Houserules you actually *like*! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Houserules you actually *like*! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Xjph
05-01-04, 05:38 PM Well, I just read a bunch of Brave Sir Bevier's topic about RIDICULOUS houserules. Of course, not all houserules are bad. So, what houserules does your DM use that you like?
Kolo
05-01-04, 06:12 PM *No metamagic rods are allowed.
*No massive damage. (this is a houserule since Massive damage is core)
*No DMPC's allowed.

And that's about the end of that. the list of houserules I DON'T like is non-exhaustive, though.
ksbsnowowl
05-02-04, 01:07 AM Good God, can't anyone ever use the Search Button (http://boards1.wizards.com/search.php?s=)?

Here's a house rule thread from last week (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=229888&highlight=house+AND+%2Arule%2A)

Here is a thread that's 5 pages long from three weeks ago (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=174482&highlight=House+AND+rules)

Someone else listing his house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204806&highlight=House+AND+rules)

A bit shorter call for house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204284&highlight=House+AND+rules)

Some 3.5 house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=177105&highlight=House+AND+rules)

More 3.5 house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=173690&highlight=House+AND+rules)

House rules liked by players (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=148699&highlight=House+AND+rules)

Another (7-page-long) call for house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99962&highlight=House+AND+rules)

Yet another call for house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125177&highlight=House+AND+rules)

And so on, and so on....

Sorry to be a bit testy, but this topic has come up three times in the past week.

A simple search for 'house AND *rule*' will get you several threads, including one of the above that is specifically about HR's liked by players.
The Master Weaver Is Warped
05-02-04, 10:25 AM Originally posted by ksbsnowowl
Good God, can't anyone ever use the Search Button (http://boards1.wizards.com/search.php?s=)?

And so on, and so on....

Sorry to be a bit testy, but this topic has come up three times in the past week.

A simple search for 'house AND *rule*' will get you several threads, including one of the above that is specifically about HR's liked by players. Woah, relax. Take a bubble bath and start a FAQ, ksbsnowowl, if you are that annoyed.
bard_4_life
05-02-04, 11:37 PM 1. Rolling a 7 twice in a row is an auto-success, no matter what.
2. Character's aren't allowed to die stupidly.
3. Paladin's can make up their own dieties, mine was "Blank".
4. No munchkin-ing.

Actually, there are more house rules with my DM that I hate then like.
Christian Landry
05-02-04, 11:56 PM Originally posted by bard_4_life

2. Character's aren't allowed to die stupidly.

That house rule will never work! :D

There is something that might be considered a house rule, that I enjoyed a lot. It was ruling that levels of Hunter of the Dead (from Complete Warrior) stack with Cleric or Paladin levels for purpose of turning the undead.
NinjaHedge
05-04-04, 05:11 AM Originally posted by The Master Weaver Is Warped
Woah, relax. Take a bubble bath and start a FAQ, ksbsnowowl, if you are that annoyed.

No way. FAQs in a discussion forum don't work. It'd be much more effective for people to just take Ksbsnowowl's suggestion and use the search function, or better yet, lurk for a little while before you start your own topics so you don't duplicate threads.
E-Vile
05-04-04, 05:25 AM 1) No low cost material components for spells, I'm really not interested watching the wizard's bat crap supply.

2) When rolling for stats, the lowest roll becomes an 18.

3) You can be almost every race, as long as you give me a good background.
Bedevere
05-04-04, 09:42 AM When rolling for stats, we roll up one set of stats, and every PC and NPC uses that same set. No unfair advantages on either side, that can be blamed on luck at least. :D
Count Arioch the 28th
05-04-04, 07:30 PM Here's a few of mine:

1. Everyone who isn't a cleric or an intellegence based caster gets 4 SP per level, and in some cases, more class skills.

