D&D House Rules

[Muffin Mage]

What house rules do you guys have? We have one that every DM should keep tucked up his sleeve.

The Marcus Rule of Detect Evil!
Detect Evil only detects evil actions, not people of evil alignment.

Here's how it works: Detect evil detects:
1. Evil actions, no matter who does them.
2. Undead.
3. Evil items of higher than 10th level caster requirement.
4. Evil spells greater than level 4.
5. Evil deities and their disciples (Not Clerics!)
6. Those under the effect of evil spells of any level, or those cast by a cleric of an evil god.

Use it. It makes life easier.

[Derek R.]

We have special rules for Crit Hits and misses. What do you guys do?

[Thinkmeat]

These are for 3rd edition:

Ø Heal and Harm have 1 full round casting time, and both allow a will save for half (current HP halved).
Ø When the subject of a hold spell is attacked, he gains another save at a +10 bonus (success makes the attack fail).
Ø Any death effect spell and the spell Polymorph Other grant the target a +10 bonus to her saving throw if she has at least as many HD as the caster has caster levels (bonuses to caster level never apply here).
Ø Cloudkill can pass through a Wall of Force.
Ø Summoned monsters cannot exit a Rope Trick space.
Ø Bladed Gauntlets no longer exist.
Ø The Ring of Nine Lives Saving no longer exists.
Ø Vorpal no longer exists.
Ø Clothing with a cost of 150gp or higher can be given armor enhancement bonuses and modifications just like masterwork armor. Treat the clothing as having a base AC of 0.

Ah, copy/paste makes it easy to copy stuff out of my .doc file of fun.

"How can an iron be a landlord?" - Marge (referring to Monopoly)

[ElseaAskew]

OOOoooOooOooOOOOoooooooo... house rules!

my fav house rule is the bend check!
bend is a skill that i made up, cha is the corisponding ability, and you get ranks in it equal to half your char level. when you want a spell to do somthing that it wasn't made to do, you roll a bend check.


ex: using "speak with animals" to talk to someone that doesn't speak common, or using "magic missle" to ignite a torch. or even if you want to use "prestidigitation" to make your horse look like a cellphone.
"mags! your mount is ringing!"

[Whitemage]

No matireal components needed for spells done by sorcerers. You wouldn't believe how many complaints I get about that..

[Derek R.]

Can you light a torch with Magic Missle? I thought it was made of force not fire.

[Metacide]

we also use the no material components needed rule. Multi-classing exp penalties are decided upon per player, if we like that player, then no exp penalty otherwise we might crank it up a bit. :)

[ElseaAskew]

Can you light a torch with Magic Missle? I thought it was made of force not fire.

that's why it requires a bend check. thus bending the rules of a pre-existing spell

[Kaldar]

Theoretically a magic missile itself would emit light though. Since it IS visible energy...

[Dante]

Theoretically a magic missile itself would emit light though. Since it IS visible energy...

But light isn't enough, unless you're talking Sunfire-type light generation.

[Neverwhere]

Correct. MM would not light a torch, but I can understand the "bend" rule. Good idea on that one, Ill have to add it into my consideration.

As for my personal house rules:

1. Aruge with the DM and bad things happen. (everyone has this rule)
2. Death happens. Live with it. Im not going to change my rolls just because your noob ass got wasted ... again ...
3. Coup de gra requires an attack roll (touch or flat footed, whichever is lower). I dont care if he is asleep, you can still, technically speaking, miss.
4. No such thing as 3x crit = insta kill. Otherwise you could get some weighted dice and go dragon slaying at level 1. Or, a level 40 guy could get insta gibbed by a level 1 Goblin Wench (I swear this never happened to me....)
5. Vorpal gone.
7. Components are ... dumb ... So I've removed them. :D
8. A lawful good character can still kill an innocent. It requires a fort save though, or s/he loses two HD. Fort save is based upon just how "lawful good" this character is supposed to be. I.E. a level 20 Paladin killing an innocent bystander (or stealing/other malicious acts) would be a save of about 40. Its just a bad idea to do it.
9. Good characters traveling with evil characters is a bad thing. I would expect to see my players going at it, as their characters would hate the hell out of the others.
10. Mt. Dew is the basis for all D&D sessions. :D

Oh, there are more, but I cant think of any atm. I really should write these down...

