~PC Creation & House Rules~
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House Rules for Hugh’s Greyhawk Campaign

This campaign is a plain-vanilla Greyhawk (no spells, feats, Prestige classes, etc. from Forgotten Realms or other “worlds”), and with only races found in the PHB.

Characters can be made with 40 points using the Point Buy method. All characters begin with full hit points and starting money at 1st level. Everyone starts at 1st level, and unless cleared with the DM, originate from the little village of Smallville in Bissel.

Any Evil or Chaotic Neutral characters are not allowed (any characters that behave with these alignments will become NPCs). This is intended to be a “heroic” campaign and the past has shown that these alignments are not conducive to teamwork or heroic adventure.

There will be no more than 5 or 6 PCs at any time. We’ve tried playing with more in the past and it decreases the enjoyment for the DM and players.

Character sheets will be in PCGen format (give your changes to Kristin so she can add them to the DM’s roster).

Occasionally, Hugh will give out something called “Fate Points” for working as a team. A single Fate Point can be used to reroll one die that affects that character only— whether it is a roll made by the player or a roll by an opponent against the character. The new roll counts even if it is worse than the first— that’s the fickleness of Fate after all.

In addition to experience points for game play and attendance, Hugh is also basing experience awards on timely-written journal entries, bios and other things character-related that help evolve the game world and make it easier for him to spend what time he has working on the campaign. A good background will lend itself to plot hooks for the characters.

Players unable to attend a session must make arrangements with Hugh to run your character for that session. A missed session will usually yield 75% experience.

No character or inventory item, etc. is in play unless it has been approved by the DM. This includes characters who have gone up a level since the last time Hugh has okayed a character sheet. Things discussed between characters that effect game play do not happen if the DM is not made aware of them.

Though these aren’t our official rules: http://www.stormkeep.net/house_rules.htm they are very similar and well-detailed—worth a look!


Skill, Spell, Feat, Class changes and additions:

Added Knowledge (Undead) and Knowledge (The Planes) as class skills for cleric.
Added Knowledge (The Planes) as class skill for paladin.

Allow choice of Brew Potion or Scribe Scrolls for wizard’s “automatic” 1st level feat for Alchemist character
Added Craft (Glassmaking) as a skill (from The Book of Eldritch Might)
Added Urban Lore as a skill (from Traps and Treachery)
Added Mechanical Aptitude and Improved Sneak Attack feats (from Traps and Treachery)
Added Invisible Object spell (from Traps and Treachery)
Added Domain Specialization and Profound Faith feats (from The Book of the Righteous)
Added Radiant Servant of Pelor prestige class (from Dragon Magazine #283)
Added various non-magical equipment (from the Ultimate Equipment Guide)
Added Shadow Binding spell (from Dragon Magazine #291)
Added Magic Missile Spray spell (from Spells & Magic)
Added Bladesong spell (from WotC web site)


Main books used for character creation:

PHB
DMG
Defenders of the Faith
Deities and Demigods
(Greyhawk Deities only)
Masters of the Wild
Song and Silence
Sword and Fist
Tome and Blood
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer

Some Dragon Magazine articles, approved on a case-by-case basis.

Posted by Hugh on January 12, 2003, 12:54

Character Death & New Characters

Character deaths happen, and resurrection isn’t always an option. If a character dies heroically, the player may create a new character at the level the old character would have been at had they been resurrected, with the addition of that session’s experience points. Fate points do not carry over from an old character— it’s the player’s fault if they aren’t used to prevent the character’s death! Characters coming into the game in this fashion have to make sense for the story line.

The new character’s starting funds are half of what is shown in the DM Guide on table 5-1. No single item (magical or non-magical) can cost more than 20% of these starting funds.

Posted by Hugh on January 19, 2003, 23:42

Metamagic Feats

As per the “House Rules” article by Andy Collins in Dragon #305, page 16, metamagic feats can be used “on the fly” without extended casting time or preparation. The feat can be used one time daily. These spells use up the same level slot they would have if they had been cast normally, though the spellcaster is limited to using spells of a maximum level equal to the highest level spell that the caster can cast minus the spell difference given in the feat’s description. The Heighten Spell feat is treated differently— it can be used to maximize the spell to the highest level spell the spellcaster can cast.

Posted by Hugh on February 17, 2003, 19:25

Sharing Experience with a Magic Item

In order for the Sword of Illiven to “grow with” Valon, he shares his experience points with it— similar to the way a spellcaster would give a little of his/herself to make a magic item or scroll. This method of item improvement is explained in Dragon #289 pages 56-58 in an article called “Leveled Treasures” by Stephen Kenson. To make the Sword a +2 weapon, Valon would need to give it 1600 xp when he hit 5th level (or higher).

Posted by Hugh on March 25, 2003, 14:07

Multiclass Characters

Players can take additional base (PC) classes without applying the penalty for non-favored classes. For example, a 5th level halfling fighter who chooses to add a level of cleric would not incur the 20% experience point penalty for multiclassing.

Restrictions for multiclassing classes such as Paladin or Monk still apply.

Posted by Hugh on April 18, 2003, 23:34