House Rules: clear, or not? [Archive] - Wizards Community

House Rules: clear, or not? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
xaqariah
03-15-07, 04:58 PM I have had the luck to find a number of players looking for a DM. As I have not had the opportunity to play with most of them, I am writing down my House Rules, so that everyone will know what to expect.

Mostly, I am posting this to see if the rules are written clear enough, or not. I play with these rules, regularly, with my standard group.

Questions are welcome. :)

HOUSE RULES for my campaigns.
1) EXPERIENCE
*Encounters come in two forms, the familiar Combat Encounter, and
the Role Playing Encounter.
-Combat Encounters add their full experience value to the
end-session calculation.
-Role Playing Encounters will usually be figured at a CR
near the average Character Level, for experience.
-Encounters may only be “defeated” once, in a single
Game Session. If the Characters are able to get around
an expected Combat Encounter, the group earns the total
value of the encounter, but if they end up fighting the
exact same encounter, later on in the same Game
Session, they will not gain any additional experience
for “defeating” the encounter again.
*At the end of a Game Session, the group is rated from 1 to 5 in
three categories:
Role Playing, Teamwork and Fun Factor
*The total from these three categories (3-15) is multiplied by .1
(becoming a percentage) and then multiplied by the total
experience worth of all of the encounters from that session. This
value is divided by the number of players, and added to their main
PC’s experience total.
-NPCs controlled by a player (like cohorts and hirelings)
gain the same amount of experience that the Player’s
main character received, up to the normal Level caps.
*Players may donate up to 1/10th of their earned experience from
the Game Session to another player, who’s experience total is less
than theirs, to help them “catch up”.
-Players may fall behind the group for a number of
reasons, from missing Game Sessions, to creating magic
items.
-Players may only donate a maximum amount of
experience to bring another character up to equal their
own character’s experience point total.
-Players may donate experience to cohorts and hirelings,
up to the normal Level caps.

2) SOCIAL SKILLS (Bluff, Diplomacy…)
*Role Playing through encounters can be fun and rewarding, but
there are many times when a player’s social skills and his
character’s social skills are out of sync. Role Playing is
encouraged, but a Skill roll will still be required.
-This allows players to direct a conversation, without
letting a [“high Charisma player”/”low charisma (or skill)
character”] get everything he wants.
-This also allows a less socially skilled player to gain
benefit from a highly social oriented character.

3) ROUND STRUCTURE
*Initiative is rolled every round on a d10 plus the standard
initiative modifiers.
*Multiple actions in a round are divided evenly through initiative
counts.
-To make division faster, look at the closest number that
divides evenly, and subtract that amount from the actual
total. 1/2 rounds up.
-Initiative = 11 with three attacks: (12 is the closest
number to 11, that is divisible by three, so 4 is subtracted
from the initiative total for each extra attack.) The first
attack is on 11, the second is on 7 and the third is on 3.
-Initiative = 9 with two attacks: The first attack is on 9
and the second is on 5.
*Spells that take “1 standard action” to cast, take one initiative
count per spell-level to cast.
-Initiative = 5 while casting a 3rd Level Spell: On
initiative count “5”, announce, “I begin casting, it goes
off on ‘2’.” (… or something similar. The DM does the
same.) Once casting has been announced, anyone may
take the opportunity to make Spellcraft checks, to
identify the Spell.
-Spells only draw Attacks of Opportunity on the initiative
count that casting is started, not on every segment that
the spell is being cast.
*Multiple player actions on a specific segment are considered to be
simultaneous.
*”Zero” is the lowest possible initiative count. Any actions that
would happen “after” this are just considered to happen last.

4) PLAYER SURVIVABILITY
*My campaigns tend to be story-driven, and the death of a
character that is supposed to be a “Hero” because of a random
critical or bad roll is a very “un-heroic” death, indeed.
-A player’s main character is not instantly killed by
massive damage, or other random die rolls. If damage
would result in a player’s main character’s hit points going
to -10 or lower, the character “bottoms out” at -9. The
character is still considered to be “dying” and has until
the end of the next combat round to stabilize, either
through his abilities, or the actions of another character.
If the character does not stabilize, and drops to -10, then
the death is allowed to happen.
-If a character is killed through an action of his choice,
then the death is allowed to happen. (This could result in
a “heroic” death, like jumping on a grenade, to take all of
the damage, so that others may survive, or it could result
in an “un-heroic” death, like running through a room
known to be trapped, because you are “pretty sure” your
character can take it.)
*Other player controlled characters and NPCs do not gain this
benefit.
stargate525
03-15-07, 05:36 PM *At the end of a Game Session, the group is rated from 1 to 5 in
three categories:
Role Playing, Teamwork and Fun Factor
*The total from these three categories (3-15) is multiplied by .1
(becoming a percentage) and then multiplied by the total
experience worth of all of the encounters from that session. This
value is divided by the number of players, and added to their main
PC’s experience total.

