House Rules

Most of us already know how we generally play. This page is just here to clear some specifics up. As always with my PnP games, everything is up for discussion. I'd prefer if this were the place we talked about rules, and possible changes, not at the game table. In order to keep sessions smooth ;)

Personal Desires

I like a strong emphasis on teamwork, and less competitive style of play, and will reward characters as such. This campaign especially requires that the party think as a team. Character development and Roleplaying are valuable (the former more than the ladder). I may not be the greatest DM, but I will always try my hardest to provide the best playing experience for everyone at the table and to provide the best immersion. It's up to me to set the tone, keep the pace, and tell the story.. but it's up to the players to make the game enjoyable. If your having a night of bad rolls, try not to get pouty, angry or bitchy. Bad rolls happen, try to roleplay them instead :)

Actions per Round

We all can get carried away with what we want to do in our round, and forget actually how many particular actions stack up during a round. It's fun, but still needs to be kept in check. I will clear up some common actions, but generally I try to stick to the book.

d20 section

In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move action, or you can perform a full-round action. You can also perform one swift action and one or more free actions. You can always take a move action in place of a standard action.

In some situations (such as in a surprise round), you may be limited to taking only a single move action or standard action.

Specifically I'd like to focus on Attacks and Full-attacks.

"If you get more than one attack per round because your base attack bonus is high enough (see Base Attack Bonus in Classes), because you fight with two weapons or a double weapon, or for some special reason, you must use a full-round action to get your additional attacks."

So if your BAB is +7/+2, or +11/+6/+2, to use both or more attacks, it is in fact a full round. Only using one attack would be a standard action. You can call a full attack after using a standard attack, doing so expends the remaining actions in your round.

Run

You can run as a full-round action. If you do, you do not also get a 5-foot step. When you run, you can move up to four times your speed in a straight line (or three times your speed if you're in heavy armor). You lose any Dexterity bonus to AC unless you have the Run feat.

Attack of Opportunity

In order to speed up combat, Attacks of Opportunity will not be used, except for certain scenarios.

AoO Feats

Combat Reflexes, and any other feats that grant additional attacks of opportunity - Don't take them. If they are a prerequisite for another feat, ignore it.

Tumbling, Mobility and other similar feats are still in. This will guarantee that no matter how many enemies, you are able to enter/leave a threat area without taking an AoO. NO MATTER WHAT

Class Skills/Abilities

This is an exception. If your class gives you additional AoO, you will be granted those attacks. You will be treated as if you have Combat Reflexes and other AoO feats (no need to take them)

Leaving a square

No AoO will be granted to targets leaving a threatened square. Initiative will continue as normal. Target will remain flat-footed until next initiative pass. This is a soft rule, and depending on the situation I may or may not call for an attack.

Order of Combat

If you are granted AoO, the AoO is always resolved FIRST. Regardless of Initiative. This is standard.

Examples and Reasoning

A lot of enemies will come and go from your threat area, as will you to enemies. I've instituted this variant to cut down on combat times, and amount of rolls during a single round. I've seen players able to performs so many additional attacks they can wipe out entire groups of enemies in nearly a single round. Leaving the rest of the party feeling useless. I do factor the positioning and tactics of the combat scenes, and in certain situations I will grant extra attacks to enemies or players. The examples below regard both PCs, and NPCs.

Ex1 : A single orc charges into, or through your square and you are not occupied with another enemy.

In this scenario, you would get/I would call for an attack of opportunity on the Orc.

Ex2 : A single orc charges into, or through your square and you are occupied with another enemy.

No AoO will be granted unless you have a specific CLASS ability or skill (not feats)

Ex3 : A group of orcs charges into, or through your square, and you are not occupied with another enemy.

You will be granted one AoO on a target of your choosing. The incoming enemies will not be able to attack individually until the next round. Instead, when they enter your square, after AoO is resolved, the "group" will get one attack. Then combat will continue as normal.

Ex4 : A group of orcs charges into, or through your square, and you are occupied with an enemy.

No AoO. The incoming enemies will not be able to attack individually until the next round. Instead, when they enter your square the "group" will get one attack. Then combat will continue as normal.

Reflex Rolls

Reflex saves are not a Dodge roll. They are specifically for situational rolling (Traps, Hazards, Cover) and Spells. Unless your class states (i.e. Monk evasion), or you have proper feats, you will not get any sort of dodge roll. Dodging is factored into your AC and taken into account during the attack roll.

As far as I know, this is not a rule variant. This is how the game is played. Unless I'm interpreting it wrong. Even if I am, a dodge roll every time you got swung on would be a ridiculous amount of time wasted. If I am wrong, come at me bro. Prove me stupid :P

Movement in Combat

A single round of combat is described as 3-5 seconds. Keep that in mind while playing. Visualizing movement and placement is a bit difficult, and there are solutions we are working on for that. In the mean time, I will do my best to paint the picture of distances and attempt to make it clear how far you can move and how many actions it will take.

I plan on using the dreaded GRID SQUARES, but only for movement and positioning. Once that's figured out, it will become much more clear.

Called Shots vs. Regular Attacks

This is more of a clarification, than a rule. A Called Shot is a special type of attack that has it's own modifiers. However, we all like to "call" our shots, even on regular attacks. Here is a quick overview of how I handle it:

a) Player turn comes up and says "I'm gonna shoot him in the face" or "Chop his head off" - I do not consider these to be Called Shots.

b) Player rolls attack to "Shoot in the face", if player hits, he may not have actually hit him in the face. I determine that based off the damage roll. If you "Shoot him in the face", but roll only 2 out of your possible 20 damage.. you didn't really shoot him in the face. Yet you still hit him. In some cases I will ask for a roll of the body die to determine where you hit. In others, where it's clear you didn't hit them in a "weak spot", I will describe to you how your attack went.

c) If the player completely misses, tough cookies.

Making a REAL Called Shot

Standard rules apply. Just specify that you actually want to make a called shot.

Confirming Critical Hits

No. Just no. If you roll, unmodified, in your threat range. It's a critical.