And not to throw this thread into a downward spiral, but how do you handle "divine intervention"? I use a percentage equal to the character's level, double that for divine spellcasting classes or very pious roleplaying.I've actually been recently considering giving each PC a 'hidden' feat, that only I would know about. It'd be there mostly so I knew I was balancing things correctly. For example, a sorcerer (or other spontaneous caster) might have a DM Feat that allows him to, at my discretion, cast some quickened spells that he doesn't have access to yet or doesn't have the slots for (or both) a number of times per day equal to his Charisma bonus. That's about as much of it I've thought out at this point. Other characters would have completely different hidden talents, but all of them on the same power level. Has anyone else thought about doing something like this?
I have a high school friend that had a table of random talents. When a character was made, he would roll to see what they were randomly good at. They were always bonuses related to skill; one was a Profession (cooking) bonus but others were bonuses to charisma related checks while interacting in romantic situations...as in anything from 'smooching' to activities between the sheets.
I have a significant number of house rules that are campaign based but in terms of whats being talked about on this thread.
*HPs for the players works out that they get half the possible hps and roll for the other half. So wizards get a d2+2, Rogues get a d3+3, Clerics get a d4+4, fighters get a d5+5 and Barbarians get a d6+6 per level.
*Monsters get 3/4s max possible hps (which is about what the players will have as well) So if you normally roll a d8 per HD I would work out their hps as 6.5*HD rounded up. This keeps things balanced though it adds a couple of rounds to most combats (everyone has more hps and therefore usually lasts longer).
*Stats are done using the elite array 15,14,13,12,10,8 and then the player has 11 more points to play with however is desired.
Mainly I do this because my players don't have standard luck - I have one player who has phenomenal luck and a couple of other players, especially my poor newbie who have the worst possible luck for their characters. I was being faced with a characters who had almost nothing but stats from 16 through 18 while my newbie would have 5 11s and her one good stat would be a 13. Same problem with the hps - the newbies Ranger was getting pitiful hps 1 over and over and over again while the lucky players fighter just rolled 10 in front of me every time.
If part of the DMs job is to make every character shine its so much easier one some of the characters are not naturally god-like for their level while others are really pathetic.
I make some changes in creatures. Most of the time I don't have too much problem, but there are cases where the base creature seems "leveled up" for no obvious reason other than to provide challenge to higher level adventurers. Other times monsters are given a double dip of both AC and DR to account for their armor. Then I step in. Often it's enough to take the range of HP given and assume a lowball roll rather than the average. Sometimes it takes some more love. I think it's worth it though.
Usually the flavor feels more like fantasy stories, rather than a video game which suits me and my crowd just fine. Dragons are something mighty to be feared. Battles are harsh and bloody because swords and arrows can kill you.
I've always balked at the idea that a longsword put to maximum effect does only 8 points of damage plus strength and a half mod--twice that on a crit. At first level that strikes me as about right, but a few levels down the line and a sword stabbed straight into a guy's guts is like a papercut. Granted new rules like the massive damage clause and the coup de grace are fair patches, but I think there's nothing like going into a fight with a bead of sweat on your brow. But because a badguy, even one of much higher level, is just as mortal, there's also more hope. Maybe an arrow or two will kill the ubermage before he hucks his big ol' fireball at you, rather than it taking 30 arrows to do the job. Me I'll take the extra risk for the extra realism.
As for the half-orc wizard? I'll leave a seat open for you. It's another 8 hit points, and in exchange you take a kick in the pants with that awful Int hit.
Besides, even if there weren't a balancer built in--I'd still much prefer a world where you can have a tough half-orc who can cast spells (believable to me), to a world where a halfling barbarian has three times as many hit points as the half-orc wizard at starting level, but stands a mighty three feet tall, where the wizard stands an imposing seven (which is just lame and game-mechanicy)
Here is my house rule that many of the gms I know that have been influenced by my game use.
max first level; after that; pc rolls a die for hps; I roll a die behind my screen - sometimes I actually roll several dice and pick one - the pc can take his or her roll or choose to take mine unseen. I never roll less than half the value +1; ie the purpose of several dice. Sometimes they take there roll; sometimes they take mine; if they want mine; I lift my screen and show them their die number. They usually take mine if they roll a one or two. Personally, I am thinking about just maxing every level for pc's as I already do that for monsters. The reason I did it for monsters was due to AD&D 1st and 2nd ed rules whereas you got some exp number times the number of hps a monster had; in this new 3.5 version I havent really thought it out yet.
