Assorted House Rules [Archive] - Wizards Community

Assorted House Rules [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mightyflapjack
05-04-06, 02:12 PM Character Creation Changes

* New characters gain an additional 1D6 of hit points plus constitution bonus.(Known as the “0-Level Hit Die”)

* Double Feats = For the single feats gained at (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th), the characters gain two feats instead of one.

Class Changes:

* Spellcastors add their applicable INT, CHA, or WIS bonus to “0-level” spells per day. (So a Wizard with a 18 INT (+4) adds 4 bonus “0-level” spells per day.)

* Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, and Druids all gain free item creation feats at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, and 13th. Also they all get “Create Scroll” at 1st level for free.

* Fighters gain damage reduction of 1/ - at 1st level, and +1 for every even level in fighter (2/4/6, etc.) when wearing medium or heavy armor. This Damage reduction stacks with other damage reduction.

* Rogues gain twice the dexterity bonus to armor class when wearing light armor or less.

* Monks at 3rd level gain the ability once per day to add a bonus to Balance, Climb, Tumble, Move Silently, or Jump. It is a free action and can be any number up to their base attack bonus. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to their monk levels, and also acts as a penalty to attack for the same amount of time (So a 3rd level monk with a base attack of +3, can give herself a +3 jump bonus for 3 rounds, but for those rounds she is at a base attack of +0).

* Clerics just plain heal better then all other classes, their heal spells add +1 hp / die.

* Paladins and Rangers gain 0 “0-level” spells at level 2 (Paladins use the cleric 0-level list, Rangers use the Druid “0-level” list), it increases to 1 at 4th, and 1 more every 4 levels after that. At 2nd level and higher their castor level = ½ their class level.

* Monks and Paladins can multi-class without their special limitation.

* Bards gain free skill focus feats every 5 levels, or can choose from a small list, also Bards can add any skill as a new class skill every 7 levels.

* Spellcastors with at least one item creation feat gains an “Item XP Pool”, Every time that character gains XP, then 5% of those experience points are also added to the Item XP Pool (round down). For example, if a wizard with the “forge ring” feat gains 1,000xp, then he records 1,000xp into his normal experience bar, and 50xp into his Item XP Pool.) When these characters go to make a magic item, then they can use both the experience in their regular experience pool and the experience in the Item XP pool when creating that item.

Spells and Skills

* Metamagic Feats can be taken additional times, each time reduces the number of extra slots required to be used by one, down to no increase in slots. (So taking “Quicken Spell” Feat 5 times would take the required 4 slot higher requirement and reduce it to no slot higher requirement (One feat for getting the feat, and 4 additional times to reduce the slots required by 4.)

* Giving a spell two or more metamagic abilities requires the spell to be at least 1 spell slot for each metamagic technique after the first (So a silent and still spell must be at least 1 slot higher since it uses 2 metamagic feats).

* Improved Critical stacks with Keen ability and spell. (Since one is a \\\"skill\\\" improvement and the other is an \\\"equipment\\\" improvement, hence the weapon\\\'s threat range is x3)
Steel Cobra
05-04-06, 03:00 PM From the looks of it you just made the most overpowered D&D house rules I have ever seen. What do you have for balance?
goawayugh
05-04-06, 03:10 PM What?!?
Ilium
05-04-06, 04:42 PM These rules will definitely make the PCs (and anybody else with PC-class levels) more powerful. If the party is mostly opposed by humanoids with class levels, you're all set.

For monsters, etc. just remember that the party can probably handle things 1 to 2 CRs higher than they normally could.

At mid-high levels there will be a lot of metamagicked spells flying around. This would be great for "gish" builds. A wizard or sorcerer in plate armor could easily just take Still Spell twice and never worry about ASF again. They aren't so feat-starved since they get item creation feats for free.

I wouldn't use most of these, but they'll definitely put an "epic" spin on things. Even mid-level PCs will be able to do some very impressive things with all those feats.

Actually I kind of like the monk ability to move their BAB into various skills. It's kind of like Combat Expertise, but applied to different things. That bears thinking about for a more general rule...
Darth Sephiroth
05-04-06, 11:21 PM One side thought would be to eliminate the Item Cration XP pool and go with the Item Creation Points.
strumbleduck
05-05-06, 12:36 AM I must be the only one here who thinks this is all kind of reasonable. I've often thought it would be fun to play with "supercharged" characters like this.