I would define the three areas with a sentence or two. two of them are relatively self-explanatory, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'fun factor.' This should also remove some potential complaining about why they got low scores.

Is this DM's vote or the players? I would also consider giving each character an individual score, for the dual reasons that one off player doesn't ruin everyone else's bonus, and that the player would actually know where they need to improve.
fatal error
03-15-07, 08:39 PM How will Spring Attack, Shot on the Run, and Mobile Spellcasting, and Charge, function with this action system?

HOUSE RULES for my campaigns.
*”Zero” is the lowest possible initiative count. Any actions that
would happen “after” this are just considered to happen last.

This bothers me in that if I'm a spell caster, I want the lowest initiative possible, so my foes will not have time to react. If I go first and start casting, let's say, Cone of Cold, then the enemy wizard spellcrafts it, tells other on his turn. Then, on their turns (presuming they go before CoC goes off, 5 numbers down), they can all run away/spread out to avoid the effect. Obviously not always going to be a problem, but something that will definitely come up at times.
bartleby42
03-16-07, 12:14 AM HOUSE RULES for my campaigns.
*At the end of a Game Session, the group is rated from 1 to 5 in three categories:
Role Playing, Teamwork and Fun Factor
*The total from these three categories (3-15) is multiplied by .1 (becoming a percentage) and then multiplied by the total experience worth of all of the encounters from that session. This value is divided by the number of players, and added to their main PC’s experience total.
Hmm, fun factor and teamwork are kinda iffy for you to decided upon. If the PCs had fun and you didn't will you still be fair? Teamwork is also sticky, because many people have off nights and once in a while a one man show happens, not due to lack of consideration but due to lack of effort/quality ideas from the others. It seems like a little much work just to give bonus XP.

-NPCs controlled by a player (like cohorts and hirelings) gain the same amount of experience that the Player’s main character received, up to the normal Level caps.
So do cohorts recive a full share, that is if a party of 4 with one hireling got 200XP would each member get 40XP. Or do cohorts not count when it comes to calculating XP so each memeber would get 50XP?

I find an easy solution is to have cohorts gain a half share of XP, this cuts down on PCs having a herd of followers but doesn't penalize a party with a cohort too much.

*Players may donate up to 1/10th of their earned experience from the Game Session to another player, who’s experience total is less than theirs, to help them “catch up”.
Good rule, it's the player's XP not yours.

2) SOCIAL SKILLS (Bluff, Diplomacy…)
*Role Playing through encounters can be fun and rewarding, but there are many times when a player’s social skills and his character’s social skills are out of sync. Role Playing is encouraged, but a Skill roll will still be required.

The only problem with this one is the diplomacy "master" who can get obscene diplomacy rolls off even with the -20 for doing so in only one round. If you never have that PC count yourself as lucky....

3) ROUND STRUCTURE
*Initiative is rolled every round on a d10 plus the standard initiative modifiers.
*Multiple actions in a round are divided evenly through initiative counts.
-To make division faster, look at the closest number that divides evenly, and subtract that amount from the actual total. 1/2 rounds up.
-Initiative = 11 with three attacks: (12 is the closest
number to 11, that is divisible by three, so 4 is subtractedfrom the initiative total for each extra attack.) The first attack is on 11, the second is on 7 and the third is on 3.
-Initiative = 9 with two attacks: The first attack is on 9and the second is on 5.

This seems needlessly complex. I see no reason to do this other than to add to surviability to monsters. Combat will slow to a crawl, and fully expect your PCs to have to look for a while to figure out what attack bonus should be used.
*Spells that take “1 standard action” to cast, take one initiative count per spell-level to cast.
-Initiative = 5 while casting a 3rd Level Spell: On
initiative count “5”, announce, “I begin casting, it goes off on ‘2’.” (… or something similar. The DM does the same.) Once casting has been announced, anyone may take the opportunity to make Spellcraft checks, to identify the Spell.
-Spells only draw Attacks of Opportunity on the initiative count that casting is started, not on every segment that the spell is being cast.
*Multiple player actions on a specific segment are considered to be simultaneous.

