Houserules and download link

I made this thread to keep track of houserules.

Download link for DS4.

Edit: PS: When making your character, do not forget to pick a Culture from p.143.

Character Creation

Changes to step 6.: Mages will now learn two level 1 magic spells (they cannot choose to learn one level 2 spell instead).

Edit: This was done to make Mages more versatile and less boring to play at level 1 as well as to allow to experiment with Spell Changing checks right away.

Hero Classes

Hero Classes are now made available from level 8 to allow players a better chance of making a character build they'll like.

Experience
Level / Hero Class
8 / —
9 / 3,700
10 / 4,900
11 / 6,200
12 / 7,800
13 / 9,500
14 / 11,300
15 / 13,200
16 / 15,200
17 / 17,200
18 / 19,600
19 / 22,200
20 / 25,000

Because of the lower level of availability of hero classes, the level of availability of certain talents had to be revised. Here is the updated list of availability for Hero Classes talents, starting with Fighter Hero Classes.

Fighter Hero Classes

Berserker
Battle Cry 8 (III)
Brutal Blow 8 (V)
Close Combat 8 (V)
Endurance 8 (X)
Fury 8 (V)
Lightning Reflexes 10 (V)
Smash Armor 10 (V)
Injure 14 (V)
Sweeping Blow 14 (III)

Weapon Master
Close Combat 8 (V)
Lightning Reflexes 8 (V)
Parry 8 (V)
Perfection 8 (V)
Weapon Expert 8 (V)
Marksman 10 (V)
Sharpshooter 12 (V)
Injure 14 (V)
Lacerate Tendons 14 (III)
Salvo 16 (III)

Paladin
Armored Mage 10 (III)
Blocker 8 (V)
Caregiver 10 (III)
Familiar 8 (I)
Reassess Magic 10 (V)
Riding 8 (V)
Servant of Light 8 (V)
Spellchanger 10 (V)
Battle Cry 10 (III)
Close Combat 10 (V)
Link Familiar 10 (V)
Mindful Magic 12 (III)
Smash Demons 12 (III)
Smash Undead 12 (III)
Devastation 14 (III)
Escape Death 14 (III)
Inspired Retribution 14 (III)

Access to Magic
The Paladin receives a number of spell levels each levels equal to his current level -9 (min. 0).

Scout Hero Classes

Assassin
Acrobat 8 (V)
Alertness 8 (X)
Backstab 8 (III)
Defensive Stance 10 (V)
Dodge 8 (V)
Lightning Reflexes 8 (V)
Marksman 8 (V)
Perfection 10 (III)
Sharpshooter 8 (V)
Stealth 8 (V)
Close Combat 10 (V)
Injure 12 (V)
Lacerate Tendons 10 (III)
Master Climber 10 (III)
Nasty Shot 10 (V)
Assassinate 12 (III)
Directed Poisoning 12 (III)
Lockpicking 12 (III)
Mounted Archer 12 (III)
Salvo 14 (III)
Slip Away 12 (III)
Weapon Expert 8 (III)*
*Note, I've added this as the talent Perfection requires this talent as a prerequisite. It it possible this was an omission in the rulebook. I've asked on the DS forum but have yet to receive an official answer, and this sounds like the easiest and most intuitive fix...

Ranger
Alertness 8 (X)
Familiar 10 (V)
Hunter 8 (V)
Marksman 8 (V)
Mounted Archer 8 (III)
Nasty Shot 8 (V)
Riding 8 (V)
Sharpshooter 8 (V)
Beast Master 10 (III)
Link Familiar 10 (V)
Salvo 12 (V)
Master Climber 12 (III)

Rogue
Acrobat 8 (V)
Alertness 8 (X)
Appraise 8 (V)
Defensive Stance 10 (V)
Disengage 10 (III)
Diversion 8 (III)
Dodge 8 (V)
Lightning Reflexes 8 (V)
Lockpicking 8 (V)
Pickpocket 8 (III)
Rascal 8 (V)
Slip Away 8 (III)
Stealth 8 (V)
Thievery 8 (V)
Master Climber 10 (III)
Release Spell 12 (III)
Marksman 12 (V)
Lucky Devil 14 (V)

