Dungeon Master's Workshop

Game Rules

3rd Party Books:

• Rules Supplements: Adventures in Middle-Earth by Cubicle 7 (See GM for a copy)
• Crafting/Items: The Complete Armorer's Handbook by Heavy Arms, Ancestral Weapons by Matt Vaughan

Character Restrictions:

• Class, Race, & Background - For Hârn see 5E Conversion Rules. (Setting Rule)

Rest Variant Rules:

• Gritty Realism - This variant uses a short rest of 8 hours and a long rest of 7 days. (DM Optional Rule)
• Short Rest - A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, sleeping, and tending to wounds. (Clarification - A character needs to sleep at least 6 hours and preform no more then 2 hours of light activity. Elves can choose to trance during this time instead of sleeping, the trance cannot be interrupted in order to gain the benefit.)(Clarification - A short rest removes one level of exhaustion per rest.)
• Long Rest - A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 7 days long, during which a character sleeps for at least 8 hours a day and performs no more than 6 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch per day. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity - at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar activity that week - the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it. (Clarification - Elves can choose to trance 4 hours instead of sleeping the required amount per day during this time to gain the benefit of the rest, the trance cannot be interrupted in order to gain the benefit.)

Health Variant Rules:

• Healer's Kit Dependency - A character can't spend any Hit Dice after finishing a short rest until someone expends one use of a healer's kit to bandage and treat the character's wounds. (DM Optional Rule)

Damage Rules:

• Cleaving Through Creatures - When a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack might carry over to another creature nearby. The attacker targets another creature within reach and, if the original attack roll can hit it, applies any remaining damage to it. If that creature was undamaged and is likewise reduced to 0 hit points, repeat this process, carrying over the remaining damage until there are no valid targets, or until the damage carried over fails to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 hit points. (DM Optional Rule)
• Hitpoints - Hit points measure your finesse and ability in combat to not get hit or the strength of one's armor while damage from something like a small fall measures bruises. If a player character is hit, the removal of hit points might mean a very near miss or the striking of armor, thus equating to the player's "luck" or about-to-"get hit" points running out. At half hitpoints the character is bloodied and receives some sort of minor wound of flavor, usually their first "real" wound. On critical hits or drops to zero the character takes a real injury and must handle it as normal according to other rules that effect those results (such as the Lingering Injury Table). (Homebrew Rule)
• Instant Death - If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.. Massive damage can kill you instantly as well. When damage reduces you to 0 Hit Points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum. (Homebrew Rule)
• Lingering Injuries - Damage normally leaves no lingering effects. This option introduces the potential for long-term injuries. Lingering injuries are sustained by the following:
  -When a character takes a critical hit.
  -When a character drops to 0 hit points but isn't killed outright.
  -When a character fails a death saving throw by 5 or more.
To determine the nature of the injury, roll on the Lingering Injuries table. This table assumes a typical humanoid physiology, but you can adapt the results for creatures with different body types. (DM Optional Rule)
Lingering Injuries Table

d20	Injury
1	Lose an Eye. You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and on ranged attack rolls. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost eye. If you have no eyes left after sustaining this injury, you're blinded.
2	Lose an Arm or a Hand. You can no longer hold anything with two hands, and you can hold only a single object at a time. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost appendage.
3	Lose a Foot or Leg. Your speed on foot is halved, and you must use a cane or crutch to move unless you have a peg leg or other prosthesis. You fall prone after using the Dash action. You have disadvantage on Dexterity checks made to balance. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost appendage.
4	Limp. Your speed on foot is reduced by 5 feet. You must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw after using the Dash action. If you fail the save, you fall prone. Magical healing removes the limp.
5-7	Internal Injury. Whenever you attempt an action in combat, you must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you lose your action and can't use reactions until the start of your next turn. The injury heals if you receive magical healing or if you spend ten days doing nothing but resting.
8-10	Broken Ribs. This has the same effect as Internal Injury above, except that the save DC is 10.
11-13	Horrible Scar. You are disfigured to the extent that the wound can't be easily concealed. You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks and advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.
14-16	Festering Wound. Your hit point maximum is reduced by 1 every 24 hours the wound persists. If your hit point maximum drops to 0, you die. The wound heals if you receive magical healing. Alternatively, someone can tend to the wound and make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check once every 24 hours. After ten successes, the wound heals.
17-20	Minor Scar. The scar doesn't have any adverse effect. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.

