First Edition House Rules
Here are some house rules I'll be using:
Exploit Weakness Knack
While you receive one free rank in Exploit Weakness (Your School) when you purchase a Swordsman School, Exploit Weakness is no longer required as a knack for raising your school. Instead, the Attack knack associated with your school's primary weapon needs to be raised to 4 for Journeyman and 5 for Master. You also receive a free rank in Exploit Weakness when you reach Journeyman and again when you reach Master, though the Knack can never be raised above 5.
Characters can also learn Exploit Weakness for other schools. Ranks 1 and 2 can only be gained after Stories in which the character defeated an Apprentice of that other school in a duel or some other form of single combat; Rank 3 can be only be purchased after a Story in which a Journeyman was defeated. Rank 4 requires defeating a Master, and Rank 5 requires defeating a Grandmaster, several Masters at once or a similar extraordinary feat.
Brute Squads
To make Brutes a little more threatening (though still not particularly threatening), Brute squads now roll Threat Rating + Number for all rolls (instead of Number keep Threat Rating). This means a full TR3 Brute squad rolls 9k3 to attack, and a single TR3 Brute rolls 4k3. Does this make Brutes more dangerous? Absolutely, but as it is an unlimited number of Brutes essentially poses no threat to players. Here, players may take a few flesh wounds fighting Brutes, but still can largely defeat them.
NB: This rule may be refined in play; if it increases the power of Brutes too much, it may be toned back. I'm also considering requiring 2 raises to knock out extra Brutes of higher Threat Ratings instead of one. We'll see.
Flesh Wounds & First Aid
At present, the First Aid knack - which heals Flesh Wounds - is largely useless, as Flesh Wounds heal at the end of any combat. This also causes a problem with Flesh Wounds gained from traps, poison, et cetera. To solve this, Flesh Wounds last until a character has a chance to rest between Scenes.
Drama Dice
At the beginning of each Story, players start with 3 Drama Dice, rather than a number equal to their lowest attribute. As the party begins to reach Journeyman/Adept levels, they will begin with 4 Drama Dice; when the party reaches Master levels, they will begin with 5. If a player's character does not have a Major Advantage (Swordsman Schools, Sorcery, Dracheneisen, etc.) they begin with an additional Drama Die.
Drama Dice turn into XP when they are received, rather than if they are unspent at the end of a Story.
Players can nominate other players for Drama Dice.
Purchasing Swordsman Schools in Play
Swordsman Schools cost 50 XP to purchase in play, but they can be bought gradually in the following order:
1.) School Basics -- 10 XP The basics of a school's style cost 10 XP, though they provide no mechanical benefit.
2.) Swordsman Knacks -- 3 @ 10 XP each The three substantive (non-Exploit Weakness) knacks of a school cost 10 XP each and are acquired at Rank 1.
3.) Apprentice Ability -- 10 XP The character is now an Apprentice, and receives Exploit Weakness 1 for free as a consequence.
Characters who already possess some of a school's knacks or the Apprentice ability of a school (as in the case of Desaix and Valroux) do not have to purchase those parts of the school. In that case, they receive their Apprentice level and their free rank in Exploit Weakness when they purchase their last portion of the school.
As per the rules in the Player's Guide, a character must already have both skills in the school's curriculum before beginning to learn the school.