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We have inherited a few house rules from past campaigns, which we've found make for fast paced combat, better immersion, and no cheating:
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Combat Rules:
The "12 second" rule: In the heat of combat, you as a player have 12 seconds to declare your character's actions for their turn.
In game terms, combat rounds are only 6 seconds long, but we're giving ourselves a little break here, lol. Otherwise, your PC does their default combat action, or just goes into delay. This keeps combat feeling -hectic- and tense, keeps immersion, and avoids people waiting 30 minutes or more for their turn to roll one die or something… I know you know what I'm talking about.
The best practice is to plan out your combat turn while other people are taking theirs, so that you already know what you're doing right when your turn arrives.
- We turn this rule off (or double the time) if there's new-to-RPing players, a slower action sequence for some reason, or other special needs.
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Prepare your Summons & Spells ahead of time: Players and DM should prep summon cards w/ stat blocks (for summon monster and similar spells / effects) so that all the looking up is done ahead of time. Similarly, should prep commonly used spell rules / effects (either by links to the PFSRD or in some other way) so that we don't need a long time to look them up in play.
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Roll in the dice pit: We all roll there, even the DM (except for secret rolls like perception checks to notice ambushers, etc.) Aside from removing cheating, this also makes it more of a casino-excitement feel during the game.
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Role-playing Rules:
Talk "In Character" if your character is talking, or say "OOC" if it's a meta-game conversation: this is more specific to passing info in a fight, or a social RP scene, etc. A little voice acting is better for immersion! Talk "Out Of Character" if we're handling meta-game stuff / logistics. If we're in an intense "In Character" moment, and someone needs to say something that should -not- be taken In Character, then they need to explicitly say "OOC" or "Out Of Character" beforehand so we all know and it doesn't break immersion too badly.
- Check out this RP Immersion Guide to speaking in character.
- If your character's voice is annoying, or you just don't want to talk that way all the time, then just say "In Character" and "OOC" as appropriate when we're in game, so that we all know if it's you or your PC talking.
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RP your stats: …that is, if your character has an Intelligence of 7, act dumb. A charisma of 7, act socially unconfident & low status. A wisdom of 7, you're absent-minded / lost in your head. Etc. You were given a 25 stat point buy for this campaign, which should help make strong characters that are also versatile, and as mentioned the social RP will matter quite a bit.
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