Why? I don't see a need to make it more complex. How do is it so important that PCs are unable to place fireballs acurately? This benifits no-one and slows the game down needlessly.

4) PLAYER SURVIVABILITY
*My campaigns tend to be story-driven, and the death of a character that is supposed to be a “Hero” because of a random critical or bad roll is a very “un-heroic” death, indeed.
-A player’s main character is not instantly killed by
massive damage, or other random die rolls. If damage would result in a player’s main character’s hit points going to -10 or lower, the character “bottoms out” at -9. The character is still considered to be “dying” and has until the end of the next combat round to stabilize, either through his abilities, or the actions of another character. If the character does not stabilize, and drops to -10, then the death is allowed to happen.
-If a character is killed through an action of his choice, then the death is allowed to happen. (This could result in a “heroic” death, like jumping on a grenade, to take all of the damage, so that others may survive, or it could result in an “un-heroic” death, like running through a room
known to be trapped, because you are “pretty sure” your character can take it.)
*Other player controlled characters and NPCs do not gain this benefit.

No problem with this. The PCs benifit and there is no needless and complex bookwork attached to it.
xaqariah
03-16-07, 03:54 PM Allrighty, start at the top, and work my way down. :)

*****

stargate525

Thank you, this is the type of thing I was looking for.

These three categories are measured against the group "standard".

If the group is not very good at one category, or another, then they get points for doing better. As the group gets better, the "standard" goes up.

Fun Factor is a measure of the overall energy of the night.
Did everyone have fun? (this includes the DM.)

These categories are subjectual, but I do not penalize or get upset, if the players completely negate what I had planned, because they decided to think "outside of the box", or if something else, in the game, is deemed more important, than what I though the main plot was. I can usually "wing it" for about four hours of Role Playing (combat does not usually eat into this time), before I have to stop, and re-build the next part of the plot. (in order to bring the plot to the PCs, based on the direction that THEY want to go. Not everything has to happen at the time and place that it was originally determined. :P)

*****

fatal error

Spring Attack, Shot on the Run, and Mobile Spellcasting, and Charge:
You still get to move before or after a "Standard Action", without having to calculate-out any changes to your initiative number.

When your initiative count comes up, you jump into combat, attack, and "Springattack" back out, all on the same count.

Even without these abilities, you can move and attack, or attack and move, all on the same count.

Stringing out "Full round" actions was done in my "standard" group, because there were a number of times that the monsters rolled well on init., and were able to wade into the group and take 3-4 attacks (each), killing a number of PCs, before they had a chance to react.
(Surprise round, monsters use their action to move up to the PCs. Next round, monsters roll high initiative numbers, and take a "full round attack", killing a number of still flat-footed PCs.)

You are correct, that the change to spellcasting changes the tactics of spellcasting, a bit. It was originally used by my DM, and I think it's a carry-over from 2e. (don't quote me on this, though...)

Also, it's similar to the D&D computer games, where you see the spellcaster start casting, and have time to attempt to disrupt it.

All-in-all, it's a farely small "nerf", when it comes to what spellcasters can do. Anyone who makes themselves known as a threat, will be targeted. If the Wizard thinks he can survive, holding to the end of the round once everyone knows he is a spell-slinger, then he is welcome to do just that.

*****

bartleby42

fun factor and teamwork:

We get together to play, to have fun. Fun Factor includes everyone, including the DM. If everyone else had fun, but I didn't, for some reason, then it will probably all come out to the average "3". (I don't get upset, if the players completely wipe what was supposed to be a BBEG fight. They do not get penalized, for doing well.)

Teamwork is not graded on any specific event, but on the entire session. If one player gets a chance to shine, because he has skills, that nobody else has, then he gets to shine. Part of teamwork is knowing when someone else is better at doing something, than you are, and delegate out.

If more than one person has the skills, then it's better to let everyone be involved, and get the job done faster.

What's important is, did everyone work together, to get the job done?

You are correct, that these things are subjectual. If nothing stands out, then they get their "3".

