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[Thasmodious]

Originally Posted by Rel

Skills - [snip]

I seem to recall you mentioning this ages ago in one of the many 4e hates craft threads. I like the idea for when you think you'll need regular mechanical support for it. And I like that it doesn't hurt players who want to have such "flavor" skills and force an exchange. In my game, non-adventuring skills arise from background and we don't bother to stat them out, just come up with something if a situation ever requires a die roll.

Powers - My answer is Action Points.

This is really cool and flavorful. I might well tweak and steal this one. After reading it, my thought is that sacrificing a daily might be a bit much, along with an action point. Maybe an item daily might work (that refreses with milestones). I might even use a seperate allocation of points that I would reward through good roleplaying or something. "Cinema points" or something.

Milestones - There are few mechanics in 4e that I find less flavorful than the "fight two encounters, get a Milestone" bit. But after consideration, I determined that what I needed to do is to simply turn Milestones into, well, milestones. In other words, have something meaningful actually take place. And it doesn't have to be after the encounter either. It can be smack dab in the middle of the battle.

I agree, and I started doing much the same thing. When I prep an adventure, I include a note on when milestones are reached, after certain fights or when a certain puzzle is solved, etc. And when winging it, just when it makes sense, but yeah, I don't try to keep up with the every other encounter thing either.

Healing - ...That may not bother you. I'm not saying it should bother you. But it bothers me.

It's always bothered me a bit. I houseruled a wounding system in 2e, used wound/vitality in 3e for a bit, but in the end its something that bothers me more than my players, and the extra hassle isn't usually worth it, so I just live with it. At some point I'll likely tinker with a wound system for 4e and when I do, this will be the base. I love the idea of triggering it off of failed death saves. What would you think about using a condition monitor like the disease system? Seems like beating an endurance check once would be fairly easy and most all wounds would recover after a single extended rest anyway, which would seem a bit of extra hassle for not much. Unless the way you see it is more a means to apply penalties for wounds throughout multiple encounters in a single day. But that would seem to encourage early rests.

Rituals - Love em'. LOVE em'! You know what goes good with Rituals? MORE Rituals!

Couldn't agree more. Love the idea of monster parts as reagent treasure, clever. I also really like the idea of breaking up enchant into specific rituals. I'll steal that for sure.

Magic Items - That's why, to put them back in whack, I'll make your items magic for FREE. Once in a while, due to the chaos and magic that pervades my campaign world, stuff just sort of resonates and becomes spontaneously enchanted. The death blow to the Red Dragon caused your sword to become a Dragonslayer. When you, in a blind rage, slew the Hobgoblin Lieutenant (remember him?) that killed your father, it was forevermore a Berserker Weapon. And was that demonic visage attempting to strike a bargain in your dream last night real or merely a nightmare? You don't know but your newly enchanted Pact Blade gives you cause for worry.

I've always liked doing stuff like that and the pact blade idea gave me the inspiration to resolve something I was working on in regards to a couple character's backstories. So thanks for that! A pact blade enchanted through a dream fits great with some themes brewing in my game.

All in all, an excellent set of house rules, I think.