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D&D 3E/3.5 What are your current 3.5 House Rules?
- Thread starter Aluvial
- Start date
ciaran00 said:
Ciaran, thanks for the info.
What format is your doc in? Have you considered simply breaking it into smaller chapters and posting those individually? I mean, even if you had to break it down by class, I would think you could get it small enough to transfer.
Anyway, its obvious you were using some of the spells and powers style stuff. Interesting ideas. What did you do with clerics? Do you use the old 'Sphere' system? If so, how did you intergrate new divine magic?
I gather from the notes you published and from stuff I did see on the site that your world has a definate Cthulhu overtone, huh?
The_DarkAngel
First Post
I do....just need more of it. Thanks very much though!
DA
DA
The easy house rules --
Extended feat progrsssion 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19
Bonus feat for fighters at lvl11
Sorcerers and Bards get Eschew Component free
+2 skill points each class except at first level where they get knowledge "own culture" and knowledge "home region" at 4 each.
each character gets either a background of 4 class skills or 2 "picks" of any skills added to the list
HP are rolled after 1 with a minimum of half on the dice, more if I feel like it
set your own stats
tons of extra feats
aprropriate profession and craft are on all skill lists
sling is martial weapon that does 1d6 but allows st to be added.
Whip stays as in 3e
Keen and Imp Crit (and the lot) still stack
Vorpral stays as in 3e
Extended feat progrsssion 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19
Bonus feat for fighters at lvl11
Sorcerers and Bards get Eschew Component free
+2 skill points each class except at first level where they get knowledge "own culture" and knowledge "home region" at 4 each.
each character gets either a background of 4 class skills or 2 "picks" of any skills added to the list
HP are rolled after 1 with a minimum of half on the dice, more if I feel like it
set your own stats
tons of extra feats
aprropriate profession and craft are on all skill lists
sling is martial weapon that does 1d6 but allows st to be added.
Whip stays as in 3e
Keen and Imp Crit (and the lot) still stack
Vorpral stays as in 3e
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jgrabowski
First Post
House Rules for my game
Hello all!
Well, I have only a few house rules for my 3.5 game at the moment, but here they are:
(General)
HP - When rolling for hp, all characters receive at least the average of the maximum die roll, rounded up. For example, a cleric, with a d8 for hit dice, always receives at least 5 hp per level (4.5, rounded up). If a player rolls higher than the average for hp, they take their roll. I find that this tends to increase the survivability of low hit die characters (such as wizards and psions) and the characters of players who continually roll poorly for hp. (I have at least one player who never seems to roll higher than 3/4 the die for hp, no matter what character she plays or what set of dice she uses.)
Death - Occurs at -Con instead of -10. I've found that most characters with high hp/con tend to go after the bigger/badder/nastier monsters (and it doesn't help that I tend to send the bigger/badder/naster monsters after characters with higher hp/con) and have found that one good roll on my part can take a character with hp's in the teens or above to past -10 quite easily, especially at higher levels (when fighting even bigger/badder/nastier monsters).
DR - Generally I use the new 3.5 rules for DR, except for magic and epic. These I break down further into the actual plusses. I generally use 5/magic(+1), 10/magic(+2), 15/magic(+3) and the rare (check the 3.5 revision update pdf) 20/magic(+4). My players have not faced anything with damage reduction epic since we've changed over to 3.5, but I plan on continuing with same pattern - 5/epic(+6), 10/epic(+7), etc.
(Race)
Halflings - Halflings in my game have weapon familiarity with halfling war sling and halfling skiprocks. Halflings are the only standard race that do not get a weapon familiarity/proficiency besides 1/2 elves, 1/2 orcs and humans (and humans get that bonus feat!)
(Classes)
Arch-Mage - Since the Archmage can now only take spell power once, I allow the Arch-Mage's spell power to add +1 to the DC of spells and +1 for overcoming SR. I feel that the original 3.0 Arch-Mage is a little overpowered for my taste (It seemed like if you played an arcane spell-caster, spell power+1, +2 & +3 were too good to pass up.) I believe 3.5 took things a little too far with spell power, and so gave back a few bonuses so that it became a useful skill instead of an underpowered one or a "must have" ability.
(Spells)
Haste - As per book, but add the following: If a spellcaster takes no more than a 5-foot step in a round, he can cast two 1 standard action spells that round, provided that one of the spells is no higher than 2nd level. I find that this is very similar to the extra attack a warrior-type gets when using the full-attack action.
That's all for now!
<edited for formatting and adding -Con & DR stuff>
Aluvial said:
Hello all!
Well, I have only a few house rules for my 3.5 game at the moment, but here they are:
(General)
HP - When rolling for hp, all characters receive at least the average of the maximum die roll, rounded up. For example, a cleric, with a d8 for hit dice, always receives at least 5 hp per level (4.5, rounded up). If a player rolls higher than the average for hp, they take their roll. I find that this tends to increase the survivability of low hit die characters (such as wizards and psions) and the characters of players who continually roll poorly for hp. (I have at least one player who never seems to roll higher than 3/4 the die for hp, no matter what character she plays or what set of dice she uses.)
Death - Occurs at -Con instead of -10. I've found that most characters with high hp/con tend to go after the bigger/badder/nastier monsters (and it doesn't help that I tend to send the bigger/badder/naster monsters after characters with higher hp/con) and have found that one good roll on my part can take a character with hp's in the teens or above to past -10 quite easily, especially at higher levels (when fighting even bigger/badder/nastier monsters).
