Sunday, March 17, 2013

Current set of house rules for the S&W campaign

I've evolved a set of house rules to adapt S&W to my home campaign.

  • Magic Users spell casting expansion - Standard rules apply, but a memorized spell is considered to be a "mostly cast" spell. An MU can also cast spells from their spellbooks, but it takes a full turn (10 rounds) to do it. The spell is NOT consumed from the book under this system. So your MU can prepare Sleep, but still be able to cast Detect Magic if you have a full turn to let them work their mojo in peace.
    The Magic User still can't prepare spells for combat casting without an extended rest, so this rule is mostly a way for your MU to be able to cast those "why would I memorize THAT?" spells during an adventure, at the price of losing a turn and possibly attracting wandering monsters.
  • Cleric Temples and Healing - all temples are built around a magic fountain or similar structure that can heal 1d6 HP per day if used by a worthy person. The same fountain can cure minor ailments, but not diseases; those still require a Cleric's magic. The water itself has no special powers, so it's not a free source of Cure Light potions, but it provides the kind of divine healing that a community would need to shrug off minor daily wounds. This helps explain why the D&D world is not as miserable and festering as a real European medieval style civilization would be.
  • A character can "tag out" of a combat as a move if a friend is behind them and ready to step in. This lets characters relieve each other in a congested fight. I'm considering only allowing this when your side has initiative.
  • Likewise, if you have initiative, you can attempt to push through an enemy's position. However, they get a free attack against you, and if they hit you do not move past them.
  • By way of rationale, the Saving Throw bonuses some classes get (Magic Users get +2 vs. spells, for example) are considered to be caused by player action. For example, the MU save bonus is due to the wizard knowing certain warding runes or other arcane ways to diffuse magic. It doesn't help a lot, but it helps some. Likewise, a Cleric's resistance to poison and petrification comes from their faith that their god will protect their body. Maybe yes, maybe no, but it helps some.
  • Clerics can attempt to turn every round as their standard action. Once they've failed to turn a particular undead, they will never be able to turn it in the current combat, but if they simply did not turn enough of the undead, they can re-try turning the rest of them in a later round.
Well, that's it. Seems like a lot, but those are some spot-rulings I made during play in addition to a few logical implications of the way I see my campaign working. The twist on wizard casting that I'm using is probably the biggest change, though the difference is only going to come up during exploration, not combat.

1 comment:

  1. Nice! Thanks for sharing. I especially like the "tag out" ruling.

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