Greetings,

I am about to start a campaign with a couple of my friends with a setting that is slightly different than a "regular" one. That is, I am going to make the world a VERY dangerous one, where a good hit with a sword can end ones life immediately.

I would like to have some advice/suggestions/feedback of the various house rules.

What I have so far:

* Point buy system (25) (PCs)
* Elite array/ 3d6 (NPCs)
* Low hit points (1st level max, next levels 1 + CON)

* Magic HIGHLY feared
* Magic using "controlled" by high wizards/cleric/aristocrats
* Sorcerers are deemed as heretics
* Most druids are isolated and considered rather mysterious

* Only major villains/BBEGs use the critical hit deck
* The critical fumble deck is used only once/combatant/battle[day/session]
* Following fumbles -> -2 AR/AC for 1 round (defender's choice)

I know that even a very high level wizard eventually might have less than 20 hit points so any first level fighter with a great sword can easily kill of him.

Also, evocation spells and spells in general have made me think a lot. Say, a fireball that deals 5d6 is deadly. Ambushes are deadly. I might either tweak these a little or make the players understand that spell casters are not to be messed with.

What do you think of this?

And don't forget channeling will be deadly.

Are you going to use mostly humanoid foes, or the standard crazy array of monsters? Because if your (for instance) 3rd-level PCs are facing typical level-appropriate monsters (an ogre, or heck, even a lion or tiger) with that amount of hp, they're going to be below 0 hp in one or two hits. Of course, so will the monsters...

That's not a criticism, just an observation. I actually like your ideas, it'll be interesting to hear how they play out. (You ARE going to post a follow-up thread after your first session, right?)

(You ARE going to post a follow-up thread after your first session, right?)

Then I thought that what difference does a lvl 20 barbarian and a 20 lvl wizard have hit-point-wise in the end with the exception of the CON modifier? So I came up with a system that might balance things out a bit;

Every time a character is entitled to a ability score (i.e every 4th level) increase, that character's HPs raise as per entitled HD.

For example, for each ability score for a barbarian is entitled, he'll receive another 12 hp as a bonus. So in the end, that barbarian is going to have 60 hp more than anyone else.

Then again, I seriously doubt anyone in my campaign world is ever going to reach that, renowned heroes already being around lvl 10 perhaps.