Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: Fri,  9 Oct 1992 13:55:37 -0400 
From: "Peter F. Delaney" <pd1x+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: house-rules

rothwell@bach.udel.edu (James C. Rothwell) writes:

>  even adventuring priests fight/brawl much less often than rogues do. 
So > we switched their THAC0 tables, and hit dice.

	We did this, too.  I think the reasoning was "game balance" more than
anything else.  Wizards and Priests are the most potent characters, then
fighters, then thieves (of the main four).  Here, we've "fixed" both
fighters and thieves a lot, and weakened priests.  Mages are hosed
because of the type of game I run; the largest nation likes impaling
them on stakes, burning them, and so on, and spell research time is kept
to a minimum.

> We had also considered using the priest tables and HD for both priests and
> rogues, rogue tables for wizards, and wizard tables for experienced
> ordinary people (blacksmiths, foresters, etc.), as most people do not have
> classes, but do have apprentice/journyman/master status and abilities.

	Under our local version of the AD&D system, ordinary people are
Zero-Level Fighters - average person has 1d6 hit points, gets xp like a
fighter.  If they survive to 500 xp, they have received "under fire" the
equivalent training of a first level fighter, and although I have not
been letting them specialize or use the "styles", they are allowed to
pick up to four WP's (they may save some later for specialization after
formal mercenary training).  Other classes require formal training to
learn, as do fighter specialization bonuses and our house "martial arts"
abilities.

> We also looked at the Ability Scores for characters, and noticed that
> strength has percentiles for classes with it as a prime requisite
> (warriors), but that other classes do not get such bonuses for their prime
> requisites.

	We changed this a bit, too.  Most abilities now have some bonus at 14,
including Strength (+0, +1).  I smoothed out the 18/%ile strength, but
did keep it - members of the Fighter character class are now able to "do
the cavalier thing".  At every level, including the first, they roll
4d20 and add this as a percentile bonus to Strength, Dexterity, *or*
Constitution (to a maximum of 19, or Racial Max + 1).  This represents
their enhanced physical training.  Even paladins and rangers focus more
on the "mental" aspects (and they were improved a bit, too, to help
balance the with the gross priests and wizards).

	One other important change was to get rid of the 10% bonus to earned xp
for high stats.  Now, no matter what your class is, the xp bonus you get
is based on Wisdom (so there's a reason for your fighter not to put a 5
in Wisdom).

	We've made other drastic changes - most having to do with races and
classes.  Joe or I may post more on our house rules later.  So far,
people seem to approve here, and that's really what matters!  I invite
comments, though.

	I'm always curious about what other house rules are being used by other
groups...

Pe+eR
.
Pe+eR Delaney, CMU, Pittburgh, PA ... Compuserve: 73750,3667
Internet: blackclove+@cmu.edu ...  Local: pd1x
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From: moursund@hpcvnb.CV.HP.COM (David_Moursund)
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 12:32:33 PDT
Subject: Re: Kobolds (was Re: Intelligent opponents)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, Oregon