Post/Author/DateTime	Post
potlessrainbows 04-14-08, 05:56 PM	I am a DM and am about to start a new campaign and I was wondering what your favorite house rules were. We may use some of them in our game. I had read one a LONG time ago about "Luck Dice" that I like for lvls 1-5 i think it was, but I cannot recall enough of it to be of any use to me now. 1. Use of the "But my last DM" phrase is not allowed in my game as an argument to remedy a situation.
RoamingArcher 04-14-08, 06:11 PM	#2: If you score a critical hit, you have to get your victim their next drink.
dead_pool 04-14-08, 06:15 PM	3 Crit fails on attack rolls resultin a 50/50 chance of the weapon being droped or broken.
CaptainPicard 04-14-08, 06:19 PM	4. Not using massive damage. 5. Not using that item damage table that is almost core to not use because nobody ever does anyway.
Zherog 04-14-08, 06:23 PM	3 Crit fails on attack rolls resultin a 50/50 chance of the weapon being droped or broken. Ugh. Worst sort of rule ever. It punishes melee characters, because they get more opportunities to roll crit confirmations by means of having more attacks.
dead_pool 04-14-08, 06:27 PM	Ugh. Worst sort of rule ever. It punishes melee characters, because they get more opportunities to roll crit confirmations by means of having more attacks. crit fail meaning you roll a 1 on an attack
Zherog 04-14-08, 06:31 PM	Which is even worse. A fighter (or paladin, ranger, barbarian) rolls more attack rolls - in general - than any other class, which gives them more opportunities to suffer the idiotic fumble rules people incorporate in their games.
iserith 04-14-08, 06:32 PM	6. On a critical hit, everyone takes a shot. In my campaign, if you don't want a hangover, don't fight everything.
Dark Stryke 04-14-08, 06:35 PM	crit fail meaning you roll a 1 on an attack We all understand that. It punishes melee characters, and it punishes them worse at higher levels. A low level fighter gets 1 attack per round, but a 20th level fighter gets 4, possibly more if you take feats, enchantments, and spells into account. The higher level fighter has 4+ chances each round of dropping his weapon. It amounts to a 20% chance in any given round (at the very least) of dropping or breaking his uber-powerful-I'm-useless-without-this sword.
dead_pool 04-14-08, 06:44 PM	We all understand that. It punishes melee characters, and it punishes them worse at higher levels. A low level fighter gets 1 attack per round, but a 20th level fighter gets 4, possibly more if you take feats, enchantments, and spells into account. The higher level fighter has 4+ chances each round of dropping his weapon. It amounts to a 20% chance in any given round (at the very least) of dropping or breaking his uber-powerful-I'm-useless-without-this sword. never realy thought about it that way. now I must protest this rule with my current dm (whom this rule belongs to). up until now it was just a source of occasional hilarity, but I am playing a fighter and you are right he would be pretty usless without his favorite weapon.
potlessrainbows 04-14-08, 06:47 PM	never realy thought about it that way. now I must protest this rule with my current dm (whom this rule belongs to). up until now it was just a source of occasional hilarity, but I am playing a fighter and you are right he would be pretty usless without his favorite weapon. I used this rule in one of my games for about a week. The main tank is the one who really suffers and casters well, they die........
Shinikama 04-14-08, 07:29 PM	7. If you say it, you do it, unless you specifically state that you are out of character.
Great_Zamboni 04-14-08, 07:42 PM	7. If you say it, you do it, unless you specifically state that you are out of character. 8. (7) is not to be taken too literally. "Uh, okay. The rest of the party looks at Feedle the Bard in confusion, wondering what an "epipen" is."
Rederik 04-15-08, 01:04 PM	I used this rule in one of my games for about a week. The main tank is the one who really suffers and casters well, they die........ If you want to use crit fumbles (which, I think are okay) you can try this system. If you roll a '1', you have roll again. If you hit the AC on the second attack, you are fine, nothing happens, you miss... If you fail to hit the AC on the second attack, then something randomly annoying happens... (chart). The second roll is another attack roll so "1' is auto fail, '20' is auto success. I feel this takes the auto suck out for fighters... Fighters very, very rarely ever fail both attacks... Occasionally happens, but, bad luck happens. To everyone who hates crit fumbles... I validate your feelings, I respect your opinions. Thanks for doing the same.
potlessrainbows 04-15-08, 01:15 PM	If you want to use crit fumbles (which, I think are okay) you can try this system. If you roll a '1', you have roll again. If you hit the AC on the second attack, you are fine, nothing happens, you miss... If you fail to hit the AC on the second attack, then something randomly annoying happens... (chart). The second roll is another attack roll so "1' is auto fail, '20' is auto success. I feel this takes the auto suck out for fighters... Fighters very, very rarely ever fail both attacks... Occasionally happens, but, bad luck happens. To everyone who hates crit fumbles... I validate your feelings, I respect your opinions. Thanks for doing the same. This is a very interesting take on this one.... thanks for sharing. We may try this after all just for the flavor.
Talisman 04-15-08, 03:26 PM	If you want to use crit fumbles (which, I think are okay) you can try this system. If you roll a '1', you have roll again. If you hit the AC on the second attack, you are fine, nothing happens, you miss... If you fail to hit the AC on the second attack, then something randomly annoying happens... (chart). The second roll is another attack roll so "1' is auto fail, '20' is auto success. My group uses this system...it works pretty well. It applies to spellcasters using touch or ranged touch spells as well...hardly ever comes up, but when it does...!
Timlagor 04-15-08, 03:51 PM	a) Casters can very easily be played without ever making an attack roll (and will generally be more powerful for doing so). b) Casters are already more powerful than fighters. - I'd really hate to play an archer or TWFer with that kind of rule. **************************************** *************** Here are a few rules I consider decent though: * XYZ are banned -I'm not goign to try to write a comprehensive list but anything that grants 'free' metamagic should be out for a start. * you die when you reach -ConScore HP or -10-Level HP (those 10hp are a useful buffer for a few levels) * you lose 1000*level xp when you die (no longer matters much what point in the level you were; figure can be changed to taste) * massive damage based on target's HP if at all. * no rewinds (not a modification to the RAW but it can get people to pay attention and saves faffing about when people realise they forgot something) * CdG/massive damage from a nonlethal attack knocks target unconscious on a failed save. * Anything in MIC with charges or per-day uses has an 'attunement period' of 24 hours (I'd want to double the price as well) [even then some of them are ridiculously good] I'm sure I used to have more good ideas... of course this would be better suited to 'what's a DM to do?'
Mr_Seth 04-15-08, 04:11 PM	Penetration Rolls. If you get the maximum roll on a damage die, you roll that die again and add that amount to the total. And if you roll the maximum amount on your penetration roll damage, you get another one... et al. It leads to a much more lethal experience - and occasional "GOD SMITE" attacks, where four or five penetration rolls in a row lead to instantaneous destruction of an opponent, usually with a clap of thunder and a smoldering crater afterwards.
potlessrainbows 04-15-08, 04:55 PM	I'm sure I used to have more good ideas... of course this would be better suited to 'what's a DM to do?' I had thought about that but I wanted more input from the players then from DM's. The people playing in my new game are new to the game. I want to make sure they have fun :)
Sunic_Flames 04-15-08, 05:00 PM	...How in the Nine Hells does a houserule that applies a steel toed spiked boot to the Fighter's crotch repeatedly take the auto suck out of them? :rolleyes: If anything is deserving of one of these, it is that statement. Therefore I must resort to mathematics to properly express this... http://www.shipmentoffail.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/equation.jpg Please explain how this can remotely be translated into logic. Quite frankly it's sounding like a hallucination brought on by illegal mind altering substances. With that said... Some serious answers. WBL only applies to combat effectiveness. In other words, you can have goals that don't involve killing things and taking their stuff and not be forced to suck horribly for it. Skill fusions. Allowances for those flavor skills noone will ever take anyways otherwise. 75% HP for all creatures (PC and NPC) instead of 50% to make initiative not as central to every combat. Monks get full BAB. Don't be an idiot. (stops all broken combos on the spot)
WilliamTanner 04-15-08, 06:02 PM	Houserule: Guys are not allowed to play female PCs. It gives me the creeps. (Temporary control of NPCs or alternate PCs for a session is okay.)
