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Squeejee
2011-08-04, 12:11 PM
Exactly what it says on the tin - I'm interested in hearing your table's house rules, and why. If you're a player, what house rules does your GM use, and do you like them or not? What was the effect of those house rules on your game, and would you use them again? Rules for any system are fine, but you should probably label them so we know what you're talking about.

I'll start with one of mine (D&D 3.5/Pathfinder)...

Environmental Damage: I keep a rough tally of environmental damage left by AOE spells and abilities on my battle mat. If a floor tile is destroyed, it becomes difficult terrain - if the floor block under that is destroyed, it may open up a hole to the floor below if there is one, or simply create a crater (which can be used to gain partial cover versus ranged attacks). The real fun is when players have to watch their fireballs because the walls are looking fragile and they don't want to bring the roof down on their own heads >:D. In practice, I find it doesn't slow down combat as long as you don't let yourself get bogged down in the numbers - with each AOE, I know whether it failed to damage, damaged, or destroyed the floor under it when damage is rolled, and I draw a circle marking the effected area and write the result.

It also gives most evocation spells a cool battlefield control effect, and a feeling of fun recklessness that I personally enjoy very much (I don't always DM at my table either) - when a lightning bolt leaves behind a 120-ft line of glass along the sandy terrain, that just makes me smile :) . If you're wondering, I use a black pen to keep track of the dungeon layout, a blue pen to keep track of objects of interest/ongoing spells, and a red pen to keep track of environmental damage, so nothing really gets confused.

Let's hear yours!

dsmiles
2011-08-04, 12:24 PM
Well, I use an "Environmental Damage" rule similar to yours, for starters, but I think my most notable (or is it notorious?) house rule that I cite frequently on here is my egg-timer rule.

Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).

(I've found that this one GREATLY speeds up combat in the game, as it forces the player to think about what they're doing during other turns.)

No Electronics: Cell phones on "vibrate," people. Emergency calls only. No laptops, e-readers, iPads, iPods, or anything else at the table. Pencils, paper, books, dice and minis. Those are your tools, use them.

(This is a significant reducer of distractions during the session.)

Rules Discussion Limits: When, and if, a rules question comes up, you get a maximum of 5 minutes to look it up. If you fail to do so, you get an adjudication by the DM/GM/ST/whatever, and the ruling stands until the end of the session. You can plead your case at the end of the session, if you feel the need to do so, but the ruling will probably stand as is.

(Another time-saver. We only get together about once a month. RPG time is valuable time.)

Those are just some of the house rules I use, but I feel like at least two of them are pretty common.

Boci
2011-08-04, 12:30 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).

Why Full Defense? Doesn't that break immersion: "For no apparant reason, your character stops fighting and goes on the defensive,"

Bobby Archer
2011-08-04, 12:44 PM
Why Full Defense? Doesn't that break immersion: "For no apparant reason, your character stops fighting and goes on the defensive,"

No more so than the combat coming to a dead stop while someone stares at their character sheet and flips through a copy of the PHB trying to figure out what they want to do next. Definitely not a house rule for newer players or even for most groups, but I can see it working if time is at a premium. I'd describe it fluff-wise as "Your character pauses for a moment while he considers his next strike."

I have to say, I'm stealing that Environmental Damage rule.

Boci
2011-08-04, 01:01 PM
No more so than the combat coming to a dead stop while someone stares at their character sheet and flips through a copy of the PHB trying to figure out what they want to do next. Definitely not a house rule for newer players or even for most groups, but I can see it working if time is at a premium. I'd describe it fluff-wise as "Your character pauses for a moment while he considers his next strike."


Except the character is activly defending himself. And no a slow player doesn't break imersion for me. Wether a player takes 1 minute or 3 minutes to choose their actions its still the same thing: the game stop for a while. Shorter is better but unless it takes ages it doesn't break imersion for me.

SowZ
2011-08-04, 01:08 PM
Why Full Defense? Doesn't that break immersion: "For no apparant reason, your character stops fighting and goes on the defensive,"

Maybe the character doesn't know exactly what to do and trying to analyze the situation takes more than a couple of seconds? (Four seconds of analysis is not breaking immersion, to me.) Going into a defensive stance is a common instinct for many people to do when attacked and they don't react super fast. Obviously, the player wasn't quick thinking enough. Why should the character be?

Boci
2011-08-04, 01:13 PM
Obviously, the player wasn't quick thinking enough. Why should the character be?

Because I'm not my character?

All I'm saying is, why not spend 5 second thinking of a good action? "Can't think of anything? Then you attack/charge the nearest enemy," or "You cast a mid level spell, say fireball"

SowZ
2011-08-04, 01:35 PM
Because I'm not my character?

All I'm saying is, why not spend 5 second thinking of a good action? "Can't think of anything? Then you attack/charge the nearest enemy," or "You cast a mid level spell, say fireball"

Because default is do nothing. The player thinks of nothing, nothing happens. When the player has a few seconds left, he can really quick say something like 'OkayIjustattackthatguy' or 'fireball.' Otherwise, the DM controls your character. And you aren't really doing nothing. You are defending and analyzing. But if the player doesn't know enough about the situation to come up with what to do, the character probably needs to analyze.

Kurald Galain
2011-08-04, 01:45 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).
Yeah, this is one of my default rules.

Besides, I find that generally people will just call out a standard attack (or spell) just before their time is up.

As a corollary, no lengthy tactical discussions during combat (first, because you don't have the time; and second, because the enemies will hear you). The time to hold those is before combat.

Adam...?
2011-08-04, 01:51 PM
I'm not sure the origins of this, but for as long as I can remember, my group has been enjoying a "Rolling Crits" house rule. Basically, any time you roll a 1 or 20 in combat, you get to roll again. So if you get a critical hit, then roll a 20 on your confirmation, you roll a second confirmation. If that hits, you get extra bonus on your hit, usually something along the lines of a free trip/disarm/sunder attempt, or a bonus to your crit multiplier. Obviously, stringing a couple 20s in a row can lead to some pretty devastating hits (although we tend to shy away from simple "instant death"). Or if you roll a 1 on your crit confirmation, you're back to square one and you roll to hit again.

And because we also roll to confirm fumbles (don't ask), with some luck, you can turn a natural 1 into a real hit. Or you can get a couple 1s in a row and do something incredibly stupid. We're not big fans of the old "you swing wide and hit your teammate" fumble, so that's not a thing that usually happens (unless you happen to be shooting into a melee without Precise Shot, or something else similarly stupid), but you might screw up enough to provoke an attack of opportunity, or be considered flat-footed for a round, or something like that.

Yeah, it's needlessly complex, and I know a lot of people don't like fumble rules, but that's how we roll. Mostly because it adds a lot of fun and suspense when someone starts rolling a bunch of 1s and 20s in a row.

Gamer Girl
2011-08-04, 02:00 PM
Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there confused and 'loose' your turn. I've had this rule forever. And it works out and everyone agrees things should keep moving.

No Electronics: Cell phones on "vibrate," people. Emergency calls only. I've had to add this one, of course. We all use lap tops and such for game play, but I'm strict about people using them of other things.

Rules Discussion Limits:You get an adjudication by the DM and the ruling stands until the end of the session. You can plead your case at the end of the session, if you feel the need to do so, but the ruling will probably stand as is.

No Questions:Once the game starts, you may not ask the DM questions about the game 'out of character'. Any such questions must wait for a break or be asked during the week.

And no 'can I do this' or 'will this work' type questions are answered during the game, as the answer will always be 'you can try' or 'maybe'. The only way to know if something will work is to try.

Limited BooksA player is generally limited to only looking in 'players' books during the game. Reading monster stat entries is a big no no.

Kurald Galain
2011-08-04, 02:24 PM
And no 'can I do this' or 'will this work' type questions are answered during the game, as the answer will always be 'you can try' or 'maybe'. The only way to know if something will work is to try.

Oh yes, I wish that more DMs enforced this one. It's so annoying to have the kind of player who will first figure out the exact odds of success for each possible cause of action before actually doing anything.

Boci
2011-08-04, 04:08 PM
Because default is do nothing. The player thinks of nothing, nothing happens. When the player has a few seconds left, he can really quick say something like 'OkayIjustattackthatguy' or 'fireball.' Otherwise, the DM controls your character. And you aren't really doing nothing.

I agree with that, but only because of the double negative. Natural selection will make sure that such adventurers do not stick around for long.


You are defending and analyzing.

Fight or flight. People do not instictivly analyze in life or death situations. Especially not adventurers.


But if the player doesn't know enough about the situation to come up with what to do, the character probably needs to analyze.

No, the player's life is not at stake, the character's is.

Wyntonian
2011-08-04, 04:21 PM
One of my personal favorites is that a natural 20 on a crit confirmation roll does the maximum possible damage, multiplied as appropriate by the critical hit multiplier. And seriously, I feel like players deserve POWAH hits every one in four hundred rolls.

SowZ
2011-08-04, 04:21 PM
I agree with that, but only because of the double negative. Natural selection will make sure that such adventurers do not stick around for long.



Fight or flight. People do not instictivly analyze in life or death situations. Especially not adventurers.



No, the player's life is not at stake, the character's is.

Then the players will learn to make a quick, snappy decision on what to do when they have ten seconds left.

Varil
2011-08-04, 07:28 PM
Really? So, when you see people fight...on TV, in real life, where ever...you never see them back off for 3-4 seconds, waiting for an opening, or catching a quick breather? If anything, D&D's constant "everyone is doing something at every instant" combat is less realistic.

Kerrin
2011-08-04, 07:54 PM
One of my personal favorites is that a natural 20 on a crit confirmation roll does the maximum possible damage, multiplied as appropriate by the critical hit multiplier. And seriously, I feel like players deserve POWAH hits every one in four hundred rolls.
As do their enemies! :smallcool:

Acanous
2011-08-04, 08:13 PM
well, we've got this one houserule where a Candle of Invocation has it's price bumped up to the same price required to cast Gate by a 17th level caster (Including the XP expenditure Gate used to have)

Another one where you MUST finish ALL the levels in a prestige class before choosing a new prestige class.. so pick one that's not just a 2 level dip, or you're going to have to spend on retraining. Base classes use the standard XP penalty chart (Prestige do not)

Masaioh
2011-08-04, 08:59 PM
No XP: PCs level up once after a standard session, twice if they survived a particularly brutal encounter. We have new players join the group often, and I simply don't have time to explain the XP rules on top of everything else. XP costs for spells are replaced by GP costs equal to 10x the given amount. No XP penalties for multiclassing whatsoever, because most multiclass characters are gimped enough already.

