UnCon Contest: Break This Houserule! [Archive] - Wizards Community

UnCon Contest: Break This Houserule! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
WizO_Autumn
09-19-05, 06:25 PM Break This Houserule
If it isn't fixed, break it

Location: Character Optimization Board (http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=339)

Find a houserule and turn it into a munchkiny super advantage for you by creating a 20th level uber character. Who cares who has fun, let's see who can win!

Go to the contest Now! (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=503591)
fnord
09-25-05, 01:05 AM Folks, please read the characters produced in this contest, and the houserules they abused. LEARN. Many, Many, Many, houserules on this board are breakable and/or unfair. These builds represent an extreme, but the principle applies even if your players aren't Min/maxers. When you design a house rule, think it through, who it helps and who it hurts, and ask yourself if you really want that.
Thank you.
But it was fun abusing the rules y'all so kindly provided.
Garboshnik
09-25-05, 11:50 AM On the other hand, most house rules only need to function for an extremely limited set of players who may already have picked out characters. Since they will be closely watched by the DM, nothing on the CO board is ever likely to see the light of day.
Thelon Fairblade
09-26-05, 12:52 PM As the inventor of the "infinite power" house rule error, I would like to point out that the Action Point suggestion I made can only be broken if you use a spell from Race of Eberron *and* feats and spell seeds from the Epic Level rules. :-)
Tenzhi
10-01-05, 02:49 AM Folks, please read the characters produced in this contest, and the houserules they abused. LEARN. Many, Many, Many, houserules on this board are breakable and/or unfair. These builds represent an extreme, but the principle applies even if your players aren't Min/maxers. When you design a house rule, think it through, who it helps and who it hurts, and ask yourself if you really want that.

As long as the rule does what I intended it to do, as a DM I'd rather keep it around and quash the rare rule-abuser that comes along and tries some monkey-business that common sense should tell him won't fly than to settle for rules that don't accomplish what I want.
truepurple
11-18-05, 04:05 AM Why limit it to house rules? RAW can be munchkined too. Some house rules exist just to fix that.
radu the wanderer
11-28-05, 09:54 AM It's not that the contest was supposed to show the only case where house rules can be broken--- they're extreme examples of it. But there is plenty of room for wanton abuse and capitalization of many house rules. If a house rule is extremely favorable to a specific character concept or build, then it stands to reason that characters using that concept will arise within the game world. Don't think for a second there aren't people who study these things in life as well. (not that I'm suggesting life has the same sort of rules-- but we all know that person who abuses the spirit of rules or bends them to the breaking point in their favor. And they're not exactly rare.)

The contest wasn't supposed to be condescending or arrogant, just fun. Think of it like free playtesting. That is, after all, what playtesters are supposed to do-- break it every concievable way until it gets refined down to a more or less balanced state.

There are two lessons that can be learned from this. One is that the optimizers who used the houserules are silly people with no common sense and of course nobody would try to pull these stunts in game. (A minor variant of this is only seeing room for corner case abuse, ie: missing the forest for the trees.) Another is that this is a helpful example and reminder that playtesting and constant refining are the best ways to produce a more or less balanced rule set.

I dig house rules, and have a collection of them for my own games, but they've evolved over a succession of broken characters to the state they're in now-- I think it's usually better to start with a tweak and build up from there. You've got to look at the house rules and decide, "Does this really help things, does it do what it's supposed to do, is it really needed, and what are the possible consequences of the rule in game?"

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WizO_Autumn 09-19-05, 06:25 PM	Break This Houserule If it isn't fixed, break it Location: Character Optimization Board (http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=339) Find a houserule and turn it into a munchkiny super advantage for you by creating a 20th level uber character. Who cares who has fun, let's see who can win! Go to the contest Now! (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=503591)
fnord 09-25-05, 01:05 AM	Folks, please read the characters produced in this contest, and the houserules they abused. LEARN. Many, Many, Many, houserules on this board are breakable and/or unfair. These builds represent an extreme, but the principle applies even if your players aren't Min/maxers. When you design a house rule, think it through, who it helps and who it hurts, and ask yourself if you really want that. Thank you. But it was fun abusing the rules y'all so kindly provided.
Garboshnik 09-25-05, 11:50 AM	On the other hand, most house rules only need to function for an extremely limited set of players who may already have picked out characters. Since they will be closely watched by the DM, nothing on the CO board is ever likely to see the light of day.
Thelon Fairblade 09-26-05, 12:52 PM	As the inventor of the "infinite power" house rule error, I would like to point out that the Action Point suggestion I made can only be broken if you use a spell from Race of Eberron and feats and spell seeds from the Epic Level rules. :-)
Tenzhi 10-01-05, 02:49 AM	Folks, please read the characters produced in this contest, and the houserules they abused. LEARN. Many, Many, Many, houserules on this board are breakable and/or unfair. These builds represent an extreme, but the principle applies even if your players aren't Min/maxers. When you design a house rule, think it through, who it helps and who it hurts, and ask yourself if you really want that. As long as the rule does what I intended it to do, as a DM I'd rather keep it around and quash the rare rule-abuser that comes along and tries some monkey-business that common sense should tell him won't fly than to settle for rules that don't accomplish what I want.
truepurple 11-18-05, 04:05 AM	Why limit it to house rules? RAW can be munchkined too. Some house rules exist just to fix that.
radu the wanderer 11-28-05, 09:54 AM	It's not that the contest was supposed to show the only case where house rules can be broken--- they're extreme examples of it. But there is plenty of room for wanton abuse and capitalization of many house rules. If a house rule is extremely favorable to a specific character concept or build, then it stands to reason that characters using that concept will arise within the game world. Don't think for a second there aren't people who study these things in life as well. (not that I'm suggesting life has the same sort of rules-- but we all know that person who abuses the spirit of rules or bends them to the breaking point in their favor. And they're not exactly rare.) The contest wasn't supposed to be condescending or arrogant, just fun. Think of it like free playtesting. That is, after all, what playtesters are supposed to do-- break it every concievable way until it gets refined down to a more or less balanced state. There are two lessons that can be learned from this. One is that the optimizers who used the houserules are silly people with no common sense and of course nobody would try to pull these stunts in game. (A minor variant of this is only seeing room for corner case abuse, ie: missing the forest for the trees.) Another is that this is a helpful example and reminder that playtesting and constant refining are the best ways to produce a more or less balanced rule set. I dig house rules, and have a collection of them for my own games, but they've evolved over a succession of broken characters to the state they're in now-- I think it's usually better to start with a tweak and build up from there. You've got to look at the house rules and decide, "Does this really help things, does it do what it's supposed to do, is it really needed, and what are the possible consequences of the rule in game?"