AE House Rules
From AkashicRecord
~-The intent for now is to be one master article with a quick list of houserules & (if someone other than myself is willing to write it) advice about picking & choosing houserules with caution, less is more, yadayadayada. Having said that, if you wish to write your own separate article about the houserules you use, a link to said article can be inserted in the master article on houserules. Feel free to add a category if your houserule doesn't fit properly into one already listed.-~
~-Please do not duplicate or explain the function of any rule that is not designated as Open Content, whether it be the original rule or the houserule replacing the original rule if it comes from a published source. Instead, give book titles & page numbers (even if you personally feel it should fall under Fair Use).-~
Contents |
[edit] Abilities
[edit] Point Buy
There are several variations on point buy, but what the group I play in uses for our AE games is on page 169 of the DMG. The only difference is we use 32 point builds.
~--Prince of Fire and Thunder-~
[edit] Races
[edit] The Sibeccai/Litorian Ability Score Penalty Switch
- Litorians have a -2 racial penalty to their Intelligence scores & do not have a racial penalty to their Wisdom scores.
- Sibeccai have a -2 racial penalty to their Wisdom scores & do not have a racial penalty to their Intelligence scores.
This houserule has been in use in many campaigns pretty much ever since Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed first hit the shelves back at the end of July '03. The reason for this is based upon the flavor text for these races, the classes they naturally gravitate to, & the skills these races typically excel at.
[edit] Classes
New classes:
[edit] Hit points
[edit] Static Hit Point Gain
At first level, the character gets the full hit points for their die plus Constitution modifier as usual. At all other levels, rather than rolling their hit die, they gain a static number (see table below). The character's Constitution modifier is added to this static number.
| Hit Die | Points Gained |
|---|---|
| d6 | 4 |
| d8 | 5 |
| d10 | 6 |
| d12 | 7 |
~--Prince of Fire and Thunder-~
[edit] Semi random
| Hit Die | Points +Roll |
|---|---|
| d6 | 2+ 1d3 |
| d8 | 4+ 1d4 |
| d10 | 5+ 1d5 |
| d12 | 6+1d6 |
Yes, this means that the average hit points are higher. Hit them harder !
--Chacal 16:30, 10 June 2008 (CEST)
[edit] Two Chances for Hit Point Gain
First level is full hit points as granted by the rules, next levels you roll a die. If you roll something you believe is low, you get another roll but you then must pick whatever the die says. Adds a bit of excitement to the hit point rolling process.
[edit] Avoiding the Really Low Scores
When rolling for hp every level you get minimum half (rounded down) before appyling Constitution modifier. Thus if your Hit Die was d6 your minimum Hit Point gain would be 3 + CON
-AxeMurder
[edit] Skills
[edit] Skill points
Characters get 4 additional skill points at first level and 1 additional skill point each level. These bonus skill points can only be allocated to "background" skills: speak languages, knowledges (but not runic or magic), crafts and perform.
-Chacal
[edit] Feats & Talents
[edit] Improve Health
If the character has a constitution score which results in a negative modifier, the character can use a feat to raise his constitution score 1 point. This feat can be taken multiple times with cumulative effects. This feat can never raise the constitution score above 10.
[edit] Finite Wardancing
Intent: To prevent Giants with Chi-Julud from dropping in and out every 14 minutes with general impunity, while still allowing multiple uses per day.
Original Rules: The Wardancer starts suffering penalties if she remains in Chi-Julud for 15 minutes or longer, but may freely drop out at any time. Initiating Chi-Julud always requires one full round of Concentration and a successful DC15 check.
Houserule: The Concentration DC for every additional initiation of Chi-Julud past the first within a single day (since the last full night's rest) increases by a cumulative +2 modifier.
[edit] Alternate class progression
[edit] Point buy progression
The short version: A warhammer-like progression fitted into D20 levels
How it works XP given to Pcs are translated into progression points (each level is 40 points). The Pcs invest their Progression points to acquire the abilities that are accessible in their next class level When they get all the abilities of the class level, they actually level up and get the character level dependent abilities (feats every third level, attribute raises ...) then decide what they'll do next. The DM might let PCs raise in more than one class at the same time, provided they have bought half or two-third of a level before starting another one in another class.
Goals
- Finer grained progression
- A little bit of flexibility
- Augments more tied to the campaign if possible
- Compatibility with the xp system
- Burden at full-level up only
- No changes in classes
Bookkeeping cost' Players have to decide which class they will take their next level in. The DM has to use this information to assign points to these next levels (Just one at a time, it only takes a few minutes and it's reusable /The DM gives the progression to the pcs so they can keep track of their advancement
Additional remark on a house rule
HP randomness is reduced so it's easier to design hp progression. If a more random method is used, make the PC roll before distributing them into the progression.
The tables Fine Grained Progression for AE Classes
[edit] Equipment & Special Materials
[edit] Exploding Arrow Damage
If the player rolls the maximum on a die for the damage of an arrow strike, they may re-roll the die and add the result to their damage. For example, a Giant archer, rolling 2d6 for damage rolls a 10 (a 6 and a 4), he would then be able to re-roll the 6 and add the result to his damage for that shot. I capped this at 1 re-roll per die (the extra damage doesn't in turn explode) because I didn't want this to overshadow a critical strike by the ranged weapon. The rule was first added to address the disparity in damage output between archers and melee fighters, and to simulate the effect of a well placed arrow.
[edit] Weapon Size & Reach
The rules for creating weapons of different sizes is in a sidebar on page 158. Add the following:
Any reach weapon increased in size still adds 5 feet to the reach of the wielder. Any reach weapon reduced in size is no longer considered a reach weapon.
Alternatively, if you are using 3.5 weapon rules, simply do not allow any weapon intended for Tiny or smaller wielders to be a reach weapon.
~--Prince of Fire and Thunder-~
[edit] Spells
Sorcerous Blast seems clearly superior to several other 3rd lvl spells, it is much less ridiculous at 4th level.
Chains of Vengeance while clearly creating a grapple effect ignores the existing grapple rules in favour of it's own nearly impossible to escape from effect. So Chains of Vengeance causes the target to become grappled instead of helpless and only deals 1d6 fire damage a round. DC to escape Grapple: 14 + Spell DC Mod (Takes 10 on grapple +4 from size) Heightened it goes back to it's normal 2d6 damage and it grapples as though it were huge.
-AxeMurder
[edit] Magic Items
Most Arms and Armour in my game includes small magical effects in addition to their normal effects. Some beneficial and some baneful. For simplicities sake they don't effect the cost of the item and are not selectable by players. They are addition effects generated by the DM based on flavour. Some samples follow:
| Effect name | Weapons | Armour |
|---|---|---|
| Baneful | Cannot be drawn as part of a move Deals one less damage against water creatures | Armour provides 1 less AC if unaware of incoming attack. -1 Initiative |
| Beneficial | Deals 1 Elemental damage on a critical hit. Range increases by 5 feet (ranged only) | Chance to Stabilize increases by 10% +1 Circumstance bonus to Concentration |
While creating these I was much more careful in the power level of the beneficial effects. The baneful armour ones probably being the worst.
-AxeMurder
