Please review these house rules---all input much appreciated.

[joethelawyer]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if you could take a look at and review these house rules. after reading them you should be able to get a feel for what i am striving for, so any input along those lines is greatly appreciated. we use the 3.0 rules as a base.

thanks very much.

_______________________________

[FONT=&quot]Mordenkainen's Disjunction: can only be cast at one item per person, or one person. If on a person it takes away all enchantments via spell a person might have on them. I.e. all buffs. No knowledge ahead of time as to what enchantments an item or person might have. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Etherealness: merged with plane shift spell.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Dispel Magic: when cast you understand the levels of power or enchantment you are trying to dispel, as well as the school of the spell. For example, 9th level abjuration, 3rd level charm, etc. If cast in an area, you dispel one random item or enchantment on a person for every 5 levels of the caster. If cast at a particular person, you can choose what item or enchantment to dispel, one per every 5 levels. If you dispel an item, it simply does not work for 1 round per caster level. For purposes of dc, the item's dc is 10 plus ½ the caster level of the person who created it. If you dispel a permanent spell, those spells do not work for one hour per caster level.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Scrying: does not exist as a spell or a skill. It only operates through a device. Wizards can do it through a mirror or a ball, clerics through an altar with holy water in it, druids through a sanctified pool of water in nature. All three have to have been sanctified/magically created at a cost of 100,000 gp. The device can be used 3x per day with a 5 minute duration each time. You can see, hear, and communicate telepathically if you have the spell, looking at either a location 40' x 40', or a person, from any angle chosen. That angle can change as you wish. If crystal balling or scrying in any other form is detected by the observed, then it can be stopped by the use of darkness or dispel magic, the observed simply noting the small disturbance in the air caused by the magical viewing and casting the spell upon that spot, thus causing the scrying to cease for the length of the darkness spell or for a full day in the case of dispel magic.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Chances of successful scrying are: [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Subject is[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Personally well known 100%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Personally known slightly 80%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Pictured 50%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Part of in possession 50%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Garment in possession 25%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Well informed of 25%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Slightly informed of 20%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On another plane -25% to total[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Teleport: 9th level spell. Casting time 1 hour. Only from one specific location to another, each location having a teleportation circle. Each circle costs 10,000 gp to make, and is attuned to the person who made it. It costs 1000 gp for each additional foot in diameter. Wizard can always use each circle, as long as each one is his, or he has a key to another wizard’s circle made specifically for him by that other wizard. He can bring along anyone he wants as long as each person has specially attuned keys, attuned to that passenger and both the starting and destination circles, and as long as everyone can fit into the circles. Each key costs 1000 gp to make. A guild offers keys to their guild to member wizards in good standing for 5000 gp per key so they can teleport into or out of the guildhall. No wizard is allowed to bring non wizards into the guild hall via teleport circles. Other than a wizard's familiar, no other life forms allowed without a key, even if smuggled in a portable hole or something like that. A caster always knows if a circle at the other end is occupied, destroyed, or operational as soon as you cast the spell, but before you go. So he can call off the teleport at that time if unsafe, not blowing the spell.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Astral Spell: incorporated into plane shift.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Plane Shift: either wizard or cleric, 9th level spell. Casting time 4 hours. 1000 gp per person taken along with the spellcaster. Can either go astral, ethereal, or shift whole body to that plane.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Wind Walk--doesn’t exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Shadow Walk--doesn’t exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Tree Walk: 7th level spell. One round casting time. Can go from one tree of same type to another, miles traveled is the level of the caster. Can take no one along with you. Rangers can use it as a 4th level spell. Rangers can only use it to go from one tree type to another, which he declares the first time he uses the spell. Can never later in life change tree types. Tree type must be one from his home forest. Druids can always switch tree types each time he casts a new spell.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sanctuary: goal is to get cleric back home, or to save a life. 9th level spell. Casting time 1 rnd. the cleric must sanctify one particular space in a shrine to his god to teleport himself to, cost 10,000 gp for a 10' diameter space, 1000 gp each additional foot diameter. Cleric can take along one person of his choice with him. Can cross planes with the spell, no error. Can teleport from anywhere, but only to his specifically attuned shrine. Can only have one shrine attuned to him at a time.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ability Score Buff Spells: do not exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Save buff spells: do not exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Skill buff spells: do not exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Staffs: spells cast out of them are at the level and dc of the caster holding the staff.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ability score increasing items: do not exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Saving throw items: items that add a bonus to saving throws as a group do not exist. Characters can have no more than a total of +5 to saves, broken out by individual saving throw, every 20 levels. for example, +2 fort, +2 reflex, +1 will, being the max you could get if 15th level, or some other combination of those 5 points. You could never get an item that gives a bonus to any more than 1 type of save. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]AC Bonus items: no more than a total of +5 ac magical bonus per 10 levels, whether from ring, shield, cloak, armor, or spell, or whatever. No matter if it is a deflection bonus, natural armor bonus, mage armor, bracers of protection, or whatever other type of odd bonus there is. As long as the bonus results in a net ac bonus, you can have no more than +5 total magical ac bonus for every 10 levels.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Haste spells and increased speed effects on weapons or items that duplicate haste or speed or increases in number of attacks per round do not exist. Wizards lose haste spells, weapons of speed don't exist, anything that multiplies or adds to number of attacks per round doesn’t exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ability score bonuses gained for character level increases every 4 levels no longer exist. Deduct the appropriate points you already have gained and subtract the effects from skills, saves, etc from the character sheets.