Tyrann
2023-11-26, 03:25 PM
Hey, and welcome.
I'll repost the house rules here and we can do the last quick touches on your sheet before we get the IC going. Let me know if you have any more questions regarding the build (though we can figure a lot of that out as we go) and let me know when you're ready for me to check the sheet before we start the game.
1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
D&D 3.5
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Homebrewed campaign, gestalt
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
One player
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
These forums
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
Level 1
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
As per normal for your class
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Everything within the allowed books is fair game (except that every class with taint in the name is banned).
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
99.5% of the world is human, but with the return of magic, some kids are 'mutating'.
Your parents will be human, and cosmetically so will you be at the start of the game. There is nothing wrong with being a human for the entire game, but if it's something your prefer you can build your statblock as if you were another race and you'll 'mutate' in the first few scenes IC.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
Point Buy:
LA 0 – 42
LA 1 – 32
LA 2 – 25
LA 3 – 18
LA 4 – 10
LA 5 and up - not playable
HP is always max of your HD.
BAB and saves are fractional. The +2 on saves only applies the first time.
Feat progression as per Pathfinder (so at level 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on). Flaws are banned, but everybody gets two free bonus feats (as if they'd taken two flaws).
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Yes but mainly for game mechanics. I don't enforce alignment restrictions on classes except that paladins and clerics have to follow their deity's teachings to some extent. If you want to play a divine caster and homebrew your own deity, give me a pitch and we can brainstorm about it.
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Multiclassing is fine, no xp penalties.
PrC's can be taken on both sides of the gestalt.
Dual advancement is allowed but must be fully qualified for on one side and no early entry (except for warlock using practiced spellcaster).
One thing of note here, since this is a gestalt game:
You can only stack one stat, once, to AC/saves/attack bonus/damage.
So a Paladin//Sorcerer casting Ruin Delver's Fortune for Reflex Saves would get no benefit except for Evasion, nor would they get any benefit from a Warblade dip unless their Int was higher than their Cha.
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
I'll take 10 on passives and I'll roll initiative, but other than that you make your own rolls.
I've had really bad experiences in the past as a player with GM's that cheat with dice rolls. But I do think that rolling open during combat isn't ideal either, because then things like attack bonuses can be gamed too much.
So what I usually do is keep all the rolls archived and show them after combat.
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
Yes, see below.
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
Nothing huge, just a few sentences about
1. Your day to day life in your village
2. Your home / house.
3. Your friend Isabella, who is the same age as you. The dynamic between you two.
4. A brief description of your mentor in the village. What did they teach you?
Feel entirely free to spin this however you would like it. Could be that you were adopted by a local noble, could be that you’re a hunter, could be that you’re a farm hand. It’s all good, since it’s a solo campaign, so go with what you think would be cool.
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
Little bit of all, but mainly roleplaying and exploring, then hack&slash and finally the occasional puzzle.
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Most official published 3.5 is fair game. If it's dubious or obscure, run it by me.
If it's from Serpent Kingdoms, the answer is no.
I generally don't like Dragonlance, so you can request from it, but with the exception of a few feats (like Keen Intellect) the answer is probably going to be no.
3.x Dragon Magazine on request. I own most volumes and I love them for inspiration but I'm not really comfortable blanket pre-approving them.
The list below is not entirely complete. But the most important bits are in there and it should give you an idea of how I DM.
A note up front: while these rules are fairly permissive, the aim of that is to allow you to build a character that you find interesting and compelling, not to turn it into an exercise of putting the biggest numbers onto a sheet.
I run my games as fair as I can. If I use homebrew, it will be available to you. If I ban something, I don't use it myself.
BAB and Saves
Use fractional BAB and saves. The +2 on a good save only applies the first time.
Bonus Feats
You gain the following feats are free: Able Learner, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot.
Furthermore
When your base Str is 14 or over, you gain Power Attack as a bonus feat.
When your base Dex is 14 or over, you gain Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat.
When your base Con is 14 or over, you gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Concentration, you gain either Combat Casting, Combat Manifesting, Skill Focus (Concentration) or Arcane Focus [Dragon #351, works as psionic focus] a bonus feat (your choice).
When you have 8 ranks in Hide, you gain Darkstalker or Mind Mask [Arcane Focus works for this, too] as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Gather Information, you gain Urban Tracking as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Spellcraft you gain Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Survival, you gain Track as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Alchemy) you gain Brew Potion as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Jewelcraft) you gain Forge Ring as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Weaponsmith) and Craft (Armorsmith) you gain Craft Magic/Psionic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Use Magic Device you gain Craft Wondrous Item as a bonus feat.
These do not grant anything if you already have the feat. That is the price of having it early.
And if I even hear Chaos Shuffle I'm going to start throwing virtual books.