New characters gain an additional 1D6 of hit points plus constitution bonus.(Known as the “0-Level Hit Die”)
Neat.

Double Feats = For the single feats gained at (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th), the characters gain two feats instead of one.
Instead of getting feats two at a time, why not spread it out so that you get a feat every level that you don't get an ability score increase (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, etc.)? Sounds like more fun that way.

Spellcastors add their applicable INT, CHA, or WIS bonus to “0-level” spells per day. (So a Wizard with a 18 INT (+4) adds 4 bonus “0-level” spells per day.)
This is perfectly balanced for any D&D game. Personally, I think it would be basically balanced to let PCs cast 0th-level spells at will.

Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, and Druids all gain free item creation feats at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, and 13th. Also they all get “Create Scroll” at 1st level for free.
Why not just make the rule that these classes automatically gain all item creation feats at the appropriate level?

Fighters gain damage reduction of 1/ - at 1st level, and +1 for every even level in fighter (2/4/6, etc.) when wearing medium or heavy armor. This Damage reduction stacks with other damage reduction.
Again, why not change this so that they gain DR 1/- at every odd level instead? That way a fighter gets something every level.

In any case, I like this rule. With double feats for everyone, there needs to be some additional incentive for player a fighter.

Rogues gain twice the dexterity bonus to armor class when wearing light armor or less.
You don't want to use that one -- every rogue will have amazing Dex and become unhittable (especially with cat's grace).
How about giving rogues d8 hit dice, a monk's level-dependent AC bonus, and a monk's unarmored speed bonus? (Alternatively, why not start giving them rogue special abilities earlier, maybe at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter?)

Monks at 3rd level gain the ability once per day to add a bonus to Balance, Climb, Tumble, Move Silently, or Jump. It is a free action and can be any number up to their base attack bonus. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to their monk levels, and also acts as a penalty to attack for the same amount of time (So a 3rd level monk with a base attack of +3, can give herself a +3 jump bonus for 3 rounds, but for those rounds she is at a base attack of +0).
Neat.

Clerics just plain heal better then all other classes, their heal spells add +1 hp / die.
This one's not very powerful at all. There's a feat (Augment Healing) that gives +2 hp/spell level. I'd do the same.

Paladins and Rangers gain 0 “0-level” spells at level 2 (Paladins use the cleric 0-level list, Rangers use the Druid “0-level” list), it increases to 1 at 4th, and 1 more every 4 levels after that. At 2nd level and higher their castor level = ½ their class level.
Neat.

Monks and Paladins can multi-class without their special limitation.
Now that's just common sense.

Bards gain free skill focus feats every 5 levels, or can choose from a small list, also Bards can add any skill as a new class skill every 7 levels.
Neat.

Spellcastors with at least one item creation feat gain an “Item XP Pool”, Every time that character gains XP, then 5% of those experience points are also added to the Item XP Pool (round down). For example, if a wizard with the “forge ring” feat gains 1,000xp, then he records 1,000xp into his normal experience bar, and 50xp into his Item XP Pool.) When these characters go to make a magic item, then they can use both the experience in their regular experience pool and the experience in the Item XP pool when creating that item.
Seems fine. If the characters are going to be super-powered, they might a well have nice gear, too.

Metamagic Feats can be taken additional times, each time reduces the number of extra slots required to be used by one, down to no increase in slots. (So taking “Quicken Spell” Feat 5 times would take the required 4 slot higher requirement and reduce it to no slot higher requirement (One feat for getting the feat, and 4 additional times to reduce the slots required by 4.)
So, this would almost be balanced in a normal game, but it's sort of absurd when you take into account all of the extra feats everyone's getting. If I were a wizard in this game, I would start off by taking quicken 5 times (finished by 5th level, or 3rd level if I'm human), and pretty soon I'd be casting two spells every round. Next I'd take maximize 4 times (finished by 9th level), and every damage-dealing spell I would cast would be maximized from then on.

Giving a spell two or more metamagic abilities requires the spell to be at least 1 spell slot for each metamagic technique after the first (So a silent and still spell must be at least 1 slot higher since it uses 2 metamagic feats).
So I guess my quickened spell every round would not be maximized, unless I wanted to use spell slots that were one level higher. I really, really don't think this will work.