RobbyPants 04-16-08, 04:18 PM	never realy thought about it that way. now I must protest this rule with my current dm (whom this rule belongs to). up until now it was just a source of occasional hilarity, but I am playing a fighter and you are right he would be pretty usless without his favorite weapon. Well, one way to make it a bit more fair is to have them "confirm" the crit fail. If they roll a natural 1, then the have to roll a 2nd attack roll (similar to a critical hit). If they fail the 2nd roll, then they fumble, otherwise it's a normal miss. This keeps things from being slanted against the melee types so much in that they should hit more often, but it still runs the risk of penalizing a high level fighter more than a low level fighter. All in all I'd suggest not using crit fail rules. If your DM insists on it, suggest the confrimation roll idea to help take the sting out of it. Houserule: Guys are not allowed to play female PCs. It gives me the creeps. What about the other way around? :P
Sinfire Titan 04-16-08, 05:30 PM	6. On a critical hit, everyone takes a shot. In my campaign, if you don't want a hangover, don't fight everything. Oh GOD! My group for the CO Diary (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1010567) I am working on gets next to constant Crits and fumbles. If we played with that rule, we would be plastered before the first encounter even finished!
Zherog 04-16-08, 05:54 PM	And the problem is... what? :angelhide
Shaggy_Shaggs 04-16-08, 06:06 PM	If you or your character happens to say "Hey guys, watch this" before any action, you have a 1 in 20 chance of getting a rather large bonus on the roll, increased effectiveness, etc (depends on what the action was, what kind of benefit would be appropriate). On any check other than a natural 20, you get breathtaking, spectacular epic failure (which may still be useful if your goal was to distract nearby NPCs and you don't mind spending a significant chunk of hp on the task). Getting myself trapped inside a piano... not my greatest moment, but at least the monsters were too busy laughing at me to beat on the rest of the party. Normally I am viciously opposed to fumble rules, but this one I liked. It could only trigger if you intentionally invoked it, or you weren't paying attention to your words and let it slip. A bit of ability to gamble when you want to, and an added incentive to pay attention, sounds good to me.
WilliamTanner 04-16-08, 06:17 PM	What about the other way around? :P If a girl gives me the creeps, it has nothing to do with trying to play a male character. It's fairly moot since my seven players are all male.
Aeltar 04-17-08, 01:14 AM	Penetration Rolls. If you get the maximum roll on a damage die, you roll that die again and add that amount to the total. And if you roll the maximum amount on your penetration roll damage, you get another one... et al. It leads to a much more lethal experience - and occasional "GOD SMITE" attacks, where four or five penetration rolls in a row lead to instantaneous destruction of an opponent, usually with a clap of thunder and a smoldering crater afterwards. Oh, like Wild Dice (or Exploding, I forgot) in Savage Worlds. Great idea.
potlessrainbows 04-17-08, 01:47 AM	This is what I have thus far.... Please keep in mind that only one player has ever played with me before, and only one other player has ever played D&D before. They came up with and suggested some of these, to help simplify thing a bit for the newer people and to keep things moving so no one was bored. I am not looking to be bashed for posting this...... but would like input on things to perhaps add to it. Special thanks to posters here and other boards.... I have stolen a few that looked like fun :) House Rules General Behavior 1. Use of the "But my last DM" phrase is not allowed in my game as an argument to remedy a situation. 2. If you say it, you do it, unless you specifically state that you are out of character. 3. Noobs will be helped at all times when making bad moves. This applies until group feels they are no longer noobs. 4. IF party in-fighting is a must it happens on the conditions of the good aligned character unless the evil player can give me justification for his actions (or unless I make him do them) (Not likely but just in case) 5. Do not take advantage of the DM being nice once in a while, lest it come back to bite you in the ass (3.0 Drunken Master who is now a halfling w/ speed of 90 gets hit with slow spells and fatigue conditions constantly). I am rule flexible until it becomes a problem. 6. You will be a team player. 7. If you have an issue, please let me know. I can’t try to fix it if I don’t know. 8. If there is a disagreement between your character sheet and the character sheet in my records, you'll play with my version until we take a break in the session. Then we can talk about what went wrong. 9. You will be expected to talk in character. Do not say to me "Ok, I rolled a 21 on my diplomacy check, what does he tell me?” That makes me a sad panda. Instead try: I got a 21 on my check and then say what your character would have said to the guy. 10. If a Player officially retires a character they get to make a replacement of the appropriate level but the retirement has to make sense (found the person they were looking for since level 1 or married the princess and now has to rule the kingdom type stuff). 11. Bonus XP is given for good ideas, self-sacrifice, good role-play, and accomplishing character's personal goals. When, if, and the amount are to be determined by me. 12. If you disagree with me about a ruling I have made please tell me. We can discuss it. This should be VERY brief if we are in game. A discussion that would take more than a few seconds should be taken up with me after game. If it will result in a long discussion, please just go with it until we can discuss it later and the issue can be resolved. This does NOT apply to questions I am happy to answer those at any time. 13. If you kill children at any time in my game the God of all paladins everywhere will hunt you down and smite you with 40d20+100 dmg. The clerics who pray for your resurrection will be left with unanswered prayers AKA: re-roll and don’t do it again (and you will start at level 1 for your indiscression). 14. Metagaming is not allowed and could cause you pain. Class Abilities and Feats 1. Sorcerers: they can switch out one spells at any level, rather than every 4 levels. 2. You gain bonus 0 level spells (Cantrips and Orisons) from your primary spell casting ability score. Follow the pattern to find out how many. 3. Turn Undead will operate as per the variant listed in the Complete Divine on page 87. (Basically instead of running away never to be seen again, they take damage. This is better for you and easier for me.) 4. Dodge: Dodge now grants a +1 dodge bonus against all enemies as long as the player is not flat footed. 5. Item creation feats with xp components: These feats can be used without expending XP at an exchange rate of 10 pp per point of xp. NO this does not mean you can “buy” experience, it simply means you can create without falling behind (IF you can afford it). The party can help cover some of the cost IF they wish to do so. They cannot be coerced through charms or compulsions, but thing that benefit everyone can be paid for by everyone. IF the party chooses not to help with the cost you are not to hold it against them. 6. Familiars should you choose to have one operate as per 2nd edition rules (As I know them) 3.5 makes a mockery of the bond. (This does NOT apply to animal companions, mounts, or the like.) There will always be an option besides having a familiar if this is too much of a liability for you. Skills 1. Each 5 ranks in Tumble skill grants +1 to AC. (This is considered a dodge bonus and DOES stack with other dodge bonuses if you ever need to know.) 2. Tumble and Jump are combined into one skill: Tumble. If the need to jump ever arises that Tumble is not appropriate, another more appropriate skill may be substituted. This will be chosen and decided by me. Most will likely end up a straight DEX check. 3. Appraise does not exist. An item is worth what a shop keeper is willing to pay for it. 4. Retroactive Skill points. If your intelligence is raised permanently so as to allow extra skill points you will gain points retroactively. YOU MUST note which skills you put the points in so that I can adjust accordingly. 5. Heal can now be used to cure hit points as well as the abilities it has listed. A player can make a heal check as normal and cure 1 hit point per point of the check. This takes a full round action (and a healing kit) to accomplish. A heal check can be made without a healing kit but doing so will cause it to only cure for ¼ the normal amount and will take 2 rounds. Low Hit Points, Death, and Dying 1. Any creature at 1 hp (including characters) has double threat range and auto confirms on criticals due to desperation (Rolls must still be made as per threat to kill variants however if a miss occurs on the critical threat it is still treated as a critical). 2. Critical Conformation rolls within your threat range are a threat to kill. A conformation on a threat to kill is an automatic death. This also applies to attacks against PC’s. Creatures immune to criticals are also immune to instant kills. (Dragons, most undead, etc…) 3. A character is considered dead at hit points negative equal to their CON score instead of the usual -10. 4. Xp penalty for death is 1,000 xp per level. This will help with calculating xp in an easier to live with manner than the rule set provides. (Death at lvl 1 provides no xp loss). 