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No amount of magic items can give more than a +5 cumulative bonus to any one skill for every 10 levels of the character. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]One ability point can be purchased for one feat for every 10 character levels.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Saving throw modifiers of +2 can be purchased with one feat for every 10 levels, per saving throw type.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Skill point modifiers of +4 can be purchased with one feat, stackable and not dependent on level.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Magic item creation does not use xp, but does take 1 day per every 1000 gp in market value of the item. Cost to make each item is half of market value. Potions take one day to make regardless of cost or level of spell in them. Scrolls take one hour per spell level to scribe. Permanency must be cast for every non scroll or non potion item which costs over 5000 gp. If you cast permanency on an item you lose 1 constitution point permanently. You get 10% of the market value of the item as xp. Permanency is not needed for teleport or sanctuary portals. Charged items like wands do not require permanency.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Metamagic feats: Each metamagic feat taken allows for one spell to have that metamagic placed upon it per day. Multiple metamagic feats of the same type are allowed. More than one metamagic effect can be placed on the same spell. Metamagic spells are memorized at the same level as normal spells. Metamagic effects cannot be placed into magic items or scrolls. In other words, if a wiz takes 2 maximize feats and one silence feat, he can memorize a maximized fireball, and a maximized and silenced fireball, each memorized at third level, per day.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Spells: only those in 3.0 rules allowed. Exceptions allowed with vote of group. Even those already in the game adopted from other than 3.0.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No feats, skills, etc allowed from other than core sources unless approved by the group.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Level drain = take one point away from every stat, save, ac, attack, skill, and 5 hp for every level drained.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Up to 3 magic rings may be worn per hand.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]5 magical broaches, amulets, pendants, etc may be worn on a person.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Healing Spells: [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Cure light: 10% of the total max hp of the injured, plus caster level, plus 1d4.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cure moderate: 20% of the total max hp of the injured, plus caster level, plus 1d4[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cure serious: 30% of the total max hp of the injured, plus caster level, plus 1d4[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cure critical: 40% of the total max hp of the injured, plus caster level, plus 1d4[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Heal: 100% healed[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Resurrection / Wish / Limited Wish/Miracle: must have been a proven active and devoted follower of the god whose power you are drawing upon. If granted, it will be with a geas on you for your god's greater glory of some sort. A mission you must accomplish or something along those lines.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Prestige classes do not exist. Sorcerers do not exist. Assassin prestige class is a full class. Only the core 3.0 classes exist, other than the changes just mentioned.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Only the core 3.0 races are allowed for PC’s to play.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Social type skills do not exist. Any checks must be role-played out with the DM taking into consideration your relevant ability scores as a modifier. The now-dead skills are: diplomacy, bluff, gather information, intimidate, innuendo, sense motive. Put points placed in those stats into other things.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Initiative is re-rolled every round of combat.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Rangers are per the ranger class in 3.5, except they use a 10 sided HD.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Rogues can only backstab if he has surprise. He cannot do it in combat unless invisible or hiding in shadows, and silent, and has studied the opponent in combat for 2 full rounds. Merely flanking an opponent does not give backstab chance.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Grappling is a useless pain in the ass and does not exist.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A tied initiative roll results in a roll-off to see who goes first between the two opponents.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Caster concentration checks when getting hit: DC= 10, plus 2 for every full 10% of your total max hp you took in damage, plus spell level of spell you are trying to cast. In other words, a 100 hp wizard takes 20 hp damage when casting a 5th level spell, concentration DC is 19.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Spell DC's: 10 + attribute bonus, plus half caster level. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You can purchase a feat that gives you +1 to all of your DC's every 5 levels. You can purchase a feat that gives you +2 to any particular school for one feat, stackable with no level restrictions. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You can purchase a feat that gives you a +2 bonus to beat spell resistance every 5 levels.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No magic items give the ability to fly.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Spells can only give the ability to fly for 10 minutes max per spell.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You can take feats to give you additional attacks per round. Cost depends on weapon size. 2 feats for tiny, 3 for small, 4 for medium, 5 for large weapons.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile, and other damage dealing spells which have a level cap of 10th level caster or less can be memorized as a 6th level spell to give them a damage cap of a 20th level caster, and as a 9th level spell to give them a damage cap of a 30th level caster. If done like this, the DC is for a 6th or 9th level spell accordingly.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Any spell can be memorized and cast as a higher level spell for the purposes of giving it a higher DC.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A character can choose not to melee attack or cast spells in a round and use up to half of his attack bonus in that round towards his AC for the full round against all attacks. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Weapon specialization: changed in that a fighter type can specialize in any weapon by taking a feat which adds +1 to attack and damage, which he has already taken weapon focus in. However, he can stack specialization feats at the rate of one every 5 levels only to a single specific weapon, which, once chosen, cannot be changed.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Wizards can take a feat which takes 10% off of arcane spell failure chances when casting in armor, assuming they have a proficiency in the armor type they are casting in. This is stackable at the rate of 10% for every 5 levels of the caster. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Polymorph spells of any type last for 10 minutes total, each spell.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Psionics do not exist.[/FONT]