I've been thinking recently. What's the point of hit DICE, for monsters or players? Wouldn't it be simpler if everyone got a set number of hit POINTS per level (or CR for monsters)? I think so. In fact, I've been tinkering with this idea. Mages get 16 at first +4 per level; rogues get 20 at first +8 per level; and warriors get 24 at first +12 per level. Now, this sounds like a lot more hp than it actually is. I've taken away the 0 to -9 range; at 0 a character is dead. Second, as a character takes damage he becomes more and more crippled.
Healthy (3/4+1 base hp to full hp)
Full-Round Action: Free
Standard Action: Free
Move Action: Free
Free Action/No Action: Free
Injured (1/2+1 to 3/4 base hp)
Full-Round Action: 1 hp
Standard Action: Free
Move Action: Free
Free Action/No Action: Free
Disabled (1/4+1 to 1/2 base hp)
Full-Round Action: 2 hp
Standard Action: 1 hp
Move Action: Free
Free Action/No Action: Free
Dying (1 to 1/4 base hp)
Full-Round Action: 4 hp
Standard Action: 2 hp
Move Action: 1 hp
Free Action/No Action: Free
i give max hp at first level then i roll againstt each player when they level up and they get the higher of the two rolls.
tequila , a freind of mine was working on a very similar system for HP.
In my SCAP campaign I am running, characters roll 3d6+4 for stats.
HD are increased by one, I feel the d4 is unplayable so.
d4 - d6
d6 - d8
d8 - d10
d10 - d12
d12 becomes a hefty 2d8.
Sorcerous is a Template that can be added to any Spellcasting class, which replaces their regular spellcasting preparation with Sorceror's Spells Known/Spells per day.
Action Points can do anything described in Unearthed Arcana.
In the past I have used:
Adapted from Blue Rose, and True 20 adventure roleplaying.
Fatigue Saves instead of Spells per Day (essentially those became spells prepared is all).
Extra Effort and Hero Points.
Toughness Saves.
I have also used the Armor as DR option from Unearthed Arcana.
Healthy (3/4+1 base hp to full hp)
Full-Round Action: Free
Standard Action: Free
Move Action: Free
Free Action/No Action: FreeInjured (1/2+1 to 3/4 base hp)
Full-Round Action: 1 hp
Standard Action: Free
Move Action: Free
Free Action/No Action: FreeDisabled (1/4+1 to 1/2 base hp)
Full-Round Action: 2 hp
Standard Action: 1 hp
Move Action: Free
Free Action/No Action: FreeDying (1 to 1/4 base hp)
Full-Round Action: 4 hp
Standard Action: 2 hp
Move Action: 1 hp
Free Action/No Action: Free
I really like this idea of increased injury taking its toll on the target, particularly the idea that the risk of exerting yourself is that you take further hp of damage.
Possible benefits of this are that you can use it to sap a strong opponent--hit the giant hard and then make him chase you, tiring himself out, and then turn around and kill him once he's dropped to a knee gasping for breath, blood dribbling out his mouth.
Likewise it works nicely for those heroic moments, when the hero knows he will die if he continues trying to fight, but lifts himself up on his sword and hobbles back into the fight, each step painful, blood soaking his clothes with his every move.
I like that much better than the fighter with 74 hp who takes a battleaxe blow and six crossbow bolts, but somehow they're all grazing wounds--even when the battleaxe guy critted, and he still strides around killing everything with a big grin on his face.
The reason I play my games so hardcore is so they don't feel like video games, goodguys and badguys hacking on each other like they're chopping wood. I find it cheesy in video games and impossible to swallow when I'm trying to tell a good story. This system seems like a nice alternative.
tequila , a freind of mine was working on a very similar system for HP.
Was? Does this mean that it fell through?
I like the Unearthed Arcana "Wounds and Vitality" variant. I've written a little about it here:
http://d20.jonnydigital.com/2006/02/vitality-and-wounds-system-in-eberron
Basically, the system works thus. Your hitpoints are now known as "vitality", and instead of representing how much damage you can take, these represent the damage you can avoid taking. When these run out you don't go into negative hitpoints, you just run into your reserve of "wounds" points, which represent how much real physical damage you can stand before being knocked out or killed. You take penalties if you're suffering wound point damage, and any time you lose wound points you risk being stunned. Additionally, critical hits no longer deal double damage, but are dealt directly to wound points.
