Okay, Necra? I'm not entirely sure what you're saying here. Speaking of 4th ed, you don't *need* to house rule things at all. Straight out of
the box, it functions as an excellent sit-down-and-play game. My only real issue is that they've optimized quite strongly in favor of balance as opposed
to realism. I'm personally pretty fond of realism and structural underpinnings in my games, so I'd feel the need to houserule a fair bit - but I'm
at this point planning on playing a game that most likely won't be houseruled at all, and I'm expecting to rather enjoy it.
Slimes/skeletons/etc don't have int scores in 4th ed because monsters in 4th ed are *vastly* simplified, and don't actually have basic stats. They
have attacks (generally between about one and three different attacks, generally one attack each round), hp, the 4 defenses (AC, reflex, will, fortitude) and
maybe one or two special rules. The fact that skeletons are mindless doesn't really come into it, except perhaps as an immunity to certain kinds of
psychic attack.
As for healing breaths - well, the healing cloud technique wouldn't actually work (except by DM fiat) because healing spells as written only give you the
*option* to use a healing breath - they don't compel you. I don't believe the random encounter table sees as much use these days, and a power to steal
healing breaths would be a very strong one indeed (and if the DM was being fair, the encounter would be considered appropriately). Beyond that, if the DM
decides that his goal in life is to make you unhappy, there's not much you can do about it other than find another game. I could see playing in a game
that occasionally switched things up by throwing in stuff like breath-stealers, but not one that made "torment the players" into a staple, as it
seems you are implying.
the box, it functions as an excellent sit-down-and-play game. My only real issue is that they've optimized quite strongly in favor of balance as opposed
to realism. I'm personally pretty fond of realism and structural underpinnings in my games, so I'd feel the need to houserule a fair bit - but I'm
at this point planning on playing a game that most likely won't be houseruled at all, and I'm expecting to rather enjoy it.
Slimes/skeletons/etc don't have int scores in 4th ed because monsters in 4th ed are *vastly* simplified, and don't actually have basic stats. They
have attacks (generally between about one and three different attacks, generally one attack each round), hp, the 4 defenses (AC, reflex, will, fortitude) and
maybe one or two special rules. The fact that skeletons are mindless doesn't really come into it, except perhaps as an immunity to certain kinds of
psychic attack.
As for healing breaths - well, the healing cloud technique wouldn't actually work (except by DM fiat) because healing spells as written only give you the
*option* to use a healing breath - they don't compel you. I don't believe the random encounter table sees as much use these days, and a power to steal
healing breaths would be a very strong one indeed (and if the DM was being fair, the encounter would be considered appropriately). Beyond that, if the DM
decides that his goal in life is to make you unhappy, there's not much you can do about it other than find another game. I could see playing in a game
that occasionally switched things up by throwing in stuff like breath-stealers, but not one that made "torment the players" into a staple, as it
seems you are implying.