Portrait of Tika Frostdale, created with the PortraitWorks app (beta version)
Just about every game I've heard of has house rules (which are changes and additions to the published guidelines). Some groups have copious additional rules, to the point that they use very few of the official materials. Other groups try to play exactly by the books, or as close to what's written as they can get. My first campaign stayed close to the books at first but soon changed in some important ways. It can be difficult to anticipate how a change is going to affect the whole game, so we treated all house rules as experimental, at least at first. If they worked out well during play, we kept them.
Below are some of the long-standing and major house rules we used for a number of years and across multiple campaigns. These were all rules that my players agreed to play under and they worked for us at the time. Some of them went through alterations or were abandoned, but we kept the basic game stable. You are free to disagree with any or all of them, just as I am free to disagree with the house rules of others.
When 3rd edition came out, one of the biggest problems we had with it was that it allowed characters to level up far too quickly for our taste. A character would just be learning their new abilities when they'd gain a new level's worth of powers. It had the frenzied feel of a video game like Diablo; new powers and new loot are the driving reasons to play such games, so levels have to come quickly to keep players interested. I wanted my game to build up at a slower pace so characters could get to really know the limits of a level before attaining a new one. I also wanted to focus on more than the rush to get the next new power. In order to slow things down, I implemented an experience chart based on a few of the charts from 2nd edition D&D.
Level |
Experience Required |
Level |
Experience Required |
---|---|---|---|
1 |
0 |
11 |
375,000 |
2 |
1,500 |
12 |
750,000 |
3 |
3,000 |
13 |
1,125,000 |
4 |
6,000 |
14 |
1,350,000 |
5 |
13,000 |
15 |
1,575,000 |
6 |
27,000 |
16 |
1,800,000 |
7 |
55,000 |
17 |
2,025,000 |
8 |
110,000 |
18 |
2,250,000 |
9 |
135,000 |
19 |
2,475,000 |
10 |
250,000 |
20 |
2,700,000 |
In relation to this, I also decided to award experience for things other than combat. I grant experience for good roleplaying - staying in character, acting according to one's character, developing character, and so on. This experience was variable depending on the session.
I granted a fixed amount of experience for a small number of other things. First, I gave some experience for showing up to the game, hopefully on time, because I really enjoyed being able to start with everyone present. I knew that we're all adults with many things to do and I wanted to show my appreciation to my players. I also gave experience to those who pitched in money for food and drink that the whole group could have during the session. We tended to have long game sessions and people were bound to get hungry. Some groups actually encounter resentment related to food because sometimes a group will eat one person out of house and home, other times one person gets stuck with the bill, and yet other times folks suffer through sessions hungry while others eat in front of them. I wanted none of that; a communal meal is a time for friendship. So I gave experience, usually a fixed amount but more for particularly extravagant means (which my players did provide). Last but not least, I gave experience to anyone willing to keep a detailed journal (dates, events, NPCs, etc.), because it's an invaluable resource for us all and while running, I did not have time to do it myself. For each category - showing up, food, and the journal - I gave 50 xp times their character level.
I did not ever randomly generate treasure. Ever. I have been in games in which DMs rolled up ridiculous treasures and it always rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to make sure that the treasure made sense for the creatures involved and the quickest way to do that was to decide treasure myself, based on the creature and situation at hand. I used the CR of the encounter as a guide so that tougher creatures would provide greater compensation. I did not always give treasure in coin; if a creature had no reason to carry objects, then I tried to give values to tusks, eyes, pelts, and the like.
I allowed for maximum healing from all healing spells and potions - for the player characters and the NPCs. For items, the maximum healing was based on the lowest level possible to make such an item. For example, the cleric of the party at fifth level could heal 1d8+5 (or, for my purposes, 13) with a spell of cure light wounds, while a potion would only cure 1d8+1 (or, when it was used in my game, 9). This rule did not dampen combat or spoil my group in any way, because they still got their asses heartily kicked and their enemies benefited from the maximized healing, as well.
It never made sense to me that the burning hands of Elminster could have the same DC as a second level wizard's burning hands spell. Yet under the rules, spell DCs were determined by the following elements only: 10 + the appropriate modifier + spell level. That meant that the burning hands of a 20th level wizard was just as easy to resist as that of a 1st level wizard (unless they've raised their Intelligence, purchased a feat, or are using a magical item). I implemented a new formula for spell DCs in order to account for the enhanced learning that comes with advanced levels: 10 + appropriate modifier + spell level + 1/3 caster level. This was used for all spell DCs in our game. (Although I later heard great complaints about the overpowered nature of spellcasters, we didn't get so high in level that it became a serious problem.)
It always bothered me that non-weapon proficiencies in 2nd edition D&D seemed to matter so little; you didn't get many, and they didn't come up that often. I started gaming in Vampire: the Masquerade, in which all characters had skills that were important. 3rd edition introduced a skill system to D&D that I liked a lot more - there were plenty of skills to choose from and the game was designed for skills to be used more often. But the new system was not perfect in my eyes. I did not understand why the game was so very stingy with class skills; it was as though the heavy combat classes could do very little else. I also did not understand why so few skill points were granted to most classes. I set out to fix those problems and when the 3.5 edition came out, I went along with the combining of certain skills. The changes below are the solidified version of my alterations to the skill system.
3 + Int mod |
4 + Int mod |
6 + Int mod |
8 + Int mod |
---|---|---|---|
Barbarian |
Cleric |
Bard |
Rogue |
Fighter |
Druid |
|
|
Paladin |
Monk |
||
Sorcerer |
Ranger |
||
|
Wizard |
|
I gave all of the PC classes the skills of Spot and Listen, since I feel they would all be taught such things, if for different reasons. I also added and subtracted the following class skills: Barbarian: +Balance Bard: +Intimidate, +Use Rope, -Swim Cleric: +Knowledge (all) Paladin: +Intimidate Sorcerer: +Bluff, +Diplomacy, -Knowledge (all), +Knowledge (arcana)
I decided to play a bit with the domains, since most of them do not have skill-related bonuses (and, frankly, some of them have blah domain abilities). I went through the domains in the PHB and Forgotten Realms main book; have a look at the chart below to see those domains I enhanced.
Domain |
Additional Class Skills |
Additional Benefits |
---|---|---|
Air |
Balance, Jump |
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding air (including flight and storms) |
Animal |
Ride, Handle Animal, Survival |
|
Charm |
Bluff |
|
Drow |
Bluff, Intimidate, Move Silently |
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding drow, and Sense Motive checks made against drow |
Dwarf |
Appraise |
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding dwarves, and Diplomacy checks when dealing with dwarves |
Earth |
|
+2 on Appraise, Craft, and Knowledge checks dealing with stone and metal |
Elf |
Perform |
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding elves, and Diplomacy checks when dealing with elves (excluding drow) |
Fire |
|
+2 on Craft checks when fire is used in the method of production, +2 on all Knowledge checks regarding fire, +2 on Perform checks when using fire. |
Gnome |
Appraise |
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding gnomes, and Diplomacy checks when dealing with gnomes and dwarves |
Good, Evil, Chaos, Law |
|
+2 Diplomacy with Outsiders that are the same alignment as your domain |
Halfling |
|
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding halflings, and Diplomacy checks when dealing with halflings |
Knowledge |
Decipher Script, Gather Information, Sense Motive, Speak Language |
|
Nobility |
|
+2 on Diplomacy checks made when dealing with nobles, +2 to Intimidate checks, and +2 on Knowledge checks involving the nobility |
Orc |
|
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding orcs, and Intimidate checks made against orcs |
Plant |
Survival |
+2 on Knowledge (nature), Survival, Search checks involving plants |
Protection |
|
+2 on skill checks made to protect someone else |
Rune |
Decipher Script |
+2 on Knowledge checks involving runes |
Scalykind |
|
+2 to Handle Animal checks with snakes, +2 Diplomacy to scaly creatures |
Strength |
Intimidate |
+2 on skill checks for feats of strength |
Suffering |
|
+2 on Bluff and Intimidate checks that aim to cause pain |
Trade |
Appraise |
+2 on Bluff and Diplomacy checks made when engaging in trade |
Travel |
Balance, Climb, Jump, Ride, Swim |
|
Trickery |
Bluff, Disguise, Escape Artist, Hide, Sleight of Hand |
|
Tyranny |
Bluff, Intimidate |
|
Undeath |
|
+2 on Knowledge checks regarding the undead |
War |
Intimidate |
+2 on Knowledge checks relating to war |
Water |
Swim |
+2 to Balance checks involving water, +2 Survival checks while at sea |
I had two paladin player characters in my game and both players expressed dissatisfaction with the particulars of the paladin class. There was very little for them to look forward to as their characters progressed and they didn't get much to begin with. One of my players expressed interest in a nonstandard mount so I allowed him to call a hippogriff without the need for a feat. But rather than simply handing out freebies on the fly, I decided to redo the paladin class to my satisfaction. I made most of my changes before 3.5 edition was released but my group has expressed more approval for my paladin than the others they've seen. My version can be found here.