DR - Generally I use the new 3.5 rules for DR, except for magic and epic. These I break down further into the actual plusses. I generally use 5/magic(+1), 10/magic(+2), 15/magic(+3) and the rare (check the 3.5 revision update pdf) 20/magic(+4). My players have not faced anything with damage reduction epic since we've changed over to 3.5, but I plan on continuing with same pattern - 5/epic(+6), 10/epic(+7), etc.
(Race)
Halflings - Halflings in my game have weapon familiarity with halfling war sling and halfling skiprocks. Halflings are the only standard race that do not get a weapon familiarity/proficiency besides 1/2 elves, 1/2 orcs and humans (and humans get that bonus feat!)
(Classes)
Arch-Mage - Since the Archmage can now only take spell power once, I allow the Arch-Mage's spell power to add +1 to the DC of spells and +1 for overcoming SR. I feel that the original 3.0 Arch-Mage is a little overpowered for my taste (It seemed like if you played an arcane spell-caster, spell power+1, +2 & +3 were too good to pass up.) I believe 3.5 took things a little too far with spell power, and so gave back a few bonuses so that it became a useful skill instead of an underpowered one or a "must have" ability.
(Spells)
Haste - As per book, but add the following: If a spellcaster takes no more than a 5-foot step in a round, he can cast two 1 standard action spells that round, provided that one of the spells is no higher than 2nd level. I find that this is very similar to the extra attack a warrior-type gets when using the full-attack action.
That's all for now!
<edited for formatting and adding -Con & DR stuff>
Last edited:
Renfield
Explorer
Wow, this is a long list... ah well, I'll add my 5 cents...
Basically when it first came out I didn't have access to anything really, then I got the SRD and went from there.
Because there was a lot of mix and matched things, primarily a bunch of things from 3.0 being unnecesarily (sp?) underpowered in 3.5 I made a few adjustments and realised there was so many that I decided that to hell with it. If it was better in 3.0 it stays. Why, because as a DM I was never really hindered by the so called 'broken' spells of 3.0
I love the idea that racial exotic weapons aren't treated as exotic to members of the race. Makes perfect sense to me that they are more readily available to said race and that they get to practice and train with said weapons more often. I think the clerics didn't need any real weakening of their spells so I kept them. I like the adjustments to the classes so I kept them.
Monte Cooks alternative Ranger, Sorcerer, and Bard are always an option.
depending on the template or rates most Level Equivalencies go down by 1. Especially in regards to the genasi of the Forgotten Realms. Sure their abilities were somewhat handy in some situations but I never saw them as being worth a level equivilancy. Especially considering the damnable gnomes had spell like abilities themselves.
Max HP at 1st level
things like that.
Basically when it first came out I didn't have access to anything really, then I got the SRD and went from there.
Because there was a lot of mix and matched things, primarily a bunch of things from 3.0 being unnecesarily (sp?) underpowered in 3.5 I made a few adjustments and realised there was so many that I decided that to hell with it. If it was better in 3.0 it stays. Why, because as a DM I was never really hindered by the so called 'broken' spells of 3.0
I love the idea that racial exotic weapons aren't treated as exotic to members of the race. Makes perfect sense to me that they are more readily available to said race and that they get to practice and train with said weapons more often. I think the clerics didn't need any real weakening of their spells so I kept them. I like the adjustments to the classes so I kept them.
Monte Cooks alternative Ranger, Sorcerer, and Bard are always an option.
depending on the template or rates most Level Equivalencies go down by 1. Especially in regards to the genasi of the Forgotten Realms. Sure their abilities were somewhat handy in some situations but I never saw them as being worth a level equivilancy. Especially considering the damnable gnomes had spell like abilities themselves.
Max HP at 1st level
things like that.
evilbob
Adventurer
Wow, I hadn't seen this thread before. It's an interesting read. Now I wonder how people's rules have changed since they've had another 6 months to play-test and balance them.
To continue the spirit, here's my short list:
- Ability scores are generated 4d6 drop one. If you don't like the results, you can take a 30 point buy. (Really, I just wanted the 30 point buy - but players can still feel rewarded for good rolls.)
- Sorcs and Bards get Eschew Materials for free.
- Toughness changed to NWN (+1/level, retroactive, take only once)
- Clerical Healing domain effect changed to NWN (healing spells cast as if "empowered" instead of at +1 level)
- Variant: Upkeep rule from DMG; Variant: Hit Points (taking the average of HP rolls instead of rolling) added as option
- added some Called Shot ideas
- No psionics anything
A few things I'm considering:
- Wizards can cast any spell in their book without preparation if he spends 15 min / spell level (minimum 15 minutes) to cast it; interuptions lose the spell. (Wizards are already so powerful, is this necessary? At the same time, doesn't it seem logical?)
- Death occurs at -10 - character level
To continue the spirit, here's my short list:
- Ability scores are generated 4d6 drop one. If you don't like the results, you can take a 30 point buy. (Really, I just wanted the 30 point buy - but players can still feel rewarded for good rolls.)
- Sorcs and Bards get Eschew Materials for free.
- Toughness changed to NWN (+1/level, retroactive, take only once)
- Clerical Healing domain effect changed to NWN (healing spells cast as if "empowered" instead of at +1 level)
- Variant: Upkeep rule from DMG; Variant: Hit Points (taking the average of HP rolls instead of rolling) added as option
- added some Called Shot ideas
- No psionics anything
A few things I'm considering:
- Wizards can cast any spell in their book without preparation if he spends 15 min / spell level (minimum 15 minutes) to cast it; interuptions lose the spell. (Wizards are already so powerful, is this necessary? At the same time, doesn't it seem logical?)
- Death occurs at -10 - character level
Last edited:
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