If one person went above and beyond, to cover their spellcasters, or the party uses non-skill resources to gether information (like a Cleric consulting his temple) then they could get more.

If someone decided to "showboat", and nearly gets the party killed, or hogs the spotlight, then the marks could go down.

The important thing to remember, is that this is a grade of the entire session. One infraction isn't going to significantly effect the end grade.

It takes a LOT to get an extreme mark, of 1 or 5. Think of it, like a bell-curve.

So do cohorts recive a full share...

Cohorts are not figured into the final xp divide.
A group of four PCs, one cohort and two Hierlings score 200xp. Everyone gets 50xp. (200/4)

The cohort is "part" of the player who spent the feat on Leadership. He receives 50xp, as well, up to one xp short of being one level lower than the PC. (as I understand the standard rules, they can only advance up to 2 levels behind.)
I worked out giving the cohort 1/2 xp, and watched it fall further and further behind the PC, even if the PC gives up 10% of his experience to the cohort, every time.

Followers are not meant to travel with the group, and do not gain xp. They get better, as the PCs Leadership score goes up.

While Hierlings, on the other hand, still get the same xp, they are also an easy way of decreasing the xp that the goup gets, as a whole, because the "CR" of the group goes up, allowing them to take on "normal" challenges easier.

The only problem with this one is the diplomacy "master" who can get obscene diplomacy rolls off even with the -20 for doing so in only one round. If you never have that PC count yourself as lucky....

I have a PC, that makes a killing on any roll he needs to make. He rolls out in the open, and will happily change-up dice, with whatever you want to give him. I have yet to see him miss a saving throw, and he is the one who is "volunteered" to roll, when it comes to any type of random treasure.

[The round structure] seems needlessly complex. I see no reason to do this other than to add to surviability to monsters.

It's actually there to benefit PC survivability. I explained above, that there were a number of times, that monsters were able to run up to PCs, and kill them with their uber-number of attacks, and high damage output, before anyone had a chance to move.

This also keeps most everyone's attention, through the entire round. (especially since "Haste" can now be used without having to worry about killing your allies by old age) You have to pay attention to the initiative count, to get your Full-Attack option.

spells...

It changes the tactics of spellcasting, but stating that you are casting, and letting the initiative count go down, and then stating the result, is not THAT much more time, than stating it, all at once.

I gave additional comments about this, above.

*****

Thank you all, for taking time to comment.

I tried to do my best to explain the reasons behind the rules that came into question. If you still disagree with the way I do things, then we might have to agree to disagree. :)

