House Rules - Favorites and suggestions

[Leicontis]

With so many GMs in these forums, I thought it might be nice to gather together in one place to share house rules we enjoy. Feel free to comment (preferably constructively) on others' house rules, and please add your reasons and your players' reactions to your own house rules.

My house rules:
Double HP: My personal favorite, I picked it up off a friend. Simply put, you double the HP of every PC, NPC, monster, animal - everything in the game (except walls, weapons, etc). This has made combat considerably more interesting, because it typically takes longer to bring down an opponent - a singe blast is no longer sufficient to end a combat for either side. Lucky criticals and other random events are also less significant, so there's less of a chance that your beloved character will go from full HP to dead in one round unless they do something stupid (or get hit by a death spell). As an added benefit, it leaves spellcasters more balanced with non-casters for combat power, because non-casters usually deal damage more slowly but for longer periods of time.

No XP: Saves on bookkeeping, and makes sure the characters stay together for level. As far as multiclassing XP penalties, I'm somewhat more lenient about multiclassing as long as it makes sense for the character. If I feel that someone's trying to munchkin, I simply won't let them multiclass, or will work out a balancing factor.

Universal Dodge: Again, because it's annoying to keep track of who's dodging whom, I just have the Dodge feat grant a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC. I'm not hesitant about improving defensive abilities, because losing your favorite character stinks, and offense increases much faster than defense.

Obviously, these house rules are better suited to tabletop gaming than play-by-post, which has less time for combat and more for bookkeeping.

[Morty]

Double HP: My personal favorite, I picked it up off a friend. Simply put, you double the HP of every PC, NPC, monster, animal - everything in the game (except walls, weapons, etc). This has made combat considerably more interesting, because it typically takes longer to bring down an opponent - a singe blast is no longer sufficient to end a combat for either side. Lucky criticals and other random events are also less significant, so there's less of a chance that your beloved character will go from full HP to dead in one round unless they do something stupid (or get hit by a death spell). As an added benefit, it leaves spellcasters more balanced with non-casters for combat power, because non-casters usually deal damage more slowly but for longer periods of time.

Err... I can't really see anything positive about that one. It just makes combat longer and even more unrealistic than normal. It's already quite hard to take someone down with one hit. Second, it does nothing to weaken casters, because good caster doesn't focus on damage.

[Dairun Cates]

It's already quite hard to take someone down with one hit.

Are you kidding? The whole bloody reason singular enemy monsters of higher levels do so much damage is for that exact reason. They almost never get a chance to attack more than twice. If I honestly, had a dollar for every time my players killed a stand alone boss in one turn, I'd be able to try yet another new system complete with GM guide, Player's guide, GM screen, and a few supplemental books. Unless he has insanely high HP, single enemies NEVER last long, and numerous enemies are often hard to track. Besides that, ambushes can honestly get boring after a while.

Edit: If you don't believe me, then trying using very aggressive tactics against the next boss you face that's standing by himself. Unless he has PC levels, he'll usually go down really fast.

[Leicontis]

A single Fireball or similar spell can decide, if not completely end, most combats in the first round. Most arcane casters are at least part blast cannon, in my experience, and it makes combat boring when it only takes one or two rounds and half the combatants never got to act.

As far as realism, to be blunt, D20 is unrealistic. Hit points are unrealistic. Magic is unrealistic.

My games have a mixture or role-playing and combat, and I try to make both enjoyable. Before doubling, combat often only took one or two rounds, and did very little except delay the meeting. With doubling, things like tactics and special maneuvers take on a much greater importance, with blasting reduced in effectiveness. If you and your players view combat as a chore, or if all of your games are play-by-post, then longer combats would be a disadvantage, yes. For tabletop, turning combats from a brief handful of dice rolls into an interesting tactical challenge is an advantage.

[Bryn]

A single Fireball or similar spell can decide, if not completely end, most combats in the first round. Most arcane casters are at least part blast cannon, in my experience, and it makes combat boring when it only takes one or two rounds and half the combatants never got to act.

The Logic Ninja's Guide to Wizards (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18500) suggests otherwise, although this would probably better be discussed in another thread. It is generally accepted on this forum, however, that 'save-or-lose' spells are much better than direct damage.

On-topic, meanwhile, I often use the following rules:

Natural 1 = -10 and Natural 20 = 30, rather than being auto-fail and auto-succeed, on saves and attack rolls. I think this variant is in the DMG, and it makes combat less random (and therefore favours the PCs, who risk a natural one or an enemy natural 20 a lot more). It does mean that you don't get any funny or interesting stories for critical successes or failures, though, but it avoids a player losing their character due to a simple unlucky roll.
Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved TWF, and Greater TWF are all combined into one feat - ie, if you have a good enough Dex and BaB, you get the extra off-hand attack without taking another feat. It makes TWF less of a weak option by making it less feat-intensive. I'm not sure what I would do if somebody played a TWF ranger, but I'd probably look through some books to get replacement feats for them.
Removal of bad rules such as drowning healing you back to 0, and anything else that comes up.
Some class modification for balance, depending on what people want to play.

I can't think of anything else, but there probably are a few more rules.

[Matthew]

I am currently in favour of dropping Iterative Attacks in favour of the Saga idea of granting +X Damage. At the moment, I am considering making it +1 DB per BAB.

More Hit Points is rarely the answer to making combat more interesting, as it just ups the desire and significance of doing more damage. Far prefereable, is an Active Defence/Parry idea, but if it works for your game, then all is well and good.

[NullAshton]

Err... I can't really see anything positive about that one. It just makes combat longer and even more unrealistic than normal. It's already quite hard to take someone down with one hit. Second, it does nothing to weaken casters, because good caster doesn't focus on damage.

In the past campaign I've been in, save or die effects tend to be 'meh' since they almost always fizzle out thanks to a combination of spell resistance and high saves. Direct damage has always been 'yay', since they help everyone else, who is focused on doing damage, kill the enemies that much better. Damage spells almost always get results, while save or die effects don't usually have noticeable immediate effects.

[Diggorian]

I tend to rigorously houserule to attain the campaign feel I want. Some of mine:


Hitpoints when rolled can use the die rolled or the rounded down average of die. This way HP is guaranteed to stay at about average for level.

Hitpoints when reduced to below half their total induce Fatigue, at less than a quarter remaining Fatigue becomes Exhausted. Adds versimulitude to combat by making wounds really hurt. HP also heals back at different rates, most severe slowest.

Natural 1's rolled in combat can cause critical failures if confirmed once per round. The attack is rolled again and if the second fails to hit something extra bad happens: loose your weapon, bowstring snaps, trip yourself prone.

Experience based half on combat (tactics and utility) and half on RPing, which is interpreted as character portrayl and story contribution. XP awards tend to be uneven.


And a slew of variants along with those.

[valadil]

I too have ditched XP. Players level when I tell them its time to level. I still like giving out bonuses for good roleplay though, and I do this with fate chips, which are blatantly ripped off from Deadlands. The effects of a chip aren't solidly defined in game terms, but they generally allow a player to fudge the game in his favor. Players will use them to reroll against a save or die spell or to stabalize while bleeding, but I'm more fond of roleplaying effects like making an NPC believe you or just happen to be in the right place at the right time. The problem with this system is it screws crafters, but I haven't had anyone try to make a craft based character so it's never come up. When it does I'll make some rules.

[skywalker]

If you've got the type of players that make your combats only 1-2 rounds long, double HP sounds like a great idea. However, most(myself included) are of the opinion that D&D combat crawls(pretty much any combat crawls, actually) at a snail's pace, and is actually the part of the game that needs speeding up.

A lot of people I play with do universal dodge because the DM's too lazy to keep track of which enemy was designated, and in the heat of combat it is often easy to forget among the avalanche of information the player is trying to remember.

The no XP thing is a great idea, it saves on time leveling up and nobody gets their feelings hurt b/c they missed a session or some RP-XP. However, that also backfired on me, the GM in a Call of Cthulhu campaign I'm in uses this idea. However, he is very disorganized and so we have leveled twice. This means he always has to fudge the monsters severly(he's already fudging them because he hates killing PCs, and since we're fighting a monster designed to kill half a party that's twice our level, do the math...

A single fireball can decide an encounter if you've got a truckload of mooks after you, played with a mage who was fond of sudden max and empower...

I love the critical failure rule. The way my group plays, if you confirm failure on a 1, then roll a d6. On a 1-4, drop your weapon, on a 5 or 6, you deal regular damage to yourself. If you roll a 1-4, you can choose to damage yourself and keep the weapon, which is, IMO, a much better idea, losing your weapon usually sucks...

[TSGames]

I like to halve the jumping DC's, and make Concentration WIS based. That's all I can think of right now.

[....]

Resting one night restores all HP.

[Saph]

Very few, actually. The last game I DMed used none at all.