Feat Changes
Two-Weapon Fighting is merged into one feat that upgrades when you qualify for higher tiers. Additionally, this feat now allows you to attack once each with two different held weapons as a standard action or as part of a Spring Attack.
Multi-Weapon Fighting is merged into one feat that upgrades when you qualify for higher tiers. Additionally, this feat now allows you to attack once each with two different held weapons as a standard action or as part of a Spring Attack.
Insidious Illusions as the ability described in RoS p.148 (gnome illusionist lvl 10) can be taken as a feat by anyone with a CL of 9.
Metamagic
Metamagics stack only with respect to the original spell, not with respect to eachother.
For example:
A Twinned Maximized Disintegrate creates two rays, one of which is maximized.
Occular Spell does not circumvent the “personal/fixed range” clause of Persistent Metamagic.
Using Born of Three Thunders does not make a spell a legal target for use with Explosive Spell.
The only exception to this are Still Spell and Silent Spell, which do stack with all other metamagics.
Divination spells may not be the target of offensively oriented Metamagics, such as Metamagics that deal damage or drain levels.
Stacking reducers are fine, just don't go too crazy with them.
Mindsigh, Telepathy and [Mind Affecting]
A creature with immunity to [Mind Affecting], whether due to creature type, a Mind Blank spell, or otherwise, can opt to completely shut out all telepathy and every other attempt to contact their mind.
When a creature does so, they interact with Mindsight in the same way that a creature with the Darkstalker feat would interact with Blindsight. However, this renders such a creature completely unable to communicate telepathically or to either send or receive information through other mental channels such as an Arcane Eye spell, a Trickery Devotion Simulacrum or a Status spell. This 'firewall' persists for as long as the Mind Blank or other immunity to [Mind Affecting] persists, and may be raised or lowered at will, as a standard action.
Lifesense
The light given off by a living creature is blocked by darkness effects. Any shadow effect that sort of envelops a character (such as the Shadowcraft Mage's Cloak of Shadows or the Armor Of Darkness spell) can, at your discretion, completely block the light you give off. That does mean such spells hide your facial features and such as well, which depending on the situation may or may not be something you want.
Linked Skills
The skills listed below are grouped. Their modifiers may be altered by different effects, but buying a rank in one skill gives you the same amount in the other skills, up to their normal limit. Note that this does not let you “double up” by ranking both skills, you just get full ranks in both while only paying for one. This replaces synergy bonuses.
If a grouped skill is a class skill for you, all other skills grouped with it to automatically become class skills for you as well.
Grouped skills are:
Autohypnosis and Concentration
Balance, Tumble
Bluff, Disguise and Sleight of Hand
Climb, Jump and Swim
Escape Artist and Use Rope
Hide and Move Silently
Gather information and Sense Motive
Knowledge Knowledge (Nature) and Survival
Listen, Search, and Spot
Psicraft and Spellcraft
Use Magic Device and Use Psionic Device
Background Skills
In addition to their normal allotment of regular skill ranks, all characters gain 8 background skill ranks at first level and 2 background skill ranks each time they gain a level. The character's Intelligence modifier doesn't adjust this value. Background skill ranks can be used to gain ranks only in background skills, not adventuring skills. Characters can expend their regular skill ranks on background skills if they desire.
Background skills are:
Appraise
Craft (Any) - taken individually
Craft (Weaponsmith) and Craft (Armorsmith)
Decipher Script and Forgery
Disable Device, Open Lock, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering), Profession (Mechanic) and Profession (Siege Engineer)
Handle Animal and Ride
Knowledge (Geography), Profession (Astronomy) and Profession (Pilot)
Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty), Profession (Noble)
Perform (Any 3)
Profession (Any 3 that weren't already mentioned)
Skill Tricks
The Skill Tricks from the list below unlock for free as you qualify for them. You can know a number of skill tricks equal to up to 1/2 your character level, rounded up. The skill tricks from the list below can be used at will. Once you know a Skill Trick, you can only forget it with a Psychic Reformation.
The skill tricks from complete scoundrel not included in this list can still be taken as normal (i.e. they cost 2 skill points and, unless otherwise noted, they can be performed only once per encounter, or once per minute for scenes that don't involve combat or other conflict.) Paying skill points for skill tricks does not allow you to go over your limit for the number of skill tricks you can learn.
Acrobatic Backstab
Back on Your Feet
Clarity of Vision
Collector of Stories
Conceal Spellcasting
Corner Perch
Dismount Attack
Escape Attack
Extreme Leap
Group Fake-Out
Healing Hands
Hidden Blade
Leaping Climber
Mosquito's Bite
Never Outnumbered
Nimble Stand
Opening Tap
Point it Out
Second Impression
Shrouded Dance
Slipping Past
Spot the Weak Point
Sudden Draw
Timely Misdirection
Tumbling Crawl
Up the Hill
Walk the Walls
Wall Jumper
Whip Climber
On knowledge rolls
I sometimes allow the “wrong” knowledge skill to identify/learn about a monster. For instance, someone with Knowledge (Nature) might be able to identify things about the anatomy of a Dragon, or someone with Knowledge (Psionics) might be able to identify the PLAs of an aberration.
