Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Vengeblade 04-04-07, 09:28 AM	I've been running a homebrew campaign for a few weeks now, but recently a new player joined and when one of my players handed her the binder containing my houserules (I guess you could call it that), she simply said, "Wow, I didn;t realize that I'd be doing homework before playing in a campaign." Everyone got a good laugh, but it did get me wondering if I did go over board. I'll summ it up. I have over 80 pages of stuff I changed/removed/added for this campaign and includes int it- Class/race/HD/Skill changes equipment additions/subtractions modified spell point system (with reserve feat list changes to fit spell points.) Spell changes/subtractions 9th level spell list that can only be taken at 20th level. Brief world history 4 page map.This covers an almost 500 mile by 400 mile island based area and over 40 towns. Bried history of each of the three "kingdoms", each picking up where thw world hitory left off. Each region history is then follow by a town list which states: Town name Population pop. composition gp limit gp in town basic exports economy leadership law enforcemnt temples Then follwed by a breif discription. Now, did I go overboard? I think in my desire to customize my rules for my group, I started making a msall campaign setting. Anyone else get carried away like that?
Steely_Dan 04-04-07, 09:44 AM	A page or two of house-rules is okay, for me, but if someone handed me a 5+-page document of house-rules, I would be hesitant to join the campaign. And if I hear one more person say, "Hey, check out my awesome critical fumble table!" …I will run…screaming… You can see my house rules in the My Campaign Ground Rules thread in this very forum.
Arcade 04-04-07, 10:21 AM	That's all great information, but it isn't house rules. Knowing all the history, maps, town info, etc. isn't something players need to know off the bat. I would cut off the house rule list at "brief world history" and keep everything else as DM info. Then the player can tell you the character concept. You can figure out where in your world that concept would fit in. If he is interested in fleshing out his character more, he can get more info from you and you can give him the other histories and town lists that are appropriate for him to know, likely not more than 2 or 3. Show him the big map and where his character is from so he gets a bit of an idea of his terrain and surrounding features.
spyone 04-04-07, 11:46 AM	I have over 80 pages of stuff I changed/removed/added for this campaign 80 pages of house rules would be too much, IMO. I mean, that works fine, but you've pretty much creaded your own d20 fantasy game at that point, and probably shouldn't call it "D&D. But what you have isn't 80 pages of house rules. You included in those 80 pages: Brief world history 4 page map.This covers an almost 500 mile by 400 mile island based area and over 40 towns. Bried history of each of the three "kingdoms", each picking up where thw world hitory left off. Each region history is then follow by a town list which states: Town name Population pop. composition gp limit gp in town basic exports economy leadership law enforcemnt temples Then followed by a breif discription. (I hope you don't mind that I changed your formatting a little there.) That sounds a lot like a small "Player's Guide" to your campaign setting, which is a wonderful thing to be providing to your players, and could easilly come in at over 80 pages. I mean, I just grabbed the "Character Primer" for the Iron Kingdoms off my shelf, and if you drop the 10 pages on classes it still clocks in at 48 pages covering just the races/ethnic groups/nationalities in play, the religions, new gear for the setting, and languages. The Player's Guide To Eberron is 150+ pages and hardcover, and covers basicly the same stuff. The part you need to wonder about is this stuff: Class/race/HD/Skill changes equipment additions/subtractions modified spell point system (with reserve feat list changes to fit spell points.) Spell changes/subtractions 9th level spell list that can only be taken at 20th level. That doesn't seem like a huge number of houserules (and I'd probably count the equipment additions and subtractions as part of the Campaign Guide rahter than "houserules"), but it's unclear just how many there are of each of those. Did you rewrite every feat? Do those rules changes account for 75 of your 80 pages? If so, you may need to re-think. But it sounds to me like you have a reasonable list of houserules. And, compliments on actually providing them to a new player (I've seen too many horror stories of DMs who failed to disclose houserules to new players). And superlative compliments on creating and providing a Campaign Guide and/or Player's Guide To Your Campaign. I don't know if I'm allowed to award :cookie: cookies, but you deserve one.
Tichondrus 04-04-07, 11:53 AM	Have I lost my mind?Why else would you be roleplaying? ^^ Now about your post... *stares in awe* Simply..awesome, some of that is just amazing, some of it I'd not agree basically in the rules, mechanics and whatsoever if they are imbalancing, but making such a great camping setting rocks. I'd literaly pay to play with you as a DM <3
spyone 04-04-07, 11:58 AM	Oh, I also agree with Arcade that some of the info you provided is really supposed to be GM's Eyes Only. Players don't need to know the exact GP limit of every town, especially towns they've never been to personally and never met anyone who had been there. ;) For my own campaign, I created 2 different "Histories". One reflected what had been happening worldwide, and the other reflected what the PCs were likely to know about and remember. After all, while the groundwork for various things going on in the real world today goes back decades, how many of the common folk in America today know much about the Korean War and it's root causes (just to grab an example)? If pressed, I suspect most Americans would remember it as a short war fought generations ago that ended with a lot of tension that still flares up occasionally. Which is a fine level of detail for PC's memories of history. And remember that if our nation had not been involved, if we did not have such efficient disemination of information on a national and even world scale, and if it had not been the setting for a popular fiction several decades later, it might not be remembered at all.
