Emperor Norton. Space Combat is a weak point of this system.

If there's 5 players, I make base obligation 5 instead of 10. That way you don't end up at 100 the first session.

Depending on the campaign, I like to give my players one free modification to their starship (a cheaper one) to make it feel more like theirs at the start. Something like smuggler compartments.

I agree with HappyDaze that later improvements to characteristics should improve your wound and strain thresholds.