House Rules

[dmw71]

Any house rules or rule clarifications will be detailed here. Each post below will be labeled with one of the following, as appropriate:

House Rule (HR)
Rule Highlight (RH)
Variant Use (VU)

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D&D Beyond Character Sheet Options
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PHB +1 (RH)
Determine Ability Scores (RH)
Feats (RH)
Multiclassing (RH)
Starting Equipment (RH)
Ammunition (RH)
Encumbrance (RH)
Equipment Sizes (VU)
Identifying a Magic Item (VU)
Food and Water (RH)

Long Rest (HR) (Removed @ 04/05/2021)

Flanking (RH)
Training to Gain Levels (RH)
Potions, Scrolls, and Wands (VU)
Flat-Footed (HR) (Revised @ 11/15/2020)
Hit Points
Spell Components
Nobility

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
Per the official Starting at Higher Level rule, all characters will begin play with what's listed for a 'Standard' campaign, which is as follows:

1. Normal starting equipment
2. 500 gold pieces
3. An extra 25-250 gold pieces, determined by using the following macro:
   • Starting Gold: [1d10x25]
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4. There's also a chance characters may begin play with a pre-selected magic item. I am still debating this, however.

Table:

Starting Equipment.jpg (95.58 KiB) Viewed 2943 times

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Variant Use
We will be using the variant 'More Difficult Identification' in this game:

• Variant: More Difficult Identification
  If you prefer magic items to have a greater mystique, consider removing the ability to identify the properties of a magic item during a short rest, and require the identify spell, experimentation, or both to reveal what a magic item does.

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
Your 1st 5th-level character can be created using any race and class options in the Player’s Handbook plus one other resource from those listed below (the “PHB+1” rule):

• Elemental Evil Player’s Companion (EEPC)
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (SCAG)
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters (VGM)
• Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGE)
  • Including: The Tortle Package
• Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (ToF)
  • Chapters 1 through 5, only.

Source: Adventurers League: Player’s Guide (Version 8.2)

• Also: Player's Handbook plus One

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Edit:
It likely won't be relevant for this game, but I just wanted to add that the "Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide" is still[/b] not available for purchase on Roll20.

Neither is the "Dungeon Master's Guide," which is kind of ridiculous.

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
Just highlighting the official rule on ammunition recovery, found under 'Weapon Properties' topic under Weapons.

• Ammunition
  "You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon). At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield."
  
  
  Note: Since it specifies "half" in the above rule, I also wanted to point out that you always round down in 5e unless stated otherwise. It is not stated otherwise here, so, if you shoot three arrows, you can recover 1.5 (or 1) of them.

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
Here are the official rules on food and water which, given my intent on making this a more realistic game, are worth pointing out:

• 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."

[dmw71]

Removing this house rule, effective Monday, April 05, 2021.

House Rule
The minimum daily food and water requirements must have been met before any spent hit dice are recovered by taking a long rest. (Note: Hit points are still recovered normally.)

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
It's boring, but for purposes of balance and simplicity, ability scores will be assigned using the standard array:

• 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
Yes, feats are allowed. However, if you do take a feat, please be prepared to incorporate the reason why it was taken into your backstory. This doesn't need to be a complicated thing; something like: If you take the 'Alert' feat, maybe it's because one of your first ventures out as an adventurer, you fell asleep while on watch and the group you were protecting were ambushed because of it.

I realize feats are primarily selected for their mechanical benefits (boo!), but they're something I can more easily accept if I see the player put some thought put into why the feat was taken, and how the feat fits into your character concept.

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
Yes, I will allow multiclassing. However, just as if you would if you took a feat, please be prepared to incorporate the reason why you're taking levels in a new class into your backstory (or, more appropriately, your ongoing story).

This doesn't need to be a complicated thing.

If you're a 5th-level fighter to start and you take your 6th-level in cleric, maybe it's because you've been really impressed at the devotion the existing cleric in your party has to their deity and you want to learn more about the deity they follow.

Like feats, multiclassing is primarily selected for the mechanical benefits (boo!) the extra class can give you (since most class features are front-loaded), but if you're able to put some thought into why you're choosing the combination, the easier it will be to accept.

[dmw71]

Variant Use (VU)
The variant 'Equipment Sizes' in the 'Getting Into and Out of Armor' section will be used, as follows (emphasis mine):

• In most campaigns, you can use or wear any equipment that you find on your adventures, within the bounds of common sense. For example, a burly half-orc won’t fit in a halfling’s leather armor, and a gnome would be swallowed up in a cloud giant’s elegant robe.
  
