Let's have a quickie! The 50g Houserule.

[Rachel]

As far as forums and internet communities go, you will probably find ENWorld to be well above the curve as far as intelligence, civility and grammar go.

Actually, I agree I have found those 3 attributes here in abundance. Not alot of general friendliness and positive reinforcement, however. Those feel a bit lacking. Time will tell....

 

[eriktheguy]

Nah, there's plenty of friendliness. Sometimes we are just very honest.

 

[Starfox]

My solution to this problem is that a nonmagical plate is not actually as impressive as you'd think. Sure, that first level paladin has plate - but the basic version, breastplate and greaves only. or maybe aon old and rusty outfit. Not very impressive. What we think of as plate is actually full plate, which can easily be a +2 armor and thus only available to elite knights at around level 8.

So, how to explain that NPCs don't have magical gear? Well, actually they do. Its just not usable/lootable by the players. Check out the Magic Threshold rule, DMG 1 page 174. There you'll see what kind of magical goods NPCs cart about.

I agree this is a very gamist explanation, but 4E is very gamist.

 

[Amaroq]

Ack! Well I didnt say no armor at all! Yikes. Anyways, Im glad someone is with me and finding value in my ideas. Cheers to you.

Well, our premise was, neither she nor anybody else knew she was a paladin until the proverbial orcs attacked the village.

I tried putting her family's cabin directly between her and the orcs, but she skipped right past it and charged into combat without sword or armor.

Heroic? Certainly!

Wise .. not so much, though we voted her the MVP of the session for it!

I felt really bad when she actually went down in Lvl 2 - by then she'd been wearing the chain, using her family's sword, had a shield .. and then just had the classic "I can't roll above a 9 all night" session.

I actually had monsters ignoring her mark so that she'd deal SOME damage .. and it just seemed to go part in parcel with her night when the BBEG of the session reduced her to exactly 0 hp .. and then she failed three saves in a row.

So I've been thinking of house-ruling "0" as "Helpless and Prone but not Unconscious / Dying", among other things!

 

[Rachel]

Well, our premise was, neither she nor anybody else knew she was a paladin until the proverbial orcs attacked the village.

I tried putting her family's cabin directly between her and the orcs, but she skipped right past it and charged into combat without sword or armor.

I didn't make it past this--I LOL'd so hard right there!

That is the magic of roleplaying; people doing weird things! As a DM you set'em up and then I guess well sometimes people don't knock'em down.

Curious. If you did go to "0" HP is prone and helpless not ko'd and dying, what would you use to signify death? If "0" HP isn't the dying bench mark, what would you make it?

 

[Rachel]

Nah, there's plenty of friendliness. Sometimes we are just very honest.

My ideas have received a bevy of criticisms (some helpful and some not as much) but just about no positive reinforcement. I post my ideas for fun, not for people to test themselves on how well they can pick other's ideas apart. Also, not a lot of humor to the responses so far; alot of very serious, very dry "you did this all wrong" sorta thing.

But I haven't been here that long so I'm reserving judgement.

Can't you smart people relax a little and have some fun?! It's a game, just flow with the ideas and at least *try* to like them. LOL.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Just something really quick here. As a house rule, I start all PC's out with only [50g] to spend at initial character creation (instead of [100g]).

This eliminates the "full-armor" paladin at start, and really encourages players to be wise about how they spend their starter gold. The PCs may not have *everything* they could possibly want right from the start (with plenty o' gold to spare), but I love the challenge of squeezing in the gear I can. And if I can't yet afford it, I like looking forward to when I can!

(Okay but plz note, martial characters will be more hard-pressed to fit in what they need under the 50g limit; this, imho, is actually as should be).

Ugh, I'd hate to go back to the days of being a 1st level beggar. I like starting the game with all the basic equipment I need to do my job, and not to be snarky, but you're the first gamer I've ever 'met' who finds the old way appealing. What exactly is it that you like? Is it really just a desire to balance a simple budget?

To be blunt if you were a player at my table and suggested this house rule, I'd say "You're free to drop 50 of your own gp down a privy, but I won't inflict that on the other players."

Can't you smart people relax a little and have some fun?! It's a game, just flow with the ideas and at least *try* to like them. LOL.

Haven't you heard? The purpose of the net is to create an arena for leet gamers with no lives to pwn all you noobs!

Honestly, I do apologize if I come off abrasively. To be fair, your ideas seem to come from a very subjectively 'realistic' point of view. As a general rule, D&D and its players have never been overly concerned with realism so it shouldn't be surprising that many of us just don't understand where you're coming from.