Healer Hero Classes

Cleric
Armor Proficiency 8 (V)
Armorclad 8 (II)
Armored Mage 8 (III)
Blocker 10 (V)
Smash Undead 10 (III)
Close Combat 10 (V)
Smash Demon 12 (III)
Brutal Blow 14 (III)
Devastation 16 (V)
Inspired Retribution 14 (III)

Druid
Animal form 8 (V)
Beast's Strength 8 (V)
Beast Master 8 (III)
Familiar 8 (X)
Hunter 10 (V)
Link Familiar 8 (X)
Riding 8 (V)
Elemental Protection 10 (V)
Bear Form 12 (V)
Eagle Form 14 (V)

Monk
Acrobat 8 (V)
Defensive Stance 10 (V)
dodge 8 (V)
Lightning Reflexes 8 (V)
Stealth 8 (V)
Unarmed Master 8 (V)
disengage 12 (III)
Elemental Protection 10 (III)
Slip Away 10 (III)
Beast Master 12 (III)
Brutal Blow 14 (III)
Manipulator 12 (V)
Smash Demons 14 (III)
Smash Undead 14 (III)
Stunning Blow 14 (III)
Sweeping Blow 16 (III)

Wizard Hero Classes

Archmage
Alchemy 8 (X)
Embed Magics 10 (X)
Enhanced Cooldown 8 (X)
Mindful Magic 8 (V)
Reassess Magic 8 (X)
Rune Lore 8 (X)
Servant of Darkness 8 (V)
Servant of Light 8 (V)
Spellchanger 8 (X)
Arcane Explosion 10 (V)
Imp 10 (III)
Manipulator 10 (V)
Staff Binding 12 (V)
Homunculus 12 (III)
Link Familiar 12 (III)
Conjurer 14 (III)
Control Explosion 16 (V)
Defy Elements 16 (V)
Spell routine 16 (III)
Subdued Summoned 16 (III)
Undead Hordes 16 (V)

Elementalist
Combine Elementals 10 (X)
Control Explosion 10 (V)
Defy Elements 10 (X)
elemental Protection 8 (V)
Fire Magic 8 (V)
Lightning Thrower 8 (V)
Master of the Elements 8 (V)
Mindful Magic 8 (V)
Subdued Summoned 10 (III)
Devastation 10 (V)
Elemental Acolyte 14 (III)
Marksman 14 (V)
Servitude 16 (V)
Versatile Summons 14 (III)

Battle Mage
Armor Proficiency 8 (V)
Armorclad 8 (III)
Armored Mage 8 (III)
blocker 8 (V)
control Explosion 10 (V)
Devastation 8 (V)
Lightning Reflexes 8 (V)
Marksman 8 (V)
Mindful Magic 8 (V)
Parry 10 (V)
Servant of Darkness 8 (V)
Servant of Light 8 (V)
Sharpshooter 10 (V)
Weapon Expert 10 (V)
Close Combat 10 (V)
Enchanted Weapon 12 (III)
Fire Magic 10 (V)
Lightning Thrower 10 (V)
Defy Elements 14 (V)
Elemental Protection 12 (V)
Master of the Elements 12 (V)
Brutal Blow 16 (III)
Injure 16 (V)

Sorcerer Hero Classes

Blood Mage
Blood shield 8 (V)
Consuming Spirit 8 (III)
Endurance 8 (V)
Painful Gain 8 (III)
Ritual of Scars 8 (III)
Bloody Healing 10 (III)
Cooldown Sacrifice 10 (V)
Painful Change 12 (III)
Blood's Might 12 (III)
Steadfast 10 (V)

Demonologist
Circle Master 10 (III)
Conjurer 10 (V)
Demon Spawn 16 (III)
Demon Spell 16 (III)
Imp 8 (III)
Ritual Scars 10 (III)
Servitude 16 (V)
Subdued Summoned 10 (III)
Versatile Conjuration 14 (III)
Voracious Conjurer 14 (III)

Necromancer
Absorb Life 8 (V)
Necromancy 8 (V)
Undead Hordes 10 (X)
Caller of the Dead 12 (V)
Ritual of Scars 12 (III)
Delay Death 14 (III)
Versatile Raising 14 (III)

A small change I'll make, if your MND+IN is 6+, you can read and write every languages you know. This might not sound like much of a change from the original rule of simply using MND 6+, but MND is very difficult to increase, so at least by including IN now, there is the possibility to allow players to learn how to read and write... like real life.

