A big hi to all.
A long time ago, i ran an Ars campaign (3rd edition, with some 4th edition stuff thrown in), it didn't really last long. Now i'm gonna try and pick it up again using 5th, and i've been working on some house rules to try to keep things in check (last time i let someone take the healing virtue from Faeries, and it caused problems).
I expect the sessions will see more combat than most Ars stories, not on a DnD scale, but more than normal, which may have biased my view.
So, these are the house rules i've developed so far (from a munchkin's point of view). Any real problems? Any better ways of handling stuff? Did i just not understand the purpose of what i was changing?
The Mastered Spell special abilities from True Lingeages are available to anyone.
I like them, if it weakens a small group of mercere to let everyone have access, so be it. Otherwise, they'd never be used.
The Mastered Spell special ability of Multiple Casting has a penalty to the Casting Total equal to the sum of the spell levels already cast in the round using the special ability.
Being able to cast up to the limit of the spells mastery without penalty scares me. Casting Conjuration of the Indubitable Cold 5 times would make things too easy. And a version with a larger area could stop an army. Other spells could be abused in a similar fashion
A maximum of 5 experience points gained from a story can be spent on Arts
A minor change really. I want to ensure mages don't benefit more from casting a few spells durin the story than they do from a season of study.
Confidence Points give a +2 bonus. All used Confidence points are regained at the end of the story.
Mostly so i don't have to worry about giving players confidence points. Kinda lazy of me, but i don't think it'll hurt anything much.
Ranged attacks from bows and crossbows use Perception for the attack bonus.
It used to be perception. I'd guess it was changed to Dexterity to keep the rules cleaner. I'm changing it back.
Reload time for crossbows is turns, not minutes.
I've never reloaded a medieval crossbow. I've no idea how long it would take. But minutes renders them almost useless in the game. So i'm going to fudge that a bit.
Spending a round aiming a shot gives a bonus to attack equal to the attacker's skill when using ranged weapons.
Similar to how those in melee can use a Fatigue level to get a bonus to attack or defense.
The Group Combat rules are not going to be used.
I just don't like them. A role-playing situation where the player doesn't player a role, just acts as a damage sponge.
A character's Defense Score is reduced by 1 for each opponent attacking him.
If a charcter is fighting multiple enemies who have trained together, he suffers an attack penalty equal to the number of additional opponents, limited by the highest Leadership score of the opponents involved.
Some rules for fighting when outnumbered, but i kept the leadership bit from group combat rules.
Abilities do not have specialities.
I like the idea, and I should be using this, but i think it would slow down the game more than it's worth.
No infernal vis
I'm FAR to lazy to keep track of each individual pawn of vis, and whether the players used any that was tainted.
Shapechanging due to a virtue/flaw. Always add together the characteristics
I liked it like that in 3rd edition, i think i'll keep it.
Fastcasting can only be done in response to an enemies action
To avoid situations like
Grog A - I'll attack the guy with the spear.
Mage - I'll help by casting a spell on the spear guy.
Grog B - I'll attack the guy with the axe.
Mage - I'll cast a spell on the axe guy.
Grog C - I'll attack the guy with the sword.
Mage - I'll cast a spell on the sword guy.
SG - how are you making all the fastcast checks?
Mage - I told Grog A to carry a goat, Grog B a collection of musical instruments, and Grog C is carrying me.
Silly, but i suspect it's rules right
Tower Shield - Dfn +5, Str +2, Load 3, Cost Exp
Someone from my last saga had one, so i made up the stats.
Attacker and defender can both use Confidence to alter the attack roll.
Defense gets a +6 bonus, and no roll. It is still affected by wound and fatigue penalties.
Damage always gets a roll. Attacker and defender can both use Confidence to alter it. It isn't affected by wound or fatigue penalties.
Soak ISN'T deducted from damage.
The wound range at all stages gets a bonus equal to soak +6.
Thats quite a few changes, mixing in rules from earlier editions. Damage which ignores armour, such as Curse of the Desert would get a damage bonus equal to the armour's protection. Other cases, such as damage from Life-Linked Spontaneous Magic, seem too rare to be a large concern.
New Martial Abilities. Single Weapon & Shield, Crossbow, and Two Weapon.
Crossbow seems obvious. Single Weapon & Shield was probably taken out to simplify character creation, i think the game would be better with it back in. Two Weapon for the next rule.
When using 2 weapons, use the ability for the weapon in your main-hand, limited by your Two Weapon ability.
My attempt at creating rules for using 2 weapons at once.
When using 2 weapons, add the off-hand weapons bonus to your combat totals, from this table. Strength requirements are met seperatley.
Dagger Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +1, Dam +0, Str -1
Knife Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +0, Dam +0, Str -4
Axe Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +1, Dam +3, Str +2
Club Init +0, Atk +0, Dfn +2, Dam +1, Str +0
Hatchet Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +0, Dam +2, Str +0
Lance Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +0, Dam +3, Str +2
Mace Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +1, Dam +4, Str +2
M+chain Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +0, Dam +4, Str +2
S, spear Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +1, Dam +2, Str +1
S, sword Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +2, Dam +2, Str +1
L, sword Init +0, Atk +1, Dfn +2, Dam +3, Str +2
Um, yeh. I hope that made sense.
New Minor, General Virtue :- Ambidextrous. No -3 penalty for perform an action with you off-hand. +2 Attack Bonus when wielding 2 weapons
Can't have rules for using 2 weapons without mentioning ambidextrous.
Passivity of the Spell Casting Wizard
MuIm Lv4
Base 2, +1 Diameter, +1 not constantly in effect.
Someone had it, so i tried to make a 5th edition version of it. Seems low for it's usefulness.
Thats it. Lost most of the typing when it logged me out, and had to redo it, but it's done. Suggestions? Comments? Flames?