Narkis
2013-03-05, 12:19 AM
I'm about to start running a Dark Sun campaign for a group of neophytes and I'd like to use some houserules in an effort to bring it a little closer to old-school Dark Sun. How do the following look like as replacements for their official versions?
Weapons breakage
I rather like the reckless breakage rule, but I doubt my players will use it all that much. And fumbling breakage is definitely too harsh. So I'm thinking of adding a "breakability X" characteristic to nonmetal weapons, depending on their material and quality, have players roll a second d20 on a fumble. If the second roll is <=X, the weapon breaks. The players will be able to fix their weapons, or make new ones, from the carcasses of their foes, perhaps with a roll of some kind.
Arcane Defiling
At-Will, Arcane, Necrotic.
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You make an attack roll as part of an arcane encounter or daily power.
Effect: You can reroll the triggering roll but must use the second result. Targets hit by the power take +1d6 Necrotic damage. Increase damage to 2d6 at Level 11 and 3d6 at Level 21.
In addition, each living creature in a close burst (1/4 level) squares of you takes a penalty to its initiative equal to half the spell's level until your next turn.
Special: If an arcane daily power is used as the trigger, terrain in the area is drained of all vitality, and becomes defiled terrain. All defiled terrain has the Sickening Heat property (Effect: A creature that ends its turn in a square of sickening heat is weakened until the end of its next turn). No plant life will grow in defiled terrain for (10 x spell level) years. If Arcane Defiling is used in a particularly verdant area, the plants will wither into a fine powder and create Ash Field terrain. When defiling magic is used to slaughter innocents, a foul miasma mixes with the ground to create Black Sand terrain. The most powerful arcane magic completely drains the vitality of an area, and it becomes Dead Magic terrain.
Weapons breakage
I rather like the reckless breakage rule, but I doubt my players will use it all that much. And fumbling breakage is definitely too harsh. So I'm thinking of adding a "breakability X" characteristic to nonmetal weapons, depending on their material and quality, have players roll a second d20 on a fumble. If the second roll is <=X, the weapon breaks. The players will be able to fix their weapons, or make new ones, from the carcasses of their foes, perhaps with a roll of some kind.
Arcane Defiling
At-Will, Arcane, Necrotic.
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You make an attack roll as part of an arcane encounter or daily power.
Effect: You can reroll the triggering roll but must use the second result. Targets hit by the power take +1d6 Necrotic damage. Increase damage to 2d6 at Level 11 and 3d6 at Level 21.
In addition, each living creature in a close burst (1/4 level) squares of you takes a penalty to its initiative equal to half the spell's level until your next turn.
Special: If an arcane daily power is used as the trigger, terrain in the area is drained of all vitality, and becomes defiled terrain. All defiled terrain has the Sickening Heat property (Effect: A creature that ends its turn in a square of sickening heat is weakened until the end of its next turn). No plant life will grow in defiled terrain for (10 x spell level) years. If Arcane Defiling is used in a particularly verdant area, the plants will wither into a fine powder and create Ash Field terrain. When defiling magic is used to slaughter innocents, a foul miasma mixes with the ground to create Black Sand terrain. The most powerful arcane magic completely drains the vitality of an area, and it becomes Dead Magic terrain.