5. HP damage is completely restored overnight if a player gets 8 hours of restful sleep, rather than the 1 hp per night per level. 6. Instant True Resurrection will be provided a TOTAL of 5x for the party. This will apply automatically to a player EACH time he dies until all 5 uses are depleted. Any unused “freebees” will expire upon any player obtaining 5th lvl. This is to help alleviate the stress from being so low level that a fight with a goblin could easy turn into TPK. This is to be a safety net, not an ongoing thing. If you are level 5 and you die it is up to you and the party to determine what to do about it. Existence and Changed Policies 1. Vorpal Weapons do not exist in my game don’t ask me. 2. Most anything from a WotC book is ok, unless I’ve said it isn’t. Don’t make me regret this. Exception: Unearthed Arcana is a variant book and all requests will be considered on a case by case basis. 3. No psionics even if from official books! I don't like the flavor of them, and I find the mechanics to be lacking and poor, so I do not allow them. Period. 4. Several spells do not exist or are changed to “fix” overpowered issues. If you can cast these I will let you know what they are on a spell by spell basis, basically anything that causes instant or irreversible death is non existent. If you are unsure ask. I will let you know if you have chosen one where the play will be different that stated so that you can change it if you desire to do so (Haste falls into the “changed” category). 5. Sunder does NOT exist. 6. Rust Monsters do not exist. 7. Battle maps are not generally used in my game, but flanking and AoO’s are. A few feats may however be useless without a map. Please ask for conformation for feats that require map use. They may be changed or non existent. 8. In the event it will ever come up Blackguards are the exact same as paladins on the evil axis and this is no longer a prestige class for ex-paladins. It is now a base class and you must be CE to use it. (See me for further details; this is here in case you ever run into one). 9. Endurance does not exist as a feat because non lethal damage is so very, very rare. If it is a prerequisite for another feat you want, assume that is not required instead. Any other prerequisite still applies as normal. Battle Mechanics 1. A Strategic Withdraw is a move action. By halving your movement, you may retreat out of a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity. You cannot strategically withdraw over difficult terrain. 2. Swift, immediate, and free actions are all now just free actions so as to make things a little simpler. You can make 1 free action per round. AoO are not considered free actions that would count against the 1 per round limit. 3. Mounts are not a part of combat, so don’t get feats for it. Everyone can ride for travel. It is assumed that you dismount to fight (cheesy at this sounds it cuts down on confusion and makes things run a LOT smoother.) This also applies to the special mount a Paladin gets. Campaign Information I have very little campaign information to give you at this time. I have learned over the years not to plan to far ahead. Once the group meets a few times I will likely have more information about the world and the people who live in it. Code of Ethics: I run a good aligned game. You do not HAVE to be good aligned to play, but: No slaying of the children. No poisoning of the water supplies of entire villages. No acts of outright evil will go unpunished, and there are fates FAR worse than death. AKA don’t say you are good and play evil. Cities will not have magic shops for the most part. You will never be shopping in the wondrous item section of the DMG. The largest metropolis may have a few magic items, but very few. Exception: All stables can fit your horses with horseshoes of speed (standard equipment later for travel speeds). These are MY horseshoes of speed not the books. They only function to reduce travel time through the comfort of your mount. Treasure will be rolled as normal. This is not a low magic game, just a controlled magic game. Weather exists as does aging.
JasonOrlandoHawk 04-17-08, 01:49 AM	Oddly, I have found that women playing male characters are more likely to give me the creeps. Then again, I know some weird women... My group uses a critical fumble system. On a Botched Attack roll, make a Reflex Save DC 15 or drop your weapon. (Casters must make the same save or risk hitting a randomly determined target.) At low levels, it leads to hilarity. At high levels, the save is meaningless. Most people who play fighters tend to carry several weapons and have Quick Draw, so there's not much "penalty" associated with the rule. In fact, the only person who ever had a severe problem due to this rule was the party's Warmage. Other house rules: -Quick Draw now allows "Quick Sheath." -HP rolls: A roll of less than half is considered half. (On a d8, a 1-3 count as a 4.) Allows the thrill of HP rolling, w/o the pain of four levels in a row of 1 on a d12. (It happened to me once. :weep: ) -Out of respect, players and the DM both agree not to take advantage of the Sundering rules. & -Jason's Evil Little Choice: Irregardless of what attribute system is used to generate stats, everyone has an opportunity for a bonus to their stats. These bonuses are added on a 1-for-1 basis, and in no circumstance, can a starting attribute be higher than 18, before Racial Adjustments. You have three choices: 1) A strait +3 bonus to one stat of your choice. 2) Roll a d4. Add however you desire, among as many stats as you so choose. 3) Roll a d6. You may assign the points however you choose, but you only get bonus points on a roll of 4-6.
potlessrainbows 04-17-08, 01:59 AM	-Out of respect, players and the DM both agree not to take advantage of the Sundering rules. Yes, as per player who played in my last game, we chose to not allow sunder, rust monsters, vorpal, and irreversible death. These were also discussed (and explained as needed) to the new players who like the idea, because if you can use it then so can I. So they figure they are better off not having it than to run the risk of it being used on them.
Shaggy_Shaggs 04-17-08, 02:20 AM	Strategic Withdrawal as a move action and no sunder are is going to make melee units (more) irrelevant and earlier. Makes using reach to control or at least significantly threaten an area not work. No sunder = no removing spell component pouches from casters unprepared enough, fool enough or lacking enough versatility to avoid ever getting into melee. PVP on the good character's conditions essentially allows paladins to take over the party completely, and they're already the original does not play well with others class due to their broad and vague (yet ferociously punitive) code of conduct that ends up being forced onto the rest of the party due to the association clause. Disallowing metagaming entirely is a bad idea when some effects interact directly with metagame properties (for example Sleep's hitdice limit, Color Spray's varying effects based on hitdice, ditto for Holy Word and the other alignments' versions, the hit point limits of the Power Word spells, etc). Furthermore most decisions a player makes for their character will involve at least a small degree of metagaming even if it's not blatantly obvious (else nearly all wizards would have Con 9 or less, fragile and atrophied from their bookish habits and lack of exercise). Your call what you do, of course, but those seem particularly troublesome to me.
potlessrainbows 04-17-08, 02:50 AM	Strategic Withdrawal as a move action and no sunder are going to make melee units (more) irrelevant and earlier. Makes using reach to control or at least significantly threaten an area not work. No sunder = no removing spell component pouches from casters unprepared enough, fool enough or lacking enough versatility to avoid ever getting into melee. PVP on the good character's conditions essentially allows paladins to take over the party completely, and they're already the original does not play well with others class due to their broad and vague (yet ferociously punitive) code of conduct that ends up being forced onto the rest of the party due to the association clause. Disallowing metagaming entirely is a bad idea when some effects interact directly with metagame properties (for example Sleep's hitdice limit, Color Spray's varying effects based on hitdice, ditto for Holy Word and the other alignments' versions, the hit point limits of the Power Word spells, etc). Furthermore most decisions a player makes for their character will involve at least a small degree of metagaming even if it's not blatantly obvious (else nearly all wizards would have Con 9 or less, fragile and atrophied from their bookish habits and lack of exercise). Your call what you do, of course, but those seem particularly troublesome to me. While I appreciate your insight I wasn't looking for ways to fix it.... I was looking for fun or interesting things to add to it..... That being said: My fighter doesn't like it when I sunder his weapon, it was his choice to not have it, to avoid having to worry about it. PVP is not generally allowed in my game, but should the rogue and the paladin come to blows for whatever reason the good one gets to pick when, where, and how unless the not so good one has a good enough reason for his actions to make it otherwise. When I refer to meta gaming I am referring to story information and only story information that a player might be aware of that his character has no way of yet knowing.