Vengeblade 04-04-07, 06:17 PM	Well I think the house rules only covered 1/3 of the page total, it wai mainly because there were so many things to cover and I tend to be long winded about it. Spell points alone was a huge endeavor to make it work for my group. Pkus some of my spacing just ate up some space. I just found it funny in the process of tweaking the rules to fit my players I ended up witha world by accident. I don't have anywhere to link my houserules, so I'll just block them into sections for anyoen intrested, however, Iwant post towns or history, that's just too much. Campaign basics: 1. Abilities & Hit Points The following is the ability scores for all characters to use: 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12. Characters will no longer get an ability point every four levels; instead a new system will be explained later in the skills section. Hit Points You will no longer roll for your hit points, as this trend with a few bad rolls can ruin a character’s career. All character will now receive a fixed amount of HP depending on their hit dice and level. You still receive max HP at first level. Hit Dice D4 D6 D8 D10 D12 Even level 2 3 4 5 6 Odd Level 3 4 5 6 7 2. Races Standard allowable races: Human, darfellon, dwarf, elf, hadozee, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, and gnome. Rare allowable races (1 out of every 8, independent counts): Hellbred, Illumian, Dragonborn, Elan. 3. Classes Classes: You can not pick two of the same caster types they must be different archetypes if you are going to be a dual caster class. The following are the archetypes: Arcane (psionic is included here.), divine, binder, shadow, truename, and martial adept. Partial casters are exceptions for the restriction listed above. Standard allowable classes and which region they are located: Archivist-All Barbarian-Hammerfist, Utenki Bard-Hammerfist, Vertim Beguiler-Hammerfist, Vertim Cleric-All Crusader-Vertim dragon shaman-all druid-all duskblade-Utenki, Vertim favored soul-All fighter-All healer-All knight-All marshal-Vertim monk-Utenki ninja-Utenki paladin-Hammerfist, Vertim ranger-All rogue-All scout-All shadowmage-Vertim shujenga-Utenki sohei-Utenki sorcerer-All spellthief-All swashbuckler-All Swordsage-Utenki Truenamer-All Warblade-All Warlock-All Warmage-Hammerfist, Vertim Wizard-Hammerfist, Vertim wu jen-Utenki Rare allowable classes (1 out of every 8, dependent counts): Ardent-All Binder-All divine mind-All hexblade-All lurk-All psion-All psychic warrior-All soulknife-All wilder-All 4. Prestige Classes Only 1 per character, period! Banned prestige classes by book: Hybrids are not listed because they aren’t allowed in gestalt. However, if you really want one because it fits your character, I may be able to un-hybrid it for you. I need to know in advance because what I remove from each class will vary base on the character trying to gain the class. Very hard for me to do, so ask first as I may not be able to do it anyways. DMG: Dragon disciple and red wizard. Complete Adventurer: Dread pirate. Complete Arcane: Alienist, elemental savant, green start adept, mindbender, suel arcanamach, and wayfarer guide, Complete divine: Geomancer (Only banned for cleric and favored soul unless they worship Obad-hai), stormlord. Complete psionic: Flayerspawn psychic. Complete warrior: Frenzied berserker, ronin, and thayan knight. Draconomicon: None. Expanded psionics handbook: Pyrokinecticist, and thrallherd. Frostburn: Cloud anchorite, cryokineticist, disciple of thrym, knight of the iron glacier, primeval, rimefire witch, and winterhaunt of iborighu. Sandstorm: All Stormwrack: Knight of the pearl, legendary captian, sea witch, stormcaster, wavekeeper. Heroes of Horror: All Heroes of battle: Legendary leader. Libris Mortis: All. Magic of incarnum: Book not in current campaign. Miniatures handbook: Bonded summoner, warhulk, and warchief. Races of destiny: None. Races of the dragon: None at the moment. (Will possibly update as I read more.) Races of the wild: None Races of stone: Divine prankster. Tome of magic: None. Tome of battle: None. No prestige classes that allow mastery over elements (Elemental lords in nearby regions have been known to get upset over such things.) If I missed anything, I’ll deal with it as it arises. 5. Feats Most feats will be allowed, just inform me before you take it or plan to take it and I will tell you if it’s okay. (Most should be, but with over 300 feats, it’s hard to say that all will be allowed.) Please try to choose feats that match your character (We’re building powerful functional PEOPLE, not perfected war machines.), I just don’t want to see anything like a swashbuckler with a 24 DEX taking power attack when his character obviously focuses on precision striking and not powerful hits. Not saying he couldn’t take it, just make sure it fits your characters style. Leadership: Not needed, so not allowed. 6. Skills Spot and listen are class skills for everyone. All Character will receive 1 extra skill point every level and 4 points at 1st level, usable for any skills. (This stacks with the human racial.) NEW SKILLS: Please add the following skills to your skill list: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. When you reach 7 ranks in any of these skills, the matching ability score goes up by one and will increase by one for each 4 additional ranks. (i.e. 