Character Generation House Rules

[finn]

It's more of a case-by-case decision than a house-rule, but since no one wanted to be a Thief or a Cleric, I have allowed the following:

1. I have allowed (and recommended) my Scout to take High Manual Dexterity, so he can take up the thief role in the party. He has taken the major thief skills with his quirk points, and I will allow him to take more if he requests.

2. I have added some healing spells to the Druid spell list, so the party Druid can act as an another healer in addition to the Holy Warrior.

There are only 5 players, and sometimes one will take a day off, so I am open to allowing some diversity.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Pmandrekar

So, which of these have you settled on? I'm considering shifting from Scout Bowmistress to something a little more Healing oriented, if you think we need it...

All of them. Cazador has healing spells, but multiple healers is rarely bad, especially in a high absentee rate summer game.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by tbone

In a point-buy game, no race should be an overtly good or bad deal. Half-Ogres' traits seem pretty modest to me, with the obvious exception of ST; is it that +4 ST that seems too good for the point cost? Or do the disads seem to offer too many points for their effect?

Half ogres are too good for "brute force warriors" - their advantages are mostly good for combat, their disadvantages are mostly irrelevant to it. Yes, a GM who focuses on those weak points can make them pay, but I'm not that kind of GM.

[dripton]

Originally Posted by tbone

I'm curious about this (especially with martinl also giving Half-Ogres the stink eye).

In a point-buy game, no race should be an overtly good or bad deal. Half-Ogres' traits seem pretty modest to me, with the obvious exception of ST; is it that +4 ST that seems too good for the point cost? Or do the disads seem to offer too many points for their effect?

(Likewise with Catfolk: They have a big package of traits, but all pretty low-value, and the final cost is hefty. Are they unbalanced in some way?)

I banned half-ogres because they're too good. I banned catfolk because they don't fit the setting.

Yes, in a point-buy game, no race should be an overly good deal. But only if traits are correctly priced. Most PCs take the maximum number of disads allowed, showing most PCs feel disads are a very good deal. Racial disads don't count against the limit, so half-ogres get an extra 38 points worth. That's too good. Especially in a low-point game.

[Pmandrekar]

Originally Posted by martinl

Half ogres are too good for "brute force warriors" - their advantages are mostly good for combat, their disadvantages are mostly irrelevant to it. Yes, a GM who focuses on those weak points can make them pay, but I'm not that kind of GM.

One of the members of the group tends this way. But someone else already snaked the Half-ogre, didn't she?? :)

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Pmandrekar

One of the members of the group tends this way. But someone else already snaked the Half-ogre, didn't she?? :)

Don't worry, the Scion of the House of Pu'Ppet is terrifying enough.

[MIB.6361]

Most of my house rules don't impact character creation, but here are the ones that might.

Fast-Draw is a perk instead of a skill. During normal situations, no roll is needed. If something is interfering with your draw, roll against the weapon skill.

Niche Protection is in effect. So multi-professioning is not allowed.

[Anthony]

The big problem with races is that they exceed disad limits and/or overvalued disadvantages, and sometimes have overpowered advantages that are not otherwise available. They usually make up for this by including advantages you might not otherwise take. The problem with half-ogres is that they have no marginal or bad advantages, and their extra disadvantages are not very relevant to character types that might want a half-ogre in the first place.

I'd be tempted to add Discriminatory Smell [15] to half-ogres, increasing the template to [35].

[Mister Negative]

I think that the GM should look at the game he's planning on running.

If there aren't going to be enough social situations for the half-ogre to be disadvantaged there, and enough Will/Int saves for the Half-Ogre to be disadvantaged there, then it might be an effectively overpowered race.

I'm not saying either way is wrong.

I know that in my campaign, being unable to rely on getting into a town (for things like rest and healing at the temple) is a real concern, and also forces the Half-Ogre to have to plan and spend on camping out. He also has to trust (and be unable to verify) that the Thief will repay him honestly for the goods he trusts her to sell in town.

I also have a lot of non-blasty wizardly opponents, so the Half-Ogre is a target for a lot of Will-save spells. Sure, he can buy his Will up, but that effectively increases his racial template cost anyway.

We also have a substantial amount of (potentially) non-combat interaction, and I don't allow the one smooth talker to just roll and over-ride the presence of monsters/sadists/bad-tempered goons (unless the group takes pains to allow that).

If the campaign is structured differently (several PCs plan on camping out regularly, like druids and barbarians), social encounters can be handled by a 'face' character who can also be trusted to sell your loot and repay you, and wizards tend toward fireballs, Evil Runes, petrifaction, and Death Touch)--the Half-Ogre may be a good choice with minimized downsides.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'd be tempted to add Discriminatory Smell [15] to half-ogres, increasing the template to [35].

That just shifts them more into Scout and Barbarian territory, less in the Knight, and pretty firmly out of the Martial Artist and Swashbuckler territory.