The 'no electronics' rule would ruin games in my group, because a vast majority of our DnD resources (especially homebrew) is kept on cellphones, ipods, e-readers, etc.

Squeejee
2011-08-04, 09:52 PM
No electronics would have a similar effect on my table - especially given that my GM screen is my laptop - but I may adopt the egg timer rule. Anyway, I have a couple more:

Character Creation: All Pathfinder and 3.5 sources are available, minus a handful of "infinite power loop" combinations. Banning non-core sources only hurts the low-powered characters, plus I like to have maximum options myself and giving that to my players is only fair. Optimization level tends to work itself out among the players - if one player opens the "cheap early entry into prestige classes" door, than I get to open that door with NPCs :smallamused: .

EXP: Tier 1/2 classes advance by Pathfinder's "Slow" XP chart, tier 3/4 advance by the "medium" chart, and tier 5/6 advance by the "fast" chart. In practice, a level six wizard can still outperform a level eight monk - but the difference is MUCH tighter than if they were both level 8. It does get a bit complicated if a player multiclasses into another tier, but common sense can rule that situation.

ken-do-nim
2011-08-04, 09:57 PM
Dead bodies become battlefield obstacles.

Kol Korran
2011-08-05, 02:14 PM
hhhmmm... house rules, house rules. i also use the "1 minute or lose turn" and "rules discussion limit" rules. 2 other house rules i find help quite a bit:
1) players roll (almost) all of the dice- each enemy has set values of attack, saves, and skill checks. to simulate monsters the players roll defensive rolls, spell rolls and the like. this has the following benefits:
- players know i don't fumble for them, and the situation feels more dangerous.
- this usually speeds up the game greatly
- it makes battles more tactical and players FAR more aware of their enemies capabilities, making them plan and respond more.

2) XP: i don't award XP for defeating monsters, but rather for achieving "accomplishments". there are usually several accomplishments per adventure, some are obvious, some have varying degrees of success, some are hidden, and some are personal per PC. this usually foster an attitude of "solve things cleverly" rather than just "bash the monsters" (though that stays a legit solution... most times) it also means that instead of smaller chunks of XP peppered often, the party get XP less times, but bigger rewards, and after achieving something. it makes it more worthwhile (according to my players).

3)"Oh i forgot"- if a player, or the DM has forgot a bonus (or penalty) and the game moved on to the next person in line, there is no turning back. the affect stays as it was. abusing this to "forget" penalties hasn't happened yet in my group. again- this speeds up game and plyers are mroe aware of their status.

4) minor economics: players are assumed to have "found extra funds" to pay for all kind of little expenses- staying at an inn, gate toll, traveling in a caravan, and anything costing under 20 gp. again- no one abused this yet. if anyone will he'll be smacked or turned of the group.

5) "buy/sell/buy/sell": we find that fiddling with trying to make a profit of stuff greatly slows the game, is quite boring, and makes the DM have to reevaluate the groups WBL. so everything is bought at it's listed price and sol that way. unrealistic i know, but improves the game. from time to time i throw off a "special treasure" which they need to find a buyer for, this usually involves a flavorful bargaining encounter or the like. these are rare.

6) i use the giant's diplomacy rules. these work out really well.

Boci
2011-08-05, 02:53 PM
Really? So, when you see people fight...on TV, in real life, where ever...you never see them back off for 3-4 seconds, waiting for an opening, or catching a quick breather? If anything, D&D's constant "everyone is doing something at every instant" combat is less realistic.

Only if the enemy does likewise. If they press the attack, you respond instinctivly if you knbow how to fight.


Then the players will learn to make a quick, snappy decision on what to do when they have ten seconds left.

If thats always the case then fine, I just don't like houserules that make the whole party should suffer because one player is slow, especially when the solution is easy.

Lapak
2011-08-05, 03:14 PM
Only if the enemy does likewise. If they press the attack, you respond instinctivly if you knbow how to fight.I can't say I agree with that. You can see trained fighters of all types go into defensive mode for well over 10 seconds, let alone 6; just watch some boxing matches / MMA fights / fencing competitions. If the other guy gets you on your heels, spending some time just defending while you try to find an opportunity is not at all uncommon.

leakingpen
2011-08-05, 03:31 PM
If it takes more than two sentences to explain why your plan should work, it does not.

Silus
2011-08-05, 03:40 PM
No Looting in Combat

Haven't used this as a DM, but as a player, it's sort of a....code of conduct. Unless what you're looting will affect the outcome of the fight (wands, potions, magic weapons, ect), you don't loot until all the monsters are dead. That sack of gold coins can wait a few more rounds while you guys kill the orcs.

Vladislav
2011-08-05, 03:43 PM
Just the idea of a group in which such rule would actually become necessary made me a bit sad.

Squeejee
2011-08-05, 03:47 PM
I can't say I agree with that. You can see trained fighters of all types go into defensive mode for well over 10 seconds, let alone 6; just watch some boxing matches / MMA fights / fencing competitions. If the other guy gets you on your heels, spending some time just defending while you try to find an opportunity is not at all uncommon.

From my own Jiu Jiutsu experience, I'd say I agree with this sentiment. When a guy is trying to choke you, your first response is typically to defend it - and even then, it's only the really well-disciplined guys who have the state of mind to defend it correctly.

@Silus: Heh, as a player I'd say I'm guilty of breaking that rule. To be fair, if the combat looks to be a hit-and-run, where looting can't occur after the fact, then I'd suspend that rule to let the party stuff their pockets as much as possible before bolting.

Bovine Colonel
2011-08-05, 04:26 PM
I can't say I agree with that. You can see trained fighters of all types go into defensive mode for well over 10 seconds, let alone 6; just watch some boxing matches / MMA fights / fencing competitions. If the other guy gets you on your heels, spending some time just defending while you try to find an opportunity is not at all uncommon.

I don't see that as total defense so much as having an action readied.

Bobby Archer
2011-08-05, 05:08 PM
No Looting in Combat

Haven't used this as a DM, but as a player, it's sort of a....code of conduct. Unless what you're looting will affect the outcome of the fight (wands, potions, magic weapons, ect), you don't loot until all the monsters are dead. That sack of gold coins can wait a few more rounds while you guys kill the orcs.

I once played in an Evil characters campaign where a similar rule came about in character: because no one trusted anyone else, all looting and whatnot was done after the fight, in full view of the entire party, performed by a member of the party other than the rogue.

As an aside, it might be best if the debate on the egg timer rule was moved to its own thread to keep everything a bit simpler.

Brauron
2011-08-05, 06:45 PM
Named Weapons: Magic Weapons do not confer the benefit of being magical (so no extra +1 to hit and damage, no d6 of Flaming damage, etc) unless they were christened when first enchanted, and given a name. When having their weapons upgraded, the smith/mage doing the upgrading must know the weapon's name. If the PCs find a magic sword in a treasure pile or take one off an enemy NPC, they can learn the weapon's name through a casting of Identify, along with whatever enchanted properties the weapon has.

My reasoning for this is that in mythology (Mjolnir, Nothung/Gram/Balmung, Bios) and fantasy literature (Sting, Stormbringer, Aegis-Fang) magic weapons in the hands of heroes always have names, and often histories, of their own.

Boci
2011-08-06, 07:00 AM
I can't say I agree with that. You can see trained fighters of all types go into defensive mode for well over 10 seconds, let alone 6; just watch some boxing matches / MMA fights / fencing competitions. If the other guy gets you on your heels, spending some time just defending while you try to find an opportunity is not at all uncommon.

Yes, but that doesn't translate into 3.5 combat well, and certainly not as the full defence.

peacenlove
2011-08-06, 12:47 PM
My house rules (PF game):

Wizard and archivist is banned as a PC

Classes that know their entire spell list by default (cleric, druid and so on), use spontaneous casting (spells/day and spells known) from Unearthed arcanna instead.

Players that wish to play melee characters use this fix (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Tome_of_Battle_Core_Class_Update).

You can elect, after death, to rise as a ghost per the Ghostwalk campaign setting rules. You can return to your living form with raise dead or similar magic. If you die in that form too, only wish followed by a true ressurection spell can bring you back in ghost form.

Massive damage does not trigger at 50 damage. It triggers at damage equal to 1/4 of creature's health. Bypassing immunity to criticals does not bypass immunity to massive damage.

Spells with a casting time of more than 1 round are erased from all spell lists and are available only as rituals. Barring campaign needs, PC's do not have ready access to these rituals.

SowZ
2011-08-06, 01:00 PM
My house rules (PF game):

Wizard and archivist is banned as a PC

Classes that know their entire spell list by default (cleric, druid and so on), use spontaneous casting (spells/day and spells known) from Unearthed arcanna instead.

Players that wish to play melee characters use this fix (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Tome_of_Battle_Core_Class_Update).

You can elect, after death, to rise as a ghost per the Ghostwalk campaign setting rules. You can return to your living form with raise dead or similar magic. If you die in that form too, only wish followed by a true ressurection spell can bring you back in ghost form.

Massive damage does not trigger at 50 damage. It triggers at damage equal to 1/4 of creature's health. Bypassing immunity to criticals does not bypass immunity to massive damage.

Spells with a casting time of more than 1 round are erased from all spell lists and are available only as rituals. Barring campaign needs, PC's do not have ready access to these rituals.

Why is that? It is not as if Wizards are objectively more powerful then the divine casters. (I'd say the opposite is true, especially at low levels.) If you don't like the idea of finding spells and spellbooks couldn't you just have their spellbook start with all the spells or change it some other way then just banning a whole class?