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, etc.) You will note that this system with the extra skill points matches the regular ability increase system in how fast you get them. However, you can now spend multiple skill points on multiple abilities to get lots of high ability scores. (Rogues cheer here please.) When you need to make an ability check (i.e. STR check.), you will still use only your ability modifier not this new skill’s check. Skills: You will no longer get the free craft or profession. This campaign will most likely require most characters to put points into these however, so plan wisely. Diplomacy: Is relatively standard, you can roleplay well w/o it. But no points in it means you could be a good and persuasive talker, yet you may not know what conduct is appropriate for different traders/merchants/leaders/etc. This skill represents your tact and knowledge in dealing with people. You can easily live w/o it, but if you want to convince kings and pirates of their fortunes, you might want a bit of both. 7. Description Height & Weight are to be rolled randomly. Character Histories: Required, minimum of 1 page. If you can’t do that, you must write an extensive profile covering the necessities of your character concept. Failure to do so will result in either your character not being present until its ready (harder for me to do.) or game will not start until it is done (easier for me to do.) Equipment: May look funny when I copied it 8. Equipment Removed weapons: Below are weapons I have chosen to remove from the campaign due either to not fitting my setting or being weapons that don’t really work as weapons. Punching dagger, Spiked gauntlet, sickle, trident, Guisarme, Ranseur, Scythe, Siangham, Orc double axe, Dire flail, Two bladed sword, barbed dagger, Broadblade shortsword, longaxe, longstaff, dwarven buckler axe, gnome tortoise blade, dire pick, scourge, warmace, double hammer, lajatang, mancatcher, heavy poleaxe, barbed bolas, foot spike, lynxpaw, gnome quickrazor, and dwarven double spear. New Weapons: Below are a few weapons I’ve decided to add to this setting. Name Cost Dam(s) Dam(m) crit weight type Light simple weapons Tanto 2g 1d2 1d3 18-20/x2 1 lb. P/S Light martial weapons Kodachi 10g 1d3 1d4 18-20/x2 2 lb. P/S Two-handed martial weapons Odachi 50gp 1d8 1d10 18-20/x2 8 lb. P/S Naginata* 10gp 1d8 1d10 x3 10 lb. S One-handed exotic weapons Katana 35g 1d6 1d8 18-20/x2 6 lb. P/S Katanas can be used as a 2-handed martial weapon. Ranged exotic weapons One-handed Handgun (8-clip) 150g 1d6 2d4 x3 1 ½ lb. 80ft P Handgun (12-clip) 250g 1d6 2d4 x3 1 ¾ lb. 80ft P Clips (8 or 12) 1s Bullets (4) 5s Revolver (6 barrel) 200g 1d10 2d6 x3 1 ¾ lb. 60ft P Revolver (8 barrel) 300g 1d10 2d6 x3 2 lb. 60ft P Revolver Bullets (2) 3s Loader (6 or 8) 10g Two-handed Rifle (4 Shot) 350g 2d6 2d8 x3 4lb. 90ft p Rifle Bullets(4) 8s Long Rifle (2 Shot) 400g 3d8 4d8 x3 8lb. 140ft. P Long Rifle Bullets(2) 1g Rocket (and launcher) 350g 4d8 6d8 0 or x3 20lb 80ft E *reach weapon New Armor For full description, look in Oriental Adventures pg. 75-76 Armor Cost Armor Bonus Max Dex Armor Check Arcane failure 20 ft 30 ft 40 ft Weight Light Armor Cord Armor 15 gp +2 +5 -1 5% 20 ft 30 ft 40 ft 15 lb Ashigaru Armor 25 gp +3 +5 -1 15% 20 ft 30 ft 40 ft 20 lb Leather scale 35 gp +3 +6 -2 15% 20 ft 30 ft 40 ft 20 lb Medium Armor Brigandine 30 gp +4 +2 -5 30% 15 ft 20 ft 30 ft 40 ft Partial Armor 50 gp +4 +4 -3 25% 15 ft 20 ft 30 ft 30 lb Lamellar 150 gp +5 +3 -4 30% 15 ft 20 ft 30 ft 35 lb Heavy Armor Great Armor 1000 gp +7 +2 -5 40 % 15 ft* 20 ft* 30 ft* 45 lb Shields Tessen 12 gp +1 --- -1 5% -- -- -- 1 lb *when running in heavy armor, you move only triple your speed, not quadruple Ammunition (Arrows, bolts, bullets, etc.) will use the armor chart in the DMG for magical enhancement pricing. These enhancements only provide a bonus to damage that DOES stack with the bow’s/gun’s/crossbow’s enhancement bonus. Ammunition DOES NOT provide a bonus to attack rolls. Loading a handgun or revolver (with a loader) is a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Loading a revolver w/o a loader is a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The rapid reload feat reduces this to a free action or a move action for the revolver w/o a loader. Loading a gun takes both hands to do. All rifles take a full round action to reload or a standard action with the rapid reload feat. Any feat that can be taken for crossbows can be taken for these guns (separately, of course.) Same goes for classes or feats/abilities that have crossbows as prerequisites (such as the crossbow artist, which is allowed in this campaign.). Rockets (think ancient China) were invented in Shiga as a quick way to deal with large groups of lizardfolk (or rally any group of enemies). Since the rocket’s path tends to be a bit erratic causing all attack rolls to suffer a -5 penalty (-10 if non-proficient). You can either attack a specific target or a specific square. Either case you must make a successful touch attack to hit your intended target. Failure indicates that the rocket lands in a random adjacent square. Failure by 5 or more indicates that the rocket lands 1d4 x 5 feet in a random direction. This weapon explodes in a 10 ft. area burst. This weapon can only make a critical hit against a target it actually strikes. Any target the rocket does not directly strike is entitled do a REF save (DC 15) for half damage. This weapon, of course, deals fire damage. This item is a one time use only. Armor: Most armor is allowed, though heavy armor is rare and unwanted due to its ability to sink like a fat dead elephant attempting to do a backstroke in water. Extremely heavy armor (Dwarven plate, mechanus armor, etc.) will not be found in this campaign. As always, all purchases must clear you DM before use. MITHRIL: Mithril is not a metal that is excavated as an ore from the ground. It starts out as a metal thread-like substance harvested from a small spider called the Steelwood spider. After gathering enough thread for the item in question, it is molded into shape and then pressure heated into a single piece. ADAMANTINE: Adamantine is not from meteorites, in this world, it is the remnants of magically altered steel from Urtanis’s time. It was created and used in almost every building in major cities. Now it’s just debris waiting to be found and forged again. Some say that there is a section of adamantine the size of a large island buried somewhere out there. Spells : 9. Magic & Spells New spell system: Spell points That’s right, think about how psionics works, exactly like that only with arcane/divine. Use this chart to see how many spell points your class gets Level Paladin/Ranger Bard Cleric/Druid/Wizard