what are your creation rules? and why? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Blisstake

2011-04-01, 02:16 PM

-4d6 drop 1. If I'm feeling spontaneous, I'll tell them to use the stats they get in order, mostly because it often forces them to play outside their comfort zone.

-Reroll stats with permission

-Anything not in core needs to be approved first.

-No psionics. My players have so much trouble understanding the system, and when I actually did let them, one player thought his soul knife could attack everyone within 15 feet with a full attack every round and get sneak attack due to a misunderstanding.

-Certain classes (fighters especially) get to use a different class progression than what's in the PBH. I only do this if someone is playing an optimized magic user, or a ToB class.

-No LA without permission. I really, really don't like most LA templates/races. Very few are balanced with most being garbage, or too powerful.

big teej

2011-04-01, 02:19 PM

I actually like the sound of that profession thingy, help develop a backstory too

I might lift that one for myself in future campaigns.

Pigkappa

2011-04-01, 02:23 PM

hey playgrounders,

I'm curious

what are the rules your group uses for character creation?

my group uses the following
4d6 drop the lowest, arrange as you see fit.
300 starting gold at first level
anything possesed by the DM (me) in hardcopy is approved*
anything possed by a player in hardcopy is approved on a case-by-case basis
things not possesed by the group in hardcopy are autobanned**

I can't think of anything else that doesn't fall under 'houserule' as opposed too 'character creation'

*I read through all our sourcebooks in advance and make anything not okay knonw in advance.
**two exceptions, the SRD and a Knight PDF file.

- 28 point buy.
- You can choose whether you roll your HPs each time or take the average value.
- Gold as written in the DMG for your level.
- Core is generally allowed but I need to look at it. Outside core you need to ask me and it will likely be a no (though I've actually always said yes). Nobody proposed homebrew but I'm not necessarily against it.
- Please don't try to break the game, and please please please don't be Evil and don't be a psychopath.

hivedragon

2011-04-01, 02:57 PM

no prepared spellcasting, only spontaneous
stat array
18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
no multiclassing penalties
extra 2 skill points per level (8 at first level)
all skills are class skills
you don't roll hit points, you automatically get the maximum hit points the class allows

Curmudgeon

2011-04-01, 02:58 PM

There's no rolling for any part of character creation. Adjust the points available for point buy based on the Tier System for Classes (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1002.0):

15 point buy (This is where the Wizard is.)
22 point buy
28 point buy
32 point buy
40 point buy (This is where the Monk is.)
You might try 50 here, but really: just skip characters this weak. :smallsigh:
This assumes PCs are going to start in their primary class. If they change the primary class in later levels they'd retroactively lose points if necessary, but would never retroactively gain points.
There are no metamagic cost reducers of any kind, and certainly no "free" metamagic (ex: Incantatrix), so that influences character creation.
Beyond those spells that a class gets for free, spell access is limited. Wizards have free choice of 2 spells per level, and everything else is hard to get. The same goes for Sorcerers who want to swap out spells. Scrolls are 1/10th as common in treasure, and the costs for buying scrolls on the rare occasion that they're offered for sale are 5x as high as in standard rules. Finding someone who will allow copying their spellbook is rare, and the fees are at minimum 10x as high. Even finding out the name of a particular spell that will accomplish some desired aim can involve a quest for a spellcasting character, because magical knowledge is hoarded. Again, this is important to get out there before players create their characters, and occasionally a higher-level build will be dependent on using some spell at level-up time.
Above level 1, there's still no rolling allowed. Use average + ½ on each HD after first level:
3 HP for each d4 http://home.comcast.net/~ftm3/ASMoNM/d4.gif
4 HP for each d6 http://home.comcast.net/~ftm3/ASMoNM/d6.gif
5 HP for each d8 http://home.comcast.net/~ftm3/ASMoNM/d8.gif
6 HP for each d10 http://home.comcast.net/~ftm3/ASMoNM/d10.gif
7 HP for each d12 http://home.comcast.net/~ftm3/ASMoNM/d12.gif
Standard Wealth by Level for character generation. Builds at higher levels can't include items until they're below half that level's allowed wealth. I don't expect WbL to be maintained across all characters afterward; that's a function how the players run their characters.

Vladislav

2011-04-01, 03:07 PM

For hit points after level 1, I use this rule - roll your HP die, if you don't like the result, you may roll a lower die. Repeat as many times as you like (d12-->d10-->d8-->d6-->d4-->d3-->d2)

For example, a Barbarian levels up and rolls a 3 on his d12. He doesn't like this, so rolls d10. He gets 2, even worse, so chooses to continue and roll d8. Now he gets 5, and decides to stop.

Telonius

2011-04-01, 03:24 PM

My rules:

1. Don't try to break the game.
Reason: self-explanatory.

2. Pick a class that's within your abilities to play. If you can't handle juggling several character sheets, don't play a Druid. If you think you're going to need half the playing time to pick through your spell list figuring out which ones to memorize that day, don't play a Wizard.
Reason: There are four or five other people whose valuable time you're wasting.

