Game rules - What are yours?

[gurgleflep]

I've been thinking about how all DMs have their own personal game rules quite a bit lately, and I'm curious as to what some of Playgrounders use.

My current campaign rules are as follows:

1.) We are going to begin the game at sixth level. ECLs must be within reasonable reasons.

2.) Small, medium, and large are the only permitted playable size categories. (Exception: spells and psionic abilities that change a character's size)

3.) Nearly all classes are permitted. I will review classes I've not heard of or seen.
If you want to play something specific - for example, a wizard who can cast in armor - I'll do my best to suggest a class.

4.) Arguments aren't prohibited, but they aren't appreciated. If one occurs, everybody in the argument will do one of the following.
a.) duke it out, possibly to the death.
b.) talk it out nicely.


They're pretty simple (I think), but they've worked so far. I'll likely end up borrowing some of the suggestions you all make! I'm not a tyrant, but I'd like to keep my players in check.
I'm also open to suggestions on my current rules.

[Barsoom]

1.) We are going to begin the game at sixth level. ECLs must be within reasonable reasons.I like starting at 1st. Matter of personal preference, of course.


2.) Small, medium, and large are the only permitted playable size categories. (Exception: spells and psionic abilities that change a character's size)I don't like allowing Large size. It basically limits me in the type of adventures I can throw at the party (no skulking through confined spaces). If a player really really insists, and it seems they can't have fun w/o being Large for some reason, I can roll with it.


3.) Nearly all classes are permitted. I will review classes I've not heard of or seen.Fair enuff


If you want to play something specific - for example, a wizard who can cast in armor - I'll do my best to suggest a class.Uhm, just combine the "Still Spell" and "Practical Metamagic" feats. Now all your spells are Stilled at no level adjustment. Go wild with that armor.


4.) Arguments aren't prohibited, but they aren't appreciated. If one occurs, everybody in the argument will do one of the following.
a.) duke it out, possibly to the death.
b.) talk it out nicely.
I do: (c) take a brief break in play to cool down. Eat some pretzels, drink some coke, maybe head for a restroom break. Come back to the table in 10 minutes. IF YOU CAN STILL REMEMBER WHAT THE ARGUMENT WAS ABOUT, you can continue it.

[Sylthia]

A few of mine for pathfinder...

1: No killing party members. You can disagree or be evil, but you function as a team. (I thought this obvious, but some recent threads show otherwise.)

2: Only small or large races with no LA.

3: Any official core race or class is permitted. 3rd party stuff taken on a case by case basis.

4: I used elite arrays for abilities and take average hit die rounded up per level for HP.

[Magnera]

Rule1: Have fun, this supersedes all other rules.

Rule2: Dont prevent other players from having fun.

Nice and simple :smallcool:

[Medic!]

Well, since you asked...
Sorry for the crappy format, it's a quick copy-paster job and I have wayyyy too many house rules.

My House Rules
Basics:
⦁ Max HP each level
⦁ Fractional BAB/Saves (See Unearthed Arcana)
⦁ We don't use XP, levels are awarded ad-hoc. Anything requiring xp uses a gp conversion of 5gp to 1 xp. (Xp-money isn't real money, and is spent seperately from money-monies, i.e. in Item Creation a reduction to money-money cost doesn't reduce the xp-money cost, etc)
⦁ Weight encumberance is not strictly enforced, common sense applies.
⦁ Food/water is not tracked unless it is part of a specific challenge (i.e. crossing a desert, being abandoned on an island with nothing but rope and sea-turtles, etc)
⦁ Resurrection effects do not exist, outside of Reincarnation. Reincarnation is added to any spell list that has Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection, etc. There is no level loss/con penalty for being Reincarnated. Reincarnation begins with a 50% chance of failure, gaining an additional 10% failure chance each time a creature is reincarnated. If circumstances are appropriate, a character may rise as a Risen Martyr from BoED (modified for alignment as appropriate). Revivify still works as normal.
⦁ On any d20 roll, a natural 1 is treated as being -10, and a natural 20 is treated as a 30. This replaces the "natural 1 is always a miss, natural 20 is always a hit" on attack rolls, and is broadened to include things like ability checks, skill checks, saving throws, spell resistance/caster level checks, grapple checks, etc.
⦁ Vorpal weapons are automatically keen. On a natural 20, confirmed as a crit, we roll the body-part die, lopping off the result. Taking the head off functions as normal. Hitting the torso removes 50% of the targets maximum HP and leaves the target flat-footed until it receives magical healing. Taking a limb results in the target taking 25% of its maximum HP in damage and losing the use of the limb.
⦁ If you're going to turn into it or summon something, have it statted out ahead of time. Kthnx.
⦁ Leveling up is an automatic thing, no need to rest/train/find a statue of a half-naked goat princess, etc.
⦁ Coin Pouch of Holding is in effect.
⦁ You die at 0 hp. Each PC begins with 10 bonus HP. Effects that automatically put you at 0 hp or less are adjusted up 10.
⦁ Massive Damage rules are not in play.

Skills:
⦁ Class skills = 1d20 + (Total HD, Character Level, etc) + Ability Modifyer
⦁ Non-Class skills = 1d20 + Ability Modifyer
⦁ Taking + Skill feats works as normal
⦁ There are no synergy bonuses
⦁ The Skill Knowledge feat will add a skill to your class skill list
⦁ Skill Knowledge (Speak Language) gains you one language each time you take it
⦁ PCs with Speak Language as a class skill at start gain one bonus language per 2 standard skill points/level
⦁ Disable Device is included in the class skill list for classes with Trapfinding (lookin' at you, Scouts)

Spellcasting:
⦁ Use the spellpoint variant from Unearthed Arcana (also available on the SRD).
⦁ XP components require 5gp per 1 xp.
⦁ No basic material components are required (everyone has Eschew Materials)
⦁ Material components with a listed price are deducted from your carried gp upon casting
⦁ Level 0 spells are free, at-will abilities.

For Gestalts
⦁ Dual Progression classes only advance one side (i.e. Mystic Theurge would only progress both spellcasting classes if both are present on the same side as Mystic Theurge)
⦁ You cannot gain class benefits beyond your HD (i.e. Sorc // Sorc would net you two seperate spells known and spell point pools calculated on each side individually)
⦁ LA/RHD must all be contained on the same side
⦁ Qualification for a PrC must be accomplished on the side you take the PrC on. Racial, feat, BAB/Saves, and skill requirements are not included in this (i.e. if you are required to have evasion, you must take the PrC on the side that grants you evasion, however if you are required to be Large size, either side qualifies, assuming you are Large size)
⦁ Features that allow two classes to stack for calculations (i.e. Swift Hunter, Daring Outlaw, PrCs that continue spellcasting or class features, etc) only function on one side.

Feats
⦁ Feats that change your ability modifyer for attack rolls also change it for damage rolls. (i.e. using Intuitive Attack or Weapon Finesse would change your attack and damage rolls to Wisdom or Dexterity)
⦁ The two-weapon fighting feat tree is condensed to one feat. Upon gaining additional main-hand attacks via BAB (and BAB only) you gain an additional off-hand attack.
⦁ Improved Two-Weapon Fighting reduces the penalties for fighting with two weapons by 2/2 (negating the penalty for using a light off-hand with the TWF feat, but not completely negating the penalty for using a non-light off-hand, etc). Improved Two-Weapon Fighting also removes the off-hand damage penalty (i.e. the offhand weapon does your full ability modifyer damage instead of 1/2). The pre-requisites for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting are unchanged.
⦁ Diehard increases your HD by one size. This is retroactive. If you already have a d12, your HD in effect becomes a d14.

Class Features
⦁ Trapfinding: Any PC can locate magic traps above DC20 etc etc. PCs with Trapfinding are instead granted an automatic search check within 10ft of the trap (akin to Stonecunning or the Elven ability to locate secret doors). This applies to mechanical/magical traps, not "It's a TRAP" ambushes, etc.
⦁ Trap Sense: This is now a bonus on anything regarding to a trap, i.e. Search checks, Disable Device checks, etc in addition to AC and Saves vs traps. (Seriously WotC...seriously)
⦁ Monks may wear light armor without losing their monk things. Monks also gain Intuitive Attack as a bonus feat option at level 6.
⦁ Ki Strike: Monks with Ki Strike may use their unarmed strike damage value or the weapon's damage value with weapons the monk class grants proficiency in.
⦁ Crusaders stance progression is delayed by 3 levels past the 1st level (giving them a new stance when straight Crusader progression actually has the stance available)

Character Generation
⦁ Every player rolls 4d6b3 x7, re-roll 1s. Any player may use whichever set he/she prefers (multiple players may use the same set), allocating 6 of the rolls to their ability scores as they see fit. If you do not wish to use a roll set, you may instead use a standard 36 point-buy per DMG rules. Re-rolls are not allowed.
⦁ If starting at 1st level (because obviously someone hates you very much), use your class's max gold value. If starting above 1st level, use the DMG wealth-by-level guidelines. There is no maximum limit on what percentage of your wealth is spent on an individual item. Artifacts are to be discussed with the DM.
⦁ Magic Items may be combined per the rules outlined in Magic Item Compendium. (The lowest cost item of the two being combined is multiplied in cost by 1.5. Adding "Common Effects" from the table are not subject to the 1.5 modifyer.)
⦁ Legacy Items lose their indicated penalties. GP prices for Legacy Rituals must be paid to gain the Legacy Ritual feats associated with the weapon (but the rituals themselves need not be performed), unless you use a regular feat slot. If paid for at the appropriate level, they are gained as bonus feats as normal.
⦁ Inherent Bonuses to ability scores from items (i.e. Tome of Understanding) are cumulative. Inherent bonuses still cap at 5. Buying a Tome of Understanding +1 increases your Wisdom by one. Later paying the difference between a Tome +1 and a Tome +2 will increase it another point, etc. Buying 5 Tomes of Understanding +1 will leave you with a +1 bonus and a hole in your wallet.

Item Familiars
⦁ Using the Item Familiar for skill boosts gains you a 30% circumstance bonus on all class skill checks (i.e. you roll your skill check, then add 30% of the check as a bonus, rounded down). Loss of an item familiar (according to Unearthed Arcana guidelines) results in loss of the bonus and imposition of a penalty to all class skill checks of the same number.
⦁ Using the Item Familiar for the XP boost reduces the cost of xp-money by 50%. Losing your Item Familiar results in future xp-money costs increasing to 150% of normal.
⦁ Using the Item Familiar to boost spellcasting (Invest Spell Slot) results in gaining spellpoints equal to the highest level spell you can cast (i.e. if the highest level spell you can cast is 5th level, you gain 9 spell points). This effect grows with you. When you attain 6th level spells, your bonus spell points become 11 instead of 9, etc. Essentially it grants you enough spell points to cast one more spell of the highest level you can cast. Losing your item familiar results in you losing the bonus spell points, and gaining a deficit to spell points equal to what your bonus would have been.

Ranged Combat
⦁ Throwing may use either Strength or Dexterity for attack rolls, choose when you attack. Power Attack may be used with throwing if using Strength.
⦁ Longbows/shortbows apply 1x strength modifyer to damage. Composite bows apply a bonus beyond this on damage rolls equal to 1/2 the strength modifyer of the bow or your strength modifyer, whichever is lower.

AC/Saves
⦁ You can only receive AC/saving bonuses from a specific source once (i.e. you can only apply your Charisma bonus to AC once, regardless of abilities that each apply CHA to AC in different types, but you can still apply CHA to each save once on top of WIS/CON/DEX, but only once.)
⦁ Shield bonuses apply to Touch AC.

[gurgleflep]

I like starting at 1st. Matter of personal preference, of course.

I don't like allowing Large size. It basically limits me in the type of adventures I can throw at the party (no skulking through confined spaces). If a player really really insists, and it seems they can't have fun w/o being Large for some reason, I can roll with it.

Fair enuff

Uhm, just combine the "Still Spell" and "Practical Metamagic" feats. Now all your spells are Stilled at no level adjustment. Go wild with that armor.


I do: (c) take a brief break in play to cool down. Eat some pretzels, drink some coke, maybe head for a restroom break. Come back to the table in 10 minutes. IF YOU CAN STILL REMEMBER WHAT THE ARGUMENT WAS ABOUT, you can continue it.

We, as a group, usually start at first and stay small or medium, but one of the more argumentative players insists upon being a half-ogre. We've also got somebody wanting to be a drow.

I like option c :smallsmile:

[rafaruggi]

Uhm, just combine the "Still Spell" and "Practical Metamagic" feats. Now all your spells are Stilled at no level adjustment. Go wild with that armor.



Actually, Practical Metamagic can only reduce the level adjustment to a maximum of 1+ the original level of the spell. So if you need to cast the spell as 2 lvls higher for example, you cast it at 1, but you can't reduce 1 to 0.

[gurgleflep]

Well, since you asked...
Sorry for the crappy format, it's a quick copy-paster job and I have wayyyy too many house rules.

My House Rules
Basics:
⦁ Max HP each level
⦁ Fractional BAB/Saves (See Unearthed Arcana)
⦁ We don't use XP, levels are awarded ad-hoc. Anything requiring xp uses a gp conversion of 5gp to 1 xp. (Xp-money isn't real money, and is spent seperately from money-monies, i.e. in Item Creation a reduction to money-money cost doesn't reduce the xp-money cost, etc)
⦁ Weight encumberance is not strictly enforced, common sense applies.
⦁ Food/water is not tracked unless it is part of a specific challenge (i.e. crossing a desert, being abandoned on an island with nothing but rope and sea-turtles, etc)
⦁ Resurrection effects do not exist, outside of Reincarnation. Reincarnation is added to any spell list that has Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection, etc. There is no level loss/con penalty for being Reincarnated. Reincarnation begins with a 50% chance of failure, gaining an additional 10% failure chance each time a creature is reincarnated. If circumstances are appropriate, a character may rise as a Risen Martyr from BoED (modified for alignment as appropriate). Revivify still works as normal.
⦁ On any d20 roll, a natural 1 is treated as being -10, and a natural 20 is treated as a 30. This replaces the "natural 1 is always a miss, natural 20 is always a hit" on attack rolls, and is broadened to include things like ability checks, skill checks, saving throws, spell resistance/caster level checks, grapple checks, etc.
⦁ Vorpal weapons are automatically keen. On a natural 20, confirmed as a crit, we roll the body-part die, lopping off the result. Taking the head off functions as normal. Hitting the torso removes 50% of the targets maximum HP and leaves the target flat-footed until it receives magical healing. Taking a limb results in the target taking 25% of its maximum HP in damage and losing the use of the limb.
⦁ If you're going to turn into it or summon something, have it statted out ahead of time. Kthnx.
⦁ Leveling up is an automatic thing, no need to rest/train/find a statue of a half-naked goat princess, etc.
⦁ Coin Pouch of Holding is in effect.
⦁ You die at 0 hp. Each PC begins with 10 bonus HP. Effects that automatically put you at 0 hp or less are adjusted up 10.
⦁ Massive Damage rules are not in play.

