Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Xeviat-DM 08-31-04, 02:40 PM	My players may appreciate me putting this all in one place, but for now I'm still working a few kinks out of these rules. First, I'd like to toss some general house rules I'm looking to impliment in my games, and am wondering what type of interactions they will have on the game itself. I am interested in using Facing, Armor as Damage Conversion, and the alternate Death and Dying rules. My problem with Facing is that having high ranks in tumble (a modifier of 15+ if your speed is at least 30; 25+ if slower) makes the Improved Feint feat obsolete. By taking a move action to tumble around to the rear of your opponent (two diagonal movements, thus 15 feet of movement), you can get a sneak attack every round. Alternately, one would have to have high ranks in Bluff (probably higher than tumble, since it opposes BAB + Sense Motive modifier) and spend a feat on Improved Feint in order to be guarenteed a sneak attack every round. Additionally, after testing it for one session, combatants are always taking diagonal five foot adjustments in order to attack their opponent from a flank every single round. So, I have two possible fixes; one fixes both problems, the other only addresses the sneak attack options. Firstly, I could change Improved Feint to make Feinting an attack action, which could allow multiple sneak attacks with a high number of attacks (with three attacks, you could get 1.5 sneak attacks a round; Feint, Attack, Feint - Attack, Feint, Attack). Or, an answer which solves both problems, I could allow someone to take their free action face change at any time in the round, even during an opponents turn (which would be able to interupt an opponent's action). Also, I have a few feat changes/additions to adress. I am considering having dodge allow you to treat an opponent as if they were attacking from your front at all times when they are the subject of your dodge feat. This means that if someone is at your rear, and you choose to use Dodge on them, you would not suffer the -4 AC penalty, nor would they be able to sneak attack you. I would like Two-Weapon Fighting to grant some sort of ability while attacking; perhaps Two-Weapon Fighting would allow you to attack into your flanks at no penalty, or potentially reducing the flanking AC penalty (because your opponents have two separate weapons to defend against, and thus have a harder time surrounding you). It all depends on your view of "historical" two-weapon fighting. Then, comes an interaction between Damage Conversion and the Alternate Death and Dying rules. The Alternate Death and Dying rules states that you automatically fall unconscious when your non-lethal damage exceeds your hit points, and that you make fortitude saves to determine your condition (disabled, dying, dead) when your HP reach zero. With the Damage Conversion rules, those saving throws will come up less often, because most opponents will drop due to non-lethal damage than HP loss. So, I would like to use the fortitude save mechanic to determine if you fall unconscious when your non-lethal damage exceeds your current HP, but I am unsure what kind of mechanic, or what conditions, I should use in place of disabled, dying, and dead. As to class changes which I am going to implement, here is the one which is giving me the most trouble. I have made the decision to remove as many warrior elements from the base cleric as possible. My world requires the cleric to be more of a "white mage" instead of a warrior style cleric, because the warrior style cleric is addressed by my world's "Templar" advanced class. The war domain has been removed from the cleric, they have been reduced to simple weapons and light armor proficiency (loosing shields, medium, and heavy armor), their HD has been reduced from d8 to d6, and their skill points have been increased from 2/level to 4/level. I have added divine favor at level 2 and spirit sight (can see into the ethereal plane) at level 5. Turn/Rebuke Undead have been removed from standard cleric abilities; Turn undead has become the Sun Domain ability, while rebuke undead has become the Death Domain ability. Lay on Hands has become the Healing Domain ability, a reversed Lay on Hands (taken from the Paladin of Tyranny and Slaughter) has become the Destruction Domain ability. Turn opposed Outsiders/Rebuke same Outsiders have become the abilities of the Chaos/Evil/Good/Law domain abilities. All turn/rebuke ability times/day are tracked separately. The War domain's smite ability has become the sole domain of the Templar advanced class (15 levels, structured similarly to the Paladin PrC from UA). Clerics loose access to sponaniously convert spells to cure or inflict spells and their +1 domain spell per day per spell level; in place, they gain the ability to spontaniously convert prepared spells into their domain spells. In return for these losses, the cleric is gaining a spirit companion at first level. The companion is a tiny outsider who is the source of the cleric's power, who's exact abilities are determined by the domain choices of the cleric. The companion is summonable for 2 hours/day/level, just like a Paladin's warhorse, and it gains HD independently from the Cleric's life (HD and Natural Armor gains are structured like the Druid's companion, Intelligence and Special Ability gains are structured like the Sorcerer's familiar). A cleric who's spirit companion is destroyed looses access to their domain special abilities and cannot spontaniously convert prepared spells into domain spells for at least one month, at which the cleric can aquire a new spirit companion.. The companion is summonable as a standard action and dismissable as a free action. Many domains grant a template to the spirit companions; the alignment domains grant the Anarchic/Axiomatic/Celestial/Fiendish templates while the elemental domains grant the appropriate elemental template from Manual of the Planes. Death domain grants the undead qualities (I am considering giving the choice between the skeletal or corpse templates from BoVD), while the Sun domain grants the deathless qualities. Currently I am having trouble coming up with Companion abilities for some of the less obvious templates, such as Luck and Travel. If any ideas come to head for domains other than Air, Chaos, Death, Earth, Evil, Fire, Good, Law, Sun, or Water, please let me know.
Xeviat-DM 09-02-04, 03:23 PM	No bites?