Variant Rules - General

The below topics are mechanical ruling which will be ruled differently than the written 5e ruleset.

Short and Long Rests

The lands outside Verdigras's barrier are fraught with danger, and those who leave the barrier's safety are never out for too long.
While on an excursion, 8 hours of rest at a campsite constitutes a single short rest. characters can take a single shift of night watch, or 2 shifts if they have the Trance racial feature, and still gain the benefits of a short rest. A long rest can not be taken outside the safety of Ward Stone's Barrier. This is done to keep excursions short and contained to a single session of play where possible.
When departing on an excursion your character is always considered fully rested. You have all of your HP, hit dice, spell slots, class resources and magic item charges. Characters start an excursion without GM inspiration unless they are a homeowner. GM inspiration received on a previous excursion does not carry over to the next.

Character abilities or item effects that recover on a "per day" or "every 24 hours" basis, instead recover on a long rest.

Faster Potion Consumption

To keep combat fast paced, characters can consume a potion that is in their possession using a bonus action or an action. However, feeding a potion to another person, such as a downed ally, takes an action.

Encumbrance

This campaign will be utilizing a more generous version of the encumbrance rules found in the 5e players handbook. With these rules each character has a carrying capacity equal to 15 times their Strength score in lbs. so a character with a Strength of 10 has a carrying capacity of 150 lbs. Characters with the Powerful Build racial feature (Goliaths, Minotaurs, and Firbolg) have their carrying capacity doubled.
When carrying equipment and items weighing in excess of the character's carrying capacity, the character becomes encumbered and their movement is reduced by 10 ft.

When carrying equipment and items weighing in excess of two times the character's carrying capacity, the character becomes heavily encumbered their movement is further reduced by another 10 ft. and they have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

A character cannot carry equipment and items weighing in excess of three times the character's carrying capacity.

Tracking Encumbrance

The character sheet in roll20 is best configured to track encumbrance as it will do all the calculations for you. To help with this, items can be added from the compendium (the circle i symbol on the right side of Roll20). To add an item from the compendium, simply search the item's name using the search bar and drag the desired item onto your character sheet.

Travelling with Encumbrance

If a character travels for a full day while encumbered or heavily encumbered, they gain a level of exhaustion.

Exhaustion Rules

While this isn't a rule change, it is a rule we will be using that is often overlooked. Exhaustion represents the fatigue, aches, bruises and injuries gained through adventuring. Mechanically, exhaustion is a condition (such as blinded, paralyzed, or poisoned), but it is unique in the aspect that it has multiple levels.
The levels of exhaustion range from 1-6. Each of these levels has increasingly negative effects for the characters. The effects of exhaustion are cumulative and stack. Meaning that if you have 3 levels of exhaustion then you are afflicted by the level 3 effects as well as the effects from level 1 and level 2.

Exhaustion on Stabilization

When a character is stabilized from a dying state, they gain a level of exhaustion.

Restoring Exhaustion

Exhaustion usually only recovers at the end of an excursion when the exhausted character returns to town and is able to relax. At this point, all of their exhaustion levels are recovered. If a character wishes to recover exhaustion while out on an excursion the spell Lesser Restoration now recovers a single level of exhaustion. In addition, Alchemists can craft a potion of restfulness which allows for the recovery of a level of exhaustion during an 8 hour short rest.

HP Gain on Level Up

Hit Points are maxed for first level, then rolled for each level following. HP rolls below the average (as listed below) are ignored and instead the average value is used. HP rolls will be made on Discord and approved by a Game Master.

Average value per die size:

• D6 = 3 (Sorcerer, Wizard)
• D8 = 4 (Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Rogue, Warlock)
• D10 = 5 (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger)
• D12 = 6 (Barbarian)

Stamina and Downtime

To better facilitate the large amount of downtime that will be present within this campaign, there is an overhaul to how downtime activities are handled. These new systems rely upon a resource called Stamina which is expended to perform different downtime actions. These actions vary from crafting and gathering to research and training. While each of these are explained in greater detail within the Downtime section of the World Anvil, a brief summary of each can be found below.