Sorcerer 1 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 5 6 3 0 1 9 11 4 0 5 14 17 5 0 6 21 25 6 1 9 30 35 7 1 14 40 46 8 1 17 51 58 9 1 22 63 72 10 4 29 77 88 11 4 34 93 106 12 9 41 110 126 13 9 50 128 147 14 10 57 148 170 15 17 67 169 195 16 20 81 191 221 17 25 95 215 250 18 26 113 240 280 19 41 133 266 311 20 48 144 293 343 I’ve covered just the classes covered in the PHB, ask me which chart to use for other base classes. You do not get bonus spells per day for having a high ability score. Bonus Spell points: You will use the chart on pg. 18 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook. It is your key ability modifier x your caster’s class level x ½. Spontaneous Casters: No real change here, your just using spell points instead of spell slots. No longer full round action to use metamagic feats. Preparation Casters: Your spells per day is now your spells known for the day. You can still prepare any spell, but now you don’t need to prepare multiple copies because once prepared you can cast it multiple times as long as you have spell points. Augmentation: Any spell that has a variable (i.e. damage) that is dependant on caster level starts out equal to the initial amount of spell points to cast it. You can then augment it further by spending additional spell points. You CAN NOT spend a number of spell points on a single spell greater than your caster level. Here are some examples of magic augmenting: Fireball is a 3rd level spell, so it costs 5 spell points to cast, so it does 5d6 points of fire damage. You can spend 1 additional spell point to increase the damage by 1d6, you can do this up to 10d6 but no more d6s than your caster level. Shield of Faith is a first level spell, so it costs 1 spell point and gives you a +2 deflection bonus to AC, for every 6 spell points you spend extra, you increase this bonus by +1. Spell Focus: Think psionic focus, only magical. Metamagic: Metamagic for spells works like psionics now. Use the metapsionic feats to determine how the metamagic feat functions. If there isn’t a metapsionic equivalent for the metamagic feat you wish to take, please inform me and I will adjust it as needed. Spell cost per level: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0* 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 *You can cast a number of 0 level spells equal to three + the number of spell points gained by that class at 1st level. After that they cost 1 point per casting. You can pool spell points from other classes provided that they are from the same type of magic (i.e. arcane, divine, psionic, etc.) but nor from different types of magic. New Feat: Spell Meditation. This feat works just like psionic meditation except it works for your spell focus. Note: This system makes psionics feel a little behind in power/abilities. To level it out, psions no longer have disciplines, they can learn any power they choose. Spells: The following are 9th level spells/powers that can not be taken until a character is at least 20th level. Mordenkainen’s Disjunction Wail of the Banshee Soul Bind Shapechange True resurrection Greater Visage of the deity (requires ritual dependant on deity also) Unyielding roots Sphere of ultimate destruction Programmed amnesia Fimbulwinter Frostfell Microcosm Assimilate True creation True mind switch There is no teleport without error, but there is still teleport. This is also not a planar campaign, but I will not ban planar spells, but let’s keep it to a minimum so we can keep the campaign focus. There will be no permanency castable on people, but items or places should be fine for the most part. Spells that are not allowed or modified in this campaign: Any spell with detect in its name (exception: Detect magic, you may need it this time around.) Anger of the noonday sun is also a 7th lvl Cleric spell. Anticipate Teleportation Anticipate Teleportation, greater Astral projection Avoid Planar Effects Bite of the Werebear Bite of the Wereboar Bite of the Wererat Bite of the Weretiger Bite of the Werewolf Blink Blink, greater Call Kolyarut Call marut Call zelekhut Daggerspell Stance Divination Dream Casting Elemental Body requires blessing of greater or primal elemental. Elemental swarm Etherealness Ethereal Jaunt Gate Geas, Lesser Geas, Quest Girallon’s blessing is now druid only (Or clerics/favored souls of Obad-hai) Hunter’s Mercy Magic Jar Mordenkainen’s disjunction Perinarch Perinarch, Planar Planar Ally Planar Ally, Lesser Planar exchange Planar Tolerance Plane Shift Plane Shift, Greater Primal form requires blessing of medium size or bigger elemental. Reality Maelstrom Resist Planar Alignment Revive outsider Sense Heretic Spell immunity, lesser Storm of elemental fury requires the blessing of an elder or primal elemental of any kind. Subvert Planar essence Summon Elemental Monolith Summon Elementite Swarm Summon greater elemental Superior invisibility Trap the soul Visage of the deity, lesser Powers that have been removed from this campaign: Astal Seed Astral Traveler Aura sight Dream Travel Ethereal Abduction Ethereal Agent Ethereal Volley Genesis Plane Shift, Psionic Teleport, Psionic Greater Trace Teleport Class changes (really long): The following are changes/options for the classes in my campaign. Player’s Handbook: Barbarian Whirling Frenzy: A barbarian with this variant form of rage doesn’t gain the normal bonuses when he enters a rage. Instead, when a barbarian with whirling frenzy enters a rage, he temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength and a +2 dodge bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves. While in a whirling frenzy, the barbarian may make one extra attack in a round at his highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the barbarian might make before his next action. Whirling frenzy is otherwise identical to the standard barbarian rage in all other ways. At 11th level (when a standard barbarian gains greater rage), the Strength bonus increases to +6, and the dodge bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves increases to +3. At 