Skills:
⦁ Class skills = 1d20 + (Total HD, Character Level, etc) + Ability Modifyer
⦁ Non-Class skills = 1d20 + Ability Modifyer
⦁ Taking + Skill feats works as normal
⦁ There are no synergy bonuses
⦁ The Skill Knowledge feat will add a skill to your class skill list
⦁ Skill Knowledge (Speak Language) gains you one language each time you take it
⦁ PCs with Speak Language as a class skill at start gain one bonus language per 2 standard skill points/level
⦁ Disable Device is included in the class skill list for classes with Trapfinding (lookin' at you, Scouts)

Spellcasting:
⦁ Use the spellpoint variant from Unearthed Arcana (also available on the SRD).
⦁ XP components require 5gp per 1 xp.
⦁ No basic material components are required (everyone has Eschew Materials)
⦁ Material components with a listed price are deducted from your carried gp upon casting
⦁ Level 0 spells are free, at-will abilities.

For Gestalts
⦁ Dual Progression classes only advance one side (i.e. Mystic Theurge would only progress both spellcasting classes if both are present on the same side as Mystic Theurge)
⦁ You cannot gain class benefits beyond your HD (i.e. Sorc // Sorc would net you two seperate spells known and spell point pools calculated on each side individually)
⦁ LA/RHD must all be contained on the same side
⦁ Qualification for a PrC must be accomplished on the side you take the PrC on. Racial, feat, BAB/Saves, and skill requirements are not included in this (i.e. if you are required to have evasion, you must take the PrC on the side that grants you evasion, however if you are required to be Large size, either side qualifies, assuming you are Large size)
⦁ Features that allow two classes to stack for calculations (i.e. Swift Hunter, Daring Outlaw, PrCs that continue spellcasting or class features, etc) only function on one side.

Feats
⦁ Feats that change your ability modifyer for attack rolls also change it for damage rolls. (i.e. using Intuitive Attack or Weapon Finesse would change your attack and damage rolls to Wisdom or Dexterity)
⦁ The two-weapon fighting feat tree is condensed to one feat. Upon gaining additional main-hand attacks via BAB (and BAB only) you gain an additional off-hand attack.
⦁ Improved Two-Weapon Fighting reduces the penalties for fighting with two weapons by 2/2 (negating the penalty for using a light off-hand with the TWF feat, but not completely negating the penalty for using a non-light off-hand, etc). Improved Two-Weapon Fighting also removes the off-hand damage penalty (i.e. the offhand weapon does your full ability modifyer damage instead of 1/2). The pre-requisites for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting are unchanged.
⦁ Diehard increases your HD by one size. This is retroactive. If you already have a d12, your HD in effect becomes a d14.

Class Features
⦁ Trapfinding: Any PC can locate magic traps above DC20 etc etc. PCs with Trapfinding are instead granted an automatic search check within 10ft of the trap (akin to Stonecunning or the Elven ability to locate secret doors). This applies to mechanical/magical traps, not "It's a TRAP" ambushes, etc.
⦁ Trap Sense: This is now a bonus on anything regarding to a trap, i.e. Search checks, Disable Device checks, etc in addition to AC and Saves vs traps. (Seriously WotC...seriously)
⦁ Monks may wear light armor without losing their monk things. Monks also gain Intuitive Attack as a bonus feat option at level 6.
⦁ Ki Strike: Monks with Ki Strike may use their unarmed strike damage value or the weapon's damage value with weapons the monk class grants proficiency in.
⦁ Crusaders stance progression is delayed by 3 levels past the 1st level (giving them a new stance when straight Crusader progression actually has the stance available)

Character Generation
⦁ Every player rolls 4d6b3 x7, re-roll 1s. Any player may use whichever set he/she prefers (multiple players may use the same set), allocating 6 of the rolls to their ability scores as they see fit. If you do not wish to use a roll set, you may instead use a standard 36 point-buy per DMG rules. Re-rolls are not allowed.
⦁ If starting at 1st level (because obviously someone hates you very much), use your class's max gold value. If starting above 1st level, use th11e DMG wealth-by-level guidelines. There is no maximum limit on what percentage of your wealth is spent on an individual item. Artifacts are to be discussed with the DM.
⦁ Magic Items may be combined per the rules outlined in Magic Item Compendium. (The lowest cost item of the two being combined is multiplied in cost by 1.5. Adding "Common Effects" from the table are not subject to the 1.5 modifyer.)
⦁ Legacy Items lose their indicated penalties. GP prices for Legacy Rituals must be paid to gain the Legacy Ritual feats associated with the weapon (but the rituals themselves need not be performed), unless you use a regular feat slot. If paid for at the appropriate level, they are gained as bonus feats as normal.
⦁ Inherent Bonuses to ability scores from items (i.e. Tome of Understanding) are cumulative. Inherent bonuses still cap at 5. Buying a Tome of Understanding +1 increases your Wisdom by one. Later paying the difference between a Tome +1 and a Tome +2 will increase it another point, etc. Buying 5 Tomes of Understanding +1 will leave you with a +1 bonus and a hole in your wallet.

Item Familiars
⦁ Using the Item Familiar for skill boosts gains you a 30% circumstance bonus on all class skill checks (i.e. you roll your skill check, then add 30% of the check as a bonus, rounded down). Loss of an item familiar (according to Unearthed Arcana guidelines) results in loss of the bonus and imposition of a penalty to all class skill checks of the same number.
⦁ Using the Item Familiar for the XP boost reduces the cost of xp-money by 50%. Losing your Item Familiar results in future xp-money costs increasing to 150% of normal.
⦁ Using the Item Familiar to boost spellcasting (Invest Spell Slot) results in gaining spellpoints equal to the highest level spell you can cast (i.e. if the highest level spell you can cast is 5th level, you gain 5 spell points). This effect grows with you. When you attain 6th level spells, your bonus spell points become 6 instead of 5, etc. Essentially it grants you enough spell points to cast one more spell of the highest level you can cast. Losing your item familiar results in you losing the bonus spell points, and gaining a deficit to spell points equal to what your bonus would have been.

Ranged Combat
⦁ Throwing may use either Strength or Dexterity for attack rolls, choose when you attack. Power Attack may be used with throwing if using Strength.
⦁ Longbows/shortbows apply 1x strength modifyer to damage. Composite bows apply a bonus beyond this on damage rolls equal to 1/2 the strength modifyer of the bow or your strength modifyer, whichever is lower.

AC/Saves
⦁ You can only receive AC/saving bonuses from a specific source once (i.e. you can only apply your Charisma bonus to AC once, regardless of abilities that each apply CHA to AC in different types, but you can still apply CHA to each save once on top of WIS/CON/DEX, but only once.)
⦁ Shield bonuses apply to Touch AC.


Yowzers, that's quite a list! :smalleek: I'll read through it to the best of my abilities - I just skimmed through it and barely scratched the surface.

[Barsoom]

Actually, Practical Metamagic can only reduce the level adjustment to a maximum of 1+ the original level of the spell. So if you need to cast the spell as 2 lvls higher for example, you cast it at 1, but you can't reduce 1 to 0.

Ah, my bad. Misremembered. In that case, more complex finagling is needed.

[Sylthia]

Rule1: Have fun, this supersedes all other rules.

Rule2: Dont prevent other players from having fun.

Nice and simple :smallcool:

Good rules, but I'd say that rule 2 supersedes rule 1.

[gurgleflep]

Comments from outta nowhere!

A few of mine for pathfinder...

1: No killing party members. You can disagree or be evil, but you function as a team. (I thought this obvious, but some recent threads show otherwise.)

2: Only small or large races with no LA.

3: Any official core race or class is permitted. 3rd party stuff taken on a case by case basis.

4: I used elite arrays for abilities and take average hit die rounded up per level for HP.

I quite like your number 1, it prevents the loss of time.
Two questions though: 1.) There are large races with no LA?
2.) I don't understand number 4.


Rule1: Have fun, this supersedes all other rules.

Rule2: Dont prevent other players from having fun.

Nice and simple :smallcool:

Simple rules :smallsmile:

[The Ravensong]

1) Shennanigans are great, douchebaggery's not cool.
2) If a class you want to play suffers from MADcasting, choose one of the ability scores associated with that classes spellcasting to deal with all the aspects (Bonus spells/day, DC, highest level spell you can cast, etc)
3) The rules for monks unarmed strikes says you can treat it as a natural or manufactured weapon for magic items and spells, not feats, so no Improved natural attack feats for monks... that's what superior unarmed strike is for.
4) Campaigns will be tailored to the party. If the party chooses to powergame, encounters will be adjusted to provide a challenge for you.
5) If you're not having fun, talk to me about it, if you want more RP opportunities/traps/horror/romance/you don't feel like you're getting a chance to shine let me know, I'm tailoring the campaign to what I think you want, so if you're not having fun: tell me.
6) Most everything from WotC is fair game unless something seems inappropriate for the setting. Third party material on a case by case basis.

[Raven777]

I have my ONE RULE:

This is a game. The fun of playing an evil character, a good character, a lawful character, a chaotic character or a neutral character is of equal objective value. Therefore, you can pick any alignment you like, but you come up with reasons for working together, and you actually support each other's goals. Warlock : no fireballing the Orcs the paladin just spared. Paladin : no foiling the warlock's lichdom ritual.

[gurgleflep]

*snip*
4) Campaigns will be tailored to the party. If the party chooses to powergame, encounters will be adjusted to provide a challenge for you.
5) If you're not having fun, talk to me about it, if you want more RP opportunities/traps/horror/romance/you don't feel like you're getting a chance to shine let me know, I'm tailoring the campaign to what I think you want, so if you're not having fun: tell me.
*snip*

How does one tailor the game to their party?


I have my ONE RULE:

This is a game. The fun of playing an evil character, a good character, a lawful character, a chaotic character or a neutral character is of equal objective value. Therefore, you can pick any alignment you like, but you come up with reasons for working together, and you actually support each other's goals. Warlock : no fireballing the Orcs the paladin just spared. Paladin : no foiling the warlock's lichdom ritual.

I like this rule :smallbiggrin: Keeps my orcs alive!

[Sylthia]

Comments from outta nowhere!


I quite like your number 1, it prevents the loss of time.
Two questions though: 1.) There are large races with no LA?
2.) I don't understand number 4.



Simple rules :smallsmile:

Sorry if I wasn't clear. When creating characters, I use an elite array for stat generation, rather than rolling for it. It helps keep the characters at a similar power level. And let's the players make their characters before-hand, rather than having to have someone witness the dice rolls. My current array is 18-16-14-12-12-10. If also take the average for HP per level, d6=4, d8=5, etc.

I'm not aware of any large races with no LA off-hand, but I have that rule just to cover myself from having to figure out how a large creature is going to get through every dungeon I design.

[gurgleflep]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. When creating characters, I use an elite array for stat generation, rather than rolling for it. It helps keep the characters at a similar power level. And let's the players make their characters before-hand, rather than having to have someone witness the dice rolls. My current array is 18-16-14-12-12-10. If also take the average for HP per level, d6=4, d8=5, etc.

I'm not aware of any large races with no LA off-hand, but I have that rule just to cover myself from having to figure out how a large creature is going to get through every dungeon I design.

Okay, that's a lot easier to understand :smallbiggrin: Thank you for clarifying that! It's a very nice idea :smallsmile:

Use the enlarge spell on a medium. Cast permanency on the enlarged ___. Boom! Large with no LA (as far as I know). I found that out in another thread :smallcool:

[The Ravensong]

How does one tailor the game to their party?
For example:
If the party wants to focus on roleplay and diplomacy I structure my adventures around giving the chances to do just that.
If your rogue is kitted out for dungeon delving, picking locks, disarming traps and the like, give the rogue a chance to use those skills every so often so they don't feel like they've wasted points.
However, if your party tunes out during roleplaying or are otherwise disinterested in that kind of thing, set up more hack and slash and dungeon crawl.
If your party has newer players in the game, slowly introduce them to different mechanics and tactics by having their enemies use them.
Perfect example: I have a player for whom this is only her 3rd or 4th time playing dnd, and she's not familiar with all the options she has. So, first dungeon she walks into has goblins that have turned tables on their side so they can shoot at the party from cover. Now she knows that there are tangible benefits to hiding behind things.

[Telonius]

My current houserules (always evolving, and shifting based on the campaign and the skill level):

Character Creation
- One free 18. Roll 4d6 five times, rerolling any one, once. (If it comes up as another one, it was meant to be). Drop lowest die result. Arrange as desired. (Mulligan if less than a collective +7 bonus).

Race
- Half-Elves get one extra skill point per level.
- Half-Orcs lose the CHA penalty and gain a +4 racial bonus to Intimidate.

Class
- Remove favored classes. Multiclass is free.
- There can be Lawful Barbarians, Lawful Bards, and Chaotic Monks.
- All Clerics are Cloistered Clerics.
- Clerics gain proficiency with their deity's favored weapon. (War domain still gives them the Weapon Focus feat).
- Fighters get 4+Int skill points per level.
- At level 5, Fighters gain the "Adaptable Focus" class ability. Once a day Fighters can spend 1 hour practicing with a weapon to change the kind of weapon for which they have Focus or Specialization. This designation lasts until the Fighter spends an hour to change the weapon focus again.
- Paladins take the alignment of their deity (if any) and must act as a prime example of the ideals of their deity, philosophy, or cause.
- Monks get full BAB, proficiency with Gauntlets (which are also a Monk weapon), and can spend time/gold/xp enchanting their own body as though it were a weapon/armor.
- Sorcerers get free Eschew Materials at first, and their HD improves to d6.
- Rogues get an additional Rogue Ability at level 20.
- Rangers and Druids trade animal companions.
- Knowledge (Religion) and Knowledge (Geography) are now on the Druid class skill list.
- Druids use the Shapeshift variant (except for the animal companion, as described above).

