* * * Wizards Community Thread * * * -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Thread : List your 1st ed. AD&D houserules Started at 07-24-05 01:06 PM by mickshrimpton Visit at http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=469870 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 1] Author : mickshrimpton Date : 07-24-05 01:06 PM Thread Title : List your 1st ed. AD&D houserules I'm feeling nostalgic and want to play some 1st edition AD&D. I have done some streamlining, however. Everthing (including thief skills) is based on a 1d20 roll (lower roll is best), changed THAC0 to go along with this lower=better rule, ditched level limits, etc. I still have an issue with inflating hit points and falling damage. What are some of your house rules for 1st edition? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 2] Author : WizO_Cat Date : 07-24-05 01:30 PM I know my group threw out weapon speed rules and weapon vs AC rules. And we were pretty liberal on the emcumbrance rules. (ie your fighter still didn't get to haul back 1,000,000,000 cp by throw it into a regular sack ...) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 3] Author : weasel fierce Date : 07-24-05 02:19 PM No encumbrance rules. No weapon vs AC We kept weapon speed. Ditched the melee-spellcasting initiative rule. I allow people to choose 2nd edition rangers (outrider) and bards (wanderer), in addition to the 1st edition ones. A natural 20 always hits, and causes max damage A natural 1 gives the enemy a free strike. I never saw hit points as an issue. THe drop off at high levels keeps things roughly within bounds, and makes level a bit less important IMO. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 4] Author : WizO_Paradox Date : 07-25-05 05:55 AM I know my group threw out weapon speed rules and weapon vs AC rules. And we were pretty liberal on the emcumbrance rules. (ie your fighter still didn't get to haul back 1,000,000,000 cp by throw it into a regular sack ...) Me too! Oh, and a failed Save vs. poison or die rule would just be "Take an extra hit of damage until you succeed a save. CP! That's what all games need more of. Hordes of COPPER pieces! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 5] Author : Extempus Date : 03-20-06 03:46 AM We've never used weapon speeds, weapons vs. AC, and never bothered with encumbrance either (portable holes are wonderful). We stopped counting XP a long time ago (after 12th-15th level, it gets tedious), so we just up everyone a level every year or so; after 24½ years of adventuring real time and 20 years game time, my highest level character is my 23rd level priest (about to become 24th level at the end of this adventure). I think that's reasonable, given the fact that I've played him for a quarter of a century now (he's also my oldest surviving character). We don't really bother with spell components, since we assume these are things the spell casters collect in their off time and therefore have on hand whenever they memorize/pray for a spell that needs one. While we keep track of the date, I just guesstimate time otherwise as far as hours and minutes go (far easier when doing a dungeon crawl). Instead of rolling hit points randomly, I sometimes average them out for monsters or NPCs (4.5 or whatever per die), or sometimes if I want to give the players a run for their money, I maximize them. The fighters are mostly 17th+ level, so I have them roll to see only if they miss (always on a 1), otherwise it's a hit (we tend to do far more roleplaying than combat these days, so it's not like they're always killing the bad guys left, right and center). I will probably think of other things eventually... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 6] Author : Thailfi Date : 03-20-06 12:53 PM 1. No weapon vs. AC type adjustment. 2. Ditched spellcasters keeping track of normal components. Valuable or rare components still needed to be tracked. 3. No strict inforcement of incumberance rules. 4. Grappling, punching rules not used. DM does not have 6 goblins gang tackle the 10th level fighter, DM does not have fire giant pile drive 15th level fighter, PCs do not gang tackle BBEG mage. 5. Level draining effects have a saving throw. The 16th level magic-user does not automatically lose 750,000 experience points on a stray hit from a spectre. 6. Identify spell can be cast multiple times per day and the caster suffers no adverse effects and the spell reveals all of the abilities of regular magic items. 7. Aging effects of numerous (non-wish) spells changed or eliminated. 8. Restoration spell has no aging effects and returns the character to the exact amount of experience that they had before being drained. 