House Rules for my C&C campaign

[Deil the Yin]

Man, the classics NEVER die! Aaah, yeah.

Talk about thread necromancy... ARRIIIIISSE!!!
The should be destroyed on a Nat20 / crit. Doing so adds a bit o' drama and forces the PC to have to spend coin to replace it.

[Ancalagon]

More tinkering going on in the old noodle. For a C&C game set in Aihrde or Greyhawk (NOT Coeur de Lion) I'm looking at the races in the PHB (8th print) and what is listed as their Typical Classes.

In C&C there are no hard-and-fast rules about allowed classes as is the case in AD&D. E.g. no dwarf wizards, hobbit paladins, gnome monks, etc. in AD&D. To place added emphasis on the typical classes, what I'm calling preferred classes, for each race while also maintaining flexibility for player choice, I'm increasing the XP requirements for advancement in any non-preferred class to reflect stepping outside the racial, cultural, and societal norms of the race in question.

[Deil the Yin]

Makes sense. I wonder how that method would compare with an old school level cap?

More tinkering going on in the old noodle. For a C&C game set in Aihrde or Greyhawk (NOT Coeur de Lion) I'm looking at the races in the PHB (8th print) and what is listed as their Typical Classes.

In C&C there are no hard-and-fast rules about allowed classes as is the case in AD&D. E.g. no dwarf wizards, hobbit paladins, gnome monks, etc. in AD&D. To place added emphasis on the typical classes, what I'm calling preferred classes, for each race while also maintaining flexibility for player choice, I'm increasing the XP requirements for advancement in any non-preferred class to reflect stepping outside the racial, cultural, and societal norms of the race in question.

[Necron 99]

More tinkering going on in the old noodle. For a C&C game set in Aihrde or Greyhawk (NOT Coeur de Lion) I'm looking at the races in the PHB (8th print) and what is listed as their Typical Classes.

In C&C there are no hard-and-fast rules about allowed classes as is the case in AD&D. E.g. no dwarf wizards, hobbit paladins, gnome monks, etc. in AD&D. To place added emphasis on the typical classes, what I'm calling preferred classes, for each race while also maintaining flexibility for player choice, I'm increasing the XP requirements for advancement in any non-preferred class to reflect stepping outside the racial, cultural, and societal norms of the race in question.

Something to chew on, in D&D 3.x, there was a feat called Favored Class. Normally the races are restricted to specified classes but in 3.x, you could have a character take a non-standard class. In doing so though, the character takes a penalty to experience gained, which of course affect leveling. By taking the "feat", it removed the XP penalty and allowed the character to level up as normal in the now "favored" class.

[Ancalagon]

Makes sense. I wonder how that method would compare with an old school level cap?

More tinkering going on in the old noodle. For a C&C game set in Aihrde or Greyhawk (NOT Coeur de Lion) I'm looking at the races in the PHB (8th print) and what is listed as their Typical Classes.

In C&C there are no hard-and-fast rules about allowed classes as is the case in AD&D. E.g. no dwarf wizards, hobbit paladins, gnome monks, etc. in AD&D. To place added emphasis on the typical classes, what I'm calling preferred classes, for each race while also maintaining flexibility for player choice, I'm increasing the XP requirements for advancement in any non-preferred class to reflect stepping outside the racial, cultural, and societal norms of the race in question.

Emphasis mine.
No idea. Time will tell. Advancement would definitely slow for players' desiring oddball race-and-class combos. Rather than just saying NO to such a request in a C&C game, the possibility will be there but the price is a steeper XP climb. Such an oddball person could very well face some blow back from others of his race, "That one's weird, we all say. Off in the head. No dwarf in his right mind puts down the hammer to waste away over books to study... witchcraft." For an AD&D game, I'd run it as written with some classes excluded to some races and level limits imposed.

The concept is similar to what HackMaster Basic and HackMaster 5e did with the cost in building points (BPs) for a character to enter a class. A character can receive between 50 - 100 BPs for generation depending on choices by the player. A human character entering the wizard class requires 25 BPs. A dwarf or halfling requires 75 as the wizard class is more difficult for them to grok.

[Ancalagon]

More tinkering going on in the old noodle. For a C&C game set in Aihrde or Greyhawk (NOT Coeur de Lion) I'm looking at the races in the PHB (8th print) and what is listed as their Typical Classes.

In C&C there are no hard-and-fast rules about allowed classes as is the case in AD&D. E.g. no dwarf wizards, hobbit paladins, gnome monks, etc. in AD&D. To place added emphasis on the typical classes, what I'm calling preferred classes, for each race while also maintaining flexibility for player choice, I'm increasing the XP requirements for advancement in any non-preferred class to reflect stepping outside the racial, cultural, and societal norms of the race in question.

Something to chew on, in D&D 3.x, there was a feat called Favored Class. Normally the races are restricted to specified classes but in 3.x, you could have a character take a non-standard class. In doing so though, the character takes a penalty to experience gained, which of course affect leveling. By taking the "feat", it removed the XP penalty and allowed the character to level up as normal in the now "favored" class.

Emphasis mine.
Hmmm. Been a long time since I perused the 3.x PHB but I thought it was pretty much the kitchen sink approach with every class and every race combo allowed.

[Ancalagon]

@ Jay and Wes - Let me know if you're interested and I'll email you a Word doc write up on the XP modifications with lots of pics added for presentation. :wink:

[Ancalagon]

Been doing more tweaking on my C&C House Rules. I swear to the gawds I will reach a point where I say "Done!" Some day.

Anyway... here is a something I added to the bard class.

If a player decides a bard character is a musician, the bard is proficient with a number of instruments equal to the INT modifier. If a bard’s INT mod is <= 0 then he/she is proficient with only one instrument.

[Necron 99]

Yeah I could see that. Sounds like a solid way to manage it just like languages for other classes.

[Ancalagon]

Since you mentioned languages... I've house ruled INT for languages. Bards, illusionists, and wizards receive INT mod x 2 extra languages due to interacting with lots of folks, being active knowledge seekers, studious academics, etc. as applicable.