Campaign House Rules

The campaign has only a few house rules at the moment. New house rules or clarifications will be added as needed.

Character Creation (updated 10/27/2002)

Players are normally allowed to play any of the standard races or character classes available in the Player's Guide. However, the gamemaster asks that players do not make any more Elf characters at this time. Other races, such as monsterous humanoids, are purely at the discretion of the gamemaster. Players should feel free to ask, but should not expect the gamemaster to approve all ideas.

Character stats are rolled with 4D6, dropping the lowest die. The player may assign the rolls to the Attributes that they want to. If all the rolls come up as 12 or less, they may completely reroll their attributes. Characters who join the game now are allowed to start with an "advanced" leveled character that has a level equal to the lowest level of the current party. (Currently that is 7th level.) The character cannot begin as a member of a prestige class nor can they multi-class without first asking the gamemaster for permission. 

The player must show each level's progression for my review and indicate what skills, feats, attribute points and spells were gained at that level. This must be done in a manner that is easy to read and understand and is best to sit down with me one night and work on the character. The Hero Forge spreadsheet is a good program to use for this. Wizards gain an additional 1D6 spells of randomly determined level.

The character must submit a written list of gear that they wish to start with. The list may include a maximum of two masterwork items. Since the party currently has horses, new characters should also include them as part of their gear list. In addition they may receive one or more magical items from the gamemaster. The player may suggest magical items that they would like to have. The gamemaster will return a list of what gear, magic items and money the character possesses. This is done to ensure that new characters are balanced with the rest of the party. 

Most importantly a background must be submitted to the game master and approved before the character is allowed to play in the campaign. The background must include a physical description, personality description and a brief history of the character's life. It should be about a page in length.  

Cleric Deity Weapons (updated 06/06/2002)

A Cleric automatically gains a free weapon proficiency in their deities’ chosen weapon for free. Clerics who choose the domain of war would gain a bonus martial weapon proficiency in addition to the proficiency and weapon focus in their deities' chosen weapon.

Dual Wielding Shields (updated 05/05/2003)

A character may under no circumstances use two shields at once in an attempt to dual wield them as a method of attack. It is stupid, it is silly, it is unrealistic and it has no place in my D&D campaign.

Death's Door (updated 05/29/2003) Taken from Monte Cook's rules

Characters are disabled when they reach 0 hp, and they stay in that state until they reach 0 minus their Constitution modifier (if the Constitution modifier is positive). That keeps tough characters on their feet a little longer, but they are still hindered in their actions. They can take only a single standard or move-equivalent action in a round, and they do so at a -2 circumstance penalty (to attack and damage rolls, saving throws, and checks). And they lose 1 hit point per round if they take strenuous activity, but they don't drop unconscious until they actually go below 0 minus their Constitution bonus. It reduces the unrealistic "I'm fine until I go unconscious" feel somewhat, which Rob complained about.

Death no longer occurs at -10, it’s at 0 minus your Constitution score. This means that a tough character with a 15 Constitution doesn't actually die until he reaches -15 (and he is disabled, not dying, at 0 to -2). Of course, a frail character is even weaker now: a character with an 8 Constitution dies at -8, not -10.

Exotic Weapon Proficiencies (updated 06/06/2002)

In my campaign exotic weapon proficiencies may only be learned one of two ways. The first is the character must find someone that is willing to train them in the use of the weapon. The weapon master will ask for some form of payment. Alternatively the player can attempt to train himself with the weapon by using in live combat in additional to devoting time to practice.

Optionally the gamemaster may determine if the character successfully learned to use the weapon by secretly rolling a Intelligence Check (DC 25). Add one half of the player's level to the roll. In addition each successful critical that was scored with the weapon adds +2 to the roll, and likewise each fumble adds a penalty of -2.     

Haggling (updated 05/29/2003)

Haggling is an opposed Diplomacy skill check. For every five points that your check exceeds your opponent’s you may increase or decrease an item’s market price by 5%. Market price is generally determined by an appraise check by the buyer. There is no retry available for Haggling.

Instant Kill Criticals (updated 06/01/2003)

Any time a creature or player rolls a natural 20 to hit and then gets a natural 20 on their critical threat roll, yet another roll to attack is made. Should this third roll be sufficient to hit as well, a 'potential instant kill' is landed. The player or creature rolls critical damage normally, and the target is wounded for that amount of damage. Additionally, the target must successfully make a Fortitude save vs. a DC equal to the amount of damage taken or be instantly slain by the blow. Note that the 1st attack and 2nd roll (the critical threat roll) must both be a natural 20, not just a roll within the critical threat range of the weapon. This is to prevent weapons, feats, and magical items with greater threat ranges from becoming far more powerful than they are intended. Deities are naturally immune to this rule.

Leadership Feat (updated 08/27/2002)

A character may take the leadership feat at anytime he is eligible to do so. However, the benefits will not manifest until such time as the character does something within the confines of the campaign to warrant them.

Leveling (updated 08/27/2002)

All character leveling, especially die rolls need to be done with the GM present. It is not that I do not trust my players it is just that all leveling will be done in my presence.

Multiclassing (updated 06/06/2002)

There have been several restrictions placed on how a character can multiclass in the campaign. Players must inform the gamemaster in advance the new class that they wish to pursue. Then the character must find someone willing to train them in the chosen class. The majority of the training occurs between modules provided there is a sufficient length of time, but that is not always the case. Characters may not normally multiclass to become sorcerers. Additionally the character may only ever gain a single prestige class.

Sorcerers (updated 05/20/2004)

Sorcerers are more in touch with magic and may cast spells without using normal material components that cost less than 1gp.