9. Characters get max hit points at first level and can take the best of two roles at all other levels (mages can only reroll 1s and a second 1 gives you 1 hit point for that level) 10. Reincarnation spell returns the PC to life with half the experience they used to have. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 7] Author : Evergreen_Aldaron Date : 03-21-06 07:19 AM I know my group threw out weapon speed rules and weapon vs AC rules. And we were pretty liberal on the emcumbrance rules. (ie your fighter still didn't get to haul back 1,000,000,000 cp by throw it into a regular sack ...) Ditto here, also completely revamped the non-weapon proficiency system. Didn't like it the way it was presented. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 8] Author : DragonMonk Date : 03-25-06 05:08 PM Might not be houserules, but when our group started playing we would combine the AD&D 2nd ed. with the basic box sets. Weird, and I am not sure why we did it, could of been the xps in the box sets were more appealing. And it also seems that there was an unwriting rule for arriving at the host house on time, but not starting the game to three hours later...after all the rule arguments and pizza ordering. Good times.... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 9] Author : Extempus Date : 03-26-06 08:34 PM 7. Aging effects of numerous (non-wish) spells changed or eliminated. 8. Restoration spell has no aging effects and returns the character to the exact amount of experience that they had before being drained.We got around the aging effect many years ago when the players discovered 2 fountains and a well on another world that have anti-aging and other healing properties. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 10] Author : DM Dave Date : 03-29-06 01:50 PM The following is simply a list of rules we have used over the years. Of course things become more refined as time goes by. I do play 3.5e, but what I've discovered, unfortunately, unlike in years past the game becomes an exorcise in die rolling and maxing out skill rolls so there is virtually no chance of failure. Thus, I don't use NWPs either. Its an "everyman" skill system that I use. I use percentages because there is a greater number of incremental improvements and its the system in place for thief abilities which is similiar. Also, I use the D&D mini's, so I have adapted the rules to allow for them. First Edition Dungeons and Dragons Homebrew Rules 1) Scale: 1”= five feet 2) Character action examples, and time required: - Move your full move 1 round - Move half your move ½ round - 1” Step Free - Attack once ½ round - Attack more than once 1 round - Cast a spell ½ round - Charge 1 round - Talk Free - Activate Magic Item ½ round - Draw a weapon ½ round - Drink a potion ½ round - Open a door ½ round - Run 1 round, no attack possible - Turn undead ½ round - Use spell like ability ½ round - Withdraw from combat 1 round, see DMG pg. 70 no attacks possible 3) Initiative: Each player rolls a d10 and adds or subtracts the following adjustments*: - Weapon speed 3 or less: +1 - Weapon speed 4 to 6: no modifier - Weapon speed 7 to 9: -1 - Weapon speed 10 or more: -2 - Dexterity modifier for physical attacks - Intelligence modifier when casting magic-user or illusionist spells - Wisdom modifier when casting clerical or druid spells - Subtract the number of segments (if applicable) needed to cast a spell. - Use spell like ability: +1 - Size modifier: S +1, M 0, L -1 *No roll may be modified to be less than 1. 4) Reach: When using mini’s creatures with large bases, or opponents armed with pole arms (or “reach weapons) usually have reach. That is they have an attack radius of 2” rather than one. This is the judgment of the DM and based on descriptions of length and height from the MM. The MM lists heights and lengths for each creature. Thus creatures that are at least twice the height or length of their man-sized opponent will have a reach of 2”. Opponents that are three times the height or length have a 3” reach and so on. Combatants who attempt to close and engage in melee with larger than man-sized opponents may have to endure a “free attack” before they may begin attacks of their own once they enter an opponents threat range. A combatant only gets one “free attack” per round regardless of the number of attacks normally allowed, and this would be the attack that does the most damage. This “free attack” comes anytime an opponent moves into a target’s threat range and then continues their move while still in the creature’s threat range. Procedure: Temporarily stop the move, resolve the free attack, and then continue with