Sunic_Flames 04-17-08, 08:24 AM	Strategic Withdrawal as a move action and no sunder are going to make melee units (more) irrelevant and earlier. Makes using reach to control or at least significantly threaten an area not work. No sunder = no removing spell component pouches from casters unprepared enough, fool enough or lacking enough versatility to avoid ever getting into melee. ...Dude. Did you honestly just say no sunder makes melees worse? :rofl: I am very disappointed in you. Even if we ignore the whole break own treasure bit... if the fighter is lucky enough to be in the mage's face, he should be sundering said face. Not wasting time pantsing him. He probably won't ever get a second chance, so make it count. That, and it's 5 gp to have an extra on there. 5 gp vs whatever it takes to avoid/heal/negate the attack? It's a smart use of the wizard's resources to just wear multiples to bait any fighters stupid enough to go after them. Oh and I despise games with a good bias. Especially since in many cases it's the good character that's the investigator (OMG HE'S EVIL! SMITE!) whereas the evil guy is more like... Witless goody two shoes won't stab me in the back as often, and maybe I can turn them to the winning team... :evillaugh
Zherog 04-17-08, 10:36 AM	No sunder = no removing spell component pouches from casters unprepared enough, fool enough or lacking enough versatility to avoid ever getting into melee. Disarm.
green_yawgmoth 04-17-08, 11:06 AM	Just a few of mine: Spot/listen are one skill: perception. Everyone gets this as a class skill (since you'd have to be blind and deaf to not be able to use it, and "training" would involve listening and seeing). move silently/hide are one skill: stealth. Spellcraft is no longer a skill, it is instead a part of the knowledge skills. arcana for sorcerer/wizard, religion for paladin/cleric, nature for ranger/druid, planes for warlocks/shadowcasters. massive damage: if you take over half your max hp in damage in 1 hit, fort save DC (damage taken/5)+10 or be stunned for a round. All rolls will be made in the open. If I don't see it, it wasn't rolled. If you use the word "irregardless" in my presence, you lose a level and have an MDJ shaped around your character that goes off every round.
Zherog 04-17-08, 12:02 PM	I covered my house rules over in my Gleemax blog (http://preview.gleemax.com/Comms/Pages/Communities/BlogPost.aspx?blogpostid=21218&pagemode=2&blogid=2234).
Shaggy_Shaggs 04-17-08, 01:41 PM	:OMG! Christ on a crutch, did I actually write that about sundering? I'm not sure what I was thinking, that's utterly ridiculous. It should be disarm, not sunder, and even then it only works against magic users that are on the brain-damaged side. :nonono: Apologies to those I have let down. I need to find some reliable way to keep myself from coming here and posting late after long days. I obviously become a moron when too sleepy.
Demetri_Knighthawk 04-17-08, 01:49 PM	if you roll a 20 and confirm with a 20, instead of dealing critical multiplier, you deal normal damage XdX+modifier to their CON. makes that ubersmack all the more satisfying! ^_^ if you roll a 1, roll again to hit the opponent at a -10 to hit, if you roll a 1 again, deal damage to yourself. ALL characters, heroes and specific villians, are given 75 point spread to purchase stats, 1/1 point ratio, nothing lower than 8 or higher than 18, apply modifiers after. ALL sundering of magic items creates an eldrich backlash of 1d4 force damage per 1000 GP items value. Inform the GM 1 month in advance of a magic item you desire for your character so the DM can incorperate it into the game. (note: there is a 75% chance your desired item will be on or in the next villians equipment/horde) The villians are smart, the archers will have spot/listen, the fighters will target the clerics. If the players equipment is sundered, the GP value of the sundered item will be taken into account of the next treasure.
green_yawgmoth 04-17-08, 02:04 PM	if you roll a 20 and confirm with a 20, instead of dealing critical multiplier, you deal normal damage XdX+modifier to their CON. makes that ubersmack all the more satisfying! ^_^ And insanely broken, considering that a 3rd level rogue would be doing about 12 con damage on one hit. I'd hate to see the 20th level wizard die to a 3rd level rogue on the first hit because he got absurdly lucky.
Sunic_Flames 04-17-08, 02:08 PM	:OMG! Christ on a crutch, did I actually write that about sundering? I'm not sure what I was thinking, that's utterly ridiculous. It should be disarm, not sunder, and even then it only works against magic users that are on the brain-damaged side. :nonono: Apologies to those I have let down. I need to find some reliable way to keep myself from coming here and posting late after long days. I obviously become a moron when too sleepy. Aka magic users who can't use magic. Welcome back to the realm of the sane Shaggy. I thought we'd lost you for a moment there. ... ... ... "Ok guys, you can stop pointing the RPGs at him now!" Much grumbling is heard from the shadows as the rocket launchers are stored away and the assembled smite team disperses.
Zherog 04-17-08, 02:09 PM	We'll forgive you, Shaggy. This time...
Demetri_Knighthawk 04-17-08, 02:43 PM	And insanely broken, considering that a 3rd level rogue would be doing about 12 con damage on one hit. I'd hate to see the 20th level wizard die to a 3rd level rogue on the first hit because he got absurdly lucky. Its only broken of you manage to roll a natural 20, and confirm with another natural 20. The numerical odds are static, the thief has the same chance of rolling two 20's in a row as the mage with a (ranged) touch attack spell. Technicly I think a mage gone fatespinner has a better chance of this than anyone else except a cleric of luck.
Sunic_Flames 04-17-08, 02:50 PM	Its only broken of you manage to roll a natural 20, and confirm with another natural 20. The numerical odds are static, the thief has the same chance of rolling two 20's in a row as the mage with a (ranged) touch attack spell. Technicly I think a mage gone fatespinner has a better chance of this than anyone else except a cleric of luck. Random instant kills are the reason why confirm with nat 20 rules, and to a lesser extent critical fumble rules are always, as a rule horrid and worthy of complete and utter annihilation of the game, provided reason fails to budge them. In other words, talk to DM calmly, present evidence, and if they still insist it means they intend to screw the players, and are therefore worthy of whatever game breaker you pull on them.
Slimgauge 04-17-08, 04:32 PM	Armor spikes only threaten the square(s) you occupy. Shield spikes threaten as normal.
