House Rules

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sidewinder102
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Post by sidewinder102 » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:24 am

lol/10

Ofcourse.. I/you/any good DM could come up with some kind of system to determine what dex should control and what str should control and how they do it.. But do you want to do that? It would probably unbalance the game too. Those meat shields need to have all the combat advantages they can get.

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Vardaen
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Action Point Variants/Critical Hits Variant

Post by Vardaen » Sat Sep 03, 2005 6:34 pm

I'm going to try out some variant Action Point Rules. These rules are my own variants on other rules found in the Swashbuckling Adventure's d20 Handbook. Actions Points are themselves a variant rule, used in Eberron and other games. However these rules also work with Cirtical Hits.

Called Shots:

Mechanics: Spend 1 Action Point (before rolling for Attack) if the attack hits preform one of the various Called Shots. Each called shot has it own pre-requisites.

These Called Shots also work if a character rolls a Critical Hit. The various actions can be taken instead of rolling for normal Ciritical Hit Damge as long as the character meets the prerequisites.

All of these effects have the option to be healed. Either with a spell effect that restores more than 1 point of damage, or by a Full Round Healing Check. Some effects may have alternate requirements for healing.

Called Shot to the Arm
You land a blow against your opponent's arm, which will render it useless.
Prequisite: Base Attack Bonus 2+.
Effect: +1d4 points of dmage. -4 penalty to all checks and attack rolls made with the wounded arm for 1d6 rounds unless healed. (Heal DC 20). The opponent drops anything held in that arm and is considered immediately disarmed.
Special: You may not target an arm equiped with a shield.

Called Shot to the Eye
You land a strike against the opponent's eye or near the eye which will either destroy it, or fill it with so much blood that he is essentially blind for the time being.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus 10+. Costs 2 Action Points
Effect: +1d6 points of dmage. -4 penalty to all attack rolls and Reflex saves. -10ft from Base Speed. - 4 penalty to all Dexterity based checks. All effects (except bonus damage) last for 1d6 hurs unless healed. (Heal DC 25, Ten Minutes Time).
Special: If an opponent suffers two called shots to the eye, the opponent is essentially blinded. After the 1d6 hours have elasps, the opponent must make a Fortitude Save (DC 15) to return his eyesight to normal. If the roll fails the opponent loses the use of his eye unless a regeneration spell or similar effect is applied.

Called Shot to the Groin
You land the famous "scoundrel's choice" strike.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus 2+.
Effect: the opponent is staggered and may only take partial actions fr 1d6 rounds, unless healed. (Heal DC 20)

Called Shot to the Gut
You land a shot to the gut that will kill a man slowly over a long period of time.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus 4+.
Effect: +1d4 points of damage and the opponent takes an additonal 1d2 points of damage every half-hur for 5d6 hours unless healed. (Heal DC 20, Ten Minutes Time)

Called Shot to the Head
You land a stunning blow on top of the opponent's heaad.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus 8+. 2 Action Points.
Effect: +1d4 points of damage. Opponent is stunned and flat-footed for 1d4 rounds. Anyone attacking the opponent will recieve a +2 circumtance bonus to their attack.

Called Shot to the Throat
You land a potentially fatal blow to yur opponent's throat, either crushing the windpipe, or cutting one of the major blood vessels.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus 12+. 2 Action Points.
Effect: +1d6 points of damage. Opponent is stunned and flat footed. Furthermore the opponent must make a Fort save (DC equal to your Strength or Dexterity score, whichever modifier you are adding to your attack roll) or begin suffering the effects of drawoning (suffocation in the DMG).

Called Shot to the Leg
You land a blow against your opponent's leg that will cripple his movement.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus 2+.
Effect: +1d4 points of damage. Base speed is halved (round to nearest 5ft increment up). -4 penalty to all Climb, Jump, Tumble and Swim checks. All effects (except bonus damage) last for 1d6 hours unless healed. (Heal DC 20)
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Bitom
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Post by Bitom » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:14 pm

Kakita_Gokumoro wrote:Of course, I've never understood how being hugely muscular had anything to do with the accuracy of one's strikes in the first place... :roll:
Actually, this is pretty simple, and a fact that most people (Particularly gamers) Don't like to admit to. Strength is the single biggest factor in deciding who wins a fight in the real world. Yes... the 40 pound expert martial artist can take out the gorilla... but if the gorilla had equal training, he'd win.

