House Rules

An evolving list of Chris's arbitrary rulings

  1. New characters use 28-point buy for stat generation. Ask the DM re: starting wealth (the value changes based on the DM's perception of the party's overall wealth at the time)
  2. Dodge doesn't have to be declared; you always get the +1 dodge bonus as long as you're not flatfooted, stunned, etc.
  3. HP gain each level is 1/2 your HD plus 1. (d4 is 3, d6 is 4, d8 is 5, etc.) You can roll instead but you keep what you roll.
  4. No favored classes. There is no multiclass XP penalty. Characters who leave the monk/paladin classes by taking a level in another class still cannot re-enter the class. There are feats to get around this however.
  5. There are no special rules for death from massive damage (when you take 50-plus damage in one attack and are still standing).
  6. Depending on the situation (i.e. when the DM calls for it), skills can be rolled using other attributes as a modifier (for example, Intimidate can sometimes be rolled using STR modifier instead of CHA).
  7. The Identify spell allows you to examine several items (1 + caster's primary spellcasting stat bonus (INT, WIS, or CHA)) instead of just one item.
  8. You cannot take a level in Barbarian unless you start the game as a Barbarian. (Thanks to Maggi for this one) (well there goes my plans for Dailin)
  9. You die when your negative HP total reaches half your normal full HP, or 10, whichever is greater. (So a character with 50 max HP dies at -25, while a character with 6 max HP dies at -10.)1
  10. "Save or Die" effects don't necessarily kill you if you fail your save. Instead of succumbing instantly, you instead drop to -10HP, and if that doesn't kill you, you are considered dying (losing 1HP per round, but you could use an action point to stabilize). Note how this works with the previous rule.
  11. If your character has a gender, that gender must initially2 be the same as your real-life gender. I find this smooths out gameplay a bit as there are no pronoun confusions.
  12. This isn't really a house rule as it's implied in the real rules, but is here for emphasis. If you are dropped in combat (< 0 HP) and are brought back to positive HP somehow, you are still considered prone in your square, as well as having dropped anything you were holding.
  13. Temporary HP gained from a CON boost is totally awesome-r in my game than normal. Normally you lose the bonus HP when the temporary CON gain goes away (say, from the spell Bear's Endurance). With this house rule, you get to keep any bonus HP, but you can't have over your normal maximum after the spell ends. Note that it doesn't work the other way (i.e. healing CON damage doesn't restore any current HP, it just raises your max HP back to normal).
  14. More as I think of them…
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