House Rules for Age of Worms Adventure Path

[Laslo Tremaine]

So here's the current list of house-rules that I am planning on using for my upcoming C&C Age of Worms Adventure Path camaign (one of the players had GMed part of Shackled City, so I made the change).

I should give a bit of background to put this all in context. I played Basic and Advanced D&D way back in the day (late 70s, early 80s). Unfortunately, there were just too many things I did not like about the whole D&D class, level, alignment paradigm, so I moved on to things like Champions, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, etc, etc.

When D&D 3e came out, it looked like they had fixed enough things about 1st and 2nd edition to make me want to come back. We played 3e (and 3.5) for a good four years until I got burned out on the ungodly complexity of the system at higher levels.

Hence my desire to try out C&C and see if it makes for a smoother play experience and reduces prep time.

So here's my proposed list of house rules for anyone who's interested.
Attribute Bonuses (I just prefer the d20 method)

We will use the standard d20 stat bonus table.

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Attribute Generation (most of us are not fans of random character gen)

Characters will be generated using a standard D&D 3.5 point-buy with a total of 30pts.

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Hit Point Generation (same as above)

Characters start with maximim hit points at 1st level and then get average plus one point at each addtional level. For example, if a Fighter gets 1d10 hp per level, then they will get 6hp per level. If a Wizard gets 1d4 hp per level, they will get 3hp per level.
Attribute Checks (since the module will give d20 DCs, this should make play a bit easier)

Instead of the C&C DC 12 for prime and DC 18 for non prime, + Challenge Level. We will just use standard 3.5e DCs (10, 15, 20, etc) and use the following formula.

PC rolls 1d20, + Stat Bonus, +5 (if Prime), + class level (if it is something that makes sense for the class).

So a 5th level Rogue with a Dex of 18 (+4) trying to pick a DC 25 lock would roll 1d20, +4 (for dex), +5 (for Prime/Class? ability), +5 (for character level). Assuming an average roll of 10, that would give a total of 24, meaning that the Rogue would have a 45% chance of picking the lock.

A 5th level Fighter with a Strength bonus of +3, trying to climb a knotted rope (DC 10), would roll 1d20, +3 (Str bonus) +5 (Str is Prime for Fighters), +0 (no level bonus, since climing is not a fighter kind of thing). Assuming an average roll of 10 that gives an 18 for a 90% chance of success.
Clerical Domains (a fantastic suggestion from rabindranath72)

Clerics can pick one spell per spell level that is considered a "Domain Spell". This must spell must be in keeping with their god's portfolio and must be approved by the GM. From that point on, the cleric can choose to cast that spell spontaneously, giving up an unused spell slot of and equal or higher level, to cast that spell.
Action Points (been playing a lot of Mutants & Masterminds and really like the way these make the game a bit more cinematic)

Players get three action points per session. Points are replenished at the beginning of each session. Players can get more points for good roleplaying, and when the GM decides to have thing work against them (re-rolling for monsters, etc).

What they do:

Re-Roll: Allow re-roll of the d20 for Attribute Checks and Combat rolls. Re-rolls that come up less than 10 on the d20, you add 10 to the roll.

Soak: Soak a Hit Die of damage from the most recent attack.

Inspiration: Buy a clue from the GM.

Activate Class Ability: A character can spend 1 action point to gain another use of a class ability that has a limited number of uses per day. For example, a monk might spend an action point to gain another use of her stunning fist ability, or a paladin might spend an action point to make an additional smite attack.

Boost Defense: A character can spend 1 action point as a free action when fighting defensively. This gives him double the normal benefits for fighting defensively for the entire round (+4 dodge bonus to AC; +6 if he has 5 or more ranks in Tumble).

Modify Spell: For one action point a character may cast a spell without components or as a free action. The spell must be of a level equal to half or less than the highest level spell the caster can prepare.

Surge: Allows a character to take an extra action at any time.

Spell Boost: A character can spend 1 action point as a free action to increase the effective caster level of one of his spells by 3. He must decide whether or not to spend an action point in this manner before casting the spell.

Spell Recall: Spellcasters can spend 1 action point to recall any spell just cast. The spell can be cast again later with no effect on other prepared spells. This use of an action point is a free action and can only be done in the same round that the spell is cast.

Stabilize: Any time a character is dying, he can spend 1 action point to become stable at his current hit point total.
Experience (I don't calculate XP per kill, or for treasure)

Players will receive experience points four times per level. The XP awards will be equal to 1/4 of the points need for the average character to gain the next level.

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The GM will award them when he sees fit.
Rolling 1 or 20 (Some things to try out)

Attribute Checks: If a 1 is rolled on the die, subtract 10 from the result, if a 20 is rolled add 10.

Saves: A 1 is an automatic failure, and 20 is an automatic success. If a one is rolled, check to see if magic items are destroyed.

Combat: A 1 is a critical fumble, the character misses his target and loses his next action. A 20 is a critical success, if a 20 would normally hit, then the weapon does double damage (roll double the dice, and double any modifiers).

Initiative[b/] (still trying to decide how to handle spellcasting)

Initiative is rolled once per encounter.

Characters roll 1d10, + Dex bonus, +2 if Dex is prime.

Opponents roll 1d10, +2, +2 if both Physical and Mental.

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[Treebore]

Looks good. I especially like how you transitioned to the DC's from TN's. I think it will work real well. I also like your action points system.