Improved Critical stacks with Keen ability and spell. (Since one is a \\\"skill\\\" improvement and the other is an \\\"equipment\\\" improvement, hence the weapon\\\'s threat range is x3)
Sure. This would be reasonable (and perhaps even a good idea) in any D&D game.
teclis
05-05-06, 01:41 AM gee, you love those PCs. (and by 'PCs' I mean 'primary casters') that's fine if you want your game to be very fantastic, but the changes to the non casters hardly make up for the craziness you implemented with crafting and metamagic.
Steel Cobra
05-05-06, 03:46 PM * Fighters gain damage reduction of 1/ - at 1st level, and +1 for every even level in fighter (2/4/6, etc.) when wearing medium or heavy armor. This Damage reduction stacks with other damage reduction.
Oh and by the way, this is a thing that barbarians call their own. Basically you are giving no reason for anyone to be any other melee class then a fighter.

You sir, are biased
Darth Sephiroth
05-05-06, 03:54 PM For the Clerics having extra healing, I'd pity any of your players who would want to have a go at playing a Healer
Witchblade
05-06-06, 10:20 PM Maybe these rules could work out too:
- 50 point Point-Buy.
- Ability Inrease every level.
- Epic feats available to any one at any level.
- Rangers get both trees of specialization and 2 animal companions.
- Sorcerers may cast all their spells known at will.
- Scribing a spell into a spellbook costs nothing.

Balance: # bal·ance Audio pronunciation of "balance" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (blns)
n.
A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements, as in a design. See Synonyms at proportion.

:noway:
Ilium
05-08-06, 09:57 PM I must be the only one here who thinks this is all kind of reasonable. I've often thought it would be fun to play with "supercharged" characters like this.

Oh, I'm perfectly fine with it. I wouldn't use them myself, because I just can't keep track of that many house rules. :)

