What single houserule has made your game AWESOME?

Talysian · Mar 4, 2010

cthulhudarren said:
Could someone who uses less HP and more Damage elaborate on how much?

Monsters get, say 75% HP?
Damage as a creature how many level's higher?

Or is this for players? Personally I think monsters have too many HPs.

Thanks in advance

I cut monsters HP by 75% then I do the +1/2 level for every creature level 5 and over, and below five I add +2.

I also average out all mosnter damage to the following.
d4= 3
d6=4
d8=6
d10=7
d12=8

I know it's a little higher then the statistical average but it also helps with the bonus dmg.

So you have an orc grunt that is a level one creature that typically does d6+1 dmg, and has 30 Hp.

Under my way.
22 HP
7/9 dmg
representing normal/critical. If I had one that had rogue levels that gave him 2d6 sneak I would do it like this in my stat block.

7/9
w/CA 15/21.

I've also taken to making players roll their defenses so a monster crit happens when they roll a 1. This has taken all of the dice out of my hands, kept my players more involved, and made combats much quicker.

For my table it's been a win win situation.

cthulhudarren · Mar 4, 2010

"I've also taken to making players roll their defenses so a monster crit happens when they roll a 1. This has taken all of the dice out of my hands, kept my players more involved, and made combats much quicker."

Can you explain how this works in more detail please?

Amaroq · Mar 4, 2010

I'll let Talysian explain their system, but one of our games uses something similar: each player rolls the monster's attack against his/her character as normal. The DM tells them the monster's attack bonus.

Downside: the players know how likely a monster is to hit, and know whether he hit them because of a lucky roll, or because of an insanely good attack bonus.

Upside: you can see the players gulp when they realize somebody hits them on a 5 or better .. plus its a lot quicker for players and DM alike .. plus it keeps players involved when its "not their turn".

Nifelhein · Mar 4, 2010

HP^0.9
+1/2 level to damage

For MM1 creatures.

eriktheguy · Mar 4, 2010

Nifelhein said:
HP^0.9
+1/2 level to damage

For MM1 creatures.

But for monsters with less than 1 HP, this would increase their HP and cause grind :O!

Nifelhein · Mar 5, 2010

Hahaha sure it would.

I found that formula here on enworld, a user shared the idea and it shines in the bigger the grind would be the greater the reduction.

sfedi · Mar 5, 2010

We redefined what Dying and Dead means in a combat, so the PCs won't die unless me as the DM deems so.
So I can have a lot more narrative control, I can Coup de Grace them, or throw them reallly hard encounters and the players are guaranteed that they will end the campaign with their initial PCs, or they will die when it's appropiate, etc.

So far, it's been awesome, I can really move the campaign wherever I want, I can plan and have the certainty that we will get there, and there will be no accidental TPKs.

Garthanos · Mar 5, 2010

Amaroq said:
I'll let Talysian explain their system, but one of our games uses something similar: each player rolls the monster's attack against his/her character as normal. The DM tells them the monster's attack bonus.

Downside: the players know how likely a monster is to hit, and know whether he hit them because of a lucky roll, or because of an insanely good attack bonus.
.

False comparison... the player doesnt need to know success or failure ahead of time any more than when they attack.

DC against there defense roll = 22 + the attackers bonus.
they roll there Defense and add there Defense to it. Identical odds and no more revealment necessary.. I also have players describe how they are doing the defenses and sometimes grant page 42 bonuses.. just like description of an attack.. .it rocks the house when a cool description comes down.

eriktheguy · Mar 5, 2010

Garthanos:
If Robert Heinlein wrote the book, and his character Lazarus Long said something, then shouldn't the quote be attributed
-Robert Heinlein via Lazarus Long
Since the author said something by way of the character

Garthanos · Mar 5, 2010

eriktheguy said:
Garthanos:
If Robert Heinlein wrote the book, and his character Lazarus Long said something, then shouldn't the quote be attributed
-Robert Heinlein via Lazarus Long
Since the author said something by way of the character

Heh could be ... could also be dependent on how imaginary the character is ;-), some authors like to pretend you know.

What single houserule has made your game AWESOME?

Talysian

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cthulhudarren

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Amaroq

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Nifelhein

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eriktheguy

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Nifelhein

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sfedi

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Garthanos

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eriktheguy

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Garthanos

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