  The DM can impose more realism. For example, a suit of plate armor made for one human might not fit another one without significant alterations, and a guard’s uniform might be visibly ill-fitting when an adventurer tries to wear it as a disguise.
  
  Using this variant, when adventurers find armor, clothing, and similar items that are made to be worn, they might need to visit an armorsmith, tailor, leatherworker, or similar expert to make the item wearable. The cost for such work varies from 10 to 40 percent of the market price of the item. The DM can either roll 1d4 x 10 or determine the increase in cost based on the extent of the alterations required.

This does not apply to most magic items, per the 'Wearing and Wielding Items' rule which states the following:

• "In most cases, a magic item that’s meant to be worn can fit a creature regardless of size or build. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they magically adjust themselves to the wearer.
  
  Rare exceptions exist. If the story suggests a good reason for an item to fit only creatures of a certain size or shape, you can rule that it doesn’t adjust."

[dmw71]

Rule Highlight
The normal 'Lifting and Carrying' rules will be used in this game (which is to say, the variant encumbrance rule will not be used).

Per the ''Coinage' rule, coin weight will be tracked:

• "A standard coin weighs about a third of an ounce, so fifty coins weigh a pound."

You're in a dungeon and will need to be able to carry stuff in order to survive... but might need to make plans for dealing with hauls of coins and treasure. (Also see: Bank.)

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Rule Highlight
The 'Training to Gain Levels' variant will not be used.

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Variant Use
The 'Mixing Potions,' 'Scroll Mishaps,' and 'Wands that Don't Recharge' variants will be used.

[dmw71]

House Rule

Edit: "A character/monster will only be considered flat-footed if/when they're officially surprised (and not during the regular course of combat)."

Revised @ 11/15/2020 (link)

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I am going to implement the 'flat-footed' condition, which is as follows:

• "A character who has not yet acted during a combat is considered flat-footed and unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses any non-armor bonus(es) to their armor class (penalties still apply) and cannot take a bonus action or make a reaction while in this condition.
  
  The condition ends after a character has taken their first action in combat."

Note: Borrowed from the Pathfinder game (though it may exist elsewhere).

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Rule Highlight.

Hit points will be by the book. Max at 1st-level; roll new hit die with each level gain as normal.

Rule: Class Features and Hit Dice

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Rule Highlight.

Spell components (especially 'Material' components) will be by the book.

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Placeholder.

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Rule Highlight
The optional 'Flanking on Squares' Found rules, found in the 'Cover' section of the DMG (copied in spoiler below), will not be used:

• "Flanking on Squares.
  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."

The only time any benefit from "flanking" will be gained is when a class features (e.g. sneak attack) or monster ability (e.g. pack tactics) has specific details that define how the situation is to be handled.

[dmw71]

Here is how I will work 'noble' backgrounds in this game.

I don't have the ranking of royal titles committed to memory, and don't know exactly what each of them formally means, but at least in this game, they will be strictly formal titles, each which comes with an increased amount of power and respect. I am using the 'Sample Hierarchy of Noble Titles' from the DMG, which, if you don't have access to, lists them as follows:

• Rank | Title
  1st | Emperor/Empress
  2nd | King/Queen
  3rd | Duke/Duchess
  4th | Prince/Princess
  5th | Marquess/Marquise
  6th | Earl or Count/Countess
  7th | Viscount/Viscountess
  8th | Baron/Baroness
  9th | Baronet
  10th | Knight

From that, accepting that it is not how it actually works, here is how the system will work in this game:

• Title (Level)
  Empress (20th)
  Queen (19th)
  Duchess (18th)
  Princess (17th)
  Marquise (15th-16th)
  Countess (12th-14th)
  Viscountess (8th-11th)
  Baroness (5th-7th)
  Baronetess (1st-4th)
  Knight (honorary; not hereditary)

So, at the start, at 5th-level, you will hold the title of baron or baroness, which does carry some weight.

Some random notes:

• The royal ranks in this game, while borrowed from the actual royal titles, will really only be used as a measure of status and may not necessarily model the counterpart/namesake exactly;
• Any relations implied by a title are not requirements. For example, you do not need to be born to the king and queen in order to become a prince or princess.

For baron or baroness, and probably all other ranks, I will be using Wikipedia as my reference, so this to start: Baron.

• You will have an official style of address, which you can decide, and expecting/demanding the proper address from the other characters in your group is definitely within reason (and a great source of roleplaying that will still fit within the dungeon crawl experience).