Boci
2011-08-06, 01:02 PM
Why is that? It is not as if Wizards are objectively more powerful then the divine casters. (I'd say the opposite is true, especially at low levels.) If you don't like the idea of finding spells and spellbooks couldn't you just have their spellbook start with all the spells or change it some other way then just banning a whole class?

At first level colourspray can end encounters. I don't think there is a divine spell which can do the same at that level.

T.G. Oskar
2011-08-06, 01:07 PM
Up/Down Rule: whenever there's a percentage roll, instead of making it fixed, I ask the player "up or down?" This is so that I define the boundary of the roll.

For example: let's assume that one of my players hits an enemy with concealment. I make the question, and the player says "up to hit"; that means the attack will fail on a roll of 01-20 (because it's up to hit, down to fail). Next attack, the player says "down to hit", and then the failure boundary is 81-100.

A corollary to this is rolling for percentage for odd events. Sometimes, one of my players says something half-heartedly, and then immediately retracts; once that happens, I make a roll and ask them whether they want the roll to be favorable up (51-100) or down (01-50); the result indicates whether they follow the more favorable action or the least favorable action.

Double Ability Score increase: Since increasing one point is too boring, every 4 HD the character gets to increase up to 2 points in its ability scores. The player can choose to increase one score by 2 points, or two scores by 1 point. This allows the player to immediately gain a point in a specific modifier, or get two later on, and also allows it to tweak the scores a bit.

Spanish is Common, English is any other language: Since Spanish is my native language (and that of my players, of course), all conversations in Common are spoken in Spanish. Any other language is spoken in English, and afterwards the used language is mentioned. This rule can be altered; English can be Common, while Spanish can be any other language.

There are more rules, but going through all of them would spoil a bit of homebrew I've yet to post and that currently is on playtesting. They deal with iteratives, effective Fighter levels and whatnot. The rules I use for spellcasting are already posted, though, which include:

Full spellcasters cast most spells as full-round actions: any spell that usually has a standard action casting time has its duration increased to a full-round action when cast by a full spellcaster (Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, etc.) Other spellcasters (Bards, Paladins, Rangers, etc.) cast such spells as standard actions, and spell-like abilities are always cast as standard actions. This affects Quicken Spell, which is improved to allow casting a quickened spell if it has a full-round action casting time (but not a 1 round casting time).
Metamagic: Metamagic feats no longer increase casting time nor require higher level spell slots, but only one such feat can be applied per round and some metamagic feats have a recharge time.
Rapid Spell and Defensive Spell: Rapid Spell allows a spellcaster to reduce the casting time of a spell, while Defensive Spell is basically casting defensively except no need for a Concentration check in order to actually pull it off (you roll it in case something else causes you to make the roll).

EDIT: Almost forgot a few other rules, which I adopted from another DM.
Three 1s are an 18: I normally use point-buy for ability scores, but in the rare occasion where players want to roll stats, any instance of three 1s on a roll count as if you had rolled 3 sixes. This is because the chances of pulling THAT off are exactly the same as those of rolling three 6s, and because the DM with which I played hated having a 3 on its score. Thus, the absolute limit was 4 on the stat.
Lifesaver: playing Eberron, the group has access to action points. One of the extraofficial uses comes if you're taken to less than -10 hit points; you can choose to expend ALL of the points to become stable at -9. Effectively, you expend all your action points for an extra life. This counts even if you have 1 action point remaining and you're about to level up; the idea is that the expenditure of all your action points imply the insane luck whenever you pull off something bizarre. Of course, being at -9 and stable does mean that, if an area attack flushes the area, you're still dead. That doesn't protect from death effects, though; you can only push your luck so far, and generally the player has already expended one of its action points attempting to survive, so...

Dark Kerman
2011-08-06, 01:12 PM
3rd Edition

Extra-Dimensional Spaces: My freind and his family have a habit whereby if you start putting extra-dimensional spaces in extra-dimensional spaces, you get interesting, and incredibly unpleasant effects.

Eg, casting rope-trick in eds caused my wizard to have his skin sleud off and to narrowly avoid radiation poisoning.

Blisstake
2011-08-06, 01:18 PM
At first level colourspray can end encounters. I don't think there is a divine spell which can do the same at that level.

(Spoilered for being off-topic)

It can in theory, but there are problems with that. First of all, it puts the wizard very close to enemies because of its short range. Second, it requires enemies to be bunched very nicely toghether in order to hit all of them. And third, it still allows a will save.

In practice, the spell doesn't end up being nearly as much of an issue as one would think. I've had plenty of arcane casters in my games start with this spell, and it never really became an issue

Here is the only change I can think of off hand that I use (I have a few random changes for balance... like a re-priced Candle of Invocation)

Improved Critical Effects

Whenever someone has an effect that would double the crit range of a weapon, the crit range is instead increased by 1. For example, 19-20 becomes 18-20. Furthermore, any effects with DCs that occur on a crit increase the dc by 2 for x3 crit weapons and by 4 for x4 crit weapons. The point of this is making it so that weapons with higher crit ranged don't completely out-class weapons with high crit multipliers, but low crit chances.

peacenlove
2011-08-06, 02:03 PM
Why is that? It is not as if Wizards are objectively more powerful then the divine casters. (I'd say the opposite is true, especially at low levels.) If you don't like the idea of finding spells and spellbooks couldn't you just have their spellbook start with all the spells or change it some other way then just banning a whole class?

I have no problem with power. Heck I even played wizards before I became a DM. The problem is with book keeping and versatility. I don't like a class that, with the right preparations, can take any role and/or has access to all spells from his spell list by default, but with the wrong ones he can be a total failure. And believe me I have DM a party, in which a monk outperformed a wizard...
It bogs down play (I need to prepare 15+ spell slots), it eclipses sorcerers and spontaneous spellcasters by default and ultimately my players expressed disdain for the wizard (Since as a DM I abused the hell out of him) so it was kinda a common decision.

And yes arcane > divine any level and any time. Color spray is just an example, also Abrupt jaunt and precocious apprentice are also great offenders. And now in PF you can't dispel efficiently the 10+ buffs a wizard will have on him (at high levels).

ScionoftheVoid
2011-08-06, 02:17 PM
Main ones are probably No Multiclassing Penalties (I may or may not use Pathfinder Favoured Class rules instead, varying from game to game - still new to Dming, trying to find what works for me and what doesn't), because their intended purpose is almost as bad as the execution, I will be tweaking the available races and their stats, class alignment restrictions are loosened one step for all but Paladins (for whom the other extreme alignment variants are available) and Clerics (in Core, I've not decided what to do with Incarnum yet and I can't decide whether to apply this to the Warlock or just completely remove their alignment restrictions) and Special requirements of Prestige Classes are almost always ignored unless they deal with resources (including money, class features and the like) - as are Regional requirements and often Race requirements as well (though I might infrequently override either of these last two, but I would provide alternative requirements or a separate, fluff-free version of the class if a player needed it for their concept). Optimisation is encouraged if only so that I can avoid pulling punches. Infinite loops, TO and Candle of Invocation shenanigans are not just disencouraged but disallowed.

PPPChairman
2011-08-06, 05:02 PM
I really like that egg timer rule I'll be sure to use that next time I'm DMing.

ROLL FOR ALTERNATE RACE-I give my players the option to use one of the core races or a race from the Pathfinder Bextiaries. I roll a D20 and have the races randomized on a list. I took off half-fiend and half-dragon from the list. All my players seem really satisfied with picking their races this way.

DOMAIN SPELLS- For the clerics I let all their domain spells be infinite use. So far it's been working well. My group usually only as the one person play the cleric and it's actually encouraged her to start researching her spells. The only way they can keep their spells as infinite though is if they follow the "tennants" of their diety, or they completly lose their domain spells. So as a cleric of Artemis if she doesn't use all the parts of a slain animal she loses her domain spells.

ScionoftheVoid
2011-08-06, 05:34 PM
DOMAIN SPELLS- For the clerics I let all their domain spells be infinite use. So far it's been working well. My group usually only as the one person play the cleric and it's actually encouraged her to start researching her spells. The only way they can keep their spells as infinite though is if they follow the "tennants" of their diety, or they completly lose their domain spells. So as a cleric of Artemis if she doesn't use all the parts of a slain animal she loses her domain spells.

So the Cleric has to walk around behind the people their deity is landlord to? :smalltongue:

The word you want there is "tenets". And if anyone ever thought to abuse this rule it would break fast enough to make your head spin, so I'm glad you can trust your group like that.

SowZ
2011-08-06, 08:44 PM
I have no problem with power. Heck I even played wizards before I became a DM. The problem is with book keeping and versatility. I don't like a class that, with the right preparations, can take any role and/or has access to all spells from his spell list by default, but with the wrong ones he can be a total failure. And believe me I have DM a party, in which a monk outperformed a wizard...
It bogs down play (I need to prepare 15+ spell slots), it eclipses sorcerers and spontaneous spellcasters by default and ultimately my players expressed disdain for the wizard (Since as a DM I abused the hell out of him) so it was kinda a common decision.

And yes arcane > divine any level and any time. Color spray is just an example, also Abrupt jaunt and precocious apprentice are also great offenders. And now in PF you can't dispel efficiently the 10+ buffs a wizard will have on him (at high levels).

Eh, the druid is just so flexible. His animal companion is almost a fighter. He has good healing and a way to ressurect that a wizard doesn't have until wish. He can wear good armor/decent BAB/shapeshift. He has a powerful spell list. Now, for raw power and ways to beat things in one shot, (dominate, color spray, polymorph, etc.) a wizard may top the list. But getting a wizard to survive the first five or six levels can be very hard whereas a druid is good at it. Also the healing thing can be nice.

onthetown
2011-08-06, 09:30 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).


Rant about why this makes perfect sense:

I don't see why there had to be a huge discussion on this one -- it makes sense. Unless it is the very first round and you're at the very first of the initiative order, you have had the duration of the rest of the players' turns to think about what you're going to do and be ready by the time it's your turn again. Even those at the top of the init on the first round should have a rough idea of how they want to proceed, even if it's just to hold action until somebody else goes.