3. Stat generation. Choice between:
a). One free 18. d8+10, five times, reroll ones once.
b). Array: 18 18 17 15 14 13 (Mainly used for people who know the dice hate them)
Reason: I don't want one low stat to interfere with getting a feat the character really wants to take.
Caveat: Encounter difficulty will be scaled up to account for the more powerful stats.

4. Starting HP: All classes start with max hit points at first level.
Reason: It's no fun being one-shotted by a housecat, or a one-legged kobold with a frying pan.

5. Starting Items: All classes start with one masterwork weapon or armor, free. All adventurers are issued 1 Heward's Handy Haversack with seven days' worth of trail rations, free.
Reason: If you have class levels, you're assumed to have been doing your job for at least a little while now, and well enough that you'd be able to afford a nice set of the "tools of your trade." Also, keeping track of encumbrance is annoying and no one should be forced to do so unless it gets silly.

6. Numerous houserules to address balance issues (i.e. power up the Monk & co, power down the full casters, power up the Half-elf and Half-Orc, fix or ban egregiously unbalanced spells and items such as Polymorph and Dust of Sneezing & Choking, Pun-Pun has already ascended and won't let it happen again, and so on).
Reason: it's no fun when your character is relegated to sidekick status at higher levels.

Rodimal

2011-04-01, 03:25 PM

We run a 3.5 game. We don't own nor plan to own 4.0, however if you want to play a Pathfinder or AD&D 2.0 game, let us know and we might be able to work something out.
Determine stats by rolling 4d6 drop the lowest and reroll 1.
You may opt to roll a second set if you are unhappy with your first and decide between the two.
All books we own are allowed (which is 90% of 3.5)
All 3.0 or 3.5 books we don't own may be allowed once we've read them.
All Feats are available even if we don't have access to the book (gotta love the Crystal Cavern)
No evil characters.
No chaotic stupid character.
No Lawful Anal or Lawful stupid characters.
Basically if you want to play something that disrupts the game because it's only way you can have fun, this is the wrong game for you.
All character classes are available.
All base races + Drow.
Drow are homebrewed to remove the +1 LA and can be any alignment (remove poison, racial SR. Stats mods same as Gray Elves).

Tyndmyr

2011-04-01, 03:33 PM

I prefer 32 point buy myself.

Others prefer rolling, so it varies. I've used all manner of systems. Literally, if it exists, I've probably used them. This includes ones as odd as 52 point buy without decreasing costs, starting at 6s. Oh, that was a lovely character indeed.

gbprime

2011-04-01, 03:43 PM

For upcoming campaign, the following are in effect...

32 Point Buy
Level 2 with 500gp equipment (potions and scrolls available at market price)
All 3.5 official source material except Psionics and Incarnum, Dragon Mag and 3rd party upon DM approval.
LA of +3 or less available **
All Classes and Prestige Classes have a minimum of 4 skill points per level. (Campaign will have significant non-combat play.)
Characters are limited to two PrC's each. (Cuts down on cheese.)

The LA +3 is something new I'm trying out this coming game. With DM permission, a LA of up to +3 can be selected at no increase in character level. Instead, the player receives a cumulative -1 to every d20 roll made. These are reduced by 1 at level 3, 6, and 9, effectively buying off LA. Characters who did not use this method instead receive bonus feats or other custom goodies at said levels.

We'll see how it works. So far I've had to veto a Pixie, but instead came up with a 7 level racial class that does much the same thing and counts as one of the player's two allowed PrC's.

gallagher

2011-04-01, 03:50 PM

4d6 drop one, if your stats are terrible i let you do a 32 point buy

all SRD, completes, TOB, MiC, SC, and the ones like frostburn. anything else has to be verified by me on a case-by-case basis.

dont break the game.

try to play using tier 3 characters for casters, because it is a lot easier on the DM that way.

if you take a prestige class, intend to take it all the way, because the idea is you are dedicating yourself to specializing your abilities

Kansaschaser

2011-04-01, 04:44 PM

1. 32 point buy for stats. Why? Consistency. Everyone starts on even playing ground.
2. If the players insist on using a dice rolling method, then I add up the equivelant number of attribute points. I then give some players more points so they are "equal" to the player that rolled the best ability scores. Why? Again, consistency.
3. Everyone starts with 900 gold. Why? Gives players more versatility and the ability to buy horses, tents, carts, etc...
4. You can play any race without a level adjustment. Even ones from magazines, third party books, other settings, or homebrew. Why? Gives the players more options to come up with a good character. It also makes for interesting roleplay when you have a non-standard race.
5. You can be any class. If you choose a tier 4, 5, or 6 class, you will be politley asked to reconsider playing a better class. Why? I want everyone to feel "special" and/or "powerful". Tier 4, 5, and 6 typically don't feel either compared to tiers 1, 2, and 3.
6. No evil. Why? I don't like the self destructive nature of evil. I'll even take Chaotic Neutral over any evil. I've run many games where players were allowed to play evil, and it ended up with players killing other players.
7. Each player must create a background where they know each other player's characters. Why? So I don't have to find out a way to introduce everyone to each other. That way I can avoid, "So, you're all in a bar when..."

