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Damionte
2007-08-05, 10:40 PM
Hey folks,

I'm starting a new campaign soon and wanted to throw my list of house rules by an impartial crowd before I showed them to the group. Our group is 6 players + GM. We've been together for a little over 3 years now. This will be my first chance to DM for the group other than guest shots. Everyone in the group is age 30+. Most have been playing D&D at least 10 years. A couple including myself have been playing for 20+.

This listing doesn't include the story elements. it's a long enough post as it is. If anyone has a few minutes to spare to go over it, I am looking for feedback, both good and bad, on things I may need to refine before presenting it to the group.

Warning, it's a relatively long post:



Character Creation:

Races: No more than 1 of any particular races other than human in the party.
Class: All base classes are in. PHB, PHB-II, Complete Series, Psionics, Prestige Classes: Ask Me first.
Books: All Wizard Of The Coast 3.5 non campaign specific books are in. Including new stuff as it is released.
Restricted Books: Book Of Exalted Deeds, Book Of Vile Darkness, Unearthed Arcana, Libris Mortis, Draconomicon, Lords Of Madness – *Restricted doesn’t necessarily mean NO. It means talk to me first.

Rolling Method: 32 points - Standard Point Buy System (DMG pg169)
+10 Hit Points @ level 1. Max Hit Points levels 1-3. (There is a reason for this you will find out about as we go.)

We will be making characters as a group at the table during the first session. Bring more than 1 idea at the table in case we have conflicts of interest.

All characters gain one of the following background feats for free at 1st level.
* If one of the feats below gives you a bonus in a skill, you are considered trained in that skill.

Background Feats:
Caravanner Background:
+2 Handle Animals, +2 Knowledge (Geography), +1 Diplomacy, +1 Sense Motive

Circus Background:
+2 Balance, +2 Jump, +1 Tumble, +1 Perform

Farming Background:
+1 Profession (Farmer), +1 Profession (Cooking), +2 Handle Animal, +1 Knowledge Nature, +1 Heal

Gambling Background:
+1 Bluff, +1 Sense Motive, +1 Profession (Gambler), +1 Forgery, +1 Gather Information, +1 Intimidate

Hidden Noble Background:
+1 Knowledge (Nobility), +2 Diplomacy, +2 Disguise, +1 Forgery

Mercantile Background:
+2 Diplomacy, +1 Appraise, +1 Profession Trader/Broker, +1 Sense Motive, +1 Gather Information

Performance (Magician) Background:
+1 Escape Artists, +1 Use Rope, +1 Slight Of Hand, +1 Perform, +1 Disable Device, +1 Disguise

Performance (Stage) Background:
+2 Disguise, +1 Perform (Dance/Sing/Storytelling), +1 Tumble, +1 Knowledge (Local), +1 Gather Information

Ranching Background:
+2 Handle Animal, +2 Ride, +1 Profession Rancher, +1 Heal

Runaway Slave Background:
+1 Fort Save, May re-roll a single failed save per effect to resist a tiring effect.

Sailor Background:
+2 Use Ropes, +1 Balance, +1 Climb, +1 Knowledge (Geography), +1 Profession Sailor

Street Waif Background:
+1 Knowledge (Streetwise), +1 Sleight Of Hand, +1 Hide, +1 Move Silent, +1 Intimidate, +1 Gather Information

Theocratic Background:
+2 Diplomacy, +2 Knowledge (Religion), +2 Heal

Tortured Past Background:
+2 Intimidate, +2 Sense Motive, +2 Knowledge (Relevant to your tortured past)

Tradesman Background:
+2 Craft (Any), +2 Diplomacy, +2 Appraise

Woodsman Background:
+1 Knowledge (Nature), +1 Profession Hunter/Trapper, +1 Craft (Trap making), +2 Survival

Other Eligible Feats:
Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Animal Affinity, Athletic, Combat Casting, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Diligent, Great Fortitude, Investigator, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Magical Aptitude, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, Self Sufficient, Skill Focus, Toughness.


Class Adjustments:
-Fighters, Monks, Barbarians, Samurai, Paladin, & Knights all gain 4+ skill points per level rather than 2+.
-All classes with either arcane spell casting ability, or the ability to use invocations due to their class, may cast prestidigitation at will as a spell like ability.
-All classes with divine spell casting ability may cast Guidance at will as a spell like ability.
-All Psionic characters may cast mage hand at will as a spell like ability.