In our RuneQuest game, if we spend too much time discussing something when we're in battle or we have a chance of being caught, the DM will let us carry on for a bit and then start to count down from 5 when he's determined we've had enough time and it's starting to derail. Since the rules work differently and there isn't an initiative order, persay, I know that I move on Strike Rank 7 -- and I know that my other allies move on either 5 or 7, as well. I go at the same time as one other person, and the other two go on 5, so I have their entire strike rank (not counting if they cast any Rune spells or Battle spells, which go on strike rank 1) to think about what I'm going to do. As soon as the DM turns to me and my SR 7 companion, I have the dice in hand and I let them roll, and within three seconds I've got it figured out whether or not I hit and what damage I deal. If I'm casting a spell, then I have a small selection that I default to in situations where I want to cast, so at the first turn of the first battle I've rolled for success chance and I've got Bladesharp up before you can blink.

It's called paying attention. Battle is supposed to be fast-paced, and spending twenty minutes deciding between Color Spray and Sleep just puts everybody at the table to sleep.

Anyway! I'm still fairly new at DMing IRL games, since the majority of the ones I run are online, but I've borrowed a couple from my regular DM:

Crits automatically deal max damage. I don't think he ever learned the crit rules to the letter (the same can be said of many of the rules), but natural 20s and critical thresholds automatically deal max damage. I don't even think I've ever heard of "confirming" crits before this forum. We tend to run fast, high power campaigns, so I likes it.

Two-weapon fighting can only be used with the feat, and there are no penalties as long as you have it. If you don't have the feat, you don't do two-weapon fighting. End of story.

In the middle of battle, if you have a rules question, we are not breaking the tension/fast pace to go searching through books. Popular opinion or DM's discretion wins the rule until the end of battle. Then we can go searching through books.

Basically, we do rules-light, fast-paced, hard-hitting games. Any other house rules we have follow the pattern.

Thyrian
2011-08-06, 10:30 PM
Druid Wild shape

We play PF and found it a bit bland her Wild shape abilities mainly being depending on vague animal type and size- but likewise were nervous of the older rule which allowed a druid to take on the stats of every other animal. The rule we play is no magical creatures you haven't studied in depth (e.g. no displacer beasts) but elementals and plants are still Ok.

A set number of transformations are known as each animal is known in elaborate detail by the Druid, no. of Animals known is dependent on level, a level 6 druid knows 6 possible forms and at 7th level learns a new form and gets the chance to change 1 existing form.

Knowledge about your animal is also needed. E.g. You cannot transform into 'just' a mouse, it has to be defined to say a house mouse Mus muculus likewise the fact that the house mouse has poor sight and learns based on smell and hearing will effect the descriptions you get immensely.

Shifters
Probably imbalanced but we never really had any problems, the Shifers shifting time naturally increases as a Shifter levels up, likewise 'turning' (higher shifting) comes available at higher levels... for a price.

The DM 6
Normally there are not time restrictions to combat or choices but in particularly tense situations the DM begins counting slowly down from 6, no decision upon 0 and...well I honestly don't know, it's never reached 0 yet!

Skill checks Nat 1's and 20's
Neither are instant successes or failures, it all depends on your ranks in that skill.

Action Points
As opposed to rolling a d6 to see the bonus given, instead you have to describe why what you're doing is epic and how epic it is. The DM than confers a specific sort of bonus in relation to what you described. Attempting to do too many things too quickly might result in doing less then one well placed attack, this is the chance to go all "Devil May Cry" fight-style in the story :D

Diplomacy
A good roll is not enough, it doesn't matter if you rolled 63 on that check, if you're telling the guard you will slaughter his beloved family if he lets you through, the 63 is not going to cut it. At least some form of role-playing is needed here.

Terazul
2011-08-06, 10:51 PM
Skill checks Nat 1's and 20's
Neither are instant successes or failures, it all depends on your ranks in that skill.


Thing I always have to point out: This is actually RAW.

Remmirath
2011-08-06, 11:48 PM
We have a fair amount of houserules. My favourite ones, though, are... (all for 3rd edition D&D; I don't have a handy list of our MERP houserules right now, though there are some I like there too.)

Dead zones. -10 to -50 is classified as 'dead but can be raised', -50 to -100 is classified as 'can't be raised but can be resurrected', and -100 to -200 is classified as 'needs a Miracle'. Below that and you're hosed (unless the rest of the party can find a deity willing to bring you back or a magical artifact powerful enough to do so.) [True Resurrection being banned is another houserule, which is why it's never mentioned here.]

Power Attack can be used with all self-accelerated weapons (not firearms or crossbows) including bows and light melee weapons. You must be using a properly configured compound bow (matching your strength bonus) to power attack with a bow, but it counts as a two-handed weapon. Light weapons count as other one-handed weapons. Unarmed or natural attacks count as two-handed weapons. The limit of Power Attack is equal to your Base Attack + Epic Bonus + Epic Prowess, as opposed to only your base attack.

The keen/impact weapon ability stacks with the Improved Critical feat. No confirming criticals. If you roll a critical, you got it. Similarly, a Vorpal weapon requires no confirmation roll to have its effect. As an extension of this, any abilities, feats, or what have you that would give a bonus to confirming a critical instead increase the multiplier of the critical by one.

Quicken spell and multi-spell override the Sorcerer metamagic rules. I feel this one is a must.

All damage modifiers on a weapon are multiplied on a critical hit (sneak attack, flaming, etc.)

You can attack a target anywhere within your weapons reach, not just on the edge of it. You do take a -2 penalty if it is deemed that would be difficult to do, but it is not impossible.

A rogue or assassin can sneak attack any time they are hidden (but not otherwise). Unless you are specifically immune to sneak attack (from an item, for instance), you will take the damage (immunity to critical hits does not protect you, nor does invisibility etc.). Being invisible counts for being able to sneak attack (unless your target is aware of you).

Weapon Finesse may be taken with any weapon and does not suffer any check penalties. The penalty to damage for using dex instead of strength is enough, really.

Class Skills are ignored. They're annoying.

Bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate are used to modify the roleplaying - you must still roleplay what your character is doing, and if there is no way that it would work it won't (unless, possibly, you have rolled a natural twenty... but not even then if it's too ludicrous).


Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there confused and 'loose' your turn. I've had this rule forever. And it works out and everyone agrees things should keep moving.


We do this, though not so precise (as in, we don't use a timer). I think we usually go more like half a minute.


Dead bodies become battlefield obstacles.

This too. We always use figures for everything, so the figures are left there and piled up. We've had some quite good mounds of corpses going in some fights.

Addition to this one - if the figure is laying face-down, the character is dead. If the figure is lying face-up, they are unconscious or asleep.

Coidzor
2011-08-06, 11:57 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).

(I've found that this one GREATLY speeds up combat in the game, as it forces the player to think about what they're doing during other turns.)

Does the time it takes you to explain yourself when you've mis-stated something count against this?

Thyrian
2011-08-07, 12:15 AM
Thing I always have to point out: This is actually RAW.

Fair point, was it ever NOT raw? I could've sworn I read it somewhere long ago... but you're right in current PF it's raw.

Kurald Galain
2011-08-07, 12:32 AM
Oh yeah, I forgot one house rule. The Dodge feat gives a flat +1 bonus to AC, rather than holding up the game every round while the player decides whom to use it on.

Terazul
2011-08-07, 04:13 AM
Fair point, was it ever NOT raw? I could've sworn I read it somewhere long ago... but you're right in current PF it's raw.

Was RAW in original 3.5 too! People just seem to take that natural 1/20 thing from Attacks and Saves and try to drag it out to everything else for some reason :smalltongue:

Greenish
2011-08-07, 09:20 AM
Shifters
Probably imbalanced but we never really had any problems, the Shifers shifting time naturally increases as a Shifter levels up, likewise 'turning' (higher shifting) comes available at higher levels... for a price.If you could be shifted 24/7 that… would be in line line with other PF races.

Captain Six
2011-08-08, 08:51 PM
These are the rules for my Pathfinder game.



Every 4 character levels the character gains +1 to two different stats, not +1 to a single stat.
One of my favorite changes of 4th ed. It helps deal with MAD and gives characters a few extra points to put wherever it makes sense for the character without worrying about power.


The x1.5 strength damage from wielding a weapon in two hands rounds up. If this results in no bonus or a negative bonus the damage is increased by 1 instead.
It's a minor tweak but it effects a lot of people so I do print it off on my houserule list instead of pointing it out as it shows up.

Unarmored Characters gain their dexterity modifier multiplied by 1.5 (rounded up) when determining dexterity bonus to AC. If this results in no bonus or a negative bonus the damage is increased by 1 instead. A character must have at least one class level in a class with moderate or full Base Attack Bonus progression to gain this bonus.
It's worse than being a light armored character, unless you really work at it, but makes being an unarmored character viable without needing monk level dips. It also helps out Monks a bit so there's that. The Base attack bonus thing is for those pesky spellcasters who don't have the armor to give up anyway.

HP gained for any level after level one is static. They are as follows: d6=4 d8=5 d10=6 d12=7. Level one continues to use the maximum dice result for HP.
Just clearing up something I've always felt was a little clumsy. I've seen too many warrior characters gain less health than their spellcaster companions because of rolling.

All class alignment restrictions are reduced by one step. (Barbarians may be any alignment. Paladins must be Lawful Good, Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral. Monks cannot be chaotic. Etc.)
Miraculously fixes all of my alignment restriction gripes. It turns out they were just one step to tight.

Resting for eight hours restores Level+Con Mod HP instead of just Level HP. It is possible for a person to be sickly enough (low enough constitution modifier) that they begin to lose HP over time. Note: A successful heal check for extended aid either doubles the HP recovery or increases it by one, which ever is higher. Some people need care to simply stay alive!

Heal checks may be used to aid in magical healing, physically setting bones and binding open wounds while allowing the healing spell to focus entirely on what cannot be non-magically repaired. For every 15 points of success on a heal check a Cure spell heals +2 hp per spell level. The heal check takes one minute of time, this can be reduced to a full round action at a -10 penalty.
Both rules are similar. The health recovery makes it possible to rest up at least a little, and it makes sense why the elderly rarely live to see their oldest years and why being poisoned with con damage is actually pretty serious for low level characters. The second keeps the heal skill relevant and embraces the idea of a caretaker-healer who stays by the side of their patient by giving bonuses to spells that are cast during relaxed downtime

Class levels can be ‘bought back’ at any time. Half the experience spent to gain that level is returned.
My take on retraining. My campaign is currently in a tribal setting has emphasis on adopting NPC followers so it is mostly for re-focusing "bad" choices made by my random character generator. It's never been used but I just like the fact that the option exists.