Action Options:

• Climb onto a Bigger Creature - If one creature wants to jump onto another creature, it can do so by grappling. A Small or Medium creature has little chance of making a successful grapple against a Huge or Gargantuan creature, unless magic has granted the grappler supernatural might.
As an alternative, a suitably large opponent can be treated as terrain for the purpose of jumping onto its back or clinging to a limb. After making any ability checks necessary to get into position and onto the larger creature, the smaller creature uses its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by the target's Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If it wins the contest, the smaller creature successfully moves into the target creature's space and clings to its body. While in the target's space, the smaller creature moves with the target and has advantage on attack rolls against it.The smaller creature can move around within the larger creature's space, treating the space as difficult terrain. The larger creature's ability to attack the smaller creature depends on the smaller creature's location, and is left to your discretion. The larger creature can dislodge the smaller creature as an action-knocking it off, scraping it against a wall, or grabbing and throwing it-by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the smaller creature's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The smaller creature chooses which ability to use. (DM Optional Rule)
• Disarm - A creature can use a weapon attack to knock a weapon or another item from a target's grasp. The attacker makes an attack roll contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) check or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If the attacker wins the contest, the attack causes no damage or other ill effect, but the defender drops the item.
The attacker has disadvantage on its attack roll if the target is holding the item with two or more hands. The target has advantage on its ability check if it is larger than the attacking creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller. (DM Optional Rule)
• Overrun - When a creature tries to move through a hostile creature's space, the mover can try to force its way through by overrunning the hostile creature. As an action or a bonus action, the mover makes a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the hostile creature's Strength (Athletics) check. The creature attempting the overrun has advantage on this check if it is larger than the hostile creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller. If the mover wins the contest, it can move through the hostile creature's space once this turn. (DM Optional Rule)
• Shove Aside - With this option, a creature uses the special shove attack from the Player's Handbook to force a target to the side, rather than away. The attacker has disadvantage on its Strength (Athletics) check when it does so. If that check is successful, the attacker moves the target 5 feet to a different space within its reach. (DM Optional Rule)
• Tumble - A creature can try to tumble through a hostile creature's space, ducking and weaving past the opponent. As an action or a bonus action, the tumbler makes a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by the hostile creature's Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If the tumbler wins the contest, it can move through the hostile creature's space once that turn. (DM Optional Rule)
• Turn Hold - A player may choose, on their turn, to hold their turn in its entirety until the end of the combat round. Should that player choose not to act, their turn is forfeit or skipped. (Homebrew)

GM Rules:

• Hero Points - With this option, a character starts with 5 hero points at 1st level. Each time the character gains a level, he or she loses any unspent hero points and gains a new total equal to 5 + half the character's level.
  A player can spend a hero point whenever he or she makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw. The player can spend the hero point after the roll is made but before any of its results are applied. Spending the hero point allows the player to roll a d6 and add it to the d20, possibly turning a failure into a success. A player can spend only 1 hero point per roll.
  In addition, whenever a character fails a death saving throw, the player can spend one hero point to turn the failure into a success. (DM Optional Rule)
• Downtime Activities - See Xanathar's Guide to Everything Pg. 123. Additionally, Strongholds and Followers AND Kingdoms and Warfare are in use, see GM for a copy of the book. (XGE & Homebrew)
• Flanking - 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. (DM Optional Rule)
• Going Without a Short Rest - A short rest is 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 saving throw 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 long rest. The DC resets to 10 when you finish a long rest. (XGE Optional Rule)
• Proficiency Dice - This optional rule replaces a character's proficiency bonus with a proficiency die, adding more randomness to the game and making proficiency a less reliable indicator of mastery. Instead of adding a proficiency bonus to an ability check, an attack roll, or saving throw, the character's player rolls a die. The Proficiency Die table (See Dungeon Master's Guide Pg. 269) shows which die or dice to roll, as determined by the character's level.
  Whenever a feature, such as the rogue's Expertise, lets a character double his or her proficiency bonus, the player rolls the character's proficiency die twice instead of once.
  This option is intended for player characters and nonplayer characters who have levels, as opposed to monsters who don't. (DM Optional Rule)
• Hitting Cover - (For more on how cover works on a grid see Dungeon Master's Guide Pg. 251 w/ examples on Pg. 250)
When a ranged attack misses a target that has cover, you can use this optional rule to determine whether the cover was struck by the attack.First, determine whether the attack roll would have hit the protected target without the cover. If the attack roll falls within a range low enough to miss the target but high enough to strike the target if there had been no cover, the object used for cover is struck. If a creature is providing cover for the missed creature and the attack roll exceeds the AC of the covering creature, the covering creature is hit. (DM Optional Rule)
• Madness - See Dungeon Master's Guide Pg. 258. (DM Optional Rule)
• Corruption - See Adventures in Middle-Earth Players Guide Pg. 180 (3rd Party Rule)
• Morale - Some combatants might run away when a fight turns against them. You can use this optional rule to help determine when monsters and NPCs flee. A creature might flee under any of the following circumstances:
-The creature is surprised.

