Bad House Rules

[Felon]

Then report the post when you see something like that, please. Don't insult them back. That way lies madness!*
- Piratecat

Point taken. Sorry, just got out of bed, feelin' lousy, and saw that little remark. Didn't have the mental Stoneskin up yet.

Good for you, Dagger. Found the right moment to take a stab...

 

[Tiefling]

But perhaps someone else can correct me on this. Do low-light goggles do anything for spelunkers, even when they're not using some kind of artificial light source? Is there some form of background radiation underground that bounces around off of dead, cold rocks?

To a certain degree, yes. The first parts of the cave near the entrance will be fine for nightvision, and even the naked eye if you give it enough time to adjust. Later on you get to rooms that the naked eye can never adjust to, no matter how long you give it, but in which nightvision still works. Then you get to rooms that nightvision can't see, either. At least, that's my understanding, but I only went spelunking once and without nightvision.

Sure - as long as you're there, and your body is generating heat, there's radiation, which will light up your surroundings to anything sensitive enough to pick up on it - which rules out modern night vision goggles, but not Darkvision. The only difference between that and D&D Darkvision is that while your surroundings would be monochrome, living things would look like walking glow-sticks.

Then Darkvision is the same thing as infravision, in which case it should have no distance limits and should have all the qualities associated with infravision, such as seeing footprints where beings have recently stepped.

Darkvision works by sending out small pulses of magical energy from the brain through the eyes that bounce off and return to your eyes along the same line.

That's why humans can't do it -- no magicy.

And things that live underground often develop that part of their brains.

BAda-bing. Explanation.

Yes, but the DMG lists Darkvision as an Extraodinary Ability. Thus it does not involve supernatural effects.

As for you dorks, yes dorks, arguing about Darkvision, infravision. ITS MAGIC. Can you explain to me how a portal gets opened, how about how the dead are turned into undead. How about raising dead. I want a great debate on how these work in the real world.

I'd be happy to accept a magical explanation, except that no magical explanation is given and Darkvision is, in fact, specifically listed as non-magical.

 

[Felon]

So is dragon fear, or dragon flight. Or evasion. Or walking away from a 200 ft fall into molten lava.

Actually, one or two those aren't natural. They're extraordinary.

If somebody had a minor peccadillo with how they work, that would be understandable. In fact, some people have expressed them on these boards, like a DM who won't allow Evasion to work unless there's an object within 5 ft to duck behind. Note that, contrary to Dagger's comment, a big deal was not really being made out of the issue.

 

[Gothmog]

Gotta agree with you Felon, Darkvision is a natural ability. Its even listed in the DMG as an extraordinary ability, which means it is not cancelled by a dispel magic, for example.

I'd say Darkvision works a lot like infa-red goggles work in real life- it registers heat differences between different types of materials, giving the viewer a rough idea of what is around him. However, extremely detailed analysis of objects simply wouldn't be possible. Although the detail that darkvision works in the presence of light is a little wonky, not to mention it would be extremely disorienting for a viewer holding a torch to percieve color and detail to a distance of 30 feet, then b/w past that for another 30 feet. Although I suppose that if you said beings with darkvision had rods/cones in their eyes that were sensitive to infa-red radiation that the brain interpreted as b/w images, it might make more sense.

I guess that leads into may bad house rule #1 that I have run into so many times in D&D: DMs who blissfully ignore real world physics, chemistry, and biology- in reply saying "its magic". Granted, some things are due to magic, but not everything (especially exceptional abilities).

Other annoying house rules I have run into:

#2- DMs who cater to their girlfriend by upping the power of whatever class, weapon, spells, etc their significant other is using.

#3- Magic item shops where PCs can walk in and find virtually anything available to buy (or worse yet, ordered from another outlet within the week!!!) Yes, I am talking about a franchised magic item shop. "Magitron Shack" anyone?

#4- DMs who don't understand alignment and say "You're CG, you CAN'T do that- its against your alignment!" Alignment is determined by actions, not actions by alignment.

#5- One of the worst- if an NPC is making a dramatic soliloqy, if a player interrupts to ask a question, the player's PC is docked 1000 XP!!! Yeah, that DM was a real drama queen.

However, I'd have to say that most house rules I have seen in practice haven't been bad. They are simply an attempt by the DM to make the rules fit to his setting- and nothing is wrong with that. I may not have agreed with some of them, but I understood what the DM was going for- and as long as the rest of the group was cool with it, I'd learn to adapt. I have to say though, there have been some real stinkers in this thread so far!