Commoners (Those without class levels or racial hit dice) Have 4 HP, 2+int skills per level, no class skills, no weapon proficiencies, all low saves. A commoner may spend 500 experience, losing it forever, to gain a class level. All features are increased to the new class’s, skills and starting feats may be re-chosen. A commoner is -1 Level Adjustment.
A sloppily worded but hopefully elegant solution to level adjustment races. It also answers a question that often comes up when training NPC followers: "When does a commoner stop being a commoner?" It's worth noting that I don't use NPC classes in my current campaign which takes place in what is basically a death world. You're either not trained yet, a full fledged PC class user or dead.

Many spellcasting progressions have been merged. Make sure to check with Classes and Casting Rates.
Looooong story that I have printed elsewhere. The gist of it is that I narrowed down spellcasting to Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric and Druid. All other classes gain a prestige class like advancement in one of those classes, whether or not they have even have caster levels yet.

Three flavors, Full casting(CL 20 at Lv20) Moderate Casting (CL 15 at Lv20) Half Casting (CL 10 at lv20) Non-spellcasters get a choice once every four levels between more stat boosts (+1 to three different stats) or a spellcaster level in a class of their choosing. (CL 5 at lv20 if taken every time) I like giving nice things to my players if you haven't noticed.

It came about after my frustration with numerous spellcasting styles with no synergy and my desire to create stronger multiclassing so I can do away with prestige classes. The breaking point was when I watched someone new to 3.5 make a Paladin 5/Cleric 4 multiclass, the optimizer in me was annoyed that such a horrible combo existed but the roleplayer in me hated even more that the combination was not viable when it makes perfect, thematic sense. You shouldn't need to dig up Unearthed Arcana and pull out Prestige Paladin to make that work.

Initiative Priorities

Talk to an enemy grants +15 to initiative
Running away grants +10 to initiative
Using a skill check grants +5 to initiative
Anything offensive grants +0 to initiative

Someone recently mentioned Dr. Who initiatives and I liked it enough to adapt it to my campaign. Running away actually works and trying to talk to the enemy wont be ruined by the eruption of combat.



... an' that's about it. Hopefully there aren't too many typos.

Kaun
2011-08-08, 11:28 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).

(I've found that this one GREATLY speeds up combat in the game, as it forces the player to think about what they're doing during other turns.)

Yeah this, only mine is set to 30seconds.

the main reason i started using it is so players would pay more attention to the combat when it wasn't their turn, i got sick of having to go over the finer points of what was happening over and over again.

I dont even give them a full defensive action if they run out of time i just have them do nothing that round.

My players are fine with it, most of them now generally have figured out what they want to do before the end of the previous players turn.

It sped up combat a lot as well. All so helped the players improve their team fighting strats as they all started paying more attention to what the others generally did in fights.

artstsym
2011-08-09, 12:49 AM
My reasoning for this is that in mythology (Mjolnir, Nothung/Gram/Balmung, Bios) and fantasy literature (Sting, Stormbringer, Aegis-Fang) magic weapons in the hands of heroes always have names, and often histories, of their own. Pretty sure Sting was named by Bilbo, not the elves that made it (for what it's worth, I've had players name weapons and gain small benefits from it).

Blisstake
2011-08-09, 01:15 PM
The keen/impact weapon ability stacks with the Improved Critical feat. No confirming criticals. If you roll a critical, you got it. Similarly, a Vorpal weapon requires no confirmation roll to have its effect. As an extension of this, any abilities, feats, or what have you that would give a bonus to confirming a critical instead increase the multiplier of the critical by one.

Sounds like it would be rather easy to get an automatic crit from 12-20 and do x4 damage with it :smallconfused:

Drachasor
2011-08-09, 02:14 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).

Hmm, my brother was in a campaign that got so boring they made their own egg-timer rule. When it went off, they killed whatever NPC was in front of them.


More seriously, I've always had players who roll less than half the max on a hit point die to just take half (e.g. a 2 on a d10 becomes 5).

gomanfox
2011-08-09, 02:27 PM
Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).

(I've found that this one GREATLY speeds up combat in the game, as it forces the player to think about what they're doing during other turns.)


I really wish my DM would use this rule. He occasionally uses it in some situations like "You hear some rumbling above you, when you look up you see a large block of stone falling from the ceiling, what do you do? 10... 9... 8..." Players basically get a short amount of time to start saying something to explain what they are going to do, or their character doesn't do anything.

The timer might seem harsh to slower players, but I think it would teach them to pay more attention to combat and better understand their characters. I'm in a group playing a gestalt game and strangely, it's the non-spellcasters that take the longest on their turns, most likely because they just don't pay enough attention or think of an action before their turn comes up. If they knew they were on a time limit, it might encourage them to make plans during combat... although their tactics are almost always "I shoot an arrow at X" so I don't understand why it takes them so long to decide as it is...

For house rules my group uses, my favorite is the spellcasting system my DM uses. Spellcasters have a spell point pool instead of having a limit on the number of spells of a certain level that can be cast per day. Prepared spellcasters basically prepare their spell lists at the beginning of the day, and can cast anything from that list any number of times as long as they have the spell points to pay for it. Classes with spontaneous casting get those spells automatically added to their list, and clerics still get to pick a domain spell for each spell level they can cast. Classes that prepare spells from a spellbook are able to cast unprepared spells out of their spellbook as long as the character is not in a stressful situation (like combat), and with an increased casting time. I'm not sure I could go back to playing a spellcaster without this rule. :P

Kurald Galain
2011-08-09, 03:57 PM
although their tactics are almost always "I shoot an arrow at X" so I don't understand why it takes them so long to decide as it is...

I might. There is a certain class of players who will think for a long time trying to create a good plan or pick the best strategy, then eventually give up and do something at random. It's basically option paralysis.

Kaun
2011-08-09, 05:32 PM
Oww i remembered another one we have been using for a while now so i forgot it was a house rule.

THE BOX: All player rolls must be made in "the box" to be counted. Any rolls that do not land and finish in the box are forfit.

This came about to cerb the cheating of one of the players in the group but it has become usefull for a few other things. There is no more "it landed on its side so i need to re-roll!" calls or "it went of the table so i need to re-roll!" or "it went of the table but its a twenty so im going to keep it!".

We have had a couple of cases where the dice are rolled into the box and bounce out and come up as a crit on the floor or where ever, it is both funny and painfull.

At the moment the box is the lid of a WHF8e starter box, you would wonder how the players can miss it when they roll but they still do.

Jjeinn-tae
2011-08-09, 06:55 PM
I tend to mix and match depending on what I want for a campaign (as I pretty much only DM). There are two that are practically everywhere though:

No multiclass experience penalty

and

Fractional BAB

I have probably used hundred of different house-rules and variant rules at different times though, when fine tuning they can really add to the campaign.

Claudius Maximus
2011-08-09, 08:07 PM
I use fractional BAB and saves, with the additional provision that you can only gain the +2 strong save bonus once per save. This leads to a perfectly smooth hybridization of save bonuses, where everyone has a value between +6 and +12 by 20th proportional to the amount they invested in each save.

I also let Keen stack with Improved Critical, though not with anything else. Sean K Reynolds convinced me on this one.

Combat in my experience takes vastly too long, but I'm not sure an egg timer rule will really help my particular group. I might start to time their turns, so I can calibrate a rule like that.

Lord.Sorasen
2011-08-09, 10:26 PM
These are the rules for my Pathfinder game.



Every 4 character levels the character gains +1 to two different stats, not +1 to a single stat.
One of my favorite changes of 4th ed. It helps deal with MAD and gives characters a few extra points to put wherever it makes sense for the character without worrying about power.


The x1.5 strength damage from wielding a weapon in two hands rounds up. If this results in no bonus or a negative bonus the damage is increased by 1 instead.
It's a minor tweak but it effects a lot of people so I do print it off on my houserule list instead of pointing it out as it shows up.

Unarmored Characters gain their dexterity modifier multiplied by 1.5 (rounded up) when determining dexterity bonus to AC. If this results in no bonus or a negative bonus the damage is increased by 1 instead. A character must have at least one class level in a class with moderate or full Base Attack Bonus progression to gain this bonus.
It's worse than being a light armored character, unless you really work at it, but makes being an unarmored character viable without needing monk level dips. It also helps out Monks a bit so there's that. The Base attack bonus thing is for those pesky spellcasters who don't have the armor to give up anyway.

HP gained for any level after level one is static. They are as follows: d6=4 d8=5 d10=6 d12=7. Level one continues to use the maximum dice result for HP.
Just clearing up something I've always felt was a little clumsy. I've seen too many warrior characters gain less health than their spellcaster companions because of rolling.

All class alignment restrictions are reduced by one step. (Barbarians may be any alignment. Paladins must be Lawful Good, Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral. Monks cannot be chaotic. Etc.)
Miraculously fixes all of my alignment restriction gripes. It turns out they were just one step to tight.

Resting for eight hours restores Level+Con Mod HP instead of just Level HP. It is possible for a person to be sickly enough (low enough constitution modifier) that they begin to lose HP over time. Note: A successful heal check for extended aid either doubles the HP recovery or increases it by one, which ever is higher. Some people need care to simply stay alive!

Heal checks may be used to aid in magical healing, physically setting bones and binding open wounds while allowing the healing spell to focus entirely on what cannot be non-magically repaired. For every 15 points of success on a heal check a Cure spell heals +2 hp per spell level. The heal check takes one minute of time, this can be reduced to a full round action at a -10 penalty.
Both rules are similar. The health recovery makes it possible to rest up at least a little, and it makes sense why the elderly rarely live to see their oldest years and why being poisoned with con damage is actually pretty serious for low level characters. The second keeps the heal skill relevant and embraces the idea of a caretaker-healer who stays by the side of their patient by giving bonuses to spells that are cast during relaxed downtime

Class levels can be ‘bought back’ at any time. Half the experience spent to gain that level is returned.
My take on retraining. My campaign is currently in a tribal setting has emphasis on adopting NPC followers so it is mostly for re-focusing "bad" choices made by my random character generator. It's never been used but I just like the fact that the option exists.