I like it because it makes criticals more deadly, draws a clear line between attacks you shrug off and attacks that run you through, and creates a status of "wounded enough to suffer penalties, but not enough to be unconscious".
I like the Unearthed Arcana "Wounds and Vitality" variant...
I love this system -- it's used in the Star Wars RPG. Unfortunately, it changes the entire structure of the game, and makes PC deaths skyrocket (monsters also, but that's not a bad thing).
Jack
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I took the wound/vitality point system for a spin, but I found it to be too cumbersome. It was hard to remember to make the save to avoid exhaustion when wound point damage is first inflicted. I also didn't like the whack-a-mole aspect of the system. Under the UA wound point system, an attack that reduces you to 0 wound points doesn't kill you or place you in a dying state. Instead, you fall unconcious and get to make a DC 15 Fort save. If you succeed you are disabled (and concious). The point is that a character with a good Fort save won't stay down for long using the wound point system as written.
It's definitely worth trying if your group prefers a greater risk of death, but you may want to consider the above.
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Under the UA wound point system, an attack that reduces you to 0 wound points doesn't kill you or place you in a dying state. Instead, you fall unconcious and get to make a DC 15 Fort save. If you succeed you are disabled (and concious). The point is that a character with a good Fort save won't stay down for long using the wound point system as written.
No, certainly not as written, but if you take the time to check out Johnathan Drain's link, you'll see he also kindly posted a number of changes/additions I had developed for Vitality/Wound- the "whack-a-mole" issue is one of the first to be addressed, and I have found my alterations to smooth things out nicely in that regard.
Just curious; how many of you roll dice to determine HP v. average #? Or some other method?
Does anyone have a house rule that you would like to preach for? or Rant against?
In my own games I allow players to take max HP at first level (if they want to, most actually don't as it makes their characters seem a little 'cookiecutter') and then a single roll at each subsequent level.
We point buy all stats, with the number of points available being a variable determined by me depending upon the game.
Cheers
Llowellen
Just curious; how many of you roll dice to determine HP v. average #? Or some other method?
PCs all get max HPTs every level. But then, NPCs and monsters get max hpts, too (time saver) so it all balances.
Is this a bit anal retentive:
Lvl d4 d6 d8 d10 d12
1 4 6 8 10 12
2 6 9 12 15 18
3 9 13 17 21 25
4 11 16 21 26 31
5 14 20 26 32 38
6 16 23 30 37 44
7 19 27 35 43 51
8 21 30 39 48 57
9 24 34 44 54 64
10 26 37 48 59 70
11 29 41 53 65 77
12 31 44 57 70 83
13 34 48 62 76 90
14 36 51 66 81 96
15 39 55 71 87 103
16 41 58 75 92 109
17 44 62 80 98 116
18 46 65 84 103 122
19 49 69 89 109 129
20 51 72 93 114 135
I have players roll 4d6, rerolling any 1s, six times. They roll three sets total, and choose the best one. I also tend to give each player at least one 18 if they don't roll one. Their highest roll becomes an 18.
I also have four house rules:
Improved critical and keen stack.
Summon monster/summon nature's ally spells have a duration of 1 minute/level rather than 1 round/level.
The shot on the run feat allows the PC to move, fire, and spend at least 15 of the remaining feet of the move doing another move action, like hide, duck behind cover, draw a weapon, reload a crossbow, open a door, etc.
To avoid players lying about hp die rolls, I've also ruled that PCs will take full hps every level. Of course, this means that most enemy monsters will also have full hp, depending on the situation.
PCs all get max HPTs every level. But then, NPCs and monsters get max hpts, too (time saver) so it all balances.
I used to do something like that, but then I realised that it threw hit points out of whack with everything else and just made battles longer and more drawn-out rather than more exciting. It hurts the PCs since some monsters tend to have a lot of hit dice to max out, upping a great red wyrm from 660HP to 880HP.
In practice, you only roll for hitpoints once per monster and once per level for a player character, so it's not saving you much time. If you want to avoid cheating and save time without throwing the balance out of whack, give average hitpoints at each level.
