House Rules and General Stuff about my Campaign Setting
Note: The following information is a set of rules and guidelines on how I like to run D&D. These rules and guidelines are subject to change and are not set in stone; and may be changed by the DM as I see fit. Furthermore, this document is not meant to educate players on specific details concerning the campaign setting, it is only the campaigns general information. Also, any punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors you find please let me know so that I can correct the problem. The rules and guidelines are here to set forth, but are not limited to:
- Game Version:
- I use 3.0 and 3.5 in combination
- For skills, feats, equipment, and magic I generally use 3.5 because it tends to explain things with more clarity. However, if there are a certain skills, feats, equipment, and/or magic you like in 3.0 I am flexible.
- For base classes and prestige classes I can go either way which ever is better for the player.
- Role playing aspect of D&D:
- I encourage role playing while playing your characters. This after all, is the premise of playing a role playing game isn’t it? ''D&D is a Role playing game not a Roll playing game.'' You will find the game more intriguing and interesting. You however, do not have to play this way, I only encourage it.
- Please avoid “min-maxing” your character and “meta-gaming”. These elements detract from a games fun factor significantly. Adding character flavor is a fun way to play D&D. Play your character as if you were those characters. This makes D&D a fun and exciting game.
- In the infamous words of Will, "If you try to break my game I will break you." Have you ever heard of a CR 25 Undead Rat Swarm--you will!
- Beginning characters:
- You may play any character you want. However, I must approve it before it enters play.
- With this privilege of being able to play any character you want comes the added possibility of being persecuted by NPC's. For example, if you are playing a monster-based character the towns people will most likely shun you and even may attempt to attack you simply based off your looks and the connotations of having a monster running around in a town.
- I would like you to come up with a brief history for your character and share it with me. Some things I would like to know about your character are: What land is your character from? What were your characters parents like? Where are they now? Why is your character adventuring? What are your characters aspirations, incentives, motives, goals, what drives your character? Why is your character the way he or she is? These are just guidelines to help you think of a history for your character and are not meant to be answered like an essay question on a test.
- The act of multiclassing or prestige-classing during game play will be role-played unless I deem it unnecessary. For example, you are playing a fighter and wish to prestige class into a Knight Protector. The role-playing element will consist of the answer to the following questions, but not limited to: What role-playing aspects can be present to become a Knight Protector? Did the character have to join a guild of Knight Protectors to enter the class etc?
- Unless I say otherwise, your characters starting level is two.
- The rules for starting wealth & equipment are as follows: same as in the core rule book except that you will purchase your equipment in game (it will be role played out).
- New players coming into a game after it has already started will begin at an ECL of no lower than two levels behind the highest leveled PC. For example, suppose the entire party is at level five and a new player wants to join the game. Her PC would start at level three.
- With the self-correcting nature of the experience point system, the PC will soon catch up to the rest of the party in levels (or as the DM deems appropriate).
- Level Adjustments:
- Do not let high level adjustments dissuade you from choosing a race you want to play. I believe very strongly in a game of imagination such as D&D where players should be able to play any character they want. I provide several options to players concerning level adjustments. Please ask me concerning your options for playing PC's with level adjustments.
- Rolling ability scores:
- Roll 4d6 discarding the lowest die (you may re-role the lowest die, but if you do so you must keep what ever turns up and then discard the next lowest). You may do this as many times as you wish. Once you begin rolling for your ability scores however, you must finish all six of them before re-rolling.
- The DM must be present when you do this.
- Roll 4d6 discarding the lowest die (you may re-role the lowest die, but if you do so you must keep what ever turns up and then discard the next lowest). You may do this as many times as you wish. Once you begin rolling for your ability scores however, you must finish all six of them before re-rolling.
- Races, Classes, and Templates:
- Little fuzzy race from DR:
- Feral Template:
- Saint Template:
- If you want to play any of the above you must consult me first.
- Little fuzzy race from DR:
- Campaign setting:
- Although I may be using maps and certain geographical features from pre-made campaign settings, I will not necessarily be using the textual information and history on those maps and geographical features.
- Most story dialog and history of these geographical locations will be made up by me.
- Although I may be using maps and certain geographical features from pre-made campaign settings, I will not necessarily be using the textual information and history on those maps and geographical features.
- This campaign may consist of the following lands, but is not limited to: The Land of Eberron, the land of Ansalon, and the land of Faerun. These lands are known as, “The Known Lands”. Anything else is called, “The Unknown Lands”.
