What house rules do you use?

[S'mon]

1. Touch Attacks count as unarmed attacks, so provoke attacks of opportunity.

2. When casting a touch attack spell, you can move, then cast it & attempt to deliver it, all in 1 round, the touch attempt counting as part of the casting process. (move + standard action). What you can't do though is cast, move, and attack all in 1 round. I find this PHB exception to its own action rules cheesy and unnecessary so I don't use it.

 

[Stalker0]

Let's see some of the ones I use

1) Class changes: Bards get 6+, their abilities can affect themselves as well, and they get some new abilities (like the ability to inspire emotion as teh spell). Paladins get more smites at higher levels.

2) Hps are 1/2+1, or you can roll. Player gets to choose every level, but can not reroll.

3) Harm gets a save.

4) I do opposed tumble checks like is shown in S&F.

5) A lot of skill changes to thigns to make them more useful: alchemy and craft especially.

Ones I'm thinking about instituting:

1) A new ranger. One I've been cooking up.

2) Every skill is a class skill. I think its the stupedist thing in the world that certain classes are innately better at something no matter what. If you have a good background reason that your fighter can have read lips, then by all means go for it. Your already liimited by 2+ int skill points anyway, so might as well get something useful.

 

[mikebr99]

1. Touch Attacks count as unarmed attacks, so provoke attacks of opportunity.

Kewl S'mon... great idea.

 

[mikebr99]

Re: More than five, but aren't they all?

8- "Buff" spells last 10min/lvl. I can't think of a 12th-level wizard alive who wouldn't trade a 2nd-level slot for more bonus spells, higher save DC's, and better Spellcraft rolls all day.

So Imret... do you then also house rule that a buff of INT by a spell would also grant extra spells for the day?

 

[der_kluge]

Ok, I'm going to be a fiend here and revive this - the thread that would not die, by posting my newly created house rules. This is still a work in progress, but I'd appreciate any feedback on them that you may have.

I can post the PrCs if anyone wants to see them. No, I do not have the minstrel class written up yet, unfortunately.


 I do not use Experience points.
 Death occurs at –con.

Ability Scores
 Ability scores are rolled 4d6, re-roll 1s; keep the best 3.

Races
 All the standard PHB races are allowed. Beyond that, talk to me.
 Strange hybrid races are allowed. If you want to play a half-halfling/half-gnome talk to me.
 The concept of “favored class” is removed
 I will consider races from the Monster Manual. If you want to play something like a Dryad Druid, talk to me.
 Each race takes their language skill (see below) as a class skill, and has 20 ranks in said skill. So, at first level, a halfling would have "halfling" as a skill, and would have 20 ranks in that skill.

Classes
 Barbarians are unchanged.
 Bards do not exist as you know them. I have split the bard class into two separate classes – Minstrel, and archaeologist. The minstrel has no “bardic knowledge”, but instead gets a new song every level that he can play to produce a magical effect. The archaeologist is like a hybrid between a rogue and a wizard (with wizard-based casting and 6 skill points per level) and is also a prestige class.
 A cleric’s “cure” spells (cure moderate wounds, etc.) cures 1d10 hit points instead of 1d8 hit points if it is memorized – if a spell is “hot-swapped” for a cure spell, it cures 1d6 hit points.
 Clerics are not automatically proficient with Heavy armor. You may take the heavy armor feat if you desire.
 Clerics receive 4 skill points per level.
 Druids receive an additional bonus feat at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels to spend however they wish.
 Druids receive 4 skill points per level.
 Monks do not exist.
 Paladins are a prestige class.
 Rangers are a prestige class.
 Rogues can sneak attack an opponent from any angle – so long as they are not being attacked themselves, and the creature is currently being attacked by someone or something else. In other words, the rogue doesn’t need to be flanking, but they can not be the current target of the enemy they are trying to sneak attack. The exception is the ability to sneak attack while the opponent is flat-footed.
 Sorcerer’s receive a bonus feat at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level like wizards do.
 Sorcerers and wizards receive 4 skill points per level.
 Wizards and sorcerers who do not summon a familiar can choose to take either two bonus feats, or the ability to cast 4 levels of spells per day extra. This can alter as the level of the character progresses – either 4 extra 1st level spells, 2 extra 2nd level spells, etc.

Feats
 Item creation feats as you know them don’t exist. If you insist on taking item creation feats, talk to me.
 Skill Focus either: grants +3 to any one skill, OR grants +2 skill ranks to a skill, allowing you to have more max ranks in a skill than your class would normally allow. The latter can be used to meet prestige class requirements earlier, for example.
 Skills like Alertness, that grant +2/+2 to any two skills can be applied to just about combination of skills you want, so long as they make sense. Handle Animal/Animal Empathy makes sense – Forgery/Diplomacy does not. These are called “Alertness clone” feats.
 Toughness grants +1 hit point every level, but has a prerequisite of a Constitution 16+, and it can not be taken multiple times.
 Weapon finesse applies to scimitars in addition to the weapons listed.

