DwD Studios

I like this. Did you come up with these changes post session or did you play through the adventure with this in effect?

That is very cool, and doesn't break anything. Excellent house rule.

After the session. I always try to run/play games as written the first time through.

Thanks. I wanted to keep it simple and evocative. It helps that I'm essentially doing nothing more than giving each character three before-play DP to spend on a skill level--a very minimal intervention.

So what if a player wants to make an elf, select a level of scout, and then use his 1 skill level in scout to make it level 2? I would suggest that be disallowed... suggesting that this should be two level one skills.

What's your rationale here, Bill? Is tit that the character who doubles up is getting 6 free DP whereas the character who diversifies only effectively gets 3?

Instead of giving them a additional level, why not just give them say 3 or 4 DP to spend as they wish?

(A) Choosing anything but a skill level to spend with bonus DP at the start of play is a fool's game. So they might as well get the skill level instead.

(B) I like placing archetypal limits on the demi-humans--it's a gaming trope, yes, but one that's lasted nearly 40 years for a reason. The dwarf who wants a level in a skill other than Enchanter or Warrior still has the free level provided to him by the official rules, allowing for some individual variation. But there's still going to be something particularly dwarvish about him or her.

I should note that I'm inclined to agree with Bill that the point of this rule is to allow for diversity of concept, not doubling down in a single area. So I will amend the rule to state that the free-choice skill level provided to all starting characters must be taken in a skill other than the one selected for their free racial skill level.

Not everything that lasts 40 years is a good idea. It just means they either haven't discovered the better idea yet or are not ready to slaughter their sacred cow until someone else slaughters theirs.

I don't think the tropes I'm working with here ("demi-humans delve deeply into specific areas, humans range widely across all areas of expertise") fall into the category you're describing, though. Vancian magic for all casters does, and we could lump "Fighters always have fewer skill points than everyone else" in there as well. The idea that non-humans are more focused than humans has a powerful pedigree within fantasy fiction itself, though, dating back to Tolkien.

In Tolkien, Human warriors are presented as better tacticians, probably for the very reason that they are not all magical beings, and inspire working together toward overcoming insurmountable obstacles. Human warriors also demonstrated a stronger strength of will and noble spirit than the magic users, and tenaciously clung to hope of the future. Whereas magic caused elves to become reclusive and give up on the future and other spell users to rely too much upon their magic to resolve conflicts with little tactical considerations. Note that Saruman simply threw hordes of stupid monsters at the lands rather than considered tactics. Sauron simply chose the most powerful magic user rather than inspire tactical considerations. Remember, humans beat the magic out of the world. That would seem to demonstrate them superior.

Well, that's an argument for making Humans pick either Leader or Warrior as their free skill level, not for abandoning my house rule for demi-humans. :)

Adding power to already powerful races, and not balancing humans against it. I'd say that it is an argument for either abandoning it or giving something else to humans.

Not sure how humans aren't making out like a bandit here with a free skill level of their choice while demi-humans are limited to choosing between two options. The end result is the same: all characters have two skills at level 1 by the end of character creation. The human just has free choice as to both of those skill levels.

Nevermind. I forgot to reread. I was just responding to the statement regarding bumping the other races and not humans, as so many other games have done until d20 4.0

Poking around the 'net today I found the full write-up of this house rule (great write-up!). Mind if I add it to Documents and link back to your site?

http://vargold.blogspot.com/2012/11/barebones-fantasy-rpg-house-ruling.html

Do tell. What wonders does it work?

Larry, you have my permission to link to my blog article.

Personally, I like the idea of allowing two skill levels at initial creation. I found the idea of having a Primary and Secondary skill but not being able to use them both somewhat... confusing.

I also think the elves, as written, basically don't stack up to the other races. They get an armor ability they aren't likely to use (as it makes them slower than a dwarf), and a resist ability that isn't used terribly often, not to mention which is far and away trumped by the human +10 resist to everything, the dwarf resist to all magic, or the halfling's ability to reroll once per encounter. I think I'd change the Natural Spellcaster to give them a bonus to either spellcaster or enchanter and change the Elf Resilience to something like "Graceful in Armor - Subtrcts 10 from the minimum strength of armors worn by an elf" That would allow them more effectiveness in heavier armor, but not really change their abilities much.

To compensate, I think I'd remove the extra descriptor on humans and allow them to place their +10 stat bonus on any stat they choose. That keeps the "human versatility" idea and doesn't break anything, it just allows them to excel at whatever they choose. Add that to the 1 additional skill and humans would be very potent, but not overly powerful as compared to anyone else.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

Neolithicwolf, neat house rule, consider adding it to the Game Options & House Rules so others can enjoy. :-)

I love this and have incorporated it into my Ymir game. I have more races then BB.
What would you give 1/2 elves
Gnomes
I also have what I call Nephilim (Aasimars and Tieflings) What would you give them? I have my own ideas but wanted to hear yours. Thanks.

I suppose the best answer to that would depend on your vision of those races. I could see that going a lot of different directions. If you're going for classic D&D style for gnomes, I'd say something like...

Gnome
» Add 10 to starting LOG.
» +10 to either Enchanter or Spellcaster.
» If they take Spellcaster, they get Illusion as a 'free' spell, in addition to whatever else they choose. If not, they get Low Magic for illusions for free.
» They can speak the languages of burrowing mammals.
» Move 7 spaces.
» Speaks gnomish and tradespeak.

Half-Elf is harder. They've always been more of a 'flavor' race rather than about lots of stats, so here I suppose I'd just merge the two ideas into something relatively balanced like...

Half Elf
» Add 10 to either WIL or LOG.
» Darkvision (12 spaces, allows normal sight in low-light, as long as a single star is present in the sky).
» Graceful in Armor (minor) - Subtracts 5 from the minimum strength of armors worn by the race. (i.e., a half elf with a 60 Str could wear Chainmail at no penalty to move or cast).
» +5 to either Rogue, Enchanter, or Spellcaster.
» Half Elf Resilience (+5 all resistance checks).
» Move 8 spaces.
» Speaks either elven, english and tradespeak.

I'm not sure I'm happy with the Half Elf. That's a hard one to balance out, but there's my thoughts on it for the moment. If you give me a better idea of your particular 'flavor' of these races I can work up something closer. For instance, in my world, Gnomes are dwarven cousins, very similar to them but more pacifistic, and they merely do softer crafts and are hill folk. They're not nearly the fay heavy variant we normally see from D&D or the Tinker variety introduced from Krynn. The tieflings and Aasimars I don't have enough experience with to be much use, but again, give me some details on yours and I'll work something up for you.

Matt

If a player picks Scholar, what career paths do half-elf usually take?

I think this is spot on what I'm looking for . Thanks for answering both of you.

You know this got me thinking. I don't think it should be called career path but "Areas of Knowledge" and include anything under the sun. Having said that, I think it would depend on the campaign. I would say a half elf that is interested in his elven heritage would pick elven lore or customs and things like that.

Not, "Cooking with Halflings"?

Wow that's some dark campaign there.

Cooking with halflings, not cooking halflings. lol

Look up the Twilight Zone, "To Serve Mankind".

Could be worse-in my first Warhammer Fantasy RPG campaign, every single PC chose Halfling as a race. All Halflings in WFRPG get Cooking as a free skill. When all was said and done I had a party consisting of:

Halfling Ratcatcher
Halfling Hypnotist
Halfling Smuggler
Halfling Graverobber

The players decided to pool their money, rent a building and open up a Meat Pie Shop. The opening scene consisted of four halflings gazing forlornly at the remaining pile of copper pennies and wondering out loud how they were EVER going to afford supplies...

I ran screaming from the room. But I will admit that I came back-and We proceded to create such a macabre masterpiece that the Chaos Gods themselves sat up and took notice-Bertholdt Brecht would have been soooo proud!

Sorry, Gamer PTSD. My group inflicts it.

Wow. I didn't think I would be posting this link so much. But so many people seem to be having the same problem:

Offroad vs. the Rail

I suppose my question then becomes, why does it have to be one way or the other? I am a firm believer in compromise so everyone gets what they want, but I suppose that's the therapist in me.

For instance, in our current gaming group, the guy who GM's the most, generally runs modules. At the beginning and end of sessions though (or during if it's appropriate), he asks us if there's anything else we want to do. That's our opportunity to go nuts and do anything non module oriented and character development associated. We've had entire off the cuff trips to other nations and regions that wound up taking the entire game session, but they were fun.

