House rules

[Spearmint]

Here are a few in game adjustments that I will use for the campaign:

Combat, Weapons and Armour.

I am not using the 'to hit' weapon vs armour class adjustments table.

Thrown missile weapons:

Fighter Class types may add any strength modifiers to their weapon damage to all hand hurled missile weapons of the following types:

Spears, Javelins, Hand Axes, Throwing Hammers.

A note on javelin distance. For each 10ft the thrower of a javelin runs prior to releasing the javelin in attack, he may throw the javelin an extra 30ft, up to a maximum of 90ft in total.

Missiles thrown by hand: may be recovered with a little searching. Arrows, crossbow bolts, sling bullets or stones that miss at long range or medium range are lost unless a turn is spent searching the area, supposing it safe to do so.

Of those that hit, roll a 50/50% yes/no for each that may be reusable.

Flails: flails, spiked balls on a long chain, are essentially a melee 'reach' weapon and historically used to reach over the top of shields to bash opponents around the skull. Therefore anyone using a flail may 'attack with advantage' versus any opponent wielding a shield. 'Basically roll two 'to hit' attacks and use the most positive result to determine if a hit is successful or not. Unless specified otherwise, I will treat Flail attacks as being targeted over the shield at the opponent's head..

Dwarven Warhammers: are essentially a two handed dwarven speciality hammer which are treated as battle axes and may do 1d8 damage. s/m/ 1d10 vs large modified by Str.

Crossbows to compensate for the lower crossbow rate of fire in comparison to bows, I am going to adjudicate that all light crossbows do [2d4] damage and heavy crossbows do [2d6]. Hand-held Crossbow inflict [1d4+1].

Armour.

Armour Types:

I wanted to build something in the game which rewards armour for the protection it gives. In normal melee and man-to-man combat your armours protection is built into your AC with additional bonuses coming from dexterity, magic or other factors.

When faced with making a saving throw vs a Blast Weapon, such as fireball or acid attack, or even when you take a crushing blow such as falling into a pit trap, I am going to rule that your armour type will add an additional bonus to any saving throw you are required to make or to give a reduction in the damage received.

Light Armour types: Leather, Hide, Padded, Studded Leather anything AC 9 to AC 7 have no additional bonus.

Medium Armour types: Scale, Ring, Chain and Banded Mail anything AC 6 to AC 4 receive a+1 saving throw bonus or reduce crushing blow (not by weapons) by -1

Heavy Armour types: Platemail anything AC 3 or below. receive a +2 saving throw bonus, -2 dam reduction.

If your character is using a shield and that takes your natural AC into those of another type, for example studded armour AC7 plus a shield +1 to AC so you are AC 6 and therefore the equivalent armour as a medium type you receive the additional save bonus. Got that?

Initiative:
During encounters I will roll initiative for any NPC's or critters and ask that the first person posting rolls a Team initiative roll. The higher of the [1d6] scores will act first in my narratives. If scores are tied, I will rule on simultaneous actions with an advantage going to variables such as dexterity bonus, weapon speed factors and weapon reach or length.

Two weapon fighting:

Is allowed by any character class and is done so at a penalty of -2 to hit main hand and -4 to hit offhand. This may be modified by dexterity score with a reduction to the penalty of -1 to each attack for each point above 15 but never giving a bonus to attack (so -1/-3, 0/-2, 0/-1).

You may wield two short swords, two hand axes, two daggers or any combination of the three. You may also wield a dagger with a 'finesse' sword, such as a rapier, cutlass, scimitar or sabre but not a long, broad or bastard sword.

Fighter Class characters may also use a Shield Bash manoeuvre, striking to push back opponents or unbalance them in melee. This attack using a shield is against a single opponent and rolled as a normal 'to hit' attack adjusted with opposed strength bonus or equivalent. Success means the opponent is has become unbalanced and they receive a +1 penalty to their AC for the following round you attack them and their next attack routines receive a -1 to hit penalty.

