Queen of the Spiders (PF2e House Rules)

These are house rules for a level 10 to 20+ Pathfinder 2e campaign based on the Queen of the Spiders.  Specifically, Descent to the Depths of the Earth (D1), The Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (D2), Vault of the Drow (D3), and Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Q1).

All rules are flexible. If they don’t work, we can drop/change them.

GENERAL CHANGES

Proficiency without Level

Link to the variant rule. This removes your level from your proficiency calculation. Why the change? This flattens the math significantly, allowing for smaller numbers (and quicker calculations).  More importantly, as Queen of the Spiders is an AD&D adventure, it has a lot of large-scale encounters (e.g., a 100 troglodytes).  These don’t work well in PF2E because of the tight math and how the level range of enemies, consequently, is tight (PC level -2/+2).  Flattened math, similar to 5e (but not to the same extent), allows lower-level monsters to be a threat and high-level monsters to be vulnerable (that one random shot from an archer with a dragon-slaying arrow can bring down the dragon in this version).

This also allows the reintroduction of Target Number for each encounter (1 number for AC and DCs).

Free Archetypes

The free-archetype optional rule is active. Normally, an archetype is like a multiclass (you trade a class feat to get a feat from another class or custom subclass). With the free archetype rule, you get a free archetype feat every time you get a class feat. When you use the optional rule, it’s a way to customize your character instead of multiclassing. There are lots of different archetypes.

Healing Surges

Healing Surges avoid infinite healing loops and introduce more tactical and strategic decision points. This also acts as a type of Endurance system in the wilderness.

(Modified) Group Initiative

At the start of each round, each player must make an initiative check. The target number is the enemy group’s initiative score. The result determines when you can take your turn this round. On a success, you take your turn in the early phase, before the enemies take their turns. On a failure, you cannot take your turn until the late phase at the end of the round.

Critical Success. If you roll a natural 20 on the die when you make an initiative check, you take an extra turn this round: one turn in the early phase and another in the late phase.

Enemy Initiative. Each enemy has a fixed initiative score. The enemy group’s highest initiative score is used as the target number for all initiative checks. This number should be written on or near the battle map for reference, so the players can roll for themselves each round without needing help from the Judge. This number may change depending on monster casualties.

Why? It provides more dynamism to the round-to-round action without burdening the DM. It also allows for a mechanical way to earn Hero Points. Most importantly, it allows for the new Retreat action. Finally, it adds another tactical option, Retreat, and a way to “earn” the retreat. For example, the party is facing off against a harpy (flies, has high initiative) and a group of goblins (slow, low initiative). If the party can kill the harpy (and thus reduce the enemy initiative number), they can then attempt a Retreat action using the DC of the slower goblins.

Retreat Action

A new action – Retreat.

At the start of any round during combat, the party may make a collective choice to retreat, as long as there is a clear avenue of escape. If they decide to retreat, their initiative checks this round are made as a group check to flee from their attackers. Fallen characters can be carried or dragged by other party members.

On a success, the party escapes the encounter. Each character loses 1 healing surge, or 2 healing surges if they are carrying or dragging a fallen ally.

On a failure, the party is unable to find a window to escape this round. The Judge resolves another round of combat, and the players use the results of their retreat check as their initiative rolls.

Dying & Resolve

PCs don’t die at zero HP. Instead, they continue to fight, but each time they are hit, they must make a Resolve check and, on a failure, gain Dying 1; at Dying 4, you die. If you did not make a Resolve check this round and are still at zero HP, you automatically increase your Dying condition by 1. A Resolve check is a flat DC 10 + your Dying value check.

Group Checks

Retreat and Group initiative are dependent on a Group Check.  Everyone involved in a check makes a roll.  The degree of success is determined by how many successes/failures are accumulated during the check using the following table:

* A bane in this context means your next critical success is reduced by one degree.

Traditional Alignment System

The campaign uses D&D’s 9-point alignment system. However, the cosmological focus is much more on Law vs. Chaos than Good vs. Evil (for example, Blood Wars).

Sphere/Line replaced by Blast/Path

Purely to make it easier to map out on a grid, spheres become square-shaped spreads. So, a 20-foot sphere is Spread 5 (a 5 x 5 square). Lines become paths.

Blast

A blast affects a square pattern on the battle map. At least one square of the pattern must fall within your range. The accompanying value indicates the length of one side of the square; thus, a blast 4 would affect sixteen squares in a 4 x 4 area.

Path

A path is a snaking connection of squares. The initial square must fall within your range, but subsequent squares can travel beyond it. Paths must be connected edge-to-edge (no diagonals) and cannot form a 2 x 2 square at any point.

Heroic Recovery Rule 

After a failed Strike (or spell attack), a character can choose to expend a Hero Point or a Healing Surge to deal half damage instead.

Izanami’s (The Raven Queen’s) Eternal Champions 

At the start of a battle, the Raven Queen’s Favour die (Escalation die) is set to 0. Each round, there after at the start of the turn, the die clocks up by 1 to a maximum of 6.  This grants the heroes a +1 to hit on all attack rolls, and increases all the champions’ DCs by 1 as well.

Why? The escalation die is a tension and cleanup mechanic.  It allows the PCs to clean up faster as momentum swings to their side and motivates PCs to hold off on big attacks until they are more likely to get a critical by landing a hit (or critical failure on a saving throw).

Milestone XP

Level up occurs at specific narrative (or other specific) points in the game that the PCs achieve. What exactly needs to be done will be made clear after each level up for the next milestone.

Boons & Banes

As the game uses milestone XP, normal XP can be used to gain a Boon or a Bane. Details here.

SPECIFIC CHANGES

Spellcasting

All one and two-action spells have their cost reduced to 1 action. However, they also have the Flourish trait. This means that spellcasters will now have all three of their actions, but can only still cast one spell a round. Exception: 1 action cantrips are not affected by this rule. Why the change? I want the 3-action economy to be three actions where possible.

Guardian

These changes are specific to the Guardian class and may change when the class is fully released.

• Taunt happens automatically and inflicts a -2 to hit on “marked” enemies if they do not attack the Guardian.
• If a taunted creature provokes an attack of opportunity due to movement from the taunting Guardian, and the Guardian hits the target, the target’s movement is reduced to zero and cannot Stride again until the start of the creature’s next turn.

Hengyokai

Any PF2E race that is an “animal race” is a hengyokai (as the adventure started in Korea/Asia). A hengoyoaki is an animal that can transform into a human. All hengyokai start the game with the ability to shapeshift between their animal form, a hybrid form, and a specific human form as an action. When traveling in civilized lands and interacting with humans, hengyokai always use their human form to avoid persecution or raising suspicion.

Mythic Rules

At level 10, you become mythic. Instead of following the standard rules of mythic progression (essentially a list of more feats and a couple archtyepes) each PC gains specific powers to use. These are from 4e and easily convert to pf2e:

Each PC receives an Encounter, Daily, and Utility power from the following lists as your mythic boon. You can either pick ones you like (with DM approval, and I will need to convert it to pf2e) or I can just randomly select them. I don’t mind either way. You can select up to level 10 for each type:

• Fighter: https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Fighter#Fighter_powers
• Sorcerer: https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Sorcerer#Sorcerer_powers
• Barbarian: https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Barbarian#Barbarian_Powers
• Artificer (Inventor): https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Artificer#Artificer_Powers
• Psion (Kineticist): https://dnd4.fandom.com/wiki/Psion#Psion_powers