Dissolution House Rules
House rules for the campaign:Dissolution campaign.
Reach Spell
This one is really a mistake that was active for long enough to make us keep it. This is no longer a metamagic feat. It is a standard feat that lets the caster cast any touch spell as a ranged touch attack up to 30 feet away.
This changes magic (particularly clerics and other healers) quite a bit. It also fits the definition of a broken rule, as it is hard to imagine any caster that wouldn't take this feat, but so be it. It is pretty fun.
Wands
Similarly, we treat wands as if they all have the Reach Spell feat. That is, if they cast a touch spell, they can do so as a ranged touch attack from 30 feet away.
Vital Strike
From the look of the errata, looks like we read this one wrong as well, but we're keeping it as well. We allow any attack to be declared (post attack roll) as a vital strike, but only once per round.
Critical hits
When you roll within your critical range, you have a choice:
- You may roll for a critical hit, as per the standard rules.
- You may automatically just take max weapon damage. (If your critical multiplier is ×3, you deal 1.5 times max weapon damage.)
This is a bit of a trade off. All attacks deal three types of damage, and each choice deals with them differently:
| Type | Weapon damage | Bonus damage | Ancillary damage |
| Description | the base dice damage of the weapon | fixed damage from strength, magical plusses, etc. | sneak attack, vital strike, added energy damage, etc. |
| Standard rules | Make to-hit roll again. If you would hit, damage calculated a number of times equal to your critical multiplier (usually ×2) | Applied only once, even if critical succeeded. | |
| House rule | No additional roll needed. Damage roll treated as if highest number came up on each die. If range is ×3, multiply the result by 1.5 (round down). | Applied only once | |
In most cases, the house rule will result in a lower average damage, but is reliable (i.e. you don't need to make the confirming "attack" roll). Some examples, always assuming a critical actually happens:
| Damage Roll | No crit | Standard crit (if achieved) | House rule | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Situation | Weapon | Bonus | Ancillary | Crit range | Min | Average | Max | Min | Average | Max | Min | Average | Max |
| Lostwhite w/ +1 flaming flail | 1d8 | +9 | +1d6 fire | ×2 | 1+9+1= 11 |
4.5+9+3.5= 17 |
8+9+6= 23 |
2(1+9)+1= 21 |
2(4.5+9)+3.5= 30.5 |
2(8+9)+6= 40 |
8+9+1= 18 |
8+9+3.5= 20.5 |
8+9+6= 23 |
| Lostwhite w/ +1 greatsword | 2d6 | 11 | ×2 | 2+11= 13 |
7+11= 18 |
12+11= 23 |
2(1+11)= 24 |
2(7+11)= 36 |
2(12+11)= 46 |
12+11= 23 | |||
| Lostwhite w/ +1 battleaxe | 1d8 | +7 | ×3 | 1+7= 8 |
4.5+7= 11.5 |
8+7= 15 |
3(1+7)= 24 |
3(4.5+7)= 34.5 |
3(8+7)= 45 |
1.5(8)+7= 19 | |||
| Oreni's scorching ray | 4d6 | ×2 | 4(1)= 4 |
4(3.5)= 14 |
4(6)= 24 |
2(4(1))= 8 |
2(4(3.5))= 28 |
2(4(6))= 48 |
4(6)= 24 | ||||