Dark Stryke 04-17-08, 05:38 PM	Its only broken of you manage to roll a natural 20, and confirm with another natural 20. The numerical odds are static, the thief has the same chance of rolling two 20's in a row as the mage with a (ranged) touch attack spell. Technicly I think a mage gone fatespinner has a better chance of this than anyone else except a cleric of luck. Yes, the odds are static. They are 1 in 400. Now, how many attack rolls do you make in the average session? How about your whole party? Whole party + all the monsters? It's a lot of die rolls. 1 in 400 isn't such a low chance when you have hundreds of attack rolls going on every single session (well, probably less than HUNDREDS, but you get the idea). I imagine that a rule like that could potentially come up once every few sessions. An instant kill once every few sessions? Doesn't seem appealing to me.
turalisj 04-17-08, 10:01 PM	Disarm. Or a rouge with max ranks in sleight of hand, hide, and move silently. The result? The wizard is now standing there stark naked threatening to shove a fireball up your ass. :D
Horus_Sungod 04-17-08, 10:45 PM	I can't believe no one talked about grapple? In our games, the whole multiverse is affected by a freedom of movement spell (which makes everything immunity to grapple!) Also, no sunder, destroying magic items is more evil than destroying souls! :) For sorcerers: metamagic does not take more time than usual (though we almost never use metamagics) Can't use diplomacy. A lv 10 PC can befriend anything in the multiverse! XD Interesting rule for DMs who still want a sane game but with players who don't want to be complete gimps: Apart from core, every player can choose one splatbook to make his character. Taking elements from another player's slatbook is acceptable. It's a pretty good rule, IMO.
DerelictDroid 04-17-08, 11:19 PM	Not to stir up the critical fail pot again, but... In 2ed., we used to use crit fail causing -1 penalty on attack due to a nicked sword edge, loosened mace handle, monster breaking a nail, etc. Players could repair their weapon after the encounter. It gave us some use for that whet stone and craft (weaponsmith) rules.
Atheus 04-17-08, 11:26 PM	We have a couple house rules (that I can think of...I'm sure we have tons that we've been using for so long that I'm not aware they aren't real core rules....) You can no longer tumble to avoid attacks of opportunity. Instead, you make your tumble check and if you succeed (DC 15+modifiers), you add the result of your tumble check to your AC. The thought is that the opponent can still swing at you, and still has that small chance of hitting you, even though you were trying to not get hit. (this rule came about when our party rogue took down a fallen solar angel by constantly tumbling past him...and his +38 attack modifier). All characters get to start with 4 free ranks in a profession of their choice (and those ranks don't count towards their standard starting ranks) so the characters can always choose to take time off adventuring (i.e. can't make it to the game one week) and make a little money. Characters who rest for 8 hours get their lvl+Con modifier in hp back. Psionics are out. (oddly, no one in our group minds this rule at all...) If we play a power campaign, stats can be rolled 5d6, one of those d6 (selected before rolling) is then subtracted. Makes for some interesting characters since you can get a max of 23 and a min of 1 (well...negatives if you really want it....)
zeratulcraft 04-17-08, 11:38 PM	Haste as 3.0 version. If a PC uses it, the DM can use it too. As such, none of us have dared energy drain anything...
navar100 04-18-08, 12:28 AM	When your character is raised or resurrected, you do not lose a level. You retain all abilities and consequences of being your level. You do lose (current level -1) X 1,000xp. Regardless if this puts your XP total for a lower level, you still do not lose a level in every manner that entails, including calculating future XP awards. The physical number of XP you need to reach for next level does not change. Since True Resurrection does not have you lose a level, this XP loss does not apply for that spell. Lately the DM hasn't even been using the XP loss, not that I'm complaining. :P As it happens, no one intentionally takes stupid risks (that they recognize as stupid ;) ) or take our characters' lives for granted. Everyone plays with full intention of never getting a character killed. We don't like failing our adventure missions. That is worse than death for us. That is the risk that makes the game fun for us. I like that a lot about my group. Anyway, unfortunately my DM does use the 20-20-confirm instakill rule. I've told him many times it's not a good idea, but we have. Funny thing is, it never happened against a PC. Two or three NPC bad guys have been killed by it. so the odds aren't playing to my argument. :) We also unfortunately use the critical fumble. Roll a 1 make a DC 10 Dex check. If make, fine. If fail, usually it's just drop weapon. Another rule we use I don't like is rolling for spell DC. It's 1d20+spell level+ ability modifier. Roll a 20, double damage for damage spells, perhaps something extra otherwise. Roll a 1, spell fizzles. We did have a TPK because a PC spellcaster rolled a 1 at the most inopportune time - my cleric rolling a 1 wanting to cast Miracle to get the party the heck out of dodge previous campaign. That still burns me up despite me rolling a 20 on the first spell cast when the rule first came into effect. Over the course of the game 1's and 20's have been rolled, but a spell fizzling has always been worse for us than any advantage a 20 gave us.
Black Kitten 04-18-08, 02:16 AM	Not really a house-rule, but more of a habit we developed over the years: 1 - 3x20 is auto-kill, unless the DM has a good reason not to allow it. It's just too much fun to occasionally kill something completely :) 2 - On rolling a 1, you have a chance (DM determined) that something annoying happens. Such as loosing your weapon, jamming it somewhere, breaking it, loosing all your consecutive actions, provoke an AoO, etc. We use no tables for it, as it's so fight dependant. In the middle of a big boss fight where the party is about to loose, a 1 in itself holds a huge penalty. 3 - Use fractions to memorise your saves, bab etc., then round off down. 4 - Hey, I didn't see you roll a 1 for your HP upon levelling up. Please roll your HP for your new level. ;)
Rederik 04-18-08, 11:35 AM	Another rule I thought of is when you level, you have a choice for hit dice. You can either roll your die and take it is it is rolled (even a 1) or You can take the average Thing is, you had to choose at level 2, and then stick with that choice throught that characters life.
ZypherX 04-18-08, 03:23 PM	I too like the triple-20 instakill rule. 1/8000 chance okgo. As for my favorite house rule... No XP penalty for multiclassing.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-18-08, 08:20 PM	Fighters get a special ability for their odd levels, starting at 3, and weapon focus + sequals is one feat that improves with fighter level Sorcerers get eschew materials at 2nd level as a bonus feat, and bonus metamagic feat at every level that is a multiple of 3. Also, the HD is bumped up to d6 from d4. Druids get the shapesift variant from PHB II plus animal companion, or Wild Shape (Player's choice) All PrC's are banned without DM approval What the PC's use, the DM can use Ability scores are 16, 16, 16, 13, 13, 10, arranged as wanted. You may turn one 16 into an 18 for turning a 13 into an 8 Turning is the damage variant in CD. You may pick any domains, no matter your god, but you must give a decent reason for it, as arbitrated by the DM. The DM's rule is final until the end of the session, where rules may be discussed You must submit a character background for your character at least 1 page in length, typed, only size 12 font, or have a good reason they don't have any background. Everyone must be approximately the same power level, or adjustments will be used.
Shinikama 04-19-08, 12:50 PM	Fighters get a special ability for their odd levels, starting at 3, and weapon focus + sequals is one feat that improves with fighter level Sorcerers get eschew materials at 2nd level as a bonus feat, and bonus metamagic feat at every level that is a multiple of 3. Druids get the shapesift variant from PHB II plus animal companion, or Wild Shape (Player's choice) All PrC's are banned without DM approval What the PC's use, the DM can use Ability scores are 16, 16, 16, 13, 13, 10, arranged as wanted. You may turn one 16 into an 18 for turning a 13 into an 8 Turning is the damage variant in CD. You may pick any domains, no matter your god, but you must give a decent reason for it, as arbitrated by the DM. The DM's rule is final until the end of the session, where rules may be discussed You must submit a character background for your character at least 1 page in length, typed, only size 12 font, or have a good reason they don't have any background. Everyone must be approximately the same power level, or adjustments will be used. I Like these... What are the special abilities a fighter gets? I plan to steal this, just so you know.