2. Fighters get a feat every level, fighter bonus feat list has been expanded slightly.

3. Sorcerors get a bonus feat every 5 levels, this can be any metamagic feat, spell focus, combat casting, or spell penetration/greater penetration, plus Eschgew Materials at level 1. Also, Sorcerors may pick an arcane domain as printed in the Unearthed Arcana book to add to their spells known per day. UA battle sorcerors may only pick the battle domain, every other sorceror gets their choice. Also, battle sorcerors can pick any one melee weapon regardless of handedness.

4. You may pick any PC race or base class from the following books: PHB, Expanded psionics handbook, Oriental adventures, or you could be any nonstandard race that has an ECL of 4 or less.

5. PrCs are under my strict control, I don't have to allow any of them, and if I do allow them, I reserve the right to alter them as I see fit. Like it or lump it.

6. I am using the following variants in my game from UA: All the alternate classes, spell power, armor as DR, Wounds/vitality, weapon groups, and creation points.
wdarkk
05-04-04, 07:56 PM Spell Power? You mean Spell Points?
Count Arioch the 28th
05-04-04, 09:36 PM No. But I do think I have the worng nomenclature for it, let me grab my UA book real quick:

loading . . . . .

Yeah, I had it wrong. I menat Magic ratings. Sorry about that.
Talmariel
05-04-04, 10:01 PM When rolling stats, keep nothing under a 9.

If you roll less than half on your Hit Die, take half (rounded down).

Once per game, everyone may make one reroll, but it must be made with a d20 I've got that's about the size of a baseball. :D
Count Arioch the 28th
05-05-04, 08:07 AM That's actually not a bad idea, it'll keep to a minimum the "But I didn't use my re-roll yet!", considering that one would remember rolling a D20 the size of a baseball.

I would have just taken down my pants so everyone will remember, but your way works beter, I think.
Talmariel
05-05-04, 02:33 PM Thank you for your comment, but more importantly, bless you for not taking off your pants! :mymy:
NightScreamer20
05-05-04, 02:45 PM Houserules that I like?
1. The DM ISN'T always right (allowing us to have a proper discussion about the rules it actually never slows down the game)

2. XP for doing kool things and figuring out puzzles and such. (Ex. Instead of running into the castle and defeating the evil wizard, you sneak into the castle and become friends with the evil wizard joining him on his path to destruction)

Probably a few more but I can't think of anymore.
lekpic
05-05-04, 02:52 PM 1) Giving the Half-Ogre the ability to Rage once per day per level.

2) Awarding XP for cool deeds or exceptional counts of valor. (i.e. the Half-Ogre taking on two fighters twice his level by himself)
Edymnion
05-05-04, 03:13 PM 1) You can generate stats via 4d6 drop lowest, 30 point buy, or 2d6+6, your choice. Once you pick one though, you have to use it.

2) Anything Core is generally going to be accepted. Anything from the 3.0 splatbooks is likely to be accepted. Anything from 3.5 books is going to get looked at first. Anything from the Munchkin's Handbook (aka the Miniatures Handbook) is going to be flat out rejected, and I will beat you over the head with said Munchkin's Handbook until you forget it ever existed. Third party books will be looked over with a grain of salt, but don't hold your breath.

3) Sorcerer gets 4 skillpoints per level and Eschew Material Components as a virtual feat at lvl 1.

4) I protect players from unlucky flukes of the dice that would have killed them. I do not protect them from their own stupidity.

5) I'm a 3.0 DM. PrC are DM worldbuilding tools, and DM tools ONLY. If you want your character to take a PrC, you ask me to write it into the story. If I don't want it in my world, you can't take it. I don't care if you meet prereqs, I don't care if you wrote it into your background, you just can't have it. PrC are NOT advanced classes in my games, and you WILL have to roleplay out everything it takes to get and keep a PrC, including interaction with organizations to retain your membership. No taking up Arcane Archer and never being called into service by the Elves for defense. You either do what the organization requires of you, or you get kicked out, plain and simple.

6) I'm the DM. I have final say over EVERYTHING that goes on in my game world. You are the Player, you have final say over EVERYTHING that goes on with your character. I do not have the right to tell you what your character does or does not do, you do not have the right to tell me whats going on with the world.

