[Information] House Rules

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The following house rules are taken from Simkin's previous game, and modified for the Thayan connection.

General House Rules Action Points: Players gain and use Action Points as per the d20srd. The 1 and 20!: For any roll other than a skill roll, a roll of a natural 1 is always a failure and a roll of a natural 20 is always a success (so even if the DC is insane for any reason there is always a chance that ye might make it, you are heroes after all!) A roll of 1 is never a critical failure and does not incur any penalties for the above checks. A roll of 20 grants you a threat if a threat is allowed by that roll as stated in the PHB. No variants are applied to these rulings For a skill roll, a roll of 1 will incur a negative side effect even though the overall results might constitute a success. For example a handle animal check roll of 1 + 19 would allow you to calm a wild animal but it might be temporary as the animals instincts lull you into a sense of security and than wham! For a skill roll, a roll of 20 will incur a positive side effect even though the overall results might constitute a failure. Basically what this means is that a) if retries are allowed for that specific skill check, the DC goes down (instead of up) showing that you are making progress towards what ye were doing. b) if no retires are allowed, than it is situational dependent, done through role playing or perhaps someone else can retry in the party itself with some bonuses to his attempt. This is a 'play by ear' category

Posting Etiquette Posting Norms: For ease of viewing we recommend the following, which we hope you can try to follow. For all 'spoken' text, please use Black Bold For all 'mental' or non spoken text (thoughts, telepathy, sign language and the like) please use Italics For all Out of Character (OOC) stuff please use (OOC: ) and the fieldset tags. Preferably ALL ooc chatter is done in the relevant ooc threads. If you need to edit anything please do so in purple or state in the edit box the reason for editing. Remember role playing norms, once something is uttered it may be very difficult to retract. Never ever edit posts with die rolls. We need to be able to differentiate in a glance the above. Leaving lines and paragraphing helps us too! Posting Rate: This will be a slow paced game. We will try to keep the going smoothly, but at a leisurely pace, due to work commitments and what note. The posting norm is actually as soon as possible (generally 1/day or 1/2days). However: To be fair to everyone, there will be a one week grace period, from our last post, for all to post any remarks and what not for storyline progressions. After that time the story will flow with the assumption that you take no action, or have no comment to the last issue. If however you have informed of yourself as to not being available (as has been done in the past) than of course the progression will await your return before continuing; OR your character will be NPCed. Finally a player will be allowed to post (without prior information for npcing the character) within a fortnight, at which time the game will just continue. If said player skips posting twice in such a manner, than the character will meet an end! We hope all players are aware of this rate, and will be understanding about it.

Combat Mechanics Combat generally works in initiative order, and players are asked to post in the order of highest initiative. As far as combat goes, all die rolls occur in the combat thread (inclusive of skill action rolls). Remembering the pace of the game, it is important for folk that initiate combat to be aware that combat tends to stall the game, especially in large group encounters. With luck, folk participating in said combat post regularly once combat is initiated. If combat is initiate 'solo' than the posting norms apply. In combat, waiting for initiative only matters if you go after the NPCs as you have to wait for their actions to be resolved. However if you are waiting to see another players action you may hold off, but if you believe that your action (or anothers action) will have no bearing on others (or yourself) than please go ahead.

Realms Lore Knowledge Skills Knowledge skills define what your characters know. For example, if you drop by in Cormyr, Sembia, Unther, Calimshan, etc and you claim that your character is from such a place, or you bump into someone from the region, or come across some interesting piece of literature or artwork or history about that specific location, and wish to know more about such a thing, I strongly suggest ye have the Knowledge Local Skill for it I cannot justify giving you the information if you character does not have the skill. The DC is 10 for the common knowledge answers with a base intel check, but things like Portal locations in a specific city, Secret Societies, Personages and their background all are above the common knowledge DC (unless of course its common knowledge) It might seem like a waste of a few points of gaining the Knowledge Local skill, but there might come a time you might regret not knowing it, especially if you state/claim that you are intimately familiar about the place. Shapechanging: All players with access to shape change spells and abilities are required to have the relevant information about the creatures they want to change into. Usually this is reflected by the characters Knowledge about the creature he/she wishes to transform to. A player wishing to shape change must have the necessary Knowledge skill in relation to the creature he/she wants to transform to. The DC for this check is 15 + HD of the base creature. Players not having the relevant skill will be unable to change shape 'on the fly'. However research aids in gaining knowledge, so players who spend the relevant time in game conducting said research automatically gains the ability to transform into the creature. Once a player has changed into a creature, the information to do so again will always be available to him, which means that no checks are required for subsequent shape changing into the same old creature. Notable NPCs of the Realm: You have to ensure as a role playing norm, a lack of knowledge of all notable npcs of the realms. This is for flavor so to speak, for whilst famous but obscure NPCs like Cadderly are known to you Out of Character (OOC), they might not be known to your respective characters, mainly due to the region you hail from, or some lack in the associate Knowledge departments. The Sage of Shadowdale is an example of a Famous or Infamous NPC which most of the realm is familiar with for one aspect or another, however even he still has his secrets, which lead to the next point. Knowledge of Chosen or the Chosen or any knowledge of similar import (such as the shadow weave, the ability to wield Spellfire or Silverfire, etc) is considered a secret that only the Chosen and their immediate allies know about (and of course the gods duh). If you are unsure what it is you know OR you dont know, merely do a skill check for Knowledge (Arcana, Nobility, Religion, etc) or a Bardic lore check to determine what you do know. Thus, for example, whether or not you know Drizzt Do'Urden would depend on whether you have ever adventured with him before, come from the regions where his tales are told, etc.

These house rules are subjected to changes, as and when the DM wishes, to allow for fair gameplay and fun. Any queries please feel free to post in the relevant ooc threads.