JOL Revised Core Rules
Introduction
The following rules offer new mechanics and revised mechanics from the Player’s Handbook (PHB) and Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG). These adjustments are designed to enhance gameplay at the table by simplifying complex mechanics, fostering tactical combat, aligning with real-world logic, and creating more opportunities for narrative storytelling.
A Dungeon Master may integrate any number of these rules to enrich the game experience. To ensure smooth gameplay, it’s strongly recommended that the Dungeon Master informs players of any rules from this book that will be used before the first session, helping to avoid confusion or frustration.
Each rule revision supersedes an existing rule in either the PHB or DMG. Rules are listed by their new title, followed by the “>” symbol, then the book name, page number, and the original rule name. For example: New Rule Name > (DMG 194) Old Rule Name.
In some cases, only part of a rule is updated; where this occurs, it will be clearly indicated, and the revised rule should be read alongside the original for full context.
Changes
Better Crits > (PHB 196) Critical Hits
Few moments in battle feel as disappointing as landing a critical hit, only to roll minimal damage. Critical hits should always feel powerful and impactful. This rule changes how damage is calculated on a critical hit to ensure a consistently epic result.
When you score a critical hit, instead of rolling twice the damage dice, calculate the damage as follows: maximum potential roll for the weapon’s damage dice + a roll of the same damage dice.
For example, if your weapon deals 1d8 damage, on a critical hit, you add 8 (the maximum result of the die) to the result of a single d8 roll.
Modified Flanking > (DMG 251) Optional Rule: Flanking
Flanking adds a valuable tactical layer to combat, capturing the challenge of facing opponents on multiple fronts. However, the standard flanking rules, which grant advantage, can sometimes overshadow abilities and creative tactics that would normally provide advantage, making it too accessible and reliable. To preserve the tactical appeal of flanking without diminishing other methods of gaining advantage, this rule offers a modified bonus.
When a creature is flanked by two hostile creatures of the same size or one size different, each flanking creature gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls against that target, rather than advantage.
Carrying Made Simple > (PHB 176) Carrying Capacity
Tracking precise item weights can often feel tedious, and many tables choose to disregard carrying capacity altogether. To simplify this rule, the following system categorises items by general weight, making it easier to track without precise calculations.
Each item falls into one of five weight categories: Trivial, Light, Medium, Heavy, or Immovable. Each category has a designated weight point value, as shown in the table below. A creature can carry items with a combined weight point total up to, but not exceeding, their Strength score.
| Weight Category | Weight Point Value | Item Examples |
|---|
| Immovable |
DM will decide on an appropriate value,
if it can be carried at all. |
Carriage, Horse, Large Chest |
| Heavy |
3 |
Heavy Weapons, Heavy Armour |
| Average |
2 |
Rapier. Longsword, Bow, Shield |
| Light |
1 |
Daggers, Light Armour, Hand Crossbow |
| Trivial |
0 |
Paper, rations, spell focus, torch, coins, arrows |
Lucky Feat Balanced > (PHB 167) Lucky
The Lucky feat is often restricted at many tables—not because it grants advantage on demand three times per day, but because it allows players to use luck points after seeing the result of a roll. This adjustment preserves the feat’s versatility while balancing its impact.
When using the Lucky feat, a player must now declare the use of a luck point before making a roll.
Having the High Ground > (PHB 292) Prone
The original rules for prone creatures offer effective protection against ranged attacks by imposing disadvantage, simulating the smaller profile of a creature lying down. However, these rules do not account for situations where an elevated attacker has a clearer view of the prone creature. This revision addresses that scenario.
Ranged attack rolls against a prone creature are made with disadvantage unless the attacker is elevated to a height above their target which is greater than the horizontal distance between themselves and the prone creature.
Grittier Resting > (PHB 186) Resting
When Wizards of the Coast designed 5th Edition, the resting mechanics assumed that characters would face multiple combat encounters throughout an adventuring day. In many modern games, however, characters experience fewer encounters, which can diminish the role of short rests and unbalance the game. The following alternative resting rules offer a grittier gameplay experience, balancing recovery to match a slower-paced adventuring day. This system introduces three types of rests: Long Rest, Short Rest, and Quick Break.
