What's the Coolest houserule you have seen? (In the spirit of the Strangest)

[aurellius]

The best house rule in the game i plan in is that when you go below -10 you dont immediately die, you die on that init next round. Of course if you get healed up abouve -10 before that round goes by you are ok. This has greatly reduced player mortality since before it we were getting ground up bad in Rttoee.


Marcus

PS We STILL have had char deaths though......

 

[dropshadow]

The players don't keep track of their hit points, I do. I don't tell them, "10 points of damage." I tell them, "The sword cleaves past your chainmail, ripping into your colar-bone, nearly breaking it in two."

That's a wicked idea..How are your players handling it?

-dropshadow

 

[Ravellion]

[Arrogance]I think my hit point rolling house rule is the best ever[/arrogance]

You roll, but any roll under ((highset number on your HD/2)-1) becomes ((highset number on your HD/2)-1). It is sort of like the ones posted, but it strangely benefits the fighter more, while the above one (minimum of half HD) actully benfits d4 and d6 classes more, statistically. it is also slightly less in the freebie department

Oh, and skill focus +3

 

[Storminator]

Best ever was actually posted in the "Strangest" thread.

Dance of Ruin requires the player to do the Chicken Dance...



PS

 

[Sejs]

Skill focus = +2 to two related skills.

-10 isn't the threshhold for death's door. A person goes to -Con Score. -10's average, but if you're of poor health, you're easier to kill once unconscious, if you're tougher, you're harder to do-in for good.

5 Ranks of certain knowledge skills giving a synergy bonus to the use of other knowledge skills, trained or untrained. Example: 5 ranks in Knowledge: Local (Region X) would give +2 synergy to a check on a Knowledge: Local (Region that neighbors Region X). Or 5 ranks in Knowledge: Religeon giving a synergy bonus to a Knowledge: The Planes check pertaining to undead, or one of the Alignment-oriented planes.

Halfling reduced carry weights do not count toward encumberance that is derived solely from pie.

 

[hunter2112]

I always liked the one that my current DM uses:

When rolling HP, you always get at least half on the die. I.E., if you roll 1d10 everytime you go up a level and roll a 1, you still get 5 automatically. But if you roll a 9, you get a 9.

In my group we just eliminated the possibility of rolling a 1. Fighters roll d6+4, Barbarians d6+6, Rogues, d4+2, etc... For spellcasters we just let them have the 4 points. That's enough of a penalty in my book.

 

[Felix]

More HP fun!

The player and the DM both roll an appropriate HD. If the player so chooses, he may take the DM's roll, but can't reneg.

The Fighter/Rogue of the party is pissed because he and the DM rolled tandem 1's on both of his fighter levels. Heh heh heh. Sucker.

 

[Trainz]

I always liked the one that my current DM uses:

When rolling HP, you always get at least half on the die. I.E., if you roll 1d10 everytime you go up a level and roll a 1, you still get 5 automatically. But if you roll a 9, you get a 9.

We do something similar, but more devious...

After rolling your hit-points, you can either keep the score, or have the DM roll it for you. If you do, you're stuck with what the DM rolls.

It might seem big, but let me tell you, I could swear more often than not in our last campaign the DM rolled LOWER. There was this player that rolled his d10 and always came up with a 2 or 3. 3 times at least the DM rolled lower and he was stuck with the puny roll.

Or often, the DM would roll the same thing.

However, IMC (I DM), I always roll higher than the PC's when they ask me to re-roll.

Lucky bastards...

 

[ForceUser]

Since standard D&D is balanced assuming both the PCs and the monsters have average hit points, we play "as the die lies" for HD rolls, with two exceptions: max hit points at first level, and everyone gets one free reroll once in their character's career at any time they level and roll poorly for their HD. You have to keep the second roll, though, even if it's worse.

As for the coolest house-rule, I'm not sure; we keep pretty closely to the core rules as much as is possible. If I had to guess, it would be that in our games level-draining spells and effects don't actually result in permanent level loss upon a failed save. Instead, you just go in the hole XP-wise as though you had lost a level. The D&D mechanic of losing a level has never been clearly defined: do they actually expect us to track when and where we put each and every skill point, or remember exactly how many hit points we rolled for each level? Our method still retards advancement, but without the headache of reverse-engineering your character.

 

[Dwarf_Bread]

Given the hitpoint zeitgeist of the thread, I'll mention my house rule, which appears pretty generous but is, in fact, fiendish:

You (the player) roll the appropriate hit die out in the open.

I (the DM) roll a similar die (i.e., another d10 for a fighter) behind the DM screen.

The player then has the option to choose: the roll s/he made and can see, or my unseen roll.

I've actually seen beads of sweat appear when a player is deciding whether to take the 5 they rolled or go with What's Behind Door Number Three...

DB