As in the same vein as most other posters here:
HP: max at level 1; choice of half or roll all otehr levels (+ any bonuses of course).
Stats: 28 point buy. When I started one of my campaigns, all my players rolled and two of them rolled pretty low. They were hampered for the next 2 years while the other 2 players had to take up the slack due to superior rolls. This was not getting fun and realized about the time the 2 "weaker" characters were slain. I chnaged to point buy to even things out and give players an equal spring board.
Death: I ruled that a PC/NPC must be at -10 HP (or lower) for 1 full round before actually slipping into death. A lot of valiant rescues have resulted in this... and a lot less death.
Action points: as per Ebberon.
Race stuff: elves get scimitar added to the racial weapon proficiency list. LotR was the impetus as opposed to D'R'Rzzzztztztztt.
thats about it.
PCs all get max HPTs every level. But then, NPCs and monsters get max hpts, too (time saver) so it all balances.I used to do something like that, but then I realised that it threw hit points out of whack with everything else and just made battles longer and more drawn-out rather than more exciting. It hurts the PCs since some monsters tend to have a lot of hit dice to max out, upping a great red wyrm from 660HP to 880HP.
In practice, you only roll for hitpoints once per monster and once per level for a player character, so it's not saving you much time. If you want to avoid cheating and save time without throwing the balance out of whack, give average hitpoints at each level.
I'll consider that. Interesting points.
Stats: 28 point buy. When I started one of my campaigns, all my players rolled and two of them rolled pretty low. They were hampered for the next 2 years while the other 2 players had to take up the slack due to superior rolls. This was not getting fun and realized about the time the 2 "weaker" characters were slain. I chnaged to point buy to even things out and give players an equal spring board.
That's similarly to why I don't have players roll for ability scores any more. Random luck makes the difference between your first level fighter having 15 Strength (+4 to hit, 2d6+3 damage) and 18 Strength (+6 to hit, 2d6+6 damage). I made the decision to switch when one player started with two 18s and two others had a 3 or a 4 with their highest a 16.
PCs all get max HPTs every level. But then, NPCs and monsters get max hpts, too (time saver) so it all balances.I used to do something like that, but then I realised that it threw hit points out of whack with everything else and just made battles longer and more drawn-out rather than more exciting. It hurts the PCs since some monsters tend to have a lot of hit dice to max out, upping a great red wyrm from 660HP to 880HP.
In practice, you only roll for hitpoints once per monster and once per level for a player character, so it's not saving you much time. If you want to avoid cheating and save time without throwing the balance out of whack, give average hitpoints at each level.
The length of time a monster is going to last on stage is really more relative to the abilities of the players. If you stick with the core books and your players get a strict 25 point buy then generally speaking your monsters probably have a 4-5 round life span.
If your players have access to lots and lots of books and can min max abilities then they will do, on average, more damage per round.
Similarly if your players have something better then a 25 point buy they are going to have better stats in their key area's and therefore they will, on average, do more damage per round.
Hence in cases were players have access to more material or have better then average stats the monsters should probably be compensated with hps just to keep them around for about the same amount of time.
I'd say maximum possible is a tad high but even here I bet your only talking about an extra round or two of life for most monsters and even that is probably most true only at low levels. I find your dragon example as a good point in this regard - max hps per die for a dragon only adds another 25% or so while its closer to a 50% boost for the low CR creatures since most of their hps don't come from obscenely high constitution scores.
Well thanks for the input everyone! It's been great to hear about everyone's rules. Just for the sake of completion, here are mine:
1. 28 point buy. Ability score boosts can be purchased with XP, but only up to a character's 'raw' maximum.
2. I created a HP chart so that all PCs have exactly average HP; this chart is above though likely unreadable. Maybe a tad anal but I like fairness in permanent PC stats.
3. Clerics have the same multiclassing restrictions that paladins do. Druids are not proficient with scimitars. Paladins can be of any alignment; they are able to smite any creature of any opposed alignment. Hence, a LG paladin can smite CG, CN, CE, NE and LE while a NE paladin can only smite CG, NG and LG. It's pretty pointless to be a NN paladin, as they cannot smite anything.
4. All opposed skill checks are simply skill checks opposed to a DC. The offensive skill-user always always makes a check versus the defensive skill-user's DC, just like combat.
