Hall of Many Panes, Castles & Crusades, and house rules

[S'mon]

I received HoMP two days ago, it looks promising but I have some issues with it as a 3e adventure - see General thread http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=138815.

I'm thinking now it might be better to run HoMP using Castles & Crusades - HoMP makes fairy little use of d20 mechanics anyway, from what I can see; and bad stat blocks aren't really an issue in C&C. Certainly the 'feel' should fit well. I may discuss it with my players.

I haven't settled on my C&C house rules yet - probably:

1. A defense bonus to AC vs 1 attacker equal to character's Attack Bonus/2. Makes sense & cuts down on need for magic AC-boosting gear.

2.Maybe add amount by which attack beats AC to damage. One problem with C&C above low levels is that weapons don't do much damage and there are few ways to increase damage. Have "20s" double all damage.

3. Increasing Rogue & Assassin attack bonuses so they match Clerics, at 1/2 levels. I'm not sure why they're so low - and if I give an attack bonus-based AC bonus they would suffer further.

4. Making all casters spontaneous casters from a limited list. Spontaneous casting is a 3e innovation that only brings good things IMO.

5. Fate Points - I use these in 3e and would definitely keep them.

6. Movement - make this fuzzy, avoid square-counting. Use it for relative speed but not "You're 1 square short, sorry."

 

[Turanil]

3. Increasing Rogue & Assassin attack bonuses so they match Clerics, at 1/2 levels. I'm not sure why they're so low - and if I give an attack bonus-based AC bonus they would suffer further.

4. Making all casters spontaneous casters from a limited list. Spontaneous casting is a 3e innovation that only brings good things IMO.

3. I have been myself considering changing BtH to be more in line with AD&D 2e Thac0. I remember that back in AD&D 2e, thieves already sucked and that I only wanted to play one in 3e. In C&C the BtH is even worse, without a rationale reason for it. But I would also increase cleric BtH to that of AD&D 2e.

4. To keep it simple you can rule that each morning the caster memorizes normally, but the memorized spells can be cast spontaneously up to the maximum number of spells per day. That is, a 2nd level wizard can cast three 1st level spells per day (2 + 1 for Int modifier), so he memorizes magic-missiles, charm person, and sleep; then, during that day he could cast sleep three times if he so choses, and then cannot cast more spells until next day. I think this is a reasonable and very simple method. Now, if your campaign uses feats, make that spontaneous casting ability a feat rather than allowing it to anyone freely.

 

[S'mon]

4. To keep it simple you can rule that each morning the caster memorizes normally, but the memorized spells can be cast spontaneously up to the maximum number of spells per day. That is, a 2nd level wizard can cast three 1st level spells per day (2 + 1 for Int modifier), so he memorizes magic-missiles, charm person, and sleep; then, during that day he could cast sleep three times if he so choses, and then cannot cast more spells until next day. I think this is a reasonable and very simple method. Now, if your campaign uses feats, make that spontaneous casting ability a feat rather than allowing it to anyone freely.

That makes spellcasters even more powerful, which is not my intent.

 

[Turanil]

That makes spellcasters even more powerful, which is not my intent.

What exactly makes them more powerful? My system is more or less directly inspired from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed, but without the hassle of creating a table of spells known for the day, different from the number of spells per day.

 

[Faraer]

HoMP is crossing the Atlantic to me. I'm not one for house rules, but would probably run it with AD&D in the World of Greyhawk. It would be handy to have an AD&D/C&C conversion (though probably not hard to do on the fly).

 

[Mythmere1]

Keep in mind that fairly soon your rogue will be a level or two higher than most other party members becuase they advance so much more quickly.

 

[S'mon]

What exactly makes them more powerful? My system is more or less directly inspired from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed, but without the hassle of creating a table of spells known for the day, different from the number of spells per day.

From what you wrote, they can choose any spell from their book at the start of the day, & cast those spells spontaneously? Obviously that's more powerful than memorising to fill up slots. I intend that they will cast spontaneously (like Sorcerer) from spells known, the max no of spells known & the spells/day table will use the same (current) table.

 

[S'mon]

Keep in mind that fairly soon your rogue will be a level or two higher than most other party members becuase they advance so much more quickly.

Even so, the current ATT bonus of 1/3 is too low IMO, 1/2 is fine; Fighters get 1/1.