Long Rest
A long rest is a period of extended downtime lasting at least 16 hours, during which a character must sleep and may engage in light activities such as reading, conversing, eating, walking, shopping, or crafting with artisan’s tools (if proficient). This rest can only be taken in a safe and sheltered location, such as a city, town, or village, or another area the DM considers secure.
If the long rest is interrupted by strenuous activity—walking for more than 2 hours, fighting, casting spells, or any similar adventuring activity—the character must restart the rest to gain its benefits. At the end of a long rest, a character recovers all lost hit points and regains spent Hit Dice equal to half their total number of dice (minimum of one die). For example, if a character has eight Hit Dice, they recover four upon completing a long rest. A long rest also allows a character to remove 2 levels of exhaustion.
A character cannot benefit from another long rest until 48 hours have passed since completing their last long rest.
Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime lasting at least 8 hours, during which a character may sleep or perform light activity, such as reading, eating, talking, or standing watch for up to 2 hours. If interrupted by strenuous activity—walking for more than an hour, fighting, casting spells, or similar activities—the rest must be restarted to gain any benefit. Completing a short rest also removes 1 level of exhaustion.
At the end of a short rest, a character may spend Hit Dice for either Healing or Spell Slot Recovery:
- Healing: For each Hit Die spent, the character rolls the die and adds their Constitution modifier to the result. The character regains hit points equal to the total. When spending Hit Dice to heal during a short rest, treat any roll lower than half the die’s maximum value as half its maximum value.
- Spell Slot Recovery: Spellcasters may spend Hit Dice provided by their spellcasting class to recover spell slots. Each Hit Die spent restores one 1st-level spell slot. To recover a higher-level spell slot, the character must spend an additional Hit Die for each level above 1st (e.g., two Hit Dice for a 2nd-level spell slot).
If a character in the party has a Healer’s Kit and proficiency in the Wisdom (Medicine) skill, they may select up to four willing or incapacitated creatures to receive healing. At the end of a successful short rest, each chosen creature regains hit points equal to the healer's Wisdom (Medicine) skill bonus.
A character cannot benefit from more than one short rest in a 24-hour period
Quick Break
A quick break is a short period of downtime lasting at least 20 minutes, during which a character engages in light activities such as eating, drinking, reading, or tending to wounds. During a quick break, a character may spend up to half of their maximum Hit Dice (rounded down) to recover hit points.
For each Hit Die spent, roll the die and add the character’s Constitution modifier. The character regains hit points equal to the total. The player may choose to spend additional Hit Dice one at a time after each roll.
Doomed & Dying > (197 PHB) Falling Unconscious
Death can often feel anticlimactic within game mechanics, denying players the chance for an epic final stand or farewell. This rule change offers a more narrative-driven exit for any player character who dies.
When a player character is reduced to 0 hit points without being instantly killed, they do not fall unconscious. Instead, they receive the
Dying condition, allowing them to remain conscious but severely limited. A dying creature has 0 speed, cannot take reactions or bonus actions, automatically fails Dexterity and Strength saving throws, and cannot consume potions or healing items without assistance. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage. Additionally, any ability or effect that is modified or enabled by the unconscious condition is also modified or enabled by the dying condition.
While dying, the creature may only use its action on each of its turns to perform one of the following Last Stand actions if able:
- Move: The creature may crawl up to 10 feet or half its normal speed, whichever is lower.
- Attack: The dying creature can make one disadvanatge attack with a weapon, unarmed strike, or offensive cantrip that targets only one other creature (If casting a cantrip, the cantrip is cast as if the characters level is level 1).
- Final Gamble: The creature may choose to automatically fail a Death Saving Throw in order to take the Attack action or use a class feature, spell, or magic item that does not restore its own hit points. If it does so, the creature gains 1 level of exhaustion and has disadvantage on its next Death Saving Throw made before its next short rest.
If a dying character fails three Death Saving Throws, they gain the
Doomed condition and are no longer considered Dying. A
Doomed character is fated to die within the next hour, at the DM’s discretion. While doomed, the character cannot be healed or regain hit points by any means and is considered dead for the purposes of resurrection magic.
Early Bird Initiative > (PHB 189) Initiative
The standard initiative system provides a structured order for combat, with turns based on individual initiative rolls. However, this can sometimes slow the game’s pace and hinder teamwork, as players take turns in isolation. While some tables adopt group initiative to streamline combat, this can interfere with abilities tied to initiative order. The Early Bird Initiative aims to blend these systems, supporting faster-paced, team-based combat while preserving the function of initiative-dependent abilities.