WarColonel 04-19-08, 02:33 PM	My entire group loves the Tome of Battle, though we actually do not use it. Because of that book, we came up with a few rules, such as: 1 - Smites per day are now smites per encounter. 2 - Fighters ccan now spend one hour to retrain weapon specific feats, but all must meet pre-reks. We also introduced the gut check, where a player states their intended reason for making the check (if a corse of action would be in character, be wise, or even makes sense) or where a DM has players who cannot figure out the next step in a session, a gut check is made. It is 1d20 + Int mod + Wis mod (+ level sometimes, depending on the game). Through an arbitrary system, the DM sets DC's, and anyone who makes the check(s) recieves helpful information. This helps when a DM sets up a challenge where information that is either common knowledge or a part of biology, physics, mathematics, literature, is used to solve the problem. This information is usually something your character would know, but since we do not actually live in Ebberon, FR, etc., us the players may not know it. ex. 1 - Your new half-orc barbarian is interacting with some humans. They reguard you with disdain and indifference, though you expected fear. A gut check reveals orcs and half-orcs are primarily slaves, having been placated in the last centuary. ex. 2 - you recieve a riddle: "I am not real, though I am not fake. I am a cornerstone of mathematics though I do not even exist. When I meet myself, I have a negative experience, though when I double-date, I become one. What am I?' Since you slept through high-school math, you make a gut check and find out about numbers that aren't really real, and are pointed in the direct of the square root of -1, i. The gut check is a great way to figure out if ideas are good/bad, and to stop your players from doing the dumb things players do.
WarColonel 04-19-08, 03:08 PM	As my second post, I have a fighter fix that isn't really a fighter fix. It is very simple: first, GWF, GWS, Greater Heavy Armor Opt., and other feats that are improvements of a previous feat, providing an additional bonus, are removed. Second, all fighter feats that contain a numerical bonus, i.e. Weapon Focus gives +1 attack bonus for a certain weapon, get better. For each addition 3 fighter feats, the bonus increases by 1. Example: A level two human fighter has four feats. He takes Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus, Power Attack, and Heavy Armor Opt. Because he has 4 fighter feats, his feats become more powerful. Improved initiative provides a +5 bonus now, and Weapon Focus is +2. Power Attack, since it is not a specific number, does not change. Heavy Armor Opt. increases the bonus you recieve to AC and reduces the armor check penalty. Only the AC bonus increases, since that is a positive bonus, the armor check penalty does not change since it is a reduction. The only stipulation is bonus abilities that act exactually like a fighter feat but are not a feat (i.e. a PrC or Base class give you something that says "functions exactually like feat X") do not recieve a numerical bonus but do count for determining the bonus for your other feats. Our group has found this system to be excellent since all martial characters can benifit from it. The fighter, though, does the best. A pure human fighter at level 20 can take 19 fighter feats. This means WF, WS, Imp init, PBS, all those feats, increase by +6, certainly giving the little-thought of and underpowered a bit of a bonus.
schpeelah 04-19-08, 03:39 PM	@WarColonel Martial Feats For The Win! (http://projectdf.phpbbnow.com/viewtopic.php?p=28605&sid=f2b2422c9283649efb71b5ebbbd7d2de) You'd better download this though - the site will soon get deleted.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-19-08, 04:08 PM	The fighter mechanic is as follows: Level Special 3rd Fighter's Focus 1/day 5th Fighter's Focus 2/day 7th Fighter's Focus +4 9th Fighter's Focus (two stats) 11th Fighter's Focus 3/day 13th Fighter's Focus +6 15th Fighter's Focus 4/day 17th Fighter's Focus +8 19th Fighter's Focus (three stats) Fighter's Focus (Su): As a swift action, 1/day, a fighter may gain a +2 bonus to any of his physical stats for 1 minute/5 levels. At 5th level, it becomes 2/day At 7th level, it becomes a +4 bonus At 9th level, the bonus extends to two stats At 11th level, it becomes 3/day At 13th level, it becomes a +6 bonus At 15th level, it becomes 4/day At 17th level, it becomes a +8 bonus At 19th level, the bonus extends to all 3 stats
Shinikama 04-19-08, 05:17 PM	That's pretty neat... I'd have to buff the Barb a little more to compete, but I think it'll work...
Hooper 04-21-08, 03:04 PM	-We have invented a feat that alters some skills: Feat: Multitasker - Combine your Hide and Move Silently checks together into the new skill 'Stealth' and add your Spot and Listen checks into the new skill 'Perception'. If the combined skill points go over your max skill points for the level, those skill points can be spent anywhere else as if free skill points.
potlessrainbows 04-21-08, 04:19 PM	-We have invented a feat that alters some skills: Feat: Multitasker - Combine your Hide and Move Silently checks together into the new skill 'Stealth' and add your Spot and Listen checks into the new skill 'Perception'. If the combined skill points go over your max skill points for the level, those skill points can be spent anywhere else as if free skill points. I like this one :)
Killy 04-21-08, 06:53 PM	Those are my favorite house rules: Hit Points: Every creature has 10 extra hit points, for every size category larger than medium the creature gain 2 extra hit points, for every size category smaller than medium the creature rest 2 hit points. The first level Hit Die is not maximized. You can always take the average result of the Hit Die (rounded up) instead of rolling it. This makes low level characters playable... and low level NPCs more realistic, imagine how can a commoner with 5 hp work his farm and not getting killed in every accident. I actually find this house rule a major improvement to enjoy low level games, as a DM I can put hazardrous traps and monsters and still give the players a good chance to survive it instead of being an insta-kill. I implemented this a long time ago, now that in 4E and Pathfinder it's going to be the same I see that it was definitely a good idea. Base Saves: The formula of the Good Base Save Bonus is now [ 1 + (class level) / 2 ] instead of [ 2 + (class level) / 2 ]. Every character has 2 Base Save points at first level that can be assigned as the player chooses to any Base Save permanently. This is not aplicable in every game, cause the problem arise at high level with heavily multiclassed characters, when this happens saving bonuses get completely out of bounds with the current formula, so resting 1 for every good save it's making it a lot more easy. Skills: Maximum ranks for class skills is [ 5 + ( Character Level ) / 2 ] rounded down. Maximum ranks for cross-class skills is half (rounded down) of the maximum ranks for a class skill. Skill synergy is a bad joke and as one does not exist in a well designed game like this one. At first character level all creatures get [ ( 4 + Intelligence modifier ) x 4 ] skill points or the number of skill points given by it's class or racial hit die, whatever is higher. Everyone knows that absurdly high numbers are what break the game... skills can break the game too, for example Diplomacy, Hide and Use Magic Device are quite abusable, well not in my games. Extra Feat: At first level every creature gets a feat. Yes, another feat, so every character, NPC and monster begins play with 2 feats, any human character begins play with 3 feats... and any human fighter or psychich warrior begins play with 4 feats, yes. It's 1st level, feats that breaks the game has prerequisites that cannot be met at 1st level. Why another feat? to make low level characters more enjoyable... anyway monsters have this too so PvM balance hasn't been a deal so far. PrCs cannot be accesed faster with the extra feat, so no deal here either, and now Commoners can not only take Skill Focus [Craft (whatever)], but also Skill Focus [Profession (anything)] to be better at... whatever they do. After all, this guys are the ones building the cities, making the food and everything else, they better get a second feat.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-22-08, 10:41 AM	Note: I just looked at my file for house rules, I also bump Sorcerer HD to d6.
fridesgerte 04-22-08, 11:03 PM	We've been using a "critical hit" deck which lists interesting results for slashing, bludgeoning, ranged and magical damage. The way we use it, if you confirm a critical, you can choose either to take the regular critical damage or draw a card. We usually choose to draw from the deck. Of course the DM gets to draw from the deck if one of the baddies crits on us. If you get more than one critical in a full-round attack, or if you normally deal x3 critical damage, you can pull two cards and choose which one to apply. Last session our DM showed us a new "critical fumble" deck that's going to work the same way, but only on a natural 1. You roll to confirm, and if your second roll would hit, nothing else happens (although you don't do any damage), but if your second roll doesn't hit, you draw a card from the deck. No one has drawn from the fumble deck yet, but it should be interesting, and a lot more varied than "you drop your weapon."