5. PCs and NPCs only accrue ability penalties due to aging. This heads off those min/maxers that create venerable wizards for the +3 Int and also solves the problem of 'why doesn't that same wizard, after making himself immortal, get smarter with each century?' Not to mention outsiders and gods.
6. Clerics use the alternative turning rules found in Complete Divine.
7. And finally, all non-core spells, classes, PrCs, feats, substitution levels and whatnot are permissable only with my go-ahead.
It's another tequila sunrise
Starin' slowly across the sky, said goodbye...
5. PCs and NPCs only accrue ability penalties due to aging. This heads off those min/maxers that create venerable wizards for the +3 Int and also solves the problem of 'why doesn't that same wizard, after making himself immortal, get smarter with each century?' Not to mention outsiders and gods.
Yeah, this was part of the problem when I was making that 6th level wizard a while back. I kept ending up going back to making him venerable, but then he had all of 2 Strength and 2 Constitution, which stretched my imagination too far.
Also, why in the world DO people get better at Listen & Spot checks from age? It makes no sense...
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Tossing my hat in:
1. Action Points and my revised Vitality/Wounds system are common to my games.
2. All stats are 4d6, drop the lowest, rolled seven times with the top six being selected. I have become extremely proficient in mentally converting stats to point-buy, and allow the re-roll of certain stats if the player is under a 28-30 pb.
3. I prepare a large summary sheet of the base races and classes allowed in my game- almsot every 3.5 class is permitted and so I think it's currently 24 races by 36 classes (and climbing).
4. Skill checks are made using 3d6, not 1d20, in order to reflect training and practice over the chaos of battle and saving throws. Exceptions to the rule are Use Magic Device (due to 1s) and Truespeak (which serves as the basis for Truename magic and needs the variability in success for balance).
5. Sorcerors receive d6 for HD, given their lack of nice extras in comparison to wizard (i.e. feats). Half-orcs receive Improved Toughness as a bonus feat and a +2 racial bonus on intimidate checks.
6. Double "20s" on a weapon attack results in automatic maximum damage.
7. A "20" on a saving throw allows for a "confirm" roll that can further decrease the spell's effects:
-Damage quartered or secondary damage (i.e. disintegrate) halved.
-Secondary effects of poison, disease, or fear-causing spells negated.
8. A "1" does not indicate automatic failure, but instead a -10 penalty to the base save. Double "1s" result in a fumble, causing the individual to drop their weapon, draw an AoO from surrounding enemies, or fall prone {DM and player's decision for worst effect}
9. A "1" on a saving throw requires a second saving throw at no penalty- if this roll fails to meet the save DC, the penalty for failure heightens:
-Damage-dealing effects target Wound, instead of Vitality, as per a critical hit in that system (damage not modified if no Vitality is remaining).
-Ability damage is increased by 50% (i.e. poison or phantasms)
-Spells that lack the above traits and contain a duration have it doubled (or tripled in conjunction with Extend Spell).
For HP I let players roll the dice but their characters are always guaranteed at least half the maximum of the die (i.e. at least 3 on a d6 and so on).
My complete House Rules that I use for my current campaigns are collected in this document: http://zaister.de/HouseRulesV8.pdf in case anyone is interested. :-)
Very professional-looking, Zaister. Just out of curiosity, why don't you allow your PCs to make magical items?
Very professional-looking, Zaister.
Thanks. :-) I tried to capture the look of the rulebooks in some way for these documents.
Just out of curiosity, why don't you allow your PCs to make magical items?
Regarding the magic items, this has two reasons. For one, I'm playing three campaigns along these rules: Shackled City, Age of Worms and Red Hand of Doom, and I feel that all three campaigns in the long term don't really allow for much downtime to create magic items, especially Shackled City, once it gets going with Lord of Oblivion, or Red Hand of Doom which is on a tight schedule anyway. Reason number two grew out of previous campaigns. Item creation by PCs is basically too cheap and too easy a way to get magic items to me, especially once you get to make a new character at higher levels. Just spend a feat and double your starting money for items. And this accumulated as each new character brought more magic items into the group pool while the old characters' items didn't really go away. Disallowing these feats, especially Craft Wondrous Item was done in accordance with my whole main group (who are now playing Shackled City). Also I like to have magic items that are earned instead of simply made by one-self or bought in a shop, although I do use Skie's Treasury with all the great stories collected by these boards. I do allow Scribe Scroll and Brew Potion, though.