Altered or Removed Skills
Diplomacy: is removed from the game as a skill you can rank.
Diplomacy in the form of RP still plays an important part of the game. And dice rolls definitely still have a place in things like knowledge (nobility) rolls for proper etiquette, appraise for bargaining, or forgery for "official" documents. But no more turning Balors into your pet kittens because you dipped marshal.
Martial Lore is removed from the game as a skill you can rank. Instead, martial lore checks are now made using your highest Initiator level + 3 + your initiating modifier (only add your initiating modifier if you have levels in an initiator class).
Permanencied Spells and Common Effects
Permanencied Spells re-activate 1d4 minutes after being dispelled. For the caster level, use the lower of the two castings (the original spell and the permanency). The XP costs are unchanged.
All the Common Item Effects listen under MIC p. 234 (Enhancement bonuses to abilities, resistance bonuses to saves, natural armor and deflection bonuses to AC) are no longer available in that form.
Instead, they become a permanent part of your character, with the gold cost refluffed as the cost of training and training equipment. Because your character actually learns these things, they are no longer considered magical effects.
That means that these bonuses persist in an anti magic field. Their type is unchanged. So enhancement bonuses still don't stack with enhancement spells, etc.
Weapons and Items
Anyone proficient with a whip may use it as if he had the Lasher's "Third Hand" class ability (Sword and Fist p.25)
Shield Bonuses now also apply to touch AC if the shield is worn. (So this does not apply to animated shields.)
Amulet of Mighty Fists has its cost reduced to twice the price of a normal weapon enhancement. So +1 costs 4,000 gold, +2 costs 16,000, etc.
Untyped bonuses don't stack with themselves (think of things like Nightsticks and Eager Weapons.)
Spellblade (PGtF 120) is allowed, but with a few tweaks. It now grants infinite SR against a single spell or power. So it only works against spells that allow SR or PR. If it is used for immunity against a power, it is called a Psiblade. Additionally, any given instance of a spell may only be redirected once by a spellblade. At a second contact, the spell must either be absorbed or let through.
And obvious things, such as Starmantle Cloak not stacking with Evasion and items like Dust of Sneezing and Choking being banned.
This list is not complete, but it should give you an idea of what I will and won't allow.
Actions in combat
Within reason, free actions (such as dropping a weapon or calling an item from your gloves of storing) can be taken off turn. They still cannot be taken in response to an enemy against whom you are considered flat-footed.
Death Threshold
You die at -10 or – half your total hp, whichever is lower. You bleed out 10% of your max negative hp per round. This is added behind the comma (so if you have a floor of -12, you lose 1 hp for rounds 1-4 and 2 hp at round 5.)
On XP costs
All abilities that have an XP cost require payment of that cost, no matter the origin or mode of the cast. I don't care if it's cast as (Su). I don't care if you summoned an Efreeti. You're still paying.
In that same vein, things like Thought Bottling or Restoration/Drain combos will get DM smote.
On cast times
If you mimic a spell, you use the casting time of the mimicked spell or the original, whichever is longer. Supernatural Abilities and SLAs take the same amount of time to "cast" as regular spells. Wings of cover is an exception to this ruling and is always immediate, even when mimicked. Because rule of cool.
On psionics and transparency
I treat psionics as the third school of magic.
That means there is full transparency in all ways, in the same way you would expect there to be transparency between arcane and divine magic. Note that this does not mean that psionic characters qualify for feats or classes that require arcane or divine casting, or vice versa.
Cantrips
Cantrips may be used at-will. (This includes cure minor wounds. which now only heals you to a maximum of 50% of your max hp.)
Metamagic (posted in feats, but putting it here too for completeness)
Metamagics stack only with respect to the original spell, not with respect to eachother.
For example:
A Twinned Maximized Disintegrate creates two rays, one of which is maximized.
Occular Spell does not circumvent the “personal/fixed range” clause of Persistent Metamagic.
Using Born of Three Thunders does not make a spell a legal target for use with Explosive Spell.
Divination spells may not be the target of offensively oriented Metamagics, such as Metamagics that deal damage or drain levels.
Stacking reducers are fine, just don't go too crazy with them.
Abjuration
Disjunction suppresses magic items that fail their will save for 5 minutes. If an item has a limited amount of charges per day (or shorter period), all charges are expended (so set at 0) for that day.