Timlagor 04-23-08, 03:41 PM	Note to OP: I'd really hate to play with those rules ..but you seem wedded to them so I won't go into more detail -just hope you all have fun :). You definitely don't need more houserules. I'm not going to be running any 3.5 homegames at least until we've tried out 4E but anyway... * I do like the idea of fumbles but I'd want to give some serious compensation to the weapon-users in some form (casters don't have to make attack rolls). If the crit cards are nice enough that might work. Free Quickdraw would help too. * I also feel that we don't get enough Feats. I want more Feats because there are so many options out there -one per three levels isn't so bad if you are only using the PHB. I think Killy has understimated the value of that extra Feat at 1st level: a lot of powerful Feats/PrCs require easy but weak Feats before you can take them (Dodge, Weapon Focus, Combat Casting). My inlination would be to give the extra bonus Feat at second level rather than 1st. I'd also compensate Fighters with at least one more Feat at 5th level. Barbarians would get an extra point of DR (I'm not sure I approve of them having DR but since they do it should be better ;)). Changing the DR to natural armour is a serious possibility. * Power Attack would be limitted to 5 points with an Improved Power Attack Feat to take it further (I am giving out more Feats) * I'd want to mess with a large proportion of the PrCs too but there are way too many to list. * All MIC items with charges/day would require a 24hour attunement period before use (think I mentioned that one before)
green_yawgmoth 04-23-08, 04:36 PM	We've been using a "critical hit" deck which lists interesting results for slashing, bludgeoning, ranged and magical damage. The way we use it, if you confirm a critical, you can choose either to take the regular critical damage or draw a card. We usually choose to draw from the deck. Of course the DM gets to draw from the deck if one of the baddies crits on us. If you get more than one critical in a full-round attack, or if you normally deal x3 critical damage, you can pull two cards and choose which one to apply. Last session our DM showed us a new "critical fumble" deck that's going to work the same way, but only on a natural 1. You roll to confirm, and if your second roll would hit, nothing else happens (although you don't do any damage), but if your second roll doesn't hit, you draw a card from the deck. No one has drawn from the fumble deck yet, but it should be interesting, and a lot more varied than "you drop your weapon." My GM for a different game does this. You crit fail, you draw a card. red cards are good things, black cards are bad things. Higher card = bigger effect. Always fun when you screw up casting a spell, and accidentally raise all mental stats by 2 ranks. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/yawgmoth/smileys/awesome.gif
Josheva 04-23-08, 05:44 PM	Penetration Rolls. Time to ditch the two handed sword in favor of the great axe.
Death1942 04-23-08, 06:23 PM	5. Item creation feats with xp components: These feats can be used without expending XP at an exchange rate of 10 pp per point of xp. NO this does not mean you can “buy” experience, it simply means you can create without falling behind (IF you can afford it). The party can help cover some of the cost IF they wish to do so. They cannot be coerced through charms or compulsions, but thing that benefit everyone can be paid for by everyone. IF the party chooses not to help with the cost you are not to hold it against them but my DM...:D . my DM has scrapped that stupid rule as we all feel its mean to the wizard who is slaving over a hot beaker to make some godly items for everyone. instead he has raised costs by 10% (they scale as we level...but atm we are only 3rd level and thus cannot afford much :P) Skills 1. Each 5 ranks in Tumble skill grants +1 to AC. (This is considered a dodge bonus and DOES stack with other dodge bonuses if you ever need to know.) as the rogue of the party...this rule is great. as a player...this rule makes sense. i hate it when the most nimble/dex character get nailed by some slow ogre 2. Tumble and Jump are combined into one skill: Tumble. If the need to jump ever arises that Tumble is not appropriate, another more appropriate skill may be substituted. This will be chosen and decided by me. Most will likely end up a straight DEX check. i like this idea as jump seemed like such a drain of points. another idea could be combine survival with ride and swim (well maybe not ride...depends if you like mounted combat or not) 5. Heal can now be used to cure hit points as well as the abilities it has listed. A player can make a heal check as normal and cure 1 hit point per point of the check. This takes a full round action (and a healing kit) to accomplish. A heal check can be made without a healing kit but doing so will cause it to only cure for ¼ the normal amount and will take 2 rounds. very nice idea, its also nice when one of those party members is sitting back and cant do anything (out of spell or weapon broke). Code of Ethics: I run a good aligned game. You do not HAVE to be good aligned to play, but: No slaying of the children. No poisoning of the water supplies of entire villages. awww your no fun [/QUOTE] as for our house rules 1. the rules are only a guide. the DM will change them if he feels they need to be changed 2. Paladins don't have an alignment restriction. 3. random D20 rolls dont need to have a skill check associated with them.
Doomsought 04-23-08, 09:15 PM	if you roll a natural one, you catch fire. (not really) iy\t just a running joke that comes up every time some one rolls a one.
rav3nw0lf 04-24-08, 12:05 AM	The house fumble/botch list. Based upon a natural 1 roll. 1. Consider a natural 20 by luck (no confirm) 2. Lose weapon – if natural weapon refer to ruling #12 3. Racks self, or stunned for 1 round from roll 4. Breaks weapon, if magical: otherwise refer to ruling #2 or #12 5. Becomes disoriented/confused –2 to all rolls for 1 round 6. Slips & falls prone; if stable fall to knee 7. Provokes attack of opportunity 8. Hit ally for ½ damage 9. Hit self for ½ damage 10. Sweat, blood, mud, etc. blinds for 1 round 11. Accidentally hit opponent ½ STR; lowest damage possible 12. Break finger, toe, chip tooth (whatever applicable) –2 on all rolls 13. Get weapon stuck in wall, floor, armor, etc. STR checks DC to free, Att bonus +10. For natural weapon, refer to ruling #12. 14. Breaks weapon; if magical deals 1d10 damage per bonus 15. Major distraction –4 on all rolls for 1 round 16. Fall prone on weapon, only weapon damage 17. Takes 5ft. & provokes attack of opportunity 18. Hit ally – full damage 19. Hit self – full damage 20. Recover in the nick of time; lose this turns actions
Jezzick 04-24-08, 09:16 AM	1. Playing a character of the opposite sex is allowed provided you do none of the following: A) Excessive flaunting of sexual organs, or flaunting them at all. B) Hitting on player's character if the player feels uncomfortable with it. C) Sing a certain song about 'Milkshakes' D) Make sexist jokes about the opposite sex, or vent them through your character. Being a male who plays females from time to time, I can honestly say it has never had any impact on the game at all. Though the party rogue did joke about hitting on one of them once. I don't really care that much, as I figure a person would have to be REALLY creepy to warrant being disallowed from playing the character they want.
esrz22 04-25-08, 08:50 AM	1. Playing a character of the opposite sex is allowed provided you do none of the following: A) Excessive flaunting of sexual organs, or flaunting them at all. B) Hitting on player's character if the player feels uncomfortable with it. C) Sing a certain song about 'Milkshakes' D) Make sexist jokes about the opposite sex, or vent them through your character. Being a male who plays females from time to time, I can honestly say it has never had any impact on the game at all. Though the party rogue did joke about hitting on one of them once. I don't really care that much, as I figure a person would have to be REALLY creepy to warrant being disallowed from playing the character they want. I like that rule quite a bit. I too enjoy sometimes playing the opposite gender, and I agree with you there. I have no problem with party members hitting on my character, no matter the gender. It's a roleplaying game.