 

[AllisterH]

Wow, not sure how much help I can be since it's a while since I've played 3.0.

Still, comments are as follows.

Even though you took a "serious" nerf bat to the spells themselves, I'd be more concerned that the non-spellcasters make out like bandits since there need to use spells is MUCH, MUCH higher than spellcasters.

Example. Your nerfing of the ability and save boosting spells/items much more affects the fighter than the spellcaster since the Big six dependence has always been more of a non-spellcaster problem.

As well, most spellcasters have other methods of getting around the limitations. For example, blink and blur aren't affected and thus the AC of a mage never needed to be as high as he non-spellcaster,

 

[Derro]

You've clearly cut the power level of the game. That's not a bad thing if you can keep your encounters balanced. Published adventures would require fairly judicious pruning and existing CRs are no longer relevant.

A few comments and questions though.

Up to 3 magic rings may be worn per hand.

5 magical broaches, amulets, pendants, etc may be worn on a person.

This seems oddly out of place. You've limited power in so many other areas and then totally blown it away with these two rules. What is your rationale?

Healing Spells:

It does seem to be a lot more effective at higher levels but I think that was intentional, right? I see what you're doing here but I think you might be shortchanging the recipients at lower levels when it is needed the most.

By my rough calculations your cure light doesn't catch up with the RAW cure light until 4th level casting. There's obviously lots of variation on that since the target is as much a factor as the caster with your version. If you are looking to smooth the curve you could use twice as many d4s as the rules say d8s.

Prestige classes do not exist. Sorcerers do not exist. Assassin prestige class is a full class. Only the core 3.0 classes exist, other than the changes just mentioned.

Oh. That's too bad. The 1e Bard and Thief-Acrobat were prestige classes.

Social type skills do not exist. Any checks must be role-played out with the DM taking into consideration your relevant ability scores as a modifier. The now-dead skills are: diplomacy, bluff, gather information, intimidate, innuendo, sense motive. Put points placed in those stats into other things.

I wouldn't do this but it that is the style you prefer just keep doing your own thing, man.

Over the years with 3.x I've turned the use of social skills into a kind of social combat system. It's very loose and guided by the role-playing but it's a mini-game that works well with lots of different situations. Plus bluff and intimidate have combat uses that get employed quite a bit in my games.

Initiative is re-rolled every round of combat.

The one thing you will find with this is that initiative is largely random. The d20 being linear means it is very rare to get consistent initiative without ungodly modifiers which you will not be having. You might want to trim down to just a d10 instead of a d20 or use 2d10 to give a more consistent result.

That being said highly variable initiative might be your bag. I don't care much for it myself.

Rogues can only backstab if he has surprise. He cannot do it in combat unless invisible or hiding in shadows, and silent, and has studied the opponent in combat for 2 full rounds. Merely flanking an opponent does not give backstab chance.

Yikes. That cripples the rogue's combat effectiveness. I suspect you may not use a battle map. Flank is not as simple a matter as you might think when the chits are down.

Two full rounds is unnecessarily punitive, IMO. It takes a round to hide, then two rounds to study opponent and finally a fourth round to actually strike. Since sneak attack damage is an added variable instead of a multiplier it gives more consistent results. At lower levels it is rarely more than 10 damage and at its highest level it only averages 35.

With your alteration that relatively minor damage output is done once every 3 rounds at best. If you allowed the sneak attacker to hide then strike at least they can get of a bumper every other round if they are well favored tactically. Get rid of flank if it's a pain. Without a map it is difficult to adjudicate reasonably.

Grappling is a useless pain in the ass and does not exist.

I wish I had an alternative. Grappling is a mess but sometimes that cloud giant just has to snatch a guy and huck him 30 feet.

Spell DC's: 10 + attribute bonus, plus half caster level.

Yup. Me too.

You can take feats to give you additional attacks per round. Cost depends on weapon size. 2 feats for tiny, 3 for small, 4 for medium, 5 for large weapons.

Is this in addition to iterative attacks? I really can't see spending 5 feats on an extra attack even if it is with my greatsword.

Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile, and other damage dealing spells which have a level cap of 10th level caster or less can be memorized as a 6th level spell to give them a damage cap of a 20th level caster, and as a 9th level spell to give them a damage cap of a 30th level caster. If done like this, the DC is for a 6th or 9th level spell accordingly.

Any spell can be memorized and cast as a higher level spell for the purposes of giving it a higher DC.

DCs for what? You've eliminated spell level as a factor in saving throws. Dispelling?

A character can choose not to melee attack or cast spells in a round and use up to half of his attack bonus in that round towards his AC for the full round against all attacks.

That can start getting pretty big at later levels. At lower levels it's not as effective. Your doing fine at mid-range. Why not just use total defense with a +2 bonus at +6, +11, and +16 base attack? It gives roughly the same spread but doesn't screw the low level guys who have the shortest road to death.

I get the impression you are going for a grittier early edition feel and that will work fine at lower and early mid levels. Published material probably won't be of too much use to after the early stages of the game. There is just too much assumed about the power of a party of a given level.

Monsters from the MM are not to be judged based on their CR. Most monsters of CR 7 or higher will most likely be handing the party their collective buttocks. This doesn't apply to classed humanoids of equivalent level though since they have the same restrictions as PCs.

Good luck!

 

[Serianalae]

The big question is: What do you want to achieve with these houserules? (Even though you said it would be apparent after reading them it isnt really that obvious because we would also know why / how these things are a problem in your campaign ...) I am assuming there is the usual "wizards are too powerful" problem for the following comments.

Many of your changes seem to lean a bit towards the "this isnt allowed" side and that isnt a good way of handling them for balancing sake. Why? Because it limits your own and the players choices. Having no buff spells wont give your players the option to memorize them (thus using some of their daily spells in the process) and it negates the possibility of you dispelling them and depleting them of that resource. So what will your wizards be doing instead? Memorize damage spells (which you did increase in power) and that is not really a good tradeoff IMO because it will enhance the "Wizard nukes everything and gets all the glory" part.

Andy Warhol once said: "... everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" and that is probably the secret of success to happiness in a gaming group. The DMs job is to give everyone an equal share of opportunities to shine every gaming evening. This can be adjusted only a bit by meddling with the rules, but the majority of it is the type of encounter and the world you play in. If your wizards are taking all the "glory" by nuking their brains out and then "forcing" the group to rest for new spells it is the job of the DM to include opponents that neutralize this (Counterspell - even a 5th level automatically counterspells the fireball from a level 20) and give the melee classes their opportunity to do something important in a fight.

