New to C&C, curious about others ideas

[DocEldritch]

Dropped some Xmas cash on a copy of the 4th Printing of C&C, which Amazon says "should" be here sometime next week (or early the week after that), and am eagerly awaiting it, already plotting up a couple campaign ideas (just need to corral players).

While I am holding off on most of my rules based plotting till I have the book in hand, I am curious about what things folks include in their games. From what I have read, it is REALLY easy to mix and match things from any edition of DnD (save the newest).

So far, my own ideas are leaning towards some new classes for my setting (a summoner type (ala FF), and perhaps a warlock/witch type )) and a new race or two, I have also been debating putting in a more "formalized" skill system, borrowing either from the Rules Cyclopedia or 2e (both of which have been gathering dust on my shelves for years), and possibly the weapons specialization stuff from 2e.

Just curious if anyone else has done similar things, and if so, what did you include from past editions, and how did it work out for you in game?

As well, looking for ideas on pitfalls and drawbacks to converting things, such as monsters and magic items. Without having the book in front of me, I am unsure how easy or not it is to do so from any edition, but again, have access to the RC, 2e, and of course the 3.5 SRD (got rid of the 3.5 books long ago).

[Treebore]

Yes, others have done similar:
http://sites.google.com/site/omote076/c ... ndcrusades

and
http://www.cnctraveller.com/

and
http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Should give you a decent feel as to how people house rule their games.
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The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

[Go0gleplex]

If you're looking at more character classes...some options can be found here...down near the bottom of the page.
http://www.angelfire.com/or/FireHorse/
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The obvious will always trip you up FAR more than the obscure.

Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-

High Warden of the Castles & Crusades Society

[gideon_thorne]

I'll boil it down simply. Pretty much anything from 2e on back can be converted by taking the armour class of a given creature or character, and fliping it over. AC goes up in C&C, the same fashion as 3e. That's the fundamental practical difference.

3d stuff, you're pretty much going to need to dump the extra feats and skills, unless you really just like using them, and roll with the siege engine mechanic for such checks.

Those are the main points of discussion in a nutshell. Although some folks will likely give you much more long winded and eloquent answers than myself.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Dagger]

The house rules I have are all adventuring rules that aren't specified in the PHB or M&T. I don't actually change any of the published rules... they seem to work fine. Things I made rules for are:

Durations for the various light sources (torch, campfire, etc...)

Swimming

Holding breath

How long it takes to get into and out of armor

Item saving throws

I just remembered that I do use Surprise and Secret Door detection rules from previous versions of D&D, which are actually covered in C&C and I changed them.
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Rusty

[DocEldritch]

Wow, fast replies! Thanks! Definitely gives me something to look at and think about. Not planning to make any changes until I can actually read the rules, and am leaning towards most things just being very simple, like writing down my own notes of difficulties for things like combat tactics (bulls rushes and such) or spell alterations.

Skills and things I want to keep nice and simple, so am leaning towards more of a Rules Cyclopedia feel, or really simple 2e proficiencies.

Hopefully in a week or so, I'll have the book and be posting more ideas/questions

[Dagger]

In my experience, skills work best when treated as things that the character gets to add their level to when making an ability check. So, rather than to say someone has 3 ranks of weaponsmithing, I'd say that he has weaponsmithing as a background skill and can add his level when trying difficult tasks.
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Rusty

[Jackal]

You can also check out Dragonsfoot for some interesting C&C items:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/cc/

If you're interested in new races or classes, I especially recommend "Colin Sez" found at the above link.

Adding to what gideon_thorne had to say, converting from 3e and 4e is more difficult than earlier editions but it's still not all that tough. Later edition conversions will require you to rethink a few checks and create creature abilities to emulate necessary feats or skills. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same thing.
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Baron Greymoor
Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades Society

[Cugel the Clever]

DocEldritch wrote:
Wow, fast replies! Thanks! Definitely gives me something to look at and think about. Not planning to make any changes until I can actually read the rules, and am leaning towards most things just being very simple, like writing down my own notes of difficulties for things like combat tactics (bulls rushes and such) or spell alterations.

