Ptolus:HouseRules
From RainGamersWiki
Contents |
House Rules for the Ptolus campaign
General
- If you find a spell, prestige class, feat, skill, maneuver, weapon, etc. in a printed source and you would like to use it, show it to me first and we'll see if it fits the world of Ptolus. Most likely it will; it's a big, strange world out there.
- If any rule takes more than 30 seconds to look up at the table, a spot ruling will be agreed upon for the rest of the session, and I'll make a note to research the rule between sessions and post the results.
Character Creation
- Races are as per the Ptolus book.
- Classes are as per the core classes, plus all prestige classes available in the Ptolus book, the DMG, Unearthed Arcana, etc.
- Paladins are associated directly with a deity, a church or religion (such as Lothianism), or a religious order of knights.
- A paladin's mount does not appear and vanish like some holy pokemon. Summoning it means calling it from a distance, a la Shadowfax. It still must traverse the distance, although it can sprint without tiring. It will always be at least a celestial-touched creature if not celestial itself.
- Rolling stats:
- Start with a score of 6 in each stat
- Roll 12d6 and assign 2d6 to each stat to add to the 6
- You may lower one stat at 10 or below by up to 2 points
- Finally, for each stat below 10, convert points below 10 into extra skill points or two such points into a +1 to any stat of 10 or higher.
- All characters receive an extra 2 skill points at each level (including first).
- All characters may select one cross-class skill to become a class skill, to represent a hobby or side interest. Fighters can select two. They have enough problems.
- Please don't be Evil. If you want to play a mole of some kind that will betray the party at some point, bring it up and let's have everyone buy into the idea. We're all adults and can appreciate a good plot twist.
- Starting hit points: maximum result of your first level hit die + CON bonus + CON stat. Hit points per level are normal after that.
- Wizards do not specialize in a school. See Spell Focus below.
Skills
- Craft, Profession, and Knowledge skills are not limited to a set list. Come up with any that you like.
- There are no other planes of existence, so there is no Knowledge (the planes) skill. Choose any other Knowledge to replace it.
- Craft skills generate craft points for creating mundane items. Craft points are generated during idle times and at each level increase.
- Using craft points is covered in Unearthed Arcana.
Feats
- When a character is eligible to receive a class special ability at a certain experience level, you may choose to forego the ability and take a bonus feat instead. You must otherwise qualify for the feat. You may choose to take the skipped class ability at a later level in place of another earned class ability.
- Skill Focus: select a skill; add +4 to all skill rolls for that skill.
- Spell Focus: select a school of magic; add +2 to Casting Rolls, Control Rolls, and Save DCs for all spells of that school. This takes the place of school specialization in the standard rules. May only be taken once for any individual school.
- Greater Spell Focus: select a school of magic for which you already have Spell Focus; add +2 to Save DCs for all spells of the school, and increase the critical threat range by 1 for all spells of the school. May only be taken once for any individual school.
- Spell Mastery: select an individual spell; add +5 to the Casting Roll and Control Roll for the individual spell, and increase the critical threat range by 1. May only be taken once for any individual spell.
- Item creation feats are boiled down to two feats:
- Create Disposable Item is used to make scrolls, potions, dusts, oils, and other one-use or few-use items.
- Create Permanent Item is used to create enchanted items with permanent, self-recharging, or rechargeable effects.
- Item creation procedures and DCs will be as per Advanced D20 Magic.
Skill Tricks
- Skill tricks are available whenever you get skill points. Each skill trick costs 2 skill points to acquire and you must meet the prerequisites. You may have at most half as many skill tricks as you have character levels (round up). Skill tricks are listed and described in Complete Scoundrel.
Combat
Multiple Opponents and Flanking
- In melée combat, for each friendly combatant also engaged in melée combat with the same foe: add +1 each for the first two, +1 per two for the next four, +1 per four for the next eight, etc.
- Your own maximum bonus from friendly combatants is your Base Attack Bonus. It requires training to take advantage of such openings.
- Physical space dictates additional restrictions depending on the size class of the foe.
Criticals and Fumbles
- Critical hits will use critical hit tables.
- Rolling in your threat range causes a critical hit; no "roll to confirm" is needed.
- Small weapons do base critical severity A, medium B, large C.
- For each damage multiplier step on the weapon beyond x2, increase the critical severity. For example, a medium weapon with a x3 critical damage modifier will cause a C severity critical hit.
- Critical severity is increased for Keen weapons, performing a coup de grace, or spending an Action Point.
- Fumble results (rolling a 1) will trigger a roll on the corresponding fumble table.
Negative Hit Points
- When a mook drops below 0 hit points, they are presumed "left for dead" unless helped, captured, or offed.
- Coup de grace on a mook is automatic death. You can off one mook per attack. You may perform a coup de grace with any weapon, including a ranged weapon (at point blank range; if range penalties or concealment apply, it's not a coup de grace) and any attack spell with no saving throw, such as magic missile.
- Coup de grace on a major NPC is a full action. It's an automatic hit with a 20. You just roll damage and roll a critical hit. Critical severity is one category higher than normal.
