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Flying Dutchman
2009-11-25, 11:13 AM
I'm getting ready to start up a 4e game on skype with a few of my buddies and was wondering if anyone had any cool ideas for homebrew machanics, mainly looking for things to replace skill challenges cause no-one seems to like those. Anything cool in any part of the game however would be appreicated.

Vitruviansquid
2009-11-25, 11:28 AM
Even if people don't like skill challenges, I don't see their mechanic as inherently disruptive. It's not like you're going to be diverting combat resources into skill challenges unless you really want to choose some of of the particular utility powers.

I'd just tell the players that since we hate skill challenges, there won't be so many (any?) of them, so build your characters accordingly.

Kurald Galain
2009-11-25, 11:52 AM
I'm getting ready to start up a 4e game on skype with a few of my buddies and was wondering if anyone had any cool ideas for homebrew machanics,
Well, replacing skill challenges is easy: just use regular skill checks like every other system does, and base the degrees of success on the in-world consequences of what the characters do, rather than on whether they get a fixed successes on their skill rolls.

As to other cool homebrew mechanics, it depends on what you are looking for, really. One of my personal gripes is the poor skill choice fighters get, and that's easy to remedy with homebrew. Another commonly heard complaint is that several rituals are pretty much worthless as written; some of that can be fixed mostly by changing their casting time to 3 to 5 rounds, instead of an 10-60 minutes. Also, some people have indicated they want their Perform skill (and others) back; this is another easy fix.

Flying Dutchman
2009-11-25, 12:03 PM
I was thinking about adding some "weekly" powers that skill-ish related. Like say for a fighter once a week can perform a "feat of strength" and bash down a stone door. Or our warlock could use a "Half-elven diplomacy" and talk a quest giver into giving him more loot or getting some hard to find infomation/talking someone out of a deep dark sercret.

Awesomologist
2009-11-25, 12:11 PM
Couple of quick suggestions, not necessarily house rules:
1) Find creative ways to hand out action points. Good role-playing or maybe they wasted a crit on a skill challenge or whatever. Don't give too many away but its a nice way to reward players or give weaker players a little boost.

2) Before you do a skill challenge think about the skill challenge. Ask yourself, "What is the purpose of this challenge?", "How does it affect the overall story?", and "How does it affect my players?"
As a rule of thumb, I never use skill challenges for social interactions. Sure they can use Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate, when trying to convince the local lord or whatever to do something, but those can just be individual checks. Most parties only have 1 or 2 players with either of those skills so you're more than likely to be leaving out players. Also there is nothing worse than when a player comes up with something really cool and convincing to say in character only to roll really low on their check. It's a role-playing game, reward them for playing not rolling.

Thats not to say that all skill challenges are bad, but just make sure that it isn't something mundane. Being chased (or chasing someone) through town makes for a good skill challenge. A race (chariot, foot, or fantastic mode of transportation) makes for a good challenge. Lame challenges? Convince good King Muckymuck to give you more money/loot. Gather information in a town square (like random towns people are just going to tell a group of heavily armed individuals everything about their town... it's D&D not Final Fantasy where you can walk into any house and take their stuff).

Hal
2009-11-25, 12:28 PM
A few suggestions:

-Instead of handing out set loot, simply hand out a "level X magic item." This lets the players pick their loot rather than you choosing it for them.

-Include rituals and wondrous items as part of some reward packages. Players tend to put their upgrades immediately into magic weapon and then magic armor. My own experience has been that loot doesn't come fast enough to do more than get those and then upgrade them appropriately. Add in some variety.

-If this is supposed to be a low-magic setting, simply give the players +1 atk/dmg/defense at the appropriate level that the generic magic equipment would be available.

Artanis
2009-11-25, 12:43 PM
How about FYIA (F*** you I'm awesome) Tokens?