For example, in one game, I was playing a paladin searching for clues to what happened to his mother before he was born. His father died when he was a boy, he never knew his Mom. I planned an expedition to the frozen north, where she had supposedly gone, and between modules (for around 3 sessions), he pulled everyone in and the other players all helped me take the expedition north, look for clues, and try to discover what happened. I think we took 3 or 4 game sessions at least, plus modules in the area he worked in. All in all, it made for a great side trek.

I suppose the TLDR version is.... why can't you find a happy medium? Why does it have to be one way or the other?

I don't worry about my players staying on the railroad or anywhere near it-most of the time any adventure I have roughed out gets mugged, beaten into a pulp and sold into slavery-but we all have a great time and that's what matters.

Also, they are all freaking insane.

As a group of Fearless Vampire Killers in my Masque of the Red Death game, their weapon of choice was a cute little apple-cheeked toddler they had just rescued from the Workhouse and given a shiny new coat filled with DYNAMITE!!!"See that fella right there, with the rich clothes? That's your new Grandpa! Now run up to him, light this Birthday Candle and sing 'happy Birthday' to him. We'll be right around this corner, so we can jump out and yell 'SURPRISE!' when you finish your song, okay?"

My short-lived Land of the Pharaohs adventure (set in Mythic Egypt, right?)where Every Single Player created Phoenician sailors wandering around Egypt getting into trouble...did I mention none of them spoke the native language?

PC1-I don't see why they keep chasing us! All I did was offer to buy that ugly bird-headed statue...
PC2-You must have insulted them with your opening price. Still, an extreme reaction!
PC3-Five bags of salt for a twenty pound Ivory statue is a GREAT opening bid where I come from!
Me-GAAAAHH!!! That. was. a. temple. to. Thoth. You gave their god a rich offering of salt. Then you...kidnapped. him. The priests are. NOT. amused.
PC2-Let's ask that young maiden to explain on our behalf! I think i've got the hang of this language by now..."Halt, Infidel! Lend us your eyes! We must purchase your sky!"
(maiden flees the gibbering madmen) OY.

Then there's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game where they all played-yep, human-sized Chickens. With Commando training. And vast psychic powers. Too bad they didn't have enough points left over to buy human speech, or hands, or anything like that-

Me- and as the hapless Bike Messenger clutches her case and retreats before the muggers, she looks for a hero-
Ceasar- (glides from nearby rooftop) AWK! BWAK BAWK BRAAAKKK!!!
Mugger1- What in the name of SCORPIONSSCORPIONSINMYBRAINOHGODGETEMOUTAAAAAhhh...(faints)
Aristotle- Awk.
Mugger2- I can't move. Why can't I move? Why is the Giant Chicken looking at me like that?
Messenger- Giant Chickens. Again. Why me? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?
Tesla- (picks up Bike wrench in beak, tries to change tire, wishes he had hands)
Marconi- (pecks at wall) y o u r f a t h e r g a v e u s t h e g i f t o f l i f e a n d s o w e a r e y o u r p r o t e c t-
Policeman- Hands in the air, NOW, and take off those stupid-hey why can't I move?
Ceasar- (shrugs wings, gives signal to fly away)
Messenger- Oh, Daddy, playing in God's Domain again. First the Rabid Sheep and now this..

My average Tunnels & Trolls game-

Me- (Sets up sandbox. Thinks of a good storyline or two, maybe three.)

Players-( Dive into sandbox shrieking. Declare war on the kingdom. Make friends with the Dark Man. Teach the Dwarven Kingdoms racquetball. Have a yard sale. Switch the Wizard's potion with Folger's crystals and see if he notices. Impersonate an obscure deity. Introduce Fusion Jazz to the Elves and sell the Trolls Bongos in the most bizarre Culture War ever. Give out "Best Death Ever" awards in place of funerals, seek out those oddballs who got 'rat' on the language tables just to learn it, use a magic carpet to invent waterskiing. Build a chocolate factory and lure unsuspecting Hobbs to their doom.)
Me-(holds on for dear life and shouts 'WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" a lot).

Rule One-have fun.
Rule two-spoil no one else's fun.
Rule Three-it's funny to twist the GMs campaign into a pretzel and make him bang his head against the table...