Anyone have any homebrew rules they use for their games? (I didn't post this in the GM section because GM's aren't the only ones with amazing ideas)

I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my game for my players. I have a group of 9, including my son, that play my story every Saturday evening. We use all 3 core rule books, so I'm looking for all homebrew ideas.

Though I am looking to see what ideas this awesome community has come up with, I will be changing how we do iniative here soon. So I'd love to see some homebrew iniative rules in this thread. \

Thanks in advance folks

Why are you changing how initiative works? I have found the FFG initiatives allow for team work farm more than the way most games do them.

And as to house rules a few people here have a couple. But most seem to find the rules work fine as is.

I don't bother with the XP tax for purchasing additional specializations. In-career and universal specs cost 20XP, out-of-career specs cost 30XP.

My group roll Initiative as per FFG rules, however by default the slot is for the person who rolled it, the group still has the option to allocate the slots if they want.

We are also playing with shield points for starships instead of defense, but these rules have not been properly tested yet.

Lightsabers in my game have the weapon trait Awkward Balance which upgrades combat difficulty twice unless the weilder has a Force Rating.

Lightsabers in my game have the weapon trait Awkward Balance which upgrades combat difficulty twice unless the weilder has a Force Rating.

Yes. This makes sense. General Grievous was terribly uncoordinated with his lightsaber combat.

Also that one Qel-Droma lad who had the Force stripped from him.

Oh, and the leader of Deathwatch and his clumsy way with the darksaber.

NPC droids can get skill upgrades - They work like 0HP attatchments using the Computers skill instead of mechanics. Personality matrixes on PC droids are too delicate to tinker with.

[skill Name] -

Base Mod: Skill = 2

Optional Mod: 2 skill +1 mods

Costs vary based on type - knowledge skills are cheap, combat skills are expensive. Optional mods are 1/2 base cost per level (IE 1.5X Base cost for both skill +1 mods)

Droids connected through the slave circuit attatchment use Piloting (INT) instead of Piloting (-). They can use the ship as though it was designed for a single pilot.

Droids can have their personality matrix "saved" to a storage medium as an Upgraded Hard [RPP] Computers task.

The Matrix can be downloaded from storage or an active droid memory bank to another droid chasis as a Daunting [PPPP] Computers Task. Modify as follows:

Same Model: No Change

Same Type: +1 Upgrade (R2 -> R3)

Same Level: +2 Upgrades (L2 R2 -> L2 Pilot Droid)

Different Level: +3 Upgrades (L1 Medical -> L3 Protocol)

PC Droids can re-buy Characteristics (skills, talents, and Specializations can be reduced/deleted for more xp, but not changed.)

Failure results in a failed upload/download.

Threats can be spent by the GM to add obligation/duty or to apply setback dice to specific skills until the fault can be resolved.

Dispair can be spent to permanently lower the XP the PC has, or to upgrade the dificulty of specific skills until the fault can be resolved.

Multiple Dispair may result in a memory wipe of an active droid or total corruption of a saved personality matrix.

Lightsabers in my game have the weapon trait Awkward Balance which upgrades combat difficulty twice unless the weilder has a Force Rating.

Yes. This makes sense. General Grievous was terribly uncoordinated with his lightsaber combat.

Also that one Qel-Droma lad who had the Force stripped from him.

Oh, and the leader of Deathwatch and his clumsy way with the darksaber.

With General Grevious I have heard a theory that he was Master Cypho Dyas but after having had significant cybernetics. I don't know where that theory comes from and I have no preference myself but even if he isn't and has no Force sensitivity his arms were cybernetic and could have programming to handle safety distances, they also care nothing about the balance of a weapon.

As to the other two they are EU and I have no real knowledge of them, that said the little I do know Qel-Droma had been trained and likely had a decent number of ranks which would handily deal with that.

In the end though, if you don't like those rules don't use them. They are for my group anyway.