Disjunction still strips off all temporary magical effects on the target without any check. Contingencies (even crafted) are stripped. Non-temporary magical or psionic effects, such as permanencied spells or psionic circuitry will be usable after 5 minutes (though in the case of psionic circuitry all PP will be lost from the capacitors).
Mage Armor is now an Abjuration spell
Mind Blank - A creature under the effect of Mind Blank can opt to completely shut out all telepathy and other attempts to contact their mind.
When a creature does so, they interact with Mindsight in the same way that a creature with the Darkstalker feat would interact with Blindsight.
However, this renders such a creature completely unable to communicate telepathically or to either send or receive information through other mental channels such as an Arcane Eye spell, a Trickery Devotion Simulacrum or a Status spell.
This 'firewall' persists for as long as the Mind Blank or other immunity to [Mind Affecting] persists, and may be raised or lowered at will, as a standard action. The same can be done for morale effects, but this too works both ways and renders a character vulnerable to demoralization and fear effects.
Conjuration
Body Outside Body: On top of the limitations already in place, clones expend your own resources when using any Su abilities, SLAs, PLAs, manifesting, maneuvers, soul binding, infusions, invocations, shadowcasting, truespeaking. In the case of incarnum you can share Essentia with your clones. You may only have one instance of this spell active at any given time.
Gate has its calling function and xp cost removed.
Plane shift - Work a little differently in this campaign. This spell does still have a function, but it lets you get into or out of pocket dimensions (you'll mostly find these in ruins).
Planar binding/ally – Spell can only be cast near planar rifts, which are notoriously unstable. Planar binding is risky business and is usually not attempted without a crew of some sort to safeguard the summoning circle.
Phantom Stag - Now has a casting time of three full rounds, up from 1 round.
Phantom Steed - Now has a casting time of three full rounds, down from 10 minutes.
(Greater) Teleport only works along ley-lines. I'll add more details to this later, but here is the short of it: You can teleport along 'highways' on the world map. When traveling upstream, the maximum distance traveled is halved. Also, ley-lines can be warded, forcing travelers to exit the line and travel physically beyond the ward.
Teleportation Circle can be dispelled both at the entry point and the exit point.
Divination
Detect Magic, (Greater) Arcane Sight - Cannot detect illusions unless you beat the save first.
I reserve the right to not disclose everything (within reason) when you use a spell of the "please spill the entire plot" variety. I won't do this lightly, though.
Evocation:
Holy Word and similar spells like Blasphemy, Dictum or Word of Chaos key off your character level or your caster level, whichever is lower.
Miracle is not available to PCs except for exceptional situation involving quests and the like. This ban includes things like shadow emulations, Su abilities and items. For clerics with the luck domain, Miracle is replaced by Foresight.
Illusion
Shadow Conjuration/Evocation/Shades - Quasireality caps at 120%
Simulacrum is limited to one at a time. If a Simulacrum attempts to cast Simulacrum or similar spells such as Ice Assassin, it is immediately destroyed. A Simulacrum can have no more HD than your character level.
Necromancy
Astral Projection: While using Astral Projection, the magic of your items follows you around. The gear you leave behind becomes mundane for the duration of the spell.
Death Watch has its [evil] tag removed
Transmutation
Fabricate now has a duration of 1 round/level, is SR: yes and allows a will save if used on attended items.
Glibness is now an immediate action with a duration of one round. The somatic component is removed.
Polymorph Any Object - is generally not available to PCs except for exceptional situations involving quests and the like.
Shapechange - Is allowed, but I reserve the right to veto (Su) abilities that I think are too powerful.
Universal
Wish is not available to PCs except for exceptional situation involving quests and the like. This includes things like using bound creatures or items.
As far as I'm concerned recharge tricks fall into the category of infinite loops. I'm not even going to try to fix them. Just do us both a favor and don't use them.
Where XPH and CP conflict, always go with XPH. And the astral construct nerf from CP is dumb, so we don't use that.
Metamorphosis, Greater - See shapechange. Caps at 25 HD.
Synchronicity – Allows you to ready the standard action it consumed only. If a manifested synchronicity did not consume a standard action, it is wasted. To translate: this means that twinned or linked Synchronicities are wasted. It also means that in situations like a combo with Schism, you couldn't use synchronicity with your second mind to ready for your normal mind. My issue with synchronicity is that it's too good for its level and PP cost. Schism, anticipatory strike, and linked power hustle are all still on the table.
Time Hop, Mass After exiting the Mass Time Hop, the subject of the spell can't take any actions until its next turn.
Class-related fixes and bans
You can only shadow pounce once per full cycle of initiative
Divine impetus can grant a maximum of one extra swift action per full cycle of initiative.
Every class with Taint in the name is banned.
Any class that deals precision damage gains Penetrating Strike (DSc p. 13) as a class feature when they take their 3rd class level in that class.