:D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
xaqariah 03-15-07, 04:58 PM	I have had the luck to find a number of players looking for a DM. As I have not had the opportunity to play with most of them, I am writing down my House Rules, so that everyone will know what to expect. Mostly, I am posting this to see if the rules are written clear enough, or not. I play with these rules, regularly, with my standard group. Questions are welcome. :) HOUSE RULES for my campaigns. 1) EXPERIENCE Encounters come in two forms, the familiar Combat Encounter, and the Role Playing Encounter. -Combat Encounters add their full experience value to the end-session calculation. -Role Playing Encounters will usually be figured at a CR near the average Character Level, for experience. -Encounters may only be “defeated” once, in a single Game Session. If the Characters are able to get around an expected Combat Encounter, the group earns the total value of the encounter, but if they end up fighting the exact same encounter, later on in the same Game Session, they will not gain any additional experience for “defeating” the encounter again. At the end of a Game Session, the group is rated from 1 to 5 in three categories: Role Playing, Teamwork and Fun Factor The total from these three categories (3-15) is multiplied by .1 (becoming a percentage) and then multiplied by the total experience worth of all of the encounters from that session. This value is divided by the number of players, and added to their main PC’s experience total. -NPCs controlled by a player (like cohorts and hirelings) gain the same amount of experience that the Player’s main character received, up to the normal Level caps. Players may donate up to 1/10th of their earned experience from the Game Session to another player, who’s experience total is less than theirs, to help them “catch up”. -Players may fall behind the group for a number of reasons, from missing Game Sessions, to creating magic items. -Players may only donate a maximum amount of experience to bring another character up to equal their own character’s experience point total. -Players may donate experience to cohorts and hirelings, up to the normal Level caps. 2) SOCIAL SKILLS (Bluff, Diplomacy…) Role Playing through encounters can be fun and rewarding, but there are many times when a player’s social skills and his character’s social skills are out of sync. Role Playing is encouraged, but a Skill roll will still be required. -This allows players to direct a conversation, without letting a [“high Charisma player”/”low charisma (or skill) character”] get everything he wants. -This also allows a less socially skilled player to gain benefit from a highly social oriented character. 3) ROUND STRUCTURE Initiative is rolled every round on a d10 plus the standard initiative modifiers. Multiple actions in a round are divided evenly through initiative counts. -To make division faster, look at the closest number that divides evenly, and subtract that amount from the actual total. 1/2 rounds up. -Initiative = 11 with three attacks: (12 is the closest number to 11, that is divisible by three, so 4 is subtracted from the initiative total for each extra attack.) The first attack is on 11, the second is on 7 and the third is on 3. -Initiative = 9 with two attacks: The first attack is on 9 and the second is on 5. Spells that take “1 standard action” to cast, take one initiative count per spell-level to cast. -Initiative = 5 while casting a 3rd Level Spell: On initiative count “5”, announce, “I begin casting, it goes off on ‘2’.” (… or something similar. The DM does the same.) Once casting has been announced, anyone may take the opportunity to make Spellcraft checks, to identify the Spell. -Spells only draw Attacks of Opportunity on the initiative count that casting is started, not on every segment that the spell is being cast. Multiple player actions on a specific segment are considered to be simultaneous. ”Zero” is the lowest possible initiative count. Any actions that would happen “after” this are just considered to happen last. 4) PLAYER SURVIVABILITY My campaigns tend to be story-driven, and the death of a character that is supposed to be a “Hero” because of a random critical or bad roll is a very “un-heroic” death, indeed. -A player’s main character is not instantly killed by massive damage, or other random die rolls. If damage would result in a player’s main character’s hit points going to -10 or lower, the character “bottoms out” at -9. The character is still considered to be “dying” and has until the end of the next combat round to stabilize, either through his abilities, or the actions of another character. If the character does not stabilize, and drops to -10, then the death is allowed to happen. -If a character is killed through an action of his choice, then the death is allowed to happen. (This could result in a “heroic” death, like jumping on a grenade, to take all of the damage, so that others may survive, or it could result in an “un-heroic” death, like running through a room known to be trapped, because you are “pretty sure” your character can take it.) Other player controlled characters and NPCs do not gain this benefit.
stargate525 03-15-07, 05:36 PM	At the end of a Game Session, the group is rated from 1 to 5 in three categories: Role Playing, Teamwork and Fun Factor The total from these three categories (3-15) is multiplied by .1 (becoming a percentage) and then multiplied by the total experience worth of all of the encounters from that session. This value is divided by the number of players, and added to their main PC’s experience total. I would define the three areas with a sentence or two. two of them are relatively self-explanatory, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'fun factor.' This should also remove some potential complaining about why they got low scores. Is this DM's vote or the players? I would also consider giving each character an individual score, for the dual reasons that one off player doesn't ruin everyone else's bonus, and that the player would actually know where they need to improve.