Lightsabers in my game have the weapon trait Awkward Balance which upgrades combat difficulty twice unless the weilder has a Force Rating.

Yes. This makes sense. General Grievous was terribly uncoordinated with his lightsaber combat.

Also that one Qel-Droma lad who had the Force stripped from him.

Oh, and the leader of Deathwatch and his clumsy way with the darksaber.

With General Grevious I have heard a theory that he was Master Cypho Dyas but after having had significant cybernetics. I don't know where that theory comes from and I have no preference myself but even if he isn't and has no Force sensitivity his arms were cybernetic and could have programming to handle safety distances, they also care nothing about the balance of a weapon.

As to the other two they are EU and I have no real knowledge of them, that said the little I do know Qel-Droma had been trained and likely had a decent number of ranks which would handily deal with that.

In the end though, if you don't like those rules don't use them. They are for my group anyway.

Or... they were all skilled enough to deal with it.

Personally I find most houserules to overly complicate FFG SW or to somehow over simplify other aspects. The game is already built to be abstract and very on the fly adjustable for GMs as most things aren't hardcoded per se. Majority of my "houserules" are actually just clarification for new players how I handle certain things.

My short list:

• In spaces with lost of obstacles or tight spaces, the Fly/Drive manuever is required to avoid any collisions as failure to use the maneuver doesn't mean the ship/vehicle just stops.
• Melee can be used for lightsabers at 50% ranks rounded down. Characters may only gain ranks in Lightsaber if they have a force rating.
• Minion groups give any weapon used the Auto-Fire quality. The maximum number of activations is equal to the number of minions in the group with that weapon minus 1. Example: Minion group of 5 troopers (one of which is carrying a Missile Tube) opens fire with their Blaster Rifles. They may activate Auto-fire up to 3 times (4 carrying blasters - first attack = 3)
• I have a list of docking fees and repair tables for my players similar to the one floating around on these forums.
• I added Knowledge skill Technology (Int). Considered a career skill for all careers for simplicity.

Anything else that comes up or causes issues is usually handled there and then with too little difficulty to justify making a rule.

With General Grevious I have heard a theory that he was Master Cypho Dyas but after having had significant cybernetics. I don't know where that theory comes from and I have no preference myself but even if he isn't and has no Force sensitivity his arms were cybernetic and could have programming to handle safety distances, they also care nothing about the balance of a weapon.

In the end though, if you don't like those rules don't use them. They are for my group anyway.

Or... they were all skilled enough to deal with it.

Exactly, the worst thing that the upgrades will cause will be a despair or two which I would narrate as the wielder doing themselves or someone else a mischief due to it not swinging like a normal weapon. With enough skill ranks the difficulty effect is not anywhere near as bad.

With General Grevious I have heard a theory that he was Master Cypho Dyas but after having had significant cybernetics. I don't know where that theory comes from and I have no preference myself but even if he isn't and has no Force sensitivity his arms were cybernetic and could have programming to handle safety distances, they also care nothing about the balance of a weapon.

In the end though, if you don't like those rules don't use them. They are for my group anyway.

Or... they were all skilled enough to deal with it.

Exactly, the worst thing that the upgrades will cause will be a despair or two which I would narrate as the wielder doing themselves or someone else a mischief due to it not swinging like a normal weapon. With enough skill ranks the difficulty effect is not anywhere near as bad.

As a swordsman I can tell you that in my training I have never hit my self. And that not hitting your self has nothing to do with the weight of the weapon or its balance. . That was a bunch of BS made up by someone who is clueless in regards to weapons. . You don't hit your self because of how you hold the weapon. not because of the weight. What a despair would really mean is you hit some other target. like say a friend a control panel etc. For example when in Ep. III they hit the control panel for the sheild of the platform on Mustafar. That was a despair.

