Warlawk
2011-05-27, 04:21 PM
So it came to my attention just two days ago that our DM is a bit burnt out, so instead of switching to the Mutants and Masterminds game as planned he would like me to run something for a bit. I had some ideas for the plot of the game, so that's not a huge issue (aside from organizing my thoughts and notes). Of more concern is getting a little love bandaged onto the 3.5 system.
Now, for context our group is fairly low optimization, our wizards tend to blast and buff, clerics carry at least a couple healing spells etc. We tend toward a more traditional style game based in telling a good story as opposed to gaming the system. The fighter abilities listed here are mostly written with the idea of making the fighter a bit more competitive with Warblade, things of that nature. These are written specifically for our group and not for the general public, I am not at all worried about people trying to break the system I just want to try and clean up a couple things and give reasons to play some specific classes and such. I am trying to make characters more resilient in general and access to healing less directly tied to spells or items. I've tacked on healing to cleric turning and the Heal skill to facilitate that. My initial idea was just to give everyone a healing belt for free, but I wanted to work it into the game in a more integral way. I am very open to feedback on the things I have down so far and would welcome any suggestions for new houserules.
General Houserules
All players are granted +10 HP at first level.
Skills
Players no longer multiply their skill points by 4 at first level. You may place one rank in any skill for each level or HD that you possess. A 5th level character for instance may have 5 ranks in any skill. A player gains +3 to any skill which is on his class skill list if he has placed at least one skill point in that skill.
Listen, Search and Spot have been combined into Perception (wis).
Hide and Move Silently have been combined into Stealth (wis).
Open Lock is folded into Disable Device (dex).
Gather Information is folded into Diplomacy (cha).
Balance, Tumble, and Jump have all been combined into a new skill, Acrobatics (Dex, may use str for jump checks).
Forgery, Decipher Script and Speak Language combined into a new skill Linguistics (int).
New use for the Heal skill.
Triage: Make a heal check. For every three points of the check result, your target is healed 1 hit point. This check must be made within 5 minutes of the combat in which the injury was received and Triage takes 1 minute to perform. A character may only benefit from this one time for any given set of injuries. This requires access to a healers kit with supplies such as bandages, needles, thread and common herbs for killing pain and infection. (Important to note that since our group is low OP and magic items tend to be a matter of what the DM gives you instead of custom creation I am not worried about someone abusing this to be an uber healer, I am putting it in with a warning that it is an experiment and may be tweaked or revoked during play)
Notes:
Most classes gain 4 skill points per level minimum. Notable exceptions include Wizard and any other intelligence based caster with full casting progression.
Multiclass XP penalty
This rule has been removed, as well as racial favored classes.
Feats
If you select Weapon Focus you automatically acquire Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization when you meet the appropriate requirements (Fighter Class levels no longer required)
Any time you select an archery feat, you may choose another archery feat which you meet the prerequisites for and receive that as well.
Once you have chosen the Two Weapon Fighting feat you automatically receive the higher tiers of TWF feats (Improved, greater etc) as soon as you meet the AB and attribute requirements.
Dodge: The AC bonus applies to all attacks and increases by an additional +1 per 4 levels.
Toughness is replaced with Improved Toughness in all cases.
Skill Focus: Concentration may be used in place of combat casting for meeting prerequisites or any other reason. If any source grants you Combat Casting as a bonus feat you may choose SF: Concentration instead.
(The system could use a boatload of feat tweaks obviously, but these are a couple of the worst offenders in the feat tax department just off the top of my head.)
Bandaid Class tweaks off the top of my head.
Mostly because I would like to see some reason for people to actually play base classes instead of PRCing out at the first possible moment. These are just the first few things that came to mind and are written with our group in mind, not specifically for the general internet gaming community.
Fighter
At levels 6, 12 and 18 you may select a tactical feat in place of your normal bonus feat even if you do not have the other feats required. You must still meet any other prerequisites such as BAB.