Weapons of Proficiency

I am lumping some weapons into categories rather than as single weapons. So for example proficiency in 'mace' covers both Footman's and horseman's types. The same with any light / heavy equivalent (crossbows, flails).

Spear/javelins are listed in same group as Warhammer/Battleaxe, Clubs/Hammers, Maces/Morningstar, Short Bow/Longbow.

I am going to added an addendum to the Weapons Allowed by Race and Class as follows:

Racial
Dwarves: receive proficiency in Warhammers & crossbows in additional to weapons chosen by class.

Elves receive proficiency in Short & Longswords and Short & Longbows in addition to class restrictions.

Gnomes receive proficiency in Military picks.

Halflings receive proficiency in Slings.

Humans, half-elves and half-orcs racial weapon bonus but my choose a single weapon useable by class as an additional starting bonus.

Class Adjustments

Clerics:
Certain deities favour weapon choices which may otherwise be prohibited by class, for example Clerics of Herne may use the shortbow. Please check under your deity description.

Druids:
May use hand scythes and sickle sword blades.

Fighter Class amendment:

I am using the variable suggestion in the DMG page 74-79, which suggests fighters improve THAC0 each level rather than every two levels. This is a fighter class buff only. Please adjust your own sheet THAC0's to reflect this.

Fighters: may augment their fighting styles via the above mentioned Two-weapon fighting feat or Shield Bash feat.

Fighters alone may learn 'specialisms' in a particular weapon in order to gain an additional bonus to hit. Rather than choosing an extra weapon knowledge, you may choose to negate that in favour of specific training in one weapon. Specialism is a learned skill and may be taken upon advancement at 4th level.

Mages: may use Hand-held crossbows. They receive Quarterstaff as a free weapon of proficiency from the class.

Thieves: may take advantage of Two weapon fighting techniques. May use Hand-held crossbows. Start with proficiency in daggers.

Monks: I am adjusting the PHB ruling so as to allow Str bonus to be added to damage inflicted by Open Hands attacks.

Weapons of proficiency: players start off with WoP from race or class and may all gain an addition weapon skill at each level.

[Spearmint]

Dice Rolling:

Please use the dice roller when you make an attack roll, use a skill or make a saving throw. Link the rolls please so I can see them. It is your character and I want you to take responsibility for all their hits and misses, heroic actions, desperate saves, inspired knowledge or lack thereof. Make a macro which reflects your action and the appropriate bonus or penalty modifiers. For example:

Granville the great, swigs from a bottle of rum, tainted with poison from the sap of a jungle toad.

Granville save vs poison [1d20+1]. Surviving thus Granville the great attacks the native chief with his magic dagger+2.

Granville melee attack [1d20+2] Damage [1d4+2]

It is your responsibility to know the macro accurately so please check all the modifiers are included in the text. As for the GM. I will post all rolls for transparency sake but as Gary Gygax said,

"DMs' dice rolling is just for audio effects only."

Critical Hits and Fumbles:

If you roll a natural 20 on an attack roll, it will be counted as a critical hit. All critical hits do maximum damage from the weapon type plus or minus any modifiers due to strength, magic, miscellaneous conditions and an additional normal damage roll. So in the above example, Granville the great critically hitting the chief would do: max(1d4)+2 = 4+2 =6hp + [1d4+2] damage with his dagger. so a range between 9 - 12hp of damage.

Fumbles: these will work in different ways. Fumble during melee and the opponent may get a free basic melee attack in return as you are caught off guard. Fumbling range attacks may cause different results. I will narrate them as necessary.

Firing into melee:

At short range, characters may fire into melee without any penalty or danger to allied combatants. A miss will be counted as missing all combatants. At medium range and long range I will roll to see if the fired projectile hits a 3rd party or misses using the guidance from the rulebooks.

