Rules and Miscellaneum

Here you'll find house rules that are in use or that are in discussion...Or even that I've thought up that might be kind of fun.

Rules that have yet to be integrated are marked as such.

House Rules:

  1. Shields Shall Break: If a character is struck in battle, and they are utilizing a shield, they may opt to take the blow on that shield instead. The shield will break but the character will take no damage. A magic shield will get a "save": A roll of 1 (+ the "plus" of the shield) on a d6 will save the shield. Example: A +1 shield will save on a roll of 1 or 2 on a d6.
  2. Two Weapon Fighting: A character with a dexterity of 13 or greater may fight with a weapon in each hand. The weapons must be one-handed weapons. To hit the player rolls one die and then takes the weapon with the highest damage potential and rolls that die twice, taking the highest of the two rolls. Example: A thief w/ a short sword (d6) and a dagger (d4) rolls one d20 to hit. After successfully hitting they roll two d6 and take the highest of those two dice.
  3. Roll of 30: A player may opt to substitute any failed roll of the die w/ a d30 after the fact. This takes place only once per session and never for determining hit points when leveling.
  4. Dutch Courage: A character can gain back 1d6 hp of damage once per day, if they rest for 15 minutes directly after their confrontation. They must bandage and drink a pint of wine. This can only be done once per day. Any more than that and they gain a cumulative -2 to all checks.
  5. Gandalf Rule: Wizards can fight w/ any one-handed weapon.
  6. Wizard's Extra Spell: A Wizard gets 3 spells in their spell book at first level. (besides read magic) They are able to select one, and roll for the other two. They can cast 1 spell plus a spell per plus of their intelligence modifier.
  7. Casting a Ritual: A wizard can cast any spell out of their spell book as a ritual. This ritual takes an entire turn to cast, lasts double the duration, and costs 20 gp / level in components.
  8. Clerics at First Level: Get a first level spell. The spell charts are just rolled down one level. 
  9. Spontaneous Casting: A cleric can cast a heal-type spell in place of any memorized spell of the same level.
  10. A Thief's Threat: Instead of "just" a backstab, if a thief is able to sneak up, completely undetected, upon an adversary and successfully hit with a backstab, the adversary has to roll a save versus paralysis or be stunned / paralyzed for 1d3 rounds. 
  11. A Thief and Flanking: A thief that joins combat, with an ally against the same monster, gains a +2 vs. the monster, and the ally gains a +1. The positioning is not relevant. (i.e. you don't have to be on opposite sides of the enemy)
  12. Sleep Spell: This is a tough one. A very powerful spell by nature...but I'm hearing grumblings already that it's an encounter killer. Remember, you've only got access to two of these at any one time. And you'll be facing off much more than that. So I'm going to leave it for now, and we'll see where it goes. (ideas for the future: saves, lower the HD affected, start at the top and work down, etc.)