Numenorean
First Post
The following are our house rules. We tend to be an older group of gamers (age 32+) with most of us having gamed since the early 80s. We took 3.5e, kept what we liked, and removed a couple things that didn't match our style or preference of D&D. As you can see old 1st edition and other traditional D&D and fantasy concepts flavor our house rules.
Our house rules are not for everyone, but if you see something you like then by all means take it and make it yours.
Some things we learned writing these house rules. It makes things a lot easy if you state upfront what rules resources you will take rules and material from. In our case its the core books and a special binder we put together of stuff from the 3E FR setting book that we like. Secondly, if you are running a printed setting like we are in choosing FR, then if you make some core changes be sure to state them. In our instance we changed the elves, both in appearence and their standard names they are known as. If you want players to role stats in front of the DM then STATE IT! LOL that really kept people from doing the ol' "At home I rolled a great set, I didn't know I had to roll them in front of the DM, thats not fair because my set was SO good" .... Lastly if you run a printed settting them state what books are "canon" for your setting. In our case we like the old 93' FR boxed set, we even state that. It keeps players from saying "but in this supplement this happened, I assumed thats how it was in your campaign!"
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Brian’s Campaign House Rules
*********************************
I. Character Creation
1. We are using version 3.5 of the Dungeons and Dragons system.
2. To generate your character’s stats, roll 4d6, and discard the lowest number. Do this 6 times and arrange accordingly. This is done one on one with the DM.
3. We encourage character backgrounds.
4. You get max hit points at first level.
II. Races
1. All standard races as per the PHB 3.5 version are available for play.
2. We have modified the half orc race:
The Half Orc:
Physical description: stands between 5 and 6’ tall and generally weigh between 130-190 pounds. Half orcs appear as very ugly humans, slightly smaller in stature on average, with possibly some slight orcish traits such as off-colored flesh, prominent nose, sallow eyes, large forehead, squat nose, or facial bone structure. Arms may be slightly longer than average (that would produce an orc-like gait, etc).
Half-Orc Racial Traits:
As per the 3E PHB/House Rules except for the following:
+2 CON, -1 INT, -2 CHA
The half-orc’s favored class is the fighter. Inheriting their Orc parent’s temper, disposition for violence, and hardy constitution, and his human parent’s ability to focus their energy in to whatever talent they have, the fighter is a natural craft for the half orc. A large number also excel as rogues and assassins. There have even been rumors of some attaining position as clerics and priests (usually in evil orders).
3. Gnomes in our campaign look like the white-haired gnome on page 51 of the 2nd edition Players Handbook, not as they are depicted in the 3.5 PHB. Gnomes do not have a favored class. Gnomes are treated as half elves when it comes to a favored class.
4. Gold elves and Moon elves in our version of the Forgotten Realms differ from those in Forgotten Realms published material. In our Forgotten Realms they are simply referred to as Grey Elves (formerly Gold) and High Elves (formerly Moon). They also differ slightly in description:
Grey elves have either silver hair and amber eyes, or pale golden hair and violet eyes. They stand slightly taller than men, but like most elves they are more slender.
High elves are slim of build and pale complected. Their hair tends to be dark, and their eyes are usually blue or green. They stand as tall as men.
Wood elves are on average slightly shorter than men with a fair complexion that tans easily, their hair runs the gamut of colors including red, eyes also tend to run the full spectrum. Common colors for hair are brown, black, and copper. Common eye colors are green, blue, hazel, and light brown.
5. Halflings in our campaign look like standard Middle Earth Hobbits (not Kender)
6. To promote/maintain the "feel" of the campaign (classic AD&D feel), the following races can select from the following classes:
Dwarves: cleric, fighter, rogue
Elves: bard, cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard, sorcerer
Gnomes: cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard, sorcerer
Half-Elves: bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, wizard, sorcerer
Halflings: druid, fighter, rogue
Half-Orcs: barbarian, cleric, fighter, rogue,
Humans: all
7. Racial Age Chart
Race (Middle Age, Old, Venerable, Maximum Age)
Human 40/ 60/ 80/ +1d20
Dwarf, Hill 150/ 250/ 350/ +1d100
Dwarf, Mountain 175/ 300/ 400/ +5d20
Elf, Grey 800/ 1200/ 1600/ +4d100
Elf, High 550/ 850/ 1200/ +3d100
Elf, Wood 500/ 700/ 900/ +2d100
Gnome 250/ 375/ 500/ +3d100
Half Elf 100/ 175/ 250/ +5d10
Half Orc 30 45/ 60/ +2d10
Halfling 50 75/ 100/ +2d10
III. Classes
1. All standard classes as per the PHB are available for play.
2. The ranger class gets d10hit dice, but does not get the special animal companion rule stated on page 48.
3. The ranger is a goodly character in our campaign, which means ranger player characters, will be limited to goodly alignment choices.
4. Spells. The DM must approve new spells chosen each level (arcane users).
5. There are no prestige classes. In the future we may introduce some that fit the vision of the campaign and setting.
6. Necromancer specialty wizards are evil.
7. Death domain clerics are evil.
8. Clerics: Are limited to the following traditional bludgeoning weapons: maces, hammers, flails, staff, clubs, sling, and also their deities chosen weapon (at no extra feat cost!). See the DM for the list of chosen weapons for the Forgotten Realm’s pantheon and for a list of Forgotten Realms deity domains. Clerics must be the same alignment as their deity.
9. Consult with the DM before choosing to multi-class. Your choice must fit within the context of the campaign at the time, and needs to have reasonable justification behind it.
10. EVASION. When a monk, rogue, or ranger uses the evasion skill to avoid an area of effect he or she must leave the area of effect to have successfully evaded. Any movement used to do this is free and considered part of the evasion ability, but in using the evasion skill the character must move to the nearest safe square. If there is no way for the character to leave the area of effect then the character may not evade.
IV. Equipment
1. The following weapons are not available for player characters: orc double axe, spiked chain, repeating crossbow, punching dagger, dire flail, gnome hooked hammer, kama, kukri, nunchaku, siangham, dwarven urgrosh, and the two bladed sword. Oriental weapons and other exotic genre equipment (Katanas, Wakizashis, No-dachi, etc) are generally not found in the setting.
V. Combat
1. Sundering weapons, and items: there will be times that we will make judgment calls in regards to situations that involve sunder or damaging objects. For example blades cannot be used to hack down an iron door, a wooden spear cannot be used to sunder a longsword, etc. Common sense will dictate.
2. Disarm, trip, and sunder cannot be used during an attack of opportunity.
3. Standing up does not trigger an attack of opportunity
4. The magical “+” on a shield counts on to hit and damage rolls when used to make a shield bash attack.
5. Every 4 levels, a character gets a +1 AC bonus due to the concept of experience and skill in combat, physical actions, etc (cumulates with a +5 AC bonus at 20th level). We have found this helps offset the heavy offensive "fast damage" leaning of 3e, ands brings more of a balance between defense and offense.
VI. Feats & Skills
1. The Feats and Skills allowed are those listed in the 3.5 Player’s Handbook and the Forgotten Realms binder (taken from the 3E FR campaign setting book).
2. Time to time we may modify the tumble DC based on the opponent you are fighting.
3. We handle situations involving diplomacy, bluff, sense-motive, and intimidate with more than a simple dice roll from time to time. We handle each situation individually.
VII. Player Character-created magic items
Magic is something special and creating magic items in the campaign will reflect that reality. We want the bulk of magic items in our game to be garnered from adventures, taken from monsters and NPCs, given as rewards for quests, etc. We’re open to player characters creating magic items but we treat each case on an individual basis.
Most magical items from lowly scrolls to more powerful permanent items will require special materials. Some of these special materials may be found in civilized settings and will be available for purchase (such as diamond dust for magical ink and high quality parchment to scribe spell scrolls), and others may not (such as frost giant blood, or the scales of a hydra).
VIII. The Campaign & Setting
Forgotten Realms is the setting. The published support material used for this campaign is the 1993 Forgotten Realms Boxed Set.
Rule of Thumb: If it’s not in this boxed set (or the FR binder with spells, domains, and feats from the 3E FR setting book) then its not used.
IX. Table Rules
The table rules are simple and straightforward. Be polite, be mature about things, and don’t be a distraction. The D&D game rules are guidelines but not written in stone: The DM always has final say. A fun D&D game is a team effort.
1. Let me know if you can’t attend
2. Save lengthy rules discussions for after the game.
3. Don’t use the MM or DMG to look up stuff, that as a player you shouldn’t be looking up during the game.
4. We like to keep the combat round flowing, so be prepared and ready to act when it’s your turn. We also prefer if you “eyeball” the placement of your spells. Loose measurement is acceptable for movement, spells, and ranged attacks. As experienced gamers you should be able to think and fight on your feet.
X. Experience
1. I handle experience as a loose mix of things:
• Monsters, traps, obstacles killed or overcome
• Treasure gained
• How you play your character in regards to your alignment, motivations, class, the adventure at hand, etc (role-playing angle)
• Out of game participation in game
XI. Game Style
I’m an old school D&D player and I’ve been playing since the early 80s. My games have a “high fantasy” and/or “swords and sorcery” feel to them. I have little tolerance for rules lawyers, or players who detract from the enjoyment of the game.
