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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Help Me Rate My Houserules (PEACH)



PhantasyPen
2018-07-20, 09:49 AM
I'm currently going over my houserules for 3.5e d&d, and I was wondering if the good people of this forum would be willing to help me make sure there aren't any major pitfalls, or to at least predict what the biggest abuses of these rules are going to be.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1To6wEgnR3KX39SbdHBHKovnfMx4YPfQT9XhnPRQ7zpE/edit?usp=sharing

Maat Mons
2018-07-20, 03:58 PM
How does your rule for dual shield use interact with animated shields, the shield spell, and anything else that provides a shield bonus to AC?

Just double-checking, your change to how multiplied damage is rolled doesn't change which damage is eligible for multiplication, does it?

nonsi
2018-07-20, 07:16 PM
.

I notice that Jump is folded twice - once for Acrobatics and once for Athletics.

"No Armor Check penalty unless swimming"
Would breaks suspension of disbelief.
Skills model the real world. Armors make noise and are bulky, that's why they impose ACP on movement-associated skills.

"Certain types of light armor can be worn together"
Don't go there. Seems messy to me, and would probably render medium armor obsolete.

"All attacks that threaten a critical hit succeed regardless of AC, however all critical hits must be confirmed, even on a Natural 20"
What's the innovation here?

"When a character rolls a critical hit or triggers any other ability that multiplies damage, instead of rolling extra dice they multiply the weapon’s damage result by the relevant multipliers. The Multiplier Stacking rules still apply"
I see the advantage from a "gameflow" PoV, but this means that certain values within damage range will never happen (since the final multiplier also functions as damage-points-step).
No biggie, but I thought it was worth mentioning, just in case this insight slipped under your radar.

Maat Mons
2018-07-20, 09:18 PM
All attacks that threaten a critical hit succeed regardless of AC, however all critical hits must be confirmed, even on a Natural 20.

So, if I'm wielding a keen falchion, my chance to hit can never go below 30%? Even when I'm taking -15 for my last iterative attack, power attacking away my entire base attack bonus, improved combat expertise-ing away my entire base attack bonus a second time, and targeting an enemy who has spent every last resource boosting his AC to the limit?

Oh, and suffering a -10 penalty for wearing mechanus gear that I'm not proficient with. And a -4 penalty because I'm not proficient with the scimitar either.

Dolorous blow still auto-confirms all those threats? So once my attack bonus gets low enough, I either miss or critically hit, with no in between?

Just to be clear, this applies even against enemies who are immune to extra damage from critical hits?

Mmm, divine metamagic persisted Choose Destiny and a dolorous falchion. Your chances of a critical hit rise to 51%,.

PhantasyPen
2018-07-21, 09:24 AM
How does your rule for dual shield use interact with animated shields, the shield spell, and anything else that provides a shield bonus to AC?

Just double-checking, your change to how multiplied damage is rolled doesn't change which damage is eligible for multiplication, does it?

I wrote that rule with the intention that you would actually need to be holding a physical shield, so animated shields and the shield spell don't count, I'll look at clarifying this.

I don't *think* I've changed which damage types are eligible for multiplication, it's supposed to be the weapon's actual damage dice plus any static numerical bonuses yes?


.

I notice that Jump is folded twice - once for Acrobatics and once for Athletics.

"No Armor Check penalty unless swimming"
Would breaks suspension of disbelief.
Skills model the real world. Armors make noise and are bulky, that's why they impose ACP on movement-associated skills.

"Certain types of light armor can be worn together"
Don't go there. Seems messy to me, and would probably render medium armor obsolete.

"All attacks that threaten a critical hit succeed regardless of AC, however all critical hits must be confirmed, even on a Natural 20"
What's the innovation here?

"When a character rolls a critical hit or triggers any other ability that multiplies damage, instead of rolling extra dice they multiply the weapon’s damage result by the relevant multipliers. The Multiplier Stacking rules still apply"
I see the advantage from a "gameflow" PoV, but this means that certain values within damage range will never happen (since the final multiplier also functions as damage-points-step).
No biggie, but I thought it was worth mentioning, just in case this insight slipped under your radar.

Yes, Jump is folded twice, because I couldn't find any base classes that didn't have Jump, which is why I put it under both skills, to make sure everyone had access to both. It's the same reason my version of perception includes the Search skill: guaranteeing access.

I made that armor check rule *because* of suspension of disbelief although I didn't notice I misrepresented what I meant until I saw you quote it just now. What that should really read as "ACP does not apply to Athletics or Acrobatics checks except for when swimming" Because you are correct: metal armor is noisy, however it's perfectly possible to do cartwheels and somersaults in full plate if you're trained in its use.

The light armor thing was included because of a few third-party sourcebooks I allow my players to use on occasion that has sets of light armor which are just ordinary clothing modified with chain or metal segments between two layers of cloth. This is basically just to allow people to make custom medium armor by combining some of those armor sets.

I'm not sure I could call my "all crits hit" rule an innovation, just something that I didn't at first realize was a houserule and included for consistency's sake once I did.


So, if I'm wielding a keen falchion, my chance to hit can never go below 30%? Even when I'm taking -15 for my last iterative attack, power attacking away my entire base attack bonus, improved combat expertise-ing away my entire base attack bonus a second time, and targeting an enemy who has spent every last resource boosting his AC to the limit?

Oh, and suffering a -10 penalty for wearing mechanus gear that I'm not proficient with. And a -4 penalty because I'm not proficient with the scimitar either.

Dolorous blow still auto-confirms all those threats? So once my attack bonus gets low enough, I either miss or critically hit, with no in between?

Just to be clear, this applies even against enemies who are immune to extra damage from critical hits?

Mmm, divine metamagic persisted Choose Destiny and a dolorous falchion. Your chances of a critical hit rise to 51%,.

Well thank you for giving me the most comprehensive breakdown of these critical hit rules I have ever seen. Thankfully, I think I'm the only person in my 3.5 group capable of comprehending anything you've got written here, which is why I'm confident enough to allow these rules in the first place. I'll probably need to either remove this rule or ban auto-confirmation of crits in the future though.