Of course, I make up rules on the fly whenever I can't remember the RAW text on the spot (a fast ruling is usually better than a completely accurate one that takes five minutes to find), use homebrew monsters, and apply common sense to anything that isn't spelled out in the rules, so depending on your definition, quite a lot of that could be house rules. But I don't use anything along the lines of "Class X gets bonus feats at every Yth level."

- Saph

[artaxerxes]

Natural 1's rolled in combat can cause critical failures if confirmed once per round. The attack is rolled again and if the second fails to hit something extra bad happens: loose your weapon, bowstring snaps, trip yourself prone.


Once per round QFT. Too often I see 1s making you drop your sword, on every roll. All this does is punish those with multiple attacks!

Limiting it to the first dice rolled, makes more sense than even this once a round rule you suggest.

[Thexare Blademoon]

Natural 1 = -10 and Natural 20 = 30, rather than being auto-fail and auto-succeed, on saves and attack rolls. I think this variant is in the DMG, and it makes combat less random (and therefore favours the PCs, who risk a natural one or an enemy natural 20 a lot more). It does mean that you don't get any funny or interesting stories for critical successes or failures, though, but it avoids a player losing their character due to a simple unlucky roll.

See, the way I'd do it is "Natural 1 = 1 and Natural 20 = 20", but I don't like having a ten percent chance to either completely suck or completely rock.


Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved TWF, and Greater TWF are all combined into one feat - ie, if you have a good enough Dex and BaB, you get the extra off-hand attack without taking another feat. It makes TWF less of a weak option by making it less feat-intensive. I'm not sure what I would do if somebody played a TWF ranger, but I'd probably look through some books to get replacement feats for them.Yes, this needed to be done ages ago. A related one I'd use if I DMed was making Longsword/Heavy Mace/Battleaxe/Scimitar proficiency also grant proficiency in the double-ended version if you had Two Weapon Fighting, since they're really not good enough to blow a feat.

I deliberately omitted dire flails in the above because they simply would not exist. I'm willing to stretch realism some, but not that far.

[Diggorian]

Limiting it to the first dice rolled, makes more sense than even this once a round rule you suggest.

Yeah, I forgot we do that too. Havent run mid level on a while.

[Anxe]

No Multiclassing penalties It does open up doors to exploit stuff if you use this one, but not as many as you'd think. All my players stay with one class and a prestige so far.

More unconscious HPs Somebody doesn't die when they get to -10. They die when they get to -10+HD. So a 2nd level human fighter would die at -12. Slows down PC death considerably. Die Hard still only keeps you conscious from -1 to -9 though.

[Damionte]

More unconscious HPs Somebody doesn't die when they get to -10. They die when they get to -10+HD. So a 2nd level human fighter would die at -12. Slows down PC death considerably. Die Hard still only keeps you conscious from -1 to -9 though.

I like that one, definately going to use that one form now on. Most of my problems stem from the PC's dieing too easily. Random chance with the dice is not always kind.

[Matthew]

Heh, I have been using a rule for my AD&D Game where there is no gradual deteriation from -1 to -10, instead the level of injury determines whether the Character will eventually die or recover. Basically, it stems from the reduction of the -10 rule operating over Minute Long Rounds in previous editions.

[SadisticFishing]

No dealing nonlethal damage with spiked chains. Nonlethal damage, the way they have it implemented, makes very little sense. Nonlethal damage with a chain covered in sharp spikes? Ha.

[Dhavaer]

Fast Heroes gets Martial Artist Defence +1, so as not to be so much of a dip class.
Acolytes get 1d6hp and a poor Fort save.
Everyone gets 2 feats at first level, except moreaus because I hate them and I like hitting them with the nerf bat at every opportunity.
Drow are not a playable race.
Most races have different sleeping patterns than humans (tieflings trance for 8 hours, dragonbloods sleep for 6, etc)
Archaic Weaponsmasters get full BAB to minimize suckage.
Prepared casters can cast 0-level spells spontaneously.
Spontaneous casters know all 0-level spells.
The Criminal occupation has Intimidate as a bonus skill.
Most races have different stats than given in the book.

[CockroachTeaParty]

A good one for Eberron is to allow divine and arcane casters to use scrolls made by artificers, but wizards can't use them to copy new spells into their spellbooks.

In my games, blues have no level adjustment. I'm working on getting rid of the LA for dromites as well.

Duskblades, warmages, beguilers, and similar classes with set spell lists are allowed to swap out a spell in the list for a spell from the same school from another source book on a 1 for 1 basis, under DM supervision of course.

When making characters above 1st level, I have players add their level to their rolled starting age, to represent the years they've spent adventuring beforehand.

[Diggorian]

My version of More Unconscious HP is that characters dont die until they reach their Con score in negative HP. Con 16 dead at -16.

A friend of mine doesnt do negative HP at all. The amount of damage that takes you down sets the DC of a Fort save to be made each round. DC raises by 1 per round. Fail you die, succeed you live, succeed by 5 you stabilize, succeed by 10 you stabilize and wake up.

We agree that suffering is more heroic than dying. :smallbiggrin:



When making characters above 1st level, I have players add their level to their rolled starting age, to represent the years they've spent adventuring beforehand.

Huh, thought I was the only one. Instead of adding it though, I multiply the starting age dice rolled by level.

[Dhavaer]

All spellcasting DCs are based on Charisma, no prepared casting, Planetouched are templates, vitalised spell points, no multiclassing penalties.

[Starsinger]

All skills are class skills for all characters
Dwarves get -2 to dexterity, instead of charisma.
Charisma is for will saves.
Wisdom is for initiative.
No multiclass penalty.
Everyone but Wizard's and Psions that is 2+int mod skill points is boosted to 4.
You can't be a primary caster if you have an 9 or below in the primary casting stat.

[Anxe]

I like that one, definately going to use that one form now on. Most of my problems stem from the PC's dieing too easily. Random chance with the dice is not always kind.

Thanks! I'd like to make it clear that I didn't make it up though. It was in an old Dragon magazine a few years ago.

[Kalirren]

1) A prepared caster's preparation time is rest-independent and takes 10 min. per spell level to be prepared. (0th-level spells can thus be used at will.) A throwback to earlier editions, this alone does -wonders- for wizard and cleric balance.

2) Concentration checks for casting defensively are DC 10 + spell level + highest BAB among all threatening creatures. Tumble checks for moving through occupied/threatened squares are DC 15/25 + hostile BAB.

3) Power Attack: As a full-round action or as part of a charge or in conjunction with the first attack in Spring Attack, you may make a single attack. If you hit, make an attack roll with the same attack bonus against the same AC. If you "hit" again, you deal extra damage equal to (BAB)d6.

4) Agree with the TWF-as-one-feat fix.

5) Two-Weapon Defense grants a shield bonus equal to BAB/4.

6) I also use complex skill checks for certain involved tasks: that is to say, keep rolling against DC X until you get either Y total successes (in which case you succeed) or you get Z total failures (in which case you fail).

[Wooter]

1) A prepared caster's preparation time is rest-independent and takes 10 min. per spell level to be prepared. (0th-level spells can thus be used at will.) A throwback to earlier editions, this alone does -wonders- for wizard and cleric balance.

Cure minor wounds! Cure minor wounds! Cure minor wounds again! Cure minor wounds tewnty three more times!

[Kalirren]

^^

Ai. Forgot about that one. I've been playing in a world where healing magic doesn't exist for too damned long for my own intuition's good. :smalltongue:

[Funkyodor]

We had some very good ones for 2nd edition, and are trying to merge it into the 3.x scheme.

Players start off with their Constitution plus Constitution bonus in HP at lvl 1. This also is their maximum negative value before death.
Players maximum level equals their Wisdom plus Wisdom bonus.
Dexterity is used for to hit bonus.
Added Comliness stat to represent physical attractiveness. Changed Charisma to reflect a players mental/emotional drive and fortitude (resistance to torture etc.)
Players get to add their Charisma bonus to a dice roll up to 3 times per gaming session. (Back when no class used charisma extensively)
Intelligence has a bonus that can be applied to surprise manuevers (effectively feints to remove DEX/shield bonuses) and to certain knowlege based skills i.e. ship piloting/gunnery, etc...

What we tried to do is apply all abilities to all classes so while you might be a good wizard if you just made intelligence important, if you skimp on wisdom you won't be high level, if you skimp on charisma you wouldn't have a firey passion for magic, or if you skimp on constitution you won't have alot of negative HP till dead. Really our only dump stat was physical appearance. We are still at a quandry on how to apply our custom 2nd edition mechanics to 3.x...

[Roog]

Players maximum level equals their Wisdom plus Wisdom bonus.

How do you calculate the player's Wisdom?