quill18 04-25-08, 04:25 PM	I'm quite proud of my item-creation house rules. I've provided an *option* to use Craft skills to produce magic items. These changes are an effort to make magic item creation more appealing to PCs and to make magic items to be more meaningful and personal. This can take item creation out of lofty wizard towers and puts them into the hands of master warrior and blacksmith who works tirelessly at the forge to produce an extraordinary sword. The Craft skill alone isn't enough, however. You also need Use Magic Device to emulate a spellcasting class as well as cast any required spells from scrolls or wands. Failing a Craft or UMD check wastes a full day's effort and (up to) 1000 gold, but doesn't ruin the item. Details (and all my other house rules) can be seen here: http://ttpworld.wetpaint.com/page/Houserules
Zherog 04-25-08, 05:21 PM	Base Saves: The formula of the Good Base Save Bonus is now [ 1 + (class level) / 2 ] instead of [ 2 + (class level) / 2 ]. Every character has 2 Base Save points at first level that can be assigned as the player chooses to any Base Save permanently. You have the formula for base saves wrong. A Good save is [ (level / 2) + 2]. A Bad save is [ (level / 3) ]. (edit: actually, on re-reading your post, i think you mean the same thing, just written the opposite order. Nevermind, carry on :blush: )
Sunic_Flames 04-25-08, 06:34 PM	You have the formula for base saves wrong. A Good save is [ (level / 2) + 2]. A Bad save is [ (level / 3) ]. (edit: actually, on re-reading your post, i think you mean the same thing, just written the opposite order. Nevermind, carry on :blush: ) No, he just house ruled it to be different. *pokes title* :P
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-25-08, 07:33 PM	Actually, he did it wrong. He did [ 2 + (class level) / 2 ], which is essentially 1+1/2 class level. It's actually 2+1/2 class level
Zherog 04-25-08, 09:13 PM	Actually, he did it wrong. He did [ 2 + (class level) / 2 ], which is essentially 1+1/2 class level. It's actually 2+1/2 class level No, order of operations says you do the division (class level / 2) first; then you add 2. He said the same thing as me (as the base rule, obviously, not his house rule); he just put the math in a different order.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-25-08, 10:34 PM	Forgot about the blood order of operations. KILL THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS!!!
YamiShinobi 04-26-08, 03:15 AM	1. Playing a character of the opposite sex is allowed provided you do none of the following: A) Excessive flaunting of sexual organs, or flaunting them at all. B) Hitting on player's character if the player feels uncomfortable with it. C) Sing a certain song about 'Milkshakes' D) Make sexist jokes about the opposite sex, or vent them through your character. Being a male who plays females from time to time, I can honestly say it has never had any impact on the game at all. Though the party rogue did joke about hitting on one of them once. I don't really care that much, as I figure a person would have to be REALLY creepy to warrant being disallowed from playing the character they want. my underage female rogue doesn't do anything on that list, in fact, she is a tomboy (she doesn't flaunt sexual organs whatsoever, she requests her own private bath, wears shorts and a large t-shirt, padded sleves, a scarf, long flippin socks, sneakers, a cloak and is outright modestly clad. she doesn't make sexist jokes, though she is flat chested, she enjoys not having anything to show off, her body was built for gymnastics, not sex appeal, she may sing/dance with the elven men at the bar at furthest, she doesn't sing about milkshakes, and she doesn't make sexist jokes, she doesn't sleaze around, she is technically sterile, (what do you expect from the offspring of the nekogami (cat god) and a human mother, obviously sterile) she only has average charisma (keeps the dwarven and orcish men away, if being 12 1/2 years old wasn't enough to repel perverted players/npcs) she has the goal of avenging her slain family/clan on her mind (slay the not so good pally who slew her mother, and slay the merchant ship that slew her older sister 4 1/2 years back, (her sister is 3 years older than her and would be 15-16 if still alive) she hasn't told the party of this, (her mother was slain after she delivered improtant info during a war to the winning side, the paladin chained her, beheaded her while arrows flied like crazy, the young girls watched and fled stowing away on a merchant ship bound to the city of cauldron, the older one disemboweled by the captain in exchange for allowing the younger sibling to live safely) the pally in the backround was a nordic looking man in gold trimmed white platemail with a cloak and turban wielding a bastard sword and a heavy steel shield anyway your rules on playing women is a very good idea i was explaining my female rogue ( i am a 19 year old male college student. i am not a pedophile, i just associate with a younger mindset. my mentality is that of a child though i am quite gifted in intellegence and creativity, though i reccessitate on certain interesting concepts. people on other forums mistake me for a 12 year old girl no matter my screen name or what i post. this led to my habit of playing prepubescent female character's. i had more stable female role models than male, and i associate better with the 6-14 range when it comes to friendships. i am good with kids, they think i walk on water. my gaming group is aged anywhere from 15-60, we have anywhere from 5-8 people per session) members a human female rogue l4 a male dwarf fighter l4 (S&B) a male human evoker l3 (banned transmutation and enchantment) a female dwarf duskblade l3 a male dwarf cleric of moradin l4 a male human cleric of pelor l3 a halforc cleric of kord l3 a male human monk of st. cuthbert l4 a male human knight of st. cuthbert l3 (2hand) a male dwarf knight (S&B) l3 female gray elf wizard l3 (played like an evoker due to parties forced needs) (temp while rogues sheet was lost, me, lasted 1 session, i was thinking of turning her into a cohort) 10 players in all (all 10 pc's should take cohorts, a second rogue or wizard would be nice, another cleric would be good too, heck a bard would be nice a druid would be a nice cohort too, or heck a ranger to provide ranged support. a damage dealing sorcerer would also be nice, (take weight off the evokers shoulders) Deceased characters l1 human female warmage x2 (TPK) l1 female human rogue x3 (TPK) l1 male drow rogue x1 (His L.A. ended him) (L.A. Ooze) l2 female aasimaar cleric of st cuthbert (healbot) x1 (Assassination by the last laugh thieves guild) l1 male human sorcerer x1 (execution for cheating taxes) l1 male half elf rogue (execution for cheating taxes) l3 male dwarf cleric of heironious (S&B) x1 (TPK) l3 female human duskblade x1 (S&B) (TPK) l2 male dwarf cleric of moradinx2 (TPK) l2 male dwarf paladin of moradin x1 (TPK) l2 male dwarf fighter (2hand) (Execution for accidental low degree murder) l1 male human cleric of pelor x1 (TPK) l1 female dwarf warmage x1 (TPK) l2 female elf rogue x1 (TPK) l2 male dwarf figther x3 (S&B) (TPK) l1 female dwarf bard x1 (TPK) l3 female elf wizard of vecna (she solved one too many riddles, she was neutral and a cloistered scholar, passed a note answering a riddle and fell to a heart attack 40 seconds later) l1 human druid x1 (stillborn child caused infection)
turalisj 04-26-08, 09:18 PM	Is this an online group? If so, where can I join :D
YamiShinobi 04-29-08, 09:04 PM	Is this an online group? If so, where can I join :D no it's at a table, 10 people in all, these are all deceased characters a the bottom and the level they died. cause of death and type. great escape games at arden. 1/6 of the deceased were played by one time newbies who left due to lack of books. any character that was level 2 or lower was killed in tpk, any level 2 or lower that weren't tpked were played by one time guests. if it doesn't read tpk and is below level 3, it was a guest. we get one ime guests like crazy, but they do not show.