-When a character drops to 0 hit points but isn't killed outright for the first time in the battle.

-The creature has no way to harm the opposing side.-A group of creatures might flee under any of the following circumstances:

-All the creatures in the group are surprised.

-The group's leader is reduced to 0 hit points, incapacitated, taken prisoner, or removed from battle.-The group is reduced to half its original size with no losses on the opposing side.

-To determine whether a creature or group of creatures flees, make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw for the creature or the group's leader. If the opposition is overwhelming, the saving throw is made with disadvantage, or you can decide that the save fails automatically. If a group's leader can't make the saving throw for whatever reason, have the creature in the group with the next highest Charisma score make the saving throw instead.

-On a failed save, the affected creature or group flees by the most expeditious route. If escape is impossible, the creature or group surrenders. If a creature or group that surrenders is attacked by its conquerors, the battle might resume, and it's unlikely that further attempts to flee or surrender will be made.-A failed saving throw isn't always to the adventurers' benefit. For example, an ogre that flees from combat might put the rest of the dungeon on alert or run off with treasure that the characters had hoped to plunder. (DM Optional Rule)

Social Interaction Rules

Encounter Reactions: (Homebrew)

Reaction Tables

Monster Reaction Table		Retainer Reaction Table		NPC Reaction Table
Roll 2d6	Monster Reaction	Roll 2d6	Retainer Reaction	Roll 2d6	NPC Reaction
2-3	Monster Attacks	2	Refuse, insulted; disadvantage to convince nearby retainers	2	Hate; Hostile Creature Table with disadvantage
4-6	Monster is aggressive (growls, threatens Hostile Creature Table with disadvantage	3-5	Refuse	3-5	Dislike; Hostile Creature Table
7-9	Monster is cautious; Hostile Creature Table	6-8	Roll again	6-8	Indifferent; Indifferent Creature Table
10-11	Monster is neutral; Indifferent Creature Table	9-11	Accept	9-11	Friendly; Friendly Creature Table with disadvantage
12	Monster is friendly; Friendly Creature Table with disadvantage	12	Accept, impressed; advantage to convince nearby retainers	12	Engaging or loving; Friendly Creature Table with advantage

Creature Table

DC	Friendly Creature's Reaction	Indifferent Creature's Reaction	Hostile Creature's Reaction
0	The creature does as asked without taking risks or making sacrifices.	The creature offers no help but does no harm.	The creature opposes the adventurers' actions and might take risks to do so.
10	The creature accepts a minor risk or sacrifice to do as asked.	The creature does as asked as long as no risks or sacrifices are involved.	The creature offers no help but does no harm.
20	The creature accepts a significant risk or sacrifice to do as asked.	The creature accepts a minor risk or sacrifice to do as asked.	The creature does as asked as long as no risks or sacrifices are involved.

