House Rules (Starting a new C&C campaign)

[shadowspawn]

I've been DMing a group for over a year with AD&D 1st edition rules. Recently I've been looking at other game systems and decided to switch to C&C. I really like the cleaner game mechanics and that it still retains the flavor of AD&D which I grew up with. I was curious about peoples experience with house rules (good and bad). I like the fact that the rule set is light so I don't think I'd add all these rules. I certainly don't want combat to be overly detailed but AD&D is too simple. I really like the added choices in C&C combat.

I'm thinking of adding the following rules:

1. 0 Level hit points. Each character starts with d8+CON before adding their first level hit points. This gives every character a chance to survive a few battles and makes more sense to me. I never liked giving out max hit points and either did my players.

2. I'm thinking of allowing DEX or STR bonuses to be used for Combat, the rational being that both powerful and accurate blows are deadly. I'd further tie them to Primes so you'd need STR or DEX to be a Prime to get any bonus. Lastly only pure fighters could stack them. I'm not sure I'd change the ranged attack rules.

3. Allow shields to be used to overbear (+1 TH +1 DAM) and allow it on multiple opponents using the shield size rules. Also cancel the -2 to AC rule because you are leading with a shield.

4 Damage absorption. Leather +1, Chain +2, Plate +3. I know C&C has some optional rules for this already but I didn't like them.

5. Natural 20 reduces an opponents armor by -1 (save for crafted armor). Natural 1 allows opponent an extra attack. In general have people used any rules for wear and tear on armor and weapons? I usually give max damage for a 20 but maybe another attack would be more interesting.

6. Illusionists should get more spells to start. I also let druids pick any spell if they are touching the earth instead of memorizing them beforehand.

[ThrorII]

Here are my house rules from my old campaign (played over 11 months, from '09-'10).

1. Max HP at 1st level

2. Finesse fighting allowed if Dex is prime (Finesse melee attack = d20 +BtH +dex mod +other mods). Finesse damage is weapon damage only (no str bonus).

3. Manyshot (2 ranged attacks per round), along the same lines as Two Weapon Fighting rules (-3 first arrow, -6 second arrow).

4. Headshot melee attack rules (to make use of the helm AC). standard attack vs. AC 14 (10 +4 called shot) +dex mod +helm AC. A hit does max damage and stunned for 1d4 rounds. A miss allows for a free counter attack.

5. Natural 20 is an auto hit, for full damage. Natural 1 was an auto miss, with GM fiated consequences.

[shadowspawn]

I really like the many shot idea. Thanks, I plan to use it.

I think for critical hits (20) I'll give the attacker another attack at +2 and for a critical miss the defender will get a single +2 attack. I'm using the "Defender stunned or cowering" modifier. This is a nice bonus without a lot of added rules.

Maybe armor absorption would get too fussy. Anyone with experience GMing this?

[ThrorII]

My only experience with 'armor as DR' was with Mongoose's Conan. It is a neat mechanic, but it makes that 1d4 dagger even more useless, and adds an additional level of complexity that I am fully allergic to nowadays.

For my C&C Conan conversion, I stuck with straight AC, and never looked back.

[redwullf]

My only experience with 'armor as DR' was with Mongoose's Conan. It is a neat mechanic, but it makes that 1d4 dagger even more useless, and adds an additional level of complexity that I am fully allergic to nowadays.

For my C&C Conan conversion, I stuck with straight AC, and never looked back.

AD&D 1e nailed this with "damage vs. AC" variations for different weapons. It was a clumsy mechanic, but it was far more "realistic." After all, how on earth could a whip do damage to someone in full plate armor? Their mechanic adjusted for this.

[Lord Dynel]

I don't have my house rules handy, but these are most, I think:

Rangers - prime is Dexterity, not Strength. I would probably allow it to be Wisdom, if a player wanted it. I know the reason why the Trolls chose Strength, but to me it just doesn't work, even conceptually, for me. No offense, Trolls!

Healing after rest - after a night's rest, a character gets back 1d3 hit points. I've been thinking about making it 1d3 + Con modifier or 1d3, + 1 if Con is Prime, but I haven't moved on either one of these. I might do the "Con prime" version.

Illusionist spells - All spells that deal with healing/curing have been removed from the illusionist spell list. I've replaced them with other spells (including false life spells of various strength)

Attributes - Roll 3d6 12 times and take the best six scores, arrange as desired. If you don't like the best six, re-roll the set, but only 10 times and keep the best six. Can be repeated with eight rolls, and lastly six rolls, but of course you have to take all of those rolls on the last one for your six attributes.

Combat - declare actions then roll initiative, repeat each round (as mentioned at the beginning of the spells, under Casting Spells). This, to me represents the chaos of combat. At first, I was going to go the "d20 method" from 3.5, but this is actually a refreshing change and makes for some exciting combats.

