Are these good house rules?

[mr.pink]

okay so I'm starting a new campaign and have a bunch of house rules i want to throw in, please tell me if the seem as fair and balanced as possible (by balanced I mean PC vs. PC not PC vs. world/monsters)

1) If you take more than a quarter of your total damage in one hit make a saving throw, if you fail you are unconscious/ dying

2) If you take more than half you total damage in one hit make a saving throw, if you fail you are dead

3) Alignments are decided by the DM, if you have a divine power source and act more than one step away from your deity's alignment you lose all powers until you atone for your actions, this atonement is based on your religion

4) At any time you may be asked out of game to justify an action that was just performed in game to maintain your alignment/ not lose XP for failure to roleplay

5) Failure to roleplay will result in a loss of 10% of all XP in next encounter unless actions are justified

6) Don't lie to the party w/o telling me. If you do want to lie to the party send me an IM or pass me a note

7) even if you see me get passed a note assume that other party members are telling the truth, I will tell you make the DC

8) At the begining of the campaign write down 5 items you would want for your character, as you get these items pick new ones, all items must be within 2 levels of your character's level

9) You get milestones when I tell you, at no other times do you gain milestones.

10) Skills will not be gained every two levels. Instead skills work as such.

• You start off picking trained skills as normal
• Everytime you use a skill succsessfully you gain Skill XP, unless I telll you otherwise
• when your skill XP total in a skill hits your current number of skill points in that skill you gain one skill point in that skill
• So when you have 5 skill points in theivery and you pick pocket five people succsessfully then you gain a skill point in theivery, bringin your total to 6
• this is based on http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-3rd-edition-house-rules/249608-improving-skills-through-use.html

11) Drow can use both of their racial abilities in an encounter

12) Players can only play races in the PHB

13) Players can use any WotC material published, except Dragon Magizine

14) No rediculus names, please have simple names that are easy to remember. Also, no giving yourself titles.

15) I will keep track of XP and skill XP, if i postpone you from leveling I have a reason.

16) you may not ask "Is it close to dying yet?" or "what is it's HP?" in regards to a monster/NPCs health I will only tell you if it is bloodied or not

17) at most your turn can take one minuite

 

[Alisair Longreach]

1 and 2 are bad, they make PCs more killable and thereby reduce your players fun.

3 to 5 are also bad, they make you look like a control freak. A control freak DM is usually not fun.

6 and 7 are more control freakery, PCs should not lie to each other as common courtesy unless the character is roleplayed as a lying bastard.

8 is not needed, there is some wishlist advice somewhere in the DMG I can't find right now.

9 more control freakery.

10 is a complicated rules element that will give you as DM more work as well as reduce your PCs fun.

11 and 12 are conflicting, make up your mind.

12 should be dropped as it would give Drow PCs two racial encounter powers unbalancing Drow PCs compared with other races.

13 is OK, but your PCs could see it as yet more control freakery.

14 is OK.

15 is control freakery.

16 is not needed, just be vague when your PCs asks if a monster is nearly dead.

17 should be dropped, it is more control freakery and in my experience, players usually need 1 to 3 minutes to complete their turn.

My advice to you is to drop these house rules and reread your DMG, especially page 189 and chapter 1.

 

[mr.pink]

1 and 2 are bad, they make PCs more killable and thereby reduce your players fun.

3 to 5 are also bad, they make you look like a control freak. A control freak DM is usually not fun.

6 and 7 are more control freakery, PCs should not lie to each other as common courtesy unless the character is roleplayed as a lying bastard.

8 is not needed, there is some wishlist advice somewhere in the DMG I can't find right now.

9 more control freakery.

10 is a complicated rules element that will give you as DM more work as well as reduce your PCs fun.

11 and 12 are conflicting, make up your mind.

13 is OK, but your PCs could see it as yet more control freakery.

14 is OK.

15 is control freakery.

16 is not needed, just be vague when your PCs asks if a monster is nearly dead.

My advice to you is to drop these house rules and reread your DMG, especially page 189 and chapter 1.

Thanks for your input

 

[Falling Icicle]

okay so I'm starting a new campaign and have a bunch of house rules i want to throw in, please tell me if the seem as fair and balanced as possible (by balanced I mean PC vs. PC not PC vs. world/monsters)

1) If you take more than a quarter of your total damage in one hit make a saving throw, if you fail you are unconscious/ dying

2) If you take more than half you total damage in one hit make a saving throw, if you fail you are dead

IMO these are terrible ideas.