Skills
- Open Lock and Disable Device are rolled into one skill, Disable Device (based on Dexterity).
- Balance and Tumble are now one skill, Acrobatics (based on Dexterity).
- Listen and Spot are now one skill, Perception (based on Wisdom).
- Hide and Move Silently are now one skill, Stealth (based on Dexterity).

Feats
- Remove the +1 BAB requirement for the Weapon Finesse feat
- Weapon Focus grants a bonus equal to Fighter Level/5 (minimum 1). Greater Weapon Focus doubles the bonus.
- Weapon Specialization grants a bonus equal to 2*(Fighter Level/5). Greater Weapon Specialization doubles the bonus.
- Metamagic feats do not take more time for spontaneous casters
- Natural Spell is stricken from the game.
- The Two-Weapon Fighting feat now scales to include extra attacks with each iterative Attack. Improved Two-Weapon fighting lessens the penalty by 1 for each attack. Greater Two-Weapon fighting lessens the penalty by an additional 1.
- The Rapid Shot feat now scales to include extra attacks with each iterative Attack. Manyshot lessens the penalty by 1 for each attack.
- Toughness grants you HP equal to your current HD.
- Delete the phrase “and use the charge action” from the Ride-By Attack feat. Ride-By Attack will function as the mounted equivalent of Spring Attack.

Spells
- The following spells are stricken from the game: Shapechange, Polymorph Any Object, Wind Wall, Contingency, Knock.
- Divine Power is no longer a standard Cleric spell. It is still on the War domain list.

Miscellaneous
- Fractional BAB for multiclass characters.
- Starting characters may choose race or templates totalling +2 LA. Buyoff is available.
- SR does not have to be turned off in order to receive a beneficial spell.
- All adventurers are issued the following items free, not counted against WBL:
1 Handy Haversack, 1 MW armor or MW weapon, 10 trail rations (kept in the haversack), 1 spellbook (if a wizard), 1 holy symbol (if a cleric or paladin)
- When making a mounted charge, the mount is not required to make an attack (though it may do so if beneficial).
- Dust of Sneezing and Choking does not exist.
- There are no Vorpal weapons in my game. If you ever encounter a Vorpal weapon, you can be assured that you will soon be facing a Jabberwocky, which will be an epic-level foe.
- Don’t try to break the game. I reserve the right to say no to any race/feat/class/PrC/equipment/whatever combination. If you’re not sure, ask; I’m willing to work with you if it’s not too ridiculous.
- Add Pun-Pun as an over-deity of Cheese, Exploits, and Metagaming. Pun-Pun is aware that he is a god in a fictional gaming world. Anyone that slips something past me in an attempt to break the game will bring down his wrath. He is jealous of his ultimate power, and will personally act to prevent any player/character from approaching it.

[Zero grim]

My personal guidelines for when I GM, none of these are written in stone but they are the general things I do to try and keep role play night a fun experience people can look forward too.

1) almost always start at level one If we have new players.
I feel its more rewarding to have a full character progression and not just poof to high levels.

2) mostly any 3.5 book is allowed, mostly anything inside can be taken without consulting me, Books from other settings (such as eberron) are on a case by case basis to see if they fit the world, Dragon Magazine and web supplements are outright banned.
This is to reduce the amount of in session reading i have to do and balance between players.

3) Roll for stats only during a session, other wise use standard point buy or elite array.
simple rule to stop someone rolling and then deciding that was only a test, if you roll for your character you play those stats, got a single 18 and then average an 8, have fun with that, i find characters gain flavour very quickly when they have a weakness.

4) If an item or ability is not on your character sheet then it doesn't exist, this extends to notes that players forget what they are.
This stops "egg shaped thing" from being an hour wasted to remember a single item from 3+ months ago.

5) have any alignment or race you want so long as you can deal with consequences.
My world is primarily lawful/good humanoids playing a chaotic vampire ogre is fine so long as you realise when the paladins come after you that I'm not just picking on you for being weird, If a good party goes to an evil area they get just as much hassle why shouldn't you?

6) 21st level and none magic settings don't exist.
D&D is a system about a group of magical powered beings going around doing cool things, if you want to do none magic adventures there are better systems for it the same goes for epic, ill rarely run a campaign past the high teens anyway.

7) golden rule, if an answer to a question isn't found within about a minute mid session whatever I say goes until the end of the session, after which I will probably refresh my knowledge of those rules.
This is another time saver, it also helps stop arguments.

[Sylthia]

My current houserules (always evolving, and shifting based on the campaign and the skill level):

Character Creation
- One free 18. Roll 4d6 five times, rerolling any one, once. (If it comes up as another one, it was meant to be). Drop lowest die result. Arrange as desired. (Mulligan if less than a collective +7 bonus).

Race
- Half-Elves get one extra skill point per level.
- Half-Orcs lose the CHA penalty and gain a +4 racial bonus to Intimidate.

Class
- Remove favored classes. Multiclass is free.
- There can be Lawful Barbarians, Lawful Bards, and Chaotic Monks.
- All Clerics are Cloistered Clerics.
- Clerics gain proficiency with their deity's favored weapon. (War domain still gives them the Weapon Focus feat).
- Fighters get 4+Int skill points per level.
- At level 5, Fighters gain the "Adaptable Focus" class ability. Once a day Fighters can spend 1 hour practicing with a weapon to change the kind of weapon for which they have Focus or Specialization. This designation lasts until the Fighter spends an hour to change the weapon focus again.
- Paladins take the alignment of their deity (if any) and must act as a prime example of the ideals of their deity, philosophy, or cause.
- Monks get full BAB, proficiency with Gauntlets (which are also a Monk weapon), and can spend time/gold/xp enchanting their own body as though it were a weapon/armor.
- Sorcerers get free Eschew Materials at first, and their HD improves to d6.
- Rogues get an additional Rogue Ability at level 20.
- Rangers and Druids trade animal companions.
- Knowledge (Religion) and Knowledge (Geography) are now on the Druid class skill list.
- Druids use the Shapeshift variant (except for the animal companion, as described above).

Skills
- Open Lock and Disable Device are rolled into one skill, Disable Device (based on Dexterity).
- Balance and Tumble are now one skill, Acrobatics (based on Dexterity).
- Listen and Spot are now one skill, Perception (based on Wisdom).
- Hide and Move Silently are now one skill, Stealth (based on Dexterity).

Feats
- Remove the +1 BAB requirement for the Weapon Finesse feat
- Weapon Focus grants a bonus equal to Fighter Level/5 (minimum 1). Greater Weapon Focus doubles the bonus.
- Weapon Specialization grants a bonus equal to 2*(Fighter Level/5). Greater Weapon Specialization doubles the bonus.
- Metamagic feats do not take more time for spontaneous casters
- Natural Spell is stricken from the game.
- The Two-Weapon Fighting feat now scales to include extra attacks with each iterative Attack. Improved Two-Weapon fighting lessens the penalty by 1 for each attack. Greater Two-Weapon fighting lessens the penalty by an additional 1.
- The Rapid Shot feat now scales to include extra attacks with each iterative Attack. Manyshot lessens the penalty by 1 for each attack.
- Toughness grants you HP equal to your current HD.
- Delete the phrase “and use the charge action” from the Ride-By Attack feat. Ride-By Attack will function as the mounted equivalent of Spring Attack.

Spells
- The following spells are stricken from the game: Shapechange, Polymorph Any Object, Wind Wall, Contingency, Knock.
- Divine Power is no longer a standard Cleric spell. It is still on the War domain list.

Miscellaneous
- Fractional BAB for multiclass characters.
- Starting characters may choose race or templates totalling +2 LA. Buyoff is available.
- SR does not have to be turned off in order to receive a beneficial spell.
- All adventurers are issued the following items free, not counted against WBL:
1 Handy Haversack, 1 MW armor or MW weapon, 10 trail rations (kept in the haversack), 1 spellbook (if a wizard), 1 holy symbol (if a cleric or paladin)
- When making a mounted charge, the mount is not required to make an attack (though it may do so if beneficial).
- Dust of Sneezing and Choking does not exist.
- There are no Vorpal weapons in my game. If you ever encounter a Vorpal weapon, you can be assured that you will soon be facing a Jabberwocky, which will be an epic-level foe.
- Don’t try to break the game. I reserve the right to say no to any race/feat/class/PrC/equipment/whatever combination. If you’re not sure, ask; I’m willing to work with you if it’s not too ridiculous.
- Add Pun-Pun as an over-deity of Cheese, Exploits, and Metagaming. Pun-Pun is aware that he is a god in a fictional gaming world. Anyone that slips something past me in an attempt to break the game will bring down his wrath. He is jealous of his ultimate power, and will personally act to prevent any player/character from approaching it.

It looks as though a lot of your house-rules follow Pathfinder, and I like most of the ones you have there.

As to the earlier reference to permanencied Enlarge Person. I love the spell Enlarge Person as a temporary buff and the sorc NPC I have tagging along the party of my current campaign commonly casts it, but I'm not a fan of Permanency in general. I don't outright ban it, but I let my players know that if they use it, they can and probably will have it dispelled.

[Chained Birds]

I prefer PF, though many of my PF rules apply to 3.5 games as well.

I don't have many rules outside the normal array of "Be Nice" and "Don't Make Things Too Awkward."

- If you are summoning creatures or changing your ability scores and/or other stats around regularly (Polymorph, Rage, Wild Shape, Size Changing, etc.), always have notes detailing the new changes and/or creature stat blocks.

- You can fight and disagree all you want (even backstab in rare occasions), but ruining someone else's character is not cool.

- Point-Buy is always preferred over rolling. I like everyone being on the same level, though I may throw a few more points at some of the more MAD classes if there is too big of a power difference between the PCs (Like a Wizard, Druid, Cleric, Psion, and a Sorcerer, hanging with a basic Fighter).

- Psionics are ALWAYS welcome! Transparency rules apply.

- I may misinterpret some rules and may make mistakes. If you call me out on these mistakes, I won't mind and will be a better DM for it. Just don't harp about it as I can be a bit vindictive towards people that anger or upset me. :smallannoyed:

- 3.5/3.0 and even some 3rd party stuff may be allowed after I give a glance through what you want. Note that I really don't like full on Homebrew, but you never know.

[CraftyCactus]

I discourage Leadership and an abundance of LA-adjusted PCs. Playing as a hoard makes it easy to lose focus on the main guy (RP-wise). As for the LA thing, it seems that the stranger the race, the more often the player focuses on roleplaying the race as opposed to the character. Nothing hard 'n fast, only something to which I try to pay attention.

As for rules in general, I'm quite fond of most of the 3.5e rules, so I stick to them as often as I can. I don't mind PVP, but I'll then rule with an adamantium fist in terms of alignment changes, combat mechanics, and social interference (i.e. city watch, public rumors, judicial sentence, etc.).

[Urpriest]

I don't like allowing Large size. It basically limits me in the type of adventures I can throw at the party (no skulking through confined spaces). If a player really really insists, and it seems they can't have fun w/o being Large for some reason, I can roll with it.


Pointing this out merely because lots of people don't know about it: a Large creature can squeeze into a 5 foot square. They take penalties when they fight there, but a four person party won't be able to do much in a five foot corridor either. So unless you're regularly putting your PCs in 2.5 foot corridors, Large players can go anywhere Medium ones can.

[Fyermind]

In the format
Rule.
example
Punishment for breaking the rule.
example or clarification

Character Generation:

Play someone who plays well with others.
If you want to play a paladin, figure out why you don't want to play a crusader, then figure out why you might work with non-zealots in the party.
If the other players and I have to talk to you repeatedly, or if you so desire and I approve, your character becomes my character and you are reintroduced as soon as plot allows with an appropriate character of your choice.
This is not an effective means of loot acquisition. I will make darned certain of it. This is an acceptable manner in which to retire a character only if it is in character for said character. This is only a problem if another Player is made unhappy by it (note that pissing off characters is fair game).

Gestalt. You are allowed to take PRCs on both sides. PRCs that combine multiple classes are allowed, but will be altered or restricted as the DM sees fit.

Max HP/HD Class features or racial features that would give you something like this will increase your HP somehow... I'll figure it out if it ever comes up. There are like, two templates and one class that do it that I know of and they are all epic.

Talk to your fellow players as you plan characters to make sure you won't be overshadowing anyone or leaving such gaping holes as not being able to cast dispel magic or activate a want of cure light wounds.
If you don't, assume I will not start the campaign until you fix it.


At the table:

Don't raise your voice or target individuals in a rules discussion or argument.
In the even of an argument, any players who raise their voice will be excused to while they go to the kitchen and pour themselves a glass of juice. They will be welcomed back when they have finished their juice.

Don't distract the conversation during epic scene moments.
Trivial random encounters, shopping trips, (most) inter player dialog, and bathroom breaks (for players or characters) are all great times to talk about the most recent episode of dancing with the stars. While you are fighting a lich in it's lair whose phylactery you have expelled from the multiverse but not destroyed (a fantastic trick by the way. It will still come back, but won't be able to effect anything) is not a good time.

When you sense a fight looming, interrupt immediately if you think you will be called by nature in the next hour.

Turn your phones off.
Or I will turn them off. I am bad with technology. I just remove the batteries. Apparently iPhones aren't designed that way? Who knew.

If you roll a die and want it to count for something, say what it's for before you roll it. Only the DM is exempt from this rule to avoid spoilers. If it is clear there is no risk of spoilers, the DM will say what it is rolling for.

If you roll a die, wait for someone to see it before you touch it. If you and the DM agree it is unclear what the result is or if it isn't on the table anymore, roll it again. The DM is also exempt from this rule if plot requires it.

