House Rules

This document is a living document with the basic house rules that I use to run games. These rules aren't really set in stone and I am open to feedback on them both before the campaign starts and throughout it. If any of these rules seem unfair or something, please let me know and we can work out a solution together as a group. I have tried to put together as much information on here as possible but there is undoubtedly somethings that I've forgotten so if something comes up that isn't RAW than let me know.

Out of Game

• Please be kind and considerate of eachother and their characters.
• If you ever have a problem with something/someone in or out of game, feel free to message me so I can help work it out. Similarly, if something happens that you aren't comfortable with do message me and we can fix it right away.
• If there are any themes/imagery that you don't want me to include that might be upsetting, please let me know so I can ensure not to include it.
• Character race is something which is a somewhat exception to this, as a character's race/subrace feeds in to how they are treated (e.g. a drow women not trusting drow men, an orc targeting elvish characters, etc.). Where this does happen, it will almost universally be in roleplaying situations and will not be reflected in combat. I am happy with you to have your characters do the same; it is well within common knowledge that dwarves are distrusting of duergar and so if your dwarven character meets a duergar it does make sense for a degree of caution to be taken. I do not, however, want this treatment to define a character or be constant, particularly between PCs. The only exception to this is if you discuss this with everyone before and are using it to demonstrate character growth (e.g. an old human character who hates dwarves learns to respect a dwarf party member across the adventure) but this must be talked about with the rest of the group first.
• Romance between PCs or between PCs and NPCs is fine, but please be sensible and absolutely no sexual violence or non-consensual acts. I won't instigate any romantic RP from NPCs, but if you do then that's absolutely fine. I follow the belief that all characters in D&D are essentially assumed bisexual unless otherwise shown, and so it goes without saying that gender/sexual discrimination of any kind is not appropriate.
• I'm aware of players' tendency for 'interrogating' enemies - as long as this is done with moderate jest that’s fine with me but if anyone is unhappy with this I’m happy to prohibit it.

In Game

It goes without saying that any optional rule that I use applies equally to PCs, NPCs, and monsters.

• When building/levelling a character, see the Player Options article to give you an overview of what I have changed in this game, although I am happy to help you with that. That article will guide you to the relevant article in the wiki to help with this.
• Before levelling up, consider what you have done/could be doing in order to reflect the coming level, especially when the coming level sees a marked change from what you're doing. For example, before levelling to 2nd level, what is your Paladin doing in order to suddenly recieve the ability to cast spells? What has your Sorcerer done to be able to control spells more finely starting at 3rd level?
• I’ll use milestone levelling for the adventure - and I will reward good RP or character moments with Inspiration.
• Inspiration will operate as written.
• Equipment can either be chosen from the listed equipment from class/background as normal, or by rolling on the starting wealth table. If you do it this way, you do not also get the equipment from your class and background.
• Stats may be rolled (4d6 don't reroll 1's, drop lowest for each stat) or selected using either standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) or point buy. However, once you've decided you may not change - no ditching a bad stat array that you've rolled.
• HP (above first level) can either be rolled (reroll 1’s) or you can take the average. You can change your mind at each level, but once you roll you can’t change your mind if the roll is bad.
• I use Variant Encumbrance rules so keep an eye on your carrying capacity (you can carry up to 5x STR in lbs. without issue, between 5x and 10x STR you are encumbered and your speed drops by 10ft, above 10x STR and up to 15x STR you are heavily encumbered and your speed drops by 20ft and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use STR, DEX, or CON).
• I use the variant Flanking rule.
• I use the variant diagonal movement rule (alternating 5ft. then 10ft.).
• I use crit fails/successes beyond just combat rolls. However a nat. 1 or 20 does not automatically result in failure or success. This is at my discretion and so a 20 isn’t an auto-succeed on the impossible, likewise a nat 1 can succeed 'with consequence' if the roll would still pass the check (eg. if you roll a 1 but beat the DC with modifiers, you might pick a lock but break it so you can't relock it again).
• I use a Silver Standard Currency System which essentially makes magic items more expensive and widens the gap between the value of coins.
• I track spell components, although the rules surrounding spell focuses and component pouches remain the same. This means that you must track spell components with a cost and those with a cost that are used up by the spell.
• I also do require tracking of items such as ammunition, torches, etc.
• I use my own version of the Lingering Injury variant rule, which you can see in the linked article. I will possibly change the role on the table if one of the injuries fits better, however. Additionally, when you hit an enemy with an attack roll and they would receive a lingering injury, you can instead make an attempt at disarming, knocking prone, or some other additional facet of the attack (we can agree to it at the table)
• Death Saves are secret – either you roll them or I roll them, up to you – the rest of the party do not know how many successes/failures you are on when you’re unconscious.
• If a character is trying to Insight check your character or someone is trying to roll a Deception check against your character, you decide if it passes or fails based on the role (you can obviously use a corresponding Insight/Deception to guide your judgement).
• If you want to try and organise on your turn/you need someone else to do something first I will let you hold your turn, however, you must tell me exactly what you’re waiting on happening before you take your turn (like the Hold Action).
• For alignments, I like to use thisdescription from 3.5e, essentially boiled down to 'Good' meaning selfless and 'Evil' meaning selfish, and 'Lawful' meaning orderly/structured and 'Chaotic' meaning adaptable/free. It’s worth noting that alignments are descriptive not prescriptive (and so alignments can change). I don’t particularly care if we agree on your character's alignment (you don’t even have to have one), and it shouldn’t impact play – for paladins, I care more about you operating to your tenets/oath.
• I use some homebrew material for some mechanics, including, drinking/drugs, sailing, politics, and pet companions (the latter I am open to including easily so if you want to make friends with random animals go for it).
• You have a choice when attuning to a magic item, if you want to learn what the item does before deciding to attune you follow the existing RAW for attunement, otherwise you can attune as an action but you are not aware of the powers before you attune. Learning what a potion is follows RAW - you may take a small sip to learn what it does.
• I am happy to be somewhat lax on multiclassing prerequisites which is inspired by roleplay/character motivations. There are few classes which are not, RAW, adaptable in their requisites that I disagree with (eg. a Paladin can be built using DEX instead of STR, and there's not reason a multiclassed Paladin must suffer from this).
• I will use the Hitting Cover optional rule. If an attack would hit you without cover but misses you with cover, then it hits the object blocking you. If the object is a creature and the attack role would have hit them, they are hit.

Glossary of Terms

• RAW - Rules as Written, what the official books/rules explicitly say
• RAI - Rules as Intended, what the official books/rules intend or the 'spirit of the rules'