As a swordsman I can tell you that in my training I have never hit my self. And that not hitting your self has nothing to do with the weight of the weapon or its balance. . That was a bunch of BS made up by someone who is clueless in regards to weapons. . You don't hit your self because of how you hold the weapon. not because of the weight. What a despair would really mean is you hit some other target. like say a friend a control panel etc. For example when in Ep. III they hit the control panel for the sheild of the platform on Mustafar. That was a despair.

You run it your way, I will run it mine . But seriously, 'normal' swordsmanship is very different to Lightsaber combat (as per the movies) which has much more in the way of saber whirling than the more measured movements of sword fighting. Also, it doesn't matter if this doesn't mirror the 'real life' combat style, it fits our mental view of Lightsaber combat which is why we use it.

As a swordsman I can tell you that in my training I have never hit my self. And that not hitting your self has nothing to do with the weight of the weapon or its balance.

As a swordsman, I can tell you that a lightsaber is not a sword. There is no weight to the blade, and so the balance really is totally different.

Take a 40mw laser pointer — you know, one of those things that can light paper on fire in less than a second — and tape it to a Mag-Lite flashlight. Try using that as a lightsaber. Tell me you can do those figure-8 spinning moves like you see Arnold doing in Conan the Barbarian. Or some of those Kendo moves where the blade passes close to the body as you go from one swing to the next.

Convince me that you don’t burn yourself multiple times during the process.

As a swordsman, doing heavy-weapon fighting in the SCA, I got pretty good at knowing where my blade was in relation to my body, but that was all because of how the weapon was balanced and how that balance felt in my hand as I was swinging the sword — and a sword that had too much weight in the blade relative to the pommel (or vice-versa) would give me real problems.

Take the same amount of weight and concentrate it into just the handle, and you lose that somatic sense of where that object is relative to your body.

Or, take a look at some of the out-takes and practice fights from ANH, where the lightsabers that were being used by the actors were metal handles with spinning wooden dowel rods that had stripes of a Scotchlite type substance on them.

With relatively little weight in the “blades”, those things didn’t act anything at all like the later model of prop lightsabers which instead used aluminum rods as the “blade”.

You run it your way, I will run it mine . But seriously, 'normal' swordsmanship is very different to Lightsaber combat (as per the movies) which has much more in the way of saber whirling than the more measured movements of sword fighting. Also, it doesn't matter if this doesn't mirror the 'real life' combat style, it fits our mental view of Lightsaber combat which is why we use it.

Indeed. In real-life sword combat, if you ever did a spinning move against a competent opponent, you would be dead. There have been times in the SCA when I rotated my body around that of my opponent, so that I was always facing him as I moved past. But that’s not at all the same thing as turning my back to him while I spin around and come at him from the other side.

As a swordsman I can tell you that in my training I have never hit my self. And that not hitting your self has nothing to do with the weight of the weapon or its balance.

As a swordsman, I can tell you that a lightsaber is not a sword. There is no weight to the blade, and so the balance really is totally different.

Take a 40mw laser pointer — you know, one of those things that can light paper on fire in less than a second — and tape it to a Mag-Lite flashlight. Try using that as a lightsaber. Tell me you can do those figure-8 spinning moves like you see Arnold doing in Conan the Barbarian. Or some of those Kendo moves where the blade passes close to the body as you go from one swing to the next.

Convince me that you don’t burn yourself multiple times during the process.

As a swordsman, doing heavy-weapon fighting in the SCA, I got pretty good at knowing where my blade was in relation to my body, but that was all because of how the weapon was balanced and how that balance felt in my hand as I was swinging the sword — and a sword that had too much weight in the blade relative to the pommel (or vice-versa) would give me real problems.

Take the same amount of weight and concentrate it into just the handle, and you lose that somatic sense of where that object is relative to your body.

Or, take a look at some of the out-takes and practice fights from ANH, where the lightsabers that were being used by the actors were metal handles with spinning wooden dowel rods that had stripes of a Scotchlite type substance on them.

With relatively little weight in the “blades”, those things didn’t act anything at all like the later model of prop lightsabers which instead used aluminum rods as the “blade”.