But back to systems: In D&D Armor reduces chance to hit instead of damage, and the stronger you are, the better able to beat through armor you are.

In Most Games, Dex is the godly stat that every character has to have lots of, and D&D has found a way around that... I don't particularly like the system, but I have to respect that aspect of it.

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Re: House Rules

Post by od » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:18 am

Gosh, I can't begin to think of what the reference is but there is some book somewhere that has a second weapon finese feat (requires the first one and like +6 attack bonus I think) that lets you use your dex for damage instead of strength..

The one reason that I'd go for that instead of just letting the one feat do it is because Dex already is used by many skills, and to up your AC. If one feat lets your Dex do both things you really don't need strength for anything (unless your DM uses carrying capacity) and it makes Dex hugely powerful for your character.

It may be book of exalted deeds...that's the one with feats that let you use wisdom as your attack bonus.

oD

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Shurijo
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Re: House Rules

Post by Shurijo » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:19 am

What is the house rule with "bag of holding" type items (Handy Haversack, etc.) and living things, plants, food, etc.?

Do living creatures and plants die from lack of Oxygen? Do fruit rot or preserve? I know you can put a Warforged (Eberron race) in a bag of holding (at least the Eberron Game Designer does in his novel) since they don't breath, but what are the other rules for it?

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Re: House Rules

Post by Geist » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:40 pm

*Wall fits his head inside a bag of holding, just to see what it's like*

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Bitom
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Re: House Rules

Post by Bitom » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:49 pm

Shurijo wrote:What is the house rule with "bag of holding" type items (Handy Haversack, etc.) and living things, plants, food, etc.?
I've seen two houserules on this, depending on the whim of the GM.

1: Living things in an extradimensional space go into suspended animation and notice no time, but can be drawn back out again fine. (This does not seem to be supported, since nobody in any D&D book I'm aware of has pulled a horde of ninjas out of their deeppockets spell.)

2: Living things die in there. No explanation. They just die. If it were lack of oxygen, then you could argue that the amount of volume of the inside space could be filled with air. "They die," grumps the GM. "Don't bother me."

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Shurijo
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Re: House Rules

Post by Shurijo » Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:55 am

Geist wrote:*Wall fits his head inside a bag of holding, just to see what it's like*
In the novel, an dragonmarked artificer (House Cannith) shrinks 2 forges and then stuffs them in her bag of holding - along with other warforged pieces/parts/limbs (whatever you'd call it). :)

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Re: House Rules

Post by Geist » Wed Oct 12, 2005 6:52 pm

Shurijo wrote:In the novel, an dragonmarked artificer (House Cannith) shrinks 2 forges and then stuffs them in her bag of holding - along with other warforged pieces/parts/limbs (whatever you'd call it). :)
That's cool. I haven't read the novel.

(But as a warforged player... "Eeeeeeewwww!")
:)

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Vardaen
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Re: House Rules

Post by Vardaen » Sat Oct 29, 2005 6:32 pm

***SPOILERS***

In the Eberron Module, Whispers of the Vampire Blade...
The party is at one point on a crashing Air Ship and needs to find a way to survive the crash. One of the options for surviving the crash is to climb into the extradimentional footlocker that is on the ship. After the crash, the footlocker is fine, the group takes no damage and can climb out it. In fact the Vampire they are chasing was hiding in this footlocker to avoid scyring and detection spells (he however is undead and doesn't breath either).
I am of the mind you can go into an extradimentional space and survive for a period of time. Eventually you would run out of breathable air however, or need food and water.

As for bags of holding, etc, the opening of a bag or haversack is simply too small for a small or medium sized creature to climb into. Most bags tell you howmuch they can hold as well, and so you couldn't stuff a dragon into a bag as the extra diamentional space isn't that extradimentional.

In my games, I would expect players to not to try and climb into bags of holding, and other small containers, but larger or specially made items they would be able too.
Last edited by Vardaen on Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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