You just have to remember that a whole party of character made with these rules will be more powerful than a regular party. 4 10th-level characters made with these rules will, I think, not even blink at a CR 10 monster. Just crank up the opposition (or face them with NPCs built under the same rules) and it should be lots of high-flying, butt-kicking fun.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mightyflapjack 05-04-06, 02:12 PM	Character Creation Changes * New characters gain an additional 1D6 of hit points plus constitution bonus.(Known as the “0-Level Hit Die”) * Double Feats = For the single feats gained at (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th), the characters gain two feats instead of one. Class Changes: * Spellcastors add their applicable INT, CHA, or WIS bonus to “0-level” spells per day. (So a Wizard with a 18 INT (+4) adds 4 bonus “0-level” spells per day.) * Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, and Druids all gain free item creation feats at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, and 13th. Also they all get “Create Scroll” at 1st level for free. * Fighters gain damage reduction of 1/ - at 1st level, and +1 for every even level in fighter (2/4/6, etc.) when wearing medium or heavy armor. This Damage reduction stacks with other damage reduction. * Rogues gain twice the dexterity bonus to armor class when wearing light armor or less. * Monks at 3rd level gain the ability once per day to add a bonus to Balance, Climb, Tumble, Move Silently, or Jump. It is a free action and can be any number up to their base attack bonus. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to their monk levels, and also acts as a penalty to attack for the same amount of time (So a 3rd level monk with a base attack of +3, can give herself a +3 jump bonus for 3 rounds, but for those rounds she is at a base attack of +0). * Clerics just plain heal better then all other classes, their heal spells add +1 hp / die. * Paladins and Rangers gain 0 “0-level” spells at level 2 (Paladins use the cleric 0-level list, Rangers use the Druid “0-level” list), it increases to 1 at 4th, and 1 more every 4 levels after that. At 2nd level and higher their castor level = ½ their class level. * Monks and Paladins can multi-class without their special limitation. * Bards gain free skill focus feats every 5 levels, or can choose from a small list, also Bards can add any skill as a new class skill every 7 levels. * Spellcastors with at least one item creation feat gains an “Item XP Pool”, Every time that character gains XP, then 5% of those experience points are also added to the Item XP Pool (round down). For example, if a wizard with the “forge ring” feat gains 1,000xp, then he records 1,000xp into his normal experience bar, and 50xp into his Item XP Pool.) When these characters go to make a magic item, then they can use both the experience in their regular experience pool and the experience in the Item XP pool when creating that item. Spells and Skills * Metamagic Feats can be taken additional times, each time reduces the number of extra slots required to be used by one, down to no increase in slots. (So taking “Quicken Spell” Feat 5 times would take the required 4 slot higher requirement and reduce it to no slot higher requirement (One feat for getting the feat, and 4 additional times to reduce the slots required by 4.) * Giving a spell two or more metamagic abilities requires the spell to be at least 1 spell slot for each metamagic technique after the first (So a silent and still spell must be at least 1 slot higher since it uses 2 metamagic feats). * Improved Critical stacks with Keen ability and spell. (Since one is a \\\"skill\\\" improvement and the other is an \\\"equipment\\\" improvement, hence the weapon\\\'s threat range is x3)
Steel Cobra 05-04-06, 03:00 PM	From the looks of it you just made the most overpowered D&D house rules I have ever seen. What do you have for balance?
goawayugh 05-04-06, 03:10 PM	What?!?
Ilium 05-04-06, 04:42 PM	These rules will definitely make the PCs (and anybody else with PC-class levels) more powerful. If the party is mostly opposed by humanoids with class levels, you're all set. For monsters, etc. just remember that the party can probably handle things 1 to 2 CRs higher than they normally could. At mid-high levels there will be a lot of metamagicked spells flying around. This would be great for "gish" builds. A wizard or sorcerer in plate armor could easily just take Still Spell twice and never worry about ASF again. They aren't so feat-starved since they get item creation feats for free. I wouldn't use most of these, but they'll definitely put an "epic" spin on things. Even mid-level PCs will be able to do some very impressive things with all those feats. Actually I kind of like the monk ability to move their BAB into various skills. It's kind of like Combat Expertise, but applied to different things. That bears thinking about for a more general rule...
Darth Sephiroth 05-04-06, 11:21 PM	One side thought would be to eliminate the Item Cration XP pool and go with the Item Creation Points.
strumbleduck 05-05-06, 12:36 AM	I must be the only one here who thinks this is all kind of reasonable. I've often thought it would be fun to play with "supercharged" characters like this. New characters gain an additional 1D6 of hit points plus constitution bonus.(Known as the “0-Level Hit Die”) Neat. Double Feats = For the single feats gained at (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th), the characters gain two feats instead of one. Instead of getting feats two at a time, why not spread it out so that you get a feat every level that you don't get an ability score increase (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, etc.)