[Swooper]

You can't be a primary caster if you have an 9 or below in the primary casting stat. That's... not a houserule. Any caster can cast spells of max level = castingstat mod. Thus, a wizard with 11 int can't learn 2nd level spells or higher. A 'wizard' with 9 int is just a commoner with a will save, weird class skills and a familiar. Same goes for all casters, not just primary casters.

*That said, my group uses plenty of house rules.

*Negative HP go to -CON, as some other people seem to use as well.

*No chance to stabilize when bleeding. Get healing or die.

*Dwarves can choose -2 Cha or -Dex.

*Once a class skill, always a class skill (personally not too fond of it though).

*Sorcerers don't need material components. They also don't need a full round to apply metamagic feats to spells.

*No combat map (personally against it, I like tactics).

*No XP most of the time, level when DM says so (very much against it).

*Critical fumbles are in. Most of the time you just provoke an AoO when you roll a 1, sometimes you drop your weapon, sometimes you lose the rest of your attack routine that round. DM's call.

*We've used the Grim'n'Gritty variant combat rules a lot. Armour as DR, HP = Con score + (lvl x Y) - Y is either 0.5, 0.75 or 1.0 depending on class HD. So 20 Con ftr 20 has 40 HP. Crits multiply damage dice only, not extra damage from Str etc.

Those are the main ones we use.

[Dhavaer]

That's... not a houserule. Any caster can cast spells of max level = castingstat mod. Thus, a wizard with 11 int can't learn 2nd level spells or higher. A 'wizard' with 9 int is just a commoner with a will save, weird class skills and a familiar. Same goes for all casters, not just primary casters.

It is a houserule; you can still be a wizard with 9 Int by RAW, it's just not a good idea. You could still use wands, though.

[Swooper]

It is a houserule; you can still be a wizard with 9 Int by RAW, it's just not a good idea. You could still use wands, though.
Ah, yes. Wands. And other spell trigger items on their class list of course. I don't see the reason to houserule it though, anyone with 9 int makes such a crappy wizard that if the player has half a brain they would not do it just to get easier use of spell trigger items without UMD.

[Dean Fellithor]

Character Generation:

1) 9 and below: role again.
2) put the ability roles in whatever you want: you make your character how you want them to be this way.

[Solo]

In the past campaign I've been in, save or die effects tend to be 'meh' since they almost always fizzle out thanks to a combination of spell resistance and high saves. Direct damage has always been 'yay', since they help everyone else, who is focused on doing damage, kill the enemies that much better. Damage spells almost always get results, while save or die effects don't usually have noticeable immediate effects.

Saves and/or SR apply to pretty much all direct damage spells too, so no difference there.

Save vs Death sounds better than SAve vs half damage to me.

[Overlard]

2) put the ability roles in whatever you want: you make your character how you want them to be this way.
That's not really a houserule. :smallconfused:

[ALOR]

lets see some of our houserules

1. 1's in combat provoke AoO
2. 20's in combat are an auto crit.
3. you can go -Con before you die
4. you don't need a "+1" on an item before you can enhance it with another property
5. 1d4 luck re-rolls a session, although we have gone away from this recently.

[Arbitrarity]

I'm using the 10 mins/level bit as well, but 0'th level spells require 5 minutes (like pricing)

Using vitality points, changing TWF to 1 feat with a few extras (get the effects of Wolf Fang Strike on all attacks but full attacks, but requires L 11 or so)

[mostlyharmful]

For groups with no XP the fix I've been using is to allow casters with craft feats to substitute spell levels for XP, just as with circle magic 1 level 1 spell = 1 spell power point. If the DM thinks this is too little or too much adjust to fit the group, it means that magic items are made with magic not your left frountal lobe, casters making items are exhausted magically as they do so (or else take forever doing it) so they are vulnerable and they level up at the same speed as the rest of the party,

Isn't a fix for spells that burn xp like gate and the wishes but it does make making items seems much more attractive and your Wiz suddenly has much less metamagic cheese available to them

[bosssmiley]

Drow are not a playable race.
<trim>
Prepared casters can cast 0-level spells spontaneously.
Spontaneous casters know all 0-level spells.

*kow-tows to Dhavaer*

Mine? A partial and incomplete list:


Cross class skills cost 1 point/rank, but max out as normal.
No-one *ever* +1 hp when they level. 1 hp/level sucks and is anti-heroic.
Jaerom Darkwind's half-orc is the truth.
Rangers get an animal companion equal to druid-3 (not 1/2 the druid).
Hit point reserve, per Monte Cook's "Iron Heroes" (play-testing atm).
Spiked chain, Urgrosh, Hook-Hammer and Dire Axe do not exist ("Show me how you wield one...without losing a limb").
Natural Spell feat does not exist, nor does the malignant suckritude that is Toughness.
Similar bonuses from different sources stack (eg: the Imp. Crit. feat + keen edge *do* stack, whereas haste and the speed weapon ability don't - speed is just a haste spell bound into a sword).
The alpha-omega of houserules: "The rules serve the game, not vice-versa."


I'm also tinkering with the feat system, but that's another story.

[giblina]

Pace of combat depends heavily on the characters and the experience of the players.

I'm running a group in a pbp campaign and every fight so far has taken around 10 rounds to complete (sometimes longer, rarely much shorter).

In this group's case, there's too many multi-classed characters, few attempts to move into flanking position, and a lot of people with dual-wield (who would've done much better with 2-handers and power attack). Every time a monster with damage reduction enters the battlefield it's like nickles and dimes out there :P

[ArmorArmadillo]

-Spot/Listen are Folded into Notice skill
-Hide/Move Silently are Folded into Sneak skill
-Open Lock/Disable Device are Folded into Disable Device skill
-Natural 1's are not auto-failures on Saves; if your saving throw bonus is high enough to always resist a power, you are simply immune to it.
-Half-Elves get an extra skill point at each level.
-If a skill was ever a class skill for you, it is always a class skill for you:Drastically saves on confusion for multiclass characters.
-Int increases through level retroactively increase skills.
-TWF chain is combined into TWF and ITWF, which gives all iterative attacks. (Having it all in just TWF is too many extra attacks for 1 feat)
-Power Attack is not doubled with two-handed weapons.
-Strength bonuses apply equally to 1 Handed, 2 Handed, and Light weapons.
-Banded Mail and Splint Mail both have a Max Dex bonus of 1 higher.

[ArmorArmadillo]

Similar bonuses from different sources stack (eg: the Imp. Crit. feat + keen edge *do* stack, whereas haste and the speed weapon ability don't - speed is just a haste spell bound into a sword).[/LIST].

Gahhhh....nooooo!

Keen Scimitar + Improved Critical Feat: Crit Range of 12-20.
There is a reason they NEVER stack anymore; I don't know if you were there for 3.0 when there were Bladed guantlets (base range 17-20) and Vorpal killed on all crits, crit ranges stacked, and Weapon Master improved range by an additional 2.

You murder on crits, and crit on 7-20

[NullAshton]

Saves and/or SR apply to pretty much all direct damage spells too, so no difference there.

Save vs Death sounds better than SAve vs half damage to me.

Aside from the part where if they do save, they still get damaged, of course.

[bosssmiley]

Gahhhh....nooooo!

Keen Scimitar + Improved Critical Feat: Crit Range of 12-20.
There is a reason they NEVER stack anymore; I don't know if you were there for 3.0 when there were Bladed guantlets (base range 17-20) and Vorpal killed on all crits, crit ranges stacked, and Weapon Master improved range by an additional 2.

You murder on crits, and crit on 7-20

Mmmmmmm, I suppose that would be a little obscene on a Dervish/Tempest build. But then I never lived through the full horror of the 3.0 stacking threat range controversy. The bodies had been tidied away by the time I wombled back into the D&D fold.

But then again, crit threat on a 12-20 on a one handed /x2 weapon doing 1d6 base: I've seen worse.

A simple houserule to the Improved Critical feat could fix this... :smallbiggrin:

[Jayabalard]

That's not really a houserule. :smallconfused:
depends on what version of D&D they are playing; go back far enough and the standard rule was "roll 3d6, down the line" and anything else was a house rule.

[LotharBot]

- all classes get a minimum of 4+int skill points. Allows us to avoid the whole "my cleric only has spellcraft and concentration, and doesn't know anything at all about religion" stuff that comes up on occasion.

- Every character gets a "free" skill (treated as if it was a maxed out class skill) specifically tied in to their backstory or character concept. We've got a half-ogre monk whose special skill is handle animal, who pets the "doggy" (dire wolf) or "kitty" (cheetah) and generally acts like Elmyra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyra_Duff) from Tiny Toons. My sorcerer spends max ranks in bluff and profession(gambler) and is always trying to get people to play cards with him, so he has sense motive as his free skill. A previous campaign's wizard had sleight of hand, from the "magic" shows he did as a kid.

