| House Rules | |||
| Source Books | The Players' Handbook (PHB) or equivalent, Unearthed Arcana (UA), Tome of Battle (ToB), and the House Rules from schneeble.net are considered Core Books. Each player may use one additional book during or after character creation. Any books used in this way must be published by Wizards of the Coast and cannot be specific to a campaign (Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc). |
||
| Character Creation | For a text file with the character generation rules and many of the house rules, visit this page. | ||
| Playable Races | The current list of playable races is: Dral, Gnome, Human, Kith, Meer, and Vriak. For more background information on the playable races, visit this page. For the rules relating to these races, visit this page. | ||
| Playable Classes | Avatar: New class with rules on this page and spell list on this page. Barbarian: PHB. Bard: Civilzed (PHB), and Savage (UA). Cleric: Militant (PHB), and Cloistered (UA). Neither one gets spontaneous healing or an extra domain spell per level; instead, all clerics can spontaneously cast their domain spells. Crusader: ToB. Replaces the paladin. Druid: PHB. Duskblade: PHB2. Favored Soul: Complete Divine (CD). Fighter: PHB. Ranger: Wilderness (PHB), and Urban (UA). Rogue: PHB. Runesmith: Modified class replaces the wizard, with rules on this page. Runesmith characters use the standard wizard spell list, but adjust the spell components as per the class description. Scout: Complete Adventurer (CA). Sorcerer: Modified class, with rules on this page and a spell list on this page. Spirit Shaman: CD. Sword Sage: ToB. Replaces the monk. Warblade: ToB. Suggested alternative to fighter. Warlock: Complete Arcane (CA). Warmage: CA. |
||
| Prestige Classes | No prestige classes have been approved yet, but many will be approved by the time the players reach level 5. | ||
| 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. |
||
| Domains and Spells | You can find the pantheon on this page, and a list of domains (including House Rule domains) on this page. You can find new spells on this page. | ||
| Skills | There are three skill adjustments in the House Rules: Survival (a modification to the skill's application), Intuit Orientation (a new skill), and a list of languages available. These rules follow below. | ||
| Skill: Survival (Wilderness Lore) | The Survival skill in 3.5 is relatively unchanged, except it does not provide the user with an sense of direction. Intuit Direction is part of a new skill called "Intuitive Orientation," which is described below. | ||
| Skill: Intuitive Orientation | This skill represents a character's ability to quickly and precisely determine his or her orientation and position in the world. It functions as Intuit Direction from the 3.0 rules, as well as Intuit Height/Depth (for determining approximate distance from sea level), and Intuit Time (for determining approximate time of day or time elapsed). The DC for determining the direction of true north is 15; the DC for determining approximate distance from sea level is 20; the DC for determining approximate time can vary significantly. This skill also functions as the Scry skill from the 3.0 rules, and can be used to spy remotely as well as to detect scrying attempts by others (the 3.5 rules regarding a "victim's" Will save do not apply). A character with 5 ranks in this skill gains a +2 synergy bonus to his survival skill when trying to avoid getting lost (but not in other situations). This skill can be used untrained, and is affected by a character's Wisdom score. Intuit Orientation a class skill for Avatar, Bard, Druid, Ranger, Rogue, Scout, and Spirit Shaman. It is a cross-clas skill for all other classes. |
||
| Languages | There are currently 18 languages (living and dead) in the North. These languages are listed as follows: Aquan, Astran, Celestial, Noble Draconic, Vulgar Draconic, Druidic (only available to druids), Ancient Giant, High Giant, Low Giant, Gnomish, Gnoll, Infernal, Isuan ("Central" Human), Ancient Kaddei, Modern Kaddei (Common and "Western" Human), Sylvan, Thieves' Argot (typically only available to members of a thieves' guild), and Tradespeak ("Eastern" human). Additional languages may become available as the campaign progresses. Each character gets Modern Kaddei and the language of his race or region automatically at creation, and a number of bonus languages equal to his or her intelligence bonus as per the standard D&D rules. |
||
| Feats | Several feats available in this campaign are available only to members of a particular race, or to characters who have been raised or spent a significant amount of time in a particular area. These extra feats reflect the abilities developed by a particular people, and they are NOT available to characters who do not have the proper background (either before or during the campaign). A list of racial and regional feats, along with general feats specific to this campaign, can be found here. | ||
| Weapon Groups | 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 Heavy Blades 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 Heavy Blades and Exotic Double Weapons could use a double sword, but not a double axe). Basic Weapons include the club, the dagger, and the quartestaff. If you have any other questions about weapon groups, ask the GM or check Unearthed Arcana pages 94 to 97. |
||
| Armor as Damage Reduction | North treats armor as providing both an armor bonus as well as a damage reduction bonus. A table on the character generation rules shows the Armor Class bonus and the damage reduction for common armor types. For armor types not shown on that 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). 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. If you have any questions about this rule, ask the GM or check Unearthed Arcana pages 110 to 112. |
||
| 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. |
||
| Back to Main |