I don't measure where a sword is based on the weight. I measure where a sword is based on where my hand is and how I am holding the blade in my hand. Spend some time doing kata and slow work and you won't be hitting your self even with a 40 mw laser. As you use your hand position and grip to know where the blade is. Not the weight.

As a swordsman, doing heavy-weapon fighting in the SCA, I got pretty good at knowing where my blade was in relation to my body, but that was all because of how the weapon was balanced and how that balance felt in my hand as I was swinging the sword — and a sword that had too much weight in the blade relative to the pommel (or vice-versa) would give me real problems

Ha! I knew I wasn't the only one on here.

As to Lightsabers, I go with a middle route. You can't buy ranks in Lightsaber unless you're a F&D career. If a Despair comes up, I probably won't have you cut yourself, but I reserve the right to do so, and the likelihood of me invoking that right is inversely proportional to how cinematic and plot-relevant your action is. Pick up your fallen mentor's lightsaber and Despair while facing down the Dragon? I'll do something to the terrain or maybe have him knock it out of your hand. Juggle it to impress that cute Rodian dancing girl (or boy)? Someone's waking up in a bacta tank and you'd better hope it's you...

EDIT: I guess censorship disapproves of synonyms of "pick up" that imply rapidity.

I don't measure where a sword is based on the weight. I measure where a sword is based on where my hand is and how I am holding the blade in my hand. Spend some time doing kata and slow work and you won't be hitting your self even with a 40 mw laser. As you use your hand position and grip to know where the blade is. Not the weight.

So, here’s the fundamental problem.

Based on my experience with a sword, and what I’ve attempted to do with simulating a lightsaber using flashlight and other handles that are not actually attached to a blade, I can tell you quite conclusively that these two things are very dissimilar. I can tell you that the balance of the weapon makes a huge difference in how I can or cannot use it effectively. All of this is based on my personal experience, of course.

Based on your experience with a sword, you’re telling us that these two things are pretty much the same.

So, do you see the disconnect? Your claims versus my personal experience.

You’ve mentioned the word “kata”, so I’m assuming you have worked in some oriental martial arts with bladed weapons, possibly Kendo or something similar.

You’ve also mentioned “slow work”, which is a term that I recognize based on what we used to do in the SCA when we were practicing heavy weapons combat but without our armor. We would go at about 80% normal speed and less than normal force, and focus on getting the forms and techniques correct, so that when it came time to put the armor on and do some real sparring, then we would be better practiced at the parts involving swinging the sword.

So, are you a trained weapons master? Do you have years and years of experience in multiple weapons? If so, then I would be perfectly happy to discount my personal experience and instead pay heed to your claims.

Have you actually used a sword with a massless blade? If so, then I would definitely be inclined to believe you over my personal experience. However, so far as I know, those kinds of weapons are not physically possible according to the laws of science as we know it. OTOH, maybe there are weapons out there that I don’t know of.

That’s the basic problem. Your claims are directly contradicting my personal experience, and while I am certainly no weapons master, I do have enough experience that I’m not just going to blindly take the word of someone who says that they have experience in this space.

Haven't we all swung a flashlight and pretended we were Luke Skywalker?

I don't bother with the XP tax for purchasing additional specializations. In-career and universal specs cost 20XP, out-of-career specs cost 30XP.

I have been debating with house ruling for the XP tax as well. I have three versions and want to incorporate one.

1st Specialization House rule is that a PC gets three specializations from their career. Doesn't matter which 3 depending if a splat book for that career is out yet or not. Any future specialization that they choose costs 20xp plus 10 per out of career specialization they choose...so 20xp for 1st, 30xp for 2nd, 40xp for 3rd, and so on.

2nd Specialization House rule is that a PC only spends 10xp for career specializations, 20xp for universal, and 30xp for non-career.

3rd Specialization house rule is which was the one I am currently using is standard xp tax rules for specializations, however when you purchase a specialization you get 1 rank in two of the skills in that specialization to show immediate training in that specialization and allows for a player to feel the points spent gain something for the cost.

