Houserules for ACKS Campaign

*Loosely based collection of houserules implemented in upcoming campaign.

Pathcrawl/Pointcrawl Transportation:
Long distance travel across overworld will be using pointcrawl/pathcrawl systems. Links for further info to be put here. Fastest mode of conventional long distance travel across country is by train.
Second is motor cars and motor cycles, but they are only in use on servicible roads.
Third is by horse drawn wagon or carriage, which can be operated on all roads.
Last is by walking.
5% of roads are paved in sett, 10% are macadam roads, the rest are poor quality.

Leveling Up:
>>56666808
>>56666548
I was planning on having the players have to literally spend GPs on a level. If you want to go from level 1 to level 2, you spend 1000 GP, etc. It represents training, reputation, investments... the way the money is spent is fluffed by the player: if they want to be an errant paladin, they can say they gave the money away to orphanages, if they want to be a flamboyant bard they spent the money on booze and parties...
What do you guys think?

>>56674151

I think it's pretty cool. Makes a lot of sense as to why they are getting stronger for doing this, the power of their faith is increasing or they are literally learning new fighting techniques with their gold spent.

The only issue I see is you'd probably want to transition the fluff, but not the mechanic, of character growth at a higher level. It's easier to explain then always having a trainer one level higher then you.

The other thing is it means players may have a little bit less fun roleplaying and doing crazy domain level stuff if they're spending all their money on training or donations and so on. Having xp = gold spent means characters will be able to grow in other ways or have funny roleplaying encounters like buying a crown for every goat in the village and that expands their character level as well. So you get two benefits for the price of one.

Crits:
>>55102723
>>55103557
Honestly, crits that cause complications like broken bones are much better that crits that just do extra damage, which make a nonsense out of the damage roll. If you want to use critical hits, it's definitely preferable to use a table with things like getting stunned, knocked prone or unconscious, disabling a limb and so on. It even allows you to make Cure Light Wounds and Cure Serious Wounds more mechanically distinct -- permit only the latter to mend broken bones and similar injuries.


HP/Fatigue:
I'm also using my own houseruling on conditions, based on your hit points. The first half of your hitpoints represent brusing, minor fatigue, minor cuts and grazes. Drop under half (Bloodied) and you're into major fatigue, heavier brusing, more serious cuts, muscle pulls and so on, which give a -1 to hit, Proficiencies and saves and movement reduced by 10 ft. Hit exactly zero (Injured) and you're in danger of going unconscious, having to make a Fort (Poison and Death) save every round to stay with it. Even then you're at a -2 to hit, Proficiencies and saves, and movement reduced by 20 ft. Each character loses -1 health per turn when they're in negative health. Go up to negative your hit dice and you're automatically unconscious (and we get into Mortal Wounds). Twice the hit die then your character dies. Getting the hit points above 0 stabilizes character and becomes conscious, but state (Injured - Bloody - Stable) is determined by amount of hit points relative to max.


Wear & Tear:
Notches: A notch is an abstract measure of weapon and armour degradation.
Each notch on your weapon reduces its damage die by one step. 1d10>1d8>1d6>1d4>1d1.
Each notch on your armour reduces your AC by 1.

Weapon Quality: When you roll to hit, if the roll is equal to or less than your weapon's quality, it takes a notch.
Standard weapon Quality is 3. Quality 1 weapons cost double and Quality 5 weapons are half price.
Weapon Breakage: When you hit with an attack, you can sacrifice your weapon to roll its original unnotched
damage die. If you do this it falls apart and is irreparable. This is generally more worthwhile when your weapon is so badly damaged, it's not worth using.

Armour Quality: When somebody hits you, if their roll is better than 20 minus your armor's quality (without modifiers) it takes a notch.
This is slightly janky because higher numbers are better with armour. Suffice to say that crappy Quality 5
armour gets damaged when hit on a 15+ and awesome Quality 1 armour only gets damaged on a 20.
Standard armour quality is 3. Quality 1 armour costs double and Quality 5 armour is half price.

Armour Breakage: When hit by an attack, you can sacrifice your armour to reduce damage taken to 1. If
you do this your armour falls to pieces and is irreparable. This is generally more worthwhile when your
armour is so badly damaged, it's not worth wearing.

Firearms: A firearm that takes a notch misfires, rolling 1d12 on the firearm mishap table in the appendix
Repairs: Repairs require an appropriate craftsman and cost 10% of the price per notch repaired.
Dwarfs can repair a notch per day due to their natural knack for crafting.

Spell System in ACKS:
How can I replace the spell system in ACKs to revolve around staffs instead of spellbooks? I'm all for learning arcane arts and all through the acquisition of esoteric knowledge, but I just feel staffs fit the vibe I'm going for more than spellbooks.
>>55331132
That's an easy one. All spells need to be "bound" within a staff.
Done.
>>55340230
replace every instance of spellbook with staff


Magic Fatigue:
How would I go about implementing a fatigue condition for magic users once they've ran out of spells to cast?
>>56224804 (You)
Every cast spell fills up an inventory slot to represent tiredness. Also explains why they can't wear heavy armour - they get too weak to lift it.


