D&D 1E Favorite 1E House Rule?

[Chainsaw]

Getting ready to start a 1E campaign, so I've been reading all the old AD&D materials. In fact, I just ordered a 1983 Greyhawk setting, KotBL and ToEE, which should all be arriving in the next week or so. I have some previous experience DM'ing 2E a long time ago, none with 1E and nothing at all recently. I have read through 3E, 3.5E and 4E, but haven't played much and wouldn't consider myself an expert on them.

I would love to hear about any favorite house rules that old or current 1E DM's or players have/had in their campaigns- combat, non-combat, anything at all. I love critical hits, for example, so we'll be adding those. I'm also considering some sort of 4Eish per encounter/daily "special move" option for my fighters, just to give the fighters a little more variety.

I'm NOT asking for anyone to spend hours typing out their entire house rule list, but if you've got a favorite, something that you and your players enjoy and that you think your 1E campaign just couldn't live without, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Chainsaw]

Thirty-three views and no replies.. Hmm.. I guess that means the system's flawless, eh? That's the *only* possible explanation, right?

 

[Nimloth]

Thirty-three views and no replies.. Hmm.. I guess that means the system's flawless, eh? That's the *only* possible explanation, right?

Or it could mean, few people still play 1e and that those who remember playing 1e don't recall what house rules they used.

I would say the 1st houserule for 1e that I would make would be to eliminate nonhuman level limits. Back when I played 1e (my goodness, has it been that long ago) they didn't bother me much. But now, looking back,they seem overly restrictive.

 

[Chainsaw]

Or it could mean, few people still play 1e and that those who remember playing 1e don't recall what house rules they used.

I would say the 1st houserule for 1e that I would make would be to eliminate nonhuman level limits. Back when I played 1e (my goodness, has it been that long ago) they didn't bother me much. But now, looking back,they seem overly restrictive.

I was being facetious, of course. I'm pretty sure your explanation is right one, heh!

I hear you on the level limits. Seems like back when I played 2E, we all agreed to eliminate those, but it never ended up being relevant - we all usually died long before we would have hit the limits. Ah well, I guess no one likes feeling like they have limited potential.

 

[Nimloth]

Now you've got me waxing nostalgic. I think I'll get out my 1e books.

 

[Andre]

It's been quite a while, but a few I still remember:

1. Spell points. Wizards were still limited to their known spells, but they didn't have to memorize. Ditto with clerics, minus the whole "known spells" issue.

2. Rounds by segments. I believe this came from an issue of Dragon. Basically, each round had 10 segments, you rolled initiative to determine which segment you first acted in. If you cast a spell, the spell could be disrupted if you were injured on a segment while the spell was being cast. If you had multiple attacks, they were divided among the segments.

3. No demi-human level limits (primarily because when this became an issue, the characters had been around so long, no one wanted to retire them just because of levelling).

 

[CharlesDM]

It's hard for me to think of a favorite 1E house rule in the same way I might think of a favorite 3.x house rule. There is a kernel of truth behind your jest that 1E is flawless.

My favorite 1E house rule is: a natural 20 on an attack roll results in an additional iterative attack; a natural 1 on an attack roll results in the loss of the next iterative attack.

I believe Unearthed Arcana extended the level limits for characters with high ability scores. I never personally saw anyone exceed those limits.

Not a house rule, but we often used Oriental Adventures classes and the martial arts system, including some nature based martial arts from Dragon magazine.

Rules I always inquire about when joining a 1E game include:

1. How is retreat from combat handled? A lot of folks use what we might now view as an Attack of Opportunity house rule.
2. How are critical successes (and failures) handled?
3. How are illusions adjudicated? (Many 1E DM's are very tough on illusions, resulting in the Illusionist being effectively an NPC class.)
4. Is there a Bard class in your campaign?
5. Do you use any psionics in any way? (No psionics or monster-only psionics are common in my experience.)

