House Rules

The Great Hairy · Post by **The Great Hairy** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:06 pm

Gidday all,

I was just wondering what people have as house rules? What do you change from the written rule books?

One of my major ones is that at a BAB of +6, the PC actually gets a second full action per round. So a 6th level fighter can perform two full actions per round, as can an 8th level cleric or 12th level wizard. Yes, this means more than one spell per round for spell slingers. And so a 20th level fighter gets four full actions per round. Makes things a little more interesting in combat - more heroic/movie style. It also means that I've done away with a lot of the "half-actions/move equivalent actions" and so on.

Cheers,
TGHO

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 3:22 am

1. We changed falling damage from 1d6/10ft to 1d10/10ft. Not a major change, but much more realistic.

2. Sometimes a barbarian can use strength as key ability when intimidating, instead of charisma. Depends on the situation...

Most other changes we have made are combat-related. We don't use a grid, so we have our own rules about AoO etc.

Mr.Waesel · Post by **Mr.Waesel** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:36 am

Curse you! No I have to go and dig up my houserules from the depths of the WOTC boards! *shakes fist*

...

Hmmm...wizard boards seem to be down. Looks like I'll post my specific houserules later.

Anyway, here are some by other people that I've adopted:

1. Using Ride-By-Attack, a character can continue moving after making a charge attack even if the target is directly in front of the charging character.

2. Sneak attack works in "natural" concealment if it's less than total. IOW, you can sneak attack in a dark alley that isn't in total darkness. However, magical concealment like Blur still defeats a Sneak Attack.

3. Small characters can Sneak Attack Large and Huge characters without having to fly or make an obscene jump check.

4. Wizards can find blank spellbooks whenever they need them.

5. You get all spells back as soon as you wake up from 8 hours or so of sleep - immediately.

6. You don't get fatigue unless it's important to the adventure, or is granted by a spell or ability that somebody uses.

7. There is no such thing as encumbrance once you have magical armor and the party has at least one bag of holding, magic backpack, portable hole, or similar item.

8. You don't keep track of purchases less than one gold piece, or of normal living expenses.

9. The "Composite Longbow" and the "Longbow" are the same weapon for purposes of weapon proficiencies and focus and suchnot.

10. Material Components don't exist.

11. People can multiclass into and out of any class they want and pay no XP for doing so.

12. Alignment restrictions are removed on Monks and Bards.

13. As soon as the enemy party comes into your field of view, everybody gets to make a single spot check against the lowest hide check of the opposing party, everyone who passes gets to act on the first round of combat.

14. Restrictions on when you can hide are as per 3e. That is, concealment and cover grant you bonuses to your hide check, and you don't get to automaticaly spot anything.

15. Saves do not automatically fail on a 1.

16. That stupid rule about PRC prereqs from CW is ignored.

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:42 am

Some very good house rules Mr. Waesel! Most of them are the same in our group (like no need for material components), but I didn't mention those rules.

I think I will try to copy some of your house rules to our group...

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:29 am

[QUOTE=Rudar Dimble]Some very good house rules Mr. Waesel! Most of them are the same in our group (like no need for material components), but I didn't mention those rules.

I think I will try to copy some of your house rules to our group...[/QUOTE]

Agreed, only exceptions are spells with very costly spell components like stone skin.

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:42 am

[QUOTE=Rob-hin]Agreed, only exceptions are spells with very costly spell components like stone skin.[/QUOTE]

Indeed. I use the rule: every component less than 100gp is for free and are considered to be in your backpack. Components worth 100 gp and more are to be bought first.

BTW: I also like the sneak attack rule in natural concealment.

faruz · Post by **faruz** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:41 am

We basically have three rules that we just can't follow or it will kill us:

1. Encumbrance - Everyone can carry whatever they want unless it just sounds like too much (My warrior friend bought 200 spears...just an everyday example..)

2. Age - No one gets older. We decided randomly that every level you gain a year.

3. Ammunition - Regular arrows or bolts are not reduced. When we were "young" , everyone just bought 100 arrows and we kept reducing them during battles until we just couldnt handle it anymore, so we each payed 100GP (Enough for 2000 arrows) and we assume it will never end.

