Brahnamin's page

Situational House Rule - Early back in 3.x we ran a cleric-free game where every character had a Domain. They gained the powers but not the spells and if they met the prerequisites could buy up to two more domains by spending feats (prerequisites were level related - I think l3 to pick up a second domain and l5 or 6 to pick up a third). Plus the domains had to make some kind of sense together (which mostly had to do with the PC making a case for it and the GM approving or vetoing).

@ Goth Guru - There are always options. PCs could spend the entire campaign on the coast, on the sea, or in the islands if that's what they want. Again, it's just a matter of transparency.

Let me help you with that...

1: In my Leveled Mutations, Aquatic has double the effect of fire damage or environmental consequences. A cavern with a lava pool in it would cause the Aquatic character to faint first.
2: Pokemon? You mean you can only summon 6 different monsters, if one gets hurt you are down to 5 for the whole day, and no Eidolons, just existing monsters? Enforce that and who will want to play one?

Hrm? How does that help a player who probably doesn't want to faint in the first place? I just let them know it could bring up actual issues in gameplay and then the player decides if he still wants to play it. Not particularly looking to "fix" it. I'm fine with the penalties, so long as the player knows those penalties won't get nerfed and that he should plan accordingly.

As for the pokemon thing I am 44 years old and probably have a very skewed idea of what pokemon even is, but whenever I read over the Summoner class that is what I think of. At no point did I say I revamped the summoner class to play like pokemon or that I required the player to somehow roleplay as if it was a pokemon. I'm not "enforcing" anything of the kind.

But every time I GM or play with a Summoner that is inevitably the image that traipses through my head.

@ kyrt-rider:

I only discourage those characters because a huge chunk of my setting is desert and the other regions essentially surround that desert and at some point players usually find themselves crossing it - if only for a short time - which puts them in a position of having to parse water between drink AND douse. Not that that is such a huge thing to overcome, but the desert plays a big enough role in the setting that it could become a hassle.

Discourage doesn't mean ban. It's just giving the player all the facts.

Likewise the bestial (centaur, minotaur, etc) characters. There is a whole wide gameworld to play them in, and I've run plenty of campaigns with bestial PCs, but the NPC reactions in cities and towns can become prohibitive. Again, it's just laying everything out for the player up front before he makes his decision.

Significant Magic Items (particularly weapons, incl staves/rods) - These items level up with the character. Character level (sometimes total, sometimes class depending on the item) determines what attributes and bonuses the character is able to unlock. So as the character gains levels the item becomes more relevant.

BM/AM (before monster/after monster) Initiative - Monsters/NPCs are given a static initiative. They don't roll. PCs roll each round (d10). If they match or beat the monster's static initiative they go before the monster; if lower they go after. Then the players decide the order of actions for the PCs in their initiative slot. The CHARACTERS don't discuss tactics, but it gives a nod to their cohesion as a group to let the players do so. And since different characters might get grouped together each round it keeps strategies from becoming too static.

I think someone somewhere called this the Rule of Cool - Say yes (or at least "yes, but") to players as often as possible, particularly during chargen. I've always been a sandbox/seat-of-the-pants kinda GM so this is a wee bit easier for me than it might be for more structured GMs, but I'm of the opinion that you can't break the game in every direction at once, so even when a player's idea looks like a blatant avenue for abuse, it can usually be moderated - and can often be entertaining as hell.

That said, I still tend to have multiple bans in place as concerns the flavor of a given campaign.

For instance, I might allow one Gunslinger PC if he is from another plane and willing to take the disadvantages of being a literal stranger in a strange land with issues obtaining ammo. I don't ban Summoners outright, but I can't get the Pokemon image they've always presented to me out of my head.

And there are generally only ever 3 Paladins in my game world at any one time - LG, LN, and LE. Likewise, I prefer only one paladin PC per campaign.

Winged races are forbidden at low levels (but vestigial wings and the like are allowed where appropriate) and aqua dependent races (need to be doused in water daily to survive) and bestial races (those with a whole body or whole head of an animal - centaur, minotaur, etc) - are discouraged.

Some peevy metagamey rules -
No phones/tablets/laptops/novels etc in use at the table. (if you need to make or take a call leave the table - preferably during a regular break, but hey, life happens).

Too many instances of *Oh, is it my turn?* may result in an answer of *no* and a nod to the next guy.