For each 5 fighter levels a character ignores 5 feet of movement penalty from armor.
For each 3 fighter levels the character gains +1 to all attributes for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites of any feat which he may select as a fighter bonus feat. The actual attributes do not change, they are simply considered higher for the purposes of meeting feat prerequisites.
Once per encounter per fighter level you may use one of the following options. You may only use one of these options per turn either on your action or in response to the action of another.
Perfect Defense (Free Immediate Reaction-Does not use your swift action as normal)
Add your fighter level to your AC against a single attack or saving throw roll. If you are holding a shield all attacks against you until the end of your next turn (Including the one triggering the Perfect Defense action) suffer a miss chance of 5% per fighter level, you also gain resistance to all elemental damage equal to your fighter level.
Seize the opening (Free Immediate Reaction-Does not use your swift action as normal)
When a creature you threaten makes an attack, casts a spell or uses an ability that targets one of your allies but does not target you, you may make an attack against that creature with a bonus to AB and damage equal to your fighter class level. This replaces any Attack of Opportunity you would have been granted by said action.
Punishing Strike (Standard Action)
Make an attack as normal with an additional bonus to hit equal to your strengh modifier. Increase your threat range for this attack by 2 (increases to 4 at level 10). If the attack hits it automatically deals maximum damage.
Rogue
At levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 the rogue gains a free feat. This feat must be an [Ambush] or [Luck] feat or provide some form of benefit directly tied to skill points, skill bonuses, skill mastery or be directly tied to a rogue class feature (Ask the DM if there is any question).
Cleric
When a cleric performs a turn undead action it releases a burst of positive energy which refreshes his allies. All allies (including the cleric) within range are healed for 2 points per cleric level plus the cleric's charisma modifier. The range for this burst is 10 feet plus 5 feet per cleric level.
(Considering making Turn a move action)
Spellcasting
When a caster has reached the maximum number of level 0 spells he may gain, when he next increases his level in that casting class he gains a number of bonus castable level 0 spells equal to the number of bonus level 1 castable spells he would gain from his casting stat.
Spontaneous casters with full casting progression, such as the sorcerer are treated as being one level higher for their casting chart and spells known chart.
Now, for context our group is fairly low optimization, our wizards tend to blast and buff, clerics carry at least a couple healing spells etc. We tend toward a more traditional style game based in telling a good story as opposed to gaming the system. The fighter abilities listed here are mostly written with the idea of making the fighter a bit more competitive with Warblade, things of that nature. These are written specifically for our group and not for the general public, I am not at all worried about people trying to break the system I just want to try and clean up a couple things and give reasons to play some specific classes and such. I am trying to make characters more resilient in general and access to healing less directly tied to spells or items. I've tacked on healing to cleric turning and the Heal skill to facilitate that. My initial idea was just to give everyone a healing belt for free, but I wanted to work it into the game in a more integral way. I am very open to feedback on the things I have down so far and would welcome any suggestions for new houserules.
General Houserules
All players are granted +10 HP at first level.
Skills
Players no longer multiply their skill points by 4 at first level. You may place one rank in any skill for each level or HD that you possess. A 5th level character for instance may have 5 ranks in any skill. A player gains +3 to any skill which is on his class skill list if he has placed at least one skill point in that skill.
Listen, Search and Spot have been combined into Perception (wis).
Hide and Move Silently have been combined into Stealth (wis).
Open Lock is folded into Disable Device (dex).
Gather Information is folded into Diplomacy (cha).
Balance, Tumble, and Jump have all been combined into a new skill, Acrobatics (Dex, may use str for jump checks).
Forgery, Decipher Script and Speak Language combined into a new skill Linguistics (int).
New use for the Heal skill.