20th level (when a standard barbarian gains mighty rage), the Strength bonus increases to +8, and the dodge bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves increases to +4. A barbarian using this variant doesn’t gain indomitable will at 14th level. Instead, he gains evasion, but only while in a whirling frenzy. A character can’t use whirling frenzy at the same time that he uses any other form of rage (or similar ability). Bard No changes at this time. Cleric Divine Pulse: A cleric with this variant can charge herself with divine power and unleash it in a burst of radiant energy. A cleric that channels positive energy can heal 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels. A cleric that channels negative energy can deal 1d6 points of negative energy for every two cleric levels. This ability can affect one target for every two cleric levels, each target must be within 30 ft. of the cleric. This ability is usable a number of times equal to 1+her charisma modifier. This ability replaces a clerics Turn/Rebuke undead ability. Druid No changes at this time. Fighter It has become obvious that the generic fighter has fallen slightly to the underpowered side with all the new classes available. So here are some new features that will be added to the fighter in addition to his normal abilities. Combat Specialization: At 5th level, a fighter becomes more attuned to the arts of war. He can choose one of three paths to follow: Armor, Speed, and Arms. If he chooses Armor at 5th level, armor no longer impedes his movement, he can move his full speed in medium and heavy armor. At 11th level, his shield and/or armor bonus each increase by 1. At 17th level, a fighter has reached the pinnacle of defense. Three times a day he can shrug off any attack, spell, or ability that deals damage, ability damage/drain, negative levels, or any other negative effect (except death effects). A fighter must declare he is using this ability after an attack has hit him but before damage is rolled. If he chooses Speed at 5th level, he gains a +10 bonus to his base speed. At 11th level, he gains a +3 insight bonus to his initiative checks and reflex saves. At 17th level, he gains true speed and is able to move up to 15 ft. and make a full attack. This is a special full round action and the movement still provokes attacks of opportunity. If he chooses Arms at 5th level he gains weapon aptitude, he can spend an hour with a weapon and move all his weapon focus and related feats to that weapon. He can do this as many times as he wishes as long as he has the weapon with him and an hour to practice with it. At 11th level, the fighter chooses to either increase his threat range with all weapons by 1 (this is applied before any other threat improving effect such as keen or improved critical.) or increase his critical multiplier with all weapons by 1. At 17th level, the fighter gains the ability he didn’t choose at 11th level. Monks No changes at the moment. Paladin Paladins are getting some major changes. First off, they no longer have detect evil. They no longer have smite evil, it is now just smite. They no longer have their turn undead ability. They must be Lawful Good and follow their code of conduct which I will write how it works in my campaign below. They get skill points equal to 4+int modifier and 4 times that on first level. They also have Balance, Climb, Gather information, and Jump as class skills. Improved divine grace: Intended for Paladins on the high seas, at 2nd level a paladin with this variant ability gains her charisma bonus (if any) to her Armor Class, this works for touch and flat footed, but is lost if the paladin is held immobile. She loses this benefit if she wears medium or heavy armor or carries a medium or heavy load. This ability stacks (does not override) a Paladin’s divine grace. This ability replaces a Paladin’s lay on hands ability. Divine Control: At 3rd level a paladin with this ability gains an insight bonus equal to her charisma bonus (if any) on balance, climb, and jump checks. This ability replaces her Aura of courage ability. (Since there is no immunity to fear, this ability is the standard for paladins at 3rd level.) Retributive Strike: At 5th level a paladin with this ability is like a divine fury in combat. Every time she makes a smite attack against a foe, she gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her charisma bonus and a damage bonus equal to her paladin level for each previous successful smite attack on that foe. This ability replaces a Paladin’s special mount. Inquisitor: At 6th level, a Paladin trains to seek out the evils that lie in the towns and cities she protects. She gains +1 bonus on gather information and sense motive checks. This ability increase by 1 every three levels after this (9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, etc). This replaces a Paladin’s remove disease ability. CODE OF CONDUCT: A paladin must be of Lawful Good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly and knowingly commits an evil act. Additionally, a paladin’s code requires that she respect legitimate authority (even if she does not wholeheartedly agree with it, like officials in other kingdoms), act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth. This does not prohibit the use of genuine strategies and tactics as deemed worthy.), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents. Any orders by the church are law, the prophets carry the will of Heironeous, and through them his orders are handed out. ASSOCIATES: While she may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil characters (unless assigned to by the church or state, especially when they have useful information to stop crimes and/or violence), nor will she continue an association with someone who consistently offends her moral code (see above). A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are lawful good. Ranger No changes at this time. Rogue New special abilities. Lucky: Once per day, a rogue with this ability can reroll any one attack roll, save