I had issues with the published age categories right out the gate, mostly because I envisioned things differently. I ran my game off the chart below pretty much from the beginning. In a nutshell, dwarves reached new categories later, as did gnomes, and elves were much longer lived. Half-elves and halflings were only slightly longer lived and half-orcs remained the same.
Race |
Adult |
Middle-Aged |
Old |
Venerable |
Max Age |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Human |
15 |
40 |
60 |
70 |
100 |
Dwarf |
60 |
200 |
275 |
340 |
400 |
Elf |
200 |
600 |
800 |
900 |
1,000 |
Gnome |
40 |
140 |
220 |
270 |
350 |
Half-Elf |
20 |
70 |
110 |
130 |
200 |
Half-Orc |
10 |
30 |
45 |
60 |
75 |
Halfling |
20 |
70 |
85 |
100 |
150 |
I never used the favored class feature of 3X edition D&D. I saw the favored class mechanic as a form of racial stereotyping and its enforcement in the rules is something I found unnecessary. If I wanted to associate a class with a race, I did so without limiting player characters even further than they already were. In relation to this, I also did not dock experience from multiclassed characters with uneven levels. My players didn't tend to multiclass their characters very often in any case and I saw no reason to cheat them out of their hard-earned experience for expressing interest in a different class.
I always had my own take on the Leadership feat and my players enjoyed my elaborations. Three of them took the feat for their characters, and although it made extra work for me, I enjoyed tinkering with Leadership very much. With that in mind, you can peruse my feelings about Leadership here. You can examine how I modified and implemented Leadership here. Eventually, I completely revised the feat for my Drow of Porphyra chapter on the Xelusine.
I originally created these feats when third edition D&D was new and not many feats existed. I wanted to offer my players more options, so I created some feats that seemed of obvious utility (such as feats that raise attributes) and others based off of Vampire the Masquerade merits, which are the work of White Wolf Gaming Studios.
Benefit: A bard with this feat knows 2 extra spells per level than what is listed in the Spells Known chart for the bard. Thus, a first level bard would have 6 zero level spells, and a third level bard would have 8 zero level spells and 5 first level spells. This feat may be taken more than once.
Benefit: The character gains +1 to Charisma. A character may take this feat up to five times if desired.
Benefit: When attempting particularly risky actions, the character with this feat gets a +1 luck bonus to any one roll. The player must state which risky action they would like the bonus on ("I am using the Daredevil feat to jump the gorge"). This may be used for a total of 2 times per day.
Prerequisite(s): Charisma 10+.
Benefit: There is something about the character's face that people recognize and trust. The character gains +3 to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Gather Information checks involving strangers (or +3 to Bluff and Diplomacy in Pathfinder).
Benefit: The character gains +1 to Constitution. A character may take this feat up to five times if desired.
Benefit: The character milks everything they can from what they learn. The character has twice as many skill points to use for the level in question. If the character takes this feat at first level, instead of getting (__ + Intelligence modifier), the character will get skill points from this formula: ([__ + Intelligence modifier] x 4) x 2. If the character takes this feat at any other level, they will get skill points from this formula: (__ + Intelligence modifier) x 2. This feat may be taken more than once. Rogues and bards may not take the feat at any time.
Benefit: The character gains +1 to Wisdom. A character may take this feat up to five times if desired.
Benefit: The character gains +1 to Dexterity. A character may take this feat up to five times if desired.
Benefit: The character gains +1 to Strength. A character may take this feat up to five times if desired.
Prerequisite(s): Able to cast 4th level divine magic, in the employ of a deity (like the cleric or paladin).
Benefit: The character gains the use of a domain listed under the portfolio of their patron deity. This is an extra domain in addition to any already chosen. This feat may e taken only once.
Benefit: Whenever the character fails or botches a roll that would result in death, the character may reroll at a +1 bonus and use up one of their lives. If the character fails again, another life will be used up and they may reroll again. The character gets a total of nine lives to use up in such a fashion. This feat may only be taken once.
Benefit: The character gains +1 to Intelligence. A character may take this feat up to five times if desired.
Benefit: The character gains +2 to any three skills of the player's choice (or any two skills in Pathfinder). This feat may be taken multiple times.
Benefit: A sorcerer with this feat knows 2 extra spells per level than what is listed in the Spells Known chart. Thus, a first level sorcerer would have 6 zero level spells and 4 first level spells and a third level character would have 7 zero level spells and 5 first level spells. This feat may be taken more than once.
Benefit: This feat grants spell resistance to characters that would not gain it naturally. This grants spell resistance of 5 + character level, which continues to go up as character advances. This feat may be taken only once.
Benefit: This feat gives the character +3 to saving throws versus Command, Dominate, and other mind-affecting effects.
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