If they players want good notes, they should take them. I'm happy to look over notes and check them for accuracy.


Between sessions and things to bring to sessions:
Have a leveled up version of your character ready. Show it to me some time before you need it.

If you want to summon it, have it's stats ready. I'll try to help with this.

If you want to turn into it, have it's stats ready.

If you want to call it, and feel it's that different from summoning, have it's stats ready.

Keep record of your buffs and how they effect you.

Keep records of your usual spells, class features, and feats including page numbers in case we need to look something up fast.

Bringing food is appreciated. Share or don't eat at the table. Don't eat messy food at the table no matter what.

[Lhurgyof]

1) Shennanigans are great, douchebaggery's not cool.
2) If a class you want to play suffers from MADcasting, choose one of the ability scores associated with that classes spellcasting to deal with all the aspects (Bonus spells/day, DC, highest level spell you can cast, etc)
3) The rules for monks unarmed strikes says you can treat it as a natural or manufactured weapon for magic items and spells, not feats, so no Improved natural attack feats for monks... that's what superior unarmed strike is for.
4) Campaigns will be tailored to the party. If the party chooses to powergame, encounters will be adjusted to provide a challenge for you.
5) If you're not having fun, talk to me about it, if you want more RP opportunities/traps/horror/romance/you don't feel like you're getting a chance to shine let me know, I'm tailoring the campaign to what I think you want, so if you're not having fun: tell me.
6) Most everything from WotC is fair game unless something seems inappropriate for the setting. Third party material on a case by case basis.

I like most of these, but the monk one is weird. Why crap on the worst class in the game? :smallconfused:

[The Ravensong]

I like most of these, but the monk one is weird. Why crap on the worst class in the game? :smallconfused:

It's not that I want to crap on them, it's just that the requirements for Improved Natural Attack has the prerequisite of a Natural Weapon, which the rules repeatedly say unarmed strike is not. There's an online article somewhere saying that it is a natural weapon, but in that same article, it also says that unarmed strikes are not natural weapons, nor are they replacements for natural weapons, much like medium creatures with the powerful build ability do not qualify for feats that require you to be large. That said, Superior Unarmed Strike from tome of battle specifically gives monks the ability to treat themselves as being four levels higher in regards to their weapon damage (and has lower pre-reqs).
If I were running a game allowing only core books, I'd make an exception. The issue I take with allowing Improved Natural Attack for monks is that players will stack the two.
Otherwise, if we do choose to follow that precedent, a level 7 tiefling monk qualifies for Soul-Eater because they have an unarmed strike as a natural weapon they can take weapon focus for.
Soul-Eater bestows a negative level with every natural attack, two negative levels at level 7 of soul eater, with no mention of a save allowed (unless I missed something). Flurry of Blows suddenly turns into Flurry of Why Should I Bother Rolling Damage and Could You Hand Me Their Character Sheet Please Because They're Enslaved Now.
Long story short. I don't allow it, because its not allowed and because there's another feat that's nearly identical.
The articles I mentioned earlier can be found below. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure as you may come to a different conclusion myself, I simply don't see how:

"A monk's unarmed strikes can be treated as either manufactured or natural weapons when applying spells or effects that enhance either manufactured or natural weapons. For example, either a magic weapon spell or a magic fang spell can enhance a monk's unarmed attacks."
translates to:

"This allows a monk access to all manner of weapon enhancements for her unarmed strikes. For example, a monk can use the Improved Natural Attack feat to increase her unarmed strike damage."
I do understand that this is a matter of contention because I can understand how the wording could potentially go either way... and because Skip Williams said you could do it. I'm just not confident that feats are effects, and because I've seen other precedents that expressly say that counting as something doesn't let you qualify for things that have what you count as for a prerequisite (Like powerful build not allowing you to qualify for hulking hurler)
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20070327a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20070403a
PS: Sorry for longwindedness
EDIT
PPS: Nevermind, FAQ says go for it. I suppose I'll either have to house rule something or let the two feats stack as RAW (And RAI I guess). I was just confused by this :smallannoyed:

Unarmed Attack/Unarmed Strike: These two terms are used interchangeably to describe an attack with an appendage that is not a natural weapon, such as a human's fist. An unarmed attack usually deals nonlethal damage and provokes an attack of opportunity from the creature being attacked.

[wayfare]

I never run anything above level 10. I feel like there is plenty of epic in those levels, if you play smart and have a good story.

[Maginomicon]

There's an online article somewhere saying that it is a natural weapon, but in that same article, it also says that unarmed strikes are not natural weapons, nor are they replacements for natural weaponsWhat it says is that unarmed strike counts as a natural weapon for the purposes of weapon enhancements only. (the magic fang spell, the kensai PrC's signature weapon ability, etc.) In all other ways, it's not a natural weapon.

[DigoDragon]

One rule I have to enforce is "No YouTube during session". During a break is fine, but when we're on-the-clock to play an RPG, I expect us to be playing the RPG. Doesn't seem to be a strict rule, right?
It's hard running a BBEG encounter when half the party is watching a kitten video on the warlock's lappy.

Well, was hard until I started skipping their turns in combat for not paying attention. :smallamused:

[Miranius]

The two most important (and more or less only) rules in my games:

Players and DM have a gentlemans agreement. Players won`t use exploits, clone armies, unkillable characters or similar and neither will the DM. If they do, so can the DM.

Try not to metagame. If players use tactics or other things based on Player-knowledge and not character-knowledge... Whatever they face, It Gets Bigger:smallbiggrin:

[Heliomance]

For D&D 3.5:

In any setting where Pun-Pun is possible, it's already happened. He now spends his time making sure no-one else can do it. In related news, I'm the best optimiser in the gaming society. I can and will top your cheese.

Everyone gets 50% extra base skill points from their class. I like skills, and having more skill points encourages people to actually take some fluff skills. Yes this does mean a changeling rogue gets 15+INT skill points when he takes the substitution level.

If you want to use homebrew, or obscure splatbooks, or even third party, feel free to ask. I'll look it over and give a verdict. Unless it's horribly unbalanced, I'll probably say yes. If you want to play something horribly underpowered, talk to me and we'll find a way to make it work. If it's horribly unbalanced and I missed it, congratulations! You snuck one past me, and got a powerful character. If you intend to abuse this, kindly reread rule 1.

The Orb spells are Evocation, SR: Yes

All healing spells are Necromancy [healing]. Necromancy is the magic of life and death, positive energy belongs there just as much as negative.

Mindless undead are not inherently evil. Uncontrolled they're dangerous, but no more than any wild animal that sees sentient creatures as a food source. Necromancers still tend to be evil, because it generally takes a certain kind of person to be interested in making zombies, but animating undead is not in itself an evil act.

Identify doesn't have an expensive material component, but it also doesn't get you anything like as much information. It allows you to read the runes holding the enchantment on an item - I tend to think of them like computer code. The spell will get you a basic idea of an item's purpose - "It's a protective item", "It's something to do with fire", "It bears an enchantment to keep the blade unnaturally sharp" etc. Then you can make Spellcraft checks to decipher it further and get more information. Higher caster level enchantments are more complicated and require higher Spellcraft checks to understand. All the spell itself does is let you view the source code, essentially.

The check to remember information you've already heard but the player can't remember (whether in the campaign or backstory) is d20+INT+WIS

Feel free to spont-cast cantrips. I know I can never be bothered to work out which cantrips I have prepared, and they're so minor. Also, while I don't allow at-will cantrips like Pathfinder, I won't mind all that much if you don't keep a careful count and end up casting more than you should be able to in a day. Just don't abuse it.

[mistformsquirrl]

Really depends on the context of the individual game, but I do have a couple pretty ironclad rules:

1) No Evil Alignments - It's not that evil characters can't be interesting, but they very rarely are in fact played in an interesting fashion, and are almost always 'stupid evil'. It also makes party infighting a problem since even cooperative evil characters will eventually do something to PO the good aligned characters in the party.

I will admit also that some of the players I've had in the past did some particularly squicky things under the guise of "But I'm eeeeevil..." and that also turned me rather far off of allowing evil alignments. So.. yeah, I just don't let people play evil in my games.

2) Please do not cheese the system to the nth degree just because it's rules legal. I hate having to 'nerf' someone once the game has begun; but I will do it if it's the only way to keep the game workable for the rest of the group. (This doesn't mean you can't optimize, just don't break the game for everyone else while doing it. Courtesy and all that.)

3) Don't cheat. Cheating at D&D is as pointless as it is stupid (ie: very) - I've rarely encountered it, but when I have it's been painfully obvious and really, really annoying.

4) Your character aught to behave at least somewhat rationally. Being a goofball at times is fine, but don't do something wildly out of bounds 'because it was funny'. IE: Randomly murdering shopkeepers, stealing cattle you have no use for, throwing fish at someone as a primary fighting style (unless it's one of 'those' campaigns) - that kind of thing.

I had to invent this rule due to a particularly looney player who I think just made mental die rolls to determine his next action, and none of said actions ever made a bit of sense. When asked to explain it always came down to "It amused me." ... it also derailed the campaign pretty horribly and made it unfun and frustrating for everyone else.

(Note; this rule is suspended in comedy campaigns. If we have a paladin with a kickboxing horse named Bruce (really happened), you're probably fine to do whatever zany thing you can think of. Just... make sure it's that kind of campaign BEFORE hoisting the mayor by his underpants to the top of the flagpole. Please.)

Or to sum it all up in short:

"Please, don't be a jerk. Consider the other people at the table."

Most of my other rules are campaign specific and involve minutiae of given worlds; so really would be hard to list.

[The Ravensong]

What it says is that unarmed strike counts as a natural weapon for the purposes of weapon enhancements only. (the magic fang spell, the kensai PrC's signature weapon ability, etc.) In all other ways, it's not a natural weapon.

I totally agree that that should be the case and that is how I run things at my own table; however, the latest FAQ from WotC as well as designer notes from Skip Williams specifically say otherwise.

[drax75]

1. Max Hit points at every level

2. Max Starting Gold

3. No Multiclassing penalties

4. If it looks too hard to defeat, thats because it is, so run away or die I don't really care which.

5. Play Any race/class in any 3.5 book, as long as you have levels to support the ECL, and as long as its a official 3.5 Wizards of the Coast book. The only exception is of course pun-pun, and other stupid builds.

I usually also preface my games with a small speech.

"Hello and welcome to my game, you will likely die. I do not believe in coddling my players, half of you have joined this game for the sheer challenge of staying alive. I give you all the advantages you will require to win your encounters, however occasionally part of the game will require you to run for your lives. Please remember to play your characters like it was you in real life. If something looks really hard and far too powerful to defeat, thats because it is. If you were to fight it there's a chance you could win, but a much higher probability that you will die horribly. The decision is your, because frankly i do not really care."

You know i give this speech and people still do stupid stuff and die in my games.....

People always talk about how amazing my games are because they require a lot of brainpower and i get asked to run all the time, but inevitably someone always tries to Ice Skate uphill.....

[JaronK]

Sadly, my current game (I'm not the DM) has fumble rules in it. Dear lord, it's terrible. On a 1 to hit, something horrible always happens... including things like "your skeletal minion's arm falls off" and "you fling your weapon away". As a result, the melee characters are comically silly in combat while magic is, of course, far more effective (since I can avoid rolling to hit).

It's otherwise a really fun game though.

JaronK

[Barsoom]

Sadly, my current game (I'm not the DM) has fumble rules in it. Dear lord, it's terrible. On a 1 to hit, something horrible always happens... including things like "your skeletal minion's arm falls off" and "you fling your weapon away". As a result, the melee characters are comically silly in combat while magic is, of course, far more effective (since I can avoid rolling to hit).

It's otherwise a really fun game though.

JaronKI hate fumble rules as a player, and don't do them as a DM.
Really, if you roll a 1, you auto-miss, and all your fellow players look at you with pity. That's enough of a punishment. There's no need to invent "weapon flies off" and such stuff.

[Sylthia]

I forgot to mention I ban leadership as well. It can really clog up combat if everyone is leading a small army.

I've started a new house-rule for negative levels. Instead of having to keep 12 copies of your charactrer sheet, you just take a -1 to any roll you make for each level drained. If you drainage, exceeds your character level, you collapse and can't do anything until the levels are restored.

[Barsoom]

Actually, the rules for negative levels are simple and concise, and don't require multiple copies of the character sheet.


A creature takes the following penalties for each negative level it has gained:

•-1 on all skill checks and ability checks.
•-1 on attack rolls and saving throws.
•-5 hit points.
•-1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).
•If the victim casts spells, she loses access to one spell as if she had cast her highest-level, currently available spell. (If she has more than one spell at her highest level, she chooses which she loses.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.

[Sylthia]

Actually, the rules for negative levels are simple and concise, and don't require multiple copies of the character sheet.

I feel foolish, but where is that listed?

[Barsoom]

In the srd (just type 'negative levels' in the search box)

[Kelb_Panthera]

In the srd (just type 'negative levels' in the search box)

Alternately, you can find a specific page number for it in the index of the DMG & I -think- it's in the glossary in the PHB.

[Razanir]

No Evil PCs
If you play CN, actually be CN. No using it as an excuse for Evil
I am bad at making stuff up on the fly. Please don't go too far away from where you are
Perception and Stealth will be borrowed from PF
No multiclassing penalties
As a correlary, there's no more favored classes
It's legal if it's in the SRD
Homebrew is allowed on a case by case basis. Playground material is more likely to be allowed, dandwiki not so much
The DM is allowed to use as much homebrew as he wants. It makes for cooler bosses

[Legendxp]

I allow gestalt in my campaigns but I don't allow cleric/druids. If you do take druid levels with other classes I nerf some of the class abilities. The prerequisites for any starting classes are automatically waved. This allows you to take a barbarian/paladin or a bard/monk. (This makes for some really neat characters) I also allow any WotC class if it is not 3rd party, they just have to show it to me first.

Here are some really important rules.
1). Have your spells listed down somewhere or the sourcebook already open when its your turn. Having to wait 10-15 minutes for someone to find and read the entry for a spell can be REALLY annoying when you have 3 spellcasters in your playgroup.

