Editing The Starsoul Crown (section)

=House Rules=

*1. Open Rolling Policy - I let players roll dice through [http://www.invisiblecastle.com InvisibleCastle], but if any player wants me to resolve a tricky roll (as 3.5 is wont to have) on my end, I am glad to do so and post results.

*2. The following rolls are always made by me, in secret: Spot, Listen, Search, Decipher Script, Bluff, and Forgery checks, along with other checks where characters wouldn't immediately know the results.

*3. XP is awarded per-encounter, so that players are rewarded not just for killing the monsters, but also for negotiating with them, sneaking past them, disarming their traps, etc.

*4. I use XP tokens for special achievements, which can be exchanged immediately for XP or used for other beneficial effects depending on the token awarded.

*5. In an effort to keep the sometimes glacial pace of PbP games rolling a bit faster, I will resolve all multi-stage rolls in combat on my end. This includes things like grappling, complicated spell resolutions and the like, plus multi-day skill checks (typically crafting, but others too).

*6. All characters, regardless of class, to brew potions. Brew Potion is an automatic feat for all characters with an Intelligence of 10 or greater (as you need that much to brew a level 0 potion). If you are a wizard, cleric or other class that normally brews potions, you get a 10% cost break on XP and materials, to represent your greater knowledge of the specifics of potion-making. You still need all the other things to brew a potion (access to flasks and a lab, materials for brewing), you just don't need to be able to actually cast the spell. With this said, the Craft (Alchemy) skill allows for much more efficient potion-making even for classes not used to wielding arcane magics, and a successful roll (DC 15+spell level) allows you to brew a potion in 1 hour per spell level, instead of 24 hours per potion. Thus, Craft (Alchemy) is a class skill for everyone. This doesn't affect other Craft skills, just that one.

*7.Characters will sometimes earn XP tokens in lieu of (or in addition to) actual XP for completing certain challenges, solving puzzles, or affecting the world and people around them in real ways. I do this both as a record of the party's awesome adventures and also so that they have much more freedom in how they develop as PCs. Tokens generally serve any one of three functions:

-Can be exchanged for XP (sometimes you just want more)

-Can be exchanged for gold, gems or magical items (depending on the events surrounding the token's award)

-Can be "sacrificed" to power a spell or saving throw

Until it is spent, a token will also provide a small bonus (usually equivalent to a +1 bonus) to some task or thing related to the event that generated the token.

The type of spell, saving throw or monetary award a token grants will be affected by the nature of the event that earned it, and a specific token isn't guaranteed to grant all three possibilities. The specific use of a token is also governed by a few rules. For any use of a token, the majority of the party has to agree to use it OOC. In addition, while the saving throw and spell abilities of the tokens can be used immediately, the XP function cannot (you cannot, for instance, gain the last 100 XP you need to level in response to failing a saving throw, in hopes of getting more hit points or spells). The XP gain occurs overnight (or while sleep occurs), resulting in a level (if gained) in the morning. If the token produces gold/gems, it can be used immediately (the character simply realizes they had more on them than they had accounted for), but the production of a magical item also can only be done in "peacetime", not in response to a sudden combat need. As always, individual cases will be ruled on individually.

As a nice little bonus (and a chance to expose players to more of my awful writing), each token comes with a little description of what the PC's did to earn it.