? Sounds like more fun that way. Spellcastors add their applicable INT, CHA, or WIS bonus to “0-level” spells per day. (So a Wizard with a 18 INT (+4) adds 4 bonus “0-level” spells per day.) This is perfectly balanced for any D&D game. Personally, I think it would be basically balanced to let PCs cast 0th-level spells at will. Wizards, Sorcerers, Clerics, and Druids all gain free item creation feats at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, and 13th. Also they all get “Create Scroll” at 1st level for free. Why not just make the rule that these classes automatically gain all item creation feats at the appropriate level? Fighters gain damage reduction of 1/ - at 1st level, and +1 for every even level in fighter (2/4/6, etc.) when wearing medium or heavy armor. This Damage reduction stacks with other damage reduction. Again, why not change this so that they gain DR 1/- at every odd level instead? That way a fighter gets something every level. In any case, I like this rule. With double feats for everyone, there needs to be some additional incentive for player a fighter. Rogues gain twice the dexterity bonus to armor class when wearing light armor or less. You don't want to use that one -- every rogue will have amazing Dex and become unhittable (especially with cat's grace). How about giving rogues d8 hit dice, a monk's level-dependent AC bonus, and a monk's unarmored speed bonus? (Alternatively, why not start giving them rogue special abilities earlier, maybe at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter?) Monks at 3rd level gain the ability once per day to add a bonus to Balance, Climb, Tumble, Move Silently, or Jump. It is a free action and can be any number up to their base attack bonus. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to their monk levels, and also acts as a penalty to attack for the same amount of time (So a 3rd level monk with a base attack of +3, can give herself a +3 jump bonus for 3 rounds, but for those rounds she is at a base attack of +0). Neat. Clerics just plain heal better then all other classes, their heal spells add +1 hp / die. This one's not very powerful at all. There's a feat (Augment Healing) that gives +2 hp/spell level. I'd do the same. Paladins and Rangers gain 0 “0-level” spells at level 2 (Paladins use the cleric 0-level list, Rangers use the Druid “0-level” list), it increases to 1 at 4th, and 1 more every 4 levels after that. At 2nd level and higher their castor level = ½ their class level. Neat. Monks and Paladins can multi-class without their special limitation. Now that's just common sense. Bards gain free skill focus feats every 5 levels, or can choose from a small list, also Bards can add any skill as a new class skill every 7 levels. Neat. Spellcastors with at least one item creation feat gain an “Item XP Pool”, Every time that character gains XP, then 5% of those experience points are also added to the Item XP Pool (round down). For example, if a wizard with the “forge ring” feat gains 1,000xp, then he records 1,000xp into his normal experience bar, and 50xp into his Item XP Pool.) When these characters go to make a magic item, then they can use both the experience in their regular experience pool and the experience in the Item XP pool when creating that item. Seems fine. If the characters are going to be super-powered, they might a well have nice gear, too. Metamagic Feats can be taken additional times, each time reduces the number of extra slots required to be used by one, down to no increase in slots. (So taking “Quicken Spell” Feat 5 times would take the required 4 slot higher requirement and reduce it to no slot higher requirement (One feat for getting the feat, and 4 additional times to reduce the slots required by 4.) So, this would almost be balanced in a normal game, but it's sort of absurd when you take into account all of the extra feats everyone's getting. If I were a wizard in this game, I would start off by taking quicken 5 times (finished by 5th level, or 3rd level if I'm human), and pretty soon I'd be casting two spells every round. Next I'd take maximize 4 times (finished by 9th level), and every damage-dealing spell I would cast would be maximized from then on. Giving a spell two or more metamagic abilities requires the spell to be at least 1 spell slot for each metamagic technique after the first (So a silent and still spell must be at least 1 slot higher since it uses 2 metamagic feats). So I guess my quickened spell every round would not be maximized, unless I wanted to use spell slots that were one level higher. I really, really don't think this will work. Improved Critical stacks with Keen ability and spell. (Since one is a \\\"skill\\\" improvement and the other is an \\\"equipment\\\" improvement, hence the weapon\\\'s threat range is x3) Sure. This would be reasonable (and perhaps even a good idea) in any D&D game.
teclis 05-05-06, 01:41 AM	gee, you love those PCs. (and by 'PCs' I mean 'primary casters') that's fine if you want your game to be very fantastic, but the changes to the non casters hardly make up for the craziness you implemented with crafting and metamagic.
Steel Cobra 05-05-06, 03:46 PM	* Fighters gain damage reduction of 1/ - at 1st level, and +1 for every even level in fighter (2/4/6, etc.) when wearing medium or heavy armor. This Damage reduction stacks with other damage reduction. Oh and by the way, this is a thing that barbarians call their own. Basically you are giving no reason for anyone to be any other melee class then a fighter. You sir, are biased
Darth Sephiroth 05-05-06, 03:54 PM	For the Clerics having extra healing, I'd pity any of your players who would want to have a go at playing a Healer
Witchblade 05-06-06, 10:20 PM	Maybe these rules could work out too: - 50 point Point-Buy. - Ability Inrease every level. - Epic feats available to any one at any level. - Rangers get both trees of specialization and 2 animal companions. - Sorcerers may cast all their spells known at will. - Scribing a spell into a spellbook costs nothing. Balance: # bal·ance Audio pronunciation of "balance" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (blns) n. A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements, as in a design. See Synonyms at proportion. :noway:
Ilium 05-08-06, 09:57 PM	I must be the only one here who thinks this is all kind of reasonable. I've often thought it would be fun to play with "supercharged" characters like this. Oh, I'm perfectly fine with it. I wouldn't use them myself, because I just can't keep track of that many house rules. :) You just have to remember that a whole party of character made with these rules will be more powerful than a regular party. 4 10th-level characters made with these rules will, I think, not even blink at a CR 10 monster. Just crank up the opposition (or face them with NPCs built under the same rules) and it should be lots of high-flying, butt-kicking fun.