Skills
 There are no skill lists by class. You choose 10 skills that you consider class skills. All other skills become cross-class skills. Exclusive skills can not be chosen unless it is exclusive to your class.
 Fighters and barbarians get 2 skill points per level. All spellcasting classes get 4. Minstrels, and archaeologists get 6, and rogues still get 8.
 Alchemy is a required skill for brewing potions. Talk to me if you want to brew potions.
 Bully is a new skill, which is the same as Intimidate, except it is strength-based.
 The following skills are a special case: Balance, Climb, Jump, Listen, Ride, Spot, and Swim. These skills are lumped into a special category called “things I learned as a child”. At first level, you get 4 skill points to spend on these skills and 2 additional skill points every level to spend on these skills. These skills are always considered class skills for everyone. You can use your regular skill point allotment to increase skills “you learned as a child” if you desire.
 Languages are a separate skill. So, you could have 5 ranks in Elven. When you speak with an Elf, you will be forced to make an “Elven” skill check. If you botch it, you might inadvertently tell the Elven prince that his shoes taste like water, instead of asking for safe passage through his land.
 New Knowledge skills exist centered around monster knowledge. These are based on the category of monster. So, knowledge(aberration), or knowledge(undead) would be examples. Having ranks in such a skill allows you to identify creatures in that category, and to have knowledge about possible weaknesses.

Equipment
 Spiked chains do not exist.
 Dwarves who are proficient with martial weapons are automatically proficient with the dwarven waraxe.
 Gnomes who are proficient with martial weapons are automatically proficient with the gnome hooked hammer.
 Halflings who are proficient with martial weapons are automatically proficient with the halfling kama.
 The movement rate of hide armor is 30ft./15ft., instead of 20ft./10ft.
 I use piecemeal armor rules, which means that you could wear part of full-plate armor, or half of a suit of chainmail. If you want to wear the armor as listed in the PHB, that’s fine, but if you want to wear pieces of armor, talk to me.
 Be aware that these piecemeal armor rules affect the donning/removing armor table (to your advantage).
 I use encumbrance rules. Keep track of how much the gear you are carrying weighs.
 Vorpal weapons (not that you’ll ever see one) only affect targets 1 size category smaller or larger than the size of the weapon. You can not lop the head off a titan, with a vorpal sword. A vorpal greatsword can lop off heads of huge creatures, but a medium-size weapon can not.
 An arcane spellcaster reduces the arcane spell failure % of armor a number of points equal to the number of unmodified ranks he has in concentration.

Monsters
 Don’t assume you know anything about any monster.

Spells
 I don’t use spellbook rules – wizards (and archaeologists) apparently have spellbooks, but I don’t expect you to manage things like page size, encumbrance, etc. with regard to the spellbook.
 Detect magic – There are two versions – Divine and Arcane. Each version only detects magic of its own type. So, if a wizard tries to detect divine magic, it will detect nothing.
 Read magic – like detect magic, read magic reads only divine or arcane magic, depending on who cast it.
 Summon Monster spells – the duration of this spell lasts as listed + a number of rounds equal to the caster’s primary spellcasting attribute. So, at first level, for a wizard with an intelligence of 18, the monster summoned would have a duration of 1 + 4 rounds. This applies to the summon nature’s ally spells as well.
 Charms – if you attempt to charm a creature that would normally be hostile to you, while it is flat-footed, it does not get a +4 to its save.

Clerics
 Comprehend Languages – clerics no longer get this spell.
 Divination – clerics no longer get this spell.
 Tongues – clerics no longer get this spell.
 Repel vermin – clerics no longer get this spell
 Insect plague – clerics no longer get this spell
 Plane shift – only applies the plane that is appropriate to the clerics’ deity.
 Scrying – clerics no longer get this spell
 Quest – clerics no longer get this spell
 Harm – Harm affords a fortitude save at a –4. If the save fails, the target takes 1d8 damage per caster level, otherwise it takes half. Harm will never kill a target. If the amount of damage the target takes reduces it to below zero, the target retains 1d4 hit points.
 Astral Projection – clerics no longer get this spell


Wizard/Sorcerers
 Comprehend Languages – This skill adds +10 to the language skill check for one language for the duration of the casting time. So, if you encounter an Elf, and a Halfling in a cage, and each only speaks Elven and Halfling, you’d need to cast the spell two times in order to be able to understand them. And even then, you have to make a skill check (with a +10) in order to decipher what they are saying. The same applies to their written language. There are some languages that this spell will not confer.
 Tongues – this spell adds +10 to your language checks for both speaking and deciphering the language of another creature. In addition, multiple languages are granted for a single casting. So, in the above example, you could speak to both the elf and the halfling without casting an additional spell.
 Permanency – this spell no longer exists.
 Identify – identify requires no spell component, and takes only 10 minutes to cast. It reveals the single most powerful function of an item.