Our house rules are not for everyone, but if you see something you like then by all means take it and make it yours.
Some things we learned writing these house rules. It makes things a lot easy if you state upfront what rules resources you will take rules and material from. In our case its the core books and a special binder we put together of stuff from the 3E FR setting book that we like. Secondly, if you are running a printed setting like we are in choosing FR, then if you make some core changes be sure to state them. In our instance we changed the elves, both in appearence and their standard names they are known as. If you want players to role stats in front of the DM then STATE IT! LOL that really kept people from doing the ol' "At home I rolled a great set, I didn't know I had to roll them in front of the DM, thats not fair because my set was SO good" .... Lastly if you run a printed settting them state what books are "canon" for your setting. In our case we like the old 93' FR boxed set, we even state that. It keeps players from saying "but in this supplement this happened, I assumed thats how it was in your campaign!"
*********************************
Brian’s Campaign House Rules
*********************************
I. Character Creation
1. We are using version 3.5 of the Dungeons and Dragons system.
2. To generate your character’s stats, roll 4d6, and discard the lowest number. Do this 6 times and arrange accordingly. This is done one on one with the DM.
3. We encourage character backgrounds.
4. You get max hit points at first level.
II. Races
1. All standard races as per the PHB 3.5 version are available for play.
2. We have modified the half orc race:
The Half Orc:
Physical description: stands between 5 and 6’ tall and generally weigh between 130-190 pounds. Half orcs appear as very ugly humans, slightly smaller in stature on average, with possibly some slight orcish traits such as off-colored flesh, prominent nose, sallow eyes, large forehead, squat nose, or facial bone structure. Arms may be slightly longer than average (that would produce an orc-like gait, etc).
Half-Orc Racial Traits:
As per the 3E PHB/House Rules except for the following:
+2 CON, -1 INT, -2 CHA
The half-orc’s favored class is the fighter. Inheriting their Orc parent’s temper, disposition for violence, and hardy constitution, and his human parent’s ability to focus their energy in to whatever talent they have, the fighter is a natural craft for the half orc. A large number also excel as rogues and assassins. There have even been rumors of some attaining position as clerics and priests (usually in evil orders).
3. Gnomes in our campaign look like the white-haired gnome on page 51 of the 2nd edition Players Handbook, not as they are depicted in the 3.5 PHB. Gnomes do not have a favored class. Gnomes are treated as half elves when it comes to a favored class.
4. Gold elves and Moon elves in our version of the Forgotten Realms differ from those in Forgotten Realms published material. In our Forgotten Realms they are simply referred to as Grey Elves (formerly Gold) and High Elves (formerly Moon). They also differ slightly in description:
Grey elves have either silver hair and amber eyes, or pale golden hair and violet eyes. They stand slightly taller than men, but like most elves they are more slender.
High elves are slim of build and pale complected. Their hair tends to be dark, and their eyes are usually blue or green. They stand as tall as men.
Wood elves are on average slightly shorter than men with a fair complexion that tans easily, their hair runs the gamut of colors including red, eyes also tend to run the full spectrum. Common colors for hair are brown, black, and copper. Common eye colors are green, blue, hazel, and light brown.
5. Halflings in our campaign look like standard Middle Earth Hobbits (not Kender)
6. To promote/maintain the "feel" of the campaign (classic AD&D feel), the following races can select from the following classes:
Dwarves: cleric, fighter, rogue
Elves: bard, cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard, sorcerer
Gnomes: cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard, sorcerer
Half-Elves: bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, wizard, sorcerer
Halflings: druid, fighter, rogue
Half-Orcs: barbarian, cleric, fighter, rogue,
Humans: all
7. Racial Age Chart
Race (Middle Age, Old, Venerable, Maximum Age)
Human 40/ 60/ 80/ +1d20
Dwarf, Hill 150/ 250/ 350/ +1d100
Dwarf, Mountain 175/ 300/ 400/ +5d20
Elf, Grey 800/ 1200/ 1600/ +4d100
Elf, High 550/ 850/ 1200/ +3d100
Elf, Wood 500/ 700/ 900/ +2d100
Gnome 250/ 375/ 500/ +3d100
Half Elf 100/ 175/ 250/ +5d10
Half Orc 30 45/ 60/ +2d10
Halfling 50 75/ 100/ +2d10
III. Classes
1. All standard classes as per the PHB are available for play.
2. The ranger class gets d10hit dice, but does not get the special animal companion rule stated on page 48.
3. The ranger is a goodly character in our campaign, which means ranger player characters, will be limited to goodly alignment choices.