Skills and things I want to keep nice and simple, so am leaning towards more of a Rules Cyclopedia feel, or really simple 2e proficiencies.

Hopefully in a week or so, I'll have the book and be posting more ideas/questions

I lurked here for quite a while (use the search feature on the boards for "house rules" threads), and listened to the advice of not changing the RAW until actually having played for a while. And hewing to KISS is a good idea, too. I opted for skill-like checks based on backgrounds (forcing my players to think of a background, and relieving me of having to compile a list of skills = KISS). I've replaced class weapons with a weapon proficiency system, and allow combat maneuver & spell modification adjustments (much like 3.x feats) on-the-fly. The biggest change I made was dumping the Vancian spell system (pains my punctilious heart ) for a SIEGE-check based casting roll.

[ssfsx17]

Cugel the Clever wrote:
I lurked here for quite a while (use the search feature on the boards for "house rules" threads), and listened to the advice of not changing the RAW until actually having played for a while. And hewing to KISS is a good idea, too. I opted for skill-like checks based on backgrounds (forcing my players to think of a background, and relieving me of having to compile a list of skills = KISS). I've replaced class weapons with a weapon proficiency system, and allow combat maneuver & spell modification adjustments (much like 3.x feats) on-the-fly. The biggest change I made was dumping the Vancian spell system (pains my punctilious heart ) for a SIEGE-check based casting roll.

The magic system isn't very "Vancian" in the first place, so no worries there. There is a big difference between "Prismatic Spray" and "The Most Excellent Prismatic Spray"
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http://www.eclipsephase.com/online-game-friday-nights

[DocEldritch]

Yes, much as it pains me to admit, after having read some more of the Vance books, 4e is closer to "Vancian" than other editions (unlimited casting of "weaker" spells, the big ones are the one shots).

Back on the C&C topic though, yes, I don't plan on doing any changes until after I have read the rules. Just thinking about the good things I liked from 2e and 3e, that I would want to keep. The spell alteration stuff was great, and not making it feat based, but check based would be really nice. Saw a lot of other really neat ideas on some of those links as well.

Many things will be held off on until I nail down which of my ideas I want to run (the "dead world" (no better name for it yet, other than it being a quasi points of light setting) would have different rules in place than the sky pirates vs ancient empires which would have different rules than the shipwrecked explorers on a new land game).

One other thing I have considered changing is something that is one of my bugbears about almost all editions, and that is clerics being forced to use the "fire and forget" method of casting. Never really made sense to me. I might go with something I dabbled with in 2e, letting clerics simply cast any spell on their list without preparation (though still limited by spells per day), limited by their god's allowances (for instance, a god of healing is unlikely to allow reversed healing spells or pure damage spells), but doubling the casting time (if that exists in C&C). If cast times do not really factor in, I would probably do something like simply make all clerical spells go last in initiative, period. It does make clerics a bit stronger, but, to me at least, also makes more "sense".

[Go0gleplex]

One of the easier ways of explaining the per day casting limits of clerical spells (and druid for that matter) that I used is that the cleric prays, beseeching their deity to lend his/her/its power to the poor humble servant (blah blah blah). Since it is this "loaned" power that is being channeled by the cleric/druid for X effect it is able to be assumed that a mortal can only handle so much before becoming overwhelmed...or in danger of being harmed by the power despite themselves.

As mentioned, I tend to let clerics/druids pray (cast) the spells without memorization...but I do uphold the number of times per day. If they wish to attempt to cast more than the alloted times per day, they need to make a CON check with a cumulative CL +2. If they succeed, the spell is cast and they suffer damage equal to the level of the spell cast. If they fail the check, then no further attempts may be made that day, the spell fails, and they suffer damage equal to twice the spell level attempted.

more food for thought.
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The obvious will always trip you up FAR more than the obscure.

Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-

High Warden of the Castles & Crusades Society

[Eisenmann]

Here's my take on a skill system for Castles & Crusades.

The Double Edge Skill System:
http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames