Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
- Vardaen
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Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
I have decided to try and collect my various house rules for my d20 style games in one nice location. Many of these rules are already in place, and are collected from other threads. Each house rule will apply to different systems, but all of them will be for d20 games (D&D 3.5, PFRPG and Warcraft RPG). House rule for WH40K and L5R will remain in their relevant OOC forums or perhaps in another thread in this forum. Since I do have so many d20 games, I think its best to collect all the rules here that overlap.
WoW continues to have its house rule thread since that system is considerably different from some of the other d20 games, and there is no need to clutter this area with all those changes. However some of these rules will pertain to WoW as well.
War Mill - WoW House Rule Thread
Many previous house rules found in other threads in this forum are dated, or old, and have fallen by the way side. Only rules found in this thread are still being honored by me in my d20 games.
You can also download the most recent character sheets, for all of my games, from the following location:
Vardaen's Character Sheets
You can also download the fonts I use for character sheets, combat tokens and other neat fots in my font store here:
Vardaen's Fonts
WoW continues to have its house rule thread since that system is considerably different from some of the other d20 games, and there is no need to clutter this area with all those changes. However some of these rules will pertain to WoW as well.
War Mill - WoW House Rule Thread
Many previous house rules found in other threads in this forum are dated, or old, and have fallen by the way side. Only rules found in this thread are still being honored by me in my d20 games.
You can also download the most recent character sheets, for all of my games, from the following location:
Vardaen's Character Sheets
You can also download the fonts I use for character sheets, combat tokens and other neat fots in my font store here:
Vardaen's Fonts
Last edited by Vardaen on Tue Apr 12, 2011 7:10 pm, edited 4 times 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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Dodge Feat Update
Games: 3.5, WoW
This change effectively turns the dodge feat into the Pathfinder RPG version of the feat. I make this change because of the nature of PbP, and to make the spending of a feat, already scarce as they are, worth a little bit more. (Character's in my current games updated.)
Games: 3.5, WoW
"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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Group Stealth/Perception Checks
Games: 3.5, Pathfinder, WoW
I quote from a PM from Trogdor
Games: 3.5, Pathfinder, WoW
I quote from a PM from Trogdor
I shall begin to use this method for setting ambush, using group stealth checks, and the like when a party attempts to hide as a whole group.Any time you require the entire group to make successful Stealth checks you're basically saying that the group will be discovered. Even assuming that everyone has a halfway decent Stealth check (which we know isn't the case), the odds that at least one person will roll poorly is extremely large. For example, with six people rolling, there's an 82% chance that at least one will roll a 5 or under. In fact, with four people rolling, there's a better than one-in-four chance (26%) that at least one person will roll a "1".
Add to the mix that they only have to make one of multiple rolls, and it gets even worse. Although if only one person were making a Perception check, the chance of rolling a 6+ is only 75%, it jumps all the way up to 94% when two of them get to make the roll.
Basically having a roll off between two groups where the first group takes the worst roll (Stealth) and the second group takes the best roll (Perception) basically means that the group that takes the worst roll loses an overwhelmingly large number of times.
FWIW, the way I tend to do things if people are trying to hide as a group is to pick the best Perception bonus in the perceiving group and the worst Stealth bonus in the hiding group. Everyone else can make an Aid Another check to help in the respective rolls. That has the benefit of making it likely that a group with a bad low Stealth roll will be found, but not guaranteed.
Say you have Stealth checks of +2, +4, +4. +7, +10, and +13, and Perception checks of +6 and +6.
You'd have a base +6 Perception check against a +2 Stealth check. The Stealth check would get probably 3 successful Aids, and the Perception check might get 1. That would give a +8 versus a +8, even up. That you'd succeed or fail. And that seems to me more reasonable odds for a game that 95/5.
"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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Combat Action
Games: 3.5, Pathfinder, WoW
Aiming: A character may aim with a bow or crossbow at an enemy who is within 30ft in order to gain a bonus to strike that foe.
Game Mechanics: Aiming is a full round action. A character must be able to see its target and study it, via aiming with a crossbow or bow for 1 full round. On the characters next round action they may shoot at the target to gain a +2 bonus to hit on that attack only. Any additonal attacks are made as normal. This rule does not work with hurled or slung weapons. If the target of the aim moves out of line of sight the aim is broken, even if they return to line of sight later on.
Games: 3.5, Pathfinder, WoW
Aiming: A character may aim with a bow or crossbow at an enemy who is within 30ft in order to gain a bonus to strike that foe.
Game Mechanics: Aiming is a full round action. A character must be able to see its target and study it, via aiming with a crossbow or bow for 1 full round. On the characters next round action they may shoot at the target to gain a +2 bonus to hit on that attack only. Any additonal attacks are made as normal. This rule does not work with hurled or slung weapons. If the target of the aim moves out of line of sight the aim is broken, even if they return to line of sight later on.
