D&D 3E/3.5 House Rules for 3.5 Enlarge Person

[maggot]

I don't like 3.5's Enlarge Person because it is too good (First level, grants reach) and because I don't want a world where every warrior is enlarged to do battle. And face it, 3.5 Enlarge Person is that good. Most warrior's I know would take it over 3.5's Bull's Strength, and Enlarge Person is definitely noticable on the battle field.

So my only idea this far is to make the STR gain and enhancement bonus so it doesn't stack with Bull's Strength, etc. This makes Enlarge Person a bit less of a must have, but still reach is very good.

Also, in terms of converting my group from 3.0 to 3.5, 3.0's Enlarge was used on a lot of non-humanoids. I would love to have a 3.5 Enlarge that works on all creatures, but the current 3.5 Enlarge Person would be way abusive if allowed.

Any ideas?

 

[Plane Sailing]

The reach isn't really a big issue. I had house ruled enlarge to make it a size category change since day 1 and the benefit of reach only affected the first round of combat. (admittedly this might have been different if there had been enlarged polearm or spiked chain wielders combat reflex fiends - but there weren't).

The increased "zone of control" that an enlarged fighter gets is great, but he also takes up more space, he can have more people fighting against him (in a 10ft wide corridor he has two orcs against just him, not him and a mate, in an open area he is much easier to flank).

Possibly the bigger benefit, because it happens every round, is the increased damage from his bigger weapon.

In terms of enlarge person vs enlarge more generally, I'd look at the difference between charm person and charm monster and thus peg a "general" enlarge spell at 5th level as a first approximation.

Cheers

 

[CRGreathouse]

As a fighter, I didn't like being enlarged all that much -- yes, reach and more damage are good, but on low levels the extra damage often gors to waste and the -2 AC hurts a lot.