Creature Motivations

Roll 2d6	Motivation
2	Lost, seeking escape
3	Trying to overcome obstacle (stuck door, chasm, washed out bridge)
4-6	Resting
7-9	Seeking shelter/food/water
10	Searching for something lost (comrades, essential gear, personal item, offspring, magic item)
11	Guarding lair/base from intruders
12	Fleeing another encounter

Starting Attitude: (Dungeon Master's Guide Pg. 244)

• A friendly creature wants to help the adventurers and wishes for them to succeed. For tasks or actions that require no particular risk, effort, or cost, friendly creatures usually help without question. If an element of personal risk is involved, a successful Charisma check might be required to convince a friendly creature to take that risk.
• An indifferent creature might help or hinder the party, depending on what the creature sees as most beneficial. A creature's indifference doesn't necessarily make it standoffish or disinterested. Indifferent creatures might be polite and genial, surly and irritable, or anything in between. A successful Charisma check is necessary when the adventurers try to persuade an indifferent creature to do something.
• A hostile creature opposes the adventurers and their goals but doesn't necessarily attack them on sight. For example, a condescending noble might wish to see a group of upstart adventurers fail so as to keep them from becoming rivals for the king's attention, thwarting them with slander and scheming rather than direct threats and violence. The adventurers need to succeed on one or more challenging Charisma checks to convince a hostile creature to do anything on their behalf. That said, a hostile creature might be so ill­ disposed toward the party that no Charisma check can improve its attitude, in which case any attempt to sway it through diplomacy fails automatically.

Aiding the Check: (Dungeon Master's Guide Pg. 244)

• Other characters who make substantial contributions to the conversation can help the character making the check. If a helping character says or does something that would influence the interaction in a positive way, the character making the Charisma check can do so with advantage. If the other character inadvertently says something counterproductive or offensive, the character making the Charisma check has disadvantage on that check.

Damaging Objects Rules

(Dungeon Master's Guide Pg. 246)
When characters need to saw through ropes, shatter a window, or smash a vampire's coffin, the only hard and fast rule is this: given enough time and the right tools, characters can destroy any destructible object. Use common sense when determining a character's success at damaging an object. Can a fighter cut through a section of a stone wall with a sword? No, the sword is likely to break before the wall does.
For the purpose of these rules, an object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone, not a building or a vehicle that is composed of many other objects.

Statistics for Objects:

When time is a factor, you can assign an Armor Class and hit points to a destructible object. You can also give it immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities to specific types of damage.

• Armor Class. An object's Armor Class is a measure of how difficult it is to deal damage to the object when striking it (because the object has no chance of dodging out of the way). The Object Armor Class table provides suggested AC values for various substances.

Substance	Cloth, paper, rope	Crystal, glass, ice	Wood, bone	Stone	Iron, steel	Mithral	Adamantine
AC	11	13	15	17	19	21	23

• Hit Points. An object's hit points measure how much damage it can take before losing its structural integrity. Resilient objects have more hit points than fragile ones. Large objects also tend to have more hit points than small ones, unless breaking a small part of the object is just as effective as breaking the whole thing. The Object Hit Points table provides suggested hit points for fragile and resilient objects that are Large or smaller.

Size	Tiny (bottle, lock)	Small (chest, lute)	Medium (barrel, chandelier)	Large (cart, 10-ft.-by-10-ft. window
Fragile	2 (1d4)	3 (1d6)	4 (1d8)	5 (1d10)
Resilient	5 (3d4)	10 (3d6)	18 (4d8)	27 (5d10)

• Huge and Gargantuan Objects. Normal weapons are of little use against many Huge and Gargantuan objects, such as a colossal statue, towering column of stone, or massive boulder. That said, one torch can burn a Huge tapestry, and an earthquake spell can reduce a colossus to rubble. You can track a Huge or Gargantuan object's hit points if you like, or you can simply decide how long the object can withstand whatever weapon or force is acting against it. If you track hit points for the object, divide it into Large or smaller sections, and track each section's hit points separately. Destroying one of those sections could ruin the entire object. For example, a Gargantuan statue of a human might topple over when one of its Large legs is reduced to 0 hit points.
• Objects and Damage Types. Objects are immune to poison and psychic damage. You might decide that some damage types are more effective against a particular object or substance than others. For example, bludgeoning damage works well for smashing things but not for cutting through rope or leather. Paper or cloth objects might be vulnerable to fire and lightning damage. A pick can chip away stone but can't effectively cut down a tree. As always, use your best judgment.
• Damage Threshold. Big objects such as castle walls often have extra resilience represented by a damage threshold. An object with a damage threshold has immunity to all damage unless it takes an amount of damage from a single attack or effect equal to or greater than its damage threshold, in which case it takes damage as normal. Any damage that fails to meet or exceed the object's damage threshold is considered superficial and doesn't reduce the object's hit points.