Hi kids,

After taking an extended break from Shadowrun ("The soldiers are burnt, man!") we rolled over to DnD 3.5 (4th edition's not allowed in the house. So don't bother asking.) and we played around with various ideas.

After living in the Forgotten realms for, I don't know, close to 10 years now? We tried other things (no, no Darksun either. I don't need the environment to kill off players, they do a good enough job themselves. Greyhawk? I was raised on 2nd ed DnD on Greyhawk, that boat has sailed.)

So we tried Eberon (spelling, I know) and although promising, seemed too gimmicky. Also, the mythology was a little too well-put-together, there's the "highly detailed background stuff here" and the "Great void of nothingness, add adventurers to fill". Forgotten realms had history and it worked, mismatched and cobbled-together with cheese-it stains, tobacco papers and caffeine.

I'm rambling.

I asked my players if they'd like me to funk together a steampunk environment and there was a resounding "NOW". Sadly, it's working and I'm world-building as we go. People are rolling new characters just to see how badly they break and scarily, our homebrews aren't sad. Some might NOT be combat-heavy, but they do their own lifting.

So: if I give out the base rules, can you shoot holes? And then we might head to the other side of chaos, the homebrew classes.

Basics: 3.5 dnd stats, Strength, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Charisma, you know the drill. Values 3-18, roll them how you like to (3d6, 4d6 or 5d6, whatever.)
Races: All normal player handbook types, Also Warforged & shifters.
Classes: As per PHB/EB handbooks
BUT: Feats doubled at beginning, and a feat at every even level thereafter.
AND: Stat increase every 5th level (5, 10, 15, 20).

Yes, that means a level 1 human fighter will have 6 feats. That's why humans are such useful mooks.
The feat doubling ALSO counts for the NPC's as well.

This has caused much excitement so far. And I'm accused of being the most sadistic bastard that's ever walked the 4th world.

So, to break it down, double starting feats, feat progression, regardless of class, is 1 per 2nd level. All class feats are still intact.(yes, fighters will have a ton, there's a very good reason for this)

Oh, I also allow the first 2 levels at max hp, so knock yourselves out.


Thoughts, gestures, criticisms?


Tir.

ever look at ogl steampunk? its a d20 steampunk game that my group was fond of.

OGL Steampunk is kinda what we're aiming at, but we're trying for a more "primitive" idea - less Victorian.

Apart from that, all the skills are there (The OGL Steampunk) but we've got some, like repair, specific to a Class (Engineer). This does fall into how early engineers (Artisans) had to be able to make everything from scratch, rather than rely on Ford's Prepared Soluble Plates or whatnot.

Thank you for the ldea though, running it past the test subjects soonish

Tir

Those are similar to the house rules my group uses. We like playing high powered games and we have a small group so we allow the Gestalt option from unearthed arcana. I also came up with a new magic system that is inspired by SR. Once you run out of spell slots in order to cast a spell you make a fortitude save DC 15+spell level. If you succeed you take nonlethal damage equal to the spell level. In other words, drain. If you fail you take lethal damage equal to the spell level. This represents overcasting. The logic is that your base spell allotment represents the spells you can cast safely. When you cast more than that you become fatigued and risk harming yourself by channeling more mana than you can safely handle.

We also use an enhanced feat progression, one per level. After all, with so many really cool feats it kinda bites that you only get like six.

We also use reserve HP. It means that you have an amount of reserve HP equal to your normal total. When you have a few minutes to rest you can exchange the reserves for regular HP. This allows for less downtime and more adventuring. Especially since nobody wants to play a cleric.

Another system we sometimes use modifies the normal to-hit rolls. See, in SR there is a sense of control for defenders. You are rolling dice to avoid being hit. In D&D you kind of have to stand there and take it. This system modifies the AC by taking away the automatic ten and replacing it with a bie roll. So instead of 10+armor+shield+dex bonus+whatever you now have d20+armor+etc+etc+etc. It allows for more of a feeling of control with combat. Of course it means more die rolls and math so it's not for everyone.