3) Alignments are decided by the DM, if you have a divine power source and act more than one step away from your deity's alignment you lose all powers until you atone for your actions, this atonement is based on your religion

I have mixed feelings about this one. It's not too different from the old rules for paladins and clerics. However, I was pretty glad to see these things go in 4e. Some people might prefer to have them back again, and that's fine. To each his own. Just keep in mind that you'll be strongly discouraging people from playing divine characters by doing so.

4) At any time you may be asked out of game to justify an action that was just performed in game to maintain your alignment/ not lose XP for failure to roleplay

5) Failure to roleplay will result in a loss of 10% of all XP in next encounter unless actions are justified

I don't like this idea. Alignment isn't supposed to be a straight jacket. It's supposed to be an overall measurement of the character's personality and morals. If a player isn't acting his alignment, simply have him change it to the alignment he's really acting. Be careful about doing this though, since nobody perfectly follows their alignment all the time. People often stray back and forth. In any case, it's better to work with your players and encourage them to play in character than to punish them. Try the carrot before you pull out the stick.

6) Don't lie to the party w/o telling me. If you do want to lie to the party send me an IM or pass me a note

7) even if you see me get passed a note assume that other party members are telling the truth, I will tell you make the DC

Have you been having trouble with a player screwing over the rest of the party or something? I'm just trying to understand why you think these measures are necessary.

8) At the begining of the campaign write down 5 items you would want for your character, as you get these items pick new ones, all items must be within 2 levels of your character's level

This is a good idea, and is even recommended by the DM guide.

9) You get milestones when I tell you, at no other times do you gain milestones.

This is a horrible idea. Many items and such depend on milestones to work, and your players may become frustrated if you're not letting them use their ring powers or get action points every 2 encounters for whatever reason. It's always better to not act in a way that can be perceived as biased if you can help it.

10) Skills will not be gained every two levels. Instead skills work as such.

• You start off picking trained skills as normal
• Everytime you use a skill succsessfully you gain Skill XP, unless I telll you otherwise
• when your skill XP total in a skill hits your current number of skill points in that skill you gain one skill point in that skill
• So when you have 5 skill points in theivery and you pick pocket five people succsessfully then you gain a skill point in theivery, bringin your total to 6
• this is based on http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-3rd-edition-house-rules/249608-improving-skills-through-use.html

Sounds far too complicated for my taste.

11) Drow can use both of their racial abilities in an encounter

12) Players can only play races in the PHB

Don't those two contradict? Drow are in the MM. As far as only allowing PHB races, that is well within your rights as DM. Keep in mind though, playing weird monster races and abusing certain combinations is no longer possible the way it was in 3e. None of the MM PC races look overpowered to me in the slightest.

13) Players can use any WotC material published, except Dragon Magizine

What's wrong with Dragon magazine?

14) No rediculus names, please have simple names that are easy to remember. Also, no giving yourself titles.

LOL. Again, this brings me back to my earlier question, are you having trouble with a problem player?

15) I will keep track of XP and skill XP, if i postpone you from leveling I have a reason.

I really don't like this idea either.

16) you may not ask "Is it close to dying yet?" or "what is it's HP?" in regards to a monster/NPCs health I will only tell you if it is bloodied or not

Fair enough.

17) at most your turn can take one minuite

And what happens if they take longer? Do they lose thier turn? What we do in my group when a player takes excessively long to do their turn is we say they hold action until they decide what to do. Obviously, newer players should be given alot more leeway in this regard.

 

[Alisair Longreach]

A good house rule introduces a mechanical rules element that you as a DM like and that your players accept. An example would be that Half-Elves have +2 DEX instead of +2 CON.

Another good type of house rules are restrictions specific to your campaign world. An example would be that Drow PCs are not allowed because ALL Drow are Evil, Lolth worshipping bastards.

Bad house rules impose restrictions on players behavior which reduces their fun and makes them perceive you as a control freak DM which might make them consider dropping your campaign and go play Exalted with somebody else as DM.

Bad house rules might be the introduction of complex rules elements that wastes game time and creates extra work to keep track of and reduce everybodys fun.

Always make a document with your house rules but keep it to one page because too many house rules is also bad.

Official errata and an overview of your homebrew campaign setting are not house rules.

 

[Rel]

9) You get milestones when I tell you, at no other times do you gain milestones.

I like that one. I grant extra Action Points (beyond the one after an Extended Rest) when something significant happens like finishing a quest, getting someplace important, defeating a particular bad guy, etc.