fatal error 03-15-07, 08:39 PM	How will Spring Attack, Shot on the Run, and Mobile Spellcasting, and Charge, function with this action system? HOUSE RULES for my campaigns. *”Zero” is the lowest possible initiative count. Any actions that would happen “after” this are just considered to happen last. This bothers me in that if I'm a spell caster, I want the lowest initiative possible, so my foes will not have time to react. If I go first and start casting, let's say, Cone of Cold, then the enemy wizard spellcrafts it, tells other on his turn. Then, on their turns (presuming they go before CoC goes off, 5 numbers down), they can all run away/spread out to avoid the effect. Obviously not always going to be a problem, but something that will definitely come up at times.
bartleby42 03-16-07, 12:14 AM	HOUSE RULES for my campaigns. At the end of a Game Session, the group is rated from 1 to 5 in three categories: Role Playing, Teamwork and Fun Factor The total from these three categories (3-15) is multiplied by .1 (becoming a percentage) and then multiplied by the total experience worth of all of the encounters from that session. This value is divided by the number of players, and added to their main PC’s experience total. Hmm, fun factor and teamwork are kinda iffy for you to decided upon. If the PCs had fun and you didn't will you still be fair? Teamwork is also sticky, because many people have off nights and once in a while a one man show happens, not due to lack of consideration but due to lack of effort/quality ideas from the others. It seems like a little much work just to give bonus XP. -NPCs controlled by a player (like cohorts and hirelings) gain the same amount of experience that the Player’s main character received, up to the normal Level caps. So do cohorts recive a full share, that is if a party of 4 with one hireling got 200XP would each member get 40XP. Or do cohorts not count when it comes to calculating XP so each memeber would get 50XP? I find an easy solution is to have cohorts gain a half share of XP, this cuts down on PCs having a herd of followers but doesn't penalize a party with a cohort too much. Players may donate up to 1/10th of their earned experience from the Game Session to another player, who’s experience total is less than theirs, to help them “catch up”. Good rule, it's the player's XP not yours. 2) SOCIAL SKILLS (Bluff, Diplomacy…) Role Playing through encounters can be fun and rewarding, but there are many times when a player’s social skills and his character’s social skills are out of sync. Role Playing is encouraged, but a Skill roll will still be required. The only problem with this one is the diplomacy "master" who can get obscene diplomacy rolls off even with the -20 for doing so in only one round. If you never have that PC count yourself as lucky.... 3) ROUND STRUCTURE Initiative is rolled every round on a d10 plus the standard initiative modifiers. Multiple actions in a round are divided evenly through initiative counts. -To make division faster, look at the closest number that divides evenly, and subtract that amount from the actual total. 1/2 rounds up. -Initiative = 11 with three attacks: (12 is the closest number to 11, that is divisible by three, so 4 is subtractedfrom the initiative total for each extra attack.) The first attack is on 11, the second is on 7 and the third is on 3. -Initiative = 9 with two attacks: The first attack is on 9and the second is on 5. This seems needlessly complex. I see no reason to do this other than to add to surviability to monsters. Combat will slow to a crawl, and fully expect your PCs to have to look for a while to figure out what attack bonus should be used. Spells that take “1 standard action” to cast, take one initiative count per spell-level to cast. -Initiative = 5 while casting a 3rd Level Spell: On initiative count “5”, announce, “I begin casting, it goes off on ‘2’.” (… or something similar. The DM does the same.) Once casting has been announced, anyone may take the opportunity to make Spellcraft checks, to identify the Spell. -Spells only draw Attacks of Opportunity on the initiative count that casting is started, not on every segment that the spell is being cast. Multiple player actions on a specific segment are considered to be simultaneous. Why? I don't see a need to make it more complex. How do is it so important that PCs are unable to place fireballs acurately? This benifits no-one and slows the game down needlessly. 4) PLAYER SURVIVABILITY My campaigns tend to be story-driven, and the death of a character that is supposed to be a “Hero” because of a random critical or bad roll is a very “un-heroic” death, indeed. -A player’s main character is not instantly killed by massive damage, or other random die rolls. If damage would result in a player’s main character’s hit points going to -10 or lower, the character “bottoms out” at -9. The character is still considered to be “dying” and has until the end of the next combat round to stabilize, either through his abilities, or the actions of another character. If the character does not stabilize, and drops to -10, then the death is allowed to happen. -If a character is killed through an action of his choice, then the death is allowed to happen. (This could result in a “heroic” death, like jumping on a grenade, to take all of the damage, so that others may survive, or it could result in an “un-heroic” death, like running through a room known to be trapped, because you are “pretty sure” your character can take it.) Other player controlled characters and NPCs do not gain this benefit. No problem with this. The PCs benifit and there is no needless and complex bookwork attached to it.
