Why House rules?
Each game is different, and each person that makes up original material is different. There are specific items available in the mainstream game that either make no sense in my personal campaign, or may actively damage the continuity of my world. House rules are also a way to clarify ambiguous items in the overall rule set. In addition, since my campaign world has been in use for four editions of the game (Written first for 1e and modified for 2e, 3.5, and now 4e) there are going to be very specific areas where it just doesn't work the way the book says. Some of this is my personal conviction, some of it is in the bones of this world, the decisions I made when I selected the critters that I wanted to use when populating it. In any case, I will be defining my rules carefully and adding to them as needed.
I will occasionally run experimental campaigns. I will use existing settings, but when these campaigns are over they are not considered cannon for the world area that they're in. Currently there have been two campaigns that can be considered defining. These are the Sankarite children campaign and the Twin Harbors campaign.
To some extent these rules aren’t necessary, after all the GM’s word is enough. I reserve the right to be cruelly arbitrary and unreasonable. I realize that any GM that abuses that power will be playing roll-your-own-adventure pretty damn fast. There is precedent for this in the books and I quote the Afterword from the second edition DMG.
“It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters given in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Volumes, you are the creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a whole first, your campaign next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in doing so as the rest of us do!” (E. Gary Gygax)
Generally I don't mind players looking things up during play. There are a few exceptions to this. The first of these has to do with trying to identify monsters or looking up spell effects while in melee. As the GM, I will do this sort of thing on an infrequent basis, but the monsters that I run are not my characters that I've created and nurtured for long periods of time. When in melee, I prefer that you go from memory.
I want you to have a character that you want to play. I am currently allowing an
80 point character. No statistic may be above 18, and none may be below 10. I
recommend that you use the 4d6 dropping the lowest die method, ignoring any
rolls that are below 10 to get a set of random numbers in the general range,
then adjusting your numbers as makes sense given the class you wish to play. I
prefer that we do this together, and require that I be allowed to provide
initial equipment, spells and other generation. I have allowed kits in the past,
but must do this on a case by case basis.
If you choose to use a straight rolling method, I will allow characters with
more than 80 stat points. These must be rolled at game time, in my presence with
the likelyhood of low rolls or lower than 80 point results. If you want to
gamble, I'm willing to play. Most of the characters I've played had significant
flaws. I never felt that this made the game less fun. In fact, the flaws gave me
wonderful opportunities for great silliness.
A back story is required, and I will be glad to help you come up with one that
fits the campaign. I've found that a more detailed back story allows me to
provide a better fit for the character in the campaign.
This group is currently using
PC-Gen as our
primary character librarian.Hero
Workshop is an acceptable freeware alternative. I'm not completely happy
with either of these, and am open to other programs, should you find one you
like. Since the GSL specificly prohibits character generators in 4e we will see
what develops in this area.Please refer to the
Character Management Resources page for more information about this.
I realize that there are occasions that prevent a player from attending. This isn't normally a big deal, but please try to give some warning. In many cases I have planned specific things to happen that are targeted to a specific character, if that character is a no-show then the game is disrupted if I don't have a chance to react before the game day. If it's necessary to adjust game time to suit a specific requirement I'm very willing to do this, within reason. If there is a consistant pattern of absence, or disruptive behavior I'll do my best to resolve the problem. In extreme cases a player may be asked to leave. The game days and time will not be changed without letting the current players know what the changes are. Normal play will be planned to occur between 12:00pm and 5pm on the appropriate Saturdays of the month. For the Twin Harbors game that is the second Saturday. For the Quiet Forest/Sands of Death game that is the fourth Saturday.
Specific changes:
Armor:
Plate armor does not require assistance to arm one’s self. It will shorten the period required to don armor if assistance is available, but in my time in the SCA I’ve seen a lot of folks put on plate with no assistance. Tilting armor does require assistance, but that is a fairly specialized version of armor and has very little resemblance to field plate. My experience is that it takes about fifteen minutes to put on plate, less if you have worn that suit and know where all of the buckles should be set.
It is not completely necessary to have plate armor resized before using it when it battle spoil. Most of the plate I've seen was somewhat adjustable. If either the donor or the person who ends up with the armor are of unusual size (smaller or larger than normal) then this may be the case. Once again, I've worn other people's armor and other people wore mine.
There is discussion about armor and spellcasting in the current system. The original version of this was that the cold iron in most armor interfered with magical energy. Another was the current contention that the armor interfered with somatic gestures. In any event I have long allowed that Mithril and Adamantine armors do not interfere with spell casting. I am willing to consider other armor also, particularly things like Cowrie and other natural materials, and various forms of magically enhanced armor, though not all of them.
Spells:
The clerical spell Soften Earth and Stone is ineffective on roads (as they are the equivalent of worked stone), other than to possibly mire carts and slow movement. This will be decided on a case by case basis by the GM. In addition caught creatures may defend themselves and reflexively attack, although this may be at significant penalty if they are attacked from behind. This appears to fit the spirit of the spell as written.