There's plenty more little things here and there, but those are the big ones.
Shifting Master
05-05-04, 03:19 PM Originally posted by lekpic
1) Giving the Half-Ogre the ability to Rage once per day per level.
Are you sure it's per level? That doesn't seem very balanced. So, unless you made a mistake, at 20th level, it gets 20 rages per day? Doesn't seem quite right.
A more balanced rule would be to let them rage as a barbarian of half of their class level. Rages gained through barbarian levels and through being a half-ogre would stack, just for kicks ;).
And Edymnion, some of those rules look a little strict.
Veton
05-05-04, 03:31 PM Originally posted by Count Arioch the 28th
4. You may pick any PC race or base class from the following books: PHB, Expanded psionics handbook, Oriental adventures, or you could be any nonstandard race that has an ECL of 4 or less.

I assume you mean LA +3, right? Otherwise, no one could go beyond 4th level! :P
Count Arioch the 28th
05-05-04, 05:35 PM Originally posted by Veton
I assume you mean LA +3, right? Otherwise, no one could go beyond 4th level! :P

Alright, change that to Starting ECL then, for example, Thri-kreen in the psi handbook have 2 racial HD and +2 LA, making them an ECL of +4.

So, pretend I said starting ECL, because that's what I meant.

On a related note, I also allow people to buy off LA per UA's rules. I also don't allow you to be a caster if your total starting ECL is more than +2, and don't recomend that anyone take anything higher than that anyway, unless they start high enough levels to buy it off.

But that's me in my "Don't let the players shoot themselves in the foot" mode.
Veton
05-05-04, 05:43 PM Originally posted by Count Arioch the 28th
Alright, change that to Starting ECL then, for example, Thri-kreen in the psi handbook have 2 racial HD and +2 LA, making them an ECL of +4.

So, pretend I said starting ECL, because that's what I meant.

Isn't ECL Effective Character Level?

So a level 5 Thri-kreen monk would have an ECL of 9 if I'm correct.

On a related note, I also allow people to buy off LA per UA's rules. I also don't allow you to be a caster if your total starting ECL is more than +2, and don't recomend that anyone take anything higher than that anyway, unless they start high enough levels to buy it off.

But that's me in my "Don't let the players shoot themselves in the foot" mode. [/B]

Well, if you start off at a low level, and the player really wants to be of that race and to cast spells, maybe you should allow them to. Of course, if you want to stop them from shooting themselves in the foot, you could just plainly tell them "If you really want to do this, I'll be okay, but just to warn you - You're going to shoot yourself in the foot."
Zombie Lord
05-05-04, 06:11 PM Originally posted by E-Vile
1) No low cost material components for spells, I'm really not interested watching the wizard's bat crap supply.

That's why the wizard takes a bat for a familiar.
CrimsonRyoko
05-07-04, 06:38 PM Right now this is mostly just used with Identify, but i think the DM may keep it for use with higher level spells too:

Costly material components can be replaced with the equivalent in plain ol gold.

Saves time and "side quests" for my wizard, since all the other players "dont have time to go fartin around with silly games"
Considering im a Fire Savant Evoker that casts 2 lvls higher with fire evocations and has a save of around 30 for said spells i dont see why they complain, but still.
Edymnion
05-07-04, 08:33 PM Well, for Identify, you could use multiple smaller pearls, least in my game you could. As long as you've got ground pearl, and the total worth of pearl that you ground is 100gp, you're fine. Far as I'm concerned, the dust from ten 10gp pearls is the same as the dust from one 100gp pearl. Same with anything else that requires you to crush a costly gemstone into a powder. Long as the total value of everything you powdered is the same as the material component said, you're good to go.
Skewed Logic
05-08-04, 06:47 AM . Instead of running into the castle and defeating the evil wizard, you sneak into the castle and become friends with the evil wizard joining him on his path to destruction)

..uh-heh yeah we usually call that tsunaming a quest..