2). Keep track of your player's carrying capacity and more importantly HOW they are carrying their things. (i.e. if you don't have a pack or any pouches, how are you carrying so much stuff?)

3). Writing things down is helpful. I'm not responsible for remembering your characters' exp levels, gold, and items. If you don't remember how many spells you have used I'll guess (and I won't be very considerate).

[NeoPhoenix0]

here's my list for 3.5

1) 4d6 re-roll 1s for abilities.
2) infinite cantrips/orisons. versatile caster, cure minor wounds, and repair minor damage use your standard amount of lv 0 slots.
3) critical hits multiply the damage instead of rolling more dice.
4) no orb of element spells unless you are a warmage.
5) no ray of stupidity.
6) you can get away almost any RAW legal cheese once before it gets house-ruled.

[lunar2]

1. instead of a max +5, inherent bonuses cap at +1 at 1st, with an additional +1 every 4 levels. so at 20, it's actually +6. by spending one month in training, a character can gain a +1 inherent bonus to one ability score. inherent bonuses stack, up to the limit.

2. rolls of 1 on attacks and saves are treated as -10. rolls of 20 are treated as 30.

3. characters in campaigns that start at 1st level can have all the level adjustment they want, but only 1 HD. they start with 0 XP and normal starting gold, but gain XP as a character of their ECL.

4. feats, max skill ranks, effects based on number of HD, and ability score increases are calculated based on ECL, not character level. so a PC bugbear gets an ability score increase right away from their +1 LA, and has a max skill rank of 7/3.

[PlusSixPelican]

I tend to not be fond of 'Monty Python, Portal, and anything else that's over-referenced' references. It's been done to death, it's not original, no you're not a comic genius, and the aneurysm from the nth CAKE IS A LIE spew is going to make me play worse.

[killem2]

1. No evil alignments

2. No Item Familiars

3. Handle Animal is capped. You can only control half your max skill bonus in total hd of creatures.

4. Wealth by level except for level 1, that is rolling starting gold times 1d4.

5. I generally roll 5d6 drop 2 lowest, max core stat. (fighter auto 18, wizard auto 18 ect)

6. No dry erase markers near the battle grid lol.

7. EXP at the end of each session.

8. Before each session starts, I need to see character sheets so I can take particulars down.

9. I expect you to roleplay your flaws.

10. No flaws that will be useless for you anyway. (taking pathetic, to lower a dump stat)

11. I allow all WOTC 3.0/3.5 Material, dragon and dungeon mags, and all 3rd party, and homebrew if I review it first.

12. Max HP possible every 5 levels.

[Mo_the_Hawked]

My DM has only one concrete rule.

No bringing up 'That 70's Show' during a game.

[Sylthia]

My DM has only one concrete rule.

No bringing up 'That 70's Show' during a game.


Is there a story behind this rule? I've heard banning Monty Python, but this one is new to me.

[Squirrel_Dude]

1. Characrter creation, if possible is done by the party at the first session. I want my players to create a great party, not 4 to 6 characters.

[Sylthia]

1. Characrter creation, if possible is done by the party at the first session. I want my players to create a great party, not 4 to 6 characters.

Do you mean 4-6 characters each, or you don't want the party to be 4-6 total? I don't think I understand.

[NeoPhoenix0]

i believe he is talking about characters that compliment each others strengths and weaknesses rather than lone wolfs.

[Lhurgyof]

It's not that I want to crap on them, it's just that the requirements for Improved Natural Attack has the prerequisite of a Natural Weapon, which the rules repeatedly say unarmed strike is not. There's an online article somewhere saying that it is a natural weapon, but in that same article, it also says that unarmed strikes are not natural weapons, nor are they replacements for natural weapons, much like medium creatures with the powerful build ability do not qualify for feats that require you to be large. That said, Superior Unarmed Strike from tome of battle specifically gives monks the ability to treat themselves as being four levels higher in regards to their weapon damage (and has lower pre-reqs).
If I were running a game allowing only core books, I'd make an exception. The issue I take with allowing Improved Natural Attack for monks is that players will stack the two.
Otherwise, if we do choose to follow that precedent, a level 7 tiefling monk qualifies for Soul-Eater because they have an unarmed strike as a natural weapon they can take weapon focus for.
Soul-Eater bestows a negative level with every natural attack, two negative levels at level 7 of soul eater, with no mention of a save allowed (unless I missed something). Flurry of Blows suddenly turns into Flurry of Why Should I Bother Rolling Damage and Could You Hand Me Their Character Sheet Please Because They're Enslaved Now.
Long story short. I don't allow it, because its not allowed and because there's another feat that's nearly identical.
The articles I mentioned earlier can be found below. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure as you may come to a different conclusion myself, I simply don't see how:

translates to:

I do understand that this is a matter of contention because I can understand how the wording could potentially go either way... and because Skip Williams said you could do it. I'm just not confident that feats are effects, and because I've seen other precedents that expressly say that counting as something doesn't let you qualify for things that have what you count as for a prerequisite (Like powerful build not allowing you to qualify for hulking hurler)
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20070327a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20070403a
PS: Sorry for longwindedness
EDIT
PPS: Nevermind, FAQ says go for it. I suppose I'll either have to house rule something or let the two feats stack as RAW (And RAI I guess). I was just confused by this :smallannoyed:

What if a monk uses a monk belt and reaches 12th level?

You could just ban souleater. My only problem is that monk is a sucky class, and you're taking one good thing monks can do and saying no. You might as well just say no monks so they dont feel left out because they suck compared to everybody else. Its your game though, so feel free to do as you please. As long ss your players don't mind it should be fine.

[Sylthia]

i believe he is talking about characters that compliment each others strengths and weaknesses rather than lone wolfs.

That makes sense, although in my group we using have quite a bit of communication as to what we're making before the first session, since it can take several hours to put everything together.

[Barsoom]

Is there a story behind this rule? I've heard banning Monty Python, but this one is new to me.
I would chance a guess that a tragic unrequited infatuation with Mila Kunis is involved.

[Mo_the_Hawked]

Is there a story behind this rule? I've heard banning Monty Python, but this one is new to me.

Yes. A quite heated DECADE long argument between me and the only other player regarding Hyde's taste in music.

Any mention of the show ends the game session that night, because we just can't help ourselves, it would all be ok if he'd just admit he's wrong!

[JaronK]

I find it interesting how many people ban evil alignments in their games. I'm playing an evil character right now... only he's not stupid evil. He goes out of his way to look good to others (he's currently remodeling an orphanage) and makes a point of rescuing folks and not doing anything horrific around anyone else... and then convincing the party that his other things (like sacrificing bunnies to Persistent Consumptive Field to power his magic) are reasonable sacrifices given the severity of the situations at hand.

JaronK

[DigoDragon]

The Orb spells are Evocation, SR: Yes

All healing spells are Necromancy [healing]. Necromancy is the magic of life and death, positive energy belongs there just as much as negative.

Hmmm, I like these. Especially the first one as it can give pause to a specialist wizard looking to drop two schools for the usual go-to of Conjuration.

[killem2]

13. We use fumble and critical hit rules from the deck from Paizo. They're awesome.

[Squirrel_Dude]

That makes sense, although in my group we using have quite a bit of communication as to what we're making before the first session, since it can take several hours to put everything together. it also depends on the situation.


Level 1 Start: Everyone does it at the first session. All stats, all purchases, all feats and skills.
Level 10 Start: Do most of it on your own. Edit them or help the new players at the first session. Minor inventory purchasing (food, rope, bags) should be done as a group.
Level 20 Start: Do that **** on your own. Our first session can not last a week.

[The Ravensong]

What if a monk uses a monk belt and reaches 12th level?

The monk counts as being a 17th level monk for everything the monk's belt enhances. If you mean to ask what happens if that same monk also has superior unarmed strike, then I suppose you'd count him as a level 21 monk for the purposes of unarmed damage. Which is 2d6. I understand where you're coming from, but at the end of the day there are relatively cheap ways for monks to get to 3d6 damage (or better) without feats that could be better spent elsewhere.

[Sylthia]

Another rule I use is an 8 hour rest restores all HP.

[Tholomyes]

My general PF rules:

Rule 1, the goldenest rule of all golden rules: Don't be a ****; everyone is here to have fun. As such, you will not be petty dickish children to the other PCs, you will not go out of your way to screw over the DM. Likewise, the DM will act fairly, and justly, and will make his goal that everyone is having fun, not just the DM.

(This is the result of a particularly bad gaming group that I had the displeasure of playing with, where it was clear that the entire group, with the exception of me and another player, had not outgrown their petty childishness. Essentially, the DM felt his job was to make the game hell for the PCs, the Players thought their job was to screw up the DM's plans where possible, and be absolute *******s to the other PCs. For example, if a player is absent for a session, make sure they get left to die, the more horribly the better. I do not like this mindset. I don't want to play with people who have this mindset.)

Rule 2: Story and Narative trump dice. Essentially, the way I play, for example with social checks, a well RPed situation will afford at least a partial success, even if the dice would say failure (subject to DM's discretion, of course; if someone dumps Charisma, hoping to RP social situations well, and still succeed, that won't fly). No penalties for "bad" RP or for not RPing it out (though I will require a description for what they want to convey; I won't let someone say "I roll diplomacy to convince the guard to let us in" they'll need to at least tell me how they're trying to convince the guard.)

Likewise, a bad series of dice usually won't be enough to kill a character, unless there's particular risk in the action. For example, a normal fight I won't kill off someone even if the rules dictate, but if they're charging into the big bad's lair, because they have to stop him from completing his ritual before midnight, and they can't stop to rest, there's definitive risk in that.)

Rule 3: Evil alignments allowed, but it cannot violate rule 1. You must have a reason to work with the party, and not betray them. If you get to the point where you cannot continue working with the party you must roll up a new character.

Rule 4: If it's in a "core" book it's legal. If it's in an "Advanced" book, it's probably legal, but I hold veto power. If it's Homebrew/3rd party/WotC chances are it's not legal, unless you convince me. I don't have time to look through every homebrew thing for how it might be broken, so I generally assume if a player comes to me with something like that, without a good reason, it's for cheese. A bit harsh of me, I'll admit, but honestly, Archetypes go a long way for thematic variations.

Rule 5: No rolling for stats or HP. Point Buy stats and HP/level is 1/2 HD Max +1. In addition, no 7s in stats. 8 is enough to represent a flaw, flavorfully, and going down to 7 in a stat is just min-maxing. I usually give enough points in point-buy that min-maxing is unnecessary, anyway.

Lastly: No EXP. It's a stupid concept. You level up when appropriate. This is usually roughly when EXP says you should anyway. If you feel I am cheating you I will give you the breakdown of the encounters and story EXP, but it provides a much more satisfying narrative experience not tracking EXP every fight, or even every session.

[gurgleflep]

*snip*
Lastly: No EXP. It's a stupid concept. You level up when appropriate. This is usually roughly when EXP says you should anyway. If you feel I am cheating you I will give you the breakdown of the encounters and story EXP, but it provides a much more satisfying narrative experience not tracking EXP every fight, or even every session.

Ah-ha! I knew I wasn't the only one who did that! This actually made me smile, I needed that. :smallsmile:

[Coidzor]

Haven't actually gotten to DM yet, but this is an amalgam of the rules my group uses and my own personal twist.

1) No characters smaller than Small or larger than Medium without discussion and approval

2) Stat Generation is 4d6 per stat, reroll 1s, best 3, done three times and formed into arrays, with the player picking whichever array of the three they most favor. Or if they can't roll in person, point buy.

3) Homebrew, Dragon Magazine, and other Third Party content by approval, and the rest of the group is made aware of it barring a compelling narrative reason not to inform them of it.

4) No PVP unless we agree to it at the start of the campaign or have a quorum make a motion to put it to a vote. If the campaign won't work with PVP, then it's a vote between continuing with no PVP, a half hour of downtime to consider the problem, or adjourning to some other activity for the rest of the evening.

5) If PvP is on the table, no griefing and no using killing teammates to grossly break WBL by repeatedly ganking others.

6) If there's a rules disagreement that can't be looked up within 5 minutes, the DM makes an ad-hoc call and it is reviewed before the next session.

7) The DM will endeavor to provide a written resource for their houserules and any major body of homebrew they are using upfront either before the campaign is agreed to, during char-gen, or at campaign start.

8) Re-roll HD if it is below half.

9) Mundane ammunition, rations, and water are not tracked until a reason is given for them to be tracked.

10) Encumbrance is only loosely enforced unless you're trying something egregious or it becomes relevant.

11) Summons, polymorph/wildshape forms need to be already in the player's possession for quick reference before they use them in-game.

12) Characters are created with their Constitution Score + max for their HD hp at 1st level and die at Negative Constitution Score*2. Between 0 and -Con Modifier, it's a d%, 50% chance of stabilizing, between -Con Modifier and -Constitution Score it is a d%, 30% chance of stabilizing, below -Constitution Score it is a 15% chance of stabilizing. Damage, such as from a bleed effect or being attacked occurs as normal, but instead of slowly bleeding out until stabilized, instead, for every second failed death saving throw, their condition worsens one step. Healing effects do double effect until 0 HP is reached.

13) The majority of the world is operating on E6 to E10 rules.

14) No class or HD gets less than 4+Int skillpoints, no less than 2 skillpoints per HD even with Int penalties.

15) No Multiclass XP Penalty, of course

16) No favored classes or something akin to Pathfinder's version.

17) Retraining is allowed and relatively easy, Rebuilding is by DM approval and has additional in-game barriers.

18) All WOTC books are allowed as sources, all characters must be run by the DM before play for approval and either a copy of the character sheet will be furnished to the DM and updated after the primary sheet is leveled up or the essentials given to the DM and updated when the character sheet is reviewed post-levelup.

19) All of the party should take notes, but one player is the designated party note-taker and there is also a designated map-maker unless playing online. Any key or unknown items will have a name that is made known to the DM for his or her own notes as well as a note made of where it was found in-game and preferably which session.

20) No more than mild flirting without prior discussion, any sex scenes will be glossed over generally with a fade to black unless we've agreed to play a game where there is something that requires the use of mechanics such as BoED material. Also, No Rape. Just. No.

