Topic: Whats your favorite house rule?

[Marrethiel]

House Rule AL6: "Arched Shots"...
Aside: This rule has never been used 

Interesting, we rule that you can fire a missile weapon in a 10' high corridor up to its first range increment. Other-wise it is assumed the arc / loft is too high.

[Cory Magel]

We have a couple of obscure house rules due to one player wanting to expand his capabilities to the utmost. So this is not a favourite, just a "curiosity":

House Rule AL6: "Arched Shots"
      Where headroom and line of sight exist, bows can be fired as an "Arched Shot" up to twice the maximum range as stated in the weapon table, at twice the maximum penalty. The attacker receives no bonus for rear or flank attack (it’s more like an "area" attack rather than an aimed/directed attack). Depending on weather and other conditions, additional penalties may be applied by the GM.

Aside: This rule has never been used 

One of my weapon specialization skills has an ability similar to this built into it... but unless you're shooting at an unaware, stationary target it doesn't stand much chance.  So it's for inanimate objects or sneak attacks pretty much.

[Merkir]

Yes I agree it's a little too favorable to the archer even with the double maximum penalty, but since I didn't expect it to arise much in gameplay, I was ok with it. Adds a little flavour without being completely ridiculous.

[Merkir]

Here's some more we use... again not favourites so much as house rules we like. Note we play RM Classic.

Character Law (ChL):
House Rule ChL1: Linear Power Points (PP) vs Stats (steps become 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 on Table 02-02, p.31)
House Rule ChL2: When rolling to increase Hits for Body Development, may reroll 1's
House Rule ChL3: "Extended Stat Gains", Optional Rule 5.1 from RMC4.

Arms Law (AL):
House Rule AL1: For Initiative, use 2d20 (2-40) instead of 2d10 (2-20).
House Rule AL2: Melee attack vs non-melee combatant resolved at Activity midpoint. If midpoint is 50%, it is resolved in Phase 1.

[gandalf970]

My list mirrors a few others.

1.  No exhaustion Points
2.  100 DP's per level regardless for PC's.  NPC's use the original way
3.  No XP tracking, each participant receives a flat amount per session based on my levelling needs for the campaign.
4.  We don't use the %of Actions, instead we use the following.  An Attack action, a Move action and a Minor action. 
5.  Can put Hobby Ranks anywhere you like.

We use many other minor ones as well.

[DragonReborn]

1. Replace Initiave System! Each PC/NPC has (depending on his stats) a negative modifier that is substracted from a D10 dice roll at the beginning of the battle round. Count upwards from -5, -4, -3, etc. until every PC/NPC has had his turn in the battle round. Quick PCs can choose to save their action until later during the round. Very Quick PCs (on a roll of -7) get two turns during a battle round, one on the sequence that they rolled and another one at the very end.

2. Weapons do not have to be developed individually but are developed in groups: 1h swords, 2h swords, etc.

3. No exhaustion points

[tbigness]

Parry and shields defend against any attack (shield for shield flank and parry for weapon flank) except rear attacks.

no exhaustion points system.

deflect/blade turn works until struck

Instant spells do not count against spell limit per round.

[tulgurth]

My favorite house rule is my 666 rule.  Whenever a N/PC rolls a natural 66, they must roll their ones die and if they roll a 6, I get to  have some fun.  I can choose at that time or a more convienent time in the future have something happen in a most evil way.  For NPC's this would be immediately.

I had a player who had the open door floor and while in a city's market he was appraising a necklace for a woman.  He rolled the magical number and needless to say, he and his friends had to leave the city really quick.

[Zat]

4 ring-bound folders full of them 
My top 5 in no specific order:

'Primal Essence Radiation' whereby a build up of magical power within an area (usually a combat encounter) can lead to magical powers becomig unstable, from decreaing the power point cost of spells, increasing range (damage, AoE, etc), increasng the PER (Primal Essence Radiation) output, to cauaing unpredicatable magical effects and even localised Essence storms.