I'm leaning towards the first, but not sure.

I've only used this house rule for 1 campaign and our campaigns tend to be short, so I haven't collected enough evidence to be any sort of authority, but so far my players haven't taken advantage of it. I mostly wanted to encourage my players to branch out. Focusing on breadth versus depth. Sadly, they still tunneled through their trees. I don't blame them, but I was hoping it would help. I'll post here if they find any huge exploits.

Oh I liked your house rule too. Honestly feel specializations should cost something, bit not as much as they do. I make the roleplaying cost of gaining the specialization more important than how much xp

As a swordsman I can tell you that in my training I have never hit my self. And that not hitting your self has nothing to do with the weight of the weapon or its balance.

As a swordsman, I can tell you that a lightsaber is not a sword. There is no weight to the blade, and so the balance really is totally different.

Take a 40mw laser pointer — you know, one of those things that can light paper on fire in less than a second — and tape it to a Mag-Lite flashlight. Try using that as a lightsaber. Tell me you can do those figure-8 spinning moves like you see Arnold doing in Conan the Barbarian. Or some of those Kendo moves where the blade passes close to the body as you go from one swing to the next.

Convince me that you don’t burn yourself multiple times during the process.

As a swordsman, doing heavy-weapon fighting in the SCA, I got pretty good at knowing where my blade was in relation to my body, but that was all because of how the weapon was balanced and how that balance felt in my hand as I was swinging the sword — and a sword that had too much weight in the blade relative to the pommel (or vice-versa) would give me real problems.

Take the same amount of weight and concentrate it into just the handle, and you lose that somatic sense of where that object is relative to your body.

Or, take a look at some of the out-takes and practice fights from ANH, where the lightsabers that were being used by the actors were metal handles with spinning wooden dowel rods that had stripes of a Scotchlite type substance on them.

With relatively little weight in the “blades”, those things didn’t act anything at all like the later model of prop lightsabers which instead used aluminum rods as the “blade”.

Trouble is your experience is in using weapons that are WAY heavier than the real thing. Rattan weapons are not balanced anything like the real thing.

Trouble is your experience is in using weapons that are WAY heavier than the real thing. Rattan weapons are not balanced anything like the real thing.

Rattan weapons are intentionally designed and made to approximate the weight of period-accurate examples. And more importantly, the balance as well. I’ve held real swords in my hand, and I have swung them. I have carefully checked to see where they balance the weight of the blade against that of the hilt and pommel. I have done the same with rattan weapons, and I can confirm that they actively seek to accurately balance them at the same point — and for the same reasons.

Go to the page at http://socsen.sca.org/what-is-the-sca/ and scroll down to the section that says:

Fighting in the SCA, or Why are those people hitting each other?

Armored combat in the SCA resembles medieval foot tournaments. Combatants can face each other in single combat in tournaments, or can take part in large melee battles that can have dozens or even hundreds of combatants on each side.

Since we prefer that no one gets hurt, SCA combatants wear real armor and use rattan swords. Rattan, which looks like bamboo but has a solid core, is springy enough to absorb some of the force of the blow without snapping, and light enough to approximate the weight of a steel sword. Swords are constructed by wrapping a yard-long piece of rattan in duct tape and attaching a hilt.

See also the page at http://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2007/09/building-sword-for-rattan-combat.html where the author talks about his process of building a rattan sword that accurately reflects the weight and balance of a real sword, and his comment at the bottom regarding how much his finished swords weigh.

Yes the weight is right. But he also admits the balance is still not correct. And yes I have fought using rattan. Never feels right compared to the real thing. I have found the new nylon swords are better. They have a better balance. I still use hand position and grip to know where the blade is. Not weight.

I know where my hands are with my eyes closed. I know where my blade is because I know where the grip is. I know where the grip is pointing. I have never found that this fact changes no matter what I have in my hand.

Would love to see more house rules