I'll repost the house rules here and we can do the last quick touches on your sheet before we get the IC going. Let me know if you have any more questions regarding the build (though we can figure a lot of that out as we go) and let me know when you're ready for me to check the sheet before we start the game.
1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
D&D 3.5
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Homebrewed campaign, gestalt
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
One player
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
These forums
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
Level 1
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
As per normal for your class
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Everything within the allowed books is fair game (except that every class with taint in the name is banned).
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
99.5% of the world is human, but with the return of magic, some kids are 'mutating'.
Your parents will be human, and cosmetically so will you be at the start of the game. There is nothing wrong with being a human for the entire game, but if it's something your prefer you can build your statblock as if you were another race and you'll 'mutate' in the first few scenes IC.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
Point Buy:
LA 0 – 42
LA 1 – 32
LA 2 – 25
LA 3 – 18
LA 4 – 10
LA 5 and up - not playable
HP is always max of your HD.
BAB and saves are fractional. The +2 on saves only applies the first time.
Feat progression as per Pathfinder (so at level 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on). Flaws are banned, but everybody gets two free bonus feats (as if they'd taken two flaws).
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Yes but mainly for game mechanics. I don't enforce alignment restrictions on classes except that paladins and clerics have to follow their deity's teachings to some extent. If you want to play a divine caster and homebrew your own deity, give me a pitch and we can brainstorm about it.
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Multiclassing is fine, no xp penalties.
PrC's can be taken on both sides of the gestalt.
Dual advancement is allowed but must be fully qualified for on one side and no early entry (except for warlock using practiced spellcaster).
One thing of note here, since this is a gestalt game:
You can only stack one stat, once, to AC/saves/attack bonus/damage.
So a Paladin//Sorcerer casting Ruin Delver's Fortune for Reflex Saves would get no benefit except for Evasion, nor would they get any benefit from a Warblade dip unless their Int was higher than their Cha.
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
I'll take 10 on passives and I'll roll initiative, but other than that you make your own rolls.
I've had really bad experiences in the past as a player with GM's that cheat with dice rolls. But I do think that rolling open during combat isn't ideal either, because then things like attack bonuses can be gamed too much.
So what I usually do is keep all the rolls archived and show them after combat.
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
Yes, see below.
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
Nothing huge, just a few sentences about
1. Your day to day life in your village
2. Your home / house.
3. Your friend Isabella, who is the same age as you. The dynamic between you two.
4. A brief description of your mentor in the village. What did they teach you?
Feel entirely free to spin this however you would like it. Could be that you were adopted by a local noble, could be that you’re a hunter, could be that you’re a farm hand. It’s all good, since it’s a solo campaign, so go with what you think would be cool.
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
Little bit of all, but mainly roleplaying and exploring, then hack&slash and finally the occasional puzzle.
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Most official published 3.5 is fair game. If it's dubious or obscure, run it by me.
If it's from Serpent Kingdoms, the answer is no.
I generally don't like Dragonlance, so you can request from it, but with the exception of a few feats (like Keen Intellect) the answer is probably going to be no.
3.x Dragon Magazine on request. I own most volumes and I love them for inspiration but I'm not really comfortable blanket pre-approving them.
The list below is not entirely complete. But the most important bits are in there and it should give you an idea of how I DM.
A note up front: while these rules are fairly permissive, the aim of that is to allow you to build a character that you find interesting and compelling, not to turn it into an exercise of putting the biggest numbers onto a sheet.
I run my games as fair as I can. If I use homebrew, it will be available to you. If I ban something, I don't use it myself.
BAB and Saves
Use fractional BAB and saves. The +2 on a good save only applies the first time.
Bonus Feats
You gain the following feats are free: Able Learner, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot.
Furthermore
When your base Str is 14 or over, you gain Power Attack as a bonus feat.
When your base Dex is 14 or over, you gain Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat.
When your base Con is 14 or over, you gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Concentration, you gain either Combat Casting, Combat Manifesting, Skill Focus (Concentration) or Arcane Focus [Dragon #351, works as psionic focus] a bonus feat (your choice).
When you have 8 ranks in Hide, you gain Darkstalker or Mind Mask [Arcane Focus works for this, too] as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Gather Information, you gain Urban Tracking as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Spellcraft you gain Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Survival, you gain Track as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Alchemy) you gain Brew Potion as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Jewelcraft) you gain Forge Ring as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Weaponsmith) and Craft (Armorsmith) you gain Craft Magic/Psionic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat.
When you have 8 ranks in Use Magic Device you gain Craft Wondrous Item as a bonus feat.
These do not grant anything if you already have the feat. That is the price of having it early.
And if I even hear Chaos Shuffle I'm going to start throwing virtual books.