Determining the Early Birds
In Early Bird Initiative, combatants are divided into groups: the Players, the Enemy NPCs, and the Other NPCs.
- Players: This group includes all player characters, summoned companions, and NPC allies who are part of the adventuring party.
- Enemy NPCs: This group includes any hostile NPCs who oppose the Player group in combat.
- Other NPCs: Any additional NPCs who are neither hostile nor allied with the Players.
When combat begins, the group that initiated the combat is designated as the Early Birds and acts first. The group being attacked by the Early Birds goes next, followed by the Other NPCs, who always act last.
Initiative Check Against Early Birds
The targeted group has an opportunity to act before the Early Birds by attempting an initiative check, provided they are not
Suprised. Each member of the targeted group may make an initiative check against the Initiative DC of the Early Birds, which is calculated as the average initiative modifier of all Early Bird combatants (rounded up) + 10. Any combatant in the targeted group who meets or exceeds the Initiative DC may use their reaction to take an additional turn at the start of combat, this round only, acting before any Early Bird members.
Turn Order Within Groups
Once initiative is set, each group takes its turn in order: Early Birds, the group they attacked, and Other NPCs last. Within each group, members can act in any order, with each combatant completing their full turn before another begins. Once all groups have taken their turns, the round ends and combat continues with a new round, starting with the Early Birds.
Residual Advantage and Disadvantage > (PHB 173) Advantage and Disadvantage
The
advantage and
disadvantage mechanics were designed to reflect circumstances that significantly favour or hinder a character’s success in an action. To avoid unbalancing the game, advantage and disadvantage do not stack. However, the current rules simplify this by fully cancelling out multiple instances of advantage and disadvantage, which can create illogical scenarios. For example, an archer may suffer from multiple sources of disadvantage when aiming at a distant, prone enemy in a blizzard, yet one instance of advantage (from the target being blinded) would cancel all disadvantages, resulting in a neutral roll.
Residual Advantage and Disadvantage refines this by allowing only one instance of advantage to cancel one instance of disadvantage, and vice versa. Cancelled pairs are eliminated until only one type remains, which determines the final roll.
For example, if an archer has six instances of disadvantage and one instance of advantage, one instance of disadvantage is cancelled, leaving the archer with five instances of disadvantage. Since disadvantage remains, the archer would roll with disadvantage on their attack.
Silvery Barbs Balanced > (SCC 38) Silvery Barbs
Since its release, the Silvery Barbs spell has sparked community debate over its balance, particularly due to its ability to impose disadvantage on demand. To address this, Silvery Barbs must now be cast as a reaction before the roll is made, rather than after.
Consistent Cure Wounds > (PHB 230) Cure Wounds
Healing in D&D can often feel underwhelming, particularly in combat. Cure Wounds, the primary healing spell, can feel ineffective due to low and inconsistent healing output, which often fails to keep pace with enemy damage and scales poorly at higher levels. This revised version of Cure Wounds provides more reliable and impactful healing, making it a more viable option for preventing allies from being reduced to 0 hit points.
When casting Cure Wounds, treat any die roll below half its maximum value as half the maximum value instead. Additionally, when you cast this spell using a spell slot above 1st level, you add your spellcasting ability modifier to the healing again for each slot level above 1st, in addition to the extra 1d8 healing per level.
Smite Spells Adjusted > (PHB 216, 219, 274, 278, 282, 289) Banishing Smite, Blinding Smite, Branding Smite, Searing Smite, Stagering Smite, Wrathful Smite
Banishing Smite, Blinding Smite, Branding Smite, Searing Smite, Staggering Smite, Thunderous Smite, and Wrathful Smite are potent spells that allow characters to empower their attacks with divine or magical force. However, the concentration requirement on these spells often limits their usefulness in combat. For many characters who gain access to these spells, concentration is already allocated to other spells that provide greater sustained value throughout a battle. Additionally, since the smite effect triggers on a single hit, missing the attack leaves the caster vulnerable to losing the spell due to a failed concentration check before they can attempt another strike.
