House Rules

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House Rules
Please familiarize yourself with the below set of house rules. Please remember this list should be considered a work in progress and is subject to revision:

I. General Game Rules

• Posting Rules
• Die Rolls
• Inspiration

II. General Character Rules

• Ability Scores
• Encumbrance
• Rations and Resting
• Character Advancement

III. Encounters

• Initiative
• Flanking
• Critical Hits and Misses
• Expended Missiles
• Potions
• Death Saving Throws

IV. Relationships: Group and World

• Group Bonds
• "I know a guy..."

V. Rules and Rulings

• Locks, Thieves' Tools, and Trap Detection

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Posting Rules

• Posting Rate
  Expect for this game to update once per week. Maybe twice.
• Meaningful Posts
  I make every effort to leave the group with a decision to make or another situation at the end of each of my updates. Please attempt to make sure your updates reflect a specific action (or preference of action) for your character to take that addresses that decision or situation, and is not just some vague statement that does not advance the action in some way.
• Missing Posts
  In order to keep up a consistent pace of play, any player not posting for their character before the DM submits their update stands to have their actions NPC'd. Players can (and should) provide default actions for their characters, but the DM will always attempt to play the character intelligently and in a logical manner.
• Excessive Absences
  Any player consistently or frequently failing to meet the expected posting deadline risks being removed from the game. The DM will attempt to contact the "missing" player before issuing any official warnings or taking other, more drastic measures.

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Die Rolls

• Die Roller
  All rolls must be made in the Unseen Servant Die Roller and linked to Campaign ID: 808.
• Missing Rolls
  Any required rolls not provided by the player will be produced by the DM (If you think a roll might be needed, make it).
• Unused Rolls
  Unused rolls do not carry over from one round to the next.

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Inspiration

• Timing
  A player can invoke their Inspiration at any time and is not required to declare its use prior to making a roll.
• Nomination
  To avoid the perception of potential favoritism, I will be awarding Inspiration very sparingly, and reserving it for only the most obvious of situations (e.g. a player causes his or her character to do something that is consistent with the character’s personality trait, flaw, or bond).
  
  I will, however, be receptive to nominations. Feel free to let me know -- publicly or privately -- when you feel a fellow player has done something worthy of being rewarded.
  
  It's worth sharing that Inspiration is something that should be awarded when players take actions that make the game more exciting, amusing, or memorable. It should be rewarded for excellent roleplaying, or for when a character displays extreme heroism.
  
  It is not something to be abused.
• DM Disadvantage
  Additionally, players can use their character's Inspiration to give the DM Disadvantage on any roll (or Advantage on any Death Saving Throw).

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Reserved

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Ability Scores

• Enhanced Standard Array (Source)
  As was also stated in the 'D&D Beyond: Character Sheet' step #7, players can use the following enhanced version of the standard array:
  
  17, 15, 13, 12, 10, 8
  Standard Array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
• Floating Racial Bonus (Source)
  During character creation, this optional rule will allow you to take 1 point from any racial ability score bonus and move it to any other ability score which does not already gain a bonus from your race.
  
  • For example, a Hill Dwarf character receives a +2 bonus to their Constitution (Dwarf Traits) and a +1 bonus to their Wisdom (Hill Dwarf). Under this rule, a player creating a Hill Dwarf Wizard could take the +1 bonus from their Wisdom and shift it to their Intelligence; or a +1 from their Constitution (half of their total +2 bonus) and shift it to their Intelligence.

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Encumbrance
As is directed in step #4 in the 'D&D Beyond: Character Sheet' topic, this game, at least to start, is going to try the 'Variant: Encumbrance' rules.

If it becomes apparent that this method becomes too restrictive, I am open to reverting to the normal 'Carrying Capacity' rules.

---

Note: This was changed back on Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:22 pm, per this post in the Session Zero topic. The normal (not variant) encumbrance rules will be used.

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Rations and Resting

• Rations
  While not a house rule per se, I am pointing these rules out because they're often neglected -- and they're something I plan to at least loosely track of in this game:
  
  • Food (Rations = 1 full day's worth.)
    A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.
    
    A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion.
    
    A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
  • Water (Note: A waterskin holds 4 pints. One gallon = 8 pints.)
    A character needs one gallon of water per day, or two gallons per day if the weather is hot. A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.
    
    If the character already has one or more levels of exhaustion, the character takes two levels in either case.
• Resting
  In order to gain full benefits from taking a Long Rest, a day of rations must be consumed. The DM will determine what happens when a Long Rest is taken when rations are not available.

