What single houserule has made your game AWESOME?

[Engilbrand]

Two things:
1. Spiffy Points- 5 per session. Spend one to do something unique and interesting. Sometimes this means being able to grab an ally on the run and pull them away from something. Other times it means cutting down that curtain at the right time to trap a foe for a round.
2. Pre-rolling- They roll 10d20, twice. They are then allowed to add a total of 10 points among the rolls. These rolls are used for skills and attacks. Very rarely do they roll a d20 outside of these rolls. What does all of this mean? It means that they crit quite a bit. It means that they have a lot more narrative control over what happens. They really like doing this.

 

[Fridayknight]

i bet they like critting all the time but the goblins arent going to like having their faces pummled.

 

[Garthanos]

i bet they like critting all the time but the goblins arent going to like having their faces pummled.

heh gobbies aint got no feelins...a more to the point issue might be if players dont like it if things felt "too easy" either?
But it is a balancing act that can be adjust elsewhere should it come to pass..

Extra question I assume you pre-rolll for the adversaries? although I can see how this combines nicely with "players making all the rolls".

 

[Aazenius]

I'm really warming up to this idea, but I have one concern: What do you do with monsters/PCs that have specific intiative-related powers/features? Such as multiple initiative counts (ex. Behir) or initative switching (ex. Guileful Switch)?

In a situaion where you have monsters that act on multiple initiative counts such as the Behir or Demogorgon there are a few different ways to handle it.

How to handle Demogorgon's double initiative rolls:
Option 1: Both sides roll initiative. Lets say the players win. Lets also say you have 5 players. The DM rolls 1d5 to determine when Demogorgon will take his first action. What ever number he rolls, that is when he takes his first initiative actions. Lets say the DM rolls a 3. The first two characters take their actions and the third prepares to take an action when Demogorgon instead takes his first action. Then the last 3 players take their actions. Finally Demogorgon takes his last action.

Option 2: You could have Demogorgon take one set of actions on its initiative count and its second set of actions whenever you feel like interrupting the characters.

Option 3: You could treat each of the "muliple initiative counts" as if they were multiple monsters. The monster would get all of its attacks on its turn. (Demogorgon would get two full initiatives whenever it was the monsters turn to go)


How to handle Behir: (5 man group)
1) If the players don't beat an initiative count 30 then the Behir takes one standard action first. ( If the players do beat initiative count 30, then one character goes first, then the Behir takes its action.)
3) After 3 characters have had a chance to act, the Behir gets its second standard action. (if you have more or less characters, divide by 2 rounded up to determine how many characters act before the Behir takes its second standard action).
4) The remaining characters take their actions.
5) The Behir gets its last remaining standard action.

How to handle monsters that switch initiative places with a character:
1) The other characters act as normal. However when the character that had its initiative switched with the monster attempts to take his/her turn, the monster gets an immediate action and instead takes its full round of actions.
2) The character that lost its initiative count takes its actions just before the monsters do.
Note: Yes the character could just take his action last (after all of the other players). The main point though is that the monster that swapped initiative counts with the character will go before that character can take his actions.

 

[ravenheart]

In a situaion where you have monsters that act on multiple initiative counts such as the Behir or Demogorgon there are a few different ways to handle it.

How to handle Demogorgon's double initiative rolls:
Option 1: Both sides roll initiative. Lets say the players win. Lets also say you have 5 players. The DM rolls 1d5 to determine when Demogorgon will take his first action. What ever number he rolls, that is when he takes his first initiative actions. Lets say the DM rolls a 3. The first two characters take their actions and the third prepares to take an action when Demogorgon instead takes his first action. Then the last 3 players take their actions. Finally Demogorgon takes his last action.

Option 2: You could have Demogorgon take one set of actions on its initiative count and its second set of actions whenever you feel like interrupting the characters.

Option 3: You could treat each of the "muliple initiative counts" as if they were multiple monsters. The monster would get all of its attacks on its turn. (Demogorgon would get two full initiatives whenever it was the monsters turn to go)

I'm liking option 2 (since Demogorgon/other multiple initiative creature might not be the only threat), but I rather not interrupt the PCs randomly every turn - instead go with consistency (ex. after 2 PCs go, Demogorgon goes again).

How to handle Behir: (5 man group)
1) If the players don't beat an initiative count 30 then the Behir takes one standard action first. ( If the players do beat initiative count 30, then one character goes first, then the Behir takes its action.)
3) After 3 characters have had a chance to act, the Behir gets its second standard action. (if you have more or less characters, divide by 2 rounded up to determine how many characters act before the Behir takes its second standard action).
4) The remaining characters take their actions.
5) The Behir gets its last remaining standard action.

Good idea, but to simplify I'd just go with every other PC, until all the behirs actions are spent.

How to handle monsters that switch initiative places with a character:
1) The other characters act as normal. However when the character that had its initiative switched with the monster attempts to take his/her turn, the monster gets an immediate action and instead takes its full round of actions.
2) The character that lost its initiative count takes its actions just before the monsters do.
Note: Yes the character could just take his action last (after all of the other players). The main point though is that the monster that swapped initiative counts with the character will go before that character can take his actions.

Well, Guileful switch is actually a warlord utility, effectively giving your turn to the ally while you act on the allys turn instead (if the ally has acted you dont act until the next round). Now that I think about it, it's not that bad.

 

[Rachel]

Deathblow! http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/272581-optional-rule-deathblow.html

(page 3 has the *revised* write-up; shameless self-promotion don't fail me now!)

 

[Simm]

Hex Grid.
I got the Heroscape starter set as a door prize at a con. Started using it in my 3.5 game, from there introduced it into my friend's 4e game. Now whenever we play at his house I'm force to bring 3 boxes of the stuff. Irregular rooms, 3D encounters, ladders, bridges, and stairs, it's like lego especially designed for D&D.

 

[Zinovia]

Hex Grid.
I got the Heroscape starter set as a door prize at a con. Started using it in my 3.5 game, from there introduced it into my friend's 4e game. Now whenever we play at his house I'm force to bring 3 boxes of the stuff. Irregular rooms, 3D encounters, ladders, bridges, and stairs, it's like lego especially designed for D&D.

I've been thinking about trying some Heroscape tiles for an encounter with elevation differences; plateaus and ravines and such. We already use a hex grid for the game. Heroscape does seem great for adding some additional terrain features. The problem is the larger hex scale (1.5" vs 1") but I can work around that. I don't have any of the bridges, ladders or stairs, but we do have the base set with a bunch of tiles.

It's good to hear this is working well for your group. It makes the D&D Heroscape set all the more attractive.

 

[cthulhudarren]

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

 

[Markn]

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

We use 75% monster hp's and monsters add 1/2 level bonus to damage. Its worked out well for us.

We don't touch the player side of things since we use the Character Builder and this means the players don't have to mess around with what gets printed from that.