21) If you manage to make the DM or another player feel like he or she needs a shower after your depiction of debuachery or graphic violence, the game is tabled for at least 10 minutes to give everyone a chance to cool down and get over their jibblies.

22) No electronics in use at the table unless they're being used as reference material. Or providing sound effects/musical accompaniment.

23) Cantrips and Orisons require no preparation and may or may not be infinite depending upon the game, if not infinite then they are doubled.

24) Your characters need to at least try to be team players to some extent, otherwise talk with the DM about a plotium leash before play.

25) Skills are condensed, mostly ala Pathfinder

26) In progress, but amongst the homebrew going to be used are feats that inherently scale with level or via investment like "prowess"

[nobodez]

Well, it's been a few years since I last ran my big campaign (I actually wrote up a book with the campaign rules, even had it printed up by Lulu, though that), but here's a basic summary of my rules:

1) No Evil. You're heroes, act like it.
2) Have Fun. This is a game, not a competition. Nobody has to lose for you to win.
3) New characters start halfway through the previous level. This gives you a bit of xp to craft with (though now that I play Pathfinder, this won't be an issue), and doesn't leave you too far behind the party (I'd likely move it up to minimum XP for level of the lowest party member, since I play Pathfinder and there are less things to spend XP on).
4) Action Points. You can spend them to either gain the random bomus or do cool stuff (I had three pages of double column 14 pt type of cool stuff to do with action points, and not just one at a time). You can even gain them if I feel you did something cool without them.
5) Anything outside of the Core Rules needs to be approved and adapted by me for the setting. Most things are fairly simple, but cheese is usually nerfed. I had a list of the adaptations in the document.
6) Backgrounds get you bonus XP, as does being the player who writes down the loot. Backgrounds need to be approved by me, and loot lists will be audited at random for honesty.

Now, those are for my last big campaign. For my last campaign period, it was a Pathfinder/d20 Modern Gestalt game set in the Dragon*Star campaign setting from early 3rd edition. Players started with triple HD plus Con Score HP (in the 4th Edition model), but only because it was common to find 5d6 weapons at low levels. Also, I ran short little adventures for the first three levels, allowing them to quickly get to 4th level before throwing them into the wide and wooly galaxy.

For my next campaign I'm likely to eliminate magic items, and replace them with an innate magic item system (call them Chakras or something, and have the PCs be able to "bind" magical properties to various "chakras"). This is because I gave my PCs in the last adventure a large amount of money (64 million credits, IIRC, with credits ≅ gold pieces), and while they spent it mostly on mundane equipment, they quickly hit the edge of the magic item limits. This way I can award gold outside of WBL limitations without breaking the system.

[DonDuckie]

[PF]
General rules:
1) The combat chapter of the rules is only relevant when in combat.
2) More class HD doesn't make you harder to kill, only better at surviving. Level 1st or level 20th; having your throat cut in your sleep kills you - get a guard dog.
3) Play your character - no brainy Int 6 characters.
4) Social skills matter: a player may make the best argument for peace ever, but a diplomacy check result of 2 means the character can't convince the parties.
5) If it isn't specified by the rules. I'll make some rules for it.
6) Rules discussions are not allowed to slow down play.

specific for current campaign:
a) You have multiple characters; one main and two backups... new partymembers don't just pop up when you're in the middle of nowhere.
b) New characters start at 1st level.
c) You receive boons(mechanical rewards) as you adventure - new characters start without these.
d) No PvP.
e) Limit the Evil...
f) Keep your rounds short. Or lose it. Combat isn't for thinking...

EDIT
g) this is sandbox: you don't just spend 30 days building something... it's an adventure.

Most of these are to keep things moving. I like to explore the High Fantasy world, to determine how people live and why they don't live differently.

[JusticeZero]

Level 1, P6.
HP are standardized. A level 0 Commoner has 4 HP, no good saves, no class skills. When you get your first level it's added onto that. Max roll at level 1. Every level after is median hp (round up). So, a level 3 fighter, before con, always has 4+10+6+6=26 HP. I could justify just median every level, but I don't like level 1 squishiness. Stats are generated by choosing three numbers, then subtracting those from 25 for the other three (all six bounded between 7-18 of course). No die rolls while making or leveling characters. I'm just too damn old to argue about die rolls in chargen.

Current campaign has no alignment. There's really no crunch that calls it. If there was, it would be fully deontological, and using class abilities are a ___ act. As such, a necromancer could easily stay Evil while hanging out with and partnering with a Paladin and happily matching them good deed for good deed, because every time they summon up negative energy their alignment gets dinged hard. Likewise, Monks have no problem staying Lawful. Alignment has no effect on behavior.

Monk: Every weapon is a monk weapon. All simple and martial weapons. Full BAB progression. Wis to damage at level 3.
Gunslinger has Artificer item creation spliced in, but that's a campaign specific special.

Slings have full ROF. Javelins and Darts are treated as the same weapon and use the best stats of each. An atlatl adds +20' to the range. Some other weapons are tweaked. (Greatclub to Simple Weapons, etc) Shields give ac bonus to touch and reflex saves.
Take 10 values on Notice checks for PCs to avoid "Wait! I think I just failed a spot check!"
A natural one, on the first melee attack in the round only, provokes an AoO from the target which can only be used for a combat maneuver, if a natural 1 would ordinarily miss touch AC.
Precise shot and the TWF line are freebies.
When your round comes up, go. You can't ask any questions on your turn, only between other peoples' rounds.
It's your responsibility to come up with character concepts that work together. PvPers don't get invited back.

[Icewraith]

All classes gain a minimum of 2 extra skill points per level (except rogues and similar). You should probably grab spot, listen, sense motive, or similar if they're cross class for you now. You probably want to have some sort of sense you can roll to detect enemies and something you have a reasonable chance of rolling in social interaction.

Open lock and disable device are the same thing (knock only works on locks though).

Crappy passive boring +small number feats like weapon and spell focus can be gained as bonus feats once every three levels. Roleplay investment is required and you must explicitly state you are working towards these feats. You cannot gain extra feats this way prior to gameplay.

The improved critical feat will add +1 threat range and an extra +1 crit multiplier in cases where the relevant weapon in question is keened etc. (Keen longsword with improved crit (longsword) is 16-20x3)

If, during gameplay, a situation comes up where the rules are vague, questionable, or cannot be quickly found, I (the DM) will attempt to rule fairly baced on memory, precedent and similar rules. During a break or after the session, we can look up the correct rules, and assuming they make sense and can be quickly located, will be the rules going forward. The ruling made at the time stands.

With the exception of new players and situations involving potential character death or other serious consequencecs, players will declare actions within a short time of their turn starting. Depending on how quickly they are able to resolve the action the character will either delay (and their initiative count will be adjusted accordingly) or they will lose their turn.

XP, treasure, and leveling up will be handed out at the end of the session. Please update your character sheets on your own time or once group play has stopped for the night (the norm).

If you dissappear during the session (going outside for a walk to talk on the phone for instance) for an extended period of time (like say, half an hour or more) without telling the group and wasting everyone's time there was no life threatening emergency, and we can't reasonably continue play without you, I will start rolling d20s while waiting for you. Every time I roll a natural 20, I will increment the number of monsters that will be attacking you shortly after play resumes by 1. The monsters will generally have a CR equal to your hit dice. (I have only done this once, but it hasn't happened again since!) I reserve the right to stop rolling once I reach a number of monsters I believe sufficient to kill you but not the rest of the party.

Clear your character concept and general build (if you know what you're doing) with the DM before the first session. Third party or homebrew material will be reviewed and approved or dissaproved. If you can't print out the section or bring the book so I can have a physical copy to reference during the game then the answer is no. If your homebrew is demonstrably higher power (or even the same power range really) than Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil I will look at it but the answer will be no.

Fractional base attack and saves are in play, you only get the +2.5 save once in each category.

Death from massive damage and multiclassing penalties are not in play.

I think that's all the biggies.

[Barsoom]

If you dissappear during the session (going outside for a walk to talk on the phone for instance) for an extended period of time (like say, half an hour or more) without telling the group and wasting everyone's time there was no life threatening emergency, and we can't reasonably continue play without you, I will start rolling d20s while waiting for you. Every time I roll a natural 20, I will increment the number of monsters that will be attacking you shortly after play resumes by 1. The monsters will generally have a CR equal to your hit dice. (I have only done this once, but it hasn't happened again since!) I reserve the right to stop rolling once I reach a number of monsters I believe sufficient to kill you but not the rest of the party.
Interesting rule.

Do you get to use it often?

[Icewraith]

All classes gain a minimum of 2 extra skill points per level (except rogues and similar). You should probably grab spot, listen, sense motive, or similar if they're cross class for you now. You probably want to have some sort of sense you can roll to detect enemies and something you have a reasonable chance of rolling in social interaction.

Open lock and disable device are the same thing (knock only works on locks though).

Crappy passive boring +small number feats like weapon and spell focus can be gained as bonus feats once every three levels. Roleplay investment is required and you must explicitly state you are working towards these feats. You cannot gain extra feats this way prior to gameplay.

The improved critical feat will add +1 threat range and an extra +1 crit multiplier in cases where the relevant weapon in question is keened etc. (Keen longsword with improved crit (longsword) is 16-20x3)

If, during gameplay, a situation comes up where the rules are vague, questionable, or cannot be quickly found, I (the DM) will attempt to rule fairly baced on memory, precedent and similar rules. During a break or after the session, we can look up the correct rules, and assuming they make sense and can be quickly located, will be the rules going forward. The ruling made at the time stands.

With the exception of new players and situations involving potential character death or other serious consequencecs, players will declare actions within a short time of their turn starting. Depending on how quickly they are able to resolve the action the character will either delay (and their initiative count will be adjusted accordingly) or they will lose their turn.

XP, treasure, and leveling up will be handed out at the end of the session. Please update your character sheets on your own time or once group play has stopped for the night (the norm).

If you dissappear during the session (going outside for a walk to talk on the phone for instance) for an extended period of time (like say, half an hour or more) without telling the group and wasting everyone's time there was no life threatening emergency, and we can't reasonably continue play without you, I will start rolling d20s while waiting for you. Every time I roll a natural 20, I will increment the number of monsters that will be attacking you shortly after play resumes by 1. The monsters will generally have a CR equal to your hit dice. (I have only done this once, but it hasn't happened again since!) I reserve the right to stop rolling once I reach a number of monsters I believe sufficient to kill you but not the rest of the party.

Clear your character concept and general build (if you know what you're doing) with the DM before the first session. Third party or homebrew material will be reviewed and approved or dissaproved. If you can't print out the section or bring the book so I can have a physical copy to reference during the game then the answer is no. If your homebrew is demonstrably higher power (or even the same power range really) than Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil I will look at it but the answer will be no.

Fractional base attack and saves are in play, you only get the +2.5 save once in each category.

Death from massive damage and multiclassing penalties are not in play.

I think that's all the biggies.
:smallyuk:

Not since the incident that caused me to come up with it, no.

[Jeff the Green]

I didn't include all of these in the campaign I'm running right now, but will for the next one.

General

Retraining is fine and free. Rebuilding may require in-game hoop-jumping.
No multiclass penalty. Leveling in your favored class or a directly relevant PrC gets you +1 HP or +1 skill point (+4 at 1st level).
Wonky rules text will be adjudicated on the fly unless it’s intended to be used frequently.
This isn’t a house rule, but bears mentioning: NO FUMBLES.
Rules 1, 4, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 34, 36, 41, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 of RACSD (http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.giantitp.com%2Fforums%2Fsho wthread.php%3Ft%3D240218&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEcmhhXl7pWPrZMzEpFA-KnFgXeMw) apply. As the name suggests, they’re common sense, so you mostly don’t have to worry about them.
Fluff-based prerequisites may be waived on request.
Chaining ACFs is okay except when it would give you strictly more than you gave up. (E.g. Familiar → Animal Companion → Urban Companion is not allowed, but Familiar → Animal Companion → Distracting Attack (PHB2) is.)

Alignment

Poison isn’t evil, but is generally considered dishonorable.
Evil characters are fine, but must play well with others

Casting

Replace spell component pouch with a focus (such as a poppet, wand, etc.) that is mechanically identical but more thematic for your character. You cannot buy this, but may craft one with four hours of work, 50 GP worth of materials, and a DC 10 Craft (e.g. wood carving, gem cutting, metalsmithing) check.

Feats

Darkstalker (LoM) applies to all unusual senses, including Mindsight.
Point Blank Shot gives the benefit of Precise Shot, and makes it so you don’t provoke AoOs for ranged attacks.
The Two-Weapon Fighting chain is folded into a single feat. You gain the benefits of ITWF and GTWF as soon as you meet the prerequisites.

Classes

Healers

Spontaneous, full list, Charisma-based casting.
Use this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4079.0) spell list minus foraging charm (Dr 302); ask about spells from other sources.
Prepare Sanctified spells in spell slots if wanted.

Monks

Full BAB.
d10 HD.
Flurry on a standard action.

Paladins

Smite per encounter, not per day.
Full caster level.

Rangers

Animal companion starting at level one, with druid progression.
Full caster level.


Skills

Masterwork tools of any kind are allowed so long as they’re described reasonably.
You can Aid Another on Knowledge checks by bouncing ideas off each other, but this takes at least three rounds of talking and doesn’t work on Knowledge Devotion or Dark Knowledge.
To convince someone to do something, use Rich’s Diplomacy fix. To get someone to like you in a social situation, roll as normal.
A rank in Listen gives you ½ rank in Spot, and vice versa
A rank in Hide gives you ½ rank in Move Silently, and vice versa
A rank in Disable Device gives you ½ rank in Open Lock, and vice versa
If you have 5 or more ranks in Perform (act), you get a +2 synergy bonus on Bluff checks and Disguise checks made when you know you’re being observed and you try to act in character.

Sources

All WotC 3.5 sources.
All WotC 3.0 sources that haven’t been updated.
Dragon Magazine, third party (including Dragon Compendium) and homebrew on review.
Despite my quick and dirty fixes for healer, monk, paladin, and ranger, I’m happy to allow more comprehensive fixes. Same thing for classes I haven’t fixed. Ask.
Pathfinder on review. In general, I won’t say yes if there’s a 3.5 equivalent.
Setting-specific feats, classes, etc. are fine. Fluff, race, or regional requirements may be ditched or changed at my whim.