 

[mr.pink]

I should have included my reasonings for these rules, here they are

1) If you take more than a quarter of your total damage in one hit make a saving throw, if you fail you are unconscious/ dying

2) If you take more than half you total damage in one hit make a saving throw, if you fail you are dead

I like to play a grittier game, these rules show that every character has a damage threshold. It also makes character life more precious

3) Alignments are decided by the DM, if you have a divine power source and act more than one step away from your deity's alignment you lose all powers until you atone for your actions, this atonement is based on your religion

4) At any time you may be asked out of game to justify an action that was just performed in game to maintain your alignment/ not lose XP for failure to roleplay

5) Failure to roleplay will result in a loss of 10% of all XP in next encounter unless actions are justified

These rules will keep the kind of random stuff i have found in my previous games from happening. (characters deciding randomly that they have studders for no apparant reason, characters acting outside of their alignment, characters who are clerics being the least religous of the group)

6) Don't lie to the party w/o telling me. If you do want to lie to the party send me an IM or pass me a note

7) even if you see me get passed a note assume that other party members are telling the truth, I will tell you make the DC

Some characters will totally bluff the rest of the party when finding loot, or just manipulating their characters to do other things. In an older game i was running there was a rouge who always convinced the wizard to scout for him, the wizard never realized he was lieing

8) At the begining of the campaign write down 5 items you would want for your character, as you get these items pick new ones, all items must be within 2 levels of your character's level

This rule is for the players, so that they have a better experience by being given items that they actually want

9) You get milestones when I tell you, at no other times do you gain milestones.

I like to give the PCs big encounters where they usually have one or at most two a day. The current rules for milestones screw my PCs over in that aspect. Instead they will be earning them when doing some thing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

10) Skills will not be gained every two levels. Instead skills work as such.

• You start off picking trained skills as normal
• Everytime you use a skill succsessfully you gain Skill XP, unless I telll you otherwise
• when your skill XP total in a skill hits your current number of skill points in that skill you gain one skill point in that skill
• So when you have 5 skill points in theivery and you pick pocket five people succsessfully then you gain a skill point in theivery, bringin your total to 6
• this is based on http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-3rd...rough-use.html

I like this system because it is more realistic. You get better at what you do more. Also it lets the fighter have an odd knack for lockpicking, which always will have a special place in my heart

11) Drow can use both of their racial abilities in an encounter

12) Players can only play races in the PHB

These rules don't contradict, they aren't even related really. #11 is really only meant for NPC drow.

13) Players can use any WotC material published, except Dragon Magizine

I don't have insider so i can't keep up with dragon magizine

14) No rediculus names, please have simple names that are easy to remember. Also, no giving yourself titles.

There was a character "Elflord: the land stander". He was an orc favored soul who never touched ground after he gained wings

15) I will keep track of XP and skill XP, if i postpone you from leveling I have a reason.

It's easier for the players. Also i don't like to make the boss monster harder when they level too fast.

16) you may not ask "Is it close to dying yet?" or "what is it's HP?" in regards to a monster/NPCs health I will only tell you if it is bloodied or not

It just pisses me off when players ask this. It is metagaming and i don't like it.

17) at most your turn can take one minuite

This is so some one doesn't stare undecidedly at his power cards for eight minuites while the warlock pulls out a book and noone at the table can blame him. The penalty for this is you lose your turn.

 

[Pickles JG]

1) & 2) Grittier alright - I am not sure that D&D is the game for grittiness especially 4ed. I would see if your players want to play a grittier game. I assume it applies to monsters too?

3)-5) It probably will not change what people do. Good RPers RP well bad ones badly. If they are making up random stutters they are probably bored. Good RP is IMO it's own reward.
Forcing everyone to have a strong code of behaviour could be used to give a deep character to a setting. I would make sure it effects all characters though rather than just the clerics. It is better to rewards compliance than to punish violation - stuff like extra AP or fun in game titles for example, staying away from XP.

6)7) I tend to empathise with - we just agree in advance that the players are all on the same side & not out to get one another. It has been a long while since I had to deal with the horrors of interparty conflict. I am fine with players RPing lying to one another for fun so long as noone gets hurt - or robbed.

8) Straight out of the DMG.

9) It think this is what they wanted to write but could not create a suitably mechanical rule. The way you phrase it comes across a bit arsey though. "Milestones are awarded when the party acheives some substantial goal or a series of minor ones. This is likely to be every 1-3 encounters"

10) yuk fiddly & looking for realism in a game where nothing much is. Likely to lead to "tick collecting" where players use skill just to get the skill xp. Also control freaky. The Fighter can easily use a feat to be a competent thief if he wants to dabble.

11) 12) 13) Drow NPCs can do whatever the plot demands. Restricting content ought to be fine there is plenty of stuff out there.