- when you roll for HP, you can keep what you rolled, or reroll once (but you have to keep the second roll, even if it's worse.) On occasion, if someone has had a string of sad rolls, the DM will modify the result ("that wasn't a 1, that was a 6.")

- no XP penalties for multiclassing unless the DM thinks you're being absurd. Once you dip into a fourth or fifth class, that's a problem.

- certain spells and domains have been slightly modified. For example, the cleric "healing" domain is nearly pointless for good clerics. We've modified it so that a healing domain cleric can take the healing domain spell from one level up in a domain slot. (We've never had a healing domain cleric that could cast 9th level spells, so we haven't had to figure out what's one level better than mass heal. Maybe we'd give it a metamagic boost and call it good.)

[Falrin]

Skills:
Roll 2d10: you get a more average effect.
All Classes Get +2 Skills/LvL
All classes get Spot, listen & search for 1 ranks, but max is still cross-class.
Gain 4 skills in a Profession & Craft at LvL 1.

Classes:
Wizards lose 2 school without benefits, specializing costs one.
No broken spells (a.k.a contigency, polymorph school, ...)
Lots of extra goodies for most classes, everything gets spoken with players.
HP : for a D4 reroll a 1, a D6 reroll a 1 or 2, a D8 reroll 2 or 3 never get 1, ...

Races:
Dwarves: +2con/-2dex.
Half-orcs: +2 Survival & intimidate. Free multi-class.
Halfelf: +1 skill/ LvL.

Feats:
Dodge: +1 AC in Light or no armour.
TWF: Gain all secondary attacks & Dual strike.
Weapon Focus: Retrainable.
Skill Focus: Gain as Class-Skill.



I should get a House-Rule Guide up somtime. Should be Nice.

[Remus of Rome]

One that my DM likes is during each player watch at night when we are traveling the player rolls d% and if the DM gets lower than the player then we have an encounter (the lower the number the DM rolls the more powerful the encounter will be
my favorite example is when karma caught up to the munchkin of our group basically he rolled 2% and he was taunting the DM saying "Ha Beat that" DM rolls out in the open he rolled a 1% needless to say we got chased 20miles by a devastation scorpion and the muchkin died a very painful death like he always does

edit and we were 11th lvl

[Recursive]

How do you calculate the player's Wisdom?
It's depressingly easy, a lot of the time. :smallwink:

[Thexare Blademoon]

Dire Axe do not exist ("Show me how you wield one...without losing a limb").

I note that you don't have Dire Mace or Two-Bladed Sword listed.

How's Dire Axe different? :smallconfused: I dunno, maybe the books have it drawn differently than Neverwinter Nights did it...

[Diggorian]

Dwarves with + to Con and - to Dex I can get with.

I like Remus' random encounter check also. How often does your DM roll? I'm getting in a rut of everything coming at night during watches ... and I'm running out of nocturnal creatures :smalltongue:

I use the DR armor variant from UA, but AC's became kinda lowish, so I now give a classes a dodge bonus to AC equal to half their BAB rounded. Sort of a passive parry mechanic.

[Swordguy]

My campaign is somewhat low-magic, and has a definite Tolkein-esque flavor.

D+D House Rules v1.1
RULE ZERO) Common sense applies at my discretion. I don't care what RAW have to say. (see also: drowning, diplomancy cheese) By playing in my game you accept my judgments during game - arguments for or against rulings may be made OUTSIDE of scheduled play time. I reserve the right to temporarily suspend rules for a better story.

1) Allowed books for PCs: PHB, DMG PrCs, Complete Arc, War, Adv, Div., Lone Wolf d20 (Kai Lord Class only)
A) Please note: other books, including Exalted Deeds, Vile Darkness, and Erotic Fantasy, may be in play.

2) Barred Races: Gnome (barbarian savages from across the frontier) , ½-orcs (tend to be killed on sight)

3) Barred Classes: Barbarian, Monk
3a) Resticted classes: Wizards, Druids, Sorcerers, Clerics (all require GM permission and a statement of why you're so special - elf wizards, human sorcerers, dwarven clerics are exempt from this)

4) Racial Modifications
A) Elves
1) Favored Class: Wizard
B) Half-Elves
1) +1 Dex, -1 Con
2) Choose one: +1 Feat @ 1st Level OR +4 Skill Points at 1st lvl, +1 point at each higher lvl.
C) Human
1) High Men: Age as Dwarves, can qualify for the Kai Lord Class, no bonus feat at 1st lvl, base Willpower equal to ½ Wisdom score plus their Wisdom modifier; they do gain the standard human skill point bonuses.
2) Man: Age as Human, standard human rules.
D) Dwarves
1) Standard rules: auto-proficient with either the Dwarven Waraxe, Military Pick, or Hammer. In all cases, Dwarves are proficent with all forms of armor (but not Shields). Dwarves lose their “Stability Bonus” unless they gain their racial armor proficiencies from a Class.
E) Halflings
1) Standard rules: Automatic Weapon Proficiency (Improvised Thrown Weapons)

5) Class Modifications
A) All classes gain Perception as a class skill
B) All classes gain +2 skill points per level
C) All classes gain a number of Knowledge skills as class skills equal to their Int modifier (specific skills depended on DM
approval).
D) Wizards automatically know 2 spells per level from the spells they have available to them at the time. A wizard may not select any spell to be learned automatically from the class lists, but only from scrolls or spellbooks that he has not previously successfully made the roll to learn. In this case, no roll is required; the Wizard automatically understands the spell. Spells researched by the wizard may qualify for this.
E) Clerics must submit a list of spells they wish to be granted for that day. The God reserves the right to give different spells that requested, based on the needs of the God in question. This will be a rare event, however.
F) Clerics receive a base Hit Die of a d6 and lose their Heavy Armor proficiency.

5) Skill Modifications
A) Listen and Spot are now Perception (Wis)
B) Hide and Move Silently are now Stealth (Dex)

6) Attribute Modifications
A) All PCs gain the attribute “Appearance” (therefore roll x7 4d6 (disc low) at character creation). The following skills may be keyed off Appearance at the discretion of the DM (dependent on situation): Diplomacy, Bluff, Gather Information, Intimidate, and selected Profession skills. In addition, some charm-style effects will key off of Appearance instead of Charisma. For example, a Nymph’s Blinding Beauty ability now keyes off of Appearance.

6) Psionics
A) Psionic Characters are those who receive the Psionic Combatant ability as a class skill, select the Psionic Combatant feat (prereq Int 13+, if selected after character creation Base Will save of 5+). Psionic characters receive Willpower equal to 5+Wisdom modifier unless otherwise stated in class abilities (+Wis modifier per level).
B) Willpower are used in the same manner as Power Points to power psychic abilities. They also exact as extra hit point (lost off the top) against psionic attacks (a PC may always choose not to lose Willpower from a psionic attack, taking the damage to hit points instead, ths choice must be made before the incoming damage is rolled). When Willpower is depleted, the PC is considered to be fatigued until regaining at least 1 point of Willpower.
C) Psionic combat is conducted as found on page XXX of the Lone Wolf RPG book. This includes Psionic Attack bonus and Psionic AC, and the miscellaneous attack and defense forms.
D) In general, monsteres with the telepathy ability will be psionic combatants.
E) Non-psionic characters have an effective psychic AC of 0. However, upon successfully being attack via psychic abilities, they are entitled to a Will Save (DC equal to attacker’s Psychic Attack Roll) for ½-damage.


7) Armor Modifications
A) Light Armor=DR 1/-
B) Medium Armor=DR 2/-
C) Heavy Armor=DR 3/-
D) Special Materials
1) Adamite provides +2 DR
2) Dragonhide provides +1 DR
3) Mithril provides +1 DR
E) Magic Bonuses
1) Add the magic bonus (divided by 2, rounded up) to the armor’s DR.
F) The following damage types are not subject to being reduced from armor-based DR: force damage (magic missile, et al), falling damage, drowning damage, psionic damage, coup de grace damage.
G) Critical Hits bypass armor-based Damage Reduction
H) Magic weapons bypass armor-based DR if the weapon enhancement bonus is greater than the magic enhancement bonus to the armor. Do not apply weapon/armor qualities to this. (eg: a +3 ghost touch longsword will bypass armor-based DR if the armor is a +2 enhancement bonus or less).


8) Religion
A) Standard gods from the PHB are in play. Other, lesser gods from other sources may be in play, but are not commonly encountered. A player wishing to play a cleric from one of these other gods may petition the DM for permission.
B) In human/High Man lands, the primary gods publicly worshipped are Pelor (NG), Heironeous (LG), St. Cuthbert (LN), Aluraan (BoEF – personal and agricultural fetility and healing goddess). Other gods are worshipped when needed, but these are the dieties with entrenched, established religions.
C) Elves worship Corellon Larethian. They will give blessing when needed to Ehlonna and Pelor as secondary gods. They rarely call upon the others.
D) Dwarves call upon Moradin for pretty much everything.
E) Halflings call upon Yondalla, with secondary gods Pelor, Obad-hai, and Ehlonna.
F) DOMAINS
1) Any given god can have several different domains. Make a case to the DM for permission to have a particular domain while worshipping a particular god.