[Metacide]

the only other house rule we have is that u cannot die from massive damgage. this is for the same reason as rule #4 on neverwhere's post above. there are probably others that i just take for granted but i cant think of them right now.

[seraph_cherry]

I like the comment on arguing with dm results in death, and the idea of evil and god, they kill each other or shold if they really are good.

Our house rules are
1:cann have platinium lances
2:coll horses with names and glasses some how end up dead
3 no 1st level fighter w/ spirited charge
4 we all kill DM if he pull stupid thing about us not casting spell when we id and all agree
5 no runes of healing and other cheap items
6: Girls get better stuff than others(my rule)

[Neverwhere]

Every girl I've played with would be offended by that rule...

[Dante]

Every girl I've played with would be offended by that rule...

Now why wouldn't they like better swag? Or is it some feminist thing?

[Neverwhere]

I think its more of the fact that they are being played as 'girls' not as gamers. Would you like to be treated like that? I know I would rather work for my bread than have it handed out. (somedays that is.. :D) They are just headstrong and would complain to all hell if they got free handouts.

[Dante]

I think its more of the fact that they are being played as 'girls' not as gamers. Would you like to be treated like that? I know I would rather work for my bread than have it handed out. (somedays that is.. :D) They are just headstrong and would complain to all hell if they got free handouts.

Okay, I got it. Though I wonder if you have seen any DMs that treat girl gamers nicer than the others (either because they like them or because they want them to stay)?

[Neverwhere]

Well, the girls I play with are strong willed specimins of their species :D They wont accept anything less than equal treatment, nor anything more. And yes, I have seen a DM like that. How do you think we found that out? :P

[Dante]

Well, the girls I play with are strong willed specimins of their species :D They wont accept anything less than equal treatment, nor anything more. And yes, I have seen a DM like that. How do you think we found that out? :P

The hard way?

I guess you're lucky to have D&D girl gamers. Where I come from, most of the girls are materialistic/angsty/airheaded/all of the above. The art of roleplaying is never taken seriously...

[Neverwhere]

Its definatly an acquired taste. Sweet talk them into it for a few times, until they begin to ask you when the next session is taking place. This took us about 3 months of actual gaming, and believe me, its not easy. You have to make the gaming situation intreaging to them, not all H&S stuff. Riddles, puzzles, games, H&S. Only a perfect blend will do.

[Dante]

Its definatly an acquired taste. Sweet talk them into it for a few times, until they begin to ask you when the next session is taking place. This took us about 3 months of actual gaming, and believe me, its not easy. You have to make the gaming situation intreaging to them, not all H&S stuff. Riddles, puzzles, games, H&S. Only a perfect blend will do.

Riddles and Puzzles I understand, but games? I suddenly thought of the snowboarding minigame from FF7...

[Neverwhere]

... not quite .. I mean games as in what appeal to them IRL. For instance we had one girl who was into sewing so the DM made up something where the winner of a sewing contest got something. The girl was encouraged to go home and actually make the object she would enter, and the guys (yes, we actually did this) went home and "made" our own versions of something to enter. I was a close second! :D

[Dante]

... not quite .. I mean games as in what appeal to them IRL. For instance we had one girl who was into sewing so the DM made up something where the winner of a sewing contest got something. The girl was encouraged to go home and actually make the object she would enter, and the guys (yes, we actually did this) went home and "made" our own versions of something to enter. I was a close second! :D

Oh, I see. You guys must have been very close...

[Neverwhere]

Oh, it came down to a coin toss... I swear Im that good ... :rolleyes: Still, you cant expect people who otherwise wouldnt give RPG's the time of day to just go along with it. There needs to be some sort of incentive for them to come. With us it just happened to be fun things.

[Dante]

I take it you're in uni now, right?

(BTW happy 19th birthday!)

[Neverwhere]

Yeah, Im at college right now, though there is nobody hear. Its Thanksgiving break and Im still working so I dont get to go home yet. Puuh. Thanks btw!

[Dante]

Yeah, Im at college right now, though there is nobody hear. Its Thanksgiving break and Im still working so I dont get to go home yet. Puuh. Thanks btw!

No problem. I'm on a public holiday myself (Malay New Year, they get to break their month long fast, good for them), thouhg my day job's kind of annoying. I don't get to use the Net as often as I'd like, though.