14) Fair enough - stupid names can break immersion. Titles that are nicknames should be allowed - especially if they arise in play. "The Land Strider" is the sort of ironic nickname that the Ork might get IRL cf the tall lad called shorty.

15) XP is in your hands to dole out so this is fine. I dont really track it anymore just try to get a feel for when PCs should advance. Just make sure you do not come across as trying to thwart the players.

16) It not metagaming. If the enemy is unscratched or has 40 arrows sticking in him that are not slowing him down or is on his last legs the PCs should be able to see it. Stricly speaking the PCs know more or less how many HP it took to bloody a monster - they can count - so they can figure out more or less how many it would take to kill it too. In practice this too hard to track (except when I DM & write the monster damage on the battlemat). Anyway despite saying that I do not think its unreasonable to have only Unhurt, Injured, Bloodied & KO as monster states. I tend to have "last legs" too - one more hit ought to finish it.

17) I sympathise with DMing slow players but you really do need to factor in experience & allow for the time that some turns take to resolve - Move (OA) dragon breath, colour spray, action point, fire shroud for example.
You could put a limit on thinking time but you must allow resolutions to resolve. The penalty has to be delay too not just losing the turn - if they manage to dither till their spot in the initiative then they do lose a turn but they deserve to. Make sure eveyone has everything added up in advance as this will speed the play up.


Anyway I hate some of those rules & think some are OK or good but I think you ought to be careful how you sell them to the players. You need to avoid coming across as high handed & controlling rather than trying to improve the game play experience for all. See my repsonse to 9 above for an attempt at this.

 

[Rel]

I think the bottom line is that gaming is a group activity. If you have a lot of house rules to try and get the group not to do things that the group wants to do then what you're really doing is swimming upstream. The best rules always find the common ground for what makes the game most fun for everybody, not just the GM.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I like to play a grittier game, these rules show that every character has a damage threshold. It also makes character life more precious

These two could make combat more exciting, but they also run a high risk of ticking off your players if they're not really interested in a gritty game.

These rules will keep the kind of random stuff i have found in my previous games from happening. (characters deciding randomly that they have studders for no apparant reason, characters acting outside of their alignment, characters who are clerics being the least religous of the group)

First, you know that everyone acts outside of their alignment right? Even Mother Teresa did Evil things every once in a while. Second, you know that alignment is meaningless by RAW right? If you read the cleric/paladin fluff text closely, it says they have to start out at/close to their deity's alignment but if they stray to far, there will be no divine retribution.

Honestly it sounds like your players are of the beer-and-preztels variety and you'd like them to take the game more seriously. Nothing wrong with that, just be prepared to be disappointed. Sometimes no amount of goading and house rules can change their attitude, which there is nothing wrong with either.

Some characters will totally bluff the rest of the party when finding loot, or just manipulating their characters to do other things. In an older game i was running there was a rouge who always convinced the wizard to scout for him, the wizard never realized he was lieing

How exactly did the wizard player come to decide that being the party scout was a good idea? That's as much the wizard's fault as the rogue's.

This rule is for the players, so that they have a better experience by being given items that they actually want

This is a good rule, but it's not really a house rule.

I like to give the PCs big encounters where they usually have one or at most two a day. The current rules for milestones screw my PCs over in that aspect. Instead they will be earning them when doing some thing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Sounds great.

I like this system because it is more realistic. You get better at what you do more. Also it lets the fighter have an odd knack for lockpicking, which always will have a special place in my heart

4e is not the game for realism. I don't know about you, but I play it because it's relatively simple and balanced. Besides, if the fighter wants to pick locks he can always pick up Skill Training in Thievery.

These rules don't contradict, they aren't even related really. #11 is really only meant for NPC drow.

That's fine, but you really don't need to tell your PCs that you're giving one NPC race an extra encounter power. You're the DM, you can do whatever you want.

I don't have insider so i can't keep up with dragon magizine

Perfectly reasonable.

There was a character "Elflord: the land stander". He was an orc favored soul who never touched ground after he gained wings

Fair enough. Though again, it sounds like you're trying to change your players' play style, which is an uphill battle.

It's easier for the players. Also i don't like to make the boss monster harder when they level too fast.

Fine. Personally I don't even use XP, I just tell my players to level-up whenever I please.

It just pisses me off when players ask this. It is metagaming and i don't like it.

Fair enough.

This is so some one doesn't stare undecidedly at his power cards for eight minuites while the warlock pulls out a book and noone at the table can blame him. The penalty for this is you lose your turn.

What happens if a player does take more than a minute? A common house rule in this event is to force the PC to delay their initiative until the player decides on an action.

TS