Additional Rules

In an effort to clarify what a player can and cannot do at any given point versus base 5e, Dustriders will allow for the following or describe additional mechanics.

Environmental/Elemental Skill Expression

If you see something in the environment or have something in the environment, you may interact with it, generally. If, for example, an enemy is standing in a puddle of oil and you have incendiary ammunition, you may fire on that puddle of oil and cause the enemy to catch fire. Or, in another example, if an enemy has spit a pool of acid, you can use water to dilute it so it no longer affects you. In essence, if the player thinks a spell, environmental object, or something similar should affect another thing in the game, it probably should. If you are a GM, your best discretion when assessing player elemental or environmental interactions.

Fall Damage

Fall Damage has been revised. For every 10 feet, creatures of these size brackets take the specified amount of damage when falling. When choosing to drop from a ledge, you take no falling damage if it is 10 feet or less of a drop. If dropping from a height of up to 30 feet, you can spend an Action to roll and reduce falling damage by half.
Size | Damage
Tiny: 1d4 damage
Small: 1d6 damage
Medium: 1d6 damage
Large: 1d8 damage
Huge: 1d10 damage
Gargantuan: 1d12 damage

Gliding

Creatures of Medium and Small sizes can use this mechanic when flying. For every 5 foot drop, if the creature is capable of gliding, using wings or a hanglider of some kind, they move the specified amount without using up their movement speed, but must have a minimum of 5 feet of movement remaining to perform a glide. Gliding is not considered an action but is part of movement. The creature that is gliding does not take fall damage when they reach the ground. They must move 15 feet in a straight line before changing the direction of movement to another 15 foot straight line.
Size | Distance
Small: 30 feet for every 5 foot drop
Medium: 15 feet for every 5 foot drop

Multiclassing

Taking levels in other classes is a core part of player choice and agency. If a player multiclasses into another class, they gain all the benefits of that class' proficiencies when described in the chosen level, but not the starting equipment. Multiclassing into other Core Identity's classes means that you still must meet the base requirements of an ability score of 13 of that core class's main attribute.

Offhand Attacks

In Dustriders, if you have taken the Attack action with one of your weapons on your turn and it is a 1-handed weapon, you may make another Attack as a Bonus Action with a Light 1-handed weapon.
For example, if you make an attack with a Machete which is 1-handed but not Light, you may fire a Light 1-handed sidearm if it is in your offhand as a Bonus Action.
You may not, however, make an attack with a Light weapon as a Bonus Action if the main hand weapon is 2-handed or Versatile.

Switching Weapons

You may draw one or two weapons and stow others as part of an attack as long as it is held in a bandolier, holster, sheath, or sling. You may have any combination of four holsters and sheaths on your person at a time, and one bandolier, brace, or sling. Mark the weapon as equipped if it is in a bandolier, holster, sheath, or sling. Switching weapons that are stowed in your pack in Dustriders have different action requirements from base D&D 5e.
Weapon Type | Requirement
2-Handed Firearm or Launcher: 1 Action to switch to from another 2-Handed Firearm or Launcher.
1-Handed Sidearm: 1 Bonus Action to switch to from another weapon.
Melee Weapon: 1 Bonus Action to switch to from another weapon.
Dual-Wielded Firearms: 1 Bonus Action to switch to from any other weapon, even other Dual-Wielded Firearms.
Stowing/Drawing Weapons: Free Action to stow or draw a weapon, either can be done once per turn.

Spellcasting

Spellcasting is simplified in Dustriders. If the casting time for a spell says: Bonus Action, you may cast it as a Bonus Action in the same turn as anything that requires an Action. This includes leveled spells. Players will already be burning through their resources when spellcasting, and giving them more leeway with how fast they burn through those resources is fine.
While holding a 2-handed or versatile weapon with both hands, you can take one hand off of your weapon to cast a spell. If you have a shield or other object held in your off-hand and a 1-handed weapon, you must stow or holster one of the objects or weapons to cast a spell unless you have a feat or the shield allows for a free hand.
Rituals, since they're not channeling the lifeforce of the caster, do not raise volatility. This is in line with how rituals are handled in 5e normally.
Players may expend one of their Hit Dice to add one additional damage die to a spell that deals damage on cast.

Short Rests

You may perform multiple short rests before needing a long rest. A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.
A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character’s maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character’s level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character’s Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total. The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains some spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest, as explained below.

Long Rests

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity—at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity—the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.
At the end of a long rest, a character regains all lost hit points. The character also regains all spent Hit Dice (instead of half like in base 5e).
A character can’t benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period, and a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.

Shove

Shove is now a Bonus Action instead of an Action.

Additional Rules