HunterOfJello

2011-04-01, 04:51 PM

I did a 40 point buy for my current 3.5e gestalt game. Also used pathfinder very slightly modified rules for races (humans get +2 to any stat, etc.).

The other game I'm in did a 4d6 reroll 1s seven or eight times and then choose stats from those. Everyone ended up with decently high stats, although one person had almost all 14s. We also started off by each rolling a d6. Whoever had the highest got a +2 to their highest roll, the next highest person got a +1 to their highest roll. There was also a policy that three 6s make a 20 or something like that.

~

The 40 point buy ended up in an interesting fashion because the Kung-Fu Genius Monk//Warblade boosted all of his stats up to 14s and up for a generally high spread of numbers except for dumping wisdom. However, the Sorcerer//Wizard put all his points into Intelligece and Charisma while only boosting most of his other stats to 10 or 12 max. I believe he had an 8 in wisdom and strength. They've both made for fun and interesting character.

Amphetryon

2011-04-01, 05:44 PM

(3d4+6)*6, 28 point fallback if the RNG still hates you.

1/2 + 1 for HP after 1st level.

No Tier 6 classes. If you wish to make a Tier 1 class, I will ask you to spend feats and XP on item creation. Suggestions on how to apply this to Artificer welcome.

No evil characters; I've never seen evil characters turn out well, so I just forbid it. A cooperative game with evil characters is generally too difficult for many players. Similarly, nobody is allowed to make a character just to mess with another character's concept, like the kleptomaniac Rogue who seemed to inevitably get proposed at one game table I knew whenever there was a Paladin rolled up.

Please let me know your planned 1-20 progression so I can work any specific organizations into the plotline, and so that we can come to an agreement on any feats or spells or such and go over potentially disruptive abilities.

Pigkappa

2011-04-01, 06:06 PM

Please let me know your planned 1-20 progression so I can work any specific organizations into the plotline, and so that we can come to an agreement on any feats or spells or such and go over potentially disruptive abilities.

How can a level 1 character reasonably have in mind a 1-20 planned progression?

thompur

2011-04-01, 06:19 PM

My rules:

1. Don't try to break the game.
Reason: self-explanatory.

2. Pick a class that's within your abilities to play. If you can't handle juggling several character sheets, don't play a Druid. If you think you're going to need half the playing time to pick through your spell list figuring out which ones to memorize that day, don't play a Wizard.
Reason: There are four or five other people whose valuable time you're wasting.

3. Stat generation. Choice between:
a). One free 18. d8+10, five times, reroll ones once.
b). Array: 18 18 17 15 14 13 (Mainly used for people who know the dice hate them)
Reason: I don't want one low stat to interfere with getting a feat the character really wants to take.
Caveat: Encounter difficulty will be scaled up to account for the more powerful stats.
4. Starting HP: All classes start with max hit points at first level.
Reason: It's no fun being one-shotted by a housecat, or a one-legged kobold with a frying pan.

5. Starting Items: All classes start with one masterwork weapon or armor, free. All adventurers are issued 1 Heward's Handy Haversack with seven days' worth of trail rations, free.
Reason: If you have class levels, you're assumed to have been doing your job for at least a little while now, and well enough that you'd be able to afford a nice set of the "tools of your trade." Also, keeping track of encumbrance is annoying and no one should be forced to do so unless it gets silly.

6. Numerous houserules to address balance issues (i.e. power up the Monk & co, power down the full casters, power up the Half-elf and Half-Orc, fix or ban egregiously unbalanced spells and items such as Polymorph and Dust of Sneezing & Choking, Pun-Pun has already ascended and won't let it happen again, and so on).
Reason: it's no fun when your character is relegated to sidekick status at higher levels.

Just curious: Could one voluntarily lower a stat for character reasons? Say, I wanted a wisdom of 8 or a strength of 9.

Vangor

2011-04-01, 06:33 PM

32 Point Buy, LA Buyoff at a rate of 1 per 4 points
All WotC approved content is allowed, 3.0 may be chosen over 3.5
Two flaws chosen at creation, two taint may be taken as desired
Organizational requirements are assumed for later
Spontaneous full spellcasters (sorcerer, beguiler, etc..) progress as Wizard for max spell level
Maximum health rolls at each level
Roll for gold as described
Broken things are allowed, but if you intent is to "win d&d", you won't

Eldonauran

2011-04-01, 07:13 PM

4d6, drop lowest (SAD classes: wizard, sorcerer, etc)
1d8+10 (MAD classes: Paladin, monk, etc)
32 point buy if you dont like the above.

Prestige classes are a house-rule (as described in the DMG) and can only be used via DM approval. Multiclass/alignment restrictions in full enforcement. This means if you want to play a specific character design, you alert the DM.

Classes/races PHB only, LA+0 only. Anything special, DM approval.

Classes: No alternate casting/battle mechanics classes (ie, ToB, ToM, MotI, Psionics) without approval. Heavy optimization is frowned upon. If you can do more than 50+ damage in one blow (none-crit max, not average) before level 7, I'm looking at you.

Alignments: No chaotic stupid or Lawful stupid. If you play evil, you need a reason for working together. No tolerance for PvP unless it is highly appropriate. You steal from party members, you lose a hand until you pay for regeneration.

