House Rules You Don't Realize You Have

[Mercule]

I recently realised that I house rule Charisma to have nothing whatsoever to do with appearance. We don't use an Appearance stat, or any rules for it at all: a player can describe his character however he wishes, with no game effect whatsoever.

It is? I thought that was standard, and have always been amazed at some of the debates about charisma. I always took Mr. Gygax's example of Hitler as an ugly 18 charisma to heart.

I guess I've got the same house rule. Charisma is a measure of how much personal magnatism you have. That may or may not include your appearance. I've met far too many beautiful people I wanted nothing to do with and plain-to-homely people who attracted others to think otherwise.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

One group I used to play with insisted that you could sneak attack with a bow on a non-flat footed target (i.e., that you could flank with a bow). I had to show them the black-and-white off-yellow on that one.

*chuckles darkly*

*OK, not so much darkly, as kinda-greyishly*

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Well, that's because it's the players' job not yours. I just discovered one last night; I had not realized that the casting time of a spell being "one full round" is not the same as the spell being a full round action; for targeting purposes, this makes spells like Ice Storm much less convenient.

Keep in mind that you choose your target when you FINISH casting spells, not when you start, so it's not so inconvenient really, just takes longer.

 

[Andre]

Bribing the GM is acceptable.
Bribing the GM with chocolate will be successful.
Bribing the GM with "healthy" food will not.

 

[delericho]

It is? I thought that was standard, and have always been amazed at some of the debates about charisma. I always took Mr. Gygax's example of Hitler as an ugly 18 charisma to heart.

I guess I've got the same house rule. Charisma is a measure of how much personal magnatism you have. That may or may not include your appearance. I've met far too many beautiful people I wanted nothing to do with and plain-to-homely people who attracted others to think otherwise.

From the PHB p.9: "Charisma measures a character's force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness." (Emphasis mine)

And my rationale for the change is exactly the same one you used.

 

[TheGM]

In past edditions, groups that realised and had the inclination could probably right down pages of these, especially if they included rules from other editions (i.e. from OD&D and B/E D&D to AD&D) and what they where omiting.

3rd ed that is a little harder...but still I know there are a few...."take 20" is very much on DM whim, that is one, hmm...charecters with full hands can still use material and focus components, that is pretty minor though (or at least may be RAW)...there must be some more....

I actually find the opposite to be true. I have house-ruled more in 3.5 than any other system I've run. But I also don't allow a ton of non-core material, so that probably has a lot to do with it.

 

[Droogie]

It started out as forgetfulness, then laziness, and now its a house rule- combatants are not flat-footed on the first round.

 

[derbacher]

Originally posted by Droogie
It started out as forgetfulness, then laziness, and now its a house rule- combatants are not flat-footed on the first round.

Doh! I just realized I did this today!

 

[Tonguez]

I reckon lots of people have the house rule that Detect Evil applies to Evil alignment when in fact the only mention of alignment in the spell refers to 'good alignment'

imho Evil Creature refers to a creature of Evil type

 

[DragonLancer]

I realized this morning that my group has what equates to a house rule, which both the other GM in the group and I use, which is this: when the party "buffs up" before a big fight, we start counting the rounds of buff duration from the first round of combat, rather than from when the party started buffing. Thus, if the group knows that the big baddie is at the bottom of the stairs, or at the end of the hall, or whatever, they'll take a few rounds to "buff up" in the safe spot, then go to the fight and start counting rounds.

My group does the same. I think mainly for ease. *Shrugs*

I recently realised that I house rule Charisma to have nothing whatsoever to do with appearance. We don't use an Appearance stat, or any rules for it at all: a player can describe his character however he wishes, with no game effect whatsoever.

In terms of gameplay, this has absolutely no effect. But it is a change from the RAW.

I've always been of the opinion that Charisma has nothing to do with appearence. Its a force of personality trait IMO.

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