House Rules
Modifications to BTB Castles and Crusades Rules:
1. No barbarians, knights, or paladins.
2. Max hit points at first level.
3. PCs heal one hit point per day of rest per level. For example, a 5th level PC will heal 5 hit points for every day of rest.
4. I do not use BTB encumbrance rules. Instead, I will eyeball it and let you know if I think your PC is lugging around enough gear to slow down its movement rate.
5. I do not use alignment rules. Instead of designating an alignment, come up with a moral outlook for your PC. You are welcome to rely on a formal alignment if you would like. PCs will not be penalized for failing to act according to a particular alignment. However, there are some restrictions that come with this:
5A. No evil PCs. It is hard to articulate what I consider to be an evil PC, but I know it when I see it. I have no problem with a party of merciless murder hobos. I do have a problem with PCs that seek to hurt (non-monster/villain) others for pleasure.
5B. PCs must be conceived so that they function well in a party environment. This includes the ability to cooperate and compromise.
5C. No psychotic/sociopathic/wildly chaotic PCs. Basically, a PC should behave in a way that would encourage the rest of the party to keep them around instead of booting them and replacing them with a more reasonable PC. This falls under the general heading of "Don't be a dick".
6. Alignment detecting spells and magical effects only detect very strong examplars of an alignment (i.e., angelic beings detect as good, diabolic/demonic beings detect as evil, and elemental beings detect as neutral). Most sentient beings will not show as a particular alignment when subjected to magical detection.
7. No PC versus PC combat in the absence of outside magical forces.
8. Thieves do not steal from the party. The campaign world is filled with thieves who would happily play it straight with an adventuring party in exchange for the opportunity to reap the benefits of fat dungeon loot instead of picking pockets in town. Thieves who steal from the party meet a quick and unpleasant end.
9. Monk AC is +1 higher than the BTB AC chart. Thus, if the PHB says a monk has a +3 to AC based on the PC's level, the monk will actually get +4.
10. I use spell slots, an optional rule from the Castle Keepers Guide (CKG). Basically, it means spell casters do not have to memorize or pray for specific spells each day. Instead, the PC will study/pray at the beginning of the day and thereby gain access to all of their spells. They are still limited by the number of spells they are allowed to cast of each spell level per day. Thus, a wizard who can memorize 3 first level spells per day would be able to cast any combination of the 1st level spells they know each day until they have cast a total of 3 first level spells (at which point they cannot cast any more first level spells that day). Thus, if a wizard knows magic missile and can cast 3 1st level spells per day, then the wizard could cast 3 magic missile spells; 2 magic missile spells plus another 1st level spell; or could cast 1 magic missile spell and two more 1st level spells (the wizard also has the option of not casting magic missile at all, of course).
11. I use hero points and luck points from the CKG. Every PC starts out with one hero point. Additional hero points will periodically be given to the PCs throughout the course of the game. Spending a hero point allows a PC to automatically succeed at anything the PC attempts that the PC could theoretically succeed at. Thus, using a hero point would not allow a PC to jump across the Grand Canyon, but would allow a PC to automatically hit a monster or automatically succeed at a saving throw.
Every PC starts with 5 luck points. If this were a tabletop game, each PC's luck points would refresh to a total of 5 luck points at the start of each game session. I will let you know when luck points are refreshed to compensate for the PBP nature of this game (luck points will be refreshed much more often than hero points are awarded). Players can spend as many or as few luck points as they wish (up to the total they have) in order to improve a roll. For example, a PC could spend 2 luck points to increase their to hit roll by 2 or to add 2 to a SIEGE check. Luck points cannot be used during character generation or when rolling new hit points when a PC goes up in level. In a face to face game, I let players use luck points to diminish/hurt a monster/foe's rolls such as to-hit or damage. That doesn't translate well to PBP, so I am limiting use of luck points to a PC's own rolls or to hurt an opponent on a saving throw required by one of the PC's spells.
