Campaign House Rules

Pilot Episode Rule - After your first session playing a new character, you can change anything about that character.

Simplified Lifestyle - When you spend more than 1 gp per week on your lifestyle, it covers ammo and ration replacement, too.

Simplified Loot - The value you get for loot items you gather is handled by a single Int, Wis or Cha roll for the party. You'll roll when you get the loot, and I'll tell you what you found, what it weighs and what the value will be if you sell. ("You find a silver cup that's three hundred years old. It weighs 1 lb. You'll talk a collector into paying 45gp for it.")



LEGACY INFORMATION



Appraise lets you know what's worthwhile to take with you and what junk can be left behind when you search your fallen foe's pockets or ransack his inn room. This includes who will give you the best prices for the loot you find. When you loot something, you'll make an Appraise check, then I will describe mundane loot in abstract terms. I will describe anything that's particularly well made or otherwise special separately from the rest of the loot. Here's an example of a loot result: "You find 50 lbs of armor and weapons you can sell for 205 gp, 47 sp in loose coins, and a well-made shield with a stylized dragon painted on the front."
Taking 20 on this check is the equivalent of taking everything that's not nailed down, including scrap and rags, and doubles the weight of looted goods.
Picking a single item out of the loot for your own use reduces the value of the loot pile by half the value of that item. (So if you want to take your foe's longsword, take half the cost of a new longsword out of the loot value.)
Knowledge: Local pertains to settlements in the Lake Province. You can narrow the focus of your skill by taking Knowledge of a particular community, such as Knowledge: Orberry or Knowledge: Starkov. Doing so means you will get more detailed information from your skill checks. For example, rolling a Local check might get you the name of a fence in Starkov, but rolling a Knowledge: Starkov check might reveal his favorite hangout and a physical description. For locations outside settlements and beyond the Lake Province, use Knowledge: Geography instead.
Lingustics has a bit more nuance to it than the core books.
For the purposes of this game, the Common language is the Standard Imperial language, which is based on what was spoken in the Imperials' ancestral homeland. A thousand other languages are spoken across the world. Racial languages listed in the sourcebooks represent the languages traditionally spoken by those peoples in and near the Lake Province. If you list a racial language on your character sheet, it's assumed to be the local racial language, unless you specify otherwise.
Otherworldly languages (Terran, Infernal, etc.) are the equivalent of Common in their respective realms. The Abyss has a thousand awful languages of its own, but Abyssal is the most common language spoken there.
Profession can be substituted for any other skill check related to what that profession does. It can also replace a Diplomacy check to gather information among other members of the same profession.
Examples: Profession (Farmer) could be used in place of Knowledge: Nature when talking about crops. Profession (Soldier) could be used in place of Perception when keeping watch at night.

Class changes

Paladins' codes of conduct are changed substantially. Ignore all the text under "Code of Conduct" in the Pathfinder rulebook. Instead, paladins must generally maintain their alignment and abide by 3-5 additional rules that represent holy vows. We will discuss these and come up with a unique set of vows for each individual paladin.
In this campaign setting, there isn't a difference between arcane and divine magics. Your spell selection and spellcasting abilities are determined by the casting tradition of your teacher (or by the source of your power, in the case of sorcerers). Clerics, oracles, shamans and the like represent orders of holy men and women entrusted with magical secrets. If you are playing a divine caster with access to domains or inquisitions, choose ones you feel are appropriate to the character's tradition. The only limitation is you can't choose alignment domains opposite your actual alignment.
Also, if you are going to play a character who is a faith practitioner of any kind, you'll want to take a look at Faiths of Lake Province. Faith is a bit different in Cratha than you may be used to from other fantasy settings.

Other Changes

Rather than tracking individual daily rations, ammunition, simple meals and inn rooms, assume you spend 1 gp per week. This is a "lifestyle" expense. It can be higher if you wish. The more you pay, the more posh your life is.

GMing philosophy

These aren't rules, but what you can expect from me in this campaign.
I award experience points for overcoming obstacles, not defeating monsters. If the goal is to get past an ogre, you get the same XP for bluffing or sneaking past as you do for beating him in combat.
Everyone strives to play an effective character. If you feel like you're being left behind in the party's power curve, we can work on ways to build your character up. I tend not to nerf players unless they're using a truly egregious build or outright cheating.
Alignment offers a suggestion for character behavior, but doesn't dictate it. Everyone (even paladins) acts contrary to a strict interpretation of their alignment at least some of the time. Alignment usually only shifts if the character's behavior changes substantially and over a period of time. I make some exceptions on a case-by-case basis for exceptionally heinous acts.
I believe the rules give us a framework to play within. I look at them as if they are the "physics" of the game world--the underlying principles on which we base our assumptions about how we interact with that world. I do not believe that "story trumps rules."
On the other hand, stopping the game to have a rules discussion isn't fun for anyone. When rules are unclear or we can't remember exactly how they work, I may make an on-the-spot ruling to keep the action flowing. Please respect the ruling I make, even if it later turns out to be wrong.
Many a young warrior met an end due to a bandit's lucky shot or a dragon's gnashing teeth. The life of an adventurer is a dangerous one. In my games, PCs do not have "plot armor." I don't bend the rules to keep PCs alive when they otherwise would have died. It destroys any notion of challenge in the game when players know they're going to survive every fight and win in the end.
Because I tend to let the dice fall where they may as far as character death is concerned, I rarely use save-or-die monsters, spells or traps. I don't believe a player should lose their character based on one single bad die roll. I am breaking this policy in one big way in the Lake Madness campaign, though. Interacting with the lake itself can result in the immediate loss of your character.