movement. Note: a free attack could be generated simply by moving parallel to an opponent, even if he doesn’t have reach. Casting a spell or using a missile weapon within the threat range of an opponent also provokes a “free attack.” Saving Throws Saving throws may be modified by ability scores as follows: Paralyzation, poison or death magic: Constitution Petrifaction or Polymorph: Strength Rod, Staff or Wand: Wisdom Breath Weapon: Dexterity Spell: Intelligence Skills This is a very basic skill system, meant simply to allow for basic skills that everyone should know, and some secondary skill that a character may have picked up before they became an adventurer. Success Level = the difference between the character's skill % and the number of points of success or failure. Successes may be applied as a penalty to opposed rolls and failures as a bonus. Everyman Skill List All characters have some ability to do the following with some reasonable expectation of success. Climb (Str) Heal (Int) Hide (Dex) Jump (Dex) Hear Noise (n/a) Move Silently (Dex) Search (Int) Spot (int) Modifiers: Note, where appropriate add modifiers to thief, monk, and assassin abilities Base ability score Modifier 3 -15% 4-5 -10% 6-7 -05% 8-13 0 14-15 +05% 16-17 +10% 18 +15% Racial Modifiers: Hum Hlf Dwf Elf HO Climb - 20% -15% - - Heal +10% +5% - +15% -15% Hide - +10% - +5% - Jump +5% -10% -15% +15% +5% Hear +10% +15% +10% +15% +15% Move - +5% - - - Search - +5% - +10% -5% Spot - +10% - +10% -5% Gnm H-elf Climb - +5% Heal - +10% Hide - - Jump -15% +10% Hear +20% +10% Move - - Search +5% +5% Spot +5% +5% Base Chance Climb 50% Heal 25% Cleric 45% Hide 05% Jump 35% Thief 45% Hear 05% Move 05% Search 20% Thief 30% Spot 25% Thief 35% Improvement per Level Climb 1d12 Heal 1d6 clerics 1d12 Hide 1d4 Jump 1d10 Thief/ monk 1d12 Hear 1d6 Move 1d4 Search 1d8 Thief 1d10 Spot 1d8 Thief 1d10 Everyman Skills Descriptions Climb: This is very similar to the thief ability, with the exception that shear surfaces can not be attempted. Only thieves have this level of skill. Non-thieves using this skill will generally need assistance of some kind, such as a knotted rope, or a helping hand. If these are not present a -10% penalty is applied to the roll. Further, heavy armor such as chain and splint mail have an additional -20% penalty. Plate mail, and full plate armor make climbing impossible. Heal: This is simply an ability to administer first aid, and bandage wounds. A successful heal check will immediately stabilize a dying character. A second successful heal check made directly after the first will bring that character to zero hit points. Lastly, characters receiving care from a skilled healer, heals an additional 1d4 points of damage each day with a successful check. Homebrew healing rule: A character heals 1+ can bonus+ level for each day of full rest. Hide in Shadows: This is similar to the thieves ability of the same name. Note that heavy armor makes this impossible as the noise of the armor would give the character away. Jump: There are two types of jumps; a standing jump and a running jump. A character may jump a number of feet equal to their strength modifier plus their success level divided by ten rounded up. A character may attempt a running jump if they have enough running room equal to five times the distance to be attempted. A character in plate mail armor will always fail such attempts. Characters wearing heavy armor take a -20% penalty to attempts. The distance jumped is equal to the character’s dexterity + strength modifiers plus or minus the success level of the die roll (in feet) the maximum a character may jump is equal to their height x two plus their strength modifier in feet. Hear Noise: This function is fully described on page 20 of the DMG. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 11] Author : mistressdash Date : 03-31-06 02:03 AM Thread Title : house rules rule 1: if it's not on your sheet, you don't have it. rule 2: unless you can prove it, never argue with the dm. rule3: if you argue and you're wrong, you die. used to game with a guy who thought he knew the game better than the dm. my dm has the books memorized. he can tell you which book, what page, and what table to look for whatever you need. idiot would challenge every move that was made, every monster encountered, every treasure earned. tried to use weapons he didn't have with the excuse "oh i got this on someone else's adventure". after losing precious hours of game time to petty nitpicking, dm got in his face and shouted the above mentioned rules. the game killer suddenly remembered a previous engagement and hasn't been heard from since. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 12] Author : Moscone Date : 04-08-06 08:56 AM My old group ran with a DM once who decided we started with NOTHING. No clothes on our backs, no gear, just a bunch of sorry nude individuals, wanted us to start from the bare butt (I mean bones) up. This was the most ridiculous game we ever played and destroyed several weeks of his planning in under an hour- he explained it by saying we were robbed. So we completely derailed his game by spending the entire time shaking down everyone we encountered to get our stuff back, even taking our revenge on said innocent bystanders- we were P.O.'d at getting robbed and we wanted blood. He never called us back for another game after that. Hope he learned his lesson from that experience. This was back in about '88. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 13] Author : Raistlin-Uber-Mage Date : 04-12-06 05:30 PM Thread Title : homebrew i use the unearthed arcana book, which really does make the game more playable, and apply a 10 hit point "kicker" to all 1st level pcs. i kinda stole it from hackmaster, but i don't like seeing noobies die early. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 14] Author : KarmaSlave Date : 04-23-06 03:00 AM Thread Title : House rules I don't think there is enough room here. I'd say we play by more house rules than anything. Here are a few: -Max hitpoints levels 1-4 after that you roll it you got it. (A couple good rolls for goblins with crossbows should kill the entire party at first level, that's just wrong.) -Characters start with two sets of cloths and the money they roll for but not at the multiplied value. (if they have 200gp, a possibility, why go adventuring? You could retire with that loot given the cost of living in DND) -Surprise is detemined by the DM not the die. -AOOs are determined by the DM as they are priviledges not rights (like in 3e) -Natural 1's are fumbles with bad things coming your way. -Natural 20's are criticals, we use the Critical Hits tables from Combat and Tactics. -Natural 1's on a save vs. spells or spell like attack is a critical failure, we use the Magic Critical hits tables from Spells and Magic. (combat is ugly and the characters have the scars to prove it) -Does anyone use weapon vs. AC chart? No. -Encumberance is on your honor. Should I have to question you more than once we tally up what is being carried and you get to decide what you'll leave behind cause you can't carry it. -Money, food, water are not worried about at the higher levels unless the enviorment is particularly rough or an item very costly. -Assassin and thief have been modified so they actually are different classes, each with their own advantages. -Spell components-unless it's something really bizarre like dragon bones encrusted with gems-are not used. Instead I have a spell point system in place. -Spellcasters don't need to memorize their spells every day, nor do they forget them after casting. All spells from their spellbook of a level they are allowed to cast at their current spellcasting level can be used in any order or frequency they wish provided they have the spell points to do it. I also allow a spell caster to cast above his station (level) but he risks death to do it. (penalties against Con and System Shock Survival rolls) I have a 3 ring binder currently serving as the rule book. They add up over 24 years. That's a smattering. The KarmaSlave -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 15] Author : Extempus Date : 04-24-06 09:12 PM -Spellcasters don't need to memorize their spells every day, nor do they forget them after casting. All spells from their spellbook of a level they are allowed to cast at their current spellcasting level can be used in any order or frequency they wish provided they have the spell points to do it. I also allow a spell caster to cast above his station (level) but he risks death to do it. (penalties against Con and System Shock Survival rolls) I have a 3 ring binder currently serving as the rule book. They add up over 24 years. That's a smattering. The KarmaSlave While I stick to the memorization of spells every day (and they can only learn them according to the spell progression table, so more lower level spells than higher level ones), I got around the 15 minutes/level/spell of 1e ca. 1989 when my wizard hired some adventurers (now all fast friends and adventuring buddies) to steal a desk of studying from an evil illusionist. Using that as the prototype and enchanting a few more, all of our major wizards now have one (only four, actually), so it only takes them 10 minutes to study and memorize all of their spells in the morning. They still need to sleep before