I had originally planned to include the flaws rule from Unearthed Arcana in my House Rules, but my players rejected it as leading to too much munchkinism, and anything to reduce munchkinism is fine with me.
I might indeed remove Craft Wand from my list of disallowed feats, consumables don't really pose too much of a problem, I think.
This rule was instituted once it was realized that the divination school is every bit as powerful as every other school (and more powerful than some IMHO)
You think so? I'd rather say that divination is the most necessary school. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single divination spell that involves a save DC which is half the point of specializing in a school. I may be forgetting one or two divinations. In 2nd edition, the core books came right out and said that specializing in divination is the province of NPCs because of its limited use in an adventuring life.
TS
Compared to some of the other posters here, my gaming group should be bowing their heads every time I walk by and begging me to allow them to refill my glass of Mountain Dew!
House rules:
1) 4d6, reroll 1's, and drop the lowest roll. This allows my players to have the 'heroic' characters that they truely crave to play.
2) Hit points are rolled each level after the first, and if you roll lower then average then you get average HP's. So now a barbarian rolling a d12 and getting a 2 for hit points at second and third level won't be overshadowed in hp's by the thief rolling 6's. I've found that this allows my players to not stress over weak hp rolls and concentrate on the game. It also allows me (as DM) to actually hit them more often without killing them straight off.
3) We play FR, so I allow 1 regional feat as a bonus feat at first level - so long as it ties into the character concept.
4) I retooled the bard to allow them to learn additional spells based on both their charisma and intelligence bonuses. IMHO, Bards are the natural loremasters of D&D but the paltry way in which their spells are handled is shameful. So now, if a bardic character in my game has both a +4 to CHA and INT, he would get 8 more spells added to his spell list that he can cast as a normal bard would - like 2 or 3 per day - making them highly versitile and still occupying a limited roll.
Celric
The only house rule of note our group uses is expenditure of XP for a chance to gain divine intervention.
If anyone is interested I can post the mechanics.
The group has been using it for some years now and most of the problems have been resolved.
I was under the impression that, in 3.5, specializing in a school of magic did not change the DCs for the spells in that school?
Johnny
Holy Hell! Why was that done and how did I miss it?!
The only house rule of note our group uses is expenditure of XP for a chance to gain divine intervention.
If anyone is interested I can post the mechanics.
The group has been using it for some years now and most of the problems have been resolved.
Please do. I had a DM that would encourage us to pray for divine intervention, but it was just an excuse to raise us from the dead after our all-too-common near-TPKs.
Actually, I've had the complete opposite problem. Players I've had will show up with characters that have 3 or more 18s, and claim that they rolled this, with the other player as witness (the other player, of course, being his brother, who likewise has insane ability scores)...Point Buy fixes this. For example, even with a generous 35 points, sure they can have an 18 Strength and a 17 Intelligence, but that's 16 and 13 points, respectively. That leaves 6 points to distribute amongst 4 abilities, so they'll probably end up with a 10 Con and a 10 Wisdom, leaving a 9 in the other two stats. So sure, they hit like a steam engine and spout theories that might give Einstein pause, but they trip over their own feet and have no friends, as well as being no healthier or intuitive than the average joe.
Since everyone in the party is built off of the same point buy total, everyone should have their own strengths and weaknesses which will match everyone else. That's the important part. Because they're all using the same point buy, the DM knows in advance how powerful they are going to be and can adjust things accordingly. Want to run things out of the book and have them be the challenges they're supposed to be? 26 to 28 point buy gets you ability scores that the Monster Manual uses for the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 8), which it assumes that those with PC class levels have. This is...
I have never had a problem with cheater ability scores. I allow my players to roll and for the first time, recently, i let some of the players roll without me around because we couldn't meet before the first session. Nobody cheated.
But if you do have cheaters with 18's or higher in multiple scores.... just make sure those characters have unfortunate accidents *wink, wink* and then have the player roll up a new character right there during the game. That will learn them. ;)
My house rules:
And not to throw this thread into a downward spiral, but how do you handle "divine intervention"? I use a percentage equal to the character's level, double that for divine spellcasting classes or very pious roleplaying.
Our system is very similar in finding a percentage chance but uses XP to 'power' the roll.
