House Rules

All of the following are house rules as well as variant and optional rules that I will be using in my campaigns, both technical and general. I've separated out class-specific rules and put them towards the end. If you have any questions or my wording is unclear, please don't hesitate to message me or comment down below and ask for clarification.

Hidden Death Saves

All PC death saves are rolled privately between the DM and the player making them. Constitution modifiers are not added to the rolls. The results of the saves are not shared with the rest of the party unless they result in death, stabilization, or the regaining of a hit point.

Simple Lingering Injuries

PCs gain one level of exhaustion each time they are reduced to zero HP.

Improved Criticals

When you roll a critical hit, roll one die for damage normally, and rather than doubling it, add the maximum amount you could roll, and then add your modifiers for your total.

For example, if you roll a critical hit with a battleaxe, roll 1d8. If you roll a 6, then add the maximum possible roll, an 8, for a total of 14, plus your modifiers, and that is your total damage.

Flanking Bonus

Flanking provides a +3 bonus to attacks.

Action Options

All action options from chapter 9 of the DMG (Climb onto a Bigger Creature, Disarm, Mark, Overrun, Shove Aside, and Tumble) are allowed.

Non-lethal Damage

If you want to deal non-lethal damage, in order to knock a creature out instead of killing it, you need one of the listed sources of damage:

• Unarmed attack
• Attack with improvised weapon that deals bludgeoning damage
• One of the weapons: club, quarterstaff, sling.

Damage modifiers, like those of martial arts or rage, work as usual and do not interfere with ability to make non-lethal attacks.

Strixhaven Content

Spells and backgrounds from the Strixhaven book are limited to my Bruxaria campaign.

Skilled Helpers

In order to use the help action (out of combat), the PC attempting to help must have proficiency in the skill in question.

Reliable Potions

Consuming or administering a healing potion still takes an action, but potions always replenish the maximum possible HP.

Invisibility

The invisible condition does not impose disadvantage on attack roles when the attacker can see the invisible creature, whether this is through true sight, the See Invisibility spell, or other means. I cannot believe this isn't already an official rule.

18+ PCs

PCs under the age of 18 are not permitted in this campaign. This is for the comfort of the DM as well as other players.

4th Level Bonus

At 4th level, everyone gets both an ASI and a feat. You cannot take two ASIs or two feats instead.

Gritty Adventurism Rests

This system uses the Gritty Realism rest variant as a basis, but provides an option to shorten the amount of time required to take a long rest. While one week can still be taken for a long rest, a long rest can also be accomplished in approximately a day and a half when certain requirements are met. The requirements are as follows: the party must take one short rest, followed by one day of relaxation and downtime, followed by one more short rest, and this must all take place in a safe haven. Safe havens must provide: both a physical and psychological sense of safety (if the party is considering having people keep watch during the night, they are probably not in a safe haven) ; shelter (indoors, adequate protection from the elements) ; and comfort (with actual beds). Examples of safe havens could include: a party member's home, an inn in a town, a guarded villa. Places that are not safe havens would be: campsites or ruins in the wilderness, an enemy's home. You can find a longer description of the gritty adventurism system here.

Matt Mercer's Resurrection Rules

Try to not die :)

Going Without Rest

Long or short rests are never mandatory, but going without sleep does have its consequences. Whenever you end a 24-hour period without finishing a short rest, you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution check or suffer one level of exhaustion.

It becomes harder to fight off exhaustion if you stay awake for multiple days. After the first 24 hours, the DC increases by 5 for each consecutive 24-hour period without a short rest. The DC resets to 10 when you finish a short rest.

Local Languages

I place more emphasis on backstory than race when determining what languages characters would know, so in addition to the standard D&D languages, countries and regions will often have their own local languages which, in some cases, are more broadly spoken than racial languages. Most of these languages are available for you to know and learn, and you may receive one or two for free if appropriate while working on your backstory with me.

Class-specific Rules

Prepared Rangers

Rangers are prepared casters.

Sorcerous Domains

All sorcerer subclasses get domain spells, see Sorcerer Domain Spells for spell lists.

Raw Vibes

Sorcerers can regain sorcery points equal to their proficiency bonus on a short rest.