9) Magic
A) Memorized Arcane Magic: this is an elven racial magic. This is also a Human racial magic, but this is unknown at game on, therefore no variety of Human be start play as a preparing caster.
B) Spontaneous Arcane Magic: this is a High Man and (very rarely) a Halfling magic, only High Men and Halflings may start as a spontaneous caster.
C) Bardic Arcane Magic: any race may cast bardic arcane magic if they are a bard.
D) Barred Schools and Spells at start of play. Some spells may become avaiaible to PC as the campaign continues.
1) Divination is heavily restricted. The following Divination spells are banned: Comprehend Languages; Detect Thoughts, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Arcane Eye, Detect Scrying, Scrying, Prying Eyes, Contact Other Plane, Greater Scrying, Discern Location, Greater Prying Eyes.
2) Conjuration is heavily resticted. Any spell that involves travel or summoning from other planes is banned (Summon Monster X, Gate, Planar Shift).
3) Some other schools have lost spells. Spells generally involving other planes are banned (Banishment, Etherealness).
4) The following spells are flat-out banned (this list may be added to depending on what seems broken during play as per a group vote): Polymorph, Time Stop, Shivering Touch.
5) The fact that spells involving planar travel have been removed does not infer the elimination of spells and effects that create extra-dimensional space. For example, Rope Trick is still a valid spell, and Bags of Holding still exist.

10) World Notes:
A) Planar Lore: the existence of other planes is not known in this world (as yet). Therefore, Knowledge(the Planes) is not a legal skill.

[Orzel]

1) Half Elves get a free Skill Focus feat or Weapon Proficiency feat of their choice.

2) Half Orcs get a free Weapon Focus or Weapon Proficiency feat of their choice.

4) HP = Stamina and heal 1/2(Con score X HD) HP after full nights rest or 18 hours of inaction.

5) You can reroll your HP 1 + Con mod times when leveling.

6) All classes naturally have Power Attack and Combat Expertise at +5 limits. Taking the actually feats make the limit you BAB.

7) Powerful Build and Slight Build are choosable lvl 1 only feats

8) New TWF= Old TWF + ITWF + GTWF. New ITWF = TWD. New GTWF = Dual Strike

[Dean Fellithor]

That's not really a houserule. :smallconfused:

most of my DMs have gone on the "roll them in order" principle.

[Eldritch_Ent]

Roll stats six times- 4d6 each stat, throw one die out each stat roll, apply as you see fit.

Your maximum "Negative HP" is equal to your CON score. (Things without con scores are destroyed upon reaching 0 HP)

Reflavor it! So long as it doesn't mess with the mechanics, I encourage toying with the flavor.

Shivering touch only deals 1d6 ability Damage- And Metamagic Rods only allow Spontaneous Casters to use Metamagic they already know without adding time to the spell- none of this "Maximized, Quickened Time Stop" nonsense.

Nightsticks are right out.

Monks BAB Bonus and attack damage bonus and such are WIS based instead of STR Based. This doesn't apply to carrying Capacity.

"Grease" from a "Grease" Spell is Flammable.

Any Monstrous humanoid race, at the cost of any special abilities such as Natural Armor or Attacks, may be played with the "Race Abilities" of a Human or whatever other standard race it was brought up by. (This doesn't apply to centaurs and dragons and things, mind you, just Kobolds and Orcs and such.)

The "Magnificent Mansion" Spell may be Permanencied.


Also, I'm liking this "10 minutes per spell level" spell-restock rule.

[mostlyharmful]

I love the idea of divine casters submitting a request list that the power source may or may not follow, it's a new house rule for me just as soon as my current story arc finishes.

that's also a house rule, DM houserules kick in during first available downtime not in the middle of a session as sudden changes in how the world works can leave PCs in the lurch, it also gives a good flavour-esque side when applied to magic (the thing most house ruled) ie. the powers in charge have noticed and corrected the defect in how magic works, such as Mystra houseruling out level 10+ spells in FR.

[ALOR]

Gahhhh....nooooo!

Keen Scimitar + Improved Critical Feat: Crit Range of 12-20.
There is a reason they NEVER stack anymore; I don't know if you were there for 3.0 when there were Bladed guantlets (base range 17-20) and Vorpal killed on all crits, crit ranges stacked, and Weapon Master improved range by an additional 2.

You murder on crits, and crit on 7-20

Shouldn't magic and skill stack though. If your weilding and incredibly sharp blade and you have the skill to strike vital spots more effectivly shouldn't the 2 abilities enhance each other.
this also made me think of another house rule of ours

vorpal magic weapon ability automaticly confirms crits rather than loping of someones head.

[Dhavaer]

Gahhhh....nooooo!

Keen Scimitar + Improved Critical Feat: Crit Range of 12-20.
There is a reason they NEVER stack anymore; I don't know if you were there for 3.0 when there were Bladed guantlets (base range 17-20) and Vorpal killed on all crits, crit ranges stacked, and Weapon Master improved range by an additional 2.

You murder on crits, and crit on 7-20

Vorpal doesn't activate on a crit anymore, only on a 20.

[its_all_ogre]

i am just starting a homebrew campaign myself in which i have heavily modified stuff.
cross class skills do not cost you double, but max ranks still apply.
no multi-class penalties or favoured classes.
i have destroyed the wizard/cleric/sorcerer/druid and all other full casting classes and replaced them with a generic class: spellcaster. clerics and what not still exist, but they use the same mechanics. they can choose their spells from any full caster list, so long as the character background has a reason they have learnt it. all casting is spontaneous. use sorcerer spells known and casts per day table.
int score determines highest level known, wisdom determines bonus spells known and casts per day, charisma determines save dcs.
they get bonus feats level 1 and then every level divisible by 4 (4,8,12,16,20) which must be spent on metamagic or item creation or on domains. domains give all the spells listed as bonus spells known as well as the domain power(some of which have been altered)
4 skill points per level. skills are: bluff, concentrate, craft, diplomacy, gather info, intimidate, knowledge(all), perform, profession, ride, sense motive, speak language, spellcraft.
have light armour prof but suffer arcane spell failure.
onto more mundane changes:
two weapon attacks cost a standard action, twf fighting tree gained for one feat, once other pre-reqs are achieved.
toying with allowing auto full hps per level on all pcs and monsters.

for those who said 'once a class skill always a class skill' this is not a houserule but RAW per the players pages on multi-classing.

[Dhavaer]

for those who said 'once a class skill always a class skill' this is not a houserule but RAW per the players pages on multi-classing.

The RAW version only applies to max ranks, the houserule presumably allows character to purchase skills from any of their classes as class skills, instead of just the class they're taking levels in.

[pypeters]

1) Great swords (or other large two handed weapons) require an exotic feat. Helps balance the differences between THW and TWF.

I do like the combining of the TWF feats groups into one type of group feat (like TWF+ITWF+GTWF and TWD+ITWD+GTWD) but I see this as bit over powered at higher levels. However, making a good rogue will not require dipping into fighter type classes.

2) In low magic worlds, item crafting feats are removed. Still can craft potions and scrolls but well take 3x as long and cost 3x as much.

[ArmorArmadillo]

Vorpal doesn't activate on a crit anymore, only on a 20.
This is the reason why...

I agree magic and skill should stack; but there's a reason why increased threat ranges are the notable exception to this policy.

Even with a 1d6 Scimitar; if you crit on a 12-20, you still only deal 2d6 right?
But if you have 16 Strength, a +2 Scimitar, and Weapon specialization, suddenly you're going from 1d6+7 to 2d6+14.

Assuming you're hitting on a roll of 14+; that means that every hit is a threat, and 30% of your hits are critical.

Now imagine you're a rogue with telling blow...

[Draz74]

- And Metamagic Rods only allow Spontaneous Casters to use Metamagic they already know without adding time to the spell- none of this "Maximized, Quickened Time Stop" nonsense.


Um, ... but most of the "Maximized, Quickened Time Stop nonsense" is done by prepared casters (wizards) anyway. Why nerf the strategy, but only for the spontaneous casters?

[bosssmiley]

I note that you don't have Dire Mace or Two-Bladed Sword listed.

How's Dire Axe different? :smallconfused: I dunno, maybe the books have it drawn differently than Neverwinter Nights did it...

Nor do they! (curse my lack of completeness) :smallredface:

I can *kinda* see how a dire flail might work if you held the handle horizontally and waggled it like a mine flail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_flail), but other than that...??..."Nah!"