xaqariah 03-16-07, 03:54 PM	Allrighty, start at the top, and work my way down. :) *** stargate525 Thank you, this is the type of thing I was looking for. These three categories are measured against the group "standard". If the group is not very good at one category, or another, then they get points for doing better. As the group gets better, the "standard" goes up. Fun Factor is a measure of the overall energy of the night. Did everyone have fun? (this includes the DM.) These categories are subjectual, but I do not penalize or get upset, if the players completely negate what I had planned, because they decided to think "outside of the box", or if something else, in the game, is deemed more important, than what I though the main plot was. I can usually "wing it" for about four hours of Role Playing (combat does not usually eat into this time), before I have to stop, and re-build the next part of the plot. (in order to bring the plot to the PCs, based on the direction that THEY want to go. Not everything has to happen at the time and place that it was originally determined. :P) * fatal error Spring Attack, Shot on the Run, and Mobile Spellcasting, and Charge: You still get to move before or after a "Standard Action", without having to calculate-out any changes to your initiative number. When your initiative count comes up, you jump into combat, attack, and "Springattack" back out, all on the same count. Even without these abilities, you can move and attack, or attack and move, all on the same count. Stringing out "Full round" actions was done in my "standard" group, because there were a number of times that the monsters rolled well on init., and were able to wade into the group and take 3-4 attacks (each), killing a number of PCs, before they had a chance to react. (Surprise round, monsters use their action to move up to the PCs. Next round, monsters roll high initiative numbers, and take a "full round attack", killing a number of still flat-footed PCs.) You are correct, that the change to spellcasting changes the tactics of spellcasting, a bit. It was originally used by my DM, and I think it's a carry-over from 2e. (don't quote me on this, though...) Also, it's similar to the D&D computer games, where you see the spellcaster start casting, and have time to attempt to disrupt it. All-in-all, it's a farely small "nerf", when it comes to what spellcasters can do. Anyone who makes themselves known as a threat, will be targeted. If the Wizard thinks he can survive, holding to the end of the round once everyone knows he is a spell-slinger, then he is welcome to do just that. * bartleby42 fun factor and teamwork: We get together to play, to have fun. Fun Factor includes everyone, including the DM. If everyone else had fun, but I didn't, for some reason, then it will probably all come out to the average "3". (I don't get upset, if the players completely wipe what was supposed to be a BBEG fight. They do not get penalized, for doing well.) Teamwork is not graded on any specific event, but on the entire session. If one player gets a chance to shine, because he has skills, that nobody else has, then he gets to shine. Part of teamwork is knowing when someone else is better at doing something, than you are, and delegate out. If more than one person has the skills, then it's better to let everyone be involved, and get the job done faster. What's important is, did everyone work together, to get the job done? You are correct, that these things are subjectual. If nothing stands out, then they get their "3". If one person went above and beyond, to cover their spellcasters, or the party uses non-skill resources to gether information (like a Cleric consulting his temple) then they could get more. If someone decided to "showboat", and nearly gets the party killed, or hogs the spotlight, then the marks could go down. The important thing to remember, is that this is a grade of the entire session. One infraction isn't going to significantly effect the end grade. It takes a LOT to get an extreme mark, of 1 or 5. Think of it, like a bell-curve. So do cohorts recive a full share... Cohorts are not figured into the final xp divide. A group of four PCs, one cohort and two Hierlings score 200xp. Everyone gets 50xp. (200/4) The cohort is "part" of the player who spent the feat on Leadership. He receives 50xp, as well, up to one xp short of being one level lower than the PC. (as I understand the standard rules, they can only advance up to 2 levels behind.) I worked out giving the cohort 1/2 xp, and watched it fall further and further behind the PC, even if the PC gives up 10% of his experience to the cohort, every time. Followers are not meant to travel with the group, and do not gain xp. They get better, as the PCs Leadership score goes up. While Hierlings, on the other hand, still get the same xp, they are also an easy way of decreasing the xp that the goup gets, as a whole, because the "CR" of the group goes up, allowing them to take on "normal" challenges easier. The only problem with this one is the diplomacy "master" who can get obscene diplomacy rolls off even with the -20 for doing so in only one round. If you never have that PC count yourself as lucky.... I have a PC, that makes a killing on any roll he needs to make. He rolls out in the open, and will happily change-up dice, with whatever you want to give him. I have yet to see him miss a saving throw, and he is the one who is "volunteered" to roll, when it comes to any type of random treasure. [The round structure] seems needlessly complex. I see no reason to do this other than to add to surviability to monsters. It's actually there to benefit PC survivability. I explained above, that there were a number of times, that monsters were able to run up to PCs, and kill them with their uber-number of attacks, and high damage output, before anyone had a chance to move. This also keeps most everyone's attention, through the entire round. (especially since "Haste" can now be used without having to worry about killing your allies by old age) You have to pay attention to the initiative count, to get your Full-Attack option. spells... It changes the tactics of spellcasting, but stating that you are casting, and letting the initiative count go down, and then stating the result, is not THAT much more time, than stating it, all at once. I gave additional comments about this, above. *** Thank you all, for taking time to comment. I tried to do my best to explain the reasons behind the rules that came into question. If you still disagree with the way I do things, then we might have to agree to disagree. :) :D