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Houserules that do not effect character construction'
1. All monsters deal double their normal damage and have only half their normal HP.
2. All monsters deal damage one die size larger than what's listed in the rules and have a -2 penalty applied to each defense score.
Rationale: Normal combat in 4th Edition is just too damn slow. Combat also feels somewhat safe as PCs have enormous cushions of Hit Points to sustain them. These house rules bring combat to a tenseness I am more comfortable and less bored with.
Houserules that affect character construction
1. The expertise feats (weapon expertise, implement expertise, combined expertise) are banned.
2. All player characters receive an untyped +1 bonus on all attack rolls. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and +3 at 21st level.
Rationale: The expertise feats are the most egregious offender in the 4th Edition bland-off, but are pretty compelling from a character building standpoint--there's not much better than a +1 to most or all of your attacks. To me, that's the definition of unbalanced: it's so good everyone wants to take it, even if they don't end up taking it.
The feats are also now somewhat antiquated. Many races and classes offer attacks that couldn't take advantage of the feats bonus. For example, a minotaur's goring charge wouldn't get a bonus from the feat.
Finally, after many moons of DM'ing low-level 4th Edition D&D, I am convinced that the system's math works better if the PCs get a +1 to attacks. I believe these feats were meant to offset a slight inbalance to the system without issuing awkward errata. I am taking a more direct (and generous) approach.
I don't like this kind of sloppiness, complexity, and the faustian decision making between choosing feats that are powerful or feats that fit the concept or feats that are fun, so I am enacting what I think is simplest solution to this simple problem--everyone gets +1 on attacks and nobody may take any of the feats.
1. All monsters deal double their normal damage and have only half their normal HP.
2. All monsters deal damage one die size larger than what's listed in the rules and have a -2 penalty applied to each defense score.
Rationale: Normal combat in 4th Edition is just too damn slow. Combat also feels somewhat safe as PCs have enormous cushions of Hit Points to sustain them. These house rules bring combat to a tenseness I am more comfortable and less bored with.
Houserules that affect character construction
1. The expertise feats (weapon expertise, implement expertise, combined expertise) are banned.
2. All player characters receive an untyped +1 bonus on all attack rolls. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and +3 at 21st level.
Rationale: The expertise feats are the most egregious offender in the 4th Edition bland-off, but are pretty compelling from a character building standpoint--there's not much better than a +1 to most or all of your attacks. To me, that's the definition of unbalanced: it's so good everyone wants to take it, even if they don't end up taking it.
The feats are also now somewhat antiquated. Many races and classes offer attacks that couldn't take advantage of the feats bonus. For example, a minotaur's goring charge wouldn't get a bonus from the feat.
Finally, after many moons of DM'ing low-level 4th Edition D&D, I am convinced that the system's math works better if the PCs get a +1 to attacks. I believe these feats were meant to offset a slight inbalance to the system without issuing awkward errata. I am taking a more direct (and generous) approach.
I don't like this kind of sloppiness, complexity, and the faustian decision making between choosing feats that are powerful or feats that fit the concept or feats that are fun, so I am enacting what I think is simplest solution to this simple problem--everyone gets +1 on attacks and nobody may take any of the feats.