Skill Checks:

Skill checks are rolled when the characters need to overcome a problem, attempt an action or gather information. Instead of rolling a 1d20 vs ability stat, I find it easier to class the difficulty level of the problem or action and then get you to roll a number of d6 dice vs an attribute you are using. So an easy to solve problem or action may need you to roll [2d6], as problems or actions go from easy to nigh on impossible you may need to roll, 2,3,4,5 or even 6d6

For example, jumping from the balcony to swing from the chandelier in the tavern might be a normal task, roll [3d6] vs the characters dexterity ability score, wrestling free of the Krakens' tentacles might be a very hard task, roll [5d6] vs strength.

[Spearmint]

Heirloom items.

I want to find a way to encourage players to play characters who have rolled a low total of stat abilities. This particular amendment was part of the Lab Lord Marches games and another source of inspiration to encourage characters of all ability levels to participate in the campaign adventures as equals.

So if your total value of the combined score of the strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, constitution and charisma values after all racial adjustments is below 65 then you can start with a piece of equipment, a family token or personal item that manifests properties equal to a 1st level spell.

eg: grandfather's old flagon which when drank from imbibes the user with the benefits of a Cure Light Wounds spell or great uncle Bulgaria's divining rods which twitch when in the presence of traps.

We can discuss options as the need arises, but I didn't want folks to think lesser abilities were a handicap to adventure.

[Spearmint]

Experience points, leveling up and skills increase:

Rewards come in all shapes and sizes. Principally earned experience leads to higher levels of class.

Levelling up

When rolling HD to increase hp for the next level, any initial roll of 1hp may be re-rolled.

Dual class characters: Any experience earned is shared equally between both classes, even if one class had reached its racial limits. In rolling for new hit points, the character may include any Constitution modifiers and halve the result, rounding up to the nearest full number.

Due to the nature of play-by-post games and the normally slow rate of gaining experience or levelling up, I am going to unilaterally set the following thresholds for you character to upgrade to the next levels.

1st level: 0 -2000xp.
2nd level: 2001 - 4000xp
3rd level: 4001 - 8000xp
4th level: 8001 - 16000xp
5th level: 16001 - 32000xp
6th level: 32001 - 64000xp.

I will use the prime requisite bonus when awarding xp totals.

Earning Experience

XP is earned in the following ways:

Killing monsters, defeating opponents, solving problems, resolving encounters:

Each creature or encounter will have an amount of xp points relevant to their respective HD and any extraordinary or magical features they possess or appropriate to the difficulty to resolve.

Roleplay: I will reward good roleplay, initiative, excellent ideas, team play and heroic actions.

Experience may also be earned by participation in village festival days and through setting up tributes and memorials to your expeditions or recording adventures in song and poetic verse which the resident bard will perform to entertain the masses. (See specific topic).

Class Actions:
Mages who create new spells will receive an xp equivalent value for the spell they create. Similarly, clerics and druids who gain divine favour and create new blessings receive bonus xp. The same will go for other classes who achieve a notable target such as rangers mapping the path through the swamp to the hidden temple, thieves who burgle the Crown jewels, fighters who top the gladiatorial charts.

Bonus Experience Awards:
Come from one of my syndicate horses winning, solving a set problem or ooc question, Christmas, character heroic actions or epic failures, positive news of my CT scans and chemo, anniversaries and any other good reason.

Character death will award xp to boost level of a new character.

Treasure:
By the book guidelines you earn 1xp per gold piece value of any treasure, gemstones, or coins you bring back. However I will not be allocating cash values rather I will reward players who spend their cash in further training, skill upgrades and research.

Any relics or magic item you discover may have a listed xp value and that will be used rather than the higher sale value. So the general rule here is if the item is sold, the xp value is shared out. If the item is kept, the value is shared to the remaining party members who do not own the item. However multiple items of magic equalises the issue with each player taking a fair share and thus benefitting with an item.

How any of these goods are subsequently sold or divided among party members is a party decision, usually decided at the close of expeditions.

I will try and resolve xp dividends as soon as folk finish any expedition and return to the safety of civilization. XP is always shared evenly among the surviving characters of any party with retainer, henchmen or hirelings receiving 1/2 shares of xp values.

Generally consensus and debates over XP are resolved in each expedition thread.

Skills Increase:

Characters may improve their skills, gain cross class or even inter-racial skills or improve their starting attribute scores via intensive training and study. This may involve spending time under someone's tutelage, apprenticing trade skills or just working out with the dumbbells.

Say what you want to learn or improve and I will set a program of targets to achieve which when complete gives you the improvement aimed at.

When you improve or gain skills you will be rewarded with a commensurate XP reward for investing in your character's progress.

[Spearmint]

Hurtloam. the sticky mud is applied like a plaster cast over a cut or poisonous wound or diseased patch of skin. It takes an hour to dry then the proteins and enzymes it carries are absorped into the skin at a rate of +1hp per hour. If left to dry in place for a full 8 hours, patients may receive an extra d4 healing.

Patients using the healing mud at 0 or negative hp are put in a full body cast. Others may be treated as 'walking wounded' with the cast on an arm or leg or torso. The patients receive a variable handicap penalty to skill checks, spell casting and attacks while the cast is in place. The penalty is modified by where the cast is worn and by how much healing it is expected to atone for.

[Spearmint]

Poisons and Paralyzing Effects

I house rule poisons so they are not instant death or instantly paralyzing. The affect of the poison will take place but characters suffering make increasing skill checks to continue to act.

Firstly, a character would roll a 3d6 check vs Constitution at the start of the following round. If you pass you may attack or conduct skill checks though each action suffers a -2 penalty. If you fail the check then you do indeed collapse straightaway.

If you succeed in the first Constitution roll, the next round you will have a 4d6 vs Con check, then 5d6, 6d6. Eventually you should fail and suffer the poison effect but doing it this way offers players an opportunity to act while the poison courses around your body, which could save a life if it means you can quaff a potion or even slay your opponent before you fall under the poison or paralysis effect.

Any character passing all four Con Checks 3d6 - 6d6 immediately shakes off the effects of the original poison/paralysis Saving Throw.

Once afflicted by any deadly poison effects rather than temporary paralysis or incapacitation, the comatose and dying victim will take continued poison damage equal to the hp damage inflicted from the initial venomous attack until they breathe out at -10hp. So though poison is deadly, these extra few rounds give a narrow window of opportunity for comrades to provide last minute salvation and healing.

While 'specialist' anti-venom potions or magic spells may counter poison effects immediately, a knowledgeable comrade may conduct a Medic check (vs Wisdom) and try to suck poison out of a victim if the wound was caused by a bite (such as snakebite). This specific 1st Aid (Snakebite) skill can be learned via skills upgrades or attained via Class advancement (Rangers, Druids).

[Spearmint]

Healing, Dying and Death.

Characters may heal 1hp of physical damage with each day of complete bed rest in a civilized and safe environment, such as a tavern room or secure camp site. Characters hospitalised in the Ironguard Hospice may recover an extra d4 hp per full weeks bed rest. A dungeon or ad-hoc wilderness camp is not sufficient for healing recuperation unless aided by magical means.

Healing spells such as Cure Light Wounds, tend to physical wounds or injury. Poison is dealt with separately under Slow or Neutralise Poison spells.
Potions of Healing act in the same way, focusing on restoration of physical effects. There may be Anti-venoms potions which are specifically crafted to deal with poisons.

First Aid Kits:

These may be purchased, containing such items as spider silk bandages, sutures, plasters. They provide 1d4 hp of health, usually staunching a wound instantly for 1hp with any extra health rolled recuperated at a rate of +1hp per subsequent hour of rest.

1st Aid Kits may be administered by any character and will stem further blood loss if such an effect is in place, subject to a [4d6] Wisdom based skill check to diagnose the wound and apply the aid correctly.