The Great Hairy · Post by **The Great Hairy** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:00 pm

Some good ones there, Mr.Waesel, and my group uses most of them too.

Do people have house rules to fix specific problems with the written rules? I have a house rule that fixes Polymorph (no abilities gained with the new state remain when you change states again is part of it). What about some of the other problems?

Cheers all,
TGHO

Mr.Waesel · Post by **Mr.Waesel** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:37 am

I have lots of those, and the list is ever increasing. I think I'm just going to ban all books except core for my next campaign.

The Great Hairy · Post by **The Great Hairy** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:00 pm

I only allow WotC books in my game, and then no 3.5 books, only 3.0. I cherry pick some 3.5 rules, but have discarded most of them. I don't mind using the splat books, but a mate of mine allows all the Green Ronin, Mongoose and other third party books - as such, his game is a complete mess!

Cheers,
TGHO

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:58 am

I only allow outside books with case by case approval on each change. Splat books are okay, unless I say a specific rule isn't allowed. It's been a while since I played so I can't really remember most of my rules, but here are some.

Assassins add their CHA bonus to the DC of death attack.

Intimidate: those with a negative CHA bonus and a decent reason can use the absolute value of the CHA modifier. THis makes mean and nasty half-orc barbarians better at intimidating than beautiful elven rogues. Just the way it should be.

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:08 pm

[QUOTE=jopperm2]IIntimidate: those with a negative CHA bonus and a decent reason can use the absolute value of the CHA modifier. THis makes mean and nasty half-orc barbarians better at intimidating than beautiful elven rogues. Just the way it should be.

[/QUOTE]

That's why we let them use their strength modifier (only when it's credible...depends on the situation)

The Great Hairy · Post by **The Great Hairy** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 4:43 pm

I allow Intimidate to be run off STR or CHA - but this choice has to be made at character gen (or when the skill is picked up) and can't be changed after that.

Cheers,
TGHO

Mr.Waesel · Post by **Mr.Waesel** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:39 am

I found my old houserules again, but, looking at them now, I think they're mostly ass, so I won't post them here.

Grimar · Post by **Grimar** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:00 pm

i use many of those above
+
i have guilds for some prestige classes.. some call that a house rule.
i house rules some skills and proficiensies(sp?), like that a rogue in my D&D world CAN use a sap without penalty, and i have changed the DC for many skill checks.

Aramant · Post by **Aramant** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:59 am

[QUOTE=Rudar Dimble]2. Sometimes a barbarian can use strength as key ability when intimidating, instead of charisma. Depends on the situation...
[/QUOTE]

That's actually an optional rule presented in Masters of the Wild, the 3rd Edition sourcebook for Barbarians, Druids, and Rangers.

Rudar Dimble · Post by **Rudar Dimble** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:46 am

[QUOTE=Aramant]That's actually an optional rule presented in Masters of the Wild, the 3rd Edition sourcebook for Barbarians, Druids, and Rangers.[/QUOTE]

Cool

. Didn't knew about that, although I have MotW

AarronIkarus · Post by **AarronIkarus** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:22 am

Here's mine...

I only have one real house rule...maybe two. The first is--no "rules Nazis" allowed. Flexibility is a must and "rules Nazis" take too much away from the game. The second rule is--as far as the campaign is concerned, the DM is god. This means the DM's decision are final. There will be no arguing, or face the wrath of (insert name of vengeful deity here).

Mr.Waesel · Post by **Mr.Waesel** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:01 am

Wow, wtf? The DM is god? D&D is a cooperative storytelling game, not a " worship the DM" game.

Grimar · Post by **Grimar** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:41 am

yes, but the DM is master! in working groups, it should be as you said weasel, but i have had gaming sessions with other players who often argue with the DM, and that makes the game less interesting. Btw that is not a house rule.(is says in the DMG that the DM is master, whatever the players say...)