Oh, and one las thing, just a discovery I made recently and I think I should houserule this, if a weapon is named (p.96), the spell Identify Magic (p.61) will be able to find out the name of the weapon. This is just to give a little incentive for players to purchase that spell instead of simply relying on their innate ability to sense magic (p.45).

So that's pretty much it for houserules... Unless there is a demand for more...

Someone asked for a halfling character, so I'll put the halfling race here.

Halfling
• Racial Bonus: AG, DX, or AU.
• Racial Abilities: Fleet-Footed (Sneaking and similar +2), More Than Meets The Eyes (ignores HP penalty of Small), Quick (Initiative +2), Small (HP halved but harder to hit, shortswords must be used like two-handed sword), Sure Shot (+1 RAT and TSC).

Maximum Value of Traits (bonus to value 12): Agility, Dexterity, and Aura +1.

Halfling Cultures
Hairyfoot Halflings, Region: Lennfield Valley or Plains of Celma; Bonus Talent: Acrobat, Lucky Devil, or Stealth; Native Language: Haffun; Alphabet: Ornemental Script.
Leanfellow Halflings, Region: Bosk, Stormbluff, Vestrach, or Westing; Bonus Talent: Alertness, Swift, or Thievery; Native Language: Haffun; Alphabet: Gormanic.

Let's try this homebrew for taking your time. We can always tweak it later if we see something not working. As far as I can see, all 3 options have their pros and cons.
The fixed result will most likely allow for an auto-success, albeit with small results, assuming your CTN is at least this high. This will probably become the preferred result of spell which are modified by your opponent's Attribute + Trait as you'll want to roll as low as possible to make sure you succeed on those.
The bonus will be very useful if doing so would take your CTN above 20 (see CNT Above 20 on p.37). Once a CTN is above 20, it becomes very difficult to fail at a check as you can only fail the check should you roll a 20 on the first die.
Finally, the "Advantage-like" option will be very useful if your CTN is relatively high, but not high enough that the bonus option would take your CTN above 20, but high enough that just going with the fixed result option will still be undesirable...

Edit: I've just remembered that the "Take X" option was too powerful for spells which had durations or effects which were not dependant on the check result, so I'll just add a stipulation to the fixed result options that it cannot be used for those particular spells.

Taking your time

If the character takes 1 minute (or 12 times as longer than normal), he can choose one of the following options.
- Succeed on his check as if he had rolled a 5 (assuming his CTN is at least 5). This option cannot be used to cast a spell if the spell's duration or it's effects are not somehow dependant on the check result.
- Roll his check with a +2 bonus (useful if this would take his above CTN 20).
- Roll twice and choose the preferred result.

If the character takes 10 minutes (or 120 times longer than normal), he can choose one of the following options.
- Succeed on his check as if he had rolled a 10 (assuming his CTN is at least 10). This option cannot be used to cast a spell if the spell's duration or it's effects are not somehow dependant on the check result.
- Roll his check with a +4 bonus (useful if this would take his CTN above 20).
- Roll thrice and choose the preferred result.

If the character takes 1 hour (or 720 times longer than normal), he can choose one of the following options.
- Succeed on his check as if he had rolled a 15 (assuming his CTN is at least 15). This option cannot be used to cast a spell if the spell's duration or it's effects are not somehow dependant on the check result.
- Roll his check result with a +8 bonus (useful if this would take his CTN above 20).
- Roll four times and choose the preferred result.