In this campaign there are a number of different addons that are in the world to help bring interesting spins to normal aspects of DnD such as combat and additional features. This article addresses the systems and addons that we are using as well as some house rules so that no one is left in the dark. This article is likely to be updated later along down the road, so listen for updates from me about new addons/ house rules or the removal of already present addons/ house rules.
Attack Its Weak Point:
This addon aims to add interesting elements to traditional combat encounters that are centered around large monsters and big baddies. As a summary, the addon is mainly about having PCs identify weak point(s) on a monster as a means to potentially inflict more damage as opposed to hitting it anywhere. As part of the rule, the weak point is not affected by AoE spells, items, or weapons meaning that the way of attack needs to be direct. To see the full article, refer to the link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/719-epic-house-rules-attack-its-weak-point-for-massive
New Armor System + Monster Hunter World Monsters:
This armor system is something I made up just before we ended the last campaign, and what it allows is for a little bit more customization of what you are aiming your character to be. This armor is made the same way that it was in the last campaign, in that you need to take it to master forges in order to craft the armor. Instead of having these monsters sporadically throughout the game world, these monsters are confined to a location called the Forbannet Lands, and walled off portion of Niflheim that serves as their home. You will need to embark on hunts into the Forbannet Lands in order to find these beasts. Just like how many of the races have adapted to the cold climate, most of the monsters have as well in that their appearance will be adapted to the ice capped environments. For example, Great Jagras will have more 'hair' within its mane and will be white/grey in coloration. To see more about the armor details as well as the skills conversion list, please refer to the spreadsheets in the Niflheim chat.
Whisper Death Rolls:
This house rule is aimed at keeping meta-gaming at bay by having those who go down in combat roll me, the DM, their death saving throws in private so that way the healers and other party members cannot know whether they are doing okay or if they are on the brink of losing their character. The DM announces that said PC is stable if they make all of their death saving throws, as well as if they have died off if they failed all of their throws.
Areas of Bad Omen:
This addon is introduced with this campaign and is aimed at creating very difficult encounters by having areas of bad omen, meaning that healing spells have no affect within the areas while other magical conditions and types are buffed. Not all areas are the same but all hinder the players in one way or another. The areas will be specified by me before you go in them in the case that you choose to take an alternative route or if you decide that you need to better prepare before taking on the challenges within.
Natural One in Combat Cards:
This house rule is something that can make combat more interesting in the event of a roll of natural one by either the players or the DM. Just like how a natural 20 means an auto-hit auto-crit, a natural one means a slip up in combat, because even the best of warriors and spell casters can slip up. The results of the natural one are determined by a card pulled from a normal deck of cards with each card determining a different scenario that takes place. This rule can often be overruled by time constraints in that the DM can either favor that natural ones are a straight up miss or they instead target other creatures on the battlefield to better speed up combat. (These do not occur in the event of an unnatural one [If you roll a 3 and have a negative 2 modifier which totals out to 1, this rule does not apply]).
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