That way we eliminate the 'ask for help every round' syndrome.
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We just implimented a "sympathetic magic" response to the reincarnate spell. A character has a 5% chance per character level as being reincarnated as the same race as his previous (dead) character, since "like calls to like." The general idea is that at higher levels, a character has such a strong sense of "self" that they almost refuse to come back as a differnet race. The character may look different (thus losing any legal claims such as property), but will be of the same race as previous, though not necessarily the same gender :) (that requires another role of the same type).
5. PCs and NPCs only accrue ability penalties due to aging. This heads off those min/maxers that create venerable wizards for the +3 Int and also solves the problem of 'why doesn't that same wizard, after making himself immortal, get smarter with each century?' Not to mention outsiders and gods.Yeah, this was part of the problem when I was making that 6th level wizard a while back. I kept ending up going back to making him venerable, but then he had all of 2 Strength and 2 Constitution, which stretched my imagination too far.
Also, why in the world DO people get better at Listen & Spot checks from age? It makes no sense...
Not sure about the spot part but listen one could argue. In most cases older individuals become hard of hearing because they have spent a lifetime in places with a lot of noise - generally we get hard of hearing because the bone that vibrates sympathetically with noise and allows us to hear stuff pretty much wears out with lots of use. But its only really a problem if your in some environment where the bone is perpetually vibrating all the time. So your hearing is going to be really damaged if you spend many years listening to jumbo jets from a close distance (or even just spend a lifetime working in a bar with load music or doing anything where there is constant loud noise).
If your life style is generally sedentary and your not likely to be constantly in loud places your hearing should be great even into ripe old age - at which point the ability to discern what your hearing and identify it might improve with age and experience.
We also use the "roll 4d6, keep your three highest" rule, but with a twist. If you get for of a kind, regardless of the total, you get a 19! This has only happened twice so far. I think the odds of this are actually smaller than rolling an 18.
The odds of rolling four of a kind are exactly the same as the odds for rolling an 18 with 3d6 (and thus, indeed, lower than for rolling an 18 on 4d6-and-drop-the-lowest).
Holy Hell! Why was that done and how did I miss it?!I was under the impression that, in 3.5, specializing in a school of magic did not change the DCs for the spells in that school?
Johnny
It was done for balance - so that if you want to have your DCs increased for your specialized school, pick up Spell Focus. I believe there's also a Trait in Unearthed Arcana that gives you +1 to the DCs of one school in exchange for a -1 to all others. As written, the benefit of specialization is an extra spell slot per spell level from your specialized school.
After all, many characters (at least ones I have built) gain little benefit from illusions and none from necromancy, so dropping those to specialize in, say, evocation is almost a no-brainer. Having my DCs increase for the mere cost of not being able to use spells I wouldn't use anyway would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Please do. I had a DM that would encourage us to pray for divine intervention, but it was just an excuse to raise us from the dead after our all-too-common near-TPKs.The only house rule of note our group uses is expenditure of XP for a chance to gain divine intervention.
If anyone is interested I can post the mechanics.
The group has been using it for some years now and most of the problems have been resolved.
Chance for divine intervention (base chance):
2% per character level
+2% per divine caster level
It costs 50 XP per base chance percentage point.
A character may expend additional XP to increase this chance: +500 XP to gain a +1% per character level (may be done multiple times).
If expenditure of XP would case a character to drop a level they gain a negative level. If the XP gained for the
adventure is insufficient to return them to their original level the negative level gained becomes permanent.
A character may attempt divine intervention as long as they have sufficient XP to do so.
Calling for divine intervention is an immediate action.
eg Paladin 8 calling for divine intervention
16% (character level)
+8% (divine caster level)
for a total of 24% and 1200 XP. Expends an additional 1500 XP (total 2700 XP) for a further +24% and a final chance
of 48%.
If the divine intervention is successful the deity may perform as many actions in one round that its divine rank
would entitle it to.
By tradition, our group ask the deity for one personal spell (usually true resurrection) and one group spell
(mass cure xxx), assuming the diety has those spells available.
We have additional rules that allow for a small(er) (much) chance (assuming the petition was successful) of a
personal appearance by the avatar of the deity.
We've had three of those in the last 15 years of play.
We have some other mechanics around alternatives to party and personal spells as aid.