House Rules

House Rules- for more fun!

This page will list all the house rules I'll be bringing to this campaign. This list is not final, I will add and remove rules to it as the campaign progresses and we decide what makes for the most enjoyable sessions. As always, many decisions I will be making on the fly. Unless you believe there would be dramatic narrative consequences from the impact of a house rule, I would prefer if any disagreements with my decisions are brought up after the session so we don't slow down the game, and then we can work to create a ruling that is fair and fun for everyone involved.

Skill Checks

For specific called checks, I'll only allow those who are proficient in the skill to roll. This goes for things like arcana to read magic runes, history to recall forgotten lore, or survival to follow tracks in the wilderness. This will not apply to general purpose checks like perception, investigation to find clues, or insight to read someone's intentions. This is to prevent the classic situation of:

Player 1: "Do I recognize who this is a painting of? Oh no I rolled really low."
Player 2: "Ok I want to roll."
Player 3: "I guess I will too."
Player 4: "Oh everybody else failed? I may as well try."

In general, the first player to ask to make a check for something will nearly always be allowed, even if they are not proficient. After that roll, only those who are proficient in the skill may offer their expertise.

Fall Damage

The fall damage cap will be increased from the current maximum of 20d6 after 200ft of falling, to the new maximum of 50d6 after 500ft of falling; which is how much a player falls after one round of combat. This ensures fall damage from terminal velocity is undeniably lethal however there is a chance that high level adventurers can survive, particularly those who are meant to be tough like barbarians.

Free Cantrips

Each full spellcaster will be provided one cantrip (according to the list below) which will not count against the number of cantrips they can take for their class. This is because these cantrips provide good role-playing opportunities in and out of combat, but are often passed up because they are of little mechanical use. This allows players to optimize their cantrips for damage and utility, without sacrificing role-playing.

Bard: Prestidigitation
Cleric: Thaumaturgy
Druid: Druidcraft
Sorcerer: Prestidigitation
Warlock: Prestidigitation
Wizard: Prestidigitation

Monster Harvesting

Many non-humanoid creatures can be harvested for parts which can then be sold for gold, or crafted into magic weapons. This is according to the Hamund's Harvesting Handbooks, and occasionally my own creation. Additionally, a new set of tools have been added to the list of artisan's tools: harvester's tools.

Resurrections

Resurrections are an intense and harrowing process, and death still holds real meaning. To ensure death remains a concern throughout the campaign, the rules for resurrection will be changed to have the potential to fail. The first resurrection of each character is automatically successful. After that, a Resurrection Trial must be successfully completed by the person casting the resurrection, by rolling a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 6+2X, where X is the number of times the subject has been previously resurrected (8 for the 2nd resurrection, 10 for the 3rd, etc). High level resurrection magic (7th+) bypasses this requirement, and does not increase the DC for future resurrections. After a character has died and their resurrection trial has failed, they can only be restored to life by a true resurrection spell, wish spell, or magic of similar power such as that from a deity or significant arcane influence.

That said, the Resurrection Trial DC can be reduced by other players choosing to contribute to the ritual in meaningful ways. This can be done by providing flavorful offerings, relevant skill checks, or roleplaying moments. This helps to ensure that death remains meaningful while still allowing resurrections to be attainable, and the emotional impact of a player character dying can lead to amazing roleplay opportunities.

Potions

Drinking a potion for yourself in combat will be a bonus action. Administering a potion to someone else will still take a full action. This is to free up the bonus action for more options during each players turn.

Casting Two Spells in a Turn

I will be lifting the current restriction of "You can only cast one leveled spell and one cantrip on the same turn." Instead, the restriction for double spells will be "On your turn you may cast one spell of any level, and one spell of 2nd level or lower on the same turn." This will still follow the same timing rules, as in one of the spells must be a casting time of 1 action and the other must be a casting time of 1 bonus action. This allows a more liberal use of bonus action spells like healing word and misty step, without the user feeling like they skipped most of their turn for little benefit.

Crunchy Crits

To ensure critical hits remain a satisfying (or worrying) experience on the tabletop, I'll be implementing a critical hit change to streamline damage. When a critical hit is rolled, rather than the typical procedure of "roll normal damage dice, double the total, add modifiers", the new critical hit procedure will be "roll normal damage dice, add max damage from dice, add modifiers". As an example, if a player rolls a critical hit with a greatsword (damage 2d6) and Strength 16 (+3 modifier), the total damage would be 2d6+12+3. This rule will apply to players, NPCs, and enemies.

Long Rest Supplies

Implementing this after appreciating how it was done in Baldur's Gate 3, taking a full long rest will require 40 Camp Supplies. Camp Supplies can be looted from buildings and dungeons when appropriate, they can be purchased from merchants, or they can be foraged from wild game or vegetation. This will ensure long rests don't become a free "reset button" any time an encounter happens, and gives more use to often under-utilized abilities from classes like the druid and ranger. If 40 Camp Supplies can't be provided, players have two options. They can either decide to take a half-rest, where they will recover only half their HP, spell slots, class-specific abilities, and magic item charges; or they can take a long rest as usual but suffer 1 level of exhaustion, which cannot be removed until a 40 Camp Supplies long rest has been finished (removing one level of exhaustion per true long rest). For ease of bookkeeping, I will track the party Camp Supplies as DM.