• Stamina: A consumable resource which can be spent between sessions to perform downtime actions. This resource is replenished each time the character attends an excursion.


• Karma: A bonus gained after failing a downtime action to provide better chance of success on the next attempt.


• Crafting: Expend Stamina and materials to craft items.


• Gathering: Expend Stamina to gather materials in the safe area around Verdigras.


• Working: Expend Stamina to work for an employer or client in exchange for gold.


• Training: Expend Stamina to hone your skills and gain new proficiencies.


• Research: Expend Stamina to uncover hidden lore and secrets.


• Building : Expend Stamina to build large structures such has homes or boats.

Stacking Equipment

Equipment providing similar bonuses do not stack. Instead the highest bonus of a single type is gained. If you have one item providing +1 STR and another providing +2 STR, you only receive the benefits of the +2 STR bonus.
In addition, multiple items of the same physical type cannot be worn simultaneously. This means that you can only benefit from a single item of the below types.

• One cloak
• One pair of boots
• One set of googles or headgear
• Only one piece of jewelry (Circlet, necklace, earrings, ring or bracelet. Not one of each)
• A single set of clothes or armor (clothes and armor may not be stacked).

Flanking

Flanking an enemy is possible when two players are directly opposite from one another. In addition, neither character can be incapacitated or more than 1 size smaller than the flanked enemy. When granted a flanking bonus, the player receives a +2 to their melee weapon attack rolls.

Holding your Breath

While in combat, a character can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to 3 + their Constitution modifier, for a minimum of 3 rounds. If a character attempts to cast a spell with a verbal component while holding their breath, they immediately lose 1 round worth of air for each attempt.

Tool Proficiencies

The following tools are the only tools used within this campaign. If your class or background provides you with a tool proficiency outside items on the below list, please alter the choice to one of the below options.

At character creation, each character gains an additional tool proficiency of their choice from the below list.

Gatherers

• Herbalism Kit [WIS]
• Stonecutter's Tools [STR]
• Miner's Tools [STR]
• Logger's Tools [STR]
• Skinner's Tools [DEX]
• Lapidary's Tools [DEX]

Crafters

• Alchemist's Supplies
• Jeweler's Tools
• Smith's Tools
• Tinker's Tools
• Weaver's Tools

Builders

• Carpenter's Tools [CON]
• Mason's Tools [CON]

Artists

• Cook's Utensils [WIS]
• Painter's Supplies [CHA or WIS]
• Instruments [CHA]

Adventurers

• Disguise Kit
• Forgery Kit
• Thieves' Tools
• Navigator's Tools
• Water Vehicles
• Land Vehicles

Gaming Sets

• Dragonchess Set
• Playing Card Set
• Dice Set

Languages

There are a multitude of Languages spoken on the Altesien Coast. When selecting or gaining languages please choose ones from the below list.
Common Languages

• Common
• Elvish
• Dwarven
• Gnomish
• Halfling

Uncommon Languages

• Draconic
• Orcish
• Auran
• Aquan
• Leonin
• Minotaur
• Undercommon
• Theives Cant

Exotic Languages

• Goblin
• Sahuagin
• Gnoll
• Giant
• Primordial
• Deep Speech
• Abyssal
• Infernal
• Celestial
• Sylvan

Druid Wildshapes

For Druid Wildshapes, the Druid class now allows a character to know any CR 0 creature. In addition, Druids will start out with 1 + Wis modifier CR 1/8 and higher creatures known. A Druid may learn additional creatures as they come across them in the campaign.

Artificer Infusions

An Artificer's active infusions are chosen at the start of any excursion that they attend. These infusions may be provided to party members, and attuned to at the beginning of the excursion. Infusions may only be used on excursions attended by the Artificer who made them.

New Player Guide