Surprise - I use the 2e AD&D method. I like it better, and solves the "clerics as master foil" in regards to surprise.

I use the advantages from the CKG.

I used to have a lot more, but I got rid of most of them. I like how C&C plays and did away with most them in favor of the rules as written. Really, my "house rules" don't change that much during play - mainly the surprise and healing rules have the biggest effects on actual play.

[shadowspawn]

Thanks for listing your House Rules. I decided the DR would be overkill given how the AC game mechanic works but I'm going to allow magic AC to subtract damage similar to how a weapon gets a ToHit bonus and a Damage bonus.

1. 0 Level HP for characters (d8) + CON bonus instead of the usual max HP for first level. Because you have HP before you choose your class!
2. Magic Armor gets to subtract the bonus to damage
3. Druids when in the forest don't need to memorize spells ahead of time but can't memorize them at all in the city
4. Shield "Overbear" against multiple opponents based on shield size
5. In order to use a DEX or STR bonus in combat it needs to be a Prime
6. Natural 20 gives the player an additional attack at +2, defender gets a +2 attack if character rolls a 1
7. Add the characters Level to the healing rate per day. Allow CON checks for additional healing

[Wordwarrior]

Castles & Crusades accomodates house rules exceptionally well (better than any other game system, in my opinion- and I've played a lot of them in my 30 or so years in the hobby).

These days I try to keep house rules to a minimum in my games, but do I have a few I like to use. Most of them revolve around the SIEGE mechanic (naturally).

Dying: I guess I'm getting soft in my old age. In my campaign, you don't die at 0 or -10 hit points. You die when your hit points reach a negative total equal to your CON score (e.g. a Dwarf with a CON of 19 is dead at -19 hps). Of course, it's possible this can go against you (A weedy mage with a CON of 7, for instance).

Spell Resistance: It's SIEGE based. Monsters have a SR equal to their Hit Dice. Wizards and Illusionists make an INT SIEGE check to overcome; Clerics and Druids use WIS. Magic items that provide Spell Resistance don't provide a set amount; the amount is equal to your character level (and increases as you rise in level).

Skills: Pretty much what SIEGE is designed for. Character background + personal intuition. If your character is the son of a fisherman, a pirate, a blacksmith, or a leatherworker and was taught the family trade, you can assume they possess those skills and let them make SIEGE checks based on whatever attribute seems the most logical. Character class makes this an intuitive process, as well (clerics ought to be able to have theology as a skill, wizards planar lore, druids nature lore, etc. No need for big, exhaustive skill lists.

Special Combat Maneuvers: In my games you do can do all the fancy feat stuff of D20 (i.e. disarm, cleave, sunder etc.) with a successful SIEGE check. You roll two twenty-sided dice of different colors, simultaneously. Once represents the attack roll, the other is for the SIEGE check. You have to hit with the attack roll AND succeed at the SIEGE check in order to pull off the maneuver. If you fail at either roll, you completely miss the target and waste your attack.

Any class can attempt these. This is both self-balancing and logical, because it realistically represents that a person can ATTEMPT anything in real life, even if their odds of success are dismal, due to poor natural talent and lack of training (e.g. members of the wizard class and/or characters of low level).

SIEGE checks are logically based- Disarm and Trip are DEX, Sunder and Cleave are STR, and so forth (of course, your idea of what constitutes a logical attribute to base the check on may differ from mine, but that's a matter for each individual CK to determine for his or her game). My favorite maneuver is "human bowling", where you grapple your opponent Conan-style, lift him up over your head, and throw him into the ranks of his allies, knocking them down and generally creating havoc. Players should be encouraged to come up with their own crazy stunts. Consequences and results can be adjudicated on-the-fly.

Special Casting Maneuvers: Why should the warriors have all the fun? I allow SIEGE checks (based on INT or WIS, depending on class) for spell casters to do any one of a number of things, such as:

Counter Spell, re-roll all results of 1 or 2 for damage dice on battle spells, change damage type (fire to ice, for example), increase duration or AOE by 50%, or recieve a bonus to overcome SR. To balance the obvious advantages of these stunts, failure of the SIEGE check results in spell failure (or worse; a wild magic effect ) Other magical stunts (concocted by crafty players of mages, perhaps) may occur to you during game and, as above, may be resolved on-the-fly.

EXP Awards: Something of a real softy here, also. 100xp per HD for monsters. 1 xp per gp value of treasure. XP value is awarded for each magic item won, regardless of whether or not it is used for a certain amount of time.

And my girlfriend thinks I'm a hard-ass DM.

Ha, ha... she doesn't know how good she has it.