Two-bladed sword though. Ooooooooh, don't get Eggy started! :smallamused:

[ALOR]

This is the reason why...

I agree magic and skill should stack; but there's a reason why increased threat ranges are the notable exception to this policy.

Even with a 1d6 Scimitar; if you crit on a 12-20, you still only deal 2d6 right?
But if you have 16 Strength, a +2 Scimitar, and Weapon specialization, suddenly you're going from 1d6+7 to 2d6+14.

Assuming you're hitting on a roll of 14+; that means that every hit is a threat, and 30% of your hits are critical.

Now imagine you're a rogue with telling blow...

This is true, but on alot of posts on this and other sites i've read of the weakness of fighters compared to spell caster types. would this not help to bridge the gap some. You can absolutley get some nasty combos, no doubt, but is it nastier than forcecage + cloudkill??
we are getting off topic though, sorry to interupt continue with more house rule glory all

[Arbitrarity]

Boosting threat range won't help that. At all. Not even a little bit.

[Thexare Blademoon]

Nor do they! (curse my lack of completeness) :smallredface:

I can *kinda* see how a dire flail might work if you held the handle horizontally and waggled it like a mine flail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_flail), but other than that...??..."Nah!"

Two-bladed sword though. Ooooooooh, don't get Eggy started! :smallamused:

I can see a two-bladed sword or double-ended axe sorta working... not easily, and it'd require special training (see: exotic proficiency, it's just not good enough for a feat to be blown...) But then, I'd probably have my two-bladed swords more similar to Wei Yan's double voulge in Dynasty Warriors 5 (if you haven't seen it, the blades aren't very long, and the handle is longer)

As for a dire mace... as I see it, it's really not that different from using a quarterstaff as a double weapon, except each end's heavier. Of all the double weapons, that one seems the most reasonable to me.

[horseboy]

Two-bladed sword though. Ooooooooh, don't get Eggy started! :smallamused:
Curse you Timoth Eyesbrite!





And Galtar!

[Superglucose]

Well, we play an entirely different version of d20 now, and it has all sorts of scary rules, like,

spellcraft checks to be able to cast spells

instead of set spells built, you build your own as you cast them

dex to hit for all weapons

weapons of different quality (from 1-4 for midevil settings and 1-5 for rennesaince), wieghing a little less for higher quality and melee weapons deal an extra 1/2 quality in damage

Constitution hit points

HD rolls now determine 'vitality' which is a way to measure how tired you are

being in certain places (say a jungle versus a town) makes casting spells easier

no arcane failure chance to armor

armor doesn't grant AC but grants DR instead

and a whole lot more, but that's our own special version of d20, so I won't list all the rules here.

The most important rule we implemented is the 'six second rule' where you have six seconds to say what your character is going to do in combat or you lose your action.

We don't abide by people sitting around "fireball or lightning bolt?" and then having a four person committee followed by a vote, progressing it to the next branch of government, final DM approval, revote, looking up the rules again, deciding to cast "baleful polymorph" and then re-vote... and this is the sort of thing that ALWAYS happened in our group (especialy with one of our members, who constantly asked for tactical advice).

So you have six seconds on YOUR turn to decide what to do. If you don't say something like "I am going to move here and attack this person" or "I'm going to cast a spell and move here" (because spell casting is menu based we tend to grant leniency for spellcasters), you lose your action and your character stands there, looking like a fool.

Make combat much more intense. For D&D I suggest a three second rule, and a timer. Even at high levels its really easy to figure out what to do, especially for fighters and such.

Also, at the end of our last game, we required everyone to write down a table of their average damage and their attack bonus, based on various feats and abilities they were likely to do. This helped dice rolling quite a bit.

[Arbitrarity]

Our table was thinking of using a timer, but it would relate to the relative intelligence of the character and the player. The issue was twofold, in that the player could use the time in which others acted, and the intelligence of the character relative to the player was difficult to ascertain.

38 intelligence wizard player is sad with 3 seconds.

[ArmorArmadillo]

This is true, but on alot of posts on this and other sites i've read of the weakness of fighters compared to spell caster types. would this not help to bridge the gap some. You can absolutley get some nasty combos, no doubt, but is it nastier than forcecage + cloudkill??
we are getting off topic though, sorry to interupt continue with more house rule glory all
The problem is that if Crit Ranges stack, every time one is released it adds-
Spell that increases range+Keen Weapon+Improved Critical+Class Ability; all of a sudden your Flaming Burst Scythe Threatens on 16-20 and quadruples damage and deals 3d10 extra fire damage.

The real problem is that threat ranges are not based on values like AC or Attack Bonus that increase by levels, but rather the numbers on the d20; which are always static, and lead to extremely skewed balances when your threat range increase always gives the same bonus throughout levels while Weapon Focus and Specialization is slowly eclipsed.

Crits are meant to be rare bursts of power, not something you plan on.


But yes, let's not make this too much a discussion of Crit ranges, past its viability as a house rule.

[Superglucose]

Our table was thinking of using a timer, but it would relate to the relative intelligence of the character and the player. The issue was twofold, in that the player could use the time in which others acted, and the intelligence of the character relative to the player was difficult to ascertain.

38 intelligence wizard player is sad with 3 seconds.

Which brings me to another house rule: no base scores above 20. This one is really just trying to bring a little bit of realism to our games... and its hard to top that anyways at low level.

And besides, combat occurs in 6 second rounds. 3 seconds to think is a blessing. And your player shouldn't have any problems what to do. He has 3 seconds to decide what he's going to do, and all he has to do is say "I'm going to cast the spell [insert spell here]." Most wizards I play with have a general plan, that goes something like "First turn buff the party, second turn hit the spellcaster with disintigrate" and stuff like that. And besides, the DM can take as long as he wants, and the three seconds doesn't include rolling or any calculations... really you have plenty of time on other people's turns to think.

Another varient for this is whoever goes first gets 10 seconds the first round.

[Arbitrarity]

38 INT had no base score above 20. He had... wait, you mean prebuffed? Euugh. 18 base, 2 racial, 5 leveling, 5 intrinsic, 6 enhancement, 2 aging.

[LotharBot]

combat occurs in 6 second rounds. 3 seconds to think is a blessing.

Except that we're not superheroes with superhuman strength and skills actually in combat, we're normal people sitting on our butts around a gaming table.

If a player consistently takes too long to make decisions, it makes sense to institute a house rule that he has to make his decision within a given timeframe. But IMO 6 seconds is pretty harsh. Plus it makes it hard for the party stenographer to write down everyone's actions and still play their own character...

Which brings me to one of my house... not really rules, so much as traditions: we have one person in charge of the loot sheet, and another person in charge of recording what we did for the day so we can blog about it later.

[Superglucose]

Well the stenographer makes a big difference in play style :smallwink:

But honestly, sure we don't have superhuman abilities, but we also don't have huge packs of nasty creatures trying to kill us.

[Arbitrarity]

Nor do we have 26 intelligence. Or the ability to stop time.

Nor do we practice combat 8 days a week. Nor do we normally have huge packs of monsters assaulting us, or have much experience at command and tactics.

[Superglucose]

Another rule we have... that I rather like...

CRs below 10 are 1/2 and CRs ten and above are 3/4.

Also, PC classes count against CR the same way as NPC classes do. Sorry, but there is no way it takes a party of four fourth-level characters to take on a fourth level human fighter. Especially since I've seen three level one (a conjurer houserule class, a wizard, and a ranger), a level two (cleric), and a level three rogue take on two level five orcs with decent magical items.

Granted, we had an extremally broken dagger (dagger of invisibility, except you always remained invisible), and a +1 keen dagger of frost... and the Cleric had full plate and a RoP +2... so it wasn't exactly a group of level ones...

[Telonius]

Favorite house rules:
- There can be Lawful Barbarians, Lawful Bards, and Chaotic Monks.
- Half-elves get one extra skill point per level.
- No multiclass xp penalty, period.
- Every adventurer is issued a Handy Haversack. This does not count against WBL.
- CharGen: d8+10, six times, arrange as you like. You're supposed to be heroes. (Of course the monsters will be bumped up accordingly, mwahaha).
- Weapon Finesse does not require +1 BAB.
- Monks get a d10 hit die, and can enchant their fists. (Doing so can only be done by the monk, and requires a ceremony that eats XP, time, and incense worth the same gp as would enchanting any other weapon).
- Half-Orcs lose the -2 Charisma, and get a +4 racial bonus to Intimidate.
- There is no such thing as a Vorpal weapon, unless I am sending you against the Jabberwocky.
- Additional deity: Pun-Pun, overgod of Cheese, Loopholes, and Rule Exploits. Pun-Pun is aware that he is a god in a fictional gaming world. Any character attempting to wreck the game will bring down his wrath.

