Minor Houserules - Are they OK?

[Sphyre]

I thought of that... just formulated it wrong: I don't mean the first natural 20 in a turn, I meant a natural 20 on the first d20 roll in a turn. This way, no player gains more than a single chance to recharge his powers.

Ah. Well, that certainly works. I'm just not sure I think the benefits of a crit need an additional "you're kicking ass now, and you'll kick ass next turn because one of your encounter powers just came back." is the best mechanic, but if you and your friends are happy with it, who am I to argue?

 

[wagenejm]

Our group house ruled that you have an action point at the beginning of every combat because it's one less thing to have to keep track of. There are too many little details to remember in 4th edition as it is, and the lack of action point would have wiped our group at least a couple of times had it not been available.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Our group house ruled that you have an action point at the beginning of every combat because it's one less thing to have to keep track of. There are too many little details to remember in 4th edition as it is, and the lack of action point would have wiped our group at least a couple of times had it not been available.

That's an interesting one... do you keep track of milestones and daily item activations? Or have you simplified it to "one daily item per encounter"?

Cheers, LT.

 

[Emirikol]

LT,

The rules seem fine, but I'm wondering why you would add them if they are such minor things.

I understand that they are "nice for players" but I'd like to see the campaign-theme reasoning of why your world has them, but not standard D&D.

jh

 

[WhatGravitas]

I understand that they are "nice for players" but I'd like to see the campaign-theme reasoning of why your world has them, but not standard D&D.

Ah, sure:

Extra Healing Surges: Well, I don't like short adventuring days a lot. I tend to run campaigns in urban and/or overland settings (sometimes combined), less dungeoncrawls. This makes extended rests a bit problematic - like during an overland chase, or if you're in a city (urban plots are rather event driven - and play in a rather short time frame, hours, not days). I could remedy this by making encounters less resource-draining (and hence easier), but I rather give them extra resources and keep the challenging encounters. The players like having extra stuff and feel more challenged, as every encounter can be deadly.

Furthermore, I watched my players for about three sessions with these rules now... with a fixed number of surges, they always know that they're probably not able to keep up and need a rest. With this... there's something tempting: Perhaps, with the new extra surge you have now, you can keep up, even if you're low on them.

Encounter Power Regain: Simply because it's interesting to use more than at-wills. And it helps a bit with the verisimilitude - it feels "right" that the martial-inclined characters can regain them in the right situation, like spotting an opening in your enemies' defense. Note that this is also true for enemies - this makes d20 rolls something exciting - for every side. Plus it fits the somewhat pulpy style I prefer... think Indiana Jones pulling out a last ditch trick.

Knocking Prone: Well, a bit because it's pulpy and interesting to watch people thrown down... and because my players were a bit confused that something powerful enough to hurl you through the room never knocks you from your feet - so it's one of these "verisimilitude" things.

Hope these explains the reason for the rules a bit!

Cheers, LT.