Custom XP rules: Base Xp for Mnvs, no limit on critical hit xp etc.

Directed spells skill for all spells

Custom and specific Spell Mastery rules

and... 90 DP per level

[Moostik]

My favorite house rule is my 666 rule.  Whenever a N/PC rolls a natural 66, they must roll their ones die and if they roll a 6, I get to  have some fun.  I can choose at that time or a more convienent time in the future have something happen in a most evil way.  For NPC's this would be immediately.

I had a player who had the open door floor and while in a city's market he was appraising a necklace for a woman.  He rolled the magical number and needless to say, he and his friends had to leave the city really quick.

sweet.
Instantly adopted.

[DragonReborn]

My favorite house rule is my 666 rule.  Whenever a N/PC rolls a natural 66, they must roll their ones die and if they roll a 6, I get to  have some fun.  I can choose at that time or a more convienent time in the future have something happen in a most evil way.  For NPC's this would be immediately.

I had a player who had the open door floor and while in a city's market he was appraising a necklace for a woman.  He rolled the magical number and needless to say, he and his friends had to leave the city really quick.

I second that.

[Marrethiel]

Parry and shields defend against any attack (shield for shield flank and parry for weapon flank) except rear attacks.

no exhaustion points system.

deflect/blade turn works until struck

Instant spells do not count against spell limit per round.

Hi, a quick ?? or three if I may.
No Exhaustion points? How do you handle long chase scenes?
Bladeturns, do you have the spell last rounds per minute or how long?
Instants, how many can you do in a turn? I'm thinking of the RuneMage who has quite a few instant attack spells, let alone evil clerics.

[tbigness]

I have always hated the exhaustion point system as a drain on to hit bonus that has killed many a low level character and has mired me in too much math to go along with all the other calculations along the way... Simply it is a bother I do not bother with. I am a story teller and though exhaustion would fit a story, I would rather have it not be a catalyst to every turn in game play. One already has a decrease to hit for wounds taken and any other injury they may receive, but adding exhaustion on top of that throws of the mechanics of the game IMO, so I stay away and players have enjoyed the game a lot more. This used to be a deal breaker before and I had to make it simpler for them to come back around and I liked it better myself afterwards.

deflect/blade turn usually for only 10 rounds max

Instant spells still count against percentage of time use and usually limit 2 in a round max which would still allow concentration and spell prep steps if done right but you still have to remain in the Percentage per turn.

[Peter R]

Gift Skill Ranks,

If a player is doing something or is taught something that they could pick up then I may give the gift skill ranks. These only work to reduce the -25 unskilled penalty so one gift rank would mean -20, two would be -15 etc. Gift ranks cannot go above zero but you can still apply stat and level bonuses if applicable.

[BeggarKing (Thomas)]

Love this list - again its interesting seeing the commonalities (extra dps for character generation, cutting exhaustion rules, etc). My groups have also hardly ever tracked exhaustion, in any of its forms, although I have used ad-hoc temporary negatives when someone is super encumbered or when there is a chase scene or something equivalent. 

[Cory Magel]

We did a couple test run fights before starting to use RM and exhaustion points were thrown aside before we even started our first campaign.  Some of us will use them with Pure Arms Users in the manner Spell Users use power points (i.e. they are points you spend on combat/moving maneuvers).

[Peter R]

We have never used exhaustion points in RM but we played Champions for a few years and the Stamina rules in that added a lot to the combat system.

I don't even know what the rules are in RM

[Defendi]

We ignore exhaustion points unless there's a specific reason to track them (the character is running a long way, he uses a build where ExP are the balancing factor, etc). I'd rather just roleplay being tired.

[Peter R]

I agree, or the GM just tells you that you are exhausted. Normally an issue only for our platemailed warrior who has more weapons than an average barracks full of guards put together. He is now using our Magician as a shield bearer because he cannot bring himself to abandon one of his two magical shields.

[Merkir]

We also ignore exhaustion points. I see a pattern emerging here...