OOC Table Rules:
In combat we will be using an egg timer. When your turn comes around you will have 15 seconds to tell me your action for the round. If I have not made a decision by the time the bell rings your turn is over and we will move on to the next person. In game your character will be frozen by indecision.

NEW RULES:

Death and Dying:
You are no longer dead when you reach -10 Hit Points. You now gain an additional negative hit point per character level. So at level 1 you must reach -11 before you are dead. At level 5 you must reach -15 and so on.


Arms & Armor:

Armor Rigging:
Armor can now be “rigged” by those with proficiency in their use. Rigging a suit of armor allows you to choose rather you are going to use the AC only armor variant, or the damage reduction armor variant. You must be proficient in the use of a particular type of armor in order to rig it. Rigging a suit of armor is done as part of the donning process and takes no extra time. You may not rig a suit of armor for someone else, who is not proficient in its use.

If you have the Armor Specialization feat (PHB-II), you may rig your armor to use both variants at once.

Shield Saving Throws:
Shields now give a bonus to your Fort or Reflex saving throw vs. enveloping/directional area effect attacks. (not including gas/fog effects.) The bonus to your save is equal to the base AC bonus of the shield. Small Shield +1 Large shield +2 Tower Shields +4. You do not need to be proficient in the appropriate shield type to gain this bonus. Shield enhancement bonuses do not add to these saving throws.

AC through spells:
Armor bonuses from spells do not have the option of being worn as damage reduction. Spells such as mage armor or greater mage armor only give a bonus to AC.

Tripping Weapons:
Normally only certain types of melee weapons can make trip attempts. I am modifying this. Any melee weapon can now be used to make trip attempts, but now suffer the same -4 penalty to do so that you would take for attempting to do subdue damage with a lethal weapon.

Weapon Grapple (Weapons Lock):
Normally you can only make a grapple attempt as an unarmed attack, meant to simulate you wrestling an opponent body to body. You may now grapple an opponent’s weapon with your own, or with an unarmed attack. To simulate the classic movie effect of having weapons lock up. Weapon Grapples mechanically work the same way as a normal grapple except for the following:

Grappling consequences:
You still threaten while in weapons lock, and retain your Dex bonus to AC. The weapon(s) involved in the lock though can not be used to attack and do not threaten. In other words you still threaten with any weapons you have available other than the one you have locked up.

Weapons Lock Check: (Base Attack Bonus + Weapons Modifiers + Size + Handedness)

Starting a weapons lock is the same as a grapple. You suffer an attack of opportunity unless you have the feat Improved Grapple, or the new feat Improved Weapons Lock.

If you’re in weapons lock:
-You may attempt to disarm your opponent with any weapon available, including the weapons in lock.
-You may attack your opponent with any available weapons other than the ones involved in the lock.
-You may attempt to sunder a locked weapon with a weapon not involved in the lock. *(Certain exotic weapons can sunder from within the lock)
-Escape from lock: As escape from grapple except you may not substitute escape artists checks.
-Transition to grapple: If you have a free hand, or drop your own weapon you may transition to a normal grapple, with a successful grapple check.


Called Shots:
Because you asked for it, I am bringing back a system for called shots. This system is experimental and could be canceled later, if it turns out to be too cumbersome. So for now this is a work in progress.

To do a called shot first requires a minimum base attack bonus of +1. You may perform a called shot with any attack which requires an attack roll. (On a case by case basis, area effect attacks against larger creatures may count as a called shot depending on the circumstances.)

Performing a Called Shot:
You make your attack roll with a -4 penalty. This attack provokes an attack of opportunity. A successful hit doe’s half damage rounded down.

Roll 1d10: Results 1-5 = Glancing Blow, 6, 7, 8 = Solid Hit, 9, 10 Penetrating Strike. The effects of Blows, Hits, & Strikes will be adjudicated on the fly by the DM. ( I have a small currently unfinished chart. ) In general the types of effects are as follows. You may direct a Called shot to the Arms/Hands, Legs/Feet, Torso, or Head.

-Glancing Blows: Will generally be things considered inconveniences by your opponent. And will generally be based on where you hit them. A glancing blow on the arms for instance may impose a -1 to your opponent’s attack rolls for certain duration. While one to the legs may impose a penalty to the subjects reflex save, or Dex based skills.

-Solid Hits: are a bit more effective. Larger penalties usually imply. For instance a head shot may blind you for 1d4 rounds due to blood in the eye, or lower your will save by -4 for the same period.

