Random 3.5 Rules (size/ride/exploration)- Feedback pls
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 4:45 pm
So i've been working on a couple of 3.5 rules/mods and wanted to get some feedback. They aren't particularly related, but why do 2 threads. I think both are at the "Ready for play" step, but figured some other eyes might help.
Rule 1 - Size
http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/SRD:Movement,_ ... d_Distance
The goal of this rule is to make stuff bigger. If you read my 5e MM review, you can get a theme that stuff should be bigger.
The new size ranges for the given size categories are as follows.
fine - less than 1 inch - NA
diminutive - 1-6inch - under 1lb
tiny - 6inch-1ft - 1lb - 4lb
small - 1-4ft - 4-30lbs
medium - As written - As written
large - 8-32ft - 500lbs - 16tons
huge - 32ft-64ft - 16-125 tons
gargantuan - 64-150ft - 125-500 tons
collosal - 150ft+ - 500+ Tons
I'm less concerned about weight than height, because nothing follows those guidelines anyway. (small earth elemental vs colossal fire elemental)
The goal is basically to make stuff bigger and smaller. The next step would be to go through animals and see if they grow, or if they change sizes. Dragons would grow. Horses would not. Pixies would shrink. Bears would not. That sort of thing.
Rule 2 - Forced Rides
The goal of this rule is to introduce the ability to climb onto something's back, even if it doesn't want you to. That's a staple of action movies and its hard to do in 3.5. The rules.
Force Mount - Special combat action. As a standard action, you can forcibly mount a creature that is at least one size category bigger than you are. To start, you must be adjacent to the creature and enter its square. Then, make a touch attack. If successful, you climb onto them, and remain in their square. If the attack misses, you move back out of their space.
Once you climb onto a target, make an immediate ride check with a bonus based on size. You get +4 to this check for each size smaller than your target you are. This is opposed by your opponents grapple check. If you succeed you can remain mounted. If you fail, you are thrown free receiving 1d6 damage per size category bigger than you the target is. (Reflex DC 15 for half). Your target chooses which space you land in, but it must be adjacent to them. At the beginning of each of your turns, you must make a ride check as a move action (as described previously) or be bucked free.
At the beginning of the targets turn, they can attempt to throw you off as a standard action (as described above), or they can act normally. If they move, you move with them as normal for mounts. This ability gives you no special ability to move through earth, water, lava, walls, etc.
While forcibly mounted, the target is denied their dex bonus to attacks you make. In addition, you gain a +4 Dodge bonus to AC for attacks made by the creature. Lastly, you count as flanking for and with any other adjacent creatures.
I could add some feats for this I guess at some point.
Rule 3 - Blind Exploration
This rule is intended to make mazes easier, especially mazes the PCs are running through quickly and don't have time to think. It comes off a little "rules light" but I'm kind of OK with it, ish. It came up when my PCs had to traverse an underwater maze, without water breathing abilities.
Whenever the PCs need to quickly make a choice about which path they take the following skill checks are called for.
Survival DC 10 - You can reduce one of the paths before you to an obvious bad path. Through scent, sounds, wear in the path, or other. For every 5 you beat this DC, remove another bad choice. Randomly determine from the remaining paths which one you take. If you add 5 to the DCs, you can instead roll Knowledge Dungeoneering or Nature as appropriate.
So basically, I'm running down a hallway from a boulder. I see 3 doors ahead of me. I roll my check, and get 12, so I know one of them is an obvious trap door. I flip a coin to figure out which of the other two I burst through.
So... thoughts? Suggestions to make them better? Obvious pit falls I missed? If your DM broke these out would you ignore them/think they were cool and use them/be annoyed?
Rule 1 - Size
http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/SRD:Movement,_ ... d_Distance
The goal of this rule is to make stuff bigger. If you read my 5e MM review, you can get a theme that stuff should be bigger.
The new size ranges for the given size categories are as follows.
fine - less than 1 inch - NA
diminutive - 1-6inch - under 1lb
tiny - 6inch-1ft - 1lb - 4lb
small - 1-4ft - 4-30lbs
medium - As written - As written
large - 8-32ft - 500lbs - 16tons
huge - 32ft-64ft - 16-125 tons
gargantuan - 64-150ft - 125-500 tons
collosal - 150ft+ - 500+ Tons
I'm less concerned about weight than height, because nothing follows those guidelines anyway. (small earth elemental vs colossal fire elemental)
The goal is basically to make stuff bigger and smaller. The next step would be to go through animals and see if they grow, or if they change sizes. Dragons would grow. Horses would not. Pixies would shrink. Bears would not. That sort of thing.
Rule 2 - Forced Rides
The goal of this rule is to introduce the ability to climb onto something's back, even if it doesn't want you to. That's a staple of action movies and its hard to do in 3.5. The rules.
Force Mount - Special combat action. As a standard action, you can forcibly mount a creature that is at least one size category bigger than you are. To start, you must be adjacent to the creature and enter its square. Then, make a touch attack. If successful, you climb onto them, and remain in their square. If the attack misses, you move back out of their space.
Once you climb onto a target, make an immediate ride check with a bonus based on size. You get +4 to this check for each size smaller than your target you are. This is opposed by your opponents grapple check. If you succeed you can remain mounted. If you fail, you are thrown free receiving 1d6 damage per size category bigger than you the target is. (Reflex DC 15 for half). Your target chooses which space you land in, but it must be adjacent to them. At the beginning of each of your turns, you must make a ride check as a move action (as described previously) or be bucked free.
At the beginning of the targets turn, they can attempt to throw you off as a standard action (as described above), or they can act normally. If they move, you move with them as normal for mounts. This ability gives you no special ability to move through earth, water, lava, walls, etc.
While forcibly mounted, the target is denied their dex bonus to attacks you make. In addition, you gain a +4 Dodge bonus to AC for attacks made by the creature. Lastly, you count as flanking for and with any other adjacent creatures.
I could add some feats for this I guess at some point.
Rule 3 - Blind Exploration
This rule is intended to make mazes easier, especially mazes the PCs are running through quickly and don't have time to think. It comes off a little "rules light" but I'm kind of OK with it, ish. It came up when my PCs had to traverse an underwater maze, without water breathing abilities.
Whenever the PCs need to quickly make a choice about which path they take the following skill checks are called for.
Survival DC 10 - You can reduce one of the paths before you to an obvious bad path. Through scent, sounds, wear in the path, or other. For every 5 you beat this DC, remove another bad choice. Randomly determine from the remaining paths which one you take. If you add 5 to the DCs, you can instead roll Knowledge Dungeoneering or Nature as appropriate.
So basically, I'm running down a hallway from a boulder. I see 3 doors ahead of me. I roll my check, and get 12, so I know one of them is an obvious trap door. I flip a coin to figure out which of the other two I burst through.
So... thoughts? Suggestions to make them better? Obvious pit falls I missed? If your DM broke these out would you ignore them/think they were cool and use them/be annoyed?