Vicar In A Tutu said:
I specifically want to adress the following things:
- Magic (buffs, some overly complicated spells, polymorph spells are a nightmare)
- Skills (creating a high level NPC takes an insane amount of time)
- Grappling rules
- High level characters becoming demigods (it feels like I'm playing a different game at higher levels)
Has anyone else experimented with tweaking the rules for such a purpose?
Absolutely! Welcome to the club. I like to call it the "come on 4th edition, isn't it about time?" club!
Here's what I've done, and it works great:
1) All buffs - do not stack, become a bonus to Attack, Damage, AC, Fort, Ref, Will, +HP/LVL
The bonus is equal to the spell level from 1st to 4th and lasts one combat.
The bonus is equal to the spell level minus -4 from 5th to 8th and lasts for 1 hr/lvl (typically one dungeon).
The bonus at ninth lasts for the day.
The difference is that different buffs add based on what the original spell was (ie, Cat's Grace add +2 to AC and Ref).
Restressing the very first point - buffs do not stack. You get one, choose wisely. That's right, enhancement, insight, size, resistance, morale, luck, racial, becomes: "buff".
Polymorph and shape change as a buff are now interesting because you can "change shape" and switch your buff accordingly.
One notable exception - cleric's divine power and righteous might I left in tact.
Much simpler, way less tracking, and you don't really "remove" anything from the game.
2) Skills - yes, it does. Many others have suggested, fudge it! Map out the ranges for skills based on low, medium, high for each CR, and then "plug" for your typical monster. See a nice post by rycanada that went down this statistical road.
3) Grappling rules - what a mess! Only fix I had on this one was practice. The good news is that by 12th plus it becomes pretty one sided, either you have freedom of movement or my bonus is easily so high that you don't stand a chance.
4) High level is a different game because of the sacred cows left in it. There are many, many great threads on running high level combat and how complex it can be. My quick suggestions include: either run your players through plane-hopping madness (by changing the environment, you can fiddle with more things), or lower your scope significantly and simply challenge the players to be leaders in a small region, while introducing things that will allow you to hold on to the versimilitude. For every measure there should be a counter measure - invisibility, flight, teleport, anti-magic shell, mordenkainen's disjunction, massive area of effect damage spells are all incredibly powerful, and have dramatic effects on the versimilitude of your fantasy S&S game. Be prepared to introduce and explain countermeasures that would have to exist to deal with all of the above.
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