4. Spells. The DM must approve new spells chosen each level (arcane users).
5. There are no prestige classes. In the future we may introduce some that fit the vision of the campaign and setting.
6. Necromancer specialty wizards are evil.
7. Death domain clerics are evil.
8. Clerics: Are limited to the following traditional bludgeoning weapons: maces, hammers, flails, staff, clubs, sling, and also their deities chosen weapon (at no extra feat cost!). See the DM for the list of chosen weapons for the Forgotten Realm’s pantheon and for a list of Forgotten Realms deity domains. Clerics must be the same alignment as their deity.
9. Consult with the DM before choosing to multi-class. Your choice must fit within the context of the campaign at the time, and needs to have reasonable justification behind it.
10. EVASION. When a monk, rogue, or ranger uses the evasion skill to avoid an area of effect he or she must leave the area of effect to have successfully evaded. Any movement used to do this is free and considered part of the evasion ability, but in using the evasion skill the character must move to the nearest safe square. If there is no way for the character to leave the area of effect then the character may not evade.
IV. Equipment
1. The following weapons are not available for player characters: orc double axe, spiked chain, repeating crossbow, punching dagger, dire flail, gnome hooked hammer, kama, kukri, nunchaku, siangham, dwarven urgrosh, and the two bladed sword. Oriental weapons and other exotic genre equipment (Katanas, Wakizashis, No-dachi, etc) are generally not found in the setting.
V. Combat
1. Sundering weapons, and items: there will be times that we will make judgment calls in regards to situations that involve sunder or damaging objects. For example blades cannot be used to hack down an iron door, a wooden spear cannot be used to sunder a longsword, etc. Common sense will dictate.
2. Disarm, trip, and sunder cannot be used during an attack of opportunity.
3. Standing up does not trigger an attack of opportunity
4. The magical “+” on a shield counts on to hit and damage rolls when used to make a shield bash attack.
5. Every 4 levels, a character gets a +1 AC bonus due to the concept of experience and skill in combat, physical actions, etc (cumulates with a +5 AC bonus at 20th level). We have found this helps offset the heavy offensive "fast damage" leaning of 3e, ands brings more of a balance between defense and offense.
VI. Feats & Skills
1. The Feats and Skills allowed are those listed in the 3.5 Player’s Handbook and the Forgotten Realms binder (taken from the 3E FR campaign setting book).
2. Time to time we may modify the tumble DC based on the opponent you are fighting.
3. We handle situations involving diplomacy, bluff, sense-motive, and intimidate with more than a simple dice roll from time to time. We handle each situation individually.
VII. Player Character-created magic items
Magic is something special and creating magic items in the campaign will reflect that reality. We want the bulk of magic items in our game to be garnered from adventures, taken from monsters and NPCs, given as rewards for quests, etc. We’re open to player characters creating magic items but we treat each case on an individual basis.
Most magical items from lowly scrolls to more powerful permanent items will require special materials. Some of these special materials may be found in civilized settings and will be available for purchase (such as diamond dust for magical ink and high quality parchment to scribe spell scrolls), and others may not (such as frost giant blood, or the scales of a hydra).
VIII. The Campaign & Setting
Forgotten Realms is the setting. The published support material used for this campaign is the 1993 Forgotten Realms Boxed Set.
Rule of Thumb: If it’s not in this boxed set (or the FR binder with spells, domains, and feats from the 3E FR setting book) then its not used.
IX. Table Rules
The table rules are simple and straightforward. Be polite, be mature about things, and don’t be a distraction. The D&D game rules are guidelines but not written in stone: The DM always has final say. A fun D&D game is a team effort.
1. Let me know if you can’t attend
2. Save lengthy rules discussions for after the game.
3. Don’t use the MM or DMG to look up stuff, that as a player you shouldn’t be looking up during the game.
4. We like to keep the combat round flowing, so be prepared and ready to act when it’s your turn. We also prefer if you “eyeball” the placement of your spells. Loose measurement is acceptable for movement, spells, and ranged attacks. As experienced gamers you should be able to think and fight on your feet.
X. Experience
1. I handle experience as a loose mix of things:
• Monsters, traps, obstacles killed or overcome
• Treasure gained
• How you play your character in regards to your alignment, motivations, class, the adventure at hand, etc (role-playing angle)
• Out of game participation in game
XI. Game Style
I’m an old school D&D player and I’ve been playing since the early 80s. My games have a “high fantasy” and/or “swords and sorcery” feel to them. I have little tolerance for rules lawyers, or players who detract from the enjoyment of the game.