- If you want to see a world map of all “The Known Lands” and their distances from one another, ask me.
- Alignment:
- You do not have to declare your alignment to me. How you play your character shapes his or her alignment throughout the game. You are not limited by your alignment.
- Please stay in character, however, this lack of alignment declaration does not mean a PC can do whatever they want. For example, if your character is somewhat chaotic in his or her decisions that character should stay constant with being chaotic. Yes, chaos does have order.
- You do not have to declare your alignment to me. How you play your character shapes his or her alignment throughout the game. You are not limited by your alignment.
- Exceptions: If you are going to play a class that requires a certain alignment your character must act accordingly before he or she can enter the class. If you are going to play or are playing a character that requires a “code of conduct” or some other form of demeanor that is directly related to the alignment required for the class, (e.g. Paladin) you must declare your alignment to me. If at anytime I need to determine your alignment (e.g. overcoming damage reduction) you and I will discuss what your appropriate alignment should be.
- Alignment is one of those things in D&D that is very subjective. Every player views alignment slightly different. Therefore, if you and I disagree on what your alignment is, the DM has the final word. Always! If there is further discrepancy I may ask you to take the alignment test located on the Wizards website.
- I request that parties remain within range of each others alignment to avoid intra-party catastrophe. For example, a PC killing her companions while they are sleeping. I pride myself on running a very open game and will allow PC’s to have opposite alignments within the same party. The players must however, come up with a way for the situation to work (e.g. PC background etc.) and I do not advise it.
- Guards:
- Guards:
- Guards in cities and/or towns have been nicknamed “uber-guards”! I do not use the traditional CR 1 or CR ½ guards. Most my guards are between CR 4 and 5. So beware of them.
- Magic:
- Magic is more or less uncommon in my campaigns. Most commoners who are unadventurous have heard of magic or witnessed it at some point in their life, but this is limited to maybe only a half a dozen times in a life. More adventurous people see it more often, but not enough to ever get used to it. There are of course NPC’s that are magic users and are quite used to it. Do not allow this lack of magic in my campaigns to limit you in your character selection. If your party consist of a wide range of magic users and hail from a place where magic is more prevalent, then your party may gain a reputation for their peculiar ways etc.
- Magic is more or less uncommon in my campaigns. Most commoners who are unadventurous have heard of magic or witnessed it at some point in their life, but this is limited to maybe only a half a dozen times in a life. More adventurous people see it more often, but not enough to ever get used to it. There are of course NPC’s that are magic users and are quite used to it. Do not allow this lack of magic in my campaigns to limit you in your character selection. If your party consist of a wide range of magic users and hail from a place where magic is more prevalent, then your party may gain a reputation for their peculiar ways etc.
- Magic:
- Books:
- All D&D books are available to you during game play.
- Forbidden books: You are not to look through the following books during game play: MM, MM2, MM3, MM4, MM5, Fiend Folio, Forgotten Realms - Monsters of Faerun, Eberron –Monsters of Eberron,any other D&D books containing monsters, and the book of the campaign setting I am using.
- Some PC's may look through the forbbiden books during game play for the purpose of spells & spell-like abilities. For example, spells that summon creatures from the forbbiden books. Looking through the forbbiden books for any other purpose is considered cheating.
- Note on Unearthed Arcana: PC’s may choose one flaw from this book and no more. If you wish to use additional information from this book you must consult the DM.
- All D&D books are available to you during game play.
- Experience points:
- I award experience points based off your characters ability to overcome certain situations. Therefore, if your character successfully sneaks around the giant, for example, rather than killing it, your character is awarded the same amount of experience as if he or she killed it.
- Often times it is far easer to escape from the red dragon rather than killing it—so you may not receive the same amount of experience points as you would have for killing it, but you will receive a far amount based off my discretion. Each situation is different and I will award you experience points as I see fit.
- Experience point delivery is subject to me and will vary with each situation. I caution you to avoid thinking I owe you experience points for something because I awarded you or someone else for the same thing or simply you believe I just owe you experience points; not necessarily.
- Bank:
- I have what I call a “videogame bank” in my D&D games. The bank can never be robbed and it never closes down from a lack of money. Furthermore, there is a bank located in every major city and they are all one common bank (the banks recognize each other across ocean and land).
- PC’s can put their money and/or items in the bank where they will be eternally safe. In return the banker gives the PC’s a “bank parchment” stating the bank owes them the amount of money and/or items deposited.