Gold: 1 free weapon and armor. 1/2 max gold for class for misc purchases.

Numerous house rules to stress that this is a team game, not a spotlight competition.

PollyOliver

2011-04-01, 07:44 PM

What we use depends a lot on the campaign. We generally agree beforehand whether we want to go high-power or low-power, high-magic or low-magic, etc.

Usually, a player has the option of using a rolling metric or a roughly corresponding point buy, ranging from 3d6 re-roll ones as the lowest rolling metric we use (we introduced the re-roll ones after I rolled a character with 2 3's and a 5 and wound up scrapping my character for a wild shape ranger who was a wise and sagely know-it-all with a crapton of HP but whom everyone hated and couldn't even carry armor and fell down constantly until he hit level 5) to 5d6, drop two lowest, re-roll ones as the highest (we've done the latter, re-roll ones and twos once, and it was insanity) depending on the campaign. Max HP at creation, with rolling or half+1 from then on out, at the player's choice.

Similarly, certain classes are "out" depending on the desired power level. If we want a low-power game, tiers 1 and 2 don't exist. Otherwise, everything is subject to DM approval and needs to be present on hard copy (even if just printed from the internet), but with our main DM most things get approved, if tweaked somewhat. Psionics rarely makes it in because our main DM is not hugely fond if it, but the few times it's been asked, it's been okay.

For races, most games it's anything that's present in the homebrew world and playable at your character's starting ECL. Sometimes we'll get a free +1 LA in higher-powered games. We have homebrewed and/or tweaked versions of most of the +0 LA races that use human, strongheart halfling, and whisper gnome as their goal balance point.

For gold, we usually use either max starting or twice max starting, but we tend to run high on WBL until somewhere between levels 5 and 10 where we then fall disastrously behind, so it's a weird quirk of our games.

In terms of alignment, again we change from game to game. The baseline "normal" is anything goes but don't be an idiot, and no PvP unless it's an appropriate byproduct of the plot and everyone's okay with it. (Also, the breakaway character is expected not to flat-out kill anyone without first giving some OOC warning that PvP is imminent through the DM). Dying without warning isn't fun for anyone, at least not in our group.

In all games, no multiclassing penalties and skills are tweaked such that you don't suddenly become worse at learning a particular subject because you switched classes.

Amphetryon

2011-04-01, 07:57 PM

How can a level 1 character reasonably have in mind a 1-20 planned progression?

I might just as well ask how can you reasonably create a three-dimensional character who has no aspirations?

PollyOliver

2011-04-01, 08:04 PM

How can a level 1 character reasonably have in mind a 1-20 planned progression?

I do it all the time. My not one-shot characters always have builds up through either 20 or as far as I think the campaign will last. They usually change, sometimes drastically, based on plot events, other character deaths, or if it turns out we have gaps in the party for other reasons, but I always have a plan in mind. The rest of the group I play with is the same. Planning generally helps you make the most of your class(es) in the long run, and it makes the "okay, guys, level up time" break in play much shorter.

EDIT: If you meant in character, a lot of people have goals on things they want to learn, degrees they want to earn, jobs they want to get, and skills they want to hone. It's not unreasonable for a character to think "I want to learn to attack with both of these swords at the same time while moving," and "I like to dance", which would be the in-character version of "let's take level six in dervish".

Telonius

2011-04-01, 08:31 PM

Just curious: Could one voluntarily lower a stat for character reasons? Say, I wanted a wisdom of 8 or a strength of 9.

Hasn't come up so far, but absolutely. In that case I'd treat it like a Flaw and grant a bonus feat to compensate.

Techsmart

2011-04-01, 08:59 PM

32-point buy - It allows consistent gameplay, and everyone starts with the same potential for character builds. No having one character with 18,18,16,14,14,12 and the other 16,13,12,10,8,6 (This happened to me in one campaign where I was the low end. I worked around it with a druid spamming wildshape, actually outperforming the high-score guy, but it made me mad).

come to the table prepared. This means everything you can prepare for. Shopping should be done, stats are done, spells prepared. If you make me or any other player wait because you haven't even started with a character concept, you will be asked to step away while those who ARE prepared will play.

Most base-classes are allowed, with some minor exceptions (many of which usually aren't classes sane people would play anyways, like samurai). Class-bans are for things that aren't flavor-fully appropriate for the campaign. Class-fixes are for things that aren't mechanically appropriate for the party.

Races are more restricted, again, for flavor. If you wanna play a half-minotaur water orc, I will pretend you didnt have a character, and refer to my second rule. I am willing to hear character concepts, and if I think there is some explanation, there's a chance I'll allow it.

Cheese doesn't go well. I don't care if you can cast an amazing spell with hundreds of bonuses. I've killed a player with a gazebo once, I can and will do it again.

Homebrew is subject to approval, but I am open to it (probably moreso than to some of the printed materials).

I will allow pathfinder variants of certain classes (fighter, rogue, paladin, ranger, things like that. Don't ask for PF Wizard, I'll introduce you to a templated gazebo).