or check. To use this ability, he must declare he is using it after seeing his roll but before knowing success or failure. Nerve Strike: Whenever a rogue with this ability deals sneak attack damage to a target, she also deals non-lethal damage equal to her rogue levels. This ability can only be used once a round. Sorcerer It has come to my attention that sorcerers know so few spells that using them in a spell point system as they are would be pathetic at best. By 20th level, the sorcerer can cast the same amount of different 3rd-5th spells as a wizard, but that’s all he knows, while the wizard can change his spells out from day to day, while the sorcerer is stuck with just those few. He also has fewer 6th-9th level spells than his wizard counterpart. The spell point system has made everyone a spontaneous caster, leaving the sorcerer at the bottom of the barrel. Below is the new chart that will be used to determine spells known for a sorcerer. Level 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1st 4 2 2nd 5 2 3rd 5 3 4th 6 3 1 5th 6 4 2 6th 7 4 2 1 7th 7 5 3 2 8th 8 5 3 2 1 9th 8 6 4 3 2 10th 9 6 4 3 2 1 11th 9 7 5 4 3 2 12th 9 7 5 4 3 3 1 13th 9 8 6 5 4 3 2 14th 9 8 6 5 4 4 3 1 15th 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 16th 9 8 7 6 5 5 4 3 1 17th 9 8 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 18th 9 8 8 7 6 6 5 4 3 1 19th 9 8 8 7 7 6 5 5 5 3 20th 9 8 8 7 7 7 6 6 6 5 Wizard No changes at this time. Miniatures Handbook Healer Healing Burst: At 8th level a healer with this ability can heal those nearby when casting a healing spell. Any time she cast a conjuration (healing) spell, she heals any adjacent allies, excluding the spell’s original target, a number of hit points equal to her healer level. This ability replaces the unicorn companion gained at 8th level. Inspired Healing: At 18th level, a healer may permanently give up 30 spell points to add her wisdom bonus (if any) to the amount of damaged healed. Marshal The marshal as we all know is relatively underpowered, so I’m adding some new abilities to help elevate them to the same level as the other classes. Confident Strike: At 3rd level, a marshal’s sheer confidence empowers his attacks. He adds his charisma bonus (if any) to all weapon damage rolls. Push the advantage: At 10th level, a marshal learns how to press his attacks to exploit a foes weakness in his defenses. For every consecutive successful melee attack made against a single foe, the marshal gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls. For every two such successful attacks, he grants all allies within 30 ft a +1 bonus on attack rolls. For example, a 10th level marshal that has successfully struck a single foe 5 times consecutively would gain a +5 bonus on attack rolls against that target and all allies within 30 ft would get a +2 bonus on attack rolls. This bonus can’t exceed half of your marshal level. If any attack misses, this ability resets to +0. This ability does not stack from multiple marshals; apply only the highest bonus to each person. Commander’s Flank: At 15th level, a marshal gains a +4 bonus on attack rolls when flanking instead of the normal +2. In addition, the marshal can declare any square adjacent to him as the square from which he is considered flanking to help determine flanking with allies. He still counts the square he is in for the purposes of determining flanking. Overwhelming Aura: At 20th level, a marshal has learned to use his aura to debilitate his enemies. While a marshal has a major aura active he can impose a morale penalty equal to ½ his major aura’s bonus. This penalty applies to the same ability that the aura’s bonus applies to. For example, a marshal with motivate ardor would impose a -2 penalty to damage rolls. The exceptions are hardy soldiers, which causes damage each round, and motivate urgency, which also imposes a penalty to Armor Class. This ability can affect a number of enemy targets equal to the marshal’s major aura bonus, all of which must be within 60 ft. Complete Divine Shugenja The shugenja needs only a small change. Under the spells known section for the shugenja, increase the number of spells known from the shugenja’s favored element by 1 for all levels. Sohei (New Class….sort of) I’ve decided that since I’m including a culture that is based on Asian culture, I’ve decided to add this class as well as the shugenja and wu jen. The Sohei is the closest class to the paladin in this culture, and is viewed in the same way most of the time, Mechanically similar, the Sohei is actually more of a militant monk than a divine warrior, although he is powered by the divine. We will not be using the Sohei from the Oriental Adventures book, instead, I will be updating it below. Alignment: Any lawful. Game Rule Information Abilities: A Wisdom score of 14 or higher is required to get access to the most powerful sohei spells at all; it also helps their AC as well. A high Constitution improves a sohei’s hit points, and a high Strength makes her more effective in melee combat, where she typically excels. Alignment: Any lawful. Hit Die: d10. Class Skills A sohei’s class skills are Balance, Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Jump, Knowledge, Profession, Sense Motive, and Spellcraft. Skill Points at 1st level: (4+ Int modifier) x4. Skill Points at each additional level: 4+ Int modifier. Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1 +0 +2 +0 +2 Ki frenzy 1/day, Weapon focus - - - - 2 +1 +3 +0 +3 Wisdom to AC - - - - 3 +2 +3 +1 +3 Ki frenzy 2/day, Deflect arrows - - - - 4 +3 +4 +1 +4 Combat Reflexes 0 - - - 5 +3 +4 +1 +4 Remain Conscious, strength of mind 0 - - - 6 +4 +5 +2 +5 1 - - - 7 +5 +5 +2 +5 Defensive Strike, Ki frenzy 3/day 1 - - - 8 +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 1 0 - - 9 +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 Mettle 1 0 - - 10 +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Greater Ki frenzy 1 1 - - 11 +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Damage reduction 1/-, Ki frenzy 4/day 1 1 0 - 12 +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 1 1 1 - 13 +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Karmic Strike 1 1 1 - 14 +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 Damage reduction 2/- 2 1 1 0 15 +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Ki frenzy 5/day 2 1 1 1 16 +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 2 2 1 1 17 +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Damage reduction 3/- 2 2 2 1 18 +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Tireless frenzy 3 2 2 1 19 +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Ki frenzy 6/day 3 3 3 2 20 +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Damage reduction 4/- 3 3 3 3 Class Features Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sohei are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor (but no shields). Weapon Focus: Sohei gain Weapon Focus with a weapon of their choice as a bonus feat. Many sohei choose the naginata, the traditional weapon of the sohei. Spells/Spell Points: Wisdom determines the sohei’s spell DCs and bonus spell points. The Sohei chooses her spells from the paladin list and gains spell points as per the paladin spell point chart. Ki Frenzy: Starting at 1st level, a sohei gains the ability to focus her ki power into a frenzy of berserk energy. In this frenzied state, she temporarily gains +2 to Strength and +2 to Dexterity. Her speed increases by 10 feet, and she can choose to make a flurry of blows with a full attack action in melee, making one extra attack per round while suffering a -2 penalty on every attack. While in a ki frenzy, a sohei cannot use skills or abilities that require patience or concentration, such as moving silently or casting spells. She can use any feat she might have except for Combat Expertise, item creation feats, metamagic feats. A ki frenzy lasts a number of rounds equal to three + the sohei’s Constitution modifier. The sohei may prematurely end the frenzy voluntarily. At the end of the frenzy, the sohei is fatigued for the duration of that encounter, until 18th level, when the sohei gains Tireless Frenzy and is no longer fatigued afterwards. The sohei can only enter a frenzy once per encounter, and only a certain number of times per day (determined by level). Entering a frenzy takes no time itself, but the sohei can only do it during her action, not in response to somebody else’s action. Wisdom to AC: At 2nd level, a sohei can add her wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. This ability works just like the Swordsage’s wisdom AC bonus. At 10th level, the sohei gains greater ki frenzy, which increases the her bonus to Strength and Dexterity from +2 to +4, her speed increase stays the same, and she no longer takes a -2 penalty on her attacks when using flurry of blows. Deflect Arrows: At 3rd level, a sohei gains the deflect arrows feat, even if she doesn’t meet the prerequisites for it. Combat Reflexes: At 4th level, a sohei gains combat reflexes, even if she doesn’t meet the prerequisites for it. Remain Conscious: At 5th level, a sohei gains the Diehard feat, even if she doesn’t meet the prerequisites for it. Strength of Mind: A sohei of at least 5th level is immune to stunning and sleep spells and effects. Defensive Strike: At 7th level, a sohei gains the Defensive Strike feat, even if she doesn’t meet the prerequisites for it. Mettle: At 9th level, a sohei gains the mettle ability. This is the same ability that hexblades and crusaders get. Damage Reduction: Starting at 11th level, the sohei gains the extraordinary ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack. She gains DR 1/-. This ability improves by 1 at 14th level, then again at 17th and 20th level. Karmic Strike: At 13th level, a sohei gains the Karmic Strike feat, even if she doesn’t meet eh prerequisites for it
spyone 04-05-07, 03:01 PM	You can preserve the original formatting of a table or such by using a "code" block. That is, begin with (code) and end with (/code) except using a "[" and "]" isntead of the parentheses. So, If I wrote out some stuff in Notepad with Tabs seperating each column of data, it would look like this when posted:Name Cost Dam(s) Dam(m) crit weight type Tanto 2g 1d2 1d3 18-20 1 lb. P/S Kodachi 10g 1d3 1d4 18-20 2 lb. P/S Odachi 50gp 1d8 1d10 18-20 8 lb. P/S It will take some tweaking to get it to look right when posted, but I thought you should know about it.
Vengeblade 04-05-07, 05:45 PM	Forgot about that one, thank you.
MarkusCryst 04-05-07, 06:27 PM	I'm seriously impressed. I've never had a DM put that much effort into a campaign. Makes me slightly jealous actually. But yeah...I'm very impressed. Way to be!
Perseus_Stoned 04-05-07, 06:39 PM	Yes you have lost your mind. But that just makes you a better DM.
RobbyPants 04-09-07, 02:52 PM	In general, I try to limit how many house-rules I use. Partially because I tend to dislike many of them after some game-testing, and partially it does make it harder for new players. The two best pieces of advice I can give you about making/using house-rules are: Keep them both simple and easy to insert into the core rules. For example: creating an opposed Str check for a knockdown on each attack would be relatively intuitive. Redoing the combat system to use percentile dice instead of the standard d20 would not :P. The more simple they are, the easier they are to understand (and less intimidating they are to new players). Give them (new players) a brief, verbal rundown of the house-rules before handing over your binder. This can get rid of a lot of unnecessary reading for them. Chances are, the players don't need to read all 80 pages of your rules. Also, if you followed suggestion #1, then explaining the rules will be much easier. Also, as others have posted, I like to seperate my rules and additions by category (such as combat changes, new races/templates, new classes, etc...). This way, if a player wants to see the new races available, they can quick read the names and maybe the fluff of each race, without flipping through tons of unwanted material.