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Xjph 05-01-04, 05:38 PM	Well, I just read a bunch of Brave Sir Bevier's topic about RIDICULOUS houserules. Of course, not all houserules are bad. So, what houserules does your DM use that you like?
Kolo 05-01-04, 06:12 PM	No metamagic rods are allowed. No massive damage. (this is a houserule since Massive damage is core) *No DMPC's allowed. And that's about the end of that. the list of houserules I DON'T like is non-exhaustive, though.
ksbsnowowl 05-02-04, 01:07 AM	Good God, can't anyone ever use the Search Button (http://boards1.wizards.com/search.php?s=)? Here's a house rule thread from last week (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=229888&highlight=house+AND+%2Arule%2A) Here is a thread that's 5 pages long from three weeks ago (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=174482&highlight=House+AND+rules) Someone else listing his house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204806&highlight=House+AND+rules) A bit shorter call for house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204284&highlight=House+AND+rules) Some 3.5 house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=177105&highlight=House+AND+rules) More 3.5 house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=173690&highlight=House+AND+rules) House rules liked by players (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=148699&highlight=House+AND+rules) Another (7-page-long) call for house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99962&highlight=House+AND+rules) Yet another call for house rules (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125177&highlight=House+AND+rules) And so on, and so on.... Sorry to be a bit testy, but this topic has come up three times in the past week. A simple search for 'house AND rule' will get you several threads, including one of the above that is specifically about HR's liked by players.
The Master Weaver Is Warped 05-02-04, 10:25 AM	Originally posted by ksbsnowowl Good God, can't anyone ever use the Search Button (http://boards1.wizards.com/search.php?s=)? And so on, and so on.... Sorry to be a bit testy, but this topic has come up three times in the past week. A simple search for 'house AND rule' will get you several threads, including one of the above that is specifically about HR's liked by players. Woah, relax. Take a bubble bath and start a FAQ, ksbsnowowl, if you are that annoyed.
bard_4_life 05-02-04, 11:37 PM	1. Rolling a 7 twice in a row is an auto-success, no matter what. 2. Character's aren't allowed to die stupidly. 3. Paladin's can make up their own dieties, mine was "Blank". 4. No munchkin-ing. Actually, there are more house rules with my DM that I hate then like.
Christian Landry 05-02-04, 11:56 PM	Originally posted by bard_4_life 2. Character's aren't allowed to die stupidly. That house rule will never work! :D There is something that might be considered a house rule, that I enjoyed a lot. It was ruling that levels of Hunter of the Dead (from Complete Warrior) stack with Cleric or Paladin levels for purpose of turning the undead.
NinjaHedge 05-04-04, 05:11 AM	Originally posted by The Master Weaver Is Warped Woah, relax. Take a bubble bath and start a FAQ, ksbsnowowl, if you are that annoyed. No way. FAQs in a discussion forum don't work. It'd be much more effective for people to just take Ksbsnowowl's suggestion and use the search function, or better yet, lurk for a little while before you start your own topics so you don't duplicate threads.
E-Vile 05-04-04, 05:25 AM	1) No low cost material components for spells, I'm really not interested watching the wizard's bat crap supply. 2) When rolling for stats, the lowest roll becomes an 18. 3) You can be almost every race, as long as you give me a good background.
Bedevere 05-04-04, 09:42 AM	When rolling for stats, we roll up one set of stats, and every PC and NPC uses that same set. No unfair advantages on either side, that can be blamed on luck at least. :D