Spells

Use my resurrection incantations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254498) rather than raise dead, resurrection, and true resurrection. Revivify works as normal.
Summon nature’s ally got no love in splats. Use this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11773709) expanded list.

Wealth

I may or may not use a virtual wealth system.
Gold buys mundane equipment, lodging, food, luxuries, etc. You will receive as much gold as is reasonable for the encounter, and may start with as much gold as is reasonable for your profession/background.
Magic items, alchemical items, poisons, and equipment made of special materials cannot be bought with gold or sold for gold. They must be obtained with favors from such powers as thieves’ guilds, nobles, politicians, churches, town councils, or powerful magical creatures, and can be traded to the same for favors.
Favors’ worth can be estimated with Appraise or an appropriate Knowledge skill. If you think you will fail or did fail, you can hire someone to figure it out for you.
Favors can be combined or split multiple smaller favors, as needed.
Crafting requires rare materials only attainable through favors.

When I don’t use virtual wealth, you don’t need to keep track of coin weights.

Variants

Prestigious Classes are generally fine.
Use Weapon Groups. Ask for PrCs. See table below for non-core base classes.
I will include recipes for Incantations in treasure on occasion. You can research them with access to a library. If you want to start the game knowing one or more, ask.

[Razanir]

I find it interesting how many people ban evil alignments in their games. I'm playing an evil character right now... only he's not stupid evil. He goes out of his way to look good to others (he's currently remodeling an orphanage) and makes a point of rescuing folks and not doing anything horrific around anyone else... and then convincing the party that his other things (like sacrificing bunnies to Persistent Consumptive Field to power his magic) are reasonable sacrifices given the severity of the situations at hand.

JaronK

I find it more interesting how few people ban CN, or at least require it to be roleplayed well. It might just be my group, but I'm used to people using CN as an excuse to be CE

[gurgleflep]

I find it more interesting how few people ban CN, or at least require it to be roleplayed well. It might just be my group, but I'm used to people using CN as an excuse to be CE

People in my campaign do that as well. :smallannoyed: Thanks to a situation that happened a while back, I've semi-banned the alignment as well. It's an unwritten rule. (If it isn't played right, they can't be it).

[lunar2]

oh, i forgot one.

skills are retroactive.

if you level up, and increase your INT. you get all the skill points from before. similarly, if your INT is drained (not damaged) you lose skill points as appropriate.

also, once a class skill, always a class skill. this is retroactive, as well.

so if a fighter buys 2 ranks of search at level 1 (for 4 skill points), and then takes a level of rogue, they now have 4 ranks in search, just as if it had been a class skill when they bought it.

[meto30]

Here are the fundamentals of our houserules at our table.

Rule 0: The DM is always right.
(Yes, that's not exactly a houserule, but we have extensions)

Rule 0.1: The DM has no duty to listen to player opinions. He can choose to, and he will often do, but in no way shall a player dictate his views on the DM.

Rule 0.2: If the DM doesn't see it, it isn't real. Example: Anything not written down on your inventory sheet does not exist in your inventory. If you think you obviously have said item, talk it out with the DM.

And then there are two giant tables of houserules, one concerning metagame, one concerning game crunch. But the above three stand as the constitution of our table, I have defended them for the entire 3 years of our campaign, and I shall continue to do so.

[Barsoom]

Rule 0.2: If the DM doesn't see it, it isn't real. Example: Anything not written down on your inventory sheet does not exist in your inventory. If you think you obviously have said item, talk it out with the DM.It usually only takes 0.2 nanoseconds for savvy players to start applying same rule to damage, ability drain, and negative conditions. "It's not on my sheet, therefore...."

[meto30]

It usually only takes 0.2 nanoseconds for savvy players to start applying same rule to damage, ability drain, and negative conditions. "It's not on my sheet, therefore...."

Note the rule states 'if the DM didn't see it'. If I'm tracking said damage behind the curtain, then said damage is real.

Besides, anyone pulling such shenanigans in our table is met with the DM's Hammer of Smite Player. Only required two uses of it to beat one such player into being a good sport.

[Coidzor]

I find it more interesting how few people ban CN, or at least require it to be roleplayed well. It might just be my group, but I'm used to people using CN as an excuse to be CE

So far I've never had a group where we wouldn't just smack the player for doing so. We also mostly knew at least two of the other players from some closer connection beyond playing D&D together.


Here are the fundamentals of our houserules at our table.

Rule 0: The DM is always right.
(Yes, that's not exactly a houserule, but we have extensions)

Rule 0.1: The DM has no duty to listen to player opinions. He can choose to, and he will often do, but in no way shall a player dictate his views on the DM.

Wow. Did something happen to provoke this low opinion of your players?

[meto30]

Wow. Did something happen to provoke this low opinion of your players?

When we began our grand campaign, the most experienced player in the group acted as the rules lawyer to counteract me the DM, who was the most experienced person in the group regarding D&D 3.5e. It was mostly fine before one fateful day when he built an Ultimate Magus that used the Practiced Spellcaster feat to boost wizard instead of sorcerer caster levels. I ruled that as far as I can see, that feat isn't meant to allow that. He objected, and thus began a five-day long argument over who is right. In the end I decided neither of us is going to persuade the other and pulled Rule 0 for the first time in the campaign.

It wasn't the first time we argued over something, the instances before including a suspected case of metagaming, overdose of cheese, and disagreement on alignment portrayals. All of these cases were civil, mind you. Now, after the argument over the Ultimate Magus was ended with the use of Rule 0, he asked that it be made clear in the houserules exactly what kind of authority the DM had over the interpretation of the rules, so that it may be referenced in a future 'trial'. I did not like the idea of someone using the rules to overturn the rules, so I went all-in and wrote the said three rules into our houserules codex. He understood my intentions, and from that moment forward no-one objected to my rulings. Well, they do point things out when they think I'm making a mistake, and if it turns out I was making one, I compensate for it, as dictated by our codex.

But the point is, IMHO a gaming party is too small to do anything democratically, and thus it is far more efficient to employ a dictatorial system like ours. When arguments can be ended with a simple "I'm ruling it thus", they don't begin at all. At least, that's how it worked out in our campaign.

[TuggyNE]

Rule 0: The DM is always right.
(Yes, that's not exactly a houserule, but we have extensions)

Rule 0.1: The DM has no duty to listen to player opinions. He can choose to, and he will often do, but in no way shall a player dictate his views on the DM.

Rule 0.2: If the DM doesn't see it, it isn't real. Example: Anything not written down on your inventory sheet does not exist in your inventory. If you think you obviously have said item, talk it out with the DM.

Although your subsequent anecdote doesn't support this, these rules sound a whole lot like they're just missing one last piece: "Rule 0.3: The player is always wrong." Which, as I think you can imagine, is perhaps to be avoided.

[Barsoom]

It was mostly fine before one fateful day when he built an Ultimate Magus that used the Practiced Spellcaster feat to boost wizard instead of sorcerer caster levels. I ruled that as far as I can see, that feat isn't meant to allow that.Could have just asked here on the forum. We'd tell you that you're wrong.

[Black Jester]

A complete lists of the houserules we use would be too long for this thread, but the most important ones in short form) are:

There are two types of characters: Heroes and Spellcasters. Heroes are the main protagonists, frontline fighters, clever rogues and the like; spellcasters use magic. These two categories are not qual; spellcasters are considered to be intrinsically inferior und generally less relevant characters. Hero characters start with better stats, gain more feats and other benefits during their career and have more freedom when it comes to the character creation. Spellcasters use mostly the average game rules, wit a few necessary nerfs here and there.
There is a small grey area for characters who are not truly spellcasters but not yet full heroes either (mostly bards and healers) who have fewer priviledges than heros but more than normal spellcasters.

The game uses gestalt rules with relative freedom concerning class combinations for hero characters (only minor spellcasting, no two martial adepts, a few minor ones). Spellcasters can only gestalt with NPC classes, wizards, clerics and druids only with commoners.

Character classes and races can only be selected from a white list provided by the GM. I abhor kitchen sink games with no distinguishable character and clear focus, so that filtering options is a sheer necessity to make sure that every option actually matters and the game does not drown in the white noise of basically irrelevant variations of the same theme. Currently we have banned incarnum and psionic characters, an only allow races from a fixed list (these on the other hand, are a bit better balanced and slightly stronger than the standard fare), including setting-specific cultural adjustments.

The higher your BAB, the more awesome you are. All characters gain a bonus equal to half their BAB to their AC and their Initiative and occasionally to other stats.

I am experimenting with a version of massive damage rules I actually might like. Until then, we use a slightly changed version of the vitality point system from UA.

No wealth by level system. Players are not entitled to any specific piece of loot they 'd like to have. All forms of treasure and magical items are granted by the GM and can (and probably will) be taken away by the GM at one point or the other. Some magical items will just not appear in the game, or be very rare. If you want to gain a specific, powerful item, it may be necessary to undergo a long and highly dangerous quest to find the components needed for the thing you want. All magical items are considered to be rather rare and unique.
Instead of a blinking set of items which makes the actual person who uses them mostly obsolete, characters gain fixed bonuses to several stats and bonus feats and the like based on their level (heroes obviously deserve and gain more and better abilities in this category).

There are two forms of spellcasting: slow and secure, or quick and dirty. Slow spells are reliable but take at least 1 round to be completed, leaving a relative large time frame to interrupt the spell, quick spells use the regular casting times but have an automatic chance to fail. Failed spells can lead to magical mishaps and botches, which are usually hilarious.

All arcane spellcasters depend on intelligence for maximum spell level (which is, by the way capped by the intelligence bonus, not the raw ability) and bonus spells and on charisma for the DC of saving throws.
All divine spellcasters depend on intelligence for maximum spell level and bonus spells and on charisma for the DC of saving throws. There are no SAD casters.

[Setra]

A few minor ones...

Roll two drop one for hit points on leveling, and if you STILL get a 1 you can reroll one.

You may ignore the -4 penalty for firing into melee, but if you miss by 4 or less you hit an ally in melee.

If you roll a natural 1, roll again. If it's another 1, drop your weapon (or go flatfooted if you can't), if it's a 20 you negate the natural 1 and may attack again.

[mistformsquirrl]

I find it more interesting how few people ban CN, or at least require it to be roleplayed well. It might just be my group, but I'm used to people using CN as an excuse to be CE

I find I don't need to say anything usually, if someone tries to RP CN as CE, there are consequences in short order... but usually that doesn't come up because when I give the spiel about 'no evil characters' it usually sinks in that I really mean that.

That's been my experience anyway.

[Squirrel_Dude]

Chaotic neutral is honestly more frustrating to the party than the world at large, in my experience. They get the party in trouble, or they're the rogue that refuses the find traps because that's too dangerous.

The two best ways to "control" a chaotic neutral character
- A strong and not stupid source of authority that will actually find out if they did something evil or truly troublesome
- Having the alignment discussion at the start of the game. Just get it out of the way, and make sure they know what is evil, and what isn't.

[nobodez]

Chaotic neutral is honestly more frustrating to the party than the world at large, in my experience. They get the party in trouble, or they're the rogue that refuses the find traps because that's too dangerous.

The two best ways to "control" a chaotic neutral character
- A strong and not stupid source of authority that will actually find out if they did something evil or truly troublesome
- Having the alignment discussion at the start of the game. Just get it out of the way, and make sure they know what is evil, and what isn't.

Well, I'm lucky. The players in my game who always play CN don't actually use it as an excuse to play CE, they use it as an excuse to play CG without getting as hurt by Blasphemy and the lot.

[NichG]

I've got a ton of them that are evolving from campaign to campaign, but probably two of the biggest mechanical ones of late that have worked out nicely for high-level play are:

- You cannot add more than one of your own stat modifiers to anything; if you would normally add more than one, you just use the biggest modifier in place of the smaller ones.

- Save or Dies have their save DCs halved, but if someone fails against the original DC they get a status condition called 'Touched by Death' which doubles all damage they take. Save or Loses (Dominate, Hold Person, etc) with durations higher than one round have their DCs halved but if someone fails against the original DC they get a status condition 'Fugue' which halves all damage they deal. Durations to taste - I've been using one round but I think 3 rounds is probably better.

[Waker]

I've been slacking off when it comes to actually listing my houserules, even have a thread that I made for it. Though I can still show you some of mine.

Rule 1: Don't p*** me off A rather broad rule, but most people know me as a pretty laid back guy. Just don't pull any crazy TO build or intentionally try to disrupt a game and I'm fine.

Rule 2: Alignments are dumb PCs/NPCs don't have alignments. Outsiders still have alignment subtypes. People can argue about morality and the like because to us, it's a debatable and somewhat situational concept. To Outsiders, Good/Evil/Law/Chaos are comparable to Gravity or Hot/Cold. Players just give me some roleplaying quirks/traits/goals and we're good to go.

Rule 3: Anyone can Craft There are no Crafting feats and anyone can make magic items with the correct Crafting skill.

Rule 4: No class/cross-class skills Anyone can put ranks in any skill. Max limit is still lvl+3.

Rule 5: Missing players are Schrodinger Cats If a player doesn't show up, they are in a state of being/not being there. While they can be assumed to know what the rest of the party was doing while they were absent, the rest of the party may not draw upon the missing players resources. If agreed upon in advance, another player may run a missing players character.

Rule 6: XP and Multi-class Penalties are annoying Characters level up roughly every 2-3 sessions. Spells/crafting that requires XP expends gold or other resources. No penalty for multi-classing, but must be justified through RP.

Rule 7: Characters die at -Con score If a character has 10 or less Con, they die at -10hp. Otherwise if they have 11 or more, they need to be reduced to that many negative hp. (ie 18 Con character would die at -18hp)

[charcoalninja]

In an effort to make melee more fantastic at high levels my current games use a fusion of PF and 4e. So there's a lot of rules at work.