Commoners (Those without class levels or racial hit dice) Have 4 HP, 2+int skills per level, no class skills, no weapon proficiencies, all low saves. A commoner may spend 500 experience, losing it forever, to gain a class level. All features are increased to the new class’s, skills and starting feats may be re-chosen. A commoner is -1 Level Adjustment.
A sloppily worded but hopefully elegant solution to level adjustment races. It also answers a question that often comes up when training NPC followers: "When does a commoner stop being a commoner?" It's worth noting that I don't use NPC classes in my current campaign which takes place in what is basically a death world. You're either not trained yet, a full fledged PC class user or dead.

Many spellcasting progressions have been merged. Make sure to check with Classes and Casting Rates.
Looooong story that I have printed elsewhere. The gist of it is that I narrowed down spellcasting to Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric and Druid. All other classes gain a prestige class like advancement in one of those classes, whether or not they have even have caster levels yet.

Three flavors, Full casting(CL 20 at Lv20) Moderate Casting (CL 15 at Lv20) Half Casting (CL 10 at lv20) Non-spellcasters get a choice once every four levels between more stat boosts (+1 to three different stats) or a spellcaster level in a class of their choosing. (CL 5 at lv20 if taken every time) I like giving nice things to my players if you haven't noticed.

It came about after my frustration with numerous spellcasting styles with no synergy and my desire to create stronger multiclassing so I can do away with prestige classes. The breaking point was when I watched someone new to 3.5 make a Paladin 5/Cleric 4 multiclass, the optimizer in me was annoyed that such a horrible combo existed but the roleplayer in me hated even more that the combination was not viable when it makes perfect, thematic sense. You shouldn't need to dig up Unearthed Arcana and pull out Prestige Paladin to make that work.

Initiative Priorities

Talk to an enemy grants +15 to initiative
Running away grants +10 to initiative
Using a skill check grants +5 to initiative
Anything offensive grants +0 to initiative

Someone recently mentioned Dr. Who initiatives and I liked it enough to adapt it to my campaign. Running away actually works and trying to talk to the enemy wont be ruined by the eruption of combat.



... an' that's about it. Hopefully there aren't too many typos.

I really love pretty much all of these. I just wanted to say that.


Oww i remembered another one we have been using for a while now so i forgot it was a house rule.

THE BOX: All player rolls must be made in "the box" to be counted. Any rolls that do not land and finish in the box are forfit.

This came about to cerb the cheating of one of the players in the group but it has become usefull for a few other things. There is no more "it landed on its side so i need to re-roll!" calls or "it went of the table so i need to re-roll!" or "it went of the table but its a twenty so im going to keep it!".

We have had a couple of cases where the dice are rolled into the box and bounce out and come up as a crit on the floor or where ever, it is both funny and painfull.

At the moment the box is the lid of a WHF8e starter box, you would wonder how the players can miss it when they roll but they still do.

My group uses this rule as well, though with the lightly larger field of the table, but for very different reasons. Basically, we play on a 5 person circular table within a garage. This garage also holds other garage things, including equipment for a band, some bikes, etc. One session we had a new person in our group who'd never played a tabletop or a game with aiming, apparently, and so they kept rolling off the table. And like a curse everyone else was doing it as well after a minute. Given the setting, whenever a dice fell someone had to maneuver around bikes and search for quite a while to find where it went. Inevitably a dice fell under some dark portal and we never saw it again. Part of a set too (fortunately the d100, which is just another d10 anyway.) So the rule was made: If someone has to get up to grab a fallen dice, the roll was for all intents and purposes a 1. People got a lot more careful after that.

EDIT: Forgot to mention my own house rules! For D&D 3.5

- Flaws are banned but feats are given every odd level, as in pathfinder.
- Point Buy, 32 points but I'm starting to like the very low 25 "elite array" point buy for some reason.
- I shouldn't even need to mention it, but multi-class penalties are out.
- Class skills apply, but I'm willing to give someone a class skill if it fits there concept well enough.
- Tier 1/2 classes are banned (I hate this self-imposed rule, and it will be gone next time I have the chance to change rules).
- HP at first level is maximum, as standard. After that it's half each level, rounded down on even levels and rounded up on odd levels.
- Team initiative. I, as many of you given the egg timer rule, have found turns take too long, but found the issue best dealt with by simplifying initiative. Basically, all players roll initiative at the start of a battle. I roll once for all monsters. Players who rolled higher go before me. Then I go. After that it's "PCs, then enemies", with no particular order. It doesn't necessarily go any faster, but it involves people more in the game when normally they'd just wait for their turn. It also changes the strategy a bit, which I like.
- If someone tries to do something stupid, a nearby character can make a grapple check (countered by a reflex save) to stop him from doing that. You'd be surprised how many times this comes up, particularly when the party half-elf tried to attack a (good aligned) orc on sight, or when the scout tried to steal the cleric's hat - from his head (in this last case it was a demon with a hat of disguise. It was pretty funny for me).

Jjeinn-tae
2011-08-09, 10:52 PM
- Team initiative. I, as many of you given the egg timer rule, have found turns take too long, but found the issue best dealt with by simplifying initiative. Basically, all players roll initiative at the start of a battle. I roll once for all monsters. Players who rolled higher go before me. Then I go. After that it's "PCs, then enemies", with no particular order. It doesn't necessarily go any faster, but it involves people more in the game when normally they'd just wait for their turn. It also changes the strategy a bit, which I like.

As primarily a PbP DM, that is one I use more or less as well, makes things run so much smoother in that setting. On the tabletop though... That is intriguing to say the least... Might have to try that next time.

Lord.Sorasen
2011-08-10, 05:37 AM
As primarily a PbP DM, that is one I use more or less as well, makes things run so much smoother in that setting. On the tabletop though... That is intriguing to say the least... Might have to try that next time.

It's fun, if your group has a problem with initiative. My group just had trouble keeping track of things, honestly.

dsmiles
2011-08-10, 10:30 AM
It's fun, if your group has a problem with initiative. My group just had trouble keeping track of things, honestly.
My group uses the dry-erase board that I draw the battlemaps on to keep track of initiatives. Even the initiatives for the different groups of baddies (usually termed "group a," "group b," etc.).

zanetheinsane
2011-08-12, 05:46 AM
Not to get off topic but on keeping track of initiative:
I use a really cheap but effective solution: Buy a magnetic dry erase board (I've got a 8"x14" one, easily fits horizontally in my lap during combat or sits on a small easel) and then buy a couple packs of magnetic strips ($1.47 ea!) (http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=159465) from Hobby Lobby (just don't peel them off exposing the adhesive). I have a label with eveyone's name and then some that just say "BOSS" "Enemy 1" and "Enemy 2" etc for different groupings. Then I just jot down everyone's initiative next to their (by now in order) labels and use a separate magnet and slide it down the list as initiative rolls along. Whole thing probably cost me about $10 and has been infinitely better than anything I've used in the past.

And to contribute to the thread, in our Spycraft game it was originally sort of a joke but morphed into a house rule. I allow players to use their action dice to insert scenery they may need into a scene as long as 1) It fits the setting and would be plausible to be there and 2) It involves a portion of the scene that characters haven't encountered or otherwise interacted with previously (i.e. "was that always here?").

It started on a mission where a player was infiltrating a small shipping warehouse and was outside near the door (with probable baddies around). He said "hey wouldn't there be some big boxes or something outside of this place?" (presumable to hide behind or climb on) and I jokingly threw out "maybe for an action dice there would be!" which the player thought was an excellent idea. Later the players were making an escape and were going to jump out of a third-story window into an alley and one of the players said "Hey for an action dice couldn't there be some trash bags to land on in this alley?" It made sense so I let him do it, and thus a house rule was born. As long as it doesn't impact anything major it's a fun little "hand wave".

Squeejee
2011-08-12, 11:49 AM
And to contribute to the thread, in our Spycraft game it was originally sort of a joke but morphed into a house rule. I allow players to use their action dice to insert scenery they may need into a scene as long as 1) It fits the setting and would be plausible to be there and 2) It involves a portion of the scene that characters haven't encountered or otherwise interacted with previously (i.e. "was that always here?").

It started on a mission where a player was infiltrating a small shipping warehouse and was outside near the door (with probable baddies around). He said "hey wouldn't there be some big boxes or something outside of this place?" (presumable to hide behind or climb on) and I jokingly threw out "maybe for an action dice there would be!" which the player thought was an excellent idea. Later the players were making an escape and were going to jump out of a third-story window into an alley and one of the players said "Hey for an action dice couldn't there be some trash bags to land on in this alley?" It made sense so I let him do it, and thus a house rule was born. As long as it doesn't impact anything major it's a fun little "hand wave".

I just wanted to say that I think this is an awesome rule.

I've got another one too:

Bonus XP: Players earn bonus XP for bravery, making the GM laugh, having a crowning moment of awesome, and coming up with a clever solution the GM hasn't planned for. Players can lose XP for derailing a session, but I've never had to use that one - at my table, we get all our derailing impulses out of the way before the game starts.

Followers: My table is full of Fire Emblem fans, which means that "talk" is, to them, a standard action. Trouble is, now they have a bunch of DMPC followers - and I needed a system to keep track of them. I ultimately settled on a "friend/rival" setup similar to Dragon Age II - basically, the DMPCs are all fellow adventurers/contacts, and have their own lives in addition to helping the PCs out from time to time. It's fun for ad-lib adventures too - stuck for ideas? Bob the Nightsong Enforcer needs the PCs help with a job, hilarity ensues.

hiryuu
2011-08-12, 12:10 PM
And to contribute to the thread, in our Spycraft game it was originally sort of a joke but morphed into a house rule. I allow players to use their action dice to insert scenery they may need into a scene as long as 1) It fits the setting and would be plausible to be there and 2) It involves a portion of the scene that characters haven't encountered or otherwise interacted with previously (i.e. "was that always here?").