Triage: Make a heal check. For every three points of the check result, your target is healed 1 hit point. This check must be made within 5 minutes of the combat in which the injury was received and Triage takes 1 minute to perform. A character may only benefit from this one time for any given set of injuries. This requires access to a healers kit with supplies such as bandages, needles, thread and common herbs for killing pain and infection. (Important to note that since our group is low OP and magic items tend to be a matter of what the DM gives you instead of custom creation I am not worried about someone abusing this to be an uber healer, I am putting it in with a warning that it is an experiment and may be tweaked or revoked during play)
Notes:
Most classes gain 4 skill points per level minimum. Notable exceptions include Wizard and any other intelligence based caster with full casting progression.
Multiclass XP penalty
This rule has been removed, as well as racial favored classes.
Feats
If you select Weapon Focus you automatically acquire Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization when you meet the appropriate requirements (Fighter Class levels no longer required)
Any time you select an archery feat, you may choose another archery feat which you meet the prerequisites for and receive that as well.
Once you have chosen the Two Weapon Fighting feat you automatically receive the higher tiers of TWF feats (Improved, greater etc) as soon as you meet the AB and attribute requirements.
Dodge: The AC bonus applies to all attacks and increases by an additional +1 per 4 levels.
Toughness is replaced with Improved Toughness in all cases.
Skill Focus: Concentration may be used in place of combat casting for meeting prerequisites or any other reason. If any source grants you Combat Casting as a bonus feat you may choose SF: Concentration instead.
(The system could use a boatload of feat tweaks obviously, but these are a couple of the worst offenders in the feat tax department just off the top of my head.)
Bandaid Class tweaks off the top of my head.
Mostly because I would like to see some reason for people to actually play base classes instead of PRCing out at the first possible moment. These are just the first few things that came to mind and are written with our group in mind, not specifically for the general internet gaming community.
Fighter
At levels 6, 12 and 18 you may select a tactical feat in place of your normal bonus feat even if you do not have the other feats required. You must still meet any other prerequisites such as BAB.
For each 5 fighter levels a character ignores 5 feet of movement penalty from armor.
For each 3 fighter levels the character gains +1 to all attributes for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites of any feat which he may select as a fighter bonus feat. The actual attributes do not change, they are simply considered higher for the purposes of meeting feat prerequisites.
Once per encounter per fighter level you may use one of the following options. You may only use one of these options per turn either on your action or in response to the action of another.
Perfect Defense (Free Immediate Reaction-Does not use your swift action as normal)
Add your fighter level to your AC against a single attack or saving throw roll. If you are holding a shield all attacks against you until the end of your next turn (Including the one triggering the Perfect Defense action) suffer a miss chance of 5% per fighter level, you also gain resistance to all elemental damage equal to your fighter level.
Seize the opening (Free Immediate Reaction-Does not use your swift action as normal)
When a creature you threaten makes an attack, casts a spell or uses an ability that targets one of your allies but does not target you, you may make an attack against that creature with a bonus to AB and damage equal to your fighter class level. This replaces any Attack of Opportunity you would have been granted by said action.
Punishing Strike (Standard Action)
Make an attack as normal with an additional bonus to hit equal to your strengh modifier. Increase your threat range for this attack by 2 (increases to 4 at level 10). If the attack hits it automatically deals maximum damage.
Rogue
At levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 the rogue gains a free feat. This feat must be an [Ambush] or [Luck] feat or provide some form of benefit directly tied to skill points, skill bonuses, skill mastery or be directly tied to a rogue class feature (Ask the DM if there is any question).
Cleric
When a cleric performs a turn undead action it releases a burst of positive energy which refreshes his allies. All allies (including the cleric) within range are healed for 2 points per cleric level plus the cleric's charisma modifier. The range for this burst is 10 feet plus 5 feet per cleric level.
(Considering making Turn a move action)
Spellcasting
When a caster has reached the maximum number of level 0 spells he may gain, when he next increases his level in that casting class he gains a number of bonus castable level 0 spells equal to the number of bonus level 1 castable spells he would gain from his casting stat.
Spontaneous casters with full casting progression, such as the sorcerer are treated as being one level higher for their casting chart and spells known chart.