To make these spells more practical and appealing while still distinct from the Paladin’s Divine Smite, this rule removes the concentration requirement from all Smite spells. They retain their bonus action casting time, preserving their unique tactical role without the risk of breaking concentration.
Removing concentration on Smite spells makes them more accessible in combat, allowing characters to use them without compromising other concentration-based effects or risking loss of the spell from a missed attack.
True Stike Overhaul > (PHB 284) True Strike
The original True Strike spell, which provides advantage on a single attack, is often seen as suboptimal, requiring the caster to sacrifice their action for minimal benefit. This redesigned version of True Strike allows casters to infuse a melee weapon with magic, making it a more appealing choice for characters who wish to enhance their combat potential without disrupting their concentration.
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self (5-foot radius)
Components: S, M (a melee weapon with the Light property)
Duration: 1 round
You infuse the weapon used in the spell’s casting with your magic. The next attack you make with this weapon before the end of your turn uses your spellcasting ability modifier for both the attack and damage rolls, instead of its usual ability modifier (Strength or Dexterity).
Witch Bolt Adjusted > (PHB 289) Witch Bolt
Witch Bolt is intended to be a sustained damage spell, allowing casters to maintain a steady connection to their target. However, the current design requires the caster’s action on each turn for minimal damage, making it a poor choice for its spell slot and concentration requirement. This revision allows the caster to use their bonus action on subsequent turns to maintain the effect, making it a more practical and effective option.
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
A beam of crackling blue energy lances out toward a creature within range, forming a sustained arc of lightning between you and the target. Make a ranged spell attack against that creature. On a hit, the target takes 1d12 lightning damage, and on each of your turns for the duration, you can use your bonus action to deal 1d12 lightning damage to the target automatically. If the target moves out of range, or if you take damage that breaks your concentration, the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial damage increases by 1d12 for each slot level above 1st.
Misty Step Exception > (PHB 260) Misty Step
Misty Step is a highly valued spell, offering spellcasters a quick, short-range teleportation option as a bonus action. However, the general rule in 5th Edition restricts casting a bonus action spell and a leveled spell with an action on the same turn, limiting the spell’s potential use in dynamic situations. While this restriction is necessary for balancing many spell combinations, Misty Step does not present a significant risk of abuse.
Under this rule, Misty Step is an exception to the leveled spellcasting restriction. You may cast Misty Step as a bonus action and cast a leveled spell with your action on the same turn.
New Rules & Mechanics
True Resurrection
In many games, death is intended to be a significant event, yet the existing resurrection mechanics can sometimes make returning to life feel routine. By adding a narrative layer to resurrection, the experience becomes more impactful and memorable, reflecting the gravity of bringing a soul back from beyond. The True Resurrection rule provides a ritual process for resurrection spells, making each attempt more meaningful, especially as a character’s soul grows distant from the material world.
When attempting to bring a creature back to life using a spell or spell effect with a casting time longer than 1 action, a resurrection challenge is initiated. This challenge allows the adventuring party to actively contribute to the ritual, adding personal stakes and narrative weight to the resurrection.
Up to three members of the adventuring party can contribute to this ritual by making a contribution skill check. The DM will ask each contributor to make a skill check reflecting their method of aiding the ritual, with the DC of each check based on how impactful or relevant the DM judges their contribution to be.
After all contributions are completed, the character casting the resurrection spell or effect makes a final resurrection check with no modifiers. The base DC for this check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the deceased character has experienced, representing the gradual weakening of the soul’s connection to the material world.
- For each successful contribution check, the final resurrection DC is reduced by 3.
- For each failed contribution check, the final DC is increased by 1.
On a successful resurrection check, the character’s soul returns—if it is willing. On a failed check, however, the soul is lost, and the character cannot be revived.
Drowning Projectiles
In the standard game mechanics, projectiles behave the same in all environments, overlooking the fact that physical projectiles are drastically slowed when they strike water. In reality, when fired into a liquid body, projectiles lose speed, accuracy, and range. Downing Projectiles introduces these effects to better reflect how arrows and other physical projectiles interact with water. This rule adds a tactical layer to combat by allowing water to serve as potential cover from ranged attacks, giving creatures in water an advantage when attempting to evade projectiles.