Character creation:
Every character chooses a PF class. This determines their BAB, most of their HP, skills and saves.
characters gain ability increases and feats as per PF.
Every character also chooses a subclass. This is a 4e class. Characters gain all of the class features of the 4e class, and gain the flat HP of the 4e class at 1st level. (eg. paladin is 15 I think). Players gain full 4e feat and power progressions as well as paragon paths, epic destinies and ability increases as per 4e.
Characters gain healing surges as per their 4e class.
Saving throws are redesigned to match the Fort/ref/will defenses of 4e.
Armour class is replaced with the Reflex Defense. Armor grants stacking DR = to its armour bonus. This granted bonus increases with enhancement bonuses and a tier increase at paragon and epic as well.
Any 4e attack that lists as vs. AC is an attack vs. reflex that is reduced by armour DR. A 4e attack that attacks VS. Reflex bypasses armour DR.


The net effect of the above is that martials have an advantage over pure casters on using their 4e powers and effects due to their BAB vastly outstepping the 4e scaling.

Full attacks may be made with any melee basic attack. That means that at epic tier (level 21+) they do 2W baseline.

Currently I have it set up for using E20. So the game continues for 10 levels beyond 20, but the PF side doesn't increase anything, instead your 4e progression continues normally, and you gain a PF feat as if you were playing E6.

Weapons are different, crits are as per 4e.
Monsters are 4e.
Magic items are combined PF and 4e. Weapons for example must use a 4e model as the base, and can be enhanced with additional PF specials up to +10 in total specials. Costs on enhancement bonuses are as per 4e.

There's a tonne of other ones here as well as it is quite a bit of mixing but we played a weekend with it and the math worked out well.

Oh monsters gain armour DR = half their CON modifier unless their equipment entry lists a specific armour, or they're NPCs emulating a PC class like a hobgoblin warlord. One of the weapon modifications is the impact quality which on heavy blunt weapons like warhammer and the mace or the various picks which ignores armour DR based on the tier of the player, the enhancement bonus of the weapon and the weapons size (light, one handed or two handed). Non-magical is 1/2/3.

What I found was that the math between 4e and 3e was actually really really similar in terms of monster saving throws in PF and monster defenses in 4e. That right there showed me that spells would continue to scale appropriately and that a combined game would be easier than I initially thought.

And before people ask... I don't own tome of battle :P but I do own and love 4e (except for epic tier and the magic item metagame) so I hammered this out.

I might make another post later with a full write up on the merger just so people can take a look at it. We played a weekend with it and it was a lot of fun. The monk player was especially pleased with his new toys lol.

EDIT: one idea I'm playing with is to have the game run like 4e until paragon, and then have the players choose a PF class in addition to choosing a paragon path. This would allow the PF side of things to scale easily into epic and keeps the much more powerful PF magic off the table for the heroic tier. PF color spray and glitterdust, and web are all huge game changers and giving the players flight at 15 rather than 5th would hold more consistant with 4e assumptions of strength and would allow the heroic tier to mean something. This would also ensure that casters wouldn't gain access to the real crazy powers of Clone, plane shift, planar bindings and the strongest summon monster spells, undead armies until high paragon or epic tier where they're appropriate and martial have enough 4e support to not die immediately.

[Jon_Dahl]

1. Multiclassing into a new class (not a prestige class) requires training and decent training conditions and most often a qualified trainer. This might take 3-12 months.
2. Gnomes have two favored classes: Bard and illusionist
3. I use fumble rules. Single-class fighters can ignore fumble chart rolls once per day per every five levels. There is only one specific PrC that is permitted for fighters who wish to retain their daily fumble chart roll immunities.
4. I use critical hit charts. The size of the weapon vs. the target’s size rules the severity of critical.
5. Critical hits are not confirmed. There are no threats, just criticals.
7. No bonus languages for high intelligence.
8. Full hp at 1st level and after that you must roll at least half the maximum hp per level. Rolls are re-rolled until you get it right.
9. Only one sneak attack (or similar attack, such as sudden strike or skirmish) per round.
10. Starting wealth for creatures with Level Adjustment follows this pattern: LA +1 = No adjustment; LA +2 or more = LA is lowered by 1 for purposes of calculating starting wealth.
11. When you create a character, you may take levels in commoner (change rate is 2 commoner levels per 1 character class level), or in expert, warrior or adept (change rate is 1.5 per 1 character class level).

I also have an extensive ban list, and some homebrew feats and class variants. Some of the class variants have been popular, but the feats are not.

[PersonMan]

I don't see the point of rule 10 - WBL is based on your ECL, unless I missed something in my DMG that says otherwise.

Also, has rule 11's commoner function ever seen use? I can only see it being used either for tons of HD shenanigans, as commoner doesn't really offer anything.

I can see why you have the rule, though, with the multiclassing training thing.

[Jon_Dahl]

I don't see the point of rule 10 - WBL is based on your ECL, unless I missed something in my DMG that says otherwise.

Also, has rule 11's commoner function ever seen use? I can only see it being used either for tons of HD shenanigans, as commoner doesn't really offer anything.

I can see why you have the rule, though, with the multiclassing training thing.

Question #1:
Consider this: Everyone creates 1st-level characters, and one player wants to create a svifneblin. So it's a 1st-level svirfneblin among non-LA 1st-level characters and I'm fine with that, but I don't want him to have 4th-level starting gold (gnome's ECL is 4). According to my rule, he will have 3rd-level starting gold, which is pretty awful for other players, but that's how it goes. I hope this explanation is clear: I allow disparity in ECL, but not in starting gold.

Question #2:
Rule 11 hasn't seen any use, but one player has been considering it in order to create a shadowdancer at lower levels. The rule is vulnerable to all sorts of shenanigangs and I have warned my players not to meddle with it or I'll delete the rule.

[PersonMan]

Question #1:
Consider this: Everyone creates 1st-level characters, and one player wants to create a svifneblin. So it's a 1st-level svirfneblin among non-LA 1st-level characters and I'm fine with that, but I don't want him to have 4th-level starting gold (gnome's ECL is 4). According to my rule, he will have 3rd-level starting gold, which is pretty awful for other players, but that's how it goes. I hope this explanation is clear: I allow disparity in ECL, but not in starting gold.

In that case, I think a more elegant rule would be "you can have a higher/lower ECL than the rest of the party, but you have the same WBL". It would take care of the "if he is higher ECL, why does he get more gold, too?" problem as well.

I know I'd be confused if picking an LA race got me more gold than the party - I'd expect it to be the other way around, to balance out my (at least theoretically) stronger character.

[Razanir]

Question #2:
Rule 11 hasn't seen any use, but one player has been considering it in order to create a shadowdancer at lower levels. The rule is vulnerable to all sorts of shenanigangs and I have warned my players not to meddle with it or I delete the rule.

Does Chicken-Infested count as meddling? Because it'd be awesome to have an endless adventuring food supply like that.

[Coidzor]

11. When you create a character, you may take levels in commoner (change rate is 2 commoner levels per 1 character class level), or in expert, warrior or adept (change rate is 1.5 per 1 character class level).

So by taking levels in Warrior they can get +3 BAB while counting as a 2nd level character despite having 3 HD? Seems potentially rather useful for gishing, that. Or getting 3 levels of skills in exchange for 2 levels for a skill-shenanigans thing. Or making a fighter that can actually see things.

[Jon_Dahl]

So by taking levels in Warrior they can get +3 BAB while counting as a 2nd level character despite having 3 HD? Seems potentially rather useful for gishing, that. Or getting 3 levels of skills in exchange for 2 levels for a skill-shenanigans thing. Or making a fighter that can actually see things.

Rule 11 is made under the assumption that an 8th-level fighter is equal - in general - to a 12th-level warrior. Both have the edge on some things, but nothing critical.
If I'm right, it's a fine rule.
If I'm wrong, it should go.

[Coidzor]

Rule 11 is made under the assumption that an 8th-level fighter is equal - in general - to a 12th-level warrior. Both have the edge on some things, but nothing critical.
If I'm right, it's a fine rule.
If I'm wrong, it should go.

So I did understand and interpret how you were applying it to ECL correctly then, but the rule is not for Players to ever actually use? :smallconfused: If not, how would players actually use this? Are they always forbidden from multiclassing even without this rule in play?

Actually, how would leveling that way work, or does it only count for character generation when starting with characters at levels higher than 1 unless they want to start as a 2nd level commoner in a level 1 game? 1/2 the XP to reach the next level to take a commoner level? 2/3 the XP to reach the next level to take a warrior/expert/aristocrat level?

What is the real intent and aim of this rule?


12d8 (4.5*12) = 54 + Con
8d10 (5.5*8) = 44 + Con

Except it's actually 4-8 or 5-10, which would bump them up to 6 and 7 respectively... I think. Somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 and 6.5 and 7.5 anyway.

6*12 = 72+12*Con for the Warrior, versus 7*8= 56+8*Con for the Fighter. Let's say they have Constitutions of 16 due to a base of 14 and +2 items.

72+36 = 108 hp for the Warrior.
56+24 = 80 hp for the Fighter

Advantage Warrior by ~20 hp

Fighter 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 fighter bonus feats
Level 1, 3, and 6 feats

Level 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 feats

Advantage Fighter by 3 feats in terms of feat quantity, Warrior has advantage in terms of potentially being able to get more powerful feats in his 9th and 12th level feat slots.

Reminds me a bit of the Barbarians vs. Fighters argument and the way that Barbs can get shocktrooper and such on time too, or only a little later, but without being able to pick up side benefits. Warriors don't have Rage though.

[Jon_Dahl]

So I did understand and interpret how you were applying it to ECL correctly then, but the rule is not for Players to ever actually use? :smallconfused: If not, how would players actually use this? Are they always forbidden from multiclassing even without this rule in play?

Actually, how would leveling that way work, or does it only count for character generation when starting with characters at levels higher than 1 unless they want to start as a 2nd level commoner in a level 1 game? 1/2 the XP to reach the next level to take a commoner level? 2/3 the XP to reach the next level to take a warrior/expert/aristocrat level?

What is the real intent and aim of this rule?


12d8 (4.5*12) = 54 + Con
8d10 (5.5*8) = 44 + Con

Except it's actually 4-8 or 5-10, which would bump them up to 6 and 7 respectively... I think. Somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 and 6.5 and 7.5 anyway.

6*12 = 72+12*Con for the Warrior, versus 7*8= 56+8*Con for the Fighter. Let's say they have Constitutions of 16 due to a base of 14 and +2 items.

72+36 = 108 hp for the Warrior.
56+24 = 80 hp for the Fighter

Advantage Warrior by ~20 hp

Fighter 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 fighter bonus feats
Level 1, 3, and 6 feats

Level 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 feats

Advantage Fighter by 3 feats in terms of feat quantity, Warrior has advantage in terms of potentially being able to get more powerful feats in his 9th and 12th level feat slots.

Reminds me a bit of the Barbarians vs. Fighters argument and the way that Barbs can get shocktrooper and such on time too, or only a little later, but without being able to pick up side benefits. Warriors don't have Rage though.

Good questions.
ECL is calculated according to what the PC levels would have been. Thus a 10th-level commoner would be ECL 5.
Leveling works with the same change ratio. Commoner always jumps two levels when he levels up etc. Fractions would work better, but this is how we do it.

The real intent and aim for this rule is twofold:
Mechanical aspect - If you want to qualify for a feat or a PrC a bit in advance, this rule helps. "Hey, we are at 1st-level, but that Dwarven Defender just isn't that far anymore, now is it?" ;)
Background options - Now you can really create the peasant that has taken his pitchfork and decided to stand up to the orcs. The storytelling possibilities are now limitless!

[Tanuki Tales]

I have 39 pages (and going) of "house rules" for my Pathfinder games. I love finding threads like these since they're hot beds for inspiration. :smallbiggrin:

[gurgleflep]

I have 39 pages (and going) of "house rules" for my Pathfinder games. I love finding threads like these since they're hot beds for inspiration. :smallbiggrin:

I'm glad you find it helpful, it's given me some ideas too :smallsmile:

[ericp65]

Ability score generation:

1. Roll 4d6
2. Re-roll ones and twos
3. Discard lowest die
3a. Allow re-rolling a result < 12 (unless player wants a lower score)
4. Assign scores in order, applying any racial adjustments
5. Allow one swap between two scores, if player wishes

DM needn't witness ability score rolls, as he is overly trusting ;)

Dice rolls: DM must see all roll results (obvious, yes?)
Any dice that fall off the rolling surface must be re-rolled.
Players roll dice for the majority of things they want their characters to do.

[talonhawk01]

Ability score generation:

1. Roll 4d6
2. Re-roll ones and twos
3. Discard lowest die
3a. Allow re-rolling a result < 12 (unless player wants a lower score)
4. Assign scores in order, applying any racial adjustments
5. Allow one swap between two scores, if player wishes

DM needn't witness ability score rolls, as he is overly trusting ;)



This is the second most generous form of ability score generation I've ever seen. Trumped only by one group I played with which used the same first three rules, but you could assign the scores however we wished.

[lunar2]

This is the second most generous form of ability score generation I've ever seen. Trumped only by one group I played with which used the same first three rules, but you could assign the scores however we wished.

most generous score generation i've seen?

there are 2.

1. 4d6 drop lowest. if all 4 are the same, you keep all 4, because there is no lowest. somehow, everyone at the table ended up with at least 1 24 (the rogue had 3).

2. 36 flat point buy. flat means that each point of increase costs 1 point, so going from 17 to 18 costs the same as 8 to 9. the elite array in this game was 18,16,16,14,12,8.

[gurgleflep]

most generous score generation i've seen?

there are 2.

1. 4d6 drop lowest. if all 4 are the same, you keep all 4, because there is no lowest. somehow, everyone at the table ended up with at least 1 24 (the rogue had 3).

2. 36 flat point buy. flat means that each point of increase costs 1 point, so going from 17 to 18 costs the same as 8 to 9. the elite array in this game was 18,16,16,14,12,8.

Did they reroll any in the first set? I usually have everybody do the same thing, but reroll anything from 1-3, making the minimum score a 12. Dropping the lowest of course.

[lunar2]

nope. no rerolls. we all just got incredibly lucky.

also, i forgot the dm who used 1d6+12, reroll ones. so minimum possible score was 14, and pretty much everyone had at least one 18.