-Penetrating Strikes: Are usually no more effective than Solid blows but may be permanent until healed. For instance you may shoot out someone’s eye, causing them to go partially blind, and imposing a 25% miss chance on all of their attacks. This would be a permanent change until they’d been attended to properly. A Strike to the leg could possibly break or fracture that leg, limiting their movement to 10ft a round.

Avoiding Called Shots:
When you are struck by a called shot roll a fort save (DC: 10 + Damage taken) Success means you shrug off the special effects of the called shot.

Armor: An opponent wearing medium armor lowers the effect category by 1. An opponent wearing heavy armor lowers the category by 1 and halves any rolled effect durations (min-1). Scoring a glancing blow on an opponent in medium or heavy armor has no effect. Some special attacks bypass normal armor, such as spectral touch attacks. Normal armor will not help negate called shots from these effects.

Damage Reduction/Energy Resistance: If the damage from your called shot is not high enough to bypass either of these effects, the called shot has no effect.

Force Armor: Force Armor effects of +4 or better lower any rolled durations by half (min-1). Force Armor effects of +8 or better lower the category rolled by one.


New General Feats:

Improved Weapons Lock (General): You have mastered the art of tying up an opponent’s weapons in melee.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, BAB+3
Benefit: You no longer provoke attacks of opportunity when attempting a weapons lock. You also gain a +4 bonus on all weapon grapple checks, regardless of whether you started the grapple.
Special: Fighter Bonus Feat

Improved Called Shot (General): You have a sharp eye for striking where it hurts.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, BAB+9
Benefit: You no longer provoke attacks of opportunity when attempting a called shot. Also the base DC to avoid the effects of your called shots increase to (DC=15 + Damage done)
Special: Fighter Bonus Feat

Shield Tuck (General): Your shield offers greater protection from area effect attacks
Prerequisites: Shield Specialization (Heavy, or Tower), BAB+6
Benefit: When wielding a shield for which you have the Shield Specialization feat (Heavy, or Tower only), you are treated as having the evasion feat vs. any enveloping area effect attacks which allow a reflex or fort save. This feat has no effect against gaseous, or cloud attacks. If at any time you lose your shield bonus to AC this feat has no effect. (Example, performing a shield bash without the Improved Shield Bash feat, or having your shield turned aside by the Pin Shield (C-War) feat.
Special: Fighter Bonus Feat

Spell casting:

Spell Components: Because I will be introducing a number of special spell components, your spell component pouch will no longer be an unlimited thing you don’t have to worry about. Your spell component pouch now has “charges”. A standard spell component pouch takes up the size and space of a normal belt pouch and has enough basic components in it to cast 20 spells. Your pouch is assumed to have everything you need that doesn’t have a monetary value to it. So it is not necessary to keep track of how many feathers you have, or bits of sulfur or frog tongues. In a natural environment you may restock your pouch with a DC 10 Spell craft, or Alchemy check in 30 minutes. In a well stocked magical workshop or laboratory you can do it in just 5 minutes. Failing the check simply doubles the amount of time. Environmental circumstances may alter the DC needed, or negate your ability to restock your pouch altogether.


Casting systems:
All casting systems are in play. When you first take a level in a spell casting class you must make the choice of which system to use. (Spell slots vs. the spell points variants.) This choice may not be changed. Only classes which follow the spell progressions laid out in Unearthed Arcana may use the spell point system. We will not be converting classes that don’t already fit. Such as the Duskblade and Assassin, both of whom must use the spell slot system. Psionic classes of course must use the Psionic spell point system as laid out in their book. If you take a second spell casting class on a different progression than your first, you may choose a different spell casting system for that class under the same guidelines as above.

Counter Spells:
You may now attempt to counter a spell with any other spell of the same school; this functions similar to dispel magic counter spelling but with a higher DC. You make a dispel check (1d20 + your caster level, max+10) vs. the spell DC. DC=15+ the opponent’s spell casting level. This is not an opposed roll. The person being dispelled essentially takes 15. (This is more difficult than using dispel magic as a counter spell. The DC for doing it this way is higher.)

Ray Spells and Spell Link:
You may now counter spell a ray attack with any other ray attack. Doing so causes the ray’s to link up beginning a dual of power between the casters.

Beginning a spell link is similar to counter spelling. The defending caster must make a DC 15 spellcraft check in order to identify the spell as a ray spell. He then fires his own ray to intercept the opposing one. The opposing ray must pass with in range of the ray attack you are using to intercept. Once the rays interact the casters make opposed caster checks. (1d20 + Caster Lvl + Lvl of Spell.) If the attacker wins by 5 or more he blows through the intercepting beam to attack his intended target as normal. Any other result begins a spell lock.

