Mixing AE and D&D - anyone want to share their house rules?

Elodan said:
I've categorized all the feats into General, Ceremonial, Item Creation, Regional and Talents.
Hmm; same thing I did!
Right now I'm using the AE item creation feats but may change it to the PHB ones. The PHB metamagic feats are essentially encompassed in the AE feat Modify Spell so I've made that the prerequisite for the additional metamagic (now ceremonial) feats from the PGtF I added to the campaign.
Also same.
I'm also using
- the AE (or 3.0) rules for weapon sizing
- Truenames
- Hero points
Yup!
For some reason, I've always found [including heightened and diminished versions] to be the most daunting task of converting spells. Can you give me some example of spells you did this for? I was planning on making my players do the conversions if they wanted to take spells from the Realms books.
I recommend making players do the work whenever possible... ;) That said, with most D&D spells, it's an easy task.

1) Any spell in a spell chain is a no-brainer. Take Nybor's gentle reminder, for instance:

Nybor's Gentle Reminder
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: 2 (Exotic)
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One living creature
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

[Flavor text omitted]The subject of this spell suffers a sharp, agonizing pain that leaves it dazed for 1 round. In each subsequent round for the duration of the spell, the subject takes a -2 penalty on attacks, saving throws, and checks. Furthermore, a spellcaster targeted by this spell must make a successful Concentration check (DC 12) to cast spells while under its effect.
Diminished: N/A
Heightened: The subject is dazed for 1d4 rounds rather than 1 round.
Magic Item Creation Modifier: Constant N/A, single-use x1.5

The heightened version is, of course, simply Nybor's mild admonishment (sor/wiz 3) by another name. That one's easy, and you should automatically do this for any appropriate spells. In most cases, even spells that are separated by two levels can be handled this way simply by either bumping the lower-level spell up or reducing the higher-level spell's level by 1 (this is a good idea for exotics, since the feat expenditure tends to counterbalance the level drop). So, IMC, lesser ironguard is a 6th level complex (it shows up too often in the FR literature for it to be an exotic IMC) and its greater version is just the heightened one.

2) Apply a metamagic-like effect. Increasing a spell's range by one category or its duration by one category are often fair uses for a heightened version. This is especially true for buff spells or spells that conjure a temporary object (e.g., thunderlance). Likewise, increasing a numerical effect is easy, too. For example, bumping the save bonus and electricity resistance from Ilyykur's mantle up to +1/2 levels and 20, respectively, seem like a fair use for a heightened version.

3) Spells that have an effect keyed to a spell level are also easy. For instance, fiendform allows polymorphing into any fiend that can be summoned by a summon monster I-IV spell. The heightened version? Simple. It can duplicate creatures summonable by summon monster V as well.

I don't believe in trying too hard to do diminished versions, myself. I think it's too easy to end up with an overpowered spell this way, since some capabilities are simply not meant to be available to casters of [x] level.
 

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I go the lazy man's route.

If you use anything from AE, you're limited to what AE supports but you get the extra feat and use that experience point table.

Works well so far.

Magisters and the other spellcasters are just using a different form of magic, must like the difference between Pug and his mentor Kurgan from Raymond Feist's Magician.
 

Well, that also happens to be the route that the designer of AE himself recommends... :)

I'd do the same, except that my default campaign world (the Realms) has too many weird magical variants running around anyway. Adding a further set of thematic distinctions just would be too much for me.
 

ruleslawyer said:
Well, that also happens to be the route that the designer of AE himself recommends... :)

I'd do the same, except that my default campaign world (the Realms) has too many weird magical variants running around anyway. Adding a further set of thematic distinctions just would be too much for me.
You wouldn't need to create a new thematic distinction, just use AE as one of the existing ones. "Southern Magic", which is incomprehensible to northerners and a bit of a mix of divine and arcane would be a good fit.
 

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