North Character Generation Rules: 3.5 base rules and House Rules modifications (see the House Rules page). 35 points on the standard pointbuy table. -=RACES=- Only races from the following list: Dral Gnome Human Kith Meer Vriak -=CLASSES=- At level 1, all classes provide double the listed hit points. Therefore if a class provides d4 hit points per level and 4 hit points at level 1, then the house rules provide for 8 hit points at level 1 (and d4 hit points per level). A class that provides d12 hit points per level would provide 24 hit points at level 1 instead of 12, and so on. Only classes from the following list (racial restrictions in parenthesis): Avatar (any, but almost always Dral) Barbarian (any except Meer) Bard - Civilized (any) - Savage (any except Meer) Cleric - Cloistered (any except Dral) - Militant (any except Dral) Crusader # (any except Dral or Gnome) Dragon Shaman * (NPC ONLY) Druid (any) Duskblade * (any) Favored Soul * (any except Dral) Fighter (any) Ranger - Urban (any) - Wilderness (any) Rogue (any) Runesmith (any) Scout * (any) Sorcerer (any) Spirit Shaman * (any, but usually Vriak) Sword Sage # Warblade # Warlock * (Gnome, Human, or Meer only) Warmage * (any, but only from Lakelands) * Indicates a class found in a non-core book. The book in which this class is found counts against the one-book limit described below. # Crusader (from Tome of Battle) replaces paladin. Sword Sage replaces monk. Warblade could replace either fighter or barbarian, but because of sufficient differences it is only an extra option rather than a replacement. Note: Evil PCs are discouraged but allowed with special permission. -=BOOKS=- You can use one book other than the core rules to create your character. If you use a base class not in the core rules, then you need to use that book. These extra books are where equipment, feats, class, race, and spell selections not found in the normal core can be found. House rules are considered part of the 'core' rulebooks. Books must be taken from the Wizard of the Coast stock and cannot be campaign- specific books. Unearthed Arcana and Tome of Battle are considered house rules books, but any character or concept taken from them is subject to editing by the GM. -=FRACTIONAL BASE BONUSES=- Base attack and base save bonuses are given in fractions. This rule only affects you if you multiclass or take a prestiege class. For fractional BAB and saves, track the total amounts but round down to a whole number when applying the bonus (for instance, a save bonus of +4.83 is considered +4, but another +1/3 would raise it to +5.17, which is counted as +5). Saves: Base saves are +2.5 at level one and +.5 every level afterwards for favored saves, and +1/3 every level for non-favored saves. Base Attack: Base attack bonuses give +.5 per level for runesmiths and sorcerors, +.75 per level for druids, clerics, bards, and rogues, and +1 per level for barbarians and fighters. If your class isn't one of these, it's easy to extrapolate which you should recieve. -=MASSIVE DAMAGE=- The damage threshold of a character is equal to its Constitution score + 3 per hit die. Whenever a character takes damage from a single hit that exceeds this value, it must make a DC 10 Fort save, increasing the DC by 1 for every 5 points the attack exceeds this threshold value. In the case of a failed Fortitude save, the character rolls 1d10, this value determining how far 'in the red' the blow struck the character. This result is the value below 0 its hit points are (If a roll of 1 is made, then it's -1, if 10, then it's -10 and the character is now dead). There is a space on the character sheet for recording a character's Massive Damage Threshold. The Toughness feat increases Massive Damage Threshold in addition to Hit Point total. -=FEATS=- Weapon-Specific Feats, such as Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Improved Critical apply instead to one Weapon Group. In the case of unique weapon groupings like druid, which contain weapons from various areas, treat the weapon as part of its originally intended group. For instance, a druid who takes weapon focus does not gain focus in druid weapons, but can take it in, say, heavy blades to gain benefits with the scimitar. You must be able to use a metamagic feat in order to take it. Therefore, you must be able to cast level 0-4 spells in order to take quicken, for instance. -=WEAPON GROUPS=- North will use the Weapon Sets rules for weapon profeciencies. The details of this are listed below. Each weapon is grouped into a particular weapon category. These weapon categories are: Axes, Basic Weapons, Bows, Claw Weapons, Crossbows, Druid Weapons, Flails and Chains, Heavy Blades, Light Blades, Maces and Clubs, Picks and Hammers, Polearms, Slings and Thrown Weapons, Spears and Lances, and Natural Weapons (Creatures with natural weapons gain this last feat for free). There are two Exotic Weapon groups. One, Exotic Weapons, allows a character to use those exotic weapons of the same type as other known weapon groups (therefore a character with the Swords and Exotic Weapon groups could use a bastard sword in one hand, but not a spiked chain). Exotic Double Weapons follow similar rules (a character with Swords and Exotic Double Weapons could use a double sword, but not a double axe). Basic Weapons include the club, the dagger, and the quartestaff. Each class is allowed a set number of weapon groups with which its members can have profeciency at the start of the game. Listed below are the classes and how many weapon groups they get: Avatar - Basic plus any two Barbarian - Basic plus any other three Bard - Basic plus any other two (Applies to both bard variants) Cleric - Cloistered Cleric - Basic or Crossbow - Militant Cleric - Basic plus any other two Crusader - Basic plus any other four Dragon Shaman - Basic plus any other two Druid - Basic plus either druid weapons or Spears Duskblade - Basic plus any other three Favored Soul - Basic plus any one and the weapon group of their deity's weapon Fighter - Basic plus any other four Ranger - Basic plus any other three (Applies to both ranger variants) Rogue - Basic plus any other two Runesmith - Basic or Crossbows Scout - Basic plus any two Sorcerer - Basic plus either spears or crossbows Spirit Shaman - Basic plus druid or spear Swordsage - Basic plus any other three Warblade - Basic plus any other three Warlock - Basic plus any two Warmage - Basic plus any two -=DAMAGE REDUCTION=- North treats armor as providing both a deflection bonus as well as a damage reduction bonus. The following table shows the Armor Class bonus and the damage reduction for fommon armor types. For armor types not shown on this table, simply divide the base (nonmagical) AC bonus by 2 and round down. That number is the DR provided by the armor. Then subtract the armor's DR from its normal AC bonus to find its new AC bonus. For example, studded leather normally has an AC bonus of +3; that gives it a DR of 1/- (half of 3, rounded down) and a new AC bonus of +2 (3 minus the 1 DR). Armor AC* DR Light Armor Padded +1 none Leather +1 1/- Studded Leather +2 1/- Chain Shirt +2 2/- Medium Armor Hide +2 1/- Scale Mail +2 2/- Chain Mail +3 2/- Breastplate +3 2/- Heavy Armor Splint Mail +3 3/- Banded Mail +3 3/- Half Plate +4 3/- Full Plate +4 4/- * Add enhancement bonus directly to AC. The damage reduction provided with armor stacks with other DR of the same type (DR with a dash after the number), but it does not stack with DR of different types. Shield AC bonuses remain unchanged by this rule; shields do not contribute to damage reduction. Natural armor contributes to damage reduction as well. Divide a creature's natural armor bonus by 5 to find its DR, then subtract that result from its original natural armor to find the new value. Note that characters will need to keep track of the sources of their DR in case any of the component values change. -=EXPERIENCE AND EQUIPMENT=- Starting level is level 1 at 500 experience points. You may use these extra experience points to craft items before the game starts if you are capable of doing so. Characters start with 500 gp to do with what they wish for buying equipment. Costs for equipment are according to the 3.5 pricing chart, except in the case of live animals. Live animals cost 150% of the price listed in the chart.