Campaign Rules

1.: Paths
Originally, I wanted to use Gestalt rules, but since the number of available base classes in
the campaign is more limited and I am not willing to see characters who have both an
activator level and full casting, I dismissed the idea. Instead, there are paths. Every character
chose one path during character creation, which gives him several additional abilities or
features when he advances in level. Unlike a class, a path cannot be changed and most path
features are less significant than class features. The whole path stuff is very similar to the
bloodlines found in UA, but I have stolen borrowed the from the excellent midnight campaign
setting.

2.: Ability scores

There are two fixed settings of ability scores for Player characters. Every player chose one of
the settings and distribute the scores as ever he wants.
Score One: 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
Score two: 16, 14, 14, 12, 12 10
Ability modifiers per race are distributed afterwards.

3.:Hitpoints
A character’s hitpoints are not determined by rolling any dice. Instead, a fixed and somewhat
lower amount of hitpoints every level. The starting amount of hitpoints does not change. The
Constitution bonus is still added to the gained amount of hitpoints per level.
Hit Dice Hitpoints/Level
D4 1
D6 2
D8 3
D10 4
D12 5

This also applies to all kinds of monsters, but for them, hit dice are scaled by size (larger
creatures are tougher than smaller ones). I’m not sure if the hitpoints of PC’s should also be
scaled by size.

4 Defense
There is no AC. Instead, there is a defense bonus based upon either the BAB or the Reflex
Save plus the dexterity bonus. This Bonus is added to a normal roll, like a Save where the
attack roll is the DC. Shields, Dodge and Deflection bonus increases the defense. Armor,
however, does not.
Defense:
BAB or Reflex Save +Dexterity + other Bonus (e.g. Shields)+ Size Modifier+D20

Flatfooted: When caught flatfooted, only half the Defense bonus is applied to the Defense
check.
Touch Attack: Touch attacks give a flat +4 bonus to hit.

5.: Armor
Armor gives Damage Reduction equal to its former AC. So does natural armor and all stuff,
which is not better suited to give a defense bonus.
6.: Classes and Races
All classes and races are significantly changed. All races are a bit stronger (roughly
equivalent to a former LA+11 race) to allow a broader bandwidth of traits, and while classical
melee classes are improved, most spellcasters are somewhat nerfed )(but rarely to an
amount that would make them significantly weaker). Especially dead levels were hunted and
are now nearly extinct, as well as alignment restrictions.

7.:Spellcasting
Instead of a fixed number of spellslots, spellcasters get a number of spellpoints which can be
distributed among his or her spells. Casters who have to prepare their daily spells still afford
to do so. Three spellpoints can be three level 1 spells as well as one level 3 spell. Every spell
takes his level of spellpoints to be casted, cantrips or other Level 0 spells count as 0.5 spell
points The number of spellpoints which can be channeled per turn are limited though,
therefore more powerful spells need a longer time to be casted.

Class Level Channeling (Full Casters)

1-5 1/turn
6-10 2/turn
11-15 3/turn
16 or more 4/turn

Class Level Channeling (Weak Casters)

1-7 1/turn
8-14 2/turn
15 or more 3/turn

Spellpoint channeling is a Standard Action. There will be several feats dealing with Spell
channeling. Metamagic Feats need as many spell points as their modified level indicates.
The Quicken Spell Feat doesn’t exist.

Spellcasting needs a Concentration check to be successful. The DC of these checks is

12+Spell level. If the check fails by 5 or less points, the spell is just not casted and the caster
can try again next turn. If the check fails by a margin of 6 or more, the spell is fizzled and the
invested spellpoints are wasted. Armor Check penalties are applied to these checks, but the
Arcane Spell Failure Chance plays no role anymore (divine spellcasters are effected by
armor as well as arcane ones). Different to other skill checks, spellcasting checks
automatically fail on a natural 1; even worse, the spell effect comes into effect with the worst
possible result for the caster, e.g. damage dealing spells who hit the caster or one of his
allies instead of the original target.
Spellpoints are gained like hitpoints in Core, meaning somewhat random. A typical full caster
would get 1D6 + ability bonus spellpoints per level. This is maximized at 1st level.
Spellpoint regeneration: Per day, a spellcaster regenerates his caster level + main ability plus
1D4 per hour of meditation (this does not include sleep).

8.: Damage Steps and Wounds

The more a character is injured the harder it gets for him to fight on. There are for different
damage steps which brings penalties to all throws, checks and saves (including damage)
based upon the relation of total hitpoints to suffered damage.

Damage Steps Penalties

Full Hitpoints (unharmed): None
¾ of Hitpoints left (Hurt) -1
½ of Hitpoints left (Wounded) -2
¼ of Hitpoints left (Mauled) -3

Example: A knight with 40 total hitpoints takes a heavy hit by an ogre’s club, dealing him 11
points of net damage. His Hipoints sink under the ¾ margin, and he suffers a –1 penalty to
his throws.

