House Rules

[imperialus]

1) All level 0 HD are max before being modified by Stamina. This applies to both PC's and NPC's. In PC terms this translates into a 4HP 'kicker' in addition to your normal hit die, but even level 0 mooks still have 4HP.

2) Luck is rolled by using 4d6 and dropping the lowest. All other stats are rolled 3d6 in order as God and Gygax intended. Stat swapping takes place on a case by case basis.

3) The only classes available from the DCC core book are the Warrior and the Thief.

4) Everyone speaks their native tongue, as well as the ability to speak (to varying degrees) a limited form of 'common' known as the Traders Tongue or Tradespeak. Sorcerers may also speak other languages if their intelligence allows it. Traders Tongue is and amalgamation of Sheshim and Keshtic and has much in common with their respective mother tongues of Zhouwen and the bastard tongue of Atvonese as well. That said, it is limited in that most of its vocabulary concerns mercantile interests, and it is limited to that. You could for example rent a room, ask cardinal directions and distance, or buy a sword using tradespeak, but it would be very difficult to use it to ask for rumours, inquire about an individual person, or other more complex subjects. Speakers of tradespeak are also largely limited to those that have reason to learn it, merchants, caravaners, and mercenary leaders. It also lacks a proper written form relying more on pictographs and Keshite numerals for any kind of written communication. Due to the nature of the Walking City of Shem, Sheshim is the closest thing Eld has to a 'lingua franca' and many travelers will learn it as a matter of course. Among Sorcerers and other highly educated individuals Avitonic or it's more formal form of Atvonshe the language of the Ativians is extremely useful, not only for its utility in deciphering ancient texts and sorcererous manuscripts, but also in the nations of Kesh and Zhou, where it is seen as the cultured language of diplomacy. Other languages are largely regional, but it can be useful to have at least some knowledge of them as members of the various barbarian tribes that inhabit the rest of the world see little need to learn the languages of civilization. Any attempts to communicate across language barriers will force a personality check. Failure may result in a lack of understanding, misinterpretation, or insult depending on how bad the roll is.

5) It is possible for characters to learn new languages throughout their adventures. Each time a character goes up a level they gain 5 'language points' modified by their intelligence. These can be spread around granting a bonus to the personality check rolls required when communicating in that tongue and upon reaching 5 'ranks' the character is considered largely fluent and can communicate comfortably. You my still have a strong accent, and mix up stuff like verb tenses, or use the sentence structure from your native tongue but basic communication in that language is no longer an issue. Due to the alien nature of their vocal chords, Draki must spend these points on a 2 for 1 basis.

6) To mitigate the lack of clerical healing each PC has a 'healing pool' equal to their Stamina score multiplied by their level. With one nights rest they can subtract any number of hitpoints from this pool to recover lost hitpoints on a 1-1 basis. For example Barri the 1st level Sentinel looses 6 hitpoints in a battle with a bandit, but he has a Stamina of 14. That evening he sets up camp binds the gash on his arm, and gets a good nights rest. By subtracting 6 points from his 'healing pool' of 14 he completely restores his health. Alternatively if desperate measures are required the healing pool can be used without resting for the night. If a character spends a turn recuperating he can restore hitpoints from his healing pool on a 2-1 basis. Barri's 6HP of healing would cost 12 hitpoints from his pool. If things are truly desperate then the healing pool can be used in a single round at a 4-1 basis representing a character digging deep into his or her inner strength and pushing their bodies to the absolute limit. In this case Barri could only restore 3 hitpoints, at a cost of 12 but there may be occasions when those 3 hitpoints mean the difference between life and death. This healing pool refreshes either upon leveling up, or more frequently when the character has enough downtime to recover.

Due to their distrust of sorcery, this is pretty much the only way for Barbarians to heal. They will not suffer the ministrations of a witch unless she is a longstanding and extremely trusted companion.

7) Shields are more practical. In addition to their normal bonus to AC, if struck by a critical hit and equipped with a shield you can avoid the effects of the crit (though you still take normal damage). This does however destroy the shield.

8) The economy and equipment also work a bit differently. Heavy armour is extremely rare, and limited to soldiers and noblemen from Ithmyrr as only the Antivians have the capability of creating case hardened iron and steel which is essential to make any kind of 'plate armour'. The smiths among the Barbarians of Karthis also likely have sufficient metalurgical knowledge to craft such an item, but their cultural and social traditions have retarded the development of armour focusing instead on the development of incredible weapons. All 3 major types of metal are present, bronze, iron and steel. Bronze is more common to the west and south as there are large deposits of tin and copper there, but a comparative lack of good iron. The further north one travels the more common iron becomes. The largest deposits of good iron are found in the mountains of Karthis. In addition, Karthis and Ithmyrr are the only places where they have techniques to create true crucible steel. As such, armour is highly varied in terms of materials and quality. A leather jerkin with large bronze disks sewn to it may provide an AC bonus of +3 while a suit of armour made out of thick layers of leather hardened to the point that it is almost rawhide may provide the same level of protection.

Most levy soldiers wear no armour apart from a shield. Lighter armour crafted primarily from leather is common among many mercenaries, watchmen, and guards. Chain and scale armour are relatively common among successful mercenaries and livery soldiers. The most costly and technologically advanced armour found outside of Ithmyrr is a 'coat of plates' which consists of large pieces of iron sewn or riveted between layers of leather and worn over a mail halburk.

9) I'll be using a variation of Dave Arneson's rules for treasure and XP. Basically, you can gain 1XP for every iron piece worth of treasure you recover from an adventure, but you need to blow it. This can be spent however you want. Ale and whores, sacrifices to gods, totems or patrons, gambling, charity, get rich quick schemes, or whatever fits your character best. The key thing is that you can't get anything 'useful' out of it. I'd encourage roleplaying this out, and I will give bonus XP to characters who give me interesting plot hooks while they're whooping it up.

10) Regarding character death and replacement (or new) pc's. There are two options, one is that replacement characters will either be drawn from you pool of hirelings and henchmen. I encourage henchmen and the like for this very reason. If this is undesired, or not an option then you can roll up a new character with 75% of the average experience earned by the rest of the party (to a minimum of the 10 necessary to hit first level)