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The Lost City house rules

These are the house rules that were used for my Lost City and Isle of Dread campaign.

Roll “4d6 drop lowest” seven times. Assign the resulting scores to the abilities & starting gold to taste.

I'm going to let the wisdom saving throw modifier apply to all saving throws.

To resolve ad hoc ability score checks, I've been having players roll their ability score or less on Xd6, where X depends on the difficulty of the task.

I'd allow a gnome PC. See gnome PCs.

Max hp at 1st level. Subsequent levels, roll d(n-2)+2, where n is your classes' normal HD size. e.g. Clerics roll d4+2 instead of d6.

Don't take alignment too seriously. Lawful is basically equivalent to good; chaos, evil. PCs should be lawful or neutral unless especially approved by the DM.

Alignment languages don't exist.

Encumberance is subjective. If you're movement rate becomes important, I'll take a look at what you're carrying & decide your speed.

We're using the injury table. (Which may be subject to change.) After 8 hours of sleep, hp are fully restored.

I don't stick strictly to the book's combat procedure. See On dynamic combat.

I'll grant “to hit” modifiers for good tactics.

Two handed weapons do not automatically lose initiative.

I plan to try the following to resolve some combat maneuvers: Each character makes a “to hit” roll. If the attacker “hits” an AC better than that “hit” by his opponent, the maneuver is a success.

If it comes up, I plan to try a variation on the overbearing example from The Strategic Review. See the “Overbearing” section of the house rules collection.

I encourage spellcasters to read The Color of Magic.

Clerics can swap a memorized spell for a healing spell on-the-fly.

See On thief skills in classic D&D for how I handle those, whether you're a thief or not.