Feat Changes
Two-Weapon Fighting is merged into one feat that upgrades when you qualify for higher tiers. Additionally, this feat now allows you to attack once each with two different held weapons as a standard action or as part of a Spring Attack.
Multi-Weapon Fighting is merged into one feat that upgrades when you qualify for higher tiers. Additionally, this feat now allows you to attack once each with two different held weapons as a standard action or as part of a Spring Attack.
Insidious Illusions as the ability described in RoS p.148 (gnome illusionist lvl 10) can be taken as a feat by anyone with a CL of 9.
Metamagic
Metamagics stack only with respect to the original spell, not with respect to eachother.
For example:
A Twinned Maximized Disintegrate creates two rays, one of which is maximized.
Occular Spell does not circumvent the “personal/fixed range” clause of Persistent Metamagic.
Using Born of Three Thunders does not make a spell a legal target for use with Explosive Spell.
The only exception to this are Still Spell and Silent Spell, which do stack with all other metamagics.
Divination spells may not be the target of offensively oriented Metamagics, such as Metamagics that deal damage or drain levels.
Stacking reducers are fine, just don't go too crazy with them.
Mindsigh, Telepathy and [Mind Affecting]
A creature with immunity to [Mind Affecting], whether due to creature type, a Mind Blank spell, or otherwise, can opt to completely shut out all telepathy and every other attempt to contact their mind.
When a creature does so, they interact with Mindsight in the same way that a creature with the Darkstalker feat would interact with Blindsight. However, this renders such a creature completely unable to communicate telepathically or to either send or receive information through other mental channels such as an Arcane Eye spell, a Trickery Devotion Simulacrum or a Status spell. This 'firewall' persists for as long as the Mind Blank or other immunity to [Mind Affecting] persists, and may be raised or lowered at will, as a standard action.
Lifesense
The light given off by a living creature is blocked by darkness effects. Any shadow effect that sort of envelops a character (such as the Shadowcraft Mage's Cloak of Shadows or the Armor Of Darkness spell) can, at your discretion, completely block the light you give off. That does mean such spells hide your facial features and such as well, which depending on the situation may or may not be something you want.
Linked Skills
The skills listed below are grouped. Their modifiers may be altered by different effects, but buying a rank in one skill gives you the same amount in the other skills, up to their normal limit. Note that this does not let you “double up” by ranking both skills, you just get full ranks in both while only paying for one. This replaces synergy bonuses.
If a grouped skill is a class skill for you, all other skills grouped with it to automatically become class skills for you as well.
Grouped skills are:
Autohypnosis and Concentration
Balance, Tumble
Bluff, Disguise and Sleight of Hand
Climb, Jump and Swim
Escape Artist and Use Rope
Hide and Move Silently
Gather information and Sense Motive
Knowledge Knowledge (Nature) and Survival
Listen, Search, and Spot
Psicraft and Spellcraft
Use Magic Device and Use Psionic Device
Background Skills
In addition to their normal allotment of regular skill ranks, all characters gain 8 background skill ranks at first level and 2 background skill ranks each time they gain a level. The character's Intelligence modifier doesn't adjust this value. Background skill ranks can be used to gain ranks only in background skills, not adventuring skills. Characters can expend their regular skill ranks on background skills if they desire.
Background skills are:
Appraise
Craft (Any) - taken individually
Craft (Weaponsmith) and Craft (Armorsmith)
Decipher Script and Forgery
Disable Device, Open Lock, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering), Profession (Mechanic) and Profession (Siege Engineer)
Handle Animal and Ride
Knowledge (Geography), Profession (Astronomy) and Profession (Pilot)
Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty), Profession (Noble)
Perform (Any 3)
Profession (Any 3 that weren't already mentioned)
Skill Tricks
The Skill Tricks from the list below unlock for free as you qualify for them. You can know a number of skill tricks equal to up to 1/2 your character level, rounded up. The skill tricks from the list below can be used at will. Once you know a Skill Trick, you can only forget it with a Psychic Reformation.
The skill tricks from complete scoundrel not included in this list can still be taken as normal (i.e. they cost 2 skill points and, unless otherwise noted, they can be performed only once per encounter, or once per minute for scenes that don't involve combat or other conflict.) Paying skill points for skill tricks does not allow you to go over your limit for the number of skill tricks you can learn.
Acrobatic Backstab
Back on Your Feet
Clarity of Vision
Collector of Stories
Conceal Spellcasting
Corner Perch
Dismount Attack
Escape Attack
Extreme Leap
Group Fake-Out
Healing Hands
Hidden Blade
Leaping Climber
Mosquito's Bite
Never Outnumbered
Nimble Stand
Opening Tap
Point it Out
Second Impression
Shrouded Dance
Slipping Past
Spot the Weak Point
Sudden Draw
Timely Misdirection
Tumbling Crawl
Up the Hill
Walk the Walls
Wall Jumper
Whip Climber
On knowledge rolls
I sometimes allow the “wrong” knowledge skill to identify/learn about a monster. For instance, someone with Knowledge (Nature) might be able to identify things about the anatomy of a Dragon, or someone with Knowledge (Psionics) might be able to identify the PLAs of an aberration.
