COPIED IDEAS BELOW - NOT NECESSARILY TO BE USED.

 

You can raise your highest non-18 to an 18 if you want, before race and other modifiers.  You get bonus HP equal to your CON at 1st level, plus max HP for your class.

  Non-standard stuff is fine, I just need to familiarize myself with it more than approve - but some tweaks may be necessary.

  Everybody will get a boon - something special for your character.  Be thinking about what fits your concept and would be very cool, I take player input seriously on this.  Can be an item, a relationship with an NPC, early access to a class or race feature, or whatever.  Boons grow more useful as your character matures.

  You can take Flaws to get extra Feats.  There is a list in the Unearthed Arcana book, but those are a little unbalanced and broken - check with me for changes if you like one.  There's a better list online at http://www.roleplaynexus.com/flaws.html  Ignore the line about 2 flaws for 1 feat - it's 1 for 1.  ANY flaw with a saving throw mechanic will need to be tweaked.  Do pay attention to the part where the DM can give you an automatic failure from time to time.  I won't kill the character with it (unless you've managed to really get yourself in a heap of stupid), and probably won't maim him/her, but you will find yourself in challenging situations.  I'm not setting an arbitrary cap on the number of Flaws you can take.  >:)

  If your concept is a little over <TBD> level, I have ways of working with that.  Progress will be slowed to let the others catch up, and you'll suffer some penalties, but concept and role-play trump slavery to game mechanics with me.  I am very flexible in adjusting things to help you play the character you want.

  So far, the group has been in favor of a balance between Social interaction, Problem solving, and Butt-kicking.  If you have a preference for 1 over the others, please speak up.  I want to keep things fun for everybody.  Alignments are leaning towards neutral, so it may be best to avoid Paladin and Assassin concepts (but I'm not ruling anything out).  

  I allow skill rolls to substitute for roll-playing interaction if you're stumped or having an off-night or just suck at the current challenge (like, maybe riddle-solving or performances or whatnot).  If you can think up some way one of your skills relates to what the character is attempting, I'll generally allow skill substitutions.  But good role-playing of an encounter will probably net a bigger bonus on any rolls.

Feel free to ask for anything that would make it more enjoyable for you (Warforged, Dragon riders, Aliens vs Terminators invasion, etc...).

  My villains can and will use Sunder attacks, trip and trap the heroes, and hire thieves to steal your favorite stuff, or hire wizards to disenchant your uber-shiny armor.  Equipment is temporary, but replacing things is relatively easy.  Items from your boon are the biggest exception - those are a part of your character, VERY tough to snatch, and nigh irreplaceable.  Magic is not for sale on every corner.  You will develop contacts to get access to goodies, especially single-use items or ones with a few charges.

  I do not like to kill PC's.  That being said, I do like to imprison, scar, torture, and enslave characters.  And if your character keeps standing in front of the dragon the third time it breathes fire, you better have a concept for his replacement in mind.  

  I'd eventually like to see 3 goals for each character (as simple or as grand as you like), as well as some kind of arc for the fate of your PC, and maybe an item, place, or person that figures prominently in that fate (these can be as vague as you want).  No time limit on these, just be thinking about them.  The sooner I know where you want to go, the sooner I can put bandits along the road there.

  I will offer bonus skill points, gold, maybe a feat or two, or even an extra boon for a detailed character backstory that I can work into the campaign.  I will require some meat here - plot hooks, character weaknesses, jilted lovers and family enemies are favorites of mine.  DO NOT expect a reward for a list of flowers in the fields you've skipped thru.  I appreciate and reward creative effort put into the campaign.  Do not worry about your hopes or tales conflicting with my vision of the world.  I may change a few details to prevent Player Omniscience, but you guys count for more in the story we are gonna tell than any writer I've never met.  If you want to help me by doing some DM homework stuff outside of game, I can offer similar rewards.  Let me know.

 

  Retainers.  If you guys want to hire on a 1st level character or two to follow around and assist your primary PC, adventurers work cheap but request a fair share of the loot and XP, and you will have to provide an in-game reason that the hireling is willing to risk his life for your PC  This also provides an easy option if your character finds himself detained, captured, or laid up regenerating a limb.  NPC class characters (warriors, adepts, hedge wizards, and experts) are generally one-trick ponies, but can provide an affordable backup plan or fill-in for a party weakness, and they don't suck the XP and treasure as bad as adventurers.

  If you want to lavish as much love and attention rolling up your henchmen as you do on your main PC, he or she can be something special (a PC Jr!), with his own boon and advancement potential.  Discuss any special plans you may have with me.

 

Also, on the topic of SECRETS...

  Secrets from the other players can be good, wholesome fun.  I love and encourage them.  Except for the thermonuclear hand grenade - the DM is the only force for TPK without a great deal of setup and foreshadowing.

  Secrets from the DM are baaaad.  You whip something outta your character's tushie that I was completely oblivious to, a I guarantee it's either a useless stick or kind of venomous eel.

  So, feel free to include plans to mess with your co-adventurers in your character concept.  Plan to mess with me, and your character will experience the absolute limits of discomfort. Don't let your character be a storm-giant's pinata. 

 

Specifics about magic use:

 I prefer a wide variety of magic.  If you have a thematic change in mind for a standard spell, just check with me and I am quite likely to allow it (i.e. Acidball - same damage as fireball but different type).  I am also good with spells from 3rd party sources, just let me read it over to make sure it’s not broken.