Players must declare they are using hero or luck points as part of their post declaring their action. You cannot wait until after dice are rolled to retroactively modify the result by using hero or luck points.
12. I use the item saving throws table and potion miscibility tables from the 1E DMG.
13. The power level of spell-casting items (like wands, scrolls, etc.) is based upon the level/hit dice of the creator. Thus, a fireball scroll created by a 20th level wizard will be much more powerful than a fireball scroll created by a 10th level wizard.
14. NPCs are monsters. They are not class-based creatures created pursuant to the rules for PCs in the PHB. If the party encounters a wizard, the party should view it as a monster with the ability to cast spells rather than as a PC under the CK's control.
15. My monsters are frequently original or vary from the standard monster descriptions in C&C's monster books. Players are free to act upon any out of game knowledge they have, but also do so at their peril since the monster they face may not function exactly like a book monster. I assume PCs have heard about all sorts of monsters during the course of their training, adventures, and travels. Players do not have to pretend to be ignorant. Familiarity with the monster descriptions in Monsters and Treasures, Classic Monsters, and/or Monsters and Treasures of Aihrde is a good facsimile for the common knowledge of adventurers. The book descriptions are frequently, but not always, accurate.
16. I use a smaller list of armor types than provided in the PHB. Greek ensembles are just too fiddly for me. Some weapons are also not available. See the Equipping Your Character thread for details.
17. I don't use all of the fiddly versions of dark/night/dusk vision. All demihumans have infravision at 60 feet range. I interpret infravision to essentially work like night vision goggles. In the absence of strong light or heat sources, room temperature monsters like undead should still be visible using infravision. Invisibility beats infravision regardless of the "heat signature" of the invisible object. A character cannot read normal text using infravision.
18. Spell Components: Spell casters normally do not need to track specific spell components. I'm going to borrow a mechanic from 5E and rule that spell casters can purchase spell component bags with 10 uses for 1 gp each. Any time a spell caster casts a spell requiring "normal" components, mark off one use. Thus, a wizard can cast 10 spells requiring "normal" components per bag. Normal components are things easily obtained in town/civilization like dust (regular or of a spider's eye), a lump of coal, a feather, sand, etc. Special components are components that have a price or value listed in the spell description (e.g., a gem worth X gold pieces) or anything that looks special or difficult to obtain (dragon scales, cockatrice feathers, a corpse, etc.). Special components must be tracked and are not covered by the normal spell component bag mechanic.
19. Spell Interruption: If a spell caster is struck in combat while trying to cast a spell, the spell fails and the spell slot is used for the day. Winning initiative is key to interrupting spell casting. If the spell caster's "side" wins initiative, this isn't a problem since the caster acts before the opponents. If the caster's side loses initiative and an opponent hits the caster, then the spell fails and the slot is lost for the day. This works for both party members and NPCs/monsters. If the party wins initiative and hits an enemy spell caster, the caster's spell fails, etc.
20. Aiming Spells: Many spells have an area of effect centered around a deployment point at range (e.g., 30 foot circle with a range of 100 feet). Spell casters do not have tape measures and survey equipment to precisely place their spells. This means party members are often at risk of being affected by a spell if they are close to the boundary of the area of effect since the precise boundary location is unknown. Spell casters have three options. First, they can play it safe and deliberately place the center of a spell's effect at a certainly safe distance from allies. This will guarantee party members are spared, but enemies who are located close to party members may also be unaffected. Option 2 is You Only Live Once. Playing it safe is for the weak. The spell caster will try to avoid targeting friendlies, but will risk it in order to maximize the number of enemies affected by the spell. For example, the spell caster will attempt to place a spell's area of effect so that it affects the front rank of enemy combatants knowing there is a chance the spell will also hit the party's front rank. Option 3 is to cast the spell knowing it will definitely affect party members as an unfortunate side effect of guaranteeing that enemies will be hit. The default assumption is party spell casters are playing it safe with option 1. If a player wants to go with option 2 or option 3, the player must say so in their post in which a spell is cast.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:00, Mon 11 Sept 2017.