 

[Matthias]

My five faves:

1) Instead of rolling for your character's ability scores, just choose what you want, with the following conditions: (a) the sum of ability scores for all PCs must be within 20 points of each other, (b) three ability scores must be even and three must be odd, and (c) I reserve the right to reject any absurdly powerful character.

2) Attack rolls of natural 20 are not automatic hits and natural 1s are not automatic misses. Sometimes targets are just too agile or too tough relative to the attacker for the target to be vulnerable to attack.

3) The PHB Ranger is replaced by Monte Cook's much more interesting version.

4) Humans can ignore the favored-class rules altogether. Whatever class they want, they can learn without penalty. They are versatile. (Half-elves work as normal.)

5) Healers should get their old Stun back, not just the incant but the per-life usage and point cost too! Wait, wrong game ...

5) First-level feats (such as the Fighter's weapon and armor proficiencies) should not be obtainable by multiclassing into that class after 1st character level. I would classify those free feats as having been learned during your character's pre-adventuring life when they picked up all those starting skill points and starting money, so if your character didn't learn them early on, they will have to pick them up "manually" like everyone else.

 

[EarthsShadow]

the post that deserves to stay alive !!!

Yep, this is the post that deserves to stay alive.

Some of those house rules are really cool, I have taken some good ideas off this. If any of your house rules have changed, how have you changed them?

 

[der_kluge]

Yea, I took a few from here, specifically the skill focus variant, and outlawing spiked chains.

I'm currently researching polymorph other, disentegrate, slay living, raise dead, teleport, and feeblemind based on early comments in this thread.

I was just looking at poly other. I'm guessing the HR is that most people change the duration to 1/hr per level like poly self. I also HR'd that it can't be used to kill someone - at worst, it could cause subdual damage that makes them unconcious.

Haven't looked at the other spells yet.

 

[uv23]

A whole whack of changes done to:

a) facilitate a low magic setting
b) make it more deadly without bogging down the flow of the game with an entirely different combat mechanic.

As a result, all of the core classes have changed, some have been removed, others replaced entirely. Magic is much different.

The easiest mechanic to duplicate here is a new massive damage rule. If a creature takes damage exceeding its constitution score, it must make a fort save against a DC of 10 + (damage inflicted - con) or die.

I'm still playing with the negative hitpoints issue as others here do. So that when taking non lethal damage, a character either dies at a value equal to the negative of their con, or the negative of 10 plus con bonus. For the sake of consistency with my massive damage rule, I'm leaning toward the former.

 

[EarthsShadow]

alternate HP system

Check out Traveller T20, it has a pretty good alternate Hit Point system. It uses Stamina and Lifeblood, and at first it sounds similar to vitality/wounds, but it is very different also. Plus, its better for low magic/gritty campaigns than high magic. Here is how it works:

You have stamina, which works like hit points, so that's simple. You have lifeblood, which is the same as your constitution, the same as wound points. The kicker with it is that all damage has the potential of causing both Stamina and Lifeblood damage at the same time. If a person takes damage, they take full stamina damage according to dice rolled, then you check to see if they take Lifeblood damage. You compare the dice rolled vs. the armor rating of the armor worn, if wearing armor. For each point of AR for the armor you take away one die rolled, the lowest number on the die first. No matter what, always leave one die if the AR is higher than the total dice rolled. Now, with one die you compare that to the amount of AR left, and if the die number is higher than the left over AR, you take that much Lifeblood. This might seem confusing so I am going to type in the example here:

Let's say you are attacked and hit with a weapon that does 3d10 damage, the dice come up 4, 4, 7, for a total of 15. You take all 15 to Stamina. Let's say you are wearing armor with a AR of 5. If possible, you must remove up to 5 dice of damage, but there is only 3 dice rolled. You remove 2 dice, both 4's, but you have to leave one die regardless of AR. This then leaves a total damage of 7 lifeblood and 3 points of AR left. 7-3 = 4, so you take 4 Lifeblood.

The core of this alternate health system makes games more lethal, considering that sometimes you get spells that roll well over 10 dice at higher levels.

Also, this system uses its AR (armor rating) value for both damage reduction and armor class. So, its not that bad, and the higher armor with AC in D&D of +5 also has a AR of 5, and so on.

Other health rules. Lifeblood follows the rules for wounds as in that once it goes to 0, it follows normal rules down to -10. Once your out of stamina, all damage goes to Lifeblood.

NEW FEAT:
Toughness - provides +3 stamina and +1 Lifeblood, can be taken multiple times.

As it stands, this health system is really cool and could probably fit into a standard fantasy game without much harm.