Starting a game soon...house rules. Suggestions?

[Talanic]

Okay, I'm starting up a game IRL soon and don't have a ton of experience. I have access to a lot of the books, many through borrowing but I own the most essential ones. I also want to try some house rules.

First off, I'm using Fax Celestis's Paladin, at http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33551 because it's far too nice to pass up. My players are alerted to this already. Thanks for making it!

Second, I want favored class to count more. This requires more paperwork, but I want to try it out. Every fourth class level gained will be a gestalt level which requires one of those levels to be the favored class of the race in question. This provides more variety between race and class combinations (albeit some homogeny within one race), making combat techniques vary; all elves have a little arcane magic, all halflings are just a bit sneaky, et cetera. I will be handling level-ups for them (at least the mechanics of it; I'm not dictating what they level up as, just doing the math for them, since it's my system).

Third, I am planning to use rules that extend the point at which someone dies after going into negative HP. After dropping below negative ten, the character in question is severely injured and in need of drastic medical attention (death occurs at negative constitution). Healing spells don't cut it anymore, and a DC 15 heal check is required daily to prevent hp loss. DC 35 allows a single hit point to be restored that day, but the catch is that a healing spell--instead of appyling healing--modifies the check (and stacks); Cure Light Wounds modifies the check by 2 to 13, Cure Moderate Wounds modifies by 12 to 26. DC 65 heals two points and 95 heals three points, et cetera. Restoration heals 1d6 without a heal check, and Regeneration completes convalescence instantly, restoring to a positive 1 hit point plus the healing done by the spell.
Full details are at link:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43264

Fourth, players can choose at level-up whether they want to roll for HP or take half + 1. If they feel lucky, they CAN roll, but it's in their favor to take half + 1. Their choice!

Anyway, those are all the house rules I have at the moment. Is there anything severely glaringly wrong with them? My players so far haven't seen part 3, and both parts 2 and 3 are my own (possibly deranged) ideas. Is there anything else you would suggest?

[mikeejimbo]

There is a variant rule that may have originated somewhere else, where they don't die until they reach negative Con hit points. (So if you have a Con of 20, you die at -20) You might want to have an actual value for when they die, after all.

Half+1 is slightly above average, I'd take it.

[Zeta Kai]

Third, I am planning to use rules that extend the point at which someone dies after going into negative HP. After dropping below negative ten, the character in question is severely injured and in need of drastic medical attention. Healing spells don't cut it anymore, and a DC 15 heal check is required daily to prevent hp loss. DC 35 allows a single hit point to be restored that day, but the catch is that a healing spell--instead of appyling healing--modifies the check (and stacks). DC 65 heals two points and 95 heals three points, et cetera. Restoration heals 1d6 and Regeneration completes convalescence instantly.

This does not detail the point at which a character DOES die. It merely makes being at the brink of death a confusing place to be (which may actually be appropriate; as I imagine that being at Death's Door would confuse me, too).

DC35 is very difficult, even at higher levels (assuming that we are not discussing powergamers/min-maxers/munchkins). DC65 is virtually impossible for the non-epic. And DC95 is just ludicrous.

Healing spells don't work? None of them? Resurrection spells can't work either, since a character at this point is still not yet dead. Combined with the healing DC's, it would be EXTREMELY difficult for a character to survive once they reached -10HP.

Overall, this is a needlessly complicated way to produce the same basic effect of the RAW (-10HP = dead). Instead of all this stuff, how about this:

Upon reaching -10HP, roll d%. If the result = 100, then you stabilize at -9HP. Otherwise, you are dead. This does not prevent further injury. Upon taking additional damage, you are dead.

There, that produces something similar without the rigmarole. If you wanted, you could alter this to include Mikeejimbo's suggestion (which I believe is from Unearthed Arcana).

[prufock]

There is a variant rule that may have originated somewhere else, where they don't die until they reach negative Con hit points. (So if you have a Con of 20, you die at -20) You might want to have an actual value for when they die, after all.

Star Wars d20 uses this rule (though wound points and negative hit points aren't quite the same thing, they're close).

[Talanic]

DC 35--but healing spells directly modify the heal check. Cure Light Wounds adds 2 to 13 to the check, Cure Moderate adds 12 to 26, et cetera. Not nearly as hard to hit now, especially as they explicitly stack. There IS a point to my house ruling here; with magical healing, they'll be up in a few days, but not likely instantly if the healer doesn't have access to level 7 spells. Without magical healing, it's possible for a tough person who's severely injured to hang on for days with proper tending, and a skilled healer becomes a great commodity even if he doesn't have magic. DC 35 may be a bit too high; perhaps 25 or 30 would be good, but I intend for this to represent injuries along the lines of disembowelment or multiple compound fractures, collapsed lung, or other things which require extreme amounts of care to survive.

NPC Doctor of great skill: At level 5, 8 ranks in Heal, +4 from Wisdom, +2 from Self Sufficient, +4 from Skill Focus, +4 circumstance bonus for hospital (not unreasonable when a field kit for healers gives +2), +2 for aid another from one assistant, all added up gets you 34 on taking ten. Add in a cure minor wounds and you've made the heal-one-point-per-day DC.

Oh, and certain magic items would gain more utility, e.g. periapt of wound closure. Should probably have mentioned that in particular.

And yeah, I forgot to mention that AGAIN. Death at -constitution, even if it comes before -10. Oops!

Modifying original post to make sure that it's stated.

[Gygaxphobia]

DC35 is very difficult, even at higher levels (assuming that we are not discussing powergamers/min-maxers/munchkins). DC65 is virtually impossible for the non-epic. And DC95 is just ludicrous.

Presumably you missed this:


but the catch is that a healing spell--instead of appyling healing--modifies the check (and stacks)

[Matthew]

This does sound kind of complicated and it doesn't really address the basic problem with HP loss [i.e. it has no effect on ones ability to do X, unless you are at 0 or below].