Altered or Removed Skills
Diplomacy: is removed from the game as a skill you can rank.
Diplomacy in the form of RP still plays an important part of the game. And dice rolls definitely still have a place in things like knowledge (nobility) rolls for proper etiquette, appraise for bargaining, or forgery for "official" documents. But no more turning Balors into your pet kittens because you dipped marshal.
Martial Lore is removed from the game as a skill you can rank. Instead, martial lore checks are now made using your highest Initiator level + 3 + your initiating modifier (only add your initiating modifier if you have levels in an initiator class).
Permanencied Spells and Common Effects
Permanencied Spells re-activate 1d4 minutes after being dispelled. For the caster level, use the lower of the two castings (the original spell and the permanency). The XP costs are unchanged.
All the Common Item Effects listen under MIC p. 234 (Enhancement bonuses to abilities, resistance bonuses to saves, natural armor and deflection bonuses to AC) are no longer available in that form.
Instead, they become a permanent part of your character, with the gold cost refluffed as the cost of training and training equipment. Because your character actually learns these things, they are no longer considered magical effects.
That means that these bonuses persist in an anti magic field. Their type is unchanged. So enhancement bonuses still don't stack with enhancement spells, etc.
Weapons and Items
Anyone proficient with a whip may use it as if he had the Lasher's "Third Hand" class ability (Sword and Fist p.25)
Shield Bonuses now also apply to touch AC if the shield is worn. (So this does not apply to animated shields.)
Amulet of Mighty Fists has its cost reduced to twice the price of a normal weapon enhancement. So +1 costs 4,000 gold, +2 costs 16,000, etc.
Untyped bonuses don't stack with themselves (think of things like Nightsticks and Eager Weapons.)
Spellblade (PGtF 120) is allowed, but with a few tweaks. It now grants infinite SR against a single spell or power. So it only works against spells that allow SR or PR. If it is used for immunity against a power, it is called a Psiblade. Additionally, any given instance of a spell may only be redirected once by a spellblade. At a second contact, the spell must either be absorbed or let through.
And obvious things, such as Starmantle Cloak not stacking with Evasion and items like Dust of Sneezing and Choking being banned.
This list is not complete, but it should give you an idea of what I will and won't allow.
Actions in combat
Within reason, free actions (such as dropping a weapon or calling an item from your gloves of storing) can be taken off turn. They still cannot be taken in response to an enemy against whom you are considered flat-footed.
Death Threshold
You die at -10 or – half your total hp, whichever is lower. You bleed out 10% of your max negative hp per round. This is added behind the comma (so if you have a floor of -12, you lose 1 hp for rounds 1-4 and 2 hp at round 5.)
On XP costs
All abilities that have an XP cost require payment of that cost, no matter the origin or mode of the cast. I don't care if it's cast as (Su). I don't care if you summoned an Efreeti. You're still paying.
In that same vein, things like Thought Bottling or Restoration/Drain combos will get DM smote.
On cast times
If you mimic a spell, you use the casting time of the mimicked spell or the original, whichever is longer. Supernatural Abilities and SLAs take the same amount of time to "cast" as regular spells. Wings of cover is an exception to this ruling and is always immediate, even when mimicked. Because rule of cool.
On psionics and transparency
I treat psionics as the third school of magic.
That means there is full transparency in all ways, in the same way you would expect there to be transparency between arcane and divine magic. Note that this does not mean that psionic characters qualify for feats or classes that require arcane or divine casting, or vice versa.
Cantrips
Cantrips may be used at-will. (This includes cure minor wounds. which now only heals you to a maximum of 50% of your max hp.)
Metamagic (posted in feats, but putting it here too for completeness)
Metamagics stack only with respect to the original spell, not with respect to eachother.
For example:
A Twinned Maximized Disintegrate creates two rays, one of which is maximized.
Occular Spell does not circumvent the “personal/fixed range” clause of Persistent Metamagic.
Using Born of Three Thunders does not make a spell a legal target for use with Explosive Spell.
Divination spells may not be the target of offensively oriented Metamagics, such as Metamagics that deal damage or drain levels.
Stacking reducers are fine, just don't go too crazy with them.
Abjuration
Disjunction suppresses magic items that fail their will save for 5 minutes. If an item has a limited amount of charges per day (or shorter period), all charges are expended (so set at 0) for that day.