Due to the lower total hitpoints, the massive damage rule is much more significant and
dangerous.

9. Alignment
The alignment system is completely ignored. Anyone who tries to argument with childish
terms like good or evil is to be undressed covered in mustard and tossed into the next dog
pound.
Instead of “good” or “evil” spells, those spells are applied to Living Beings like protection from
living”, or Detect Living” or unliving beings (e.g. undeads or outsiders).

10: Equipment and Treasure

The amount of treasure is halved, as well as the wealth per level. There are no possibilities
to buy magical items, only custom made and to the double listed prices. If you want to have a
specific magical item, you should have an equivalent fancy one to change. The experience
cost of item creation is doubled.
Combined with the Gestalt rules and the generally more powerful classes and races, the
characters are roughly as strong as before, but less dependant from their equipment. The
character, and not what he or she is carrying is the important part.

11: Small Stuff

All characters are considered to be illiterate as long as they don’t have a rank in Decipher
Script.

As a result of the lower total amount of hitpoints, the effect of all healing spells is scaled
down by two steps (D8s become D4s).

Sneak Attack gives a flat +2 damage bonus/ level instead of a dice.

Critical Hits are dependant on the success margin, not the roled number. A hit is considered
to be critical if the margin is ten or more, -1 per additional point of thread range (e.g. a keen
scimitar would only need a 6 point margin to score a critical hit).

The Wild Magic Feats do not exist. The Eschew Materials becomes a sorcerer class trait
instead of a freely accessible feat.

Spells who are known for their imbalance are either banned from the game or somewhat
weakened, e.g. with reduced durations or durations dependent from the invested spell points.
The following spells are banned: Ropetrick, Mage’s Magnificent Mansion, Baleful Polymorph,
Polymorph any object.
The Duration of the spells Alter Self is reduced to 10 rounds/level (and can be extended for 2
additional rounds per additional invested spellpoint). The duration of Polymorph is reduced to
1 round/level, +1 round per invested spellpoint. Both spells are considered to be one level
higher.
Classes:
Martial Classes:
All Martial Classes are based on the three base classes from ToB, but get additional stuff,
which resembles the abilities of the core base classes or other favorites.
Because of these additional abilities, they are more powerful than the original class they
derived from. This is wanted, because the melee fighters are primary heroes, while
spellcasters should be more sidekick like to the real heroes: The guys with the shiny armor
and the big swords.

Crusader based Classes:

Knight: like the PHB II knight; a mounted warrior whose ability to challenge his opponents
force them to fight honorably.
Paladin: the only class which combines spellcasting and martial arts; the paladin is designed
to be the single most powerful class in game, because it demands the highest responsibility.
Paladins combine the martial aptitude of the crusader with the supernatural abilities of the
god’s chosen warrior. Starting on 4th level, the paladin gets his wisdom bonus (at least one)
points added to his spellpoint pool on every even level. A 20th level paladin has a total spell
point pool of 9xWisdom Bonus.
Commander: The commander is a worse fighter than both knight and paladin, but he is a
leader of men, who boosts his follower to achieve great victories.

Warblade based Classes:

Berserker: A raging monster, with devastating abilities to kill and maim, but who lacks self-
control. The Berserker has a rage ability similar to those of barbarians, but he has much
harder time to control it.
Bravo: The Bravo fights more with grace than with force. He is a light armored warrior who is
great in maneuvering and dodging. He does not deal as much damage as the other warriors,
but he is much harder to hit. As a charming swashbuckler, he got several charisma based
abilities.
Weapon Master: While other fighters try to diversify heir martial abilities, the Weapon Master
concentrates on a single weapon and masters it. Weapon Masters are great fighters, but
their martial abilities are bound to their weapon of choice.
Yeoman: The tactician among the warblades. The yeoman is specialized to fight in an open
battle and to control the battlefield.

Swordsage based classes:

Spirit Warrior: The Spirit Warrior follows a totem spirit who grants him certain powers as long
as the spirit warrior behaves accordingly to the totem’s restrictions. Spirit warriors are one of
the most feral classes around.
Magehunter: Fighters who excel in the dangerous fight against spellcasters. They are fast
and they are trained to kill magicians as fast as possible. Magehunters refuse to use magical
equipment but their normal abilities are stunningly impressive.

Divine Spellcasters
Spellcasters are both more powerful (due to the greater flexibility of the spell point system)
and somewhat tweaked by the prolonged casting time and the necessary concentration
check to cast spells. Apart from that, they are hardly changed at all, with some minor
exceptions.

Clerics: The niche of the holy warrior belongs to the mighty paladin, therefore the clerics are
more focused on knowledge and spellcasting and less on fighting. They lose most of their
armor proficiency, their hit dice drops a level (to 6/+2) and they get the wizard’s BAB
progression, but they get more skillpoints and the spontaneous domain casting ability
described in the PHB II. Overall, clerics become more intellectual and less martial. Oh, and
Clerics MUST take a god to follow. There are no “concepts” to worship. Their powers are
granted to them by one god, and they are bound to worship him, spread his belief, serve him,
smite the sinners and convert the heathens. A cleric who refuses to serve his god is a
candidate for an Atonement. Clerics gain D6 +Wisdom bonus Spellpoints per level.