That's all of the house rules my group uses that I can remember. I hope they help.

Also, magic. We use a modified "spellpoint" system, which is fancy-speak for "I want to castsomethingOTHER than buff spells"
The spellpoints break down as follows: Magic class x stat (that is used for the magic, like INT for Wizards, etc.)

Cast a spell, roll spellcraft normally (the"to hit")and the spell's on it's way.

Spells cost "spellpoints" equal to their level, so a magic missileis 1, a fireball is 3, etc.
The fun begins when you take metamagic feats. These multiply the overall cost of a spell, so a maximized spell is 4 x the spellpoint cost.

This REALLY comes into play early, and players start hording their juice for the big bads, but are still able to assist during "Normal" combat. And yes, it means youcanpull out an empowered, widened, quickened and maximised fireball, and cast another one right after it....but you're left with sweet FA once you deploy your "Finishing Move" (for those out there, a fireball like that costs 3 x 4 x 5 x 2 x 3 = 360SP. Ot level 20 with 18 int, if you're a wizard. Does wicked damage though.)

But what about the Sorcerers, you say, they're shortchanged and withoutwizardlyfeats? Ah, yes, but we've house ruled that due to the intrinsically-personal nature of sorcery spells, the save DC will be modified to 2 x Charisma Modifier, rather than than Cha Mod+10+spell level. This means that the sorcerer becomes the siege engine of destructive spells (also, of summoned beasties as well) that are devilishly-hard to save from.
Level 3 Sorc, fireball normal, 18 cha. SaveDC = 10+3+4 = 17.
Level 3 Sorc, fireball houseruled, 18 cha. Save DC = 10+3+8 = 21.
Add on spell penetration, etc, and suddenly, sorcerer's aren't that sad anymore.

This also means druids get scary, clerics can heal all friggin day (god, never ask) bards become abruptly amazing and rangers start briarwebbing anything within range.


Skills like "Research, repair, lore, bardic knowledge"are also used as class skills ONLY, as is reputation

Explaination: Gunslinger class. Reputation if you're bad, renown if you're good, allows you to roll a 'Rep when facing off an opponent, putting them off their game (Will save negates..."He don't look too tough t'me"/spits tobacco.)
Ah, you cry, what if my charater's neutral? Simple - you get the "evenhanded"ability that provides great insight (bonuses to gather information and sense motive) and allows, at higher levels, you to act as a Judicar (to execute someone as a free action ~ coup de gras) This offputs their inability to create a posse....yes, they can do that if they're personable (Cha Mod days or until objective is reached) and experienced enough. Note:Good characters lose reputation if possee members die reaching the objective, evil gunslingers do not...heh, heh, heh...

The tutor class is working nicely, basically they become great stores of varied information and can roll to hazard a guess. (Lore)

The Engineerhas been treaked to be less twinky - then reupped as people found they were balanced (Repair, can kitbash a device and hope it will work)

Posting again:)

Tir

Long pause - computer died.

Pathfinder's looking brilliant for our needs, not to mention it's nice having people who WANT to play a class to level 20, just so that they can unleash hell.

Apart from adding Repair and Gamble, we're done, poof, finished. God, easy as.

Now all we're doing is making a world to run away from screaming. Oh, and because I'm a bastard, monsters tend to have max hits. And feats.

Tir

Sounds like I entered this conversation a bit late and you're already on your way with the game. But if you were interested in Steampunk I was going to suggest Iron Kingdoms. It's a pretty cool system if you can actually figure out how Mechanika works (a mix between magic and technology) since the rules are vague on somethings, incredibly specific on others and completely contradictory to each other all around.
Of course, we found a nifty Excel sheet someone put together that apparently lets you create the mechanika and then figures out what it would cost.

At some point, privateer press plans to put out their own Iron Kingdoms system, instead of using D20, but I don't know when that'll be....