[Arbitrarity]

I have Pun-Pun as well. Remarkable :smallbiggrin:

[timberwolftrid]

i have this sort of untested half built critical failure system.
its meant to be for weapons made by crackheads so they could sell them on the black market to buy more crack. and its in a sort of nihilistic future setting.

anyway criticals are represented in the weapons stats as such:
P 19-20X2/ F3 L1

this means: pass range of 19-20 and a multiplyer of two. fail if a 3 or lower is rolled. L1 means which table to roll on for effects there would be 5 tables of deepening severity.

the idea is that with this weapon for example rolling 3 or lower triggers a failure where the GM rolls on the level one failure table to find the result. and as a matter of simplicity these rolls are not confirmed, allthough certin things may still avoid them (e.g the rogues uncanny doge skill or something)

[TheThan]

I like these:

Two-handed weapons: when wielding a 2 handed weapon you add double your strength bonus to damage instead of 1.5 your strength bonus

Off hand weapon: when wielding a single weapon with your off hand, you add your full strength bonus to damage instead of .5 your strength bonus (this does not work with light weapons though.)

Stat rolls: roll 1d8 6 time and add 10 to each result. This generates a number between 11 and 18, good for those LOTR style epic feeling games.

some of the other ones I've seen here i also plan on using.

[tainsouvra]

Sorry, but there is no way it takes a party of four fourth-level characters to take on a fourth level human fighter. That's not really what Challenge Ratings are supposed to mean.

CR is the average level of a party for which that opponent would be a moderate challenge. A moderate challenge is one that uses up some resources, but a small enough amount that you could do it several times in a day without grinding the party into the ground.

In other words, it takes a party of four fourth-level characters to be practically guaranteed to win against a fourth-level human fighter by only using a portion of their resources for the day. That seems pretty accurate, really.

[Arbitrarity]

Being able to defeat something doesn't indicate it's "CR appropriate". CR is designed, in and of itself, so that the PC's will win. Specifically, defeat 4 encounters of that sort in one day. Reducing CR is simply a method of reducing XP, and indicates that the party should either face more frequent, or more difficult challenges.

Example: At one encounter per day, our ECL 6 party defeated a CR 11 encounter. It took all of the bard's spell slots, about half of the sorceror's, the use of a few 1/day abilities, though most of the bard's spell slots were used in post-combat healing.

[Matthew]

One I have been kicking about for a while:

Light Armour: DR 0/-
Medium Armour: DR 1/-
Heavy Armour: DR 2/-

[Swordguy]

One I have been kicking about for a while:

Light Armour: DR 0/-
Medium Armour: DR 1/-
Heavy Armour: DR 2/-

This is in addition to the normal AC bonuses, I assume? Cause 2 points of DR is really crappy once you're past 2nd level.

Really, DR is awful in D&D. Sure, it's bonus HP, but how often are we seeing high-level builds putting out 50+ points of damage, routinely, per hit? Once you're to that point, DR ceases to matter.

Also, you may want to take a look earlier in the thread about how I've handled DR. I run a very low-power game, and the DR mods I've used make heavy armor somewhat worth the mobility loss, especially when the armor is a special material.

[Matthew]

Heh, in addition, of course. Actually, also in addition to a Movement Speed modification that prevents Armour from inhibiting Movement Speed, but rather Running Multiplier.

i.e.

Light Armour: x4
Medium Armour: x3
Heavy Armour: x2

Obviously all this is more useful at low levels than high, but I don't play much high level 3e.

[Prustan]

Next chance I get to play, I'm adding in the equipment feats from this site. I'll just make the first tier of Armor/Shield feats available to anyone that spends large amounts of time in armor/with a shield. No reason that a Paladin can't do some Armor Focusing.

[Eldritch_Ent]

Um, ... but most of the "Maximized, Quickened Time Stop nonsense" is done by prepared casters (wizards) anyway. Why nerf the strategy, but only for the spontaneous casters?

Sorry for the confusion- I meant that, at least in games I DM, the *only use* for Metamagic rods is removing the increased casting time for Spontaneous casters. They don't work at all for prepared casters.

[Groovybomb]

A lot of these are good ideas! Since I don't do XP in my campaign the fate chips sound like a great way to reward excellence. I also think the omni-dodge might make things easier to.

So my house rules:
1. character creation is 4D6 minus the lowest die value showing. Replace the lowest of the 6 rolls with an 18. Most character have around 10-14 for most of their stats plus the guaranteed 18. (I still have a guy running around with a 5 though - good rollin' Tex!)

2. Rolling a 1 requires a critical miss roll. The critical miss only activates on a second roll of 1. So the odds of a 'something awful happened' are 1 in 400.

3. As earlier mentioned, no XP

4. I make characters whose powers are granted by deities pray... out loud. For example: "oh pelor, you are so incredibly awesome, thank you for guiding my mace to the side of that orcs head..."

5. If you roll a natural 20 on a skill check roll again and add the cumulative value. So you can 'roll' a 36 for example.

[NamelessArchon]

Here's a few I use:
0. Rule of Plot: The DM reserves the right to fudge any roll and break any rule (even this one) at any time for the sake of the story and fun.

1. All characters receive MaxHP + CON bonus at first level. CON penalties are not applied at level 1. After level 1, all characters receive the higher of average HP and a die roll as normal, and CON mods are applied normally to the result used. Rank-and-file NPCs assume average HP rolls, rounded down (4hp from a d8) + CON mods. BBEGs and higher-order minions get MaxHP + CON mods.

This is done to minimize the "The orc hits the level 1 wizard with the -1 CON mod with his powerful stench as he walks by. The wizard (with 1 MaxHP) dies." It also tends to minimize untimely BBEG deaths in round one due to a single spell that rolls exceptionally well. This could be done through Rule 0, but I prefer to roll openly and minimize the hidden deus ex behavior that has me always targetting the high HP fighters.

2. All PCs are assumed to have max gold for their character class at level 1. Players may not transfer gold between party members before play begins, and may retain only 15gp or less when play begins. The extra gold represents their superior efforts at assembling their initial adventuring supplies, and doesn't translate to cash.

3. PCs involved in anti-party action get what they sow, with interest. You want to screw over the party? Fine with the DM... but remember that plot happens, and the DM has a vested interest in not ending the story just because you want to play like a jerk. I allow evil alignments (otherwise, who can run a story of redemption?) and even some minor intra-party conflicts (in-character squabbles and debate) but if things go too far and party members start dying in their sleep, the Rule of Plot will be soon be doing bad things to your nether regions with sharp implements. Repeat offenders are not typically invited to play again.

[BardicDuelist]

- No cross-class skills, except UMD (the only one I see being too good for every one to have it). The way I see it is that anyone can learn any skill rather easily (why can't a fighter learn to be as good at lying as the next guy?).
- Feinting is a move action, sped up to a swift action by Improved Feint. Any class feature that would normally improve it to this would improve it do a free action, limited by the number of attacks you can make per round. The advantage applies only to your next attack.
This is based on my experience in fencing, so I find this house rule more realistic. It also gives swashbuckeling a little love, and I always encourage that.
-ToB classes are not allowed, but the Martial Study and similar feats use your BAB instead for determining which manuevers you may learn.
- Universial Dodge (I just really like it).
- Combat expertise using a -2 or greater penalty counts as fighting defensively.
- For every 5 ranks you have in tumble, you gain +1 to AC when fighting defensively. This is instead 5 ranks giving you +1, but the rest giving you nill (until epic rules).
- No penalties for multiclassing.
- 3.0 Haste (my DMs insistance for his games, I keep it when I DM for simplicity).
- Level Adjustment buy off at level 3 and every 3 levels after, rather than the proposed system. This applies to racial HD.
- Energy Substutition can change type immune to Shivering Touch (annother insistance by my DM, which I also keep for consistancy).
- Ability scores are rolled 2d6+6. This keeps them from being below 8, and also ups the average.

Wow, didn't realize I had so many.

[Dhavaer]

I'm thinking about changing repeating crossbows to simple weapons. It's not like the price isn't penalty enough.

[Mike_G]

A few we use:

Defensive Bonus:

A Competence bonus to AC equal to 1/2 BAB. We didn't like that a 20th level Fighter and a !st level commoner naked, with the same dex. Chane to hit generally rises faster tha AC anywy, so pretty much everybody starts hitting almost all the time (on first attack, anyway) after mid levels. Many other D20 systems use a similar mechanic.

Cuts down on the need for lot of defensive magic, and makes sense, in that being better at fighting also should mean harder to hit.

Iterative Attack: option: You may sacrifice extra attacks for +1d6 damge per attack given up. Makes sense when your extra attacks have very lttle chance to hit.

Open ended crits. A 20 on a confirmation roll allows a further confrimation roll to add a multiplier to the crit.