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Character Advancement

• Hit Points
  All hit point rolls made for levels beyond 1st will be made with Advantage.
• New Features
  Any other benefit or new feature gained by advancing a level will only go into effect after a Long Rest has been successfully completed.

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Reserved

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Initiative

• Significant Opponents
  Instead of rolling once and being fixed in the same initiative slot at the start of an encounter, "significant" opponents will re-roll and re-slot at the beginning of each of their turns.

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Flanking

The optional 'Flanking' rule in the Dungeon Master's Guide as follows:

• Flanking on Squares (Note: Since content in the Dungeon Master's Guide is not being shared in this game, the previous link may not work.)

  When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides or corners of the enemy’s space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has advantage on melee attack rolls against that enemy.

I am implementing a modified version of the above, with the following simple revision:
"...and each of them has advantage a +2 bonus on melee attack rolls against that enemy..."

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Critical Hits and Misses

• Critical Hit
  When you score a critical hit, roll for damage normally and add any modifiers. Then add the maximum damage possible for the weapon or spell used.
  
  For example, a critical hit with a long sword:
  
  • Critical Hit (Old): (Range: 2-16 + modifiers)
    • [1d8 + modifiers] + [1d8]
  • Improved Critical Hit (New): (Range: 9-16 + modifiers)
    • [1d8 + modifiers] + [8]
  
  Note: The improved critical hit mechanic above applies only to player characters and "significant" monsters. Most "normal" monsters will continue to follow the normal 'Critical Hit' rules which has the potential to produce significantly less damage.
• Critical Misses
  • Melee
    On a roll of a natural 1, the target of the missed attack -- player character or monster -- can use their 'Reaction' (if available) to make an 'Opportunity Attack'
  • Ranged Attack
    A natural 1 on a ranged attack is just a bad miss.
  
  In all cases, logic will dictate the situation.

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Expended Missiles

• Damage Dealt
  Any projectile that deals damage will be considered broken and cannot be recovered.
• Missed
  Projectiles that do not deal damage can be recovered if searched for.

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Potions

• Use an Object
  Drinking or administering a potion requires the 'Use an Object' action.
• Potions of Healing
  Rolls made to determine the hit points receovered from a potion of healing will be made with Advantage.

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Death Saving Throws

• Condition Unknown
  The DM will make all Death Saving Throws and track those results privately.
• Exhaustion
  Any character that is revived after attempting a Death Saving Throws will add a level of Exhaustion.

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Reserved

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Group Bonds (source)

• Party Bonds and Relationships
  During character creation, all players will work together to create previously existing bonds between the different characters.
  • How do all the characters know each other?
  • Why are they all adventuring together?
  
  Rules
  • Every character must have at least one bond.
  • A character can have multiple bonds with multiple other characters (and this is sometimes necessary to bring a complete party together).
  Examples
  Characters could be:
  • Siblings
  • Parent and child
  • In a romantic relationship
  • Childhood friends
  They could have:
  • Previously survived a battle together.
  • One character could have saved another.
  • They went to school together.
  • They grew up in the same town and were friendly acquaintances.
  You can find further ideas in a post from Dyson Logos, here:
  • This is Totally Not another D&D Fiasco
  ---
  
  Please use the Session Zero topic to host these discussions.

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"I know a guy..." (source, source)
When facing a difficult problem, a character can declare "I know a guy..." and invent a helpful NPC which the PCs can visit for aid in their current situation.

To establish these NPCs, the player must work with the DM to provide a quick summary of their character's history and relationship with this newly created NPC. No elaborate backstory is required. Something as simple as:

• "A childhood friend -- Bob -- grew up to be a blacksmith."

When the character or party attempts to interact with this NPC, the player whose character created the NPC will make a Charisma check to determine how the NPC reacts.

• A character can have an active pool of useful NPCs created in this manner equal to their Intelligence or Charisma modifier (minimum one).
• A player can replace an existing NPC they've created with a new NPC if they've reached their limit, but the NPC being replaced will forever view the character that spurned them with animosity.
• These NPCs should be listed under your Allies (or Enemies) section on your character sheets:
  

  Allies.png (187.14 KiB) Viewed 7716 times

These NPCs could be:

• A parent.
• A friend.
• A mentor.
• Your old partner-in-crime.
• A classmate who was studying to master the Evocation school of spells.
• Someone you served with in the military when you were a soldier.
• Etc...

A great place to come up with ideas for these NPCs can come from your character's Personal Characteristics (Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws) selected from your Background.

Personal Characteristics.png (164.66 KiB) Viewed 7716 times

These NPCs can be created in advance (privately (directly in your character sheet) or publicly (in the Session Zero topic)), or on-the-fly as the need strikes.

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Reserved