Modern House Rules... what are yours?

[C. Baize]

So... like many groups, mine has instituted a few houserules (surprisingly few... a testament to the solidity of the rules). Here are a couple to start it off, and I'd like to know what yours are.

Automatic Fire: The Reflex save is an opposed roll. Meaning, the Reflex save has to meet or beat the attacker's attack roll. Keeps it deadly even at higher levels, and makes it so that a first level mook doesn't have essentially the same chance of avoiding damage as a high level PC. Or vice versa.

Non-Lethal Damage: It accumulates, as in base D20. It just makes more sense.

 

[lp]

Hi (R?),

I use a homebrewish wound/vitality system, and a similar autofire rule. Everything else (I think) is core or a pdf I've bought. Anyway I think you already know this, but I wan't to see other peoples rules too.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Let's see....

We included a feat to merge the armor types. Well, not every type. For example: Tactical Armor school includes military type armors; Police Armor School adds in a few police armors; etc.

We also moved certian weapons into small groups and allowed a single feat to enable one who took those feets to use automatic and burst fire with those weapons only. This was to emulate the instruction that any raw recruit recieves in thier countries Basic Military Training.

We use the Automatic Weapons Fire Opposed Reflex Check like Hildulf (He and I have discussed it, and used it extensively in the YotZ playtest, after a bunch of Wolf-Pack kids charged through automatic fire from a Bushmaster 20mm rotary autocannon)

We have rules for scavenging of ruined materials, mostly because we play a lot of post apocalypse games.

We use the rules in UA for AdC, PrC and EC advancement by adding 15+Skill Rank requirement, average of 4 out of 5 successes for Skills and BAB tests, successful demonstrations of special abilities.

We allow the feat for a security clearance to grant the lower level clearances, mainly because we are all former military for the most part, and know that you don't ahve to climb up security clearance ranks, BUT we know also what MOS gets what clearance.

We require all newly starting PC's to have the ordinary stat-block and template, as well as no class levels, just background and occupation. It requires XP to purchase those (The PC starts at -500)

We have hardness and HP adjustments to military vehicles, and a vehicle critical hit system based off of the old Twilight 2000 game.

We have a lot of home crafted rule adjustments, but they don't really adjust the game too much, and mostly serve for 2 campaigns, Year of the Zombie, and Nuclear Greenhouse.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I use accumulating Nonlethal/Subdual damage, as well. I ALSO use the D20 Modern variety ... I.E. it mirrors the damage system as is. Nonlethal with an MDT save.

I allow individuals with Personal Firearms Proficiency to use Burst and Auto fire weapons to let'er'rip and gain a +2 circumstance bonus to an attack for the wasted ammo.

I allow players to burn 2 APs for "creative editing", I.E. being 'left for dead' or bringing in a deus ex.

I'll probably be making the Autofire change found above, as well. Nobody in my game has tried using autofire yet. Makes me happy inside.

--fje

 

[wingsandsword]

Some House Rules:
D&D style nonlethal damage
Armor As Damage Reduction (From Unearthed Arcana)
Complex Skill Checks (From Unearthed Arcana)
Character Traits (From Unearthed Arcana)

I'm experimenting with a wealth system more akin to most other modern day/futuristic games I've seen (i.e. players have cash, get cash from adventuring or Profession/Craft checks, and routine expenses are covered in an all-inclusive "lifestyle" cost. Wealth bonuses are retained as a credit-rating for buying beyond one's means, and for on-hand item checks). But this system is still in testing and I wouldn't call it a house-rule yet.

I let Acolytes (or in special cases characters with the Faith talent and good roleplaying) create Holy Water by spending 25 xp to bless an appropriate vial.

I've got two new craft categories: Archaic (for blacksmithing, candlemaking, leatherworking, and old-timey and very low-tech stuff) and Domestic (Cooking, Sewing, Interior Decorating, and other "Home Economics" type skills). This was in response to players wanting to make PC's who were good at these things, and realizing that none of the existing Craft categories even touched on these topics really.

Very theoretically I have the Perform (Sexual Techniques) skill out of the Book of Erotic Fantasy available if a player really wants their character to be good at that (and understanding that any game I run really won't go there very often, if at all), but it's never come up.