From your changes I gather that you have a campaign with loads of magic items (why else allow 3 rings per hand?), but that is NOT a good thing for the melee classes IMO. Why? Because of the "structural differences" between casters and melees. Magic items for melee classes mostly improve the skills they already have and this increase lessens (relatively speaking!!) with every plus you already have. The impact of going from +4 to +5 weapons at level 17 isnt as big as the change getting a +1 weapon at level 3 or so. Casters (wizards) mostly get new skills which increase their repertoire and this increase is really more powerful than a "+" because it sometimes enables the caster to focus his daily repertoire of spells much more on one job. If the Wizard gets Boots of Levitation at level 5 he is almost immune to melee damage and can spend more of his spells on nukes / charms / instadeath stuff and thus he gets even more glory than before the boots.

Thus to give your melee classes a bigger share you might want to reconsider on the magic items part (less is more !) and the allowance of spells (more choice is better).

 

[bluto68]

The other posters are far too kind. Your house rules are terrible. They're a discombobulated mess with no rhyme or reason. I have no idea what the goals are of your house rules except to vastly complicate a game that is already complicated.

I would advise that you think about the problems in the campaign you have and address them in a simple manner.

What are the problems you are having in your campaign, maybe the folks here can help simplify your house rules.

 

[Derro]

The other posters are far too kind. Your house rules are terrible. They're a discombobulated mess with no rhyme or reason. I have no idea what the goals are of your house rules except to vastly complicate a game that is already complicated.

That's a bit harsh, dude, and not very informed. It's obvious to me that he is trying to regain the feel of 1e style play while still using the 3e rule-set.

The biggest problem with that is that 3e assumes way too much about higher level play that may not be to some people's tastes. In 1e there was very little to differentiate characters of the same class other than magic items and role-playing. In 3e characters can take on a lot of different builds and be variable as characters instead of just collections of stuff.

Personally I'd tend to recommend the OP look at C&C or even just stick with 1e. 3e's rules don't take too kindly to heavy tinkering and a cascade effect starts pretty fast once you start messing with the basic premises of advancement. If you want gritty look at the E6 rules.

 

[Nimloth]

As others have suggested;
-What are the problems you are having in your campaign?
-What do you want to achieve with these houserules?
If it's like Derro says and you are trying to play 1E feel in 3.x, why not take 1E and add 3.x stuff to it.

A few specific comments
"Grappling is a useless pain in the ass and does not exist." So what happen when my character just wants to restrain an opponent by tackling them?
"Spell DC's: 10 + attribute bonus, plus half caster level/Any spell can be memorized and cast as a higher level spell for the purposes of giving it a higher DC." Huh, but spell level doesn't effect dc?
"Skill-Save-Ability Score Buff Spells: do not exist/Polymorph spells of any type last for 10 minutes total, each spell." You take away buffs but leave polymorph, which is arguablly one of the most abuseable spells.

If you need this many houserules to play DnD3.x, then you need to find a new system.

 

[Whitemouse]

Ability Score Buff Spells: do not exist.

Some of these are domain spells. How are you reworking the domains?

 

[awayfarer]

Initiative is re-rolled every round of combat.

I've had a group that tried this and ultimately ditched it. Ultimately it's a lot of work for very little gain. Think of it this way, the PC with a +7 to initiative will still end up going first or near first in every round. The one with -2 to init will still likely end up going last. The amount of actual "shuffling" that a rerolled init accomplishes is minor at best and not worth the work involved.

Rogues can only backstab if he has surprise. He cannot do it in combat unless invisible or hiding in shadows, and silent, and has studied the opponent in combat for 2 full rounds. Merely flanking an opponent does not give backstab chance.

I'd be astounded if anyone played a rogue with this rule in effect. Rogues already get shafted against 5 different creature types (constructs, elementals, oozes, plants and undead) without making sneak attack so situational.

This combined with the alterations to social skills (diplomacy, etc) really cripples the rogue. Can't do much of anything in a fight, can't use those 8+ skp per level outside of one.

 

[Aus_Snow]

If it's like Derro says and you are trying to play 1E feel in 3.x, why not take 1E and add 3.x stuff to it.

Maybe he would just prefer to use 3e/d20 as a basis, and adjust rules from there. I know I do (prefer that approach.) :shrug:

If you need this many houserules to play DnD3.x, then you need to find a new system.

This too is wrong. I've seen DMs happily running 3e with more house rules than this, with players no less happy about it. In fact, I've been that DM. And one of those players. Though not at the same time.


That said, the specific concerns that have been brought up, regarding many of your house rules, joe. . . yeah, there's a lot of truth in them.

I would also echo the call for spelling out more clearly and precisely the things that really bother you about 3e game mechanics, and the ways in which they do, and then, seeing what solutions might suit.