Introduction

What is Novence Eternal?

Novence Eternal is a homebrew D&D 5E campaign, created in August of 2020. Originally starting as a standard D&D 5E campaign with a few homebrew rules, it gradually evolved over time to encompass an entirely original class and combat system that built off of base D&D. As a result, a lot of content within this handbook incorporates elements of D&D 5E, albeit not necessarily exactly in the same form as the original. Therefore, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the basic concepts of D&D from the D&D 5E handbook, which can be found here. For brevity's sake, this handbook will only cover the differences between Novence Eternal and D&D 5E, rather than restating all of the rules in full.

How to Play

Note: Unlike base D&D 5E, Novence Eternal was designed for use on an online tabletop roleplaying service, such as Roll20. While it can be played in a traditional setting; without the fast roll and equation calculation of an electronic device, the speed of combat will be drastically slower than intended.
1. Like D&D 5E, the DM (Dungeon Master) describes the environment. Typically, this will include a cursory description of what is immediately obvious and unmissable upon entering a new area. However, more minute details may require a Perception check on behalf of the players in order for the DM to describe them.
2. The players describe what they want to do. Generally speaking, the party will act as a singular unit for most basic actions. For actions that require special expertise, or have a chance of failure, the players performing the action will make a dice roll using the corresponding stat or skill combination that is required by the DM. In the event that different players perform different actions for an extended period of time, the DM will set up a turn order determined by the players' initiative rolls, and address each player's actions down the list one at a time.
3. The DM narrates the results of the adventurers' actions. As with step 1, this only includes the effects that are immediately obvious and unmissable-- players are encouraged to make Perception or Investigation rolls to glean more detailed information as required.

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The Die Rolling System

Like in D&D 5E, Novence Eternal relies on the rolling of various polyhedral die. While most die roll combinations you will find ingame will consist of the classic d4 d6 d8 d10 d12 d20 and d100, it is also not uncommon to find dice of any number of sides, due to the use of digital die rolls.
Die rolls are used when the outcome of an action is uncertain, such as the chance for a weapon attack to land, or for a skill to succeed. In Novence Eternal, and especially during combat, there may be many different modifiers that affect the outcome of a certain die roll. Not only does this encompass the standard additive or subtractive modifiers, but it may also include more complex modifiers such as advantage/disadvantage, dropping the lowest X rolls, or multiplicative modifiers. Additionally, unlike D&D 5E, roll results are rounded down if the decimal value is 0.5 or less-- otherwise, they are rounded up.

The Hierarchy of Rules

Often times, there will be multiple rules from different sources such as boss mechanics, skills, and abilities that all affect a given die roll. In such cases, one should follow the following hierarchy of rules: Hard Mechanics: These are rules surrounding a specific combat or environmental situation set by the DM that cannot be broken under any circumstances. They function as a sort of safety net for the DM in designing encounters-- the DM must be able to rely on the fact that these rules cannot be broken.
Ultimate Abilities: Ultimate Abilities serve as a way to allow the party to catch a breath during a tough fight. As such, they should be allowed to bypass many mechanics. For instance, if the players are fighting a boss that is about to use an attack designed to wipe the party, the Paladin class's Ultimate Ability Immovable Chivalry should, in almost every case, neutralize the attack.
Soft Mechanics: Soft Mechanics should make up the core of the difficulty of a given fight, serving as a sort of puzzle for the players to adapt their strategy to. Since they comprise the majority of the "meat" of an encounter, they should not be easily trivialized by basic skills.
Other Skills and Abilities: These are the standard skills and abilities that both NPCs and player characters have access to. When they contradict each other, they should follow the rule of Specific Beats General: an ability that has a narrower scope of effect should override one with a wider scope of effect.

Terms and Notation

Parentheses (): Indicates that the operation within the parentheses must be resolved first. Just like in math equations, in cases of nested parentheses the innermost set of parentheses is resolved first, going in order until the outermost set.
Die Rolls XdY: Represents rolling X number of Y-sided dice. Always calculated first within a roll equation.
Multiplicative Modifiers: Both multiplication and division are represented with the asterisk (*). Special Rule: When multiple multiplicative modifiers are applied to a roll, their values are added together instead. For example, if a 4d8 die roll is affected by a modifier that doubles the result (2*) and another that triples the result (3*), instead of 2*3 resolving to a 6* modifier, they are added (2+3) to create a 5* modifier. As a rule of thumb: a roll equation should always resolve to one single multiplicative modifier.
Advantage: Advantage is a modifier that determines the number of rerolls of a given die skewed towards a favorable or unfavorable outcome. Advantage is represented as +XA, with X representing the number of times above 1 time the die is rolled. Disadvantage is represented as -XA in a similar manner.
Roll Count Modifier: Roll Count Modifier (RCM) is a modifier that determines the number of additional (or fewer) rolls made by a specific die roll. Roll Count Modifier is represented as +XD, with X representing the number of additional dice rolled. Negative modifiers represent the number fewer dice are rolled (minimum 1). For instance, a +2D RCM on a 4d10 roll would convert it to a 6d10; a -2D RCM on a 3d4 roll would convert it to a 1d4.
Roll Result Modifier: Roll Result Modifier (RRM) is a modifier that determines the minimum and maximum allowed value of a given die roll. RRM is represented as either a specific value range, a percentage, or a max/min. RRM only modifies the natural roll result, calculated before any other modifiers; a maximum or minimum value on a die as a result of RRM, however, does not count as a critical failure or critical success. This is represented as roll floor (RF), roll ceiling (RC), or roll range (RR). For instance, RF4 would indicate that any natural roll 4 or below would default to a 4. RF50% would indicate that any roll at or below the halfway value of a die would default to its median value. RC7 would indicate that any natural roll at or above a 7 would default to a 7. RR4-6 would indicate that any natural roll at or below a 4 would default to a 4, and any at or above a 6 would default to 6.
Special RRMs: An R+ indicates that the roll will automatically roll its maximum value. R- indicates that the roll will automatically roll its minimum value.