 I am only granting bonus spells to low level characters (beyond those for specialization and high attributes) if it’s part of your boon or backstory.  There are also a number of feats that grant extra spells and spell slots.  I feel those are under powered as written, so I prefer to make them scalable.  They will grant 1 spell or slot per spell level castable, rather than just a single one, but spells will need to be related (like domain spells).  Other feats that affect spellcasting will likewise be scalable.  See me with any questions.

  Interrupted and failed castings: I don’t subscribe to spells fizzling away without any effect.  If a casting fails or is interrupted, the spell slot is not lost or wasted.  If the group prefers a random miscast effect, there are rules on hand for that as well.

 Metamagic feats need to be more useful and available at lower levels.  If you have the feat, you can choose to apply a metamagic effect as you cast a spell, with no level adjustment, up to (4-level adjustment + bonus from primary casting attribute, minimum 1) times per day.  Metamagic feats can also be applied to spells as usual.  I am toying with the math on these, so the numbers might change as the game progresses.

 Clerics & druids have access to all PHB class spells, and I will allow other spells if they seem to be a good fit for your deity.  Bonus spells from high attributes are all available at first level.  Any slots above the level you can cast may be filled with a lower level spell, including one modified up to that slot level by metamagic.  Clerics & druids can change the spells they currently have memorized with 5 minutes of prayer.

 Wizards can choose their starting spells from all PHB class spells, and I will allow other spells if you can provide a story for how you got them.  Bonus spells from high attributes are all available at first level.  Any slots above the level you can cast may be filled with a lower level spell, including one modified up to that slot level by metamagic.  There are a couple of home-brewed feats available that can increase the flexibility of wizards.  Wizards can change the spells they currently have memorized by studying their spellbook for 10 minutes.

 Sorcerers know a very limited number of spells, but I will allow most any source.  Their bonus spells are slots/day, not spells known. If you focus a number of your spells around a single theme, I may count a handful of these as a single “spell known”.  As with other casters, bonus slots are all available and may be used to cast lower level spells.

 Material components are not strictly adhered to.  You are generally considered to have an ample supply of everything you need on hand, unless the item has a significant cost (over 10 GP) as long as you have your component pouch with you.  If you don’t have the correct item (“Hey, who stole my component pouch?”), you can find a suitable substitute with 1 round of searching and a spellcraft check, DC 10+ spell level, -1 if you are missing 10-50 gp of materials, -2 for 50-100gp, and another -1 for each additional 100gp.

 Psionics:  I’m not terribly familiar with the rules, but if anybody wants to play a psionic character I will brush up on it.  Let me know if this is something that excites you.  Otherwise, psionics will be rare and strange.

 Magic items:  As I stated before, equipment is temporary.  If you craft it yourself and throw experience points into it, I’m a little more flexible.  But if you traded gold for it, sundering and disenchanting are real possibilities.  There are ways to protect stuff long term, but you’ll have to discover how in-game.  For items with charges, I’m more likely to let you use it up.  Unless it really gives the NPC fits - if they know and hate it, the object may be a target.

 On a related note, I think the crafting rules suck.  If you want to create stuff, you can be working on it while adventuring.  It will be a little slower, but maybe cheaper depending on what you can scrounge/salvage.  If you take magic item creation, you can create potions and scrolls quickly (in hours, while camping), and more permanent items can be crafted slowly on the road, or instantly (with gp/ingredient expenditure) once every level.  I have a lot of material on craft:alchemy items, and there’s a bunch of sourcebooks all about magic items.  Let me know if you want to borrow anything.

 

As an NPC class / hireling, there exists a specialty class that can cast a few fixed spells of any level - the Spellcrux. So you can dig up a low-level henchman with the ability to cast true resurrection (a 9th level spell) a couple times a day (but very little else), with some tweaks to the casting. Or a first level toadie that can lob a 7 die fireball once every half hour or so, but suffers an epileptic fit every time. Let me know if you want to hire one or put one as a friend in your backstory.

 

How do you feel about the Wild Cohort Feat?  It's off of the WOTC website, so it's official.  It's mainly for characters that want a tie to an animal but don't want the whole Druid package.  I was thinking of it at some point for my pixie, but wanted to see what you thought first.  Check it out and let me know what you think:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a

 

Looks like a good feat, but I agree it's a little too scaled-down.  The -1 reduction to bonuses makes sense, but scooping out half the special abilities and a 3-level offset seem excessive.  If you choose to go with that feat, I would rule:

1.  The bonuses to HD, AC, STR & DEX, and tricks stand as written (1 less than for a druid of the same level, minimum 0)

2.  Alternative companions are available 1 level later than for a Druid (not 3 levels)

3.  The evasion and improved evasion special abilities are gained at the same PC levels as for a companion (3rd & 15th)

4.  The shared spells, devotion, and multiattack abilities are gained one level later than for a companion (PC level 2, 7, and 10).  The Link ability is just for druids and their companions.  The devotion ability won't start until you and your cohort have been together for a minimum of a fortnight (2 weeks, 14 days).

5.  If a druid takes the feat, then all non-druid class levels will stack with druid levels to determine companion attributes.

 

Alternately, you may want to consider taking a noble animal (from the Noble Wild accessory; basically an intelligent animal with class levels) as a henchmen.  I can provide the book for you if you want to look it over.