- Stabilizing yourself when bleeding out is a Fortitude saving throw at DC 10 + your negative hit point level. If you succeed, you stabilize at 0 HP. If you fail, you are bleeding out and need help or you may die. You may use Action Points to attempt the roll again.
Magic
- In place of the D20SRD magic rules, we will be using the Advanced D20 Magic book from Guardians of Order.
- The High Magic option will be used, but instead of a flat +5 to casting rolls, add the spellcaster's magic stat modifier.
- The standard Casting Roll chart will be used to determine Drain.
- Any arcane spell failure chance is added to the casting DC and the control DC of the spell, +1 per 5%. If the casting fails and the control roll fails, the full arcane spell failure % is added to the d% roll for spell failure results.
- Wizards who specialize in a school receive a +2 bonus to casting rolls and control rolls on spells of that school, as well as +2 to the target's saving throw DC against the spell.
- Clerics select two of their deity's domains as their own personal domains. Clerics may cast their domain spells or cure/cause wounds spells as standard actions rather than full actions, and they receive a +2 bonus to casting rolls and control rolls on domain spells as well as +2 to the target's saving throw DC against the spell.
- Sorcerers and wizards, instead of taking a familiar, may bond themselves to a permanent focus. The focus may be any material object larger than a piece of jewelry, such as a staff, robe, cauldron, etc.
- The focus is treated as an expendable focus for casting spells, except that it is not expendable. The item's value may be increased by adding gems, gold inlay, etc.
- If the caster is without the focus, all spells cast are at +5 casting DC as the caster must concentrate harder on reciting the formula and focusing their energies.
- If the focus is destroyed, the caster suffers just as if a familiar were killed. A new focus must be crafted.
- Directed magic (any spell cast at a target to cause a harmful effect) may score a critical success. On a roll of a natural 20 to cast or to hit, a critical success is achieved. Consult the magical effect critical hit charts.
- Critical threat range is increased by 1 for Spell Mastery and for Greater Spell Focus.
- Spell has a casting DC of 1-30 = A severity
- Casting DC of 31-50 = B severity
- Casting DC of 51-60 = C severity
- Casting DC of 61-70 = D severity
- Casting DC of 71+ = E severity
- Critical severity is increased for Empowered spells, expending an additional focus (one severity for each 1000 GP value), or spending an AP.
- You may sublimate the additional foci into the spell to increase the critical hit effect after the effect roll has come up with a critical hit.
- When a Control roll is failed for a spell and it goes out of control, a roll is made on the Spell Failure chart. Add the difference between the failed Control roll and the DC of the Control roll to the roll of d100 on the chart.
Planar Travel and Summoning
- Spells that allow one to travel to other planes except the Ethereal Sea are unknown.
- Bags of holding and Hevard's handy haversack and related magic items do work, for reasons that are currently unclear to scholars.
- Summoning spells do not summon an actual creature but rather create a magical simulacrum of the creature summoned.
- Gate and similar effects do actually open a portal and bring the creature physically through, from elsewhere in the world, from the islands in the Ethereal Sea, or from the shadow realm.
Advancement
- Experience points will be tracked and awarded after every encounter or challenge.
- When advancing a level, if it's in a class you already have, and no major changes are due (such as a new level of spells, an entirely new kind of feat, etc.), advancement happens on the spot. Otherwise, a few days of training or research is needed before the level can be claimed.
- Five skill points may be converted into a feat.
- Two skill points may be converted into a skill trick.
- Instead of spending XP to create items, the enchantment system in Advanced D20 Magic will be used.
- XP, Action points, hit points, and occasionally skill points will be awarded as bonuses, during play and outside of play. Write up your character's story or play journal and I'll give you a bonus.
Action Points
- An action point system will be used. At each level, a character earns AP equal to 5 + half total character level, round down. AP will also be awarded during play. You may spend only one AP on each given thing per round, but you may spend one in each at once if you like. AP can be spent to:
- Extra Effort: add to any roll of a d20 - 1d6 is added at character levels 1-7, 2d6 at character levels 8-14, etc.
- Enhanced Mana: enhance a spell being cast by increasing the effective caster level by 2
- On the Offense: gain an extra attack at highest attack modifier when performing a full attack action
- On the Defense: fight defensively and gain double the normal bonus
- In Training: use any feat that the character has not learned but for which the character otherwise qualifies
- One More Try: reuse a limited use special ability (such as one limited to several uses per day or once per scene)
- Heroes Are Tougher: reroll a hit point die when advancing a level. You may use the higher of the two rolls.
- Aim True: increase the severity of a critical hit by one level
- I'm the Protagonist: ask for a success roll at any time of the player's choosing when one would not normally be called for, as long as it can be justified
- you may call for a roll based on something you do or something done to you
- you may call for an aid roll to aid a party member when you would normally not be able to aid them, due to physical separation, etc.
- you may call for a roll for a skill that cannot normally be tried untrained - these rolls are at +5 DC due to lack of knowledge.
