House rules
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:31 am
- Dice rolls. Players are in charge of their own dice rolls, and creating their own macros with appropriate modifiers for high and low ability scores, enchanted weapons, etc. During combat I'll do my best to let you know what situational modifiers might apply. For example, if your character is wielding a missile weapon, I'll let you know if your enemy is at short, medium or long range. Exceptions: situations in which the character doesn't know if he or she succeeds right away. In other words, most thief ability checks.
- Battle axes are one-handed, and may be used by dwarves.
- Thieves may wear studded leather armor (AC7).
- Group initiative. Combat follows normal order of movement, missiles, magic and melee. Within each category, character with highest DEX goes first, down to character with lowest DEX.
- Critical hits and failures: A natural 20 always hits, and may include such benefits as maximum damage, double damage, a second attack roll, knocking the enemy prone or off a cliff, etc. The creature must be able to be hit with the weapon, of course. A natural 20 is no good against a werewolf, for example, if the weapon isn't silver or magical. A natural 1 always misses, and may include such penalties as dropping your weapon, losing your balance, hitting an unintended target, breaking an arrow, etc.
- 0 HP = death.
- Retrieval of missile weapons: fire 6 arrows during an encounter? Roll a d6 to determine how many you can retrieve. Terrain may reduce the likelihood of retrieving weapons.
- Encumbrance: let's keep it simple. Weight of armor + shield + weapons + 20 lbs. for normal equipment + treasure. Magic armor and weapons weigh half as much as their normal counterparts.
- Assume helmets for armored characters, and clothing. Don't worry about high soft boots vs. low hard boots, belt pouches, capes, cloaks, etc.