memorizing spells, however; I wanted to keep some limitations on wizards. Priests and druids pray for their spells as usual, and their deities always grant them. Another thing I stick to is whether they've truly memorized a spell they wish to cast; if they haven't, they can't cast it! However, everyone usually has at least one wish and one limited wish memorized to duplicate the effects of any non-memorized spells if need be (from Dungeon Master Option: High Level Campaigns, pp. 72, 75). One thing I've not bothered with is the minimum and maximum number of spells a wizard can know according to his intelligence; since all our wizards originally had 18 or higher intelligence (I never really bothered with racial maximums either; everyone could have one ability of 18+ if they wanted, provided they lowered another ability on a two-for-one basis), I always assumed that the small percentage of spells they didn't know were of a level they did not have access to. Another interesting sidenote is that while wizards usually have no choice but to collect spells from scrolls etc and can be quite limited in regard to what they can actually memorize and use, we lucked out in an early adventure (back in 1983) and found a spellbook that contained all known wizard spells from the PHB (not too farfetched, since Zagyg had a set of spellbooks containing all known spells, found in room P908 in the Tower of Power in Castle Greyhawk). So, much like priests and druids, our wizards can essentially choose any spell they like. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 16] Author : leif008 Date : 05-07-06 10:49 PM A couple of years ago I played through a typical 'save the world' 1st Edition advanced game. What was different about this campaign was that as a neat distraction the DM included some tournament style combat during the party's adventure that we can join if we were so inclined. Each arena had a cash or item reward, and were 'usually' non-fatal, so it was just meant for a fun escape for any of the players that felt like joining in. Some of the quest essential NPCs joined in too, and the DM played out all the fights. I was playing a tough first edition ranger and even coming in fourth place in the tournament felt like winning to me. The basic rules were that you couldn't use armor and you can wield whatever weapon you wanted to enter with. The DM always had a problem with a 1st level fighter and a 20th level fighter, each dealing essentially the same damage with a longsword. Since 1st Edition used the Thaco system and we didn't use armor in the arena our DM had a sweet system for the PCs and NPCs. When you went up a level and your thaco went down you can either add the +1 to hit OR a +1 damage. Each level you had this choice and it could not be reversed once you made it. Usually pro arena fighters would take about half their thaco as a to hit score and the rest as additional damage, it made them brutal in the arena but easier to take down on the outside. The other main houserules we used were: -The nonweapon proficiency system from 2nd edition. -Encumberance was strictly enforced (I hate playing in games that just assume a wizard can carry 100,000 copper pieces in their backpack). -Every week you had to make a constitution check to see if you avoided contracting diseases. This always made sense to me, you sleep in tombs, wade through swamps, then you're going to get sick eventually. -We used a straight 3d6 rolling scheme for stats (although if you wanted to play a specific class like Monk you could take the minimum 15s to qualify for the class, role the left over stats, and add your age modifiers). -We used the level training system for 1/10 of the cost (level training always made sense to me but they made it ridiculously expensive in 1st edition). You just had to hope you didn't level in the middle of a dungeon. 1st Edition Advanced was an incredibly brutal game and for that reason it was one of the most fun D&D campaigns that I've ever played. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 17] Author : Grandpa Gamer Date : 05-24-06 07:24 PM Thread Title : Ye Ancient & Venerable Advanced Dungeons & Dragons In our old high-school group (early 80's) a natural 20 automatically forced a roll on the "critical hit table", conversely a natural 1 always required a "critical miss table". Some of the critical-hit options included "knocked back 3 feet and stunned" and "random appendage amputated". Some of the critical-miss choices included "weapon shatters" and (again) "random appendage amputated". -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Downloaded from Wizards Community (http://forums.gleemax.com) at 05-10-08 08:18 AM.