What options are you really happy you allowed into your game?

[Shade]

I've liked most everything I've added, but here are a few that have added alot to my game:

1.) The revivify spell - this one simple spell has really increased the level of heroic activity by the players tenfold.

2.) Action Points - another option that gets folks to take more chances.

3.) LA buyback rules from Unearthed Arcana - helps offset the front-loaded LA system.

4.) Psionics - a superior magic system to the core system

5.) Divine Feats - these make the paladin so much more fun to play and make an underwhelming, underused ability into a treasure trove of fun for divine characters.

 

[Arnix]

Action points, Paladin Prestige class (UA), Psionics, and of course Alea products

There are others but where does "variant" end?

 

[Particle_Man]

Warlocks. Makes magical bad guys so much easier to make on the fly.

 

[howandwhy99]

Like others I've included spells, feats, races, classes, and the like. On a case for case basis.

I really like the classes I've included. The cloistered cleric is proving to be quite the demagogue in our large town. The elementalist may have it a little harder, but soon he'll be casting the big-boom fireballs as well as level equivalent cure spells.

What I really love is having removed all arbitrary restraints from magic. I've allowed for any possible combination to be created through the use of item creation feats. The Players have been picking up on it little by little, but the effects are not immediately obvious. With a healthy sense of what is too powerful and too weak I balance these and accept only on a case-by-case basis as well. (But I base it on aspects other than solely combat). So some things blow up when created or mixed and others actually work or work in ways not quite expected. Who knew? It isn't arbitrary, but it is a learning experience. Now they're tossing glass vial potions at their enemies trying to figure out exactly why some monsters have done it to them.

It's just so evil. They're destroying their treasure without knowing why.

 

[Wik]

I like the Dragon Shaman - it helps keep the players in the game, with less of a "rest for a night so we can regain our resources" mentality. Ditto for Reserve Feats, although I've only seen them in play once (with the cleric having one that lets people heal up to half; much like the Dragon Shaman!)

Players roll all the dice is a great variant rule, that works especially well in Eberron (since you can now use Action Points to dodge attacks!). I also want to adopt the variant area effect rolls, where fireballs and such roll randomly to determine what square their edges fall on - I hate it right now, with our casters placing a fireball so precisely that it is able to hit the big bad guy for full damage, but not the fighter 5 feet away that's fighting him.

Spellthief, as I said earlier, is a great class. I love the addition to the game, even if it does kind of suck.

I'm also pretty keen on the Wu Jen. I haven't had so much fun playing a caster in years.

Druidic Shapeshifting Rules, from PHB2, are also amazing. Love 'em.

 

[KingCrab]

I also want to adopt the variant area effect rolls, where fireballs and such roll randomly to determine what square their edges fall on - I hate it right now, with our casters placing a fireball so precisely that it is able to hit the big bad guy for full damage, but not the fighter 5 feet away that's fighting him.

Where can those variant area effect rolls be found? They sound like fun.

 

[Pell-Mell]

Warfored: These guys have worked out very well, both as PCs and NPCs. There are other non-standard races in the campaign, but these guys have seen the most play. I was initially concerned they would prove overwhelming, but this fear has not panned out.

Swashbuckling Cards: Although the current campaign is not particularly swashbuckly, we make use of the Swashbuckling Cards by Scratch Factory. As the DM, I let the players randomly draw their cards and I don't look at what they have pulled. The cards add a degree of unpredictability to the game and encourage creativity.

 

[TessarrianDM]

Monk with Vow of Poverty. Nowhere near as untouchable as I originally thought it might be.

 

[MerricB]

Incarnum. Boy, this is a great addition to my games. It's been great seeing it in action.

Cheers!

 

[FireLance]

WOTC Material

Action points.

The blade magic system and the per-encounter refreshing philosophy from the Book of Nine Swords.

New classes from the Book of Nine Swords, PHB2, the Complete series, Eberron and Dungeonscape.

New races from Eberron.

Multiclassing feats, reserve feats, devotion feats, and skill tricks from the Complete series.

Substitution levels and alternate class features from a variety of sources including the Races series, PHB2, Complete Champion and Dungeonscape.

Retraining rules from PHB2.

Item levels and magic items suitable for low-level characters from Magic Item Compendium.

House Rules

Giving players one non-core option per level (race, class, feat, spell, magic item, etc.), which allows them a great deal of flexibility without over-complicating their characters.

Giving players flexibility over their equipment by allowing them to select any gear they want whenever they make a level, subject to the standard wealth value for their new level. This ensures they are more or less balanced with standard challenges and frees up the DM from having to worry about treasure placement.

Adopting the convention that PCs gain one level after every adventure (or every two or more adventures, if you prefer a slower-paced campaign) instead of worrying about calculating XP.

All this, plus a point-buy character creation method, and a fixed rate of hp gain per level (based on Hit Dice) makes it easier for character creation and advancement to take place offline instead of during a game. This works very well for my gaming group as we are all working adults with rather busy schedules and we can sometimes go for weeks without a game. When we do manage to get together, character sheets sometimes go missing, and it is occasionally difficult to remember what happened during the last session. This way, the DM can just say something along the lines of "Your characters are level X at the start of the next adventure" and we can create or advance a character, sometimes from scratch if necessary.