Physical projectiles, which excludes most spells, are significantly impeded by water. When a projectile weapon is fired into or within water, its maximum underwater range is limited to 10 feet and its effective range is reduced to 5 feet. Additionally, any attack roll made with a projectile weapon (excluding most spells) that must travel through more than 5 feet of water that hits its target, deals half damage.
Making an Opening
In the standard rules, creatures in melee combat can stand from prone or interact with objects in an enemy’s reach without consequence, which can detract from the sense of peril in close-quarters combat. Furthermore, knocking a creature prone often offers limited strategic benefit, as the creature can stand on its next turn with minimal consequence, making it rarely worth the effort.
Making an Opening introduces consequences for vulnerable actions, such as standing from prone or interacting with objects within an enemy’s reach. This rule creates additional tactical depth and more realistic risks in melee combat, allowing creatures to exploit openings and press the advantage.
Being knocked prone or disarmed in melee combat becomes more dangerous under this rule. A creature that is prone or attempts to retrieve an object while within an enemy’s melee reach is considered to be
Making an Opening. This condition triggers the following effects:
- Standing from Prone: If a creature attempts to stand from prone while within melee range of an enemy’s melee weapon, they provoke an opportunity attack from that enemy.
- Grabbing an Object: If a creature attempts to pick up an object, including a weapon, from the environment while within melee range of an enemy’s melee weapon, they provoke an opportunity attack from that enemy.
Elemental Convergence
While much in D&D is left to the Dungeon Master’s interpretation, the core rules offer little guidance on how elemental spells interact with the environment.
Elemental Convergence provides a framework for considering how the surroundings might impact a spell, encouraging DMs to incorporate environmental effects in ways that bring depth to combat and puzzle-solving while rewarding creative thinking.
Spells of an elemental nature interact with the environment in a logical way, with outcomes depending on the DM’s interpretation of the scenario. For example, casting fire bolt through a significant body of water might halve the spell’s damage or extinguish it entirely, while a lightning bolt spell could become unpredictable, potentially spreading to other targets in the water, including allies.
This guidance does not list specific spells or interactions, allowing for flexibility and creativity. Players should be mindful of the environment when casting spells, as factors like water, wind, and combustible surroundings can alter spell effects. The DM might apply effects such as:
- Half or Double Damage: Depending on whether the environment dampens or amplifies the elemental spell.
- Altered Range or Area: Turning a single-target spell into an area effect or reducing its range based on environmental conditions.
- Unpredictable Effects: Making a spell affect additional or unintended targets, potentially adding risk or reward.
With Elemental Convergence, both players and DMs can explore the dynamic relationship between magic and the natural world, creating more immersive and memorable encounters.
Fighting for Air
Underwater combat can lack the visceral tension that comes from knowing the environment itself poses a threat. Currently, characters holding their breath face little danger from running out of air, as they can typically hold their breath for at least a minute—far longer than the average combat encounter. This rule aims to bring added tension to underwater battles, challenging characters to manage their air supply carefully and creating a secondary objective to escape or reach the surface.
When a creature holding its breath takes damage, it must make a Constitution saving throw for each instance of damage. The DC is either 10 or half the damage taken (rounded down), whichever is higher. On each failed save, the creature gets Winded. A creature that is Winded is struggling to holid its breath underwater. The Winded creature reduces its remaining breath by 30 seconds. If a creature’s time to hold its breath reaches 0, it begins suffocating as per the standard suffocation rules.
Intelligence Matters
In D&D, Intelligence is often overlooked by many characters that do not use it as their primary stat, as its benefits are primarily limited to skill proficiencies rather than offering broader advantages like other ability scores. Each ability score provides unique functions—Strength affects carrying capacity, Dexterity influences initiative and AC, Constitution determines hit points, Wisdom impacts passive perception, and Charisma is key in social interactions. Intelligence, however, rarely serves a purpose outside of certain skills, which can lead to it being disregarded.
Intelligence Matters encourages investment in Intelligence by providing incremental benefits based on your Intelligence score:
- If you have an Intelligence score of 11 or higher, choose one tool or skill in which you are proficient. You gain a +1 bonus to ability checks using that skill or tool.
- If you have an Intelligence score of 13 or higher, this bonus increases to +2.
- If you have an Intelligence score of 15 or higher, choose another tool or skill in which you are proficient. You gain a +1 bonus to ability checks using that skill or tool as well.
Comments