- The PC’s can present this parchment at any bank and the bank will have the amount of money and/or item the PC desires. You see, every bank has a store room in the back that has tons of money and various general items stocked. So if you deposited a long sword at a bank, for example, and then traveled far away and attempted to get your long sword from another bank, the banker would go to the back and retrieve a long sword and give it to you and keep your other one. So you are not getting the actual long sword you originally put in the bank. This means that if you have a special item and wish to put it in the bank, you will have to go back to the original bank you deposited the item to retrieve it.
- A PC cannot loose the “bank parchment” even if he or she is stripped down to nothing (please do not ask me to explain this—this is just one of those things. There is a reason why I call it a “videogame bank”), also, the “bank parchment” can never be stolen or destroyed.
- PC’s cannot buy equipment from banks.
- PC’s cannot barrow money from the bank.
- The following things cannot be deposited in the bank: Bodies, living or dead.
- Death:
- At the time a PC dies, his or her spirit exits the body and is immediately transported to the “Demiplane of Choice”. Its traits consist of normal gravity, flowing time (time moves much slower here than on the material plane), and is finite. The PC is immediately confronted with two wooden doors. One to the right and one to the left. This is the expanse of this plane. The only portal to this plane is through death.
- The door to the PC’s right takes the PC’s spirit to the Eathereal plane at which point the PC takes on the “Ghost Template” or some other similar template and becomes a ghost for the remainder of his or her days or until he or she is brought back from the dead. For further information see the book “Ghostwalk” page 10. After the ghost manifests (MM page 118) he or she then chooses some body part on his or her original body (e.g. a finger, arm etc.) in which he or she can now move in a 40 foot radius around that body part, whether the body part is still attached to the body or not. If at any point the body part the ghost has chosen is ever destroyed, the ghost is then automatically transported back to the resting grounds where his or her original body lies and then designates another part of the body to be the moving focal point.
- Everything as stated in the MM concerning the Ghost Template is the same excepts as noted here: PC ghosts whose hp are reduced to 0 are destroyed.
- The door to the PC’s left leads to death as is stated in the rules.
- For PC’s that are not brought back to life by their companions and the PC that is dead decides to take the door on his or her left and wants to be brought back to life, fate will force the body to be brought back to life by some means.
- All of the rules for bringing a PC or creature back to life are the same as stated in the official rulebooks except as noted here: The material component (diamond) needed for the spells, Raise Dead and Resurrection are at a much lower cost than normal. Raise Dead material component costs 1,000gp. Resurrection material component costs 5,000gp Additionally, PC's paying a cleric to raise their dead companions (or themselves) need only pay the worth of the diamond in question, nothing more.
- PC’s that die of old age do not go to the “Demiplane of Choice”.
- In the world of D&D there are many dangerous and perilous obstacles PC’s can run into. As a result, PC’s may die. Remember, because your PC is adventuring his or her chance of dying is greatly enhanced; so don’t get all upset if your PC dies.
- At the time a PC dies, his or her spirit exits the body and is immediately transported to the “Demiplane of Choice”. Its traits consist of normal gravity, flowing time (time moves much slower here than on the material plane), and is finite. The PC is immediately confronted with two wooden doors. One to the right and one to the left. This is the expanse of this plane. The only portal to this plane is through death.
- Death:
- I have what I call a “videogame bank” in my D&D games. The bank can never be robbed and it never closes down from a lack of money. Furthermore, there is a bank located in every major city and they are all one common bank (the banks recognize each other across ocean and land).
- Bank:
- Absent players:
- In the case that a player does not show up for game, I will make up some story dialog explaining why the PC is not in the game. Most likely we will not need to play the missing character, but this will not always be the case.
- Moreover, the players missing PC will not rise in ECL should the rest of the party advance in level during the missed game session. Players that miss more than one game will never fall more than two ECL's behind the highest leveled PC in the party. Thankfully, the lower level PC's will eventually catch up to the rest of the party in levels (see subheading, “Beginning Characters” of this document for more information).
- In the case that a player does not show up for game, I will make up some story dialog explaining why the PC is not in the game. Most likely we will not need to play the missing character, but this will not always be the case.
- New materials
- Within this campaign there are five new materials one may want to be aware of. These new materials will add additional bonuses to various items. The bonuses work the same way as if the item had a magical enhancement. See below for exceptions.
- Aaronium: Aaronium is an alloy that is both stronger and more balanced then steel when crafted into various items. The finished product of any Aaronium item is always dull silver in color. Aaronium weapons and armor are +1 to enhancement bonus. All other items made in this fashion have subjective outcomes.
