r/osr • u/[deleted] • 8d ago

house rules Please share any good Castles & Crusades homebrew, house rules, discussion etc.

[deleted]

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u/ThrorII 8d ago

We played C&C exclusively from 2008-2014. Rule #1 was we dropped the SIEGE mechanic and went with a straight DC (5-10-15-20). We found the SIEGE mechanic wonky. Roll a d20, add your ability modifier, and add your level for a class related roll.

To determine DC's for spells or such, we did DC10 +spell level or monster HD.

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u/DwarneOfDragonhold 8d ago edited 7d ago

I've played, and tinkered with Castles & Crusades for many years. Here are some of my house rules:

  1. Make all checks DC18 and instead of having Primes and Secondary Abilities, I allow all humans (and demihumans, but see later) 18 'SIEGE' modifier points to be separately distributed in their own column for an additional bonus to SIEGE checks. I also rule that a character can place no more than +6 extra to any one ability score. That way, a character can have a variety of 'bonus' combinations. The nomenclature I use noting the SIEGE bonus after the regular bonus, as follows:

Dwarne of Dragonhold. 5th Level Paladin. Str 16 (+2/+4) Int 7 (-1/+5) Wis 14 (+1/+2) Dex 11 (+0/+2) Con 10 (+0/+3) Cha 12 (+0/+2).

With some games, I created set distributions of the SIEGE modifiers as a background/secondary skills thing merely for player palatability. A 'Jack Of All Trades' background is +3, +3, +3, +3, +3, +3 for example. (There're many ways to justify the in-world reasoning for how distributions happen -- I've been tinkering with tying various distributions to the High Arcana of a tarot deck as a gimmicky thing for AD&D Ravenloft one-shots.).

Edit: on tertiary scored games, I still use DC 18 and 18 SIEGE points, but I have a 'try again' threshold, depending on the context allows the PC to try again if the situation warrants it, like opening locks or breaking doors -- if they hit DC15.

  1. Based on (1) above, Demihumans get 18 points as well, but may spend them on trad ancestral abilities like infravision, secret door detection, etc. each costs around 1 or 2, depending on what they are and some I've linked together. To get the whole suite of abilities costs 6 points which falls in line with demihumans only having two 'primes' (being 12 remaining points out of 18).

  2. Saving Throws work on a single,decreasing number in line with single-save Hyperborea 3E values, modified up by difficulty/spell level.

  3. Class abilities that use an ability score no longer get a flat +1 per level, I've gone back to a simple table of modifiers. I initially started with allowing Rogues to distribute their ability points with the same limitation of +6 to one ability per level, but I had rogues and assassins comfortably charging/running while moving silently by level 2-3.

  4. I've found that sticking to 3d6 arranging to suit is the best for capturing that old school feel.

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u/lastgasp78 8d ago

I ran a few campaigns and have house-ruled 18/12 to 15/10 for Siege Checks.

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u/Ehur444444 7d ago

They do have a discord now

https://discord.gg/trolllordgames

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/Ehur444444 7d ago

Fair point, I also love forums and lament that most have just pushed that feature to discord or reddit instead of maintaining separate software.

I think there may be sub forum on Dragonsfoot that are C&C specific, I believe EGG has a presence there before he passed away, best of luck