Flaws are discouraged, but again, if fluff supports it and it's not silly, I'll probably allow it.

any allignment is allowed, except stupid. A lawful evil and lawful good character may not be best friends, but they will work together if they both want to see it done. When a chaotic evil character starts killing people in public for no real reason, I start restricting his alignments.

as pre-stated indirectly, if fluff doesn't support it, replace it.

Siosilvar

2011-04-01, 08:59 PM

I haven't actually run any formal games, but I imagine my rules would be along the following:

Ability Scores
4d6v1r1 or 34 point buy in 3.5. Or, you can choose 4d6v1 in order and get a bonus feat.
4d6v1 in OD&D and AD&D. These stay in order in OD&D, but you can make one switch in AD&D.

Mundane Equipment
Eh, whatever. Don't stress too much about it, but I'm not going to let you get away with gross violations.

Magical Equipment (3.5 only)
Stay within about 3% of WBL.

Hit Points
OD&D: Roll HP twice take the highest for first level. Afterwards, roll as normal.
AD&D: First level maximum HP. Roll thereafter.
3.5: First level maximum HP, then average (2/4/4/6/6 at even levels, 3/3/5/5/7 at odd levels).

General Guidelines
Don't go overboard. TO is right out, PO is carefully watched. "Normal" optimizing is okay. No dart-specced fighters, ueberchargers, or DMM:Persist clerics. Infinite or arbitrarily high loops will get you barred from my games.

I'm not afraid to homebrew something to make you more effective or flavorful.

3.5: Item creation to the point where you lose a level will not increase your XP gain.

No evil without talking it out with me beforehand. This includes actions that mean that your alignment will shift to evil.

Specific Houserules (3.5)
Feats every odd level.

I have a somewhat condensed modifier list. Most notably, shields and deflection bonuses apply against touch attacks, but not when flanked. Insight bonuses need a Wis of 6. Luck, sacred, and profane bonuses and penalties don't stack. You get up to three different ability scores to any one thing.

You can't cast defensively without the Combat Casting feat. Similarly, Mage Slayer doesn't automatically prevent defensive casting, but it does allow you to disrupt easier (+2 to hit, +5 to opponent's concentration check).

Sorcerer/Favored Soul max spell level is as a Wizard; i.e. (class level +1)/2. They don't need a full-round action to apply metamagic.

Gaze attacks are automatic once upon entering range and a swift action for one target thereafter. Similar area effects are a move action to affect all targets in range.

Most level adjustments are reduced by 1.

PollyOliver

2011-04-01, 09:15 PM

Hasn't come up so far, but absolutely. In that case I'd treat it like a Flaw and grant a bonus feat to compensate.

There's actually a flaw for this in the SRD; scroll down to Pathetic.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm

You can only do it if your total bonuses are +8 or lower, though, which might be an issue depending on the point buy; you could always just houserule it though.

gbprime

2011-04-01, 09:30 PM

How can a level 1 character reasonably have in mind a 1-20 planned progression?

It's the achilles heel of the rules system. Quite often if you want to take a feat or a class, you better plan it 8 levels ahead of time to meet all the requirements. And if you don't plan ahead, you're outclassed by someone who did.

A GM can use the retraining rules to get around this, to allow a 3.5 character to respond to an unexpected training opportunity or plot advancement, but it is more the exception than the rule.

Amphetryon

2011-04-01, 09:34 PM

It's tangential, but I'll just add that it's not entirely uncommon for characters to be involved in plots that fast-track them from 1st level to 15th - or even 20th - inside of 6 months. That's not so very much planning.

sitandbehitski

2011-04-02, 12:32 PM

I play with and DM for a group of optimizers who view creating cool characters both RP-wise and mechanics wise as almost as much fun as playing itself, therefore we've come up with a pretty unique character-creation scheme that we've used pretty often.

Now to explain why we do this, we find that the Tier-system is a pretty good work and accurately portrays most classes, unfortunately beyond just limiting people to specific tiers you can't multi-class a whole lot or play whatever you want without winding up with a fair amount of power disparity.

We also like lots of options so we've played gestalt in the past, however normal gestalt is just too powerful at times once people start taking LA and RHD on one side with something like Cleric Druid or Wizard on the other side, or something like Wizard gestalted with Archivst (this happened once, there might as well not be anyone else in the party lol).

So we've blended the Tier system with Gestalt. First we flipped the tier numbers and had it start at Tier 0 rather then 1, this resulted in the NPC classes and such being Tier 0 while the Wizard's and Cleric's are Tier 5's. We made all LA and RHD the equivelent of a Tier 2 with this system.

Now basically you play with normal gestalt rules except for the classes on each side of the gestalt for each level can add up to a maximum of 5, this allows Wizards and what not to get more HP or BAB with like the warrior or something like that, while allowing a LOT of options for the lower tiers. We've had a lot of cool builds with a lot of options and power without allowing anything TOO ridiculous, and we've only ever had 1 Wizard and 1 druid played before, and they were still just as powerful if not more so then everyone else anyways.

