House Rules Document

This article contains house rules, important errata, and optional rules we use for this shared campaign.

General Rulings

Guidelines for DM Conduct

Trigger Warnings

The DM should provide trigger warnings for players about sensitive topics before play begins.

Adventure Duration

Adventures should be designed to take 3.5 hours.

Encounter Balance

Design your adventure for one of the four tiers, as set forth in chapter 1 of the Player's Handbook:

• tier 1 includes levels 1-4,
• tier 2 is levels 5-10,
• tier 3 is levels 11-16,
• and tier 4 includes levels 17-20.

Difficulty should be adjusted to suit stronger or weaker parties.

Guidelines for Player Conduct

On the broadest level, everyone in a shared campaign is responsible for making sure that everyone else has an enjoyable time.

During a play session:

• Follow the DM's lead and refrain from arguing with the DM or other players over rules.
• Let other players speak, and allow other players to get attention from the DM.
• Avoid excessive conversation that is not relevant to the adventure.
• Don't bully, shame, or intimidate other participants.
• Make the DM or the campaign's administrators aware of disruptive or aggressive behavior so that appropriate action can be taken.

Character Creation and Advancement

Ability Scores

Use point-buy or the standard spread to determine ability scores;

No single score can exceed 15 before applying racial bonuses.

(The standard spread: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 is constructed in point-buy rules; I recommend this method for all new players.)

(point-buy calculator!)

Rangers, Revised

Rangers! Be sure to check out the WOTC Unearthed Arcana: Rangers, Revised document. Important upgrades are possible for your abilities and specializations. They probably won't publish this but be gay, do crime, and enjoy this buff to some of your core class abilities.

Class Feature Variants

Many classes have feature variants in this Unearthed Arcana: Class Feature Variants document.

What Books Can I Use?

Any and all. We're not as concerned with balance as some other groups. Having fun is the big priority. As long as you respect the space and don't abuse the rules things will be fine.

When I have all these options, which should I use?

Use only what you believe will be the most fun.

Companions

Animal Companions

"Here’s a little secret: you don’t need special rules for this. Through roleplaying and ability checks (most likely Animal Handling or Persuasion), you can have a buddy, as long as your DM is OK adding a creature to the group."
- Jeremy Crawford, Lead Rules Designer of D&D 5e

Animal Companion Advancement

"The “Dungeon Master’s Guide” has guidelines for adding class levels to creatures.
Say your wolf friend has been fighting by your side for an adventure, the DM might give the wolf a level in fighter. This is a legitimate use of the DMG rules."
- Jeremy Crawford, Lead Rules Designer of D&D 5e
(Note: DMG p. 283)

Combat Rulings

Potions in Combat

House Rule:
Drinking a potion can be an action or a bonus action. Administering a potion or handing a potion to another character still requires an action.

Rule as written:
Drinking or administering a potion requires an action

Reasoning for rule:

We'll actually use potions; Maintaining the action cost for administering/passing potions will encourage planning the distribution of resources.

Cleaving Through Creatures

House Rule:
When an enemy is slain with a melee attack, excess damage can carry over to another enemy within reach.

Rule as written:
Excess damage is wasted, or by DM discretion can narratively turn the slain target into fine dust, smithereens, spatter, or bits.

Reasoning for rule:

Awesome Factor; optional rule from DMG pg. 272

Casting Spells as a Bonus Action

This is not a house rule, but rather an official rule that's often overlooked.

Rule as written:
"If you cast a spell with a bonus action, you can cast another spell with your action, but that other spell must be a cantrip."

Social Encounter Rulings

Strength Intimidation

House Rule:

In many situations, Strength can be used instead of Charisma for intimidation skill checks. Ask the DM when you make an Intimidation check.

Reasoning for rule:

Strength is an under utilized ability and it often makes thematic sense to be able to leverage your imposing physique.

Between Sessions

Character Progression

In this shared campaign, we use checkpoints to determine character advancement. A checkpoint represents, theoretically, an hour of play. Expect 3-4 checkpoints per session as a general guideline. The DM should award these checkpoints after each session and players should track them.

• At levels 1-4, reaching 4 checkpoints is sufficient to advance to the next level.
• At level 5 or higher, 8 checkpoints are needed to advance to the next level.

At the end of a play session, characters must level up if they have reached enough checkpoints to do so. The required number of checkpoints is expended, and any remaining checkpoints are applied toward the next opportunity for advancement.

Downtime

The duration of downtime between play sessions generally corresponds to the amount of days since the character's last session. Any exceptions must be made clear by the DM. You can track the in-game date of the next session on the Wiki Homepage. The in-game date of your last session should be in the session report.

Treasure and other Rewards

We are not using the rules for treasure points in shared campaigns as described in Appendix A of Xanathar's Guide. Instead, treasure will be awarded and discovered during play (with few exceptions) as usual. The DM must make note of rewards given in each session report.