Disjunction still strips off all temporary magical effects on the target without any check. Contingencies (even crafted) are stripped. Non-temporary magical or psionic effects, such as permanencied spells or psionic circuitry will be usable after 5 minutes (though in the case of psionic circuitry all PP will be lost from the capacitors).
Mage Armor is now an Abjuration spell
Mind Blank - A creature under the effect of Mind Blank can opt to completely shut out all telepathy and other attempts to contact their mind.
When a creature does so, they interact with Mindsight in the same way that a creature with the Darkstalker feat would interact with Blindsight.
However, this renders such a creature completely unable to communicate telepathically or to either send or receive information through other mental channels such as an Arcane Eye spell, a Trickery Devotion Simulacrum or a Status spell.
This 'firewall' persists for as long as the Mind Blank or other immunity to [Mind Affecting] persists, and may be raised or lowered at will, as a standard action. The same can be done for morale effects, but this too works both ways and renders a character vulnerable to demoralization and fear effects.
Conjuration
Body Outside Body: On top of the limitations already in place, clones expend your own resources when using any Su abilities, SLAs, PLAs, manifesting, maneuvers, soul binding, infusions, invocations, shadowcasting, truespeaking. In the case of incarnum you can share Essentia with your clones. You may only have one instance of this spell active at any given time.
Gate has its calling function and xp cost removed.
Plane shift - Work a little differently in this campaign. This spell does still have a function, but it lets you get into or out of pocket dimensions (you'll mostly find these in ruins).
Planar binding/ally – Spell can only be cast near planar rifts, which are notoriously unstable. Planar binding is risky business and is usually not attempted without a crew of some sort to safeguard the summoning circle.
Phantom Stag - Now has a casting time of three full rounds, up from 1 round.
Phantom Steed - Now has a casting time of three full rounds, down from 10 minutes.
(Greater) Teleport only works along ley-lines. I'll add more details to this later, but here is the short of it: You can teleport along 'highways' on the world map. When traveling upstream, the maximum distance traveled is halved. Also, ley-lines can be warded, forcing travelers to exit the line and travel physically beyond the ward.
Teleportation Circle can be dispelled both at the entry point and the exit point.
Divination
Detect Magic, (Greater) Arcane Sight - Cannot detect illusions unless you beat the save first.
I reserve the right to not disclose everything (within reason) when you use a spell of the "please spill the entire plot" variety. I won't do this lightly, though.
Evocation:
Holy Word and similar spells like Blasphemy, Dictum or Word of Chaos key off your character level or your caster level, whichever is lower.
Miracle is not available to PCs except for exceptional situation involving quests and the like. This ban includes things like shadow emulations, Su abilities and items. For clerics with the luck domain, Miracle is replaced by Foresight.
Illusion
Shadow Conjuration/Evocation/Shades - Quasireality caps at 120%
Simulacrum is limited to one at a time. If a Simulacrum attempts to cast Simulacrum or similar spells such as Ice Assassin, it is immediately destroyed. A Simulacrum can have no more HD than your character level.
Necromancy
Astral Projection: While using Astral Projection, the magic of your items follows you around. The gear you leave behind becomes mundane for the duration of the spell.
Death Watch has its [evil] tag removed
Transmutation
Fabricate now has a duration of 1 round/level, is SR: yes and allows a will save if used on attended items.
Glibness is now an immediate action with a duration of one round. The somatic component is removed.
Polymorph Any Object - is generally not available to PCs except for exceptional situations involving quests and the like.
Shapechange - Is allowed, but I reserve the right to veto (Su) abilities that I think are too powerful.
Universal
Wish is not available to PCs except for exceptional situation involving quests and the like. This includes things like using bound creatures or items.
As far as I'm concerned recharge tricks fall into the category of infinite loops. I'm not even going to try to fix them. Just do us both a favor and don't use them.
Where XPH and CP conflict, always go with XPH. And the astral construct nerf from CP is dumb, so we don't use that.
Metamorphosis, Greater - See shapechange. Caps at 25 HD.
Synchronicity – Allows you to ready the standard action it consumed only. If a manifested synchronicity did not consume a standard action, it is wasted. To translate: this means that twinned or linked Synchronicities are wasted. It also means that in situations like a combo with Schism, you couldn't use synchronicity with your second mind to ready for your normal mind. My issue with synchronicity is that it's too good for its level and PP cost. Schism, anticipatory strike, and linked power hustle are all still on the table.
Time Hop, Mass After exiting the Mass Time Hop, the subject of the spell can't take any actions until its next turn.
Class-related fixes and bans
You can only shadow pounce once per full cycle of initiative
Divine impetus can grant a maximum of one extra swift action per full cycle of initiative.
Every class with Taint in the name is banned.
Any class that deals precision damage gains Penetrating Strike (DSc p. 13) as a class feature when they take their 3rd class level in that class.