For other things like HP and what sources are allowed we allow most 3.5 stuff (virtually everything WOTC printed with a few exceptions for prestige classes like Frenzied Berzerker, Initiate of the Sevenfold viel, and Incatatrix being banned), and for HP we roll 1d4+ the remainder of your hit die + your con mod (so for a barbarian 1d4 + 8 + con mod).

For stats it's usually 4d6 drop the lowest and re-roll ones.

We play fairly high-power games obviously.

fortesama

2011-04-03, 01:45 AM

I just recently joined my friend's online group with the following rules for creation when i first joined in. one campaign and buffer/disabler/utility/support wizard with lucky stat rolls later (courtesy of me), the rules have been changed a bit:

*32 point buy to minimize imbalances (previously 4d6 drop lowest)
*300 initial gold for level 1. (previously, dm hands out gear depending on class)
*all books except BoEF are fair game no homebrew. (for the record, no one used boef. i just warned the dm that the book exists and he banned it on the spot.).
*all languages are available for bonus language selections.
*Commoner is not allowed. (has always been here)

big teej

2011-04-03, 01:52 AM

*Commoner is not allowed. (has always been here)

you have a rule for people taking commoner? :smallconfused:

explain please.

chainer1216

2011-04-03, 02:51 AM

usually it looks like this:
4d6, drop the lowest, reroll 1s
7 times, droping the lowest score

we usually end up with fairly high stats, though our group rolls notoriously bad with d6s (the entire group) that we've never had anyone roll more than one 18 per character.

Malimar

2011-04-03, 02:53 AM

Point buy 30, to keep it balanced. I used point buy 25 in my last campaign, and eventually decided it was too low, it penalized MAD characters more than SAD ones.

I allow any WotC-published book that I have, including some content from campaign-specific books. I go with the theory that each splatbook increases the power of low-tier classes more than it increases the power of high-tier classes, so I allow as many official splatbooks as I can for balance.

I don't really need to specify not to break the game. This is a group that's under the general impression that a Vow of Poverty monk is the most brokenly powerful thing ever. They wouldn't know how to break the game if I slapped a target on it and handed them a stick.

I allow up to 2 flaws and 1 feat, with the warning that I'm likely to throw at them encounters that prey specifically on their flaws. It lets the player feel more powerful, and it lets me more easily knock them down a peg if I really need to. I've recently taken it into my head that I may even start allowing chicken-infested, even for non-commoners, with the caveat that a chicken never appears when it would be helpful to the character.

If a player wants to play a creature with a LA, I'll usually let them play a monster class progression. The more options, the better.

I also allow level adjustment reduction (which can effectively remove a monster class's empty levels), using homebrew rules where you can do it at any time, with a set experience cost based on your starting LA (or the final LA of the monster class).

I allow up to two classes without penalty, or three if one of them is their favoured class. After that, I start enforcing the experience penalties for multiclassing (which means nobody ever does multiclasses beyond two or three classes, because nobody wants to touch those penalties with a ten-foot pole).

I don't really enforce alignment restrictions. If a character is too chaotic evil, the other players (and the NPCs, if need be) are entirely free to gang up and kill him. That said, I do strongly frown on chaotic neutral, it just grates my cheese exactly the wrong way. Lawful evil is totally fine, as long as the character is played properly lawful.

Start with 1000 gold and a vaguely-defined "adventurer's kit" at level 1. Wouldn't want them to be able to start with +1 weapons or armor, but a couple masterwork things and a few potions can help tide over those vulnerable early levels.

Amiria

2011-04-03, 04:10 AM

D&D 3.5

Stat generation: A 100-points system, translates to a ~45 point-buy (40-49) on average:

8 costs 9; 9 costs 10, 10 costs 11; 11 costs 12; 12 costs 13; 13 costs 14
14 costs 16; 15 costs 18; 16 costs 20; 17 costs 22; 18 costs 24

Why ? I have no idea, it was the system the guy used in the FLGS when I was first introduced to 3.0. Weird system. Also, it worked quite well with the scores that our group's AD&D characters had when we converted them to 3.0. And it is quite heroic, although not quite Drizzt-level ability scores. The characters created don't have extreme ability arrays like the 18, 18, 18, 9, 8 8 that's possible; we like more balanced characters, usually only one 18 and only 1 score (if at all) below 10.

Starting Money: 500-1.000 gp starting money

Why ? Inspired by the regional starting packages from Forgotten Realms. Like someone else said, some masterwork stuff and potions/wands of healing help to survive the first levels.

Hit Points: first level maxed, then half+1

Why ? Random hp is an evil that needs to be destroyed, like random ability score generation. This system slightly favors the lower hp classes. Might get changed to 3/4 hp for all classes.

Skill Points: Add you highest ability score to your Int score, divide by two, that number's stat modifier is your Int modifier (for getting skill points only); also, skill points are retroactive.

Why ? Skill points are fun, everyone should have a good amount, even dumb half-orc barbarians with Int 6 but Str 22.

LansXero

2011-04-03, 05:48 AM

Either

Roll 4d6 drop lowest seven times, drop lowest score, move up to two points from a stat to another (to even out scores).

or

Roll 1d8+10, six times, move up to two points from a stat to another (to even out scores).

The whole group agrees on which to use, but the second one has the caveat of the party facing stronger challenges.

