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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 4018131" data-attributes="member: 1757">I'm probably a bit out of place here, since I run an Iron Heroes game, which is basically all about messing with D&D's basic assumptions. That said, this is pretty much what I did for my previous (3e D&D) game:1. Tweaking the reward system. I lowered XP rewards for defeating monsters or traps by 50%, reserving the remaining 50% for "story awards." I also gave full XP for resolving encounters by means other than combat (diplomacy or even avoidance). This was intended to have the effect of toning down player attention on "beating" opponents to get levels and focusing them on accomplishing story goals instead, as well as to encourage greater use of less risky tactics than combat (with the goal of promoting "realistic" approaches to hostile encounters). It largely worked, though I probably could have just gone with my current system (no XP, you level up when the DM says so) to equal effect.I also implemented an individual reward system in the form of fate points: A very powerful action-point-type resource that could be awarded to a to a player who showed exceptional creativity, heroism, or effort. I know that DMs often don't like to "grade" their players' performance, but I found that a reward with no corresponding penalty really helped to boost player morale and encourage cool stuff (writing bard songs, keeping journals, refusing rewards for services, etc.). I have a current system in place in the form of destiny points that appears to serve the same purpose quite well.2) Making alignment more active. In addition to blue chips (fate points), I kept a stack of white chips (virtue points) and black chips (corruption points) on the table. Instead of alignment, everyone just had virtue or corruption totals. Thus, characters could slide up and down the good-evil scale with acts, and the consequences of individual acts were clearly visible in play. Virtue point totals were prerequisites for exalted feats and other goodies (relic use, etc.).Again, it appealed to player competitiveness and ambition, and I saw much more actively "good" PCs than I'd seen previously under a "write your alignment down and it'll basically only come up if you're a paladin" system.3) Giving PCs "Get Out of Jail Free" cards instead of resurrection. I made it very clear IMC at the start that no form of magic short of the Life epic spell seed could restore a mortal to life, meaning that there was basically no raising/resurrection available. Instead, I allowed fate points (see above) to confer enormous bonuses, including +20 to a given roll (essentially an auto-save), a reroll, or a shift from "dead" to "left for dead" a la OGL Conan. This did not appear to change the grittiness of the game at all, but it did make PCs much more sensitive to the fates of important NPCs and had them scared out of their wits when their fate points were running low (in turn encouraging them to more acts that would earn new FPs). 4) Ditching "necessary" stat-booster items.I gave every PC in my game benefits roughly commensurate (though predating) those from the Vow of Poverty feat in BoED. In turn, I stripped out the "Big Six" and related spells (instead allowing similar spells/items to produce very high, very short-lived temporary bonuses) and the basic save-boosters, and drastically reduced PC wealth, making most magic items into near artifacts.5) Keeping DR deadly. Because of my policy regarding magic items, I emphasized the rarity and dangerousness of creatures immune to "mere" weapons, and cut down on the number of creatures with those abilities, essentially restricting them to lycanthropes (the whole silver thing), incorporeal beings, and powerful outsiders. As a result, DR stayed relevant into quite high levels, even without generous use of x/material or x/epic DR.6) Magic system changes. I removed the wizard, sorcerer, cleric, and druid entirely in favor of the Arcana Unearthed greenbond and magister. I retooled the greenbond to handle both nature-priest/druidic and standard warrior-priest cleric archetypes, and folded back in all the D&D spells I thought "necessary" (leaving out the stuff like time stop, RAW polymorph and shapechange, etc). I turned wild shape into a feat progression.7) Skills for everyone! I gave every PC 2 extra skill points. I found that change insufficient to accomplish what I intended (namely, giving the fighters a role out of combat) and finally instituted a rule allowing every PC to use the skill points from a bonus Intelligence (only) to take any skill of his choice. That helped (a bit).That's my list. Probably plays ping-pong with a number of 3e's assumptions.</blockquote>

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