In the campaign I'm in right now, the DM has a house rule where everybody starts the campaign with one FYIA Token, and if they do something really awesome - usually in the form of a cool and seriously outside-the-box plan or an awesome description - the DM may award them another one. These tokens can be used for things like auto-succeeding on a skill check, auto-hitting on a daily power, or pretty much whatever you can convince the DM to let you use them on. They're fairly hard to get, so using them is a special occasion, and it leads to players trying their damnedest to do cool stuff, as opposed to just saying "I attack".

Tiki Snakes
2009-11-25, 12:43 PM
A few suggestions:
-If this is supposed to be a low-magic setting, simply give the players +1 atk/dmg/defense at the appropriate level that the generic magic equipment would be available.

Inherant Bonuses are exactly this, and I thiiink are already up as phb3 preview material, so yeah. Not only do I second this, but so do WOTC. :smallwink:

Hal
2009-11-25, 02:50 PM
Inherant Bonuses are exactly this, and I thiiink are already up as phb3 preview material, so yeah. Not only do I second this, but so do WOTC. :smallwink:

Oh, that's right! I'd forgotten that they'd turned that into an actual written rule.

mikeejimbo
2009-11-25, 03:05 PM
How about FYIA (F*** you I'm awesome) Tokens?

In the campaign I'm in right now, the DM has a house rule where everybody starts the campaign with one FYIA Token, and if they do something really awesome - usually in the form of a cool and seriously outside-the-box plan or an awesome description - the DM may award them another one. These tokens can be used for things like auto-succeeding on a skill check, auto-hitting on a daily power, or pretty much whatever you can convince the DM to let you use them on. They're fairly hard to get, so using them is a special occasion, and it leads to players trying their damnedest to do cool stuff, as opposed to just saying "I attack".

I am so implementing this in my next game.

Ormagoden
2009-11-25, 03:08 PM
I am so implementing this in my next game.

Seconded! :smallbiggrin:

Vitruviansquid
2009-11-25, 03:21 PM
How about FYIA (F*** you I'm awesome) Tokens?

In the campaign I'm in right now, the DM has a house rule where everybody starts the campaign with one FYIA Token, and if they do something really awesome - usually in the form of a cool and seriously outside-the-box plan or an awesome description - the DM may award them another one. These tokens can be used for things like auto-succeeding on a skill check, auto-hitting on a daily power, or pretty much whatever you can convince the DM to let you use them on. They're fairly hard to get, so using them is a special occasion, and it leads to players trying their damnedest to do cool stuff, as opposed to just saying "I attack".

Give this man a medal!

Blackfang108
2009-11-25, 04:06 PM
Inherant Bonuses are exactly this, and I thiiink are already up as phb3 preview material, so yeah. Not only do I second this, but so do WOTC. :smallwink:

I thought this was part of the DMG 2?

(AFB, and haven't really done much more than a quick browse, but I'm reasonably sure.)

And I'm implementing FYIA tokens next sunday, when I run my next session.

With one caveat: if I have to say "turn that off" more than once, you lose one, and can go into negatives.

Flying Dutchman
2009-11-25, 04:18 PM
Also going with the FYIA idea, sounds pretty classy and i'm sure my players will love it.

Yakk
2009-11-25, 06:13 PM
Replace skill challenges with skill challenges.

When you have a problem that you figure should take some time to complete, assign it a number of successes required. Attach some penalty to failures (ie, after 3 failures, X happens).

Use page 42 DCs to set DCs. In general, DCs that you force the players to take (everyone roll endurance) should be easy to pass for anyone with training. Average DCs should be them doing something level-appropriate. Hard DCs should come with a bonus kicker, or progress faster than average DCs, and should involve the player describing something bad-ass.

Don't let the player describe the same thing twice.

Whenever they pass a skill check, have them overcome some part of the obstacle, and (usually) bring some other problem to light. Ie, if they are breaking into a tower, and they sneak past the guards, they might deke into be in a narrow stairway in response to hearing a patrol, only to hear some people going down the stairs.

Use the success/failure count as a pacing mechanism.

Include some reason why everyone must contribute (otherwise, it gets boring: resolve things that one player can solve while everyone else watches as something that needs a single success).

Consequences for 'failures' should be story based, as should benefits for success. Make sure both paths are equally interesting.