Applied to a character on negative hp, the 1st Aid Kit adds a minimum 1hp instant health return and provides a negative modifier -1 to the patient's required Constitution saving throw. (Remember lower score in checks are better so a negative modifier hopefully produces a positive result).

They may also be applied after a fight using a 4d6 vs wisdom score to assess and bind any open wounds. A successful skill check means that 1d4 healing may be restored to the victim at a rate of 1hp per hour. A 'failed' check still restored 1hp of health but no more.

Cost of each kit, weight 1lb, costs 25gp and includes spider silk bandages, sutures, wound staples, disinfectant, etc. Each kit may only be used once.

Exactly zero hp. whenever a character falls to this point they collapse and become comatose. They are not dying unless they take more wounds. I will ask them to make a [4d6] Constitution check. Fail and remain unconscious for 1 hour (six turns adjusted by -1 turn for each point of Con hp bonus). Succeed and become conscious enough to act as 'walking wounded' but until healed, the character cannot attack, cast offensive spells and movement is reduced to half speed.

Negative HP any time a character goes into negative hp, they fall comatose and continue to bleed out or succumb to other conditions at a rate of -1hp per round. Once a character reaches -10hp they are dead and unable to be revived short or a wish or resurrection action.

I will ask a character to make an immediate [4d6] Constitution check roll to try to stabilise their character in a comatose stat, subject to circumstantial or environmental conditions. A successful roll stems blood loss for a temporary amount of time (usually equal to a round for each point of character Constitution), during which healing may be applied in an effort to bring a character back to health. Unless aid is administered during that time, a player will subsequently begin to fade health-wise and continue to bleed out.

A Healing Potion or Cure spell ministered to a dying character on negative hp will at least stabilise them even if the points from the dice roll are not sufficient to fully revive a character.

Death, all creatures and most general opponents will die once they reduce to 0hp or lower. A character may go to -10hp before the bell tolls and a new set of 4d6's break out.

[Spearmint]

Dual-Classed Characters:

amendments and levelling up process:

I have had a few discussions with players regarding characters who dual class and how they advance. So I trialled insisting each player started the game as a single class character with an option to adopt a second class upon their initial advancement.

I think the following order is what I am going to rule on so that it hopefully, cuts out any confusion.

Dual class characters: Any experience earned is shared equally between both classes, even if one class had reached its racial limits. In rolling for new hit points, the character may include any Constitution modifiers and halve the result, rounding up to the nearest full number.

Due to the nature of play-by-post games and the normally slow rate of gaining experience or levelling up, I am going to unilaterally set the following thresholds for you character to upgrade to the next levels.

1st level: 0 -2000xp.
2nd level: 2001 - 4000xp
3rd level: 4001 - 8000xp
4th level: 8001 - 16000xp
5th level: 16001 - 32000xp
6th level: 32001 - 64000xp.

I will use the prime requisite bonus when awarding xp totals.

Here is my reconciliation of the advancement process. Red Erik the dwarf starts as a Fighter. He has max hit points from his starting HD. He adventures gaining 2000+ xp. Rather than progressing as a 2nd level fighter at this point, (and rolling a d10 for new hp), he decides to adopt a level in Thief.

So he rolls a d6 (+any Con bonus) and becomes a 1st level fighter/thief. He continues to adventure gaining another 2000+ xp. This initially is allocated in full to his Thief class. When he passes the xp threshold for advancement, he has effectively become a 2nd level fighter and a second level thief. Red Erik rolls new hp, a d10+Con for his new Fighter level and a d6+Con for his new thief level. Divide the total by two (round up) and add to your health hp bar.

From then on, Red Erik adventures, dividing equally his earned experience between both classes. Upon achieving the next threshold, he may roll new hp, rolling the appropriate class HD plus and Con bonus / dividing the total by two.

So it may be that over time a character advances slightly quicker in one class than another due to such things as prime requisite bonus or earned class xp awards.

Any questions please ask in the ooc thread.
Hope that helps.