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Crim the Cold
2018-05-13, 12:28 AM
I thought I might share one of my favorite homebrew rules. It is borrowed from an older system that used to be one of my favorite tabletop games.

Luck or Divine Favor pool

When I DM I allow for players to bank roleplaying exp into this pool instead of allocating it for character growth. This pool of exp can be spent on various things to swing a situation in favor of the player. Here is a list of a few things that it can be spent on.


Directly modify a D20 roll - 5 points spent for +1 on the die
Reroll before result is known - 20 points
Reroll after the result has been declared - 50 points
Prevent death from a killing blow - 50 points
Divine Intervention - 100 points
Random intervention (delays enemy action by 1d10 rounds) - 50 points
Automatic skill check success (trained) - 25 points
Automatic skill check success (untrained) - 50 points



An example of how one of my players had fun with this is how he banked these points specifically so he could pull a Fonzie on any treasure chests or doors that the rogue failed to open with his fighter. He'd walk up and smack it with the pommel of his weapon and roll an open lock untrained spending the 50 points from his luck pool for the automatic success. One of the best sources of funny party drama I can remember especially since his wife was usually the rogue. Lots of great stories came from this rule. Lots of fond memories.

Gorum
2018-05-13, 04:57 AM
Player agency is a good thing. I would either reward with XP (scaling if need be) or points for these specific purposes, because 50xp is pretty dismal cimpared to a reroll after results are announced.

Otherwise, it seems a solid replacement for Emergency dice (Hvy Gear), Willpower (NWoD), Force Points (EotE) or Edge (Shadowrun) that specifically encourages immersion in DnD-like games.

Edit: I would also allow monsters and political rivals the use of these abilities, and spread their cost as bonus roleplay XP for players at the end of the session. Otherwise, it ****s up the balance (or lack of balance).