Last edited by Vardaen on Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:56 pm, 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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Fumble Rules
Games: 3.5 Pathfinder, WoW
Fumble
When a character rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll. Denoted in the combat spoiler as "1" they have fumbled their attack. A second roll is made to check the severity of the fumble, similar to confirm a critical roll. If the Fumble Confirmation roll would normally be a hit, the attack is just an embarassing miss. If the confirmation roll would be a miss, then the character has fumbled and looses the remainder of their attacks for the round, and may suffer other penalties, becoming flat footed, suffering attack penalties next round, dropping a weapon, falling prone etc. I shall draw a random card from the Cirtical Fumble Deck published by Paizo.
Should the confirmation roll be another natural "1" then they have Critically Fumbled and do something seriously bad, such as break their weapon, hit an ally, stun themselves, or hit themselves, or any combintation of terrible things along with drawing a Fumble card from the deck.
Games: 3.5 Pathfinder, WoW
Fumble
When a character rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll. Denoted in the combat spoiler as "1" they have fumbled their attack. A second roll is made to check the severity of the fumble, similar to confirm a critical roll. If the Fumble Confirmation roll would normally be a hit, the attack is just an embarassing miss. If the confirmation roll would be a miss, then the character has fumbled and looses the remainder of their attacks for the round, and may suffer other penalties, becoming flat footed, suffering attack penalties next round, dropping a weapon, falling prone etc. I shall draw a random card from the Cirtical Fumble Deck published by Paizo.
Should the confirmation roll be another natural "1" then they have Critically Fumbled and do something seriously bad, such as break their weapon, hit an ally, stun themselves, or hit themselves, or any combintation of terrible things along with drawing a Fumble card from the deck.
Last edited by Vardaen on Mon May 27, 2013 6:49 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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Heal Skill Change
Games: 3.5, WoW
Heal Skill Additional Use (previous Xcrawl style rule no longer in use by me)
Treat Deadly Wounds* DC 20, Time 1 Hour
When treating deadly wounds, you can restore hit points to a damaged creature. Treating deadly wounds restores 1 hit point per level of the creature. If you exceed the DC by 5 or more, add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to this amount. A creature can only benefit from its deadly wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day.
*You must expend two uses from a healer's kit to perform this task.
You take a -2 penalty on your Heal skill check for each use from the healer's kit that you lack.
Games: 3.5, WoW
Heal Skill Additional Use (previous Xcrawl style rule no longer in use by me)
Treat Deadly Wounds* DC 20, Time 1 Hour
When treating deadly wounds, you can restore hit points to a damaged creature. Treating deadly wounds restores 1 hit point per level of the creature. If you exceed the DC by 5 or more, add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to this amount. A creature can only benefit from its deadly wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day.
*You must expend two uses from a healer's kit to perform this task.
You take a -2 penalty on your Heal skill check for each use from the healer's kit that you lack.
Last edited by Vardaen on Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:57 pm, 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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Sneak Attack Class Ability
Games: 3.5 WoW
Taken From Pathfinder:
Games: 3.5, WoW
The same update applies to these abilities, but the situation in which they apply does not change. The important factor for them is that you can now precise attack far more foes as writen above.
Games: 3.5 WoW
Taken From Pathfinder:
Sudden Strike, Skirmish Class AbilitiesIf a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.
The rogue's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.
With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (like a sap, whip, or an unarmed strike), a rogue can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual '€"4 penalty.
The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment.
Clarification: Incorporeal creatures, oozes, swarms, and elementals (air/earth/fire/water) cannot be sneak attacked [source]. It also appears that swarms can not be sneak attacked.
Games: 3.5, WoW
The same update applies to these abilities, but the situation in which they apply does not change. The important factor for them is that you can now precise attack far more foes as writen above.
"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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Summon Monster Spell List
Games: Pathfinder
With the arrival of the Pathfinder Beastiary 2 book, I'm updating the Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally spell lists with a few new creatures. This list will remain an ongoing work as characters in my Pathfinder games level up and the need to update continues.
The official word on this from Paizo is as follows:
[/align]
* This creature is summoned with the celestial template if you are good, the entropic template if you are chaotic, the fiendish template if you are evil, or the resolute template if you are lawful; you may choose any if you are neutral.
Games: Pathfinder
With the arrival of the Pathfinder Beastiary 2 book, I'm updating the Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally spell lists with a few new creatures. This list will remain an ongoing work as characters in my Pathfinder games level up and the need to update continues.
The official word on this from Paizo is as follows:
James Jacobs wrote:
We really just don't want to bloat the summon monster tables with too many choices, honestly. It's already kinda hard to choose a monster; making there be TOO many choices spread across TOO many books just leads to option paralysis in game and that's not good.
Adding new monsters to the summon monster lists is a great house rule. And we add a few here and there in the deity articles we print every four volumes in Pathifnder. But beyond that... we are unlikely to officially expand the summon spells with new Bestairies. Just not a direction we're interested in going.
Creature | Summon Nature's Ally ? | Summon Monster ? |
Baboon | I | I * |
Badger | I | I * |
Dire Badger | III | III * |
* This creature is summoned with the celestial template if you are good, the entropic template if you are chaotic, the fiendish template if you are evil, or the resolute template if you are lawful; you may choose any if you are neutral.