Initial Items: One free weapon (non-exotic, unless its supported by race) and one free armor (light or medium, no heavy); and the starter Adventurer's Gear consisting of:
Bedroll, 5 torches, 50 ft. of rope, 5 rations, 2 locks, 1 manacle, 1 glass bell, 2 waterskins, 1 sack, 1 scrollcase, 1 journal, ink and feather, 1 crowbar, 10 square feet of canvas, a small hammer and 10 small nails, 10 sheats of rough parchment, flint and steel, a fishhook and a sewing needle.

Initial Wealth: 5d20 x10 gold pieces.

Allowed Races: Any, LA will be reviewed, monster progression will be reviewed, LA buyoff is allowed, traditional fantasy races are discouraged.

Allowed Books: Any published and anything online from WotC, with the right to ban things on the fly (so if you have doubts first ask me). But, players have to present a physical manifestation (photocopy or print-out) of what they are using.

Alignment: Whats chosen at the start is a guideline. In this (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2739526/Algiment.jpg) grid, you start out as mildly/mildly, with your actions shifting you accordingly at each level up. Ill keep track of it and let you know as it happens.

IRL things: All players on the first session receive three blank character sheets (I have several models and keep a handful of copies of each handy so they can choose which one they like), a brand new pencil, a sharpener, an eraser, a little background paper (with 4 - 5 questions and lines to fill them up) a posessions sheet and a spellbook sheet (in case they cast spells), as well as a CD with relevant files, inside a plastic holder. :D

Edit: Two more things Ive planned to add after reading them on this site:

*Alignment will be either neutral to good or neutral to evil, no good and evil characters in the same party.

*Free ranks in a profession skill for everyone! weee

Dumbledore lives

2011-04-03, 05:55 AM

We play a fairly high power, though they generally have under WBL because they run from encounters.

4d6b3 7 times, drop lowest. Can move around up to 3 points, no stats higher than 18 before race.
Generally start at 2nd level, first is too squishy.
Pretty much any book is allowed, though anything too overpowered, (i.e. Incantatrix, Whisper Gnome, Shivering Touch) are banned.
Homebrew is encouraged, though I have to approve it first.

fortesama

2011-04-03, 09:03 PM

you have a rule for people taking commoner? :smallconfused:

explain please.

according to the dm, there's been an incident involving a commoner/druid who zerg rushed a few kingdoms, a socialist state and a couple of democracies with a deluge of chickens before i joined. From what i heard from the other players, the dm himself was the one who caused that.

Serpentine

2011-04-03, 11:53 PM

Stat generation
- One 8 or lower, one 18, the rest rolled 5d6 drop lowest two. With my permission, you may reroll up to twice, but the aim should be an interesting stat array that fits your character concept, not power. I will consider allowing you to lower a score to one that fits your concept, and I may allow you to transfer the points removed to another stat - BUT, I will probably only allow it if you're doing it to lower one score more than to raise another, and I may make it cost two removed points to raise another ability by 1.
- Alternatively, choose from a selection that's something like this: one 8 or lower, one 9-11, one 12-13, one 14-15, one 16-17, one 17-18. Or something like that.
> Reason: Dunno, actually. Got the first one from my former DM, thought of the second myself but it hasn't been used so I dunno if it works. I try to be flexible, though, and I'm pretty happy to manipulate the scores to make them suit a good character concept.

Skills
- Skill-compacting houserules.
- An extra skill point every level to be put into a Craft, Profession, Perform or other skill (subject to DM approval) that is not directly useful for your class, selected on a roleplay basis. Called "Hobby Skills".
> Reason: Some of the skills don't make sense to me to be separate, and one always has to be so frugal with skill points that there's often nothing left for flavour.

Class selection
- Any source is possible, but all subject to approval and possible adjustment.
- Encourage people wanting to play a Fighter, Monk or Paladin to have a look at Tome of Battle, or alternate official or homebrew variants.
- Encourage people wanting to play a Druid to use a variant, choose a particular theme, or give me a concept to homebrew myself.
- Encourage people wanting to play a spellcaster to choose a theme or similar.
- Encouraged to aim at approximately Tier 3 in terms of power level.
- Physical classes (particularly Fighters) given certain extra powers. Yet to be codified, possibly superceded by Tome of Battle.
> Reasons: Mostly power considerations.

Equipment
- Starting wealth as standard, but flexible as long as it's not abused (so, for e.g. a few dozen GP over probably isn't a problem).
- Everyone has a Weapon of Legacy, preferably but not necessarily custom-made. WoL do not have standard mechanical drawbacks or penalties, but mostly roleplaying ones (e.g. owner of a sword devoted to Elistrayee(sp?) must aid non-Evil drow wishing to break from their oppressive culture whenever an opportunity to do so arises). It's assumed a character has unlocked the item's abilities up to their level.
- Body slots are flexible.
> Reasons: It's nice for characters to have an item that they'll be particularly attached to.

