House Rules

## Dice Rolls

As a GM, I like to focus more on the player characters than the “average joe”.  Along these lines, I handle some dice rolls a little differently.  At the same time, I want to balance out some of the “good” of critical hits with fumbles.  I also don’t like that sometimes dice are just downright disagreeable.

### Initiative

I almost always take 10 on all initiative rolls made by bad-guys and NPCs.  This goes for the big bad guys as much as the fodder.  After all, I can always give a bad guy the “Improved Initiative” feat if I want to, and a high enough Dex to give him enough of a boost.

### Spell Attacks

This is a little more complex of a concept, but works very much on the same principle as attack rolls.  The “Spell DC” concept says that the save DC of a spell is equal to 10, plus the caster’s casting attribute, plus the level of the spell, plus bonuses from Feats and such.  Sometimes, instead of using this system, I’ll call for a “Spell Attack”.  Instead of using a save DC, this is instead like rolling an attack where the bonuses to attack are the caster’s casting attribute, the level of the spell, and the same bonuses from Feats and other stuff.  Then I take 10 on the defender’s save.  This just simply takes the roll out of the GMs hands and gives it to the player.  Spell Attacks can crit (and fumble).

### Active Defense

Much like Spell Attacks, Active Defense also takes the roll from the GM and passes it to the player.  Instead of the player effectively “taking 10” on their defense (standard rules), the GM takes 10 on their attack, and the player rolls to defend themselves.  Active defenses can crit (and fumble).

### Critical Hits

We decided to go with "roll twice". This means when you score a critical hit, (roll to confirm, and if confirmed) roll damage dice twice (not including sneak/precision attack dice) and also double your static bonus. Remember that minimum damage is 1. Minimum doubled damage is 2. I don't recommend it, but you can spend Karma on damage rolls.

### Fumbles

When you roll to hit or save, a natural 20 means automatic success.  For crits (critical hits) you roll again and try to confirm (standard rules).  Same rolls, a 1 means automatic failure.  For comic relief, balance, for whatever reason, I like to include fumbles as well.  However, you’re heroes, fumbles shouldn’t be as drastic as crits.  When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, roll again.  Consult the chart below (I’ve got it memorized, I’ve been using it for decades).

 2
 3
 4 or higher

## Karma

It’s tough being a good guy.  However, the universe appreciates the help.  When you do good things (including as a player), you’ll get “karma”.  Keep extra good notes for the party for the night, get a karma.  Save the small boy from the attacking dragon, get a karma.  Bring chips and soda for the group, get a karma.  Make a joke that has us all laughing for 5 minutes, get a karma.  Bribe the GM with $20, check your priorities.  If someone does something you think deserves a point of karma, bring it up.  Don’t be afraid to sell yourself too.

What is all of this karma good for?  Check the table below (I’ve been using this for decades as well).

 2
 4
 8
Examples: An ally was hiding in the shadows and pops out to help.  You find a hidden door that leads out of the pit.  The light hits you just right, and the princess can’t stop from throwing herself at you.

Karma cost is spent and goes away forever.

## Experience Points

We're using the Medium advancement track. Typically, I'd use fast, but with the number of new(er) players, I want people to get a chance to feel out their character before skyrocketing up levels. This gives the players a chance to experience their character a bit more at each level.

That being said, 1st level is a pain in the butt for GMs and characters alike. Everyone is too fragile, expect to get bonus XP at 1st level so that everyone hits 2nd fairly quickly.

### No Child Left Behind

#### XP / Levels

If a character falls more than 2 levels behind the next lowest level character in the group, they'll get enough xp to be only 1 level behind the next lowest level character in the group.

#### Character Death

In the case of character death (something I don't expect to see a lot of, but possible), the new character will come in with XP equal to half the XP of the character that died. Because of the nature of the XP chart this essentially is like losing a level (maybe more).

Starting gear for the new character will be on a case-by-case basis.

### Hit Points

Hit points for first level are as if you rolled maximum. For every level after 1st level, you roll. You can choose to roll again, but you must take the 2nd roll. This should result in above average hit points for each character. You may use karma on hit point rolls.

## Mixing Potions

I plan to bring back a 2nd edition (and 1st edition) rule where drinking potions in quick succession can cause unexpected side effects. The basics of this are: if you drink a second potion while the effects of the first are still active, roll (d100) to find out what happens. If a potion is instant (Potion of Healing), then this isn't a problem. If a potion is permanent, then the duration is treated as one turn (10 rounds).