Your tiniest houserules

[Dustin]

• Crit results: On 9-11 on the crit table, you get Strong damage: +1 damage per die, or a flat +2, whichever is better.

• Parrying unarmed attacks does half normal damage.

[Dammann]

Something I got from another forum user for Stealth:

Stealth is a QC versus the Hearing roll of the opponent who is being creeped upon. I don’t reveal the outcome of the opponent’s roll, but consult the Speed/Range table for the distance a Stealth using character can approach before being detected.

So players may know how well they have rolled, and make calculated risks about how close to get, but they don’t know when they’ll be noticed, or if they’ll be noticed by sound alone. At some point, they simply cross a threshold that they cannot predict. It makes for suspenseful tiptoeing.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Buying attributes down only counts against a disad limit if doing so brings them below the radial template's base level.

Ah. So I can delete that sentence.

[Donny Brook]

Subject to the spelling correction I've now made in the post, I guess.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

The Evaluate Action
The evaluate action provides a +2 to hit on the first turn of evaluating. The second turn gives +1, for a total of +3. The ability able to take further Evaluate Action

The intention is to make the Evaluate action a bit more tempting.

Evaluate Mastery [1 point]
You can evaluate for an extra turn. The first two give +2 the third gives +1. (For a total bonus of +2 to hit if you evaluate for 3 turns).

The Wait Action
If a full turn passes without triggering your wait action you can take a Step and Evaluate a target without changing your turn order.

This effect is meant to model circling/carefully approaching a target with f.ex. spears readied to intercept an opponent's charge.

I like the change to Evaluate. I might personally just double the RAW effect to make Evaluate worth it, but if that's too much I might go with this.

Definitely love the Wait change.

Originally Posted by malloyd

"Successful Detect Lies reveals why the character answered as he did rather than if the answer is a lie. If he hopes to mislead you it is likely a lie, but could be carefully selected truth. Other results (wants to convince you to take a particular action, hopes you will stop bothering him with irrelevant questions, etc.) can be even more ambiguous." is also a small change, but completely alters what the skill is good for.

Ooh, I really like this. Sprinkling this tiny amount of psychology definitely fits what the skill is doing.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

My only real house rule is what I call "Condensed Specialties", which is basically reverse-engineered from Optional Specialties.

Take a skill that has a lot of required specialties (f'rex: Mechanic, Engineer, Electronics Operation/Repair, Games, Piloting, etc.), but not one with a mere handful (e.g. not Beam Weapons, nor Guns when using the Alternate Guns article). To be omniproficient in that skill, increase the difficulty by one step - IQ/A with a bunch of specialties becomes IQ/H for all specialties.

(I could never get a Pyramid article written to enshrine this in any Alternate GURPS issue; the best I could get was a sidebox, but no article to go with it.)

I absolutely love this idea. I wonder if it would be too much for the smaller group skills to have.

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Fast-Draw is a skill-specific perk. Roll against the underlying skill.

It does seem a bit odd to me that Fast Draw is an unrelated skill to the main skill. I feel like it should default at the very least to the given skill.

Originally Posted by Dustin

• Crit results: On 9-11 on the crit table, you get Strong damage: +1 damage per die, or a flat +2, whichever is better.

• Parrying unarmed attacks does half normal damage.

I've entertained the idea of moving "does max damage" to 9-11, but this is a less extreme version I might use instead.

For the parrying thing, does that mean that I do half normal damage of my attack when I parry an unarmed attack?

[lugaid]

I've added a 5-point version of High Pain Threshold, called Pain Tolerance. Halves Shock penalties (rounded up), +1 to remain conscious, resist pain-based Interrogation, or resist Knockdown.

I require characters to have an appropriate Reputation for any Skill at level 14+, or else a good reason not to have one (Secret, UB, or whatever).

I agree with PK that Regrowth should only cost 10 points.

I use the old 3E rules for infections: the infection ends when all the infection damage is healed or the infected area is removed, not on the first successful HT roll. Successful HT rolls heal infection damage. Exception: a critical success on the HT roll ends the infection, but the remaining infection damage has to heal normally. Of course, normal healing can't begin until the infection ends.

Green Thumb Talent gives a bonus to Pharmacy/TL (Herbal) instead of Herb Lore because I don't use Herb Lore.

I use the "Cumulative Effects of Horror" rule from p. 140 of Horror, with the addition that the penalty drops by 1 per game day without a Fright Check.

And two minor Technical Grappling adjustments:

Odd-numbered CP affect DX, even-numbered CP affect ST. (This is basically an easy way to remember the "High Definition CP" optional rule. Another easy way would be to divide CP by 2, rounding up for DX and down for ST. It's all the same result.)

The Neck Control Perk gives +1 to hit, not a bonus to CP.

[RGTraynor]

My complete list of houserules out of the Characters book: https://ravenswing59.blogspot.com/20...t-changes.html

Same with Magic: https://ravenswing59.blogspot.com/20...-ii-magic.html

I leave it to you fine folk, if interested, to gauge which of those are "tinier" than others.

[RedMattis]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

I like the change to Evaluate. I might personally just double the RAW effect to make Evaluate worth it, but if that's too much I might go with this.

Definitely love the Wait change.

The reason I didn't want to just double it was because I'm a bit concerned it would make random thugs (and non-combat PCs) a bit too capable if they stay away for a few turns. Letting a random Axe/Mace-12 thug build up a +6 to hit would probably not break the game, but it would be pretty nasty and feels a bit too surgical of an attack for that kind of fighter. Nevermind how brutal it would make a bunch of guards with halberds that just spam Wait (with a free Evaluate if the Wait goes unused).

I absolutely love this idea. I wonder if it would be too much for the smaller group skills to have.

Personally anything that reduces the skill-lists is a plus imo.

I've taken to using Wildcard skills on just about every character I help my players design. It is much faster in play and more flexible in general. F.ex. for Wildcard Professions/themes (like Police Detective!) I just talk to my player about what the character should be capable of and anything that is relevant but isn't part of the core concept is rolled at some amount of penalty. E.g. driving rolls for the police detective, or even more penalty for trying to fix the police car when it breaks down. Etc.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

I've entertained the idea of moving "does max damage" to 9-11 . . .

That's a bit good. I've considered giving a hex of pushback on that critical result, but haven't actually implemented yet.

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

For the parrying thing, does that mean that I do half normal damage of my attack when I parry an unarmed attack?

Yes, for Parrying Unarmed Attacks (B376), instead of rolling damage normally, your rolled damage is halved.