Casting Above Your Level:
>>55499035 (You)
>Simultaneously, I want my mages to have a chance to cast spells outside a certain range of their level capacity with the risk of a drawback (such as with a succession of succeses with a spell your natural talent allows you to pick it up without need to formally study it, or on a failure you come down with a magical sickness that leaves you incapacitated for 1d4/8/12 rounds).

I'd allow wizards (and only wizards) to cast spells they don't "know" or without preparation but they take damage equal to 3 x spell level.


Encumbrance in ACKS
Can I get a link for a common encumbrance rule set I can use for ACKs?
>>55616205 (You)
Players have inventory slots = their Strength.
Small things are 3/slot (or more, for arrows or sticks)
Medium weapons are 1/slot
Heavy weapons are 2 slots
Leather armour/quilted armour/regular clothes are 0 slots
Chainmail is 2 slots, Plate is 4
Cold, obesity, dampness, and compulsive poverty all take up inventory slots too.
Write a list from 1-Strength on the back of your character sheet and list stuff as needed.


Casting Maneuverability:
>>56540978
Oh, in ACKS a person's combat turn usually consists of either moving and attacking, or doing some other action. If casting a spell, mages have to declare it before their turn and they can't do anything else once they've done that. I was wondering if my homebrew classes could move and cast in the same turn.
>>56541114 (You)
That seems like a Big Deal because it would be much easier to prevent spells from getting disrupted.
Especially if they get to retreat from melee while casting a spell.

I might even hazard, though I guess it depends on their spell list, that letting them cast and fight simultaneously would be a smaller improvement than letting them cast and move simultaneously.


Firearms:
Proficiency - Firearms may be used by classes with Unrestricted weapon selection, classes with Broad weapon selection and the "all missile weapons" broad weapon group, and classes with Narrow weapon selection and the new "firearms" narrow weapon group.

Ammunition - To preserve my own sanity, there are only three types of firearm ammunition: pistol cartridges, rifle cartridges, and shotgun shells. Firearm ammunition is common merchandise. A load of firearm ammunition (regardless of type) is a crate that weighs 10 stone and which has a base price of 500 gp. This crate contains 10 1 stone boxes of ammunition. Each 1 stone box of ammunition costs 50gp
and contains either 100 shotgun shells, 200 rifle cartridges, or 300 pistol cartridges. Adventurers on a budget can buy a pouch of 10 shotgun shells, 20 rifle cartridges, or 30 pistol cartridges for 5 gp.

Cleave - Guns do not suffer the cleave limitation that normally applies to ranged weapons. They can be used to cleave until the user runs out of available cleave attacks or the weapon runs out of ammunition.

Magazine - A firearm's cost depends on the size of its magazine (the number of shots it can fire before it must be reloaded. Magazine sizes are as follows:

Single Shot (SS): 1 shot magazine.

Double Barrel (DB): 2 shot magazine.

Repeater (R): 6 shot magazine. Repeater pistols are usually revolvers; repeater rifles and shotguns are usually operated with a bolt, lever, or slide pump.

Automatic (A): 30 shot box magazine. Automatic weapons are capable of automatic fire (see below), but can also be fired one round at a time. Reloading an automatic weapon assumes you are replacing an empty box magazine with one that is fully loaded. Actually reloading an empty box magazine takes several minutes. An empty spare box magazine costs 5 gp.

Reloading - You may reload a firearm instead of attacking during a combat round.

Shotguns & Automatic Fire - Shotguns and automatic weapons both cast a cluster of projectiles at the target almost simultaneously. Making such an attack consumes one shotgun shell or 5 pistol or rifle cartridges. The attacker makes 3 separate attack rolls, each with a -1 penalty on the attack throw. Each attack that hit inflicts damage based on the weapon used: 1d2 for a short shotgun or automatic pistol
wielded in one hand, 1d3 for a short shotgun or automatic pistol wielded in two hands, or 1d4 for a long shotgun or automatic rifle. If the target is slain before all 3 attacks are resolved, the remaining attacks can target another opponent adjacent to or behind the first. Each target you fell with a shotgun or automatic fire attack triggers a cleave attack, which may be another shotgun or automatic fire attack. A fighter's damage bonus does not apply to shotgun or automatic fire attacks; nor does the attacker's DEX bonus if you are playing with a house rule that allows your DEX bonus to apply to ranged attack damage rolls. Damage from a weapon's magical or technological enhancement bonus does apply (I recommend not introducing shotguns or automatic weapons with more than a +1 bonus).

Firearm stats -
Pistol: 1 or 2 hands, 1d6/1d8 damage, range 50(-0)/100(-2)/150(-5), price SS 50gp/DB 100 gp/R 200 gp/A 400 gp

Rifle: 2 hands, 1d10 damage, -1 initiative, range 250(-0)/500(-2)/750(-5), price SS 75gp/DB 150 gp/R 300 gp/A 600 gp

Short Shotgun: 1 or 2 hands, 1d2/1d3 x3, range 50(-0)/100(-2)/150(-5), price SS 50gp/DB 100 gp/R 200 gp

Long Shotgun: 2 hands, 1d4 x3, -1 initiative, range 50(-0)/100(-2)/150(-5), price SS 50gp/DB 100 gp/R 200 gp