Munchkin EX Plus Alpha!

p>One idea I keep threatening my fellow players with is a Munchkin d20 game. Mind, the idea was inspired by the lil' hardcover Munchkin RPG by Steve Jackson James, but it doesn't stop there. The idea is to run a firmly tongue-in-cheek game of D&D where players can make any sort of character they want - if they can find the rules for it.

The intention is that you can make your character with any rules you like - as long as you can find them in a commerical d20 product. Class from d20 Modern? No problem. Feat from Spycraft? Sure! Race from Legend of the Five Rings? Why not? Mind, I'd be using a fantasy setting, so even if you do get that nifty M1 Abrams, you might have a hard time restocking on fuel and ammo...

The idea I had while at work today was to up the ante and add Cheats as a character option. I wanted to provide the kind of bizarre class / race combinations you see in the Munchkin card game, the kind of dumbness you can expect out of a good powergamer.

Cheats basically provide an option for players to bend or break the conventional d20 rules for purposes of character creation. Cheats, unlike skills, have no ranks. Every character gets a free cheat to start with, though actual monetary compensation may provide additional cheats. Cheats have no prerequisites or types. Just pick one, only one.

Cheats include:

Broken Race: Reduce the adjustment level of any race you take by 1, down to a minimum of 0.

Bastard!: You may take two races you could normally take, and gain all the racial traits of both. Your size is averaged, rounding up. However, you round down if one of your races is dwarf or a dwarven subtype. Similarly, your movement rate is averaged. All bonuses and penalties stack.

Cherry Picker: Aka the "Jerk of All Trades" cheat. You never suffer multi-classing penalties for uneven levels. Furthermore, you can leave a class and return to it no matter what, as long as you qualify for its basic prerequisites (like lawful alignment for a monk).

Featus Interruptus Choose any feat. You now may take that feat, ignoring all prerequisites required for that feat. Furthermore, you may also ignore any prerequisite for a feat leading up to that feat in the "feat chain". For example, if you choose Great Cleave, you could also ignore the prerequisites for Cleave or Power Attack. If you chose Spring Attack, you could ignore the prerequisites for Mobility and Dodge as well. And so on.

Mad Skillz: All skills are considered class skills for your character, including Speak Language. You may also take tricks for skills you have ranks in regardless of their prerequisites.

More Power!!!: Choose a spell list for a single school of sorcerer/wizard spells, or any non-wizard spell list. You may now add those spells to any other class spell list that you use. This does not increase your list of spells known (for spontaneous casters like bards) but only spells available.

Mutt: You may qualify for any racial prerequisite, from feats to PrCs. You are also considered to have proficiency in all racial weapons as long as you have martial weapon proficiency.

Noblesse Oblige: Pick any one prestige class. You automatically qualify for that class no matter what, ignoring all prerequisites. You may even take the PrC at level 1, but if it has a class feature that improves or continues an existing class feature (like added spellcaster levels), you do not get the benefits of that PrC class feature until you have the base class feature to actually improve.

Superior Race: Any numeric bonus or penalty you gain for your race is doubled. This does not alter size, size modifiers, or base speed.

And so on. Use at your own risk!