A More Reasonable 3.0 Haste

[maggot]

First some background: We are running a campaign with characters in the 11-14 range. Our campaign is staying with 3.0 for now, but we have noticed that haste is the major component in every battle. The DM house ruled saves onto harm and totally nerfed polymorph before we started, so the only truly abusive spell is haste and mass haste.

So we want to change it because we don't want every battle to start with "I cast mass haste" or "the villian drinks a potion of haste".

The first idea would be to include the 3.5 version, but 3.5 haste is an entirely different spell. 3.0 haste affects one person and spellcasting, 3.5 affects multiple people and does nothing to spellcasting. And there is no 3.5 mass haste. We would really like to keep this to a simple 3.0 house rule.

So here is my attempt:

Haste (Transmutation) Wiz/Sor 3/Bard 3
Casting Time: 1 action
Duration: 1 round/level

The target gains +2 haste bonus to AC, +2 haste bonus on reflex saves, +2 haste bonus to hit, and a +2 haste bonus to inititive. After one full round under the affect of haste, the target gets an extra partial action each round. The round that haste comes into affect, the target does not get an extra action.

Is this enough? or do we need to add

The partial action can only be used to move or attack. It cannot be used for spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities.

This second part really hurts spellcasters, but they can still cast a spell and attack, or move cast move.

Anyway, sorry for being so long winded. Thanks for your comments.

 

[Grayhawk]

This is almost exactly the Haste variant I use in my campaign.

I wanted Haste to be almost the exact opposite of Slow, so they could cancel each other out.

Therefore I went with the same +2 bonusses to AC, Attack Rolls and Reflex Saves. Unless the 3.5e Haste, my Haste still grants a Partial Action but it cannot be a Magical Partial Action, so no extra spells or wand activations.

Running while hasted lets you move 6x your speed.

At first I also planned on having Haste grant a bonus to Initiative, as it seems logical. But since Slow doesn't penalize you Initiative and since you would only benefit from it in rarely, I decided against it.

(If cast in combat, there would have to be someone acting on the initiative count exactly before you to let the +2 make a difference - not to mention the extra hassle of shuffling the initiative order around.)

To keep Slow in line with my new Haste, I removed the -2 penalty to Damage Rolls, rather than having Haste also grant a damage bonus.

Unlike your proposal, my Haste kicks in on the round you receive it.

 

[maggot]

This is almost exactly the Haste variant I use in my campaign.

How did it work out for you? And what levels did you play this variant with?

Over the weekend I thought more about Haste 3.0, and realized that it grants an extra action while Slow only removes a move action. So maybe Haste should only add an extra move action, although this doesn't allow for spell casting.

 

[Grayhawk]

The last campaign ended with the characters around 10th level, and the Haste variant turned out fine (the spell was only used on occasion, indicating to me that it was neither over- nor underpowered).

In my new campaign it hasen't seen any use yet, as the characters are still 1st level...