Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greg K" data-source="post: 5445995" data-attributes="member: 5038">Which is why my main game is now Savage Worlds which I discovered last year (thanks to many thirty party d20/d20M companies deciding to convert products). However, I still enjoy 3e.  With the variants in the 3e DMG, Unearthed Arcana, and 3rd party supplements, it was easy to tailor the game to my preference by controlling the options.Most of my house rules were/are about adding player options (new classes, UA style class variants, Cityscape enhancement wilderness/urban skill swap, UA action points, UA Incantations,  combat maneuvers) and, when multiple options were availble, choosing those that best fit my preferences mechanically.Granted some are done out of preference or dislikea. Removing Level Drain (never liked this)b. Removing sunrods, tanglefoot bags, spiked chains, halfling riding dogs etc. c. Variant: Ability Score Damage (DMG): stops rewriting character ability scores and the time taked. Poisoncraft replacing the poison rulese. Artificer's Handbook replacing the magic item creation rules and getting rid of XP costs in the process.However,  some choices make existing WOTC supplements unnecessaryf. Using the Book of Iron Might means I have no use for Bo9Sg. Using Green Ronin's Psychic's Handbook means there is no need for XPHi. Using the martial Rogue and wilderness rogue means there is no need for the CA: Scout (which I don't like, mechanically, anyway).Then again, some are done for Settingj. controlling the races and classes (granted their is some exclusion to prefernces as well)k. Making clerics spontaneous divine casters (UA)  and limiting clerical spells to those related to the deity's domains plus a few spells shared by all clerics.  Clerics have more flavor as the choice of deity becomes more important. l. controlling PrCsand/ or balance to bring down the spellcastersm. limiting cleric spells to their deity's them tones down the classn. banning or altering some spells (also done for setting flavor)o. re-instituting some previous edition restrictions on wizards to find spells rather than spells automatically and increasing time to regain spellsRight, not every player is appropriate for every game and not every game is appropriate for every player.  Better to move on and find compatability for a more enjoyable game.I think there are several types of house rules (as shown above).  1.  The exclusion of specific core options 2. The use of official variants from core books3. The exclusion of elements from official supplements. 4. The use of exclusion of alternate rules and rules variants from third party sources 5. Homebrew material: new material (e.g., classes, UA style class variants, spells, feats) or the alteration of existing items (e.g., classes, multiclassing, grappling and spells)And they are done for several reasons including:1. Perceived balance2. To fill in perceived gap3. To alter specific mechanics or elements to a preferred feel or style4. To tailor the rules to a flavor for a specific campaign.Anyway when you write 1-2 pages of house rules, do you mean (using 3e as an example):a. a checklist of variants and options from the DMG (e.g., variant ability loss and variant: training) and Unearthed Arcana and references to specific items in books (e.g.,  the spellless Paladin and Ranger variants in Complete Champion) or the Book of Iron Might Maneuver system and rely on the player to look them up?b. writing out some bullet notes (e.g. Sorcerer's: as inheritantly magical beings, they receive UMD as a class skill, Eschew Materials at 1st level and a bonus metat magic feat at levels 5,10,15,20 and Wizards being studious receive Decipher Script and Speak Language as additional class skills) c. fully writing out each of the variants by source? or d. a combination of the above?</blockquote>

Verification