Depending on the setting, I might change around FX a lot, or mix & match from available mechanics. I don't just use "one system fits all" for magic and psionics in my modern games, I've got enough options to use what fits the setting.

 

[Turanil]

I do not truly play a d20 modern campaign, but prepare a Grim Tales campaign, which rules are heavily based on d20 Modern. My houserules will be:

1) Any talent or class ability that requires an Action Point to be activated now grants one free use per day. Action points can be spent to get additional uses per day.

2) Lethal damage as in 3.5, not d20 modern.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

If you lose your Dex bonus to Defense, your opponent gets +4 to hit you. (It used to be remove the entire class bonus, but then I started thinking about snipers and some other ways to abuse my former house rule.)

With Advanced Firearms Proficiency, you can fire a "wide burst" that gives you +2 to hit and takes up 2-5 bullets (depending on the gun). You cannot use this with Precise Shot and cannot take -4 to avoid hitting an ally in melee, since it's, you know, wide.

 

[Psion]

Funny... you hit the two main areas I do.

Autofire: I chuck and replace with the Arsenal autofire rules. It makes no sense to me that you cannot take advantage of burst fire unless you are trained, and that a spray of automatic finre disregards armor.

Nonlethal damage: works like D&D, except that MDT also applies to create a knockout like in D20 modern.

 

[HellHound]

We are using the alternate firearms rules like Psion mentioned...
AND have added the ability to shoot a firearm (if you are proficient with it) as a move-equivalent action at a -4 penalty.

Nonlethal damage, of course, as per D&D3.5

We are also working on a 'generic' or 'build-your-own' core class instead of the six given in the core rules. EVERY time we have built characters with players new to the game, the six core classes became a sticking point. They are just too... 'metagame' feeling. So we are building a single 20-level core class that everyone takes and that has access to all the talent trees.

---

For some of our games, the core class has the weak BAB progression, and we use the firearms skills from BESM (+1 to attack / rank), but the skills are ALWAYS cross-class.

 

[takyris]

I have one campaign that pretty much uses the rules as written.

Then I have a new campaign just starting up, a crystal-punk swashbuckling game set in a flying city. Here's what we're gonna use:

HP are a bit like VP/WP. They heal at the rate of level/hour, and when you run out or take a crit, you start taking damage that divides across your Con, Str, and Dex (divide by two and round toward Con, then divide by two and round toward Dex -- so 7 points of damage would be 4 to Con, 2 to Dex, 1 to Str). Also, each time you take damage, you have to make a save. The save is of your choosing -- Will, Fort, or Reflex (reflecting that you might be tough enough to ignore the pain, fast enough to avoid the worst of it, or mentally strong enough to focus despite it).

If you hit 15 or better, you're fine (well, you're hurting, but fine).
If you get between 10-14, you are stunned for 1d4 rounds.
If you get below 10, you are unconscious (but in no danger of dying).

If your Con gets reduced to 0, you are automatically unconscious and have to make Fort saves to stabilize. The DC is 15. 5 or higher keeps you alive but dying. And you can spend an action point to ignore the hideous crippling penalty of trying to make a Fort save with a Con of 0 (in fact, you can spend an Action Point to avoid any penalties to your ability scores for one round).

And if you would have just died, you are, in the Conan sense of things, "Left for Dead" for a limited number of times. You automatically stabilize, but this only happens a few times over your career (every odd level adds one "Left for Dead" chance).

Armor provides DR and not a Defense bonus, and it only provides this DR against the ability damage (wound damage). If a Critical confirmation is also a crit, or if it would have hit by 10 or more, it cuts the DR value in half.

There are Ordinaries and Mooks. Ordinaries have HP and make all their saves as normal, although it's expected that they'll pass out after the first or second actual instance of wounding. Mooks, usually 1/1 ordinaries, have no HP at all and immediately start taking Wound damage when hit. They don't suffer other ability damage, but they're assumed to automatically fail their save if they take half their Con or more in damage, and to be stunned if they take less than this (this makes them fall unconscious very quickly, which is good, since, well, they're mooks).

It's supposed to be a swashbuckling game, and hopefully this will replicate some of that.