Vengeblade 04-10-07, 08:30 AM	I dislike most house rules after actually testing them, as well. ALmsot all of the actual rule changes I made come from years of gaming with the same type of crowd. In fact, most of my current group are the people who have helped shape the rules into what they are now. I've only had a few new additions. One of them like reading and she's picked up on it no problem, the otehr just doesn't know 3rd edition which I use, so she just taking time to adjust. The last one....he never reads, isn't too terribly bright, and never tries to figure things out for himself if it involves taking more than 10 minutes. So with him, no new rules is just as difficult. I also have trouble with long verbal rundowns of information that contains many things that aren't commonly used (i.e. I can't remember all the spells I removed since many are never used, and I don't remember all the paladin options all the time since most people never sue it.). I also have trouble staying on one subject with out leading into another w/o finishing the first one. It's part of my syndrome that has some ADHD qualities. Funny thing is, my memory never seems to suffer in session or about story details. Weird.
RobbyPants 04-10-07, 10:18 AM	I also have trouble staying on one subject with out leading into another w/o finishing the first one. QFT. Me too! That's one of the reasons I hate explaining complicated rules to people.
FriendlyBiscuit 04-11-07, 08:19 PM	Many house-rules can simply be managed by you as they have little or no effect on the player. ESPECIALLY if it's a new player. If they're just joining the campaign, whether as a veteran or utter noob, don't give them the PHB and the DMG, and follow it up with, "Well, ya see, in my campaigns you actually have to..." Even if they're a vet, just start out with an "Okay! Glad you're interested in playing. Let's get right down to business so that you can play as soon as possible, okay? You have 6 stats. Assign these numbers to those stats in order of how important they are to you." If it's a noob, they'll ask what the stats mean, and you can give a brief explanation. If it's a vet, and they balk at the way you're doing it, just "Yeah, I know. But this is how I've been doing it, and I'm pretty happy with it. Just give it a try, and we can discuss it later if it still bothers you." In the same way, jog them through setting their HP, BAB, and saves, whether fractional or not. Players generally don't care why you've changed things, at the start. They just want to play. Start rambling about the pros and cons of your system, and they'll either start popping off their own opinions about how things should work, or get bored. Just get the numbers written on the paper. If your fractional variant means the character has a BAB that's one or 2 points higher, they'll still be rolling a d20 and adding the number on their sheet. Only explain or type out the rules that will actually change the way the players play. Are there different ways to cast that spell besides the default effect? Do they need to announce which direction they're facing and/or holding their shield? Write or speak all that stuff out, but definitely don't bother explaining the stuff about basic numbers unless they ask, and even then, try to get them to postpone it until after character creation. Starting a character takes a long time, no matter how much you rush it, so it's crucial to just Get It Done so the player doesn't lose the spark that made them interested in playing the character they're creating. Most players have short attention spans, or else they'd be DMing. Get It Done and Get To the Fun.
Moccanime 04-12-07, 12:31 PM	I've been running a homebrew campaign for a few weeks now, but recently a new player joined and when one of my players handed her the binder containing my houserules (I guess you could call it that), she simply said, "Wow, I didn;t realize that I'd be doing homework before playing in a campaign." Everyone got a good laugh, but it did get me wondering if I did go over board. Had a similiar experience when a new player joined my D20 Future game. First thing I did was handing him 200+ page booklet:D When he realized it just contained everything he would ever want to know about my setting and not everything he needed to know he relaxed. In my oppinion 80 pages isn't so bad, pretty much standard for most homebrew settings i have played in. Compare to publised settings 80 pages isn't much.
Shadowhowler 04-12-07, 08:58 PM	That's all great information, but it isn't house rules. Knowing all the history, maps, town info, etc. isn't something players need to know off the bat. I would cut off the house rule list at "brief world history" and keep everything else as DM info. Oh, I couldn't dissagree more. I guess it comes down to DMing style... but when I DM, the emphisis is on roleplaying and character development. If I had created a fully fleshed out world, I'd want new players to read about it BEFORE creating a character... so that they will make a character that makes sense for the world, and their character will know about the world it lives in. Rules, including house rules, all come after... they are much less important. (For me anyway.)
Shadowhowler 04-12-07, 09:07 PM	On a more general note to this topic... it's been my experince that, when a DM takes the time and energy to write up all those changes... even if I don't agree with them, it bodes well. Why? Any DM that does all that is dedicated to making his game enjoyable and has put a LOT of thought into doing so. Even if I don't like each little change, I LOVE the enthusisasm and it in turn fires me up to be more intrested in that game. So, yeah, I'll jump on the bandwagon and say I wish I had a chance to give your game a try.
Vengeblade 04-12-07, 10:05 PM	Thanks guys, I really appreciate the suport. Wish some of my current gamers would spend more time on playing game, tehn who's the weakest link at keeping things in game. Oh well, time will tell. Anyways, for anyone who cares, I'm thinking about posting my campaign history on my myspace, for my PCS and gamer friends who have moved away to see. I'll post a link when ig et it up and running, I hope to update it every week sometime after game night (which is monday for me at the moment).
Krusk 04-12-07, 10:41 PM	I would divide up your house rules and game info. Ask her to read the game info as she wants, she isn't expected to know all of it, but it could always come in handy. On the other hand if her character has no knowledge history/nobility/local she might not know any of it. Tell her she will need to know any of the relevant changes to her class, and if she takes a feat/prestige class that has been changed she should be aware of the changes. If she is playing a fighter, she dosnt need to read the spell points system at all for instance. Should help her out some in lightening the load. pulls up house rules... our group uses a 58pg word document containing all house rules/rules clarifications so yours isnt really all that hard. Most of us have laptops, so we just keep it there.
Vengeblade 04-13-07, 09:43 AM	Okay, I got my my myspace stuff kinda up to date. I'll keep updating it as teh campaign goes on, we'll see what happens.:D http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=44573859