Count Arioch the 28th 05-04-04, 07:30 PM	Here's a few of mine: 1. Everyone who isn't a cleric or an intellegence based caster gets 4 SP per level, and in some cases, more class skills. 2. Fighters get a feat every level, fighter bonus feat list has been expanded slightly. 3. Sorcerors get a bonus feat every 5 levels, this can be any metamagic feat, spell focus, combat casting, or spell penetration/greater penetration, plus Eschgew Materials at level 1. Also, Sorcerors may pick an arcane domain as printed in the Unearthed Arcana book to add to their spells known per day. UA battle sorcerors may only pick the battle domain, every other sorceror gets their choice. Also, battle sorcerors can pick any one melee weapon regardless of handedness. 4. You may pick any PC race or base class from the following books: PHB, Expanded psionics handbook, Oriental adventures, or you could be any nonstandard race that has an ECL of 4 or less. 5. PrCs are under my strict control, I don't have to allow any of them, and if I do allow them, I reserve the right to alter them as I see fit. Like it or lump it. 6. I am using the following variants in my game from UA: All the alternate classes, spell power, armor as DR, Wounds/vitality, weapon groups, and creation points.
wdarkk 05-04-04, 07:56 PM	Spell Power? You mean Spell Points?
Count Arioch the 28th 05-04-04, 09:36 PM	No. But I do think I have the worng nomenclature for it, let me grab my UA book real quick: loading . . . . . Yeah, I had it wrong. I menat Magic ratings. Sorry about that.
Talmariel 05-04-04, 10:01 PM	When rolling stats, keep nothing under a 9. If you roll less than half on your Hit Die, take half (rounded down). Once per game, everyone may make one reroll, but it must be made with a d20 I've got that's about the size of a baseball. :D
Count Arioch the 28th 05-05-04, 08:07 AM	That's actually not a bad idea, it'll keep to a minimum the "But I didn't use my re-roll yet!", considering that one would remember rolling a D20 the size of a baseball. I would have just taken down my pants so everyone will remember, but your way works beter, I think.
Talmariel 05-05-04, 02:33 PM	Thank you for your comment, but more importantly, bless you for not taking off your pants! :mymy:
NightScreamer20 05-05-04, 02:45 PM	Houserules that I like? 1. The DM ISN'T always right (allowing us to have a proper discussion about the rules it actually never slows down the game) 2. XP for doing kool things and figuring out puzzles and such. (Ex. Instead of running into the castle and defeating the evil wizard, you sneak into the castle and become friends with the evil wizard joining him on his path to destruction) Probably a few more but I can't think of anymore.
lekpic 05-05-04, 02:52 PM	1) Giving the Half-Ogre the ability to Rage once per day per level. 2) Awarding XP for cool deeds or exceptional counts of valor. (i.e. the Half-Ogre taking on two fighters twice his level by himself)
Edymnion 05-05-04, 03:13 PM	1) You can generate stats via 4d6 drop lowest, 30 point buy, or 2d6+6, your choice. Once you pick one though, you have to use it. 2) Anything Core is generally going to be accepted. Anything from the 3.0 splatbooks is likely to be accepted. Anything from 3.5 books is going to get looked at first. Anything from the Munchkin's Handbook (aka the Miniatures Handbook) is going to be flat out rejected, and I will beat you over the head with said Munchkin's Handbook until you forget it ever existed. Third party books will be looked over with a grain of salt, but don't hold your breath. 3) Sorcerer gets 4 skillpoints per level and Eschew Material Components as a virtual feat at lvl 1. 4) I protect players from unlucky flukes of the dice that would have killed them. I do not protect them from their own stupidity. 5) I'm a 3.0 DM. PrC are DM worldbuilding tools, and DM tools ONLY. If you want your character to take a PrC, you ask me to write it into the story. If I don't want it in my world, you can't take it. I don't care if you meet prereqs, I don't care if you wrote it into your background, you just can't have it. PrC are NOT advanced classes in my games, and you WILL have to roleplay out everything it takes to get and keep a PrC, including interaction with organizations to retain your membership. No taking up Arcane Archer and never being called into service by the Elves for defense. You either do what the organization requires of you, or you get kicked out, plain and simple. 6) I'm the DM. I have final say over EVERYTHING that goes on in my game world. You are the Player, you have final say over EVERYTHING that goes on with your character. I do not have the right to tell you what your character does or does not do, you do not have the right to tell me whats going on with the world. There's plenty more little things here and there, but those are the big ones.