 

[eriktheguy]

Yeah, this is a forum. 'Picking apart' is what is done here. Critical analysis of house rules helps us to find the best of the best, and people working in groups come up with more balanced and robust house rules. Some very good house rules can be found on these forums.

For example many people post suggested 'critical hit tables' but generally they don't receive much positive review because 4e already deals with critical hits effectively and many of the suggested effects on these tables are less fun than they sound.

Some longer lived ideas are really good though. Most DMs on this forum would probably recommend banning expertise and giving the players static bonuses at levels 5/15/25, or giving them a free expertise feat at level 5. Many recognize the math problems with 4e's skill challenge system and have switched to this variant.

So use the criticism you like, ignore the criticism you don't, and occasionally remind people to be polite. It's the internets.

 

[Amaroq]

I didn't make it past this--I LOL'd so hard right there!

That is the magic of roleplaying; people doing weird things! As a DM you set'em up and then I guess well sometimes people don't knock'em down.

Curious. If you did go to "0" HP is prone and helpless not ko'd and dying, what would you use to signify death? If "0" HP isn't the dying bench mark, what would you make it?

Yeah, I just about lost it at the table - I'd taken pains to outline the mysterious chest under the bed, etc .. but no, she had no interest in stopping to explore. You could almost hear her think to herself, "What? I'll just take the sword from the first one I kill."

(Veteran player, btw, just playing the bravery of the defender to the hilt .. er .. no pun intended.)

I actually hadn't tracked down where I was going to go with "0 isn't dying" quite yet, so if any of you care to help out, I'd appreciate suggestions.

What I'm thinking so far is, maybe, a three-tier system:

0 to negative-level = conscious, but slumped prone, able to gasp out speech but essentially Stunned, Prone, and Helpless .. think "cinematic death or near-death."

negative-level-plus-one to negative-healing-surge = conscious but Stunned, Prone, Helpless, and mute. Likely to bleed to death if not treated, but not in imminent danger of death during the next sixty seconds of combat.

negative-healing-surge to negative-bloodied = unconscious, and in imminent danger of bleeding to death during combat. Make death saves per normal rules.

Thoughts?

It just seemed seriously lame that she actually died after hitting exactly zero .. and we tend to enjoy long-running, story-based campaigns. They do need the threat of death to keep the screws turning, but none of us really want character death on a frequent basis; its the sort of group where a TPK should lead to the party waking up imprisoned by the bad guys, only to turn the tables and escape, rather than simply being told "Well, that's it guys, roll up new characters for next session."

- p.s., I think the "critical" attitude is kinda unique to House Rules forum: I know when I post a potential house rule, I'm hoping erik, Nytmare, and the rest of the gang will spot the ten faults I haven't spotted with it, tear it apart, and suggest a couple patches, alternatives, etc .. so that I wind up with a much better house rule before inflicting some half-baked crud on my players. So .. its sorta by design? But I guess it does lead to a thick-skinned mini-community.

 

[Rachel]

Ugh, I'd hate to go back to the days of being a 1st level beggar. I like starting the game with all the basic equipment I need to do my job, and not to be snarky, but you're the first gamer I've ever 'met' who finds the old way appealing. What exactly is it that you like? Is it really just a desire to balance a simple budget?

To be blunt if you were a player at my table and suggested this house rule, I'd say "You're free to drop 50 of your own gp down a privy, but I won't inflict that on the other players."

LMAO I actually *would* drop that gold. Well give it away or stash it maybe. It's more than I really need. I like the challenge of trying to squeeze in what you need, and the sensation of "okay, next I need to get some gold so I can get this and this". I just like not starting with everything just handed to me. If that's just me....wow, Im shocked.

BTW, "snarky" is definately my new favorite word. I can't find enuff ways to use it!

Haven't you heard? The purpose of the net is to create an arena for leet gamers with no lives to pwn all you noobs!

ROFLMAO there! A sense of humor! Tyvm for the laugh, TS.

Honestly, I do apologize if I come off abrasively. To be fair, your ideas seem to come from a very subjectively 'realistic' point of view. As a general rule, D&D and its players have never been overly concerned with realism so it shouldn't be surprising that many of us just don't understand where you're coming from.

Oh well I hadn't seen many of your responses to my ideas as yet, and I don't call anyone out unless they are really being blatant amount it. You seem fine to me, and thanks for the feedback.

Oh and yah, I am a simulationist. For some reason I don't abstract well.