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House Rules.

Posted by Wyrm of WyrdFor group 0
Wyrm of Wyrd
GM, 2 posts
Sun 29 Dec 2013
at 17:10
  • msg #1

House Rules

This game has a Mature rating, not an Adult rating. Violence and savagery are likely to be typical components of some characters actions but there are limits to how far you can go in terms of describing those actions. See the following link for more information about the RPoL Adult and Mature Games Policies: Link to RPoL Announcements

This game uses the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 – an online version of the core rules can be found at the following link: d20 SRD

Psionics will not be allowed in this game.

Please note that I won't roll for initiative in this game. I find it doesn't work very well in a slow posting game on-line so I just say that each character acts in the same order that they post their action for that round. Therefore, Improved Initiative isn't worth taking as a feat in this game.

The 'Massive Damage' rule will not be used in this game.
Wyrm of Wyrd
GM, 34 posts
Fri 14 Feb 2014
at 16:13
  • msg #2

Re: House Rules

When characters get wounded I inform the player by private lines within the main post, but it will generally not be obvious to others exactly how many "hit points" a character has lost or had to start with. Instead I will try to use the terms lightly wounded (up to 25% of hit points lost), moderately wounded (up to 50%), seriously wounded (up to 75%), grievously wounded (up to 100% of hit points lost) and mortally wounded (dieing, in the -1 to -9 range).
Wyrm of Wyrd
GM, 584 posts
Sun 16 Apr 2017
at 14:07
  • msg #3

Re: House Rules

How well can I see at night?

Darkvision isn't related to lowlight vision. Darkvision used to be infravision in earlier versions of D&D, which was based on the ability to see into the infrared spectrum to perceive heat sources. So that's the way I still think of darkvision as functioning and it helps me understand why darkvision has a range associated with it.

Lowlight vision just means the creature doesn't need as much light to see with, but does still need some light such as starlight or moonlight or the shadowy light beyond the radius of illumination from a normal light source.

I thought I understood the rules for light and vision but it turns out they aren't that clear after all. I thought the rule was that characters with normal vision can only see in normal (bright) light and not at all in low light, but that is not correct.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Vision_and_Light says:
  • In an area of bright light, all characters can see clearly. A creature can't hide in an area of bright light unless it is invisible or has cover.
  • In an area of shadowy illumination, a character can see dimly. Creatures within this area have concealment relative to that character. A creature in an area of shadowy illumination can make a Hide check to conceal itself.
  • In areas of darkness, creatures without darkvision are effectively blinded.


The idea of being able to see dimly outdoors at night does fit with real life experience. When I go for a walk at night I am not completely blind and can still make out basic outlines at a reasonable distance. OK, so how do we translate that into some workable house rules for D&D?

Low light = shadowy illumination.
Concealment grants a 20% miss chance against attacks.

Any creature in an area of shadowy illumination can make a Hide check to conceal itself. I'm going to interpret that as though they automatically 'take 10' on a hide check because of the low light conditions, even if they are not actively trying to hide. For example, normal elves are +1 on their hide check, so that's a hide check result of 11 if they are stationary. -20 to hide while attacking or after shooting, so that's a hide check of -9 overall.

The distance adjustment for the spot check to spot a target is then +1 per 10ft distance, so at 130ft that's -9+13=DC4.

OK, so a spot check is required each round to spot a target to shoot at (unless your character has lowlight vision, like the elves do). Then the target still benefits from a 20% miss chance for each attack against it.
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