Shifting Master 05-05-04, 03:19 PM	Originally posted by lekpic 1) Giving the Half-Ogre the ability to Rage once per day per level. Are you sure it's per level? That doesn't seem very balanced. So, unless you made a mistake, at 20th level, it gets 20 rages per day? Doesn't seem quite right. A more balanced rule would be to let them rage as a barbarian of half of their class level. Rages gained through barbarian levels and through being a half-ogre would stack, just for kicks ;). And Edymnion, some of those rules look a little strict.
Veton 05-05-04, 03:31 PM	Originally posted by Count Arioch the 28th 4. You may pick any PC race or base class from the following books: PHB, Expanded psionics handbook, Oriental adventures, or you could be any nonstandard race that has an ECL of 4 or less. I assume you mean LA +3, right? Otherwise, no one could go beyond 4th level! :P
Count Arioch the 28th 05-05-04, 05:35 PM	Originally posted by Veton I assume you mean LA +3, right? Otherwise, no one could go beyond 4th level! :P Alright, change that to Starting ECL then, for example, Thri-kreen in the psi handbook have 2 racial HD and +2 LA, making them an ECL of +4. So, pretend I said starting ECL, because that's what I meant. On a related note, I also allow people to buy off LA per UA's rules. I also don't allow you to be a caster if your total starting ECL is more than +2, and don't recomend that anyone take anything higher than that anyway, unless they start high enough levels to buy it off. But that's me in my "Don't let the players shoot themselves in the foot" mode.
Veton 05-05-04, 05:43 PM	Originally posted by Count Arioch the 28th Alright, change that to Starting ECL then, for example, Thri-kreen in the psi handbook have 2 racial HD and +2 LA, making them an ECL of +4. So, pretend I said starting ECL, because that's what I meant. Isn't ECL Effective Character Level? So a level 5 Thri-kreen monk would have an ECL of 9 if I'm correct. On a related note, I also allow people to buy off LA per UA's rules. I also don't allow you to be a caster if your total starting ECL is more than +2, and don't recomend that anyone take anything higher than that anyway, unless they start high enough levels to buy it off. But that's me in my "Don't let the players shoot themselves in the foot" mode. [/B] Well, if you start off at a low level, and the player really wants to be of that race and to cast spells, maybe you should allow them to. Of course, if you want to stop them from shooting themselves in the foot, you could just plainly tell them "If you really want to do this, I'll be okay, but just to warn you - You're going to shoot yourself in the foot."
Zombie Lord 05-05-04, 06:11 PM	Originally posted by E-Vile 1) No low cost material components for spells, I'm really not interested watching the wizard's bat crap supply. That's why the wizard takes a bat for a familiar.
CrimsonRyoko 05-07-04, 06:38 PM	Right now this is mostly just used with Identify, but i think the DM may keep it for use with higher level spells too: Costly material components can be replaced with the equivalent in plain ol gold. Saves time and "side quests" for my wizard, since all the other players "dont have time to go fartin around with silly games" Considering im a Fire Savant Evoker that casts 2 lvls higher with fire evocations and has a save of around 30 for said spells i dont see why they complain, but still.
Edymnion 05-07-04, 08:33 PM	Well, for Identify, you could use multiple smaller pearls, least in my game you could. As long as you've got ground pearl, and the total worth of pearl that you ground is 100gp, you're fine. Far as I'm concerned, the dust from ten 10gp pearls is the same as the dust from one 100gp pearl. Same with anything else that requires you to crush a costly gemstone into a powder. Long as the total value of everything you powdered is the same as the material component said, you're good to go.
Skewed Logic 05-08-04, 06:47 AM	. Instead of running into the castle and defeating the evil wizard, you sneak into the castle and become friends with the evil wizard joining him on his path to destruction) ..uh-heh yeah we usually call that tsunaming a quest..