Warpriest: For those players who are not happy with the now more intelectual cleric, the
warpriest is a viable alternative. He is a sturdy warrior and a powerful spellcaster at the same
time, but his spellcasting and turning abilities are considerably weaker than those of regular
clerics. The part about servants of a god above is also true for warpriests. Warpriests get D4
+ Wisdom bonus spellpoints per level

Druids: The Druid does not change much; the shapeshift feature from PHB II is obligatory,
but still limited by uses/day, and as mentioned above, the Wild Magic Feat does not exist.
Druids gain D6 + Wisdom bonus Spellpoints per level.

Feytouched Druid: These druids are more bound to the world of faes than to the natural
world. They lose most of their shape changing abilities in exchange for deeper insights in the
world of the fey and his primary casting ability is charisma instead of wisdom. Feytouched
Druids gain D6 + Charisma bonus Spellpoints per level.

Favorite Soul: I’m not completely sure about it, but probably a class similar to the Favored
Soul – meaning a spontaneous divine caster - will be included in the game. But I don’t like
the favored soul as written at all, and I’m not sure how to reform the whole thing yet.

Healer: The Healer class as written is not very strong, but after a little thought process, a
somewhat better healing class will be involved in the game. Perhaps I will combine this with
the idea of a spontaneous divine caster.

Arcane Spellcasters:
Elementarists (Wu Jen): Elementarists are magicians whose powers are based on the four
elements. They are somewhat limited. Elementarists are de facto Wu Jen, but with slightly
different element traits and without the specific eastern flavor. Elementarists gain D6 +
Intelligence bonus Spellpoints per level.

Sorcerer: The sorcerer doesn’t change much, apart from the whole spellcasting system.
Sorcerers gain the Eschew Materials Feat as a Bonus Feat on 1st level, but that is mostly a
flavor thing, I think. Sorcerers have only access to a very small number of spells, but they
have the biggest reservoir of spellpoints. They gain D8 + Charisma bonus spellpoints per
level.

Warlocks: Ironically, the warlock was not considered as an equal to the mighty wizard, but,
due to the fact that they don’t need to concentrate to use their Eldritch Blasts (they only need
the touch attacks) balances it a bit more. But, the warlock’s invocations need as much time to
be channeled as a spell of the same level (warlocks have the same spellchanneling ability
like Full casters). Overall, Warlocks are more reliable, but remarkably less flexible than
regular spellcasters.

Warmages: As described in Complete Arcane. The warmage’s only change is the regular
change of the spellcasting system. They gain D8 + Charisma bonus spellpoints per level.

Wizards: Wizards are not much changed; they can’t eschew materials, and the spellcasting
system is completely changed, but that’s almost all - Almost. Wizards must specialize in one
of the eight schools. There are no generalist wizards. Wizards gain D6 + Intelligence bonus
Spellpoints per level.

Skillmonkey classes
There are those classes who are neither spellcasters (or at least not very powerful
spellcasters) nor primary fighters (even though they can certainly fight).
Most notably, this are bards, rogues and rangers.

Bards: Admittedly, the bard was the class I had the most difficulties to reform. Since I haven’t
found a satisfying solution yet, Bards stay mostly as they are, but get 2 additional skill points
and a bonus feat every five levels. Bards gain 1+ Charisma bonus Spellpoints per level.

Rangers: Rangers get a lot of specific features and abilities, specialized in one of several
different paths (it’s effectively an Ultimate Ranger I found in the internet, but I’m feeling
gracious and add an additional sneak attack like ability). A variety of the rangers exchange
their spellcasting ability against a limited access to martial art abilities. Starting on 4th level,
rangers get their wisdom bonus (at least one) points added to his spellpoint pool on every
even level (4, 6, 8…).

Rogues: like the Ranger the Rogue becomes ‘ultimate’ and has therefore a very broad
spectrum of abilities to chose from. As a result of the lower hitpoints, Sneak attack is
somewhat nerfed; instead of an increasing number of d6’s, the rogue adds his class level to
the damage when he sneak attacks and has the ability to do so.

Additional Feats:

Greater Meditation: 1D6 instead of D4 for spellpoint regeneration when meditating.

Improved Channeling: Channeling +1/turn
Enforce Spell: Pay additional spellpoints to turn a failed casting check into a success.

Find Weakness: Get Attack penalty to circumvent DR (lower penalty than Power Attack)
Riposte: Get Defense Penalty, but successful defense enables Attack of Opportunity
Defending Trip: Try to trip your opponent while defending
Defending Disarm try to disarm your enemy while defending