It started on a mission where a player was infiltrating a small shipping warehouse and was outside near the door (with probable baddies around). He said "hey wouldn't there be some big boxes or something outside of this place?" (presumable to hide behind or climb on) and I jokingly threw out "maybe for an action dice there would be!" which the player thought was an excellent idea. Later the players were making an escape and were going to jump out of a third-story window into an alley and one of the players said "Hey for an action dice couldn't there be some trash bags to land on in this alley?" It made sense so I let him do it, and thus a house rule was born. As long as it doesn't impact anything major it's a fun little "hand wave".

FATE does this, and so does Mutants & Masterminds. Our group does it in all our games, too. Sometimes there's a skill check involved, like making a Knowledge check, spending an action point, and then pontificating about some feature or weakness of a particular ship design or the explosive nature of some variety of seashell, which can be used to make alchemist's fire, or something similar. It builds the world as you go and is a lot of fun. This is acceptable to use to create NPCs, too.

"When I was growing up, there was a guard named Horace working here, he kept me out of trouble and even taught me a bit of the sword basics. He might know something about the smugglers! I wonder if he's still here?"

Akisa
2011-08-13, 12:51 PM
Well, I use an "Environmental Damage" rule similar to yours, for starters, but I think my most notable (or is it notorious?) house rule that I cite frequently on here is my egg-timer rule.

Egg-Timer Rule: You have one minute to decide and state your action during combat rounds. If you fail to do so, you stand there and take a defensive-type action (i.e. "Full Defense" in DnD 3.0/3.5).



Why not Delay?

Heliomance
2011-08-14, 08:55 PM
Dead bodies become battlefield obstacles.
Hide behind the mound of dead bards!

As for mine, aside from the ubiquitous lack of multiclass penalties, I only have one major house rule atm. Everyone gets 50% bonus base skill points every level. I like skills, and I don't think D&D gives out enough skill points for everyone to get the skills they need and have enough left over for flavour. This way, people can pick up skills for fluff reasons without gimping their characters.

dsmiles
2011-08-15, 05:03 AM
Why not Delay?Not getting a turn promotes quick thinking. I honestly have never had a player bust their minute, so it's never actually been a problem. Now, the bad guys, on the other hand...I've busted my minute more than once trying to make the most tactically sound decisions for the bad guys.

Provengreil
2011-08-15, 01:39 PM
Not getting a turn promotes quick thinking. I honestly have never had a player bust their minute, so it's never actually been a problem. Now, the bad guys, on the other hand...I've busted my minute more than once trying to make the most tactically sound decisions for the bad guys.

Dms get a bit of a pass, though. with every combat, they're dealing with different stats, abilities, and, assuming it's an intelligent enemy, fundamentally different ways of thinking.

Stone Heart
2011-08-15, 03:51 PM
We have a few.

Achievements- This is one we really only used once but it was a fun system that I would like to work on more properly as it was just us messing around a bit at first. See we chased a BBEG way farther than the DM expected us to be able to through various means of great rolls while he kept trying to use teleporting hops to get away and as a joke the DM says you all get an Achievment, "Car Chase." After that when doing ridiculous or creative things during that campaign we would get an achievement (and it was the players duty to do a little sketch next to it on the back of their character sheet). Later we were allowed to trade them in for bonuses, like my Warblade was given extradimensional pockets across his body in the form of runes, and our rogue got extra sneak attack dice.

Flatfooted- I don't know if its intentional, and I never remember to mention it while we are playing but we are not flatfooted in combat until our first move, we are flatfooted when ambushed and not able to act in the surprise round, and we are flatfooted from other effects but not at the start of combat.

Shpadoinkle
2011-08-15, 04:53 PM
Instead of getting 4 times the normal number of skill points at 1st level, you gain a +3 bonus to class skills and crossclass skills don't cost double.

- Climb, Jump, Ride, Tumble, and Swim get rolled into "Athletics," which is based on either Strength or Dexterity (whichever is higher.)
- Spot and Listen get rolled into "Passive Perception," based on Wisdom.
- Search becomes "Active Perception" (and includes listening,) based on Intelligence.
- Hide and Move Silently get rolled into "Stealth."
- Intimidate, Sense Motive, and Bluff become part of Diplomacy.

The trapfinding class feature is NOT necessary to find traps with a DC of 20 or higher.

Clerics cast via the Bardic spells per day table, with the exception of their Domain spells which progress at the normal rate. This both puts a damper the massive power of clerics and makes clerics of different gods (or even two clerics of the same god but with different domains) actually feel different.

Wizards, artificers, and sorcerers are banned.

Druids get EITHER wildshape OR an animal companion, but if they take one of those then they cast via the Bard's spells per day table. If they don't take either then they cast via the Druid's spells per day. Natural Spell is banned.

No multiclassing XP penalties. Taking a level in your races' favored class instead gets you an extra skill point and HP per level.

At +6 BAB, you can make a second attack as a full-round action, but both attacks suffer -2/-2 to hit (instead of the standard +0/-5)
At +11 BAB, the penalty becomes -1/-1 (instead of +0/-5/-10)
At +16 BAB the penalty becomes +0/+0 (instead of +0/-5/-10/-15)

Edit: Forgot one
When you level up, you reroll all the HD you've rolled so far and keep the result if it's higher than your present HP, then roll your HP for your new level. So a fighter 3/rogue 2, upon leveling up, would roll 3d10 and 2d6 and his HP maximum would go up if the result was higher than his current max HP (with Constitution modifiers applied where appropriate, of course.) THEN he adds his new class and rolls HP for that level normally. This is done at every level up so bad HP rolls don't hurt for more than a level or two.

Velaryon
2011-08-15, 07:29 PM
Flatfooted- I don't know if its intentional, and I never remember to mention it while we are playing but we are not flatfooted in combat until our first move, we are flatfooted when ambushed and not able to act in the surprise round, and we are flatfooted from other effects but not at the start of combat.

My group does this too. I think we inherited it from the people that taught me to play D&D originally, and when I taught others in my group we just thought that was the rule. Now that we know otherwise, we're not inclined to change.

My group's house rules:

-Alternate class features and racial substitution levels need explicit DM permission in order to be used. This is mostly an issue of familiarity, because we're not all familiar with these, and want to be careful what we let into the game.

-Likewise, material from any source other than official 3.5 D&D books (meaning third-party materials and even things from the WotC website) need to be specifically approved before they can be used.

-We don't use death from massive damage. At all. We just don't like it.

-Characters who are dying (-1 to -9 hit points) can attempt to stabilize with a Fortitude save, DC 10 + 1 for every negative hit point (DC 11 at -1 hp up to DC 19 at -9 hp), instead of having a flat 10% chance to stabilize. This provides a minor advantage to the warrior-types, and I like that.

-All characters get 4 extra skill points at 1st level that can only be used for fluff skills (Craft, Knowledge, Perform, or Profession). These points are spent as if the skills are class skills.


On top of that, I have some additional house rules when I'm running the game:

-I require Clerics and Favored Souls to worship a deity. You want to be a divine caster that's not tied to a particular deity? Play a druid.

-Mage Armor and all variations thereof can be learned as either a Conjuration or Abjuration spell, at the discretion of individual casters. This is specifically to throw a bone to Abjurant Champions.

-Sorcerers gain bonus feats every 5th level just like a wizard. However, they don't get Scribe Scroll at 1st level. I've been toying with removing the clause where spellcasting is a full-round action if they use metamagic feats, but I haven't had to rule on it because nobody in my group is playing a sorcerer.

-Dragons can be of any alignment, regardless of what kind they are. Not all metallic dragons are good, not all chromatic dragons are evil.

-Int-to-AC abilities granted by classes like Duelist, Bladesinger, and Invisible Blade progress at twice the normal rate. That is, the amount of Intelligence bonus you can apply to AC is equal to twice your class level in the class granting the ability. I find that this makes the class feature usable a lot sooner than it would be otherwise.

And finally, my biggest house rule with the farthest-reaching effects:

-There is no permanent level loss. If you fail a saving throw to remove a negative level inflicted by a monster, spell, or other source, you are simply stuck with it for the time being, and can try again the following day to remove the negative level with a new saving throw.

Nor do you lose a level for being raised from the dead. Instead, you gain temporary negative levels equal to one-half your character level, rounded up, which cannot be removed via magical means.

Greenish
2011-08-15, 07:45 PM
Druids get EITHER wildshape OR an animal companion, but if they take one of those then they cast via the Bard's spells per day table. If they don't take either then they cast via the Druid's spells per day. Natural Spell is banned.I like that one. A lot.



At +6 BAB, you can make a second attack as a full-round action, but both attacks suffer -2/-2 to hit (instead of the standard +0/-5)
At +11 BAB, the penalty becomes -1/-1 (instead of +0/-5/-10)
At +16 BAB the penalty becomes +0/+0 (instead of +0/-5/-10/-15)So you never get more than two attacks from BAB?


-Sorcerers gain bonus feats every 5th level just like a wizard. However, they don't get Scribe Scroll at 1st level.Have you considered giving them Eschew Materials at 1st level? It's not as strong as Scribe Scroll, but it makes sense that when your magic is innate, you don't need to know nor care whether you packed bat guano when you want to throw a fireball.

Hawriel
2011-08-15, 11:02 PM
All classes with 2 skill points get 4.

No degrading BAB for full attacks. Instead there is a flat -1 penalty for every attack made. Two weapon fighting penalties stack. Extra attacks given by haiste or a sword of speed to not count.

Full HP for the first three levels. Then roll the rest.

Clerics and paladins worship a god. Non this I believe in friendship, puppies, and my own coolness for divine magic crap. You must follow the edics of that god.

Wishess are dangerous. Use at your own risk.

Miracle is not a wish. It is a cleric asking for direct divine intervention. The god will answer the request in what ever form it choses.

A bard can have a familier. If you spend a feat for it. My bard has a mockingbird.

Familiers. Any tiny animal can be a familier.

Paladin mounts are real animals. Non of that pokimon crap. You must take care of your mount.

Any electrical effect that has a reflex save is now a fort save. No your not dodging an electrion.

Greenish
2011-08-15, 11:18 PM
Clerics and paladins worship a god. Non this I believe in friendship, puppies, and my own coolness for divine magic crap.But druids still get spells for believing in puppies? :smalltongue:


A bard can have a familier. If you spend a feat for it.That's not a houserule.

Dire Moose
2011-08-16, 12:31 AM
Eight hours of sleep will restore HP by 1d(HD of class most recently leveled in)+Con modifier.

A weapon that normally does 2d4 damage will do 3d4 damage if increased by one size category.

A katana does 1d8 damage and has a crit range of 18-20/x2. It can be used two-handed as a martial weapon and one-handed as an exotic weapon, provided wielder's strength is at least 13.

A critical fumble with a melee weapon causes the character to provoke attacks of opportunity from everything in melee range.

A critical fumble with a ranged weapon causes the character to make an attack roll against a random target and deal damage as necessary. Yes, it is possible to crit your allies this way.

Coidzor
2011-08-16, 12:45 AM
Clerics and paladins worship a god. Non this I believe in friendship, puppies, and my own coolness for divine magic crap. You must follow the edics of that god.

But...But... Friendship is Magic! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeJ6-gN0eB4)

Velaryon
2011-08-16, 01:23 AM
Have you considered giving them Eschew Materials at 1st level? It's not as strong as Scribe Scroll, but it makes sense that when your magic is innate, you don't need to know nor care whether you packed bat guano when you want to throw a fireball.

I would, if we ever bothered to track spell components that don't have a significant cost. I suppose there's no harm in giving Eschew Materials to them, it just won't have a noticeable effect in my games since we don't bother with it anyway.



Clerics and paladins worship a god. Non this I believe in friendship, puppies, and my own coolness for divine magic crap. You must follow the edics of that god.

Hell yeah! As mentioned, I have the same rule (though I'm a bit more flexible on paladins, since they need all the love they can get).

Kesnit
2011-08-16, 07:08 AM
For those that use the "egg timer," how flexible are you on timing? I have lost count of how many times I've made my decision of what power to use (4e), just to have my decision mooted just b/efore my turn because the tactical situation changed. (Monster died, PCs moved, monsters moved, etc)

Greenish
2011-08-16, 06:00 PM
I would, if we ever bothered to track spell components that don't have a significant cost. I suppose there's no harm in giving Eschew Materials to them, it just won't have a noticeable effect in my games since we don't bother with it anyway.It's mostly a cosmetic thing, true, but it annoys me to no end that they didn't get EM as baseline. For some reason.

Lord.Sorasen
2011-08-17, 08:18 PM
I forgot about the biggest house-rule I have.

If someone can justify to me that they should be able to do something, I'll allow it to happen. I usually take a day before deciding, where I look at the books and whether they're right or not. The general rules I've erased are mostly fluff rules, such as "paladins can't work with evil". In that situation, the player argued that so long as they're not aiding them in doing evil, it shouldn't be wrong. In fact, the chance that working with the paladin might lead to redemption is reason enough that it'd be a good idea to work with evil! On that note, I allow any domain to a cleric so long as they can justify that it'd be flavorful (Pelor's cleric may take the fire domain as well as the sun domain, becoming a sun himself, for instance.) I'd also allow any race to qualify for a race specific prestige class if their backstory suggests it. I tend to frown upon justifications written in order to get things... But I think for everyone trying to squeeze extra points into a build there's someone who has a concept that they really feel rules should allow. So I'll allow both.

Dire Moose
2011-08-17, 09:50 PM
I forgot about the biggest house-rule I have.

If someone can justify to me that they should be able to do something, I'll allow it to happen. I usually take a day before deciding, where I look at the books and whether they're right or not. The general rules I've erased are mostly fluff rules, such as "paladins can't work with evil". In that situation, the player argued that so long as they're not aiding them in doing evil, it shouldn't be wrong. In fact, the chance that working with the paladin might lead to redemption is reason enough that it'd be a good idea to work with evil! On that note, I allow any domain to a cleric so long as they can justify that it'd be flavorful (Pelor's cleric may take the fire domain as well as the sun domain, becoming a sun himself, for instance.) I'd also allow any race to qualify for a race specific prestige class if their backstory suggests it. I tend to frown upon justifications written in order to get things... But I think for everyone trying to squeeze extra points into a build there's someone who has a concept that they really feel rules should allow. So I'll allow both.

Actually, I belive the 3.5 PHB does allow for this sort of thing, specifically mentioning a case where a ranger wants to trade some of his abilities to get a paladin mount. I think it would be a good idea if everyone used this, to be honest.


Clerics and paladins worship a god. Non this I believe in friendship, puppies, and my own coolness for divine magic crap. You must follow the edics of that god.

I think paladins should be able to devote themselves to a set of ideals rather than having to choose a deity, but you can't really be a cleric without actually being a cleric OF something or other. Being a cleric means devoting yourself to a particular divine power; otherwise, you're just a philosopher in a fancy set of robes.

Lord.Sorasen
2011-08-17, 11:38 PM
Actually, I belive the 3.5 PHB does allow for this sort of thing, specifically mentioning a case where a ranger wants to trade some of his abilities to get a paladin mount. I think it would be a good idea if everyone used this, to be honest.



I think paladins should be able to devote themselves to a set of ideals rather than having to choose a deity, but you can't really be a cleric without actually being a cleric OF something or other. Being a cleric means devoting yourself to a particular divine power; otherwise, you're just a philosopher in a fancy set of robes.

I always forget that within RAW is the rule "Don't always listen to RAW". It's a tough choice for me, a lot of the time. When I play D&D, I've always really liked the puzzle: How do I get a character to do X? There's a real feeling of satisfaction when a concept sort of "clicks" into a build. Recently I decided to play some of the prewritten campaigns by myself, to learn how the game is supposed to work a bit better, and ended up trying to make a paladin calvary archer (the fluff was that he was a pseudo-mongol leader.) It was difficult and I messed a lot up because I am new to the whole thing, but the puzzle was just cool. If you can get a lot of new things just by asking, some of that work is gone. Which I miss.

Shpadoinkle
2011-08-18, 06:23 AM
Been thinking about Dragon Shamans (PHB2) and how they... well, suck. And there's only so much optimization you can do. Hell, a single level gets you its best ability by far (vigor aura.) So in an attempt to make the class worth taking for more than a single level, I've come up with these changes.

- Full BAB and martial weapon proficiency
- Gain breath weapon (1d6) at level 2.
- Lose the draconic aura progression on table 1-2 on page 12 of the PHB2. Instead it's +1 at level 1 and 3, and +2 at every odd level after that.

bokodasu
2011-08-18, 08:09 AM
Using the PF skill system for 3.5
Any full-BAB class gets full attack as a standard action at 6th level. (Multiclassing? You get to do it when you have 6 levels in one or more full-BAB classes, not at +6 BAB.)
No multiclass penalties or massive damage rules, those suck fun out of the game without adding anything.
Bringing snacks = XP and/or loot bonus.
Superawesomeness (excellent RP, a clever solution, a truly perfect joke) earns a token that can be traded in for a reroll at a later time

Provengreil
2011-08-24, 12:09 PM
I would, if we ever bothered to track spell components that don't have a significant cost. I suppose there's no harm in giving Eschew Materials to them, it just won't have a noticeable effect in my games since we don't bother with it anyway.


We do that too, but IMO the most amusing thing about material components is that, if you deal with them properly, they tend to make things much harder on the casters. RAW the component pouch allows for the assumption you have the component with you, not ready. Look at this bit, from protection from evil:

Material Component:
A little powdered silver with which you trace a 3-foot -diameter circle on the floor (or ground) around the creature to be warded.

getting that out and drawing that circle is gonna be more than part of a standard action, especially if you're warding someone else. It's a **** move, but enforcing this can make casters at least drop a feat into eschew materials.

Boci
2011-08-24, 12:35 PM
We do that too, but IMO the most amusing thing about material components is that, if you deal with them properly, they tend to make things much harder on the casters. RAW the component pouch allows for the assumption you have the component with you, not ready. Look at this bit, from protection from evil:

Material Component:
A little powdered silver with which you trace a 3-foot -diameter circle on the floor (or ground) around the creature to be warded.

getting that out and drawing that circle is gonna be more than part of a standard action, especially if you're warding someone else. It's a **** move, but enforcing this can make casters at least drop a feat into eschew materials.

That's not RAW though, the rules don't say how long it takes. A caster have just as much RAwness in their argument that part of the spell's magic forms the circle and they just need to hold it in your hand.

Vladislav
2011-08-24, 03:49 PM
Provengreil, there's nothing to "enforce". The spell's casting time is whatever is given in the spell description, and manipulating the spell components is part of the act of casting the spell. Those are the rules. Everything else is just fluff. Trace a 3' circle, throw bat guano in the air, eat a cockroach, doesn't matter. As long as it says "casting time: standard action", it's a standard action.

hiryuu
2011-08-24, 06:24 PM
Legend of the Five Rings

There are three tiers of NPC.

Tier 1/Minion: These NPCs have 16-20 wounds, roll 3k2 to attack, and deal 2k1 or 3k2 damage. You can call raises on attack rolls to hit more than one of them at once. They typically don't have names that the PCs will know, and serve to add padding to bad guys and make you feel like an awesome chanbara chainsaw.

Tier 2/Lieutenant: These NPCs are built just like PCs, except for one important difference: they don't get any bonuses from techniques. They will seem to know techniques, and even talk about them or make references to them and can teach them, but they don't get the bonuses from them.

Tier 3/"Boss": These NPCs have stats, skills, and techniques, just like PCs. They exist to make equivalent or stronger bad guys, allies, and rivals.
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I roll three times on the heritage table, combine that into a single backstory for a player's ancestor, will name him or her, and in some cases, allow them to buy that ancestor as an advantage to get even more bonuses. Because it's such a large part of the game, I want people to talk about their ancestors, pray to their ancestors, and be annoyed by their ancestors.