Animate Objects
In better keeping with the classical mythos, the animate objects spell is removed from the cleric/oracle list, and added as a 5th-level sorcerer/wizard spell. The spell otherwise functions as normal.

Bloody Effing Bards
The versatile performance class feature does not magically increase "related" skills simply because you can play an instrument or recite poetry, because that makes no sense and whoever finalized that ability should have been exiled from the gaming industry completely. This missed opportunity to make bards more thematically awesome and to actually give someone a legitimate reason to utilize the Perform skill is repaired with the following: You only gain the increased modifiers to linked skill checks when actively using the related Perform skill. For example, Perform [keyboards] only increases your Intimidate check if you make an Intimidate check while playing a keyboard instrument (like Dracula playing Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on the pipe organ).

Character Improvement
Improvements gained through leveling up should be roleplayed, not posted to your character sheet and forgotten about. Any PC or NPC with a feat or prestige class is a viable source from which to acquire that asset for other characters. For example, if you wish to learn a feat like Weapon Focus, any character that has Weapon Focus can teach it to you if you train with them—but only for the weapon they chose for their feat.

Creatures in Combat
The combat rules state that a "noncombative herbivore" treats all of its natural attacks as secondary, suffering -5 to hit and gaining only 1/2 its Strength bonus on damage. However, for this game, if any animal is combat trained, it treats its natural weapons as primary attacks.

Fluid Loot
Within reason, players are free to describe nonspecific character loot as they see fit. For example, if a PC were to find 500gp worth of gems and art objects in a chest, a GM might or might not describe some or all of the treasure. Assuming that’s not the case, you can choose to make your spoils into whatever suits your fancy, so long as the value doesn’t exceed the actual worth of the award. In the case of said gems and art, you could say it includes 10 polished star sapphires worth 50gp each, or a small gold-chased hand mirror worth 300gp, a cut pink diamond worth 150gp, and five rough agates worth 10gp each.

Mageduels
The rules for mageduels from Magic of Faerûn generally supersede the new rules for spell duels given in Ultimate Magic (p99), except for the inclusion of dueling counters.

Massive Damage
Freehold does employ the massive damage variant rule. Rather than the flat DC15 Fortitude save given in the official material, a sliding DC is employed, equal to 10 + (damage dealt / 10). Since massive damage still requires a minimum of 50 damage in a single hit to kick in, that means the lowest possible DC remains at the original 15, but the DC for a CL15th destruction spell (150 damage) would be 25—higher to account for increased target saves and so forth, but still by no means impossible to make for the creatures most likely to be targeted by such effects.

Plus What?
Enchanted armor and weaponry do not have to possess a +1 minimum enhancement bonus before they can possess other powers. However, they must still be masterwork before they can be made magical.

Story Feats
Story feats will be in use, but only as approved by a GM. This is listed here rather than under the rules for character creation because, in most cases, story feats will not be granted to incoming characters, but must be earned through consistent RP by long-term PCs.

Summoning Creatures
The various special considerations for summoning and binding from Paizo's Ultimate Magic (p101) are in force for this game. Clerics, summoners, witches, wizards, and others who might regularly interact with summoned or called entities are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with these rules.

Supplies
While in town or nearby, food and water are not much concern. However, any time you leave the village area, you must track your food and water, or you risk starvation and dehydration. Even with the Survival skill, it is very easy to die in the wilderness of the Shining South without proper supplies, so make sure to always carry rations and water as appropriate for your excursion—we will not drop "sky bread" to save you, because characters designed for Freehold should know what to expect and be prepared for the region, having traveled through it to reach the game area.

Talismanic Components
Talismanic components are required in the construction of all magic items, thus limiting what sorts of items can be created by PCs unless they have some way to acquire the necessary materials. What does this mean for players? Mechanically, you can still use money to cover some or most of the cost of every magic item you create, just as you normally would, but you can't use gold to cover 100% of the cost—every magic item must include at least one suitable talismanic component in its creation, meaning no magic item can be created without at least one talismanic component. Each item is unique, but the list of examples is considered a standard to go by; speak to a GM if you have questions about what components you need for a magic item.

The Magic Hat Rule
The rules indicate, in places, that ability score increases from sources such as a headband of alluring charisma should be treated as permanent; this would ordinarily mean that wearing such an item would artificially increase derived statistics such as relationship scores, in addition to the normal boosts to skill and ability checks, special ability DCs, and so forth. We feel this does not accurately reflect the flavor of either the game or the item, whether it was the intent of the designers or not, and so such attribute bonuses are instead treated the same as any other temporary magical bonus, and important things like contacts and NPC relationships are subsequently not affected by them.

Tieflings and Aasimar
Since aasimar require no special feat in order to benefit from the rules for variant and alternate racial abilities, we have decided not to require that tieflings take the Fiendish Heritage feat in order to similarly benefit from their own different racial features. Feats which list Fiendish Heritage as a prerequisite are still viable, and that specific requirement is generally waived. If you want to take a feat that lists Fiendish Heritage as a prerequisite, talk to a GM to determine whether any special considerations have been substituted.

Triple Critical
In addition to the GameMastery Critical Hit and Critical Fumble card decks, we also employ an extra rule for critical hits in Freehold. A result of a natural 20 on an attack roll is already an automatic hit (barring special mitigating circumstances) against a target; in this game, a second natural 20 on the confirmation roll results in maximum damage for the attack (no damage roll required) as well as a bonus second confirmation roll. If this third roll is also a natural 20, the target is instantly killed or destroyed with no save (a roll of 19 or lower does nothing). This represents how, sometimes, heroic characters land that one legendary, meaningful blow straight to a monster's heart, as in Disney's Sleeping Beauty or the Kate Beckinsale film Underworld, etc.

Obviously, this rule doesn't apply to creatures that are immune to critical hits. However, be aware this rule also works in reverse—rolling a natural 1 to confirm a critical fumble means suffering maximum effects, and rolling three natural 1s in a row means you'll need to roll a new character (or find some way to get brought back to life)!

Witches
Anyone wishing to play using the witch base class should please note—for this game, your primary spellcasting attribute is your Wisdom, not your Intelligence! This alteration extends to other class features and abilities previously determined by a witch's Intelligence, such as the effects of hexes, spells known at 1st level, bonus spell slots, and so on (not skill ranks, of course). Archetypes or effects that alter a witch’s Intelligence, such as the Constitution dependent class feature of the scarred witch doctor archetype, treat Wisdom exactly the same way.

You Earned It
The GMs reserve the right to append up to 1 drawback, flaw, or trait to any PC, in addition to any that character may already possess, representing elements of the PC brought consistently to the forefront by RP over a long period. A GM-selected trait ignores the normal restrictions regarding lists/trait categories and can be pulled from any subsection, including campaign traits. Neither such a trait nor drawback/flaw can be arbitrarily removed by a player, but they can be roleplayed away by thoroughly resolving the elements that created them, in the eyes of the GMs, and players will be warned before these modifications are applied.