- Titanium: Titanium is as strong as steel and much lighter. The finished product of any Titanium item is always brilliant turquoise in color. Titanium weapons and armor are +2 to enhancement bonus. All other items made in this fashion have subjective outcomes.
- Stone of Geomight: Stone of Geomight was discovered by the Dwarves deep within the material plane. A stone that is relatively light, easy to shape, and tougher than even Titanium. Many adventurers forge weapons and armor out of the stone if they can get their hands on it. Items made from Stone of Geomight are always stony-rainbow in color. Weapons and armor made out of Stone of Geomight are +3 to enhancement bonus. All other items made from this material have subjective outcomes.
- Dedric: Dedric is a very rare metal discovered in ages passed on the material plane. Items made from Dedric are always blood red in color. Weapons and armor made out of Dedric are +4 to enhancement bonus. All other items made from this material have subjective outcomes.
- Metal of the Abyss and Metal of Celestia: Metal of the Abyss is a strange metal that has somehow made its way from the outer plane, Infinite Layers of the Abyss, onto the material plane. This exceptionally rare metal is greatly desired by many of the great ones living on the material plane. Items made from Metal of the Abyss are always dull black with swirling red highlights which move within the metal. Metal of Celestia is also a strange metal that has somehow made its way from the outer plane Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, to the material plane. This is just as rare as Metal of the Abyss. Items made from Metal of Celestia are always brilliant silver-green in color. Weapons and armor made from both Metal of the Abyss and Metal of Celestia are +5 to enhancement bonus. All other items made from these materials have subjective outcomes. Good aligned PC’s carrying or using items made from Metal of the Abyss suffer a -4 on all saving throws, attacks, and damage. Evil aligned PC’s carrying or using items made from Metal of Celetia suffer -4 on all saving throws, attacks, and damage. Weapons made from Metal of the Abyss do no additional harm when striking good creatures and visa versa for Metal of Celestia.
- Items crafted from material listed above are always made with exceptional craftsmanship, thus making them a masterwork item (include price of masterwork craftsmanship when purchasing items of the above caliber).
- Items crafted from material listed above are not magical. However, items may be imbibe with special abilities as if the item possessed a +1 magical enhancement bonus.
- Whichever material possessed the highest enhancement bonus dominates the color of the item in question. Furthermore, items crafted from any of these five materials cannot have their color changed for any reason. Whatever the color of the material is that is what color the item is.
- Time, Dates, and seasons:
- PC’s will be able to tell time based off the sun and stars requiring no skill checks. I will tell the PC’s about what time it is within the hour. If any of these things are not visible, time telling becomes more difficult and a more approximate time will be given when asked.
- Years, centuries, and millennia passing through time will be referred to as ages. For example, 1st age, 2nd age, 3rd age etc.
- December through February is considered winter, March through May is considered spring, June through August is considered summer, and September through November is considered fall. Instead of telling you what month it is I will tell you how early or late you are in the seasons. For example, if it is April I would say, “It’s the middle of spring.” Or if it is Dec. I would say, “It is early winter.”
- HP:
- HP:
- PC’s will be able to tell time based off the sun and stars requiring no skill checks. I will tell the PC’s about what time it is within the hour. If any of these things are not visible, time telling becomes more difficult and a more approximate time will be given when asked.
- Rolling for new HP at level increase, the DM must be present.
- CR Difficulty:
- Time, Dates, and seasons:
- During game play it is not impossible for PC’s to run into adversaries too powerful for them, however, PC’s will never have this happen to them without proper warning. Sometimes I will give PC’s some vague idea of the CR they are faced with by describing how the PC might feel around the encounter. However, this feeling only means that there is potential danger and may not always result in overly powerful encounters. This way PC’s should know full well the potential danger of the situation. Sometimes these warnings may come from NPC’s, other times I may ask you to make specific skill or ability checks to see the amount of knowledge and/or experience one may have that would result in a better understanding of the situation in question. For example, if the PC’s find themselves traveling through an obscure swamp and they run into an old hermit who warns them of a black worm in the area and the PC’s are not sure if they can defeat this foe, it is a good idea to stay away.
- Knowing when to run and when to fight is your responsibility. So choose your battles carefully. It is not my fault that you made bad decisions. And remember, if you find yourself in a bad situation, you can always run.
- The cosmology:
- Ask DM for specifics on the cosmology wheel.
- Bags of Holding:
- Bags of Holding cost half as much as the normal listed price. This is because I lack concern for the rules on weight.
- Ask DM for specifics on the cosmology wheel.