Once in a spell lock the opponents roll 1d4. This is how many rounds the spell energy will sustain itself. Once these rounds are up, you must use another spell slot/or the equivalent spell points to renew the lock with a new die roll. You may use a different ray attack than the one initially used to start the lock, in order to sustain it. Changing ray attacks does not break the lock; it simply changes the energy being used.

Being in link has no effect on your awareness. You are not flat footed and maintaining the link does not require you to maintain concentration on the link unless you are attacked. If you are injured while in a spell link you must make a concentration check (DC=10 + the damage taken.) Failure forces you to immediately disengage; suffering the consequences of that action.

Maintain: As a standard action you may maintain the link at its current state without attempting to gain an advantage, press an advantage, break the link, or recover. No check is required to maintain the link.

Break Link: As a standard action you may force the spell link to break. Make opposed rolls. If you defeat your opponent by 5 you may force the link to break. Neither duelist takes any adverse effects from breaking the link. You may not break a link if you are at a disadvantage, only when neutral or at an advantage.

Advantage: As a standard action you may attempt to gain the advantage by forcing the center point of the energy duel closer to your opponent. Make an opposed role. Defeating your opponent by 5 or more puts you at an advantage. You may only gain an advantage on your action. You may not advance on an opponent who is physically outside the maximum range of your ray attack.

Recover: If you’ve been put at a disadvantage you may as a standard action attempt to recover. Make opposed rolls; defeating your opponent by 5 or more forces a recovery, putting the dueling center back to a neutral position.

Pressing Advantage: Once you have your opponent at a disadvantage you may attempt to break through their defenses as a standard action. Make opposed rolls. Defeat your opponent by 5 and you may immediately make a ranged touch attack against them with your current ray. You gain a +2 bonus on this attack roll. You may not press advantage on a person outside the maximum range of your ray attack.

Re-Enforce: As a standard action you may reinforce the link. To reinforce the link you must expend a ray effect into the link. This gives you a new 1d4 duration roll. As stated above you may use a different ray attack than the initial exchange to reinforce the lock. Re-enforcing the lock is a maintaining action.

Move: As a move action you may attempt to take a normal move while in a spell lock. To do so make opposed checks as normal. Win the check by any amount and you may move as normal. Fail the check and you may choose not to move. If after failing the check you decide to move anyway you must disengage.

Disengagement: As a swift action you may voluntarily disengage from a spell lock. If you do so your opponent get’s to take a range touch attack against you with their current ray as an attack of opportunity.

The link of a spell lock can be maintained even without a line of sight to your opponent, but not without line of effect. Any being caught in the cross fire of a spell lock may take a reflex save DC15 to avoid the arcing line. On failed reflex Roll D100; 1-25 you take the blunt of both rays, breaking the lock. 26-74 you are hit by one ray or the other (coin flip) breaking the lock. 75+ you take no adverse effects due to a close brush with the magical energy. The lock remains.

If you are outside the maximum range of your opponents ray attack they may not take an attack against you with their ray when you disengage.

Skill synergies: 5 or more ranks in Concentration, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Religion), Sense Motive, or Psicraft grants a cumulative +2 synergy bonus to your opposed roll caster roll when in a spell link. Knowledge religion only helps if one of the opponents is using divine magic. Spell Craft for arcane users, Psicraft for a Psionic ray, or Arcana for a Warlock.

NakedCelt
2007-08-05, 11:04 PM
Why can't you have more than one of any non-human race in the party? The whole "humans run the world, everyone else is there for flavour" thing has always been one of the most annoying things about classic D&D for me.

Damionte
2007-08-05, 11:16 PM
That's the only part of the write up I've already shared with the group. They're cool with it. They all tend to play what for us are stwereotyipcal memebers of the "other' races.

The area they're going through will be domincated by humans. When we meet demi humans it will be for a reason.

The 1 per party is to help them be different enough to not step on each others toes during social situations. That happens alot with us. Like having two rogues with the same skill set.

Xuincherguixe
2007-08-05, 11:19 PM
15 seconds seems like it's pretty quick. I'd say a minute, maybe thirty seconds. But probably a good way to keep the game from stopping.

Koga
2007-08-05, 11:22 PM
All seem like reasonable rules, but it only expands the level gap.

Power-curves make me a sad Koga...