"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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
Standard VGen Rules
These rules are used in just about every Pathfinder game I run. It makes for an epic level character.
Stats: Total Stats add up to 88 point pre-racial bonuses(8 on each +40) (2 18s Total Max)
Race: Ten Apply Racial Bonuses
Traits: 2 Traits Allows (no two of the same type)
Campaign Trait: 1 Campaign Trait (only for Pathfinder Adventure Paths)
Starting Gold: Average or for High Levels
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability- ... r-creation
Wealth for High Level: Because most games don't see the same wealth level as you might expect, characters at higher than 2nd level should take Wealth By Level -1 (New 6th level characters start at 5th level wealth)
Starting Hit Points: Max
Advanced Hit Points: 1/2 Die + 1 (ie Rogue 1d8 = 5 Points)
Background Skills: Now using Background Skills
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/background-skills/
Drawbacks: Two Options you have to pick which one. Pathfinder for more traits, or Tome of Secrets for skill points.
(Adamantine Games 3rd Party - Tome of Secrets)
In general 1 Drawback is fine, seek GM approval for 2 or more.
Or if you like you can use the PF Drawback System on the SRD here:
http://d20pfsrd.opengamingnetwork.com/traits/drawbacks/
Drawbacks
Each drawback below is worth 4 skill ranks.
Some drawbacks have prerequisites, including other drawbacks. Players may spend these points on their character sheet however they wish, but they must still abide by the usual skill rank limitations. Unlike feats, players may only select drawbacks at first level, although the Game Master may grant a new drawback to an existing character if he wishes. Any drawbacks gained during play will grant the appropriate amount of
skill points to the character upon reaching next level (GMs may waive this and grant the skill points immediately if desired or if the PC has a particularly long wait until he reaches next level).
There is no set amount of drawbacks that a PC can take, although GMs should probably limit the number of drawbacks to two or three.
These rules are used in just about every Pathfinder game I run. It makes for an epic level character.
Stats: Total Stats add up to 88 point pre-racial bonuses(8 on each +40) (2 18s Total Max)
Race: Ten Apply Racial Bonuses
Traits: 2 Traits Allows (no two of the same type)
Campaign Trait: 1 Campaign Trait (only for Pathfinder Adventure Paths)
Starting Gold: Average or for High Levels
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability- ... r-creation
Wealth for High Level: Because most games don't see the same wealth level as you might expect, characters at higher than 2nd level should take Wealth By Level -1 (New 6th level characters start at 5th level wealth)
Starting Hit Points: Max
Advanced Hit Points: 1/2 Die + 1 (ie Rogue 1d8 = 5 Points)
Background Skills: Now using Background Skills
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/background-skills/
Drawbacks: Two Options you have to pick which one. Pathfinder for more traits, or Tome of Secrets for skill points.
(Adamantine Games 3rd Party - Tome of Secrets)
In general 1 Drawback is fine, seek GM approval for 2 or more.
Or if you like you can use the PF Drawback System on the SRD here:
http://d20pfsrd.opengamingnetwork.com/traits/drawbacks/
Drawbacks
Each drawback below is worth 4 skill ranks.
Some drawbacks have prerequisites, including other drawbacks. Players may spend these points on their character sheet however they wish, but they must still abide by the usual skill rank limitations. Unlike feats, players may only select drawbacks at first level, although the Game Master may grant a new drawback to an existing character if he wishes. Any drawbacks gained during play will grant the appropriate amount of
skill points to the character upon reaching next level (GMs may waive this and grant the skill points immediately if desired or if the PC has a particularly long wait until he reaches next level).
There is no set amount of drawbacks that a PC can take, although GMs should probably limit the number of drawbacks to two or three.
Last edited by Vardaen on Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:59 pm, edited 3 times 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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Vardaen
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Re: Vardaen's House Rule Thread - d20
I have updated the Pathfinder Excel Sheet to a new version (v2b21)
This sheet fixes issues with stacking bonuses from the OnTheFly sheet, and it fully integrates the Magic Item table on the Equipment Sheet, it also takes into account Finesse Weapons for CMB, and a few minor formatting issues here and there.
I highly suggest you download this sheet, and start using it for all your PF guys. Uploading it new to Google Docs will also make the drop down boxes work now as well.
http://www.dicefellowship.org/~vardaen/ ... v2b21.xlsx
Or if you want I will simply share a copy of it on Gdocs with you that you can set up as a blank.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... utput=html
This sheet fixes issues with stacking bonuses from the OnTheFly sheet, and it fully integrates the Magic Item table on the Equipment Sheet, it also takes into account Finesse Weapons for CMB, and a few minor formatting issues here and there.
I highly suggest you download this sheet, and start using it for all your PF guys. Uploading it new to Google Docs will also make the drop down boxes work now as well.
http://www.dicefellowship.org/~vardaen/ ... v2b21.xlsx
Or if you want I will simply share a copy of it on Gdocs with you that you can set up as a blank.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... utput=html
"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
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring