DMing Advice and links to bans and houserules

[ShriekingDrake]

Hi:

I'm to be DMing shortly for one of my groups. Here are some of the rules changes the group has agreed to.

1. Characters get feats at odd levels, starting at first, instead of every third level. So do NPCs and monsters.

2. ALL casters are spontaneous. Full casters use a chart like this for spells known. (There are different charts for 4-level and 6-level casters, but you get the idea.)

SPELLS KNOWN
____0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
01st 5 2
02th 6 3
03th 7 3 2
04th 8 4 3
05th 9 5 3 2
06th 9 5 4 3
07th 9 6 5 3 2
08th 9 6 5 4 3
09th 9 6 6 5 3 2
10th 9 6 6 5 4 3
11th 9 6 6 6 5 3 2
12th 9 6 6 6 5 4 3
13th 9 6 6 6 6 5 3 2
14th 9 6 6 6 6 5 4 3
15th 9 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 2
16th 9 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3
17th 9 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 2
18th 9 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 3
19th 9 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3
20th 9 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 4

Casters can swap out one known spell and replace it with another of the same level at each level.

3. As a result, there are no wizards.

4. One of our group plays occasionally with a group from another state that uses a something they call the Ascendent Druid, which a is druid sort of nurf that we're going to try this time (it's quite complicated and not a discussing i want to have in this thread).

Anyway, assuming that druids have dropped down a tier, that Wizards are gone, that all casters are spontaneous, and that all characters get feats at odd levels, are there things I should be thinking about to make things run smoothly?

Also, can you all recommend good links to house rules and ban lists?

[CTrees]

So... Ur-Priests and similar, that get nine levels of spells over nine character levels, normally?

Personally I'm against large lists of houserules, so... I'm not likely to be that helpful. Just please, for the love of all that is good and lawful, make a list of all your houserules and bans, which your players can see, and let them go through it before making their characters, let alone starting play. Please, please, please... (it's a pet peeve - can you tell?)

[ShriekingDrake]

So... Ur-Priests and similar, that get nine levels of spells over nine character levels, normally?

Personally I'm against large lists of houserules, so... I'm not likely to be that helpful. Just please, for the love of all that is good and lawful, make a list of all your houserules and bans, which your players can see, and let them go through it before making their characters, let alone starting play. Please, please, please... (it's a pet peeve - can you tell?)

I didn't actually choose these particular rules. They were, shall we say, thrust upon me. I'm just going to dm the consequences.

Ur-Priests and their kin may require some thought. Thanks for pointing that one out.

I agree completely about getting everything in writing. I honestly want to get a sense of what's likely to go wrong here so I can make the gaming experience as great as it can be for the players.

[DiBastet]

I do similar in my games, and here is the Ur Priest solution I found:

Take your spell progresion. Imagine a -1 level, where you know 2 0 level spells and can cast a appopriate ammount equal to how many 1st levels spells you cast at 1st level.

Now, the Ur-Priest receives a new spell level (know and per day) at every level. In short, at level one, he uses the -1st table, at 2nd he uses the 1st level table, at 3rd he uses the 3rd level table, at 4th he uses the 5th level table, all the way to level 10 in ur-priest, when he uses the 17th level table.

Now you make a choice:
A - He knows one less spell and can cast one less spell as the indicated.
B - He knows only half the spells and can cast only half the number (I use this)

The ur-priest table should be something like this:

SPELLS KNOWN (-1 spell per level)
____0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
01st 1
02th 4 1
03th 6 2 1
04th 8 4 2 1
05th 8 5 5 2 1
06th 8 5 5 5 2 1
07th 8 5 5 5 5 2 1
08th 8 5 5 5 5 5 2 1
09th 8 5 5 5 5 5 5 2 1
10th 8 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 2 1

SPELLS KNOWN (half spells per level)
____0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
01st 1
02th 2 1
03th 3 1 1
04th 4 2 1 1
05th 4 3 2 1 1
06th 4 3 3 2 1 1
07th 4 3 3 3 2 1 1
08th 4 3 3 3 3 2 1 1
09th 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 1
10th 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 1


It works pretty much well.

[ShriekingDrake]

This is excellent. Thanks so much.

[DiBastet]

You're welcome. Always glad to put my many years old houserules to good use for others.