One half precisions damage to Constructs and undead with anatomy: There are good and bad places to hit machines. Hitting a good spot should do more damage. Not as vulnerable as a living creature, so it's only half bvomnus, but it should be something. Oozes, incoporeal stuff, etc, are still immune.

Plus, we have a DM who loooooooves undead and aberations, so the Rogue tends to lose his big melee ability.

Crits against Undead/constructs: reduce crit multiplier by 1. Same rationale as above. Not as vulnerable, but a really good hit with a greatclub should still annoy a skeleton more than a normal hit.

[Diggorian]

Spells that raise the dead establishes mental contact with whatever plane the soul goes and it has to be searched and persuaded to return.

In the case of aligned planes, often a representative gatekeeper must be bargained with to release the soul.

[daggaz]

A friend of mine has an opposing roll against Tumble, based on the enemies level and dex... dont remember the exact specifics, but I agreed, it did seem wrong that you have a flat DC to tumble past _anything_

[Golthur]

A friend of mine has an opposing roll against Tumble, based on the enemies level and dex... dont remember the exact specifics, but I agreed, it did seem wrong that you have a flat DC to tumble past _anything_

I usually use an opposed BAB check vs. the Tumble roll when tumbling through a threatened square.

[Hawriel]

I friends and I came up with the "rule of Kurt"

this is for a games like shadowrun. if your target number is 7 than rolling a 6 does not automaticly succed. you need to roll again and get a 2 or better. We found that alot of rolls where succeding with out actualy beating the target numbers.

[Matthew]

I was just talking about this in another Thread on Homebrew, which reminded me on about it, so I thought I would mention it here as well. A Variant Skill Focus Rule that replaces all Feats that grant Skill Bonuses (such as Alertness and Skill Focus)

Basically, one Feat = +4 Modifier, so:

0.25 Feat = +1
0.50 Feat = +2
0.75 Feat = +3
1.00 Feat = +4

However, the highest Modifier that can ever be applied to a Skill in this way is +4. I have found this in general preferable.

[BardicDuelist]

Actually, we just implimented a new house rule the other day:

Dex or Str can be applied to melee attack rolls. You don't have to spend a feat. Swashbuckelers get combat expertise as a bonus feat at first level instead.

[Kyeudo]

Some house rules I use:

No multiclassing penalties: they only hurt the people playing for fun, not the powergamers.

Soulknife and Divine Mind get full base attack bonus.

Psionics are allowed. (This takes a house rule in the places I play)

Ranger's effective druid level for determining his animal companion is his ranger level - 3 instead of 1/2 his ranger level.

No costs, beyond the cost of books and ink, for scribing scrolls in a spell book. Scribing a spell does not expend it from a scroll.

[Matthew]

Actually, we just implimented a new house rule the other day:

Dex or Str can be applied to melee attack rolls. You don't have to spend a feat. Swashbuckelers get combat expertise as a bonus feat at first level instead.

Oh yeah, I have been thinking about allowing Weapon Finesse to be able to modify AB with all Melee Weapons. By the same token, I would want Strength to be able to modify AB with all Ranged Weapons (though, obviously not Ray Attacks)

[Fualkner Asiniti]

I love homebrew rules.

Skill Learning: If someone gets 2 natural 20's in a row, they get a +1 bonus to that skill check from now on. Basically, you did something so well, you taught yourself something new.

That's the only one I use frequently, but I often change rules to the player's favor, especally if it's a dumb rule.

[Rachel Lorelei]

I love homebrew rules.

Skill Learning: If someone gets 2 natural 20's in a row, they get a +1 bonus to that skill check from now on. Basically, you did something so well, you taught yourself something new.

That's the only one I use frequently, but I often change rules to the player's favor, especally if it's a dumb rule.

I'd have my character go out and spend an entire day or so jumping. Look at all those checks. Oh, hey, two twenties after four hundred or so. +1. Rinse and repeat. What's my jump modifier now?

[Kurald Galain]

Climbing based on Dex rather than Str. Because let's face it, the only reason it's on the "Str" list is that there are too few Str skills otherwise.

I have not used initiative in combat for over ten years now, and find that it plays much faster without it, and decreases reliance on one-shotting.

Priest spells somewhat reminiscent of the 2nd edition domains - in particular, clerics don't get access to the parts of the spell list that would be totally inappropriate to their deity. For instance, a cleric of the God of Peace doesn't get the best battle spells. Plenty of gods to go around. Oh, and no "godless" clerics because that doesn't make sense in my campaign world.

I tend to be lenient with presclass prereqs, because otherwise players pretty much need to plan their class path from level one. Most presclasses are instead restricted by roleplaying, in that they are indeed some kind of Mystic Order in Some Country that you get to convince to let you join them. This implies that in most cases PCs are limited to one presclass each, but I'm ok with that.

Campaigns tend to start at level 3 rather than 1, so that a stiff breeze won't kill you outright. And I'm not in favor of the "everything in the real world is fifth level or lower" thesis, so although they are rare, expect the occasional high-level NPC.

[Groovybomb]

I'd have my character go out and spend an entire day or so jumping. Look at all those checks. Oh, hey, two twenties after four hundred or so. +1. Rinse and repeat. What's my jump modifier now?

Well, if it were me I would punish you for metagaming. Something along the lines of "you jump around all day and tire yourself out. -1 STR for the next couple days"

That's whats fun about D&D - the DM is not a computer and can detect metagaming / powergaming / minmaxing and punish accordingly.

[Kyeudo]

Well, if it were me I would punish you for metagaming. Something along the lines of "you jump around all day and tire yourself out. -1 STR for the next couple days"

That's whats fun about D&D - the DM is not a computer and can detect metagaming / powergaming / minmaxing and punish accordingly.

Since when is playing an optimized character a crime?

[Arbitrarity]

When your DM explicitly wants the power level low, to preserve verismilitude in relation to NPC's? :smallwink:

[Zain_Thorngallow]

The house rule I haven't seen mentioned yet that I particularly appreciate is granting skill points retroactively when increasing INT permanently (namely, raising at the 4th level mark or through permanent insight bonus), including the 4 for first level.

One gets the HP retroactively for raising CON, getting the skill points retroactively for raising INT seems only fair.

[Mike_G]

Climbing based on Dex rather than Str. Because let's face it, the only reason it's on the "Str" list is that there are too few Str skills otherwise.


Well, Str is important for climbing. If you need to pull your wieght up, you ned to be able to do that.

We made a few skills use two mods, but Climb is "average of Str and Dex bonus" and Disable Device is "Average of Int and Dex:" instead of just Int.

I suppose you could make it the player's option, like Weapon Finess, but for skills.



I have not used initiative in combat for over ten years now, and find that it plays much faster without it, and decreases reliance on one-shotting.

Priest spells somewhat reminiscent of the 2nd edition domains - in particular, clerics don't get access to the parts of the spell list that would be totally inappropriate to their deity. For instance, a cleric of the God of Peace doesn't get the best battle spells. Plenty of gods to go around. Oh, and no "godless" clerics because that doesn't make sense in my campaign world.


We customized Cleric lists for each god as well. Also Cleric class skills and proficiencies, and a few features.

I like each deity's clerics having their own flavor.



Campaigns tend to start at level 3 rather than 1, so that a stiff breeze won't kill you outright. And I'm not in favor of the "everything in the real world is fifth level or lower" thesis, so although they are rare, expect the occasional high-level NPC.

We tend to start around 3rd as well, just because 1st level PCs are too fragile. we cut down XP awards, though, to slow progression.

I can't think of anybody in the real world who can't be statted out below 5th, but that's another argument.

[Matthew]

Well, Str is important for climbing. If you need to pull your wieght up, you ned to be able to do that.

We made a few skills use two mods, but Climb is "average of Str and Dex bonus" and Disable Device is "Average of Int and Dex:" instead of just Int.

I suppose you could make it the player's option, like Weapon Finess, but for skills.

Yeah, my AD&D Game does something similar. We use Dexterity and Strength for most physical Skills, such as: Run, Climb, Leap, Swim and Ride. Generally, we add the highest Bonus to the lowest Penalty, thoguh a particular check may call for one Attribute over another. I have often thought of porting it onto 3e.


We customized Cleric lists for each god as well. Also Cleric class skills and proficiencies, and a few features.

I like each deity's clerics having their own flavor.

Yep, I am definitely on board with this.


We tend to start around 3rd as well, just because 1st level PCs are too fragile. we cut down XP awards, though, to slow progression.

I can't think of anybody in the real world who can't be statted out below 5th, but that's another argument.

Well each to his own starting level, I supppose. When playing 3e it's usually one shots or short campaigns and almost always pre published. Consequently level is directly dependent on the Adventure at hand. I definitely prefer slow progression for long term campaigns, though.