 

[Saeviomagy]

I guess that leads into may bad house rule #1 that I have run into so many times in D&D: DMs who blissfully ignore real world physics, chemistry, and biology- in reply saying "its magic". Granted, some things are due to magic, but not everything (especially exceptional abilities).

I'd love to join your campaign. First session I'd invent gunpowder and guns, and you'd have to invent spurious rules to prove that I couldn't. Spells which cause nuclear fusion wouldn't be too far off. (come to think of it, polymorph any object into a nuclear bomb would be pretty sweet).

The gameworld is not the real world. Chemistry, physics etc. do not work normally there. Explaining how things work merely gives way to long, interminably boring discussions of what does and does not work.

Follow the rules and the spirit of the rules, and your life will be much easier.

Other annoying house rules I have run into:

#3- Magic item shops where PCs can walk in and find virtually anything available to buy (or worse yet, ordered from another outlet within the week!!!) Yes, I am talking about a franchised magic item shop. "Magitron Shack" anyone?

Given the sheer level of magic in some places, I'm dumbfounded that this sort of thing DOESN'T exist. Honestly - is it really difficult for a high level wizard to create a worldwide network of teleport circles, and staff them with a network of constructs?

#5- One of the worst- if an NPC is making a dramatic soliloqy, if a player interrupts to ask a question, the player's PC is docked 1000 XP!!! Yeah, that DM was a real drama queen.

Did you ever try interrupting by stabbing them? At least it's not worth 1000XP that way...

 

[Tiefling]

I'd love to join your campaign. First session I'd invent gunpowder and guns, and you'd have to invent spurious rules to prove that I couldn't. Spells which cause nuclear fusion wouldn't be too far off. (come to think of it, polymorph any object into a nuclear bomb would be pretty sweet).

The gameworld is not the real world. Chemistry, physics etc. do not work normally there. Explaining how things work merely gives way to long, interminably boring discussions of what does and does not work.

No, he'd just have to quickly and easily determine that there's no way your character would have the equipment or knowledge to do such things.

 

[MerricB]

Just on the definition of "Extraordinary" - there is nothing stopping such abilities from being magical. It is just a type of magic that cannot be anti-magicked, dispelled or otherwise interfered with.

Cheers!

 

[Gothmog]

Originally posted by Saeviomagy:
I'd love to join your campaign. First session I'd invent gunpowder and guns, and you'd have to invent spurious rules to prove that I couldn't. Spells which cause nuclear fusion wouldn't be too far off. (come to think of it, polymorph any object into a nuclear bomb would be pretty sweet).

The gameworld is not the real world. Chemistry, physics etc. do not work normally there. Explaining how things work merely gives way to long, interminably boring discussions of what does and does not work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See, there's the problem- as a PC, you would have no idea how to invent gunpowder, guns, nuclear fission, etc- because the technology for it simply doesn't exist. You have to separate player from character knowledge- the ONLY time I ever docked someone XPs was when someone attempted this very thing. And if you'd rather take your chances with a primitive blackpowder weapon than a conventional weapon, well- they'd be calling you "no fingers" in short order! My point is, gravity, fire, freezing, disease, etc work on the same assumptions in fantasy worlds as they do in the real world- otherwise there is no point of reference between the two.

Did you ever try interrupting by stabbing them? At least it's not worth 1000XP that way...

Yep, the main baddie launched into a long-winded speil about something, so our aracher rolled, critically hit him with a shot that ended up doing something like 97 points of damage (due to various enchantments and buffs)... and all that happened was that the DM said we put a big chink in his helmet. Apparently while someone is giving a speech, they are invulnerable.

 

[Tiefling]

Just on the definition of "Extraordinary" - there is nothing stopping such abilities from being magical. It is just a type of magic that cannot be anti-magicked, dispelled or otherwise interfered with.

Cheers!

Well, from page 158 of my PHB I get, "Indeed, [Extraordinary Abilities] do not qualify as magical, though they may break the laws of physics." I suppose that leaves some room for interpretation.

 

[hammymchamham]

Okay. . .

I'll admit it. . .

23 years ago or so, I created a class for AD&D with a d20 Hit Die!

. . .Oh the shame

Boars and Dire Boars get that IMC....