These questions point to rules areas that are often house-ruled.

I hope this helps!

 

[Chainsaw]

It's hard for me to think of a favorite 1E house rule in the same way I might think of a favorite 3.x house rule. There is a kernel of truth behind your jest that 1E is flawless.

My favorite 1E house rule is: a natural 20 on an attack roll results in an additional iterative attack; a natural 1 on an attack roll results in the loss of the next iterative attack.

I believe Unearthed Arcana extended the level limits for characters with high ability scores. I never personally saw anyone exceed those limits.

Not a house rule, but we often used Oriental Adventures classes and the martial arts system, including some nature based martial arts from Dragon magazine.

Rules I always inquire about when joining a 1E game include:

1. How is retreat from combat handled? A lot of folks use what we might now view as an Attack of Opportunity house rule.
2. How are critical successes (and failures) handled?
3. How are illusions adjudicated? (Many 1E DM's are very tough on illusions, resulting in the Illusionist being effectively an NPC class.)
4. Is there a Bard class in your campaign?
5. Do you use any psionics in any way? (No psionics or monster-only psionics are common in my experience.)

These questions point to rules areas that are often house-ruled.

I hope this helps!

Definitely helps - I always like to hear what other people are thinking.

1. Probably we will incorporate an AoO rule for exiting combat prematurely. Seems like I read something about this in the 1E rules anyway. Maybe I'm misremembering or conflating rules.

2. We'll definitely do critical hits with max damage on a natural 20. Everyone loves hittin' the jackpot, right? We may also do critical misses on a 1, too - dropping your weapon, etc.

3. Not sure on illusions. Have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

4. No Bards yet. In fact, I probably prefer a very low-magic world (Conan), but I'm going to play 1E as written for the time being.

5. Not sure on psionics either. Have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Fortunately, I'm not DM'ing a 1E campaign for D&D veterans that would force me to rule on alot of complex or controversial issues immediately. My players will be total novices and pretty much follow my lead. I don't expect any rules lawyering or guys trying to game the system with some bizarre character creation (see the General RPG Discussion thread on awful characters - two headed vampires and whatnot). Even the old Fighting Man will be brand new and different to these guys, heh.

 

[GrolloStoutfoam]

One 3.x rule I would incorporate is the Cleric's ability to spontaneously cast cure spells.

Way back one DM had something like that as every new player to the group had to play a cleric (since people would get sick of being the walking hospital and drop out of the group). The cleric could burn a spell of X level into a Xd8 cure wounds spell at any time.

Or since you're looking at low magic, there was a great article called "Wounds and Weeds" in Dragon Magazine #82 (February 1984) and then reprinted in The Best of Dragon IV (pg 68-71) that you can use to supplement healing without magic.

 

[Chainsaw]

One 3.x rule I would incorporate is the Cleric's ability to spontaneously cast cure spells.

Way back one DM had something like that as every new player to the group had to play a cleric (since people would get sick of being the walking hospital and drop out of the group). The cleric could burn a spell of X level into a Xd8 cure wounds spell at any time.

Or since you're looking at low magic, there was a great article called "Wounds and Weeds" in Dragon Magazine #82 (February 1984) and then reprinted in The Best of Dragon IV (pg 68-71) that you can use to supplement healing without magic.

Good idea on the healing substitution. I may just do that.

AWESOME article. Thanks for taking the time to upload it. It WILL get used.

Back in my 2E days, we had a rule that everyone had to start out as either a single-class fighter or thief. If you wanted to become anything else, you had to dual-class (everyone played humans). This was particularly helpful as we usually only had 2-3 players and the extra skills usually came in handy. Plus, the quest to find someone who could introduce you to the class you really wanted became a great way of building character background right into the campaign. Want to become a mage? Great, have to find one (quest). Then have to convince him to train you (quest). Then have to be his apprentice for a while (questSSS). Might not be up everyone's alley, but we liked it.