Misc.
- Crunch serves fluff, not the other way round. Character always takes precedent over power.
- Request that Druids not take Natural Spell.
> Reason: I like to have that limitation on Druids. Negotiable.
- Request that spellcasters not use Wind Walk.
> Reason: Game plan disruption. If someone really, really wants it, it may be arranged.
- Request that spellcasters avoid Divination spells.
> Reason: Practicality. I'm just not that good at planning ahead. If someone really, really wants it, I'll make do.
- Considering giving Sorcerers free Eschew Materials.
> Reason: Mostly fluff.
- Considering changing Toughness, either making it apply to every level and retroactively, or just using Improved Toughness.
> Reason: It's a stupid feat.
- Any alignment possible, but players should strive to give a character a reason to cooperate with the group. Character concept and personality should drive roleplay, but the player decides what those are, and should change them if they don't work with the group.
- Full HP at first level, afterwards rolled as normal but if you get below average, just take average instead.

Probably some more bits and pieces, but I forget. Generally speaking, if you can give me a good reason to do or have something, I'll probably allow it.

Yahzi

2011-04-04, 04:43 AM

Adjust the points available for point buy based on the Tier System for Classes
Now that's the best idea I've seen in a long time!

LordBlades

2011-04-04, 05:18 AM

Stat generation
32 PB or you can roll 4d6 drop lowest; If you don't like the roll you can opt for 28 PB.

The group reserves the right to veto any overly good roll. We had to introduce this when a guy rolled something like 72 PB (3x 18, a 17 and other stuff) on a cleric, and decided to play the char despite all other players asking him not to. The rest of the party(all in 28-40 PB range) was a Druid (me), ubercharger, factotum and wizard (played by a not very good optimizer; was doing ok BFC, but not nearly the kind of cheese wizards are capable of). Since the cleric felt the need to show off his awesome stats, I stepped up the pace of the game too and from then on it was me, him and 3 spectators.

WBL
Standard WBL rules apply. We never start at lvl 1.

HP
Average or roll, must be decided at character creation.

elpollo

2011-04-04, 05:39 AM

- All characters get the Able Learner feat for free.
- Characters get 4 additional skill points which may only be spent on knowledge, perform or profession skills
- All classes have Knowledge (local), Listen, Perform, Profession and Spot as class skills, and if they don’t have Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nature), or Knowledge (religion) they may add one of these to their class skill list
- Any class that has two skill points per level now has 4 skill points per level (x4 at first level)

People have a wide variety of skills. This helps to show that.

- When rolling hit points, any results lower than a 2 on a d6 are treated as a 2, lower than a 3 on a d8 are treated as a 3, lower than a 4 on a d10 are treated as a 4, and lower than a 5 on a d12 are treated as a 5

This stops people with large HD from having a few bad rolls and losing what little advantage they had.

- The Fractional Saves and Base attack Bonus from page 73 of Unearthed Arcana are used

Because yeah, it just makes sense.

I've also been thinking about turning all LA+0 races into feats and having everyone use human as the base to prevent certain races from making certain classes difficult to be, but that hasn't actually happened yet.

skywalker

2011-04-04, 06:04 AM

I use the 4th edition point buy. In total honesty, that's because I've DM'ed a lot more 4th ed than 3.5, and it's crammed in my brain.

I also am totally cool with 4d6 drop the lowest, with one re-roll of either one die, or one whole stat.

I hate any system that doesn't let you rearrange your scores, it might put some people outside their comfort zone but forcing the antisocial kid to play the healer is just a terrible idea. Some gamers are born clerics, and some aren't. Don't force it on the ones who aren't, the game will suck for everyone.

The reason I allow rolling for stats is precisely because I make above-average stat rolls. It shouldn't ruin anyone's fun if one player has straight 16s in every stat. For one thing, that guy still can't do everything. And if somebody were going to play a batman wizard, no amount of stats could save you. Furthermore, if you're going to play the type of character that's going to make other party-members useless (again, batman wizard is easy enough), why don't you just go play WoW?

Curmudgeon

2011-04-04, 08:44 AM

- Any class that has two skill points per level now has 4 skill points per level (x4 at first level)

People have a wide variety of skills. This helps to show that.
This also boosts the Wizard up to the same base skill points as the Monk. This helps to show something else, I think. :smallfrown:

manyslayer

2011-04-04, 10:56 AM

* Point buy, value depends on DM/campaign. Currently our group has one active (25 pts) and one starting (30 pts) campaign.

* Any WotC source (including setting specific, Dragon, and on-line) unless conflicts with campaign (one DM does not like psionics so does not include it in his campaign world). 3rd party subject to DM approval (we're fairly lenient).

* We don't have any class/race modifications. We run fairly unoptimized (the new starting campaign is a warmage, battledancer and bard) so overshadowing by spellcasters generally not an issue.

* Up to 2 flaws. Traits are allowed (unless a campaign using Pathfinder trait system).

* Standard starting gold by class.

There are some other campaign specific (the new campaign is Legacy of Fire adventure path so Pathifnder traits are used).

We use a homebrew system of Fate points that allow re-rolls on missed saves/attacks, etc. or lessening a hit taken. We are a small party (3 PCs usually) and it helps with survival and points out the PCs as important people in the campaign. Major NPCs also have fate points, though, so the BBEG will have re-rolls as well.