Damionte
2007-08-06, 12:14 AM
Naw a minute is too long. We have 6 players, plus the GM's turn. I expec them to kinda figure out what they're going to do during everyone elses turn.

That's not 15 seconds to do your turn, just 15 seconds to speak up and start in on what you're going to do.

Kurald Galain
2007-08-06, 06:55 AM
I'd say the egg timer is unfair, first because the winding up is annoying, second because the ticking may make some players nervous, and third because they may have questions for the DM. I'm all in favor of having players decide quickly on their combat actions, and I do sometimes make PCs stand confused if the player doesn't decide (actually, when I threaten to do so, people tend to make up their mind quickly anyway) but this isn't it. There are easier ways to speed up combat.

Damionte
2007-08-06, 12:59 PM
Don't see why it would be unfair. I'm counting on that ding from the timer to snap them out of just sitting there and staring at the mini's.

What questions could they have that would take more than 5 seconds to answer?

Combats with 6 players give each person plenty of time to figure out what they're going to do, BEFORE thier turn comes around. A single combat round currently takes us between 5-20 minutes. These players have quick sheet's on thier spells and feats, they know the rules. We don't have any noobies at the table, who need to sit and rifle through the books to look up how grapple works, or the range on magic missle every turn.

We do have a couple of players though who due to short attention spans or distractions are never ready when thier turn comes around. Or the'll sit and over annalyze every single action from every possible direction. The rest of the group eventualy starts getting side tracked with "outside" topics and before we know it we've blown 30 minutes on something unrelated, all because Joe was staring at the mini's again.

This 15 second timer doesn't include going through someone's turn. It simply covers the time between when I tell someone it's thier turn, and the point where they tell me what it is they want to attempt to do. At that point we're off the clock and go about actually performing what it is they wanted to do. This time isn't on a clock. We need to roll the dice, we may need to look something up, and so on.

What we're not going to do is sit and look up 3 or 4 options before he makes his decision. Weighing and judging each action then decideing on the mathematically perfect option. We're not going to be playing warhammer with everyone's turn.

Make a decision and we go with it. You forgot to adjust for attacks of opportunity? Plan better next round. You forgot that hold person doesn't work on giants, remember it for next time.

My plan is that after a few sessions I won't need the egg timer anymore. I'm confident that they'll be annoyed by it. I am using it to make the point above though. I want the ding to scare them into actually acting when thier turn comes around instead of holding up the game. After a few people lose thier actions i think they'll get the picture and will get along faster.

Joltz
2007-08-06, 03:14 PM
I agree that in a group of experienced players, 15 seconds is enough time. I get frustrated when a single combat encounter takes hours.

Overall, I like your rules. I'd play. It's much better than the group I've been playing with recently. We've been playing on and off for a couple of years, and it's crazy sometimes. We don't really have a set list of houserules or standardized list of acceptable books. We don't even have a standardized list of effects for nat 1s and 20s (on any roll) The DM usually just calls an auto-success or a botch he feels is situationally appropriate, and some people like seeing their players screw themselves way too much. I'm working on running an entire campaign properly as an example so my friends (and myself) can learn from it.

StickMan
2007-08-06, 04:06 PM
Seems like a cool game to me. The whole one race other than human thing is a bit off. I could see only one race period including humans. I hope there is not a real egg timer that just seems anal to me. But other than that seems like a good game.

Damionte
2007-08-06, 08:29 PM
I'm not too keen on the egg timer thing myself. At least not on having a physical egg timer. (Mostly because I'm cheap and do't want to buy one.) I'm also not going to remember to wind it, and the ticking will get on my nerves.

Maybe I'll lean over and turn the microwave on or something. If anythign I'll just keep count in my head and yell DING FRIES ARE DONE!

Vhaidara
2007-08-06, 08:32 PM
Never. Kill the egg timer, and I'll finish reading it. Seriously, upon reading about the time limit, I just stopped. I'm going to be fully honest: That is the dumbest idea in DnD history. Yeah, including that.

jindra34
2007-08-06, 08:37 PM
Never. Kill the egg timer, and I'll finish reading it. Seriously, upon reading about the time limit, I just stopped. I'm going to be fully honest: That is the dumbest idea in DnD history. Yeah, including that.

You do realize it actually makes sense. and it still gives you more time to think then your character has.

Vhaidara
2007-08-06, 09:12 PM
Well, the only group I play in has a great tendency to get sidetracked, but that's actually a lot of the fun.