The
Andril Chronicles is my attempt at taking the dreams of my 10-year-old self and sharing them with other people as a pastime through tabletop role-playing. Plus I find it neat to try to interconnect this long-running campaign with novel canon both as a form of appreciation to those I game with and a way to add life to my virtual monster. Those who look at my literary work as mere backstory and bard tales for their own characters, this is your place.
The
Andril Anthologies is the tag-line I came up with for my novelizations, stories, and all authory-like stuff taking place in the world of Andril and the Five Realms. If you like my work and don't care so much about the RPG stuff then this is what you want to stick to. No stats, no game mechanics, all things are 100% on the serious literary side of the equation.
Andril: noun
1. a place in the Five Realms. 2. a fictitious world created by the imaginings of a Canadian guy who sometimes thinks he can write and other times believes he is a repository of useless information. 3. a remote usually idyllic hideaway.
Chronology:noun, plural chronologies.
1. the sequential order in which past events occur. 2. a statement of this order. 3. the science of arranging time in periods and ascertaining the dates and historical order of past events. 4. a reference work organized according to the dates of events.
This is a game that is fun. It helps you imagine...As you whirl around, your sword ready, the huge, red, fire-breathing dragon swoops toward you with a ROAR!...See? Your imagination woke up already.— Frank Mentzer's Red Box Players Manual Preface February 1983.
Alright, so since you are more interested in playing in rather than reading about adventures in the Five Realms. Please familiarize yourself with the
Top 10 Things you need to know to be a good player. Thanks!
The following will take you deep into the rabbit hole of rules, mechanics, flavour and things you may not want to know, do not need to know, but knowing them will either help you understand why certain things are done a certain way or give you an avenue to do things you may not have tried before.
Welcome to the Rule-Lawyers section!
The world of the realms featured in The Andril Chronicles currently includes the use of Dungeons & Dragons rules from the 5th edition core books (Players Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide To Everything) as well as published adventures and WotC official and semi-official addendums (Tyranny of Dragons, Elemental Evil, Rage of Demons, Storm King's Thunder, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Unearthed Arcana Articles, Addendums, Sage Advice, & Suppliments not covered elsewhere). These will be used and adhered to first unless something campaign setting specific overrules it. If this happens you will be able to find it detailed here, or through discussion with the DM. As with any decent setting and ruleset this is a work in progress and subject to change...thanks for understanding!
Variant & Optional Rules
The following rules include changes that impact Characters, Combat, Downtime, Magic and Setting Specific Changes (Including Races, Classes, Regions, and Monsters) as follows:
Characters
Add
Sanity, Honour, and Comeliness (PHB p264 and See Below for Comeliness)
Use Variant for
Customizing Ability Scores (PHB p13 note: as characters who roll are slightly above standard likewise the point buy and array are slightly elevated from the scale.) Choose one of three options.
Option 1: Rolling - 4d6 keep 3 highest for all ability scores and arrange as desired or,
Option 2: Point Buy - 42 points or,
Option 3: Static Array - 16, 15, 14, 2x13, 2x12, 10, 8.
Use Variant
Human Traits (PHB p31)
Use Variant
Encumbrance (PHB p176)
Use
Backgrounds, Races, Subraces, Classes, Archetypes, Domains, Spells, Factions, and Origins from recognized materials for the campaign contained here and as approved by the DM for clarity.
Add
Renown (DMG p22) Note: Core factions are not readily available at character creation unless selected with a background.
Use
Gain Renown for factions through completing mission and quests furthering the goals of the organization.
Use
Rewards of Renown: Rank, Attitudes of members, Perks, and additional Downtime Activities available.
Add
Piety (DMG p23) Use As Renown it is a specific recording of a character's link to specific gods or powers.
Use
Training to gain Levels (DMG p131) Setting Adjusted: Training only necessary at the change into a higher tier of play, not per level, as follows;
Level Time to Train Training Cost
5th 10 days 20gp
11th 20 days 40gp
17th 30 days 60gp
20th 40 days 80gp
21st and beyond* 50 days + 10 days/lvl beyond 20th 100gp + 20gp/lvl beyond 20th
* Although total class progression is capped at 20th class level, for every 30,000 XP after 20th the character gains an epic level and their total character level increases by 1 for the purpose of gaining experience, however, all other abilities and features remain capped at their 20th level achievements. If the character is multi-classed the total number of character levels also cap at where they were when they reached 20 total character levels. No class levels past 20 are added for hit points/abilities/spells/features, each additional level above 20 gains the bonus of 1 Epic Boon/Alternative to Epic Boon found on p230-232 of the DMG. Preferably the player and DM decide prior to embarking on the epic level what type of boon is saught so that the DM can address this in play.
Use
Epic Boons and Alternatives to Epic Boons (DMG p130-2)
For every level a character attains past 20th after completing the required training receives one of the following;
A) Epic Ability Score Improvement: The character can increase one ability score by 2 or 2 ability scores by 1 each. The ability score can now be increased above 20 to a maximum of 30. OR
B) New Feat: The character gains a new feat. OR
C) Skill Training: The character gains new skills OR
D) Epic Inspiration: The character gains inspiration daily at dawn for the next 1d4+6 days OR
E) Epic Boon: Select one of the Epic Boons.
Use Ability Option:
Proficiency Dice (DMG p263)
A player can opt to replaces a character's proficiency bonus with a proficiency die by announcing this prior to making the attempt. Whenever a feature, such as the rogue's Expertise, lets a character double his or her proficiency bonus, the player rolls the character's proficiency die twice instead of once.
Combat
Variant: Playing on a Grid (PHB p192)
Optional Rule: Diagonal Movement (DMG p252)
Optional Rule: Flanking (DMG p251) Gain advantage on a commonly flanked enemy
Action Options Group (DMG p271-272)
Rules to climb on a bigger creature, disarm opponents, mark an opponent, overrun, shove aside and tumble are in play.
-Use Grapple rules if size difference is up to two sizes larger. When an opponent is three or more size categories larger than it may be treated as terrain using the Climb On To a Bigger Creature Option
-A creature can use a weapon attack to knock a weapon or another item from a target's grasp using the Disarm Option.
-When a creature makes a melee attack, it can also mark its target using the Mark Option. Until the end of the attacker's next turn, any opportunity attack it makes against the marked target has advantage.
-When a creature tries to move through a hostile creature's space, the mover can try to force its way through by overrunning the hostile creature as an action or a bonus action using the Overrun Option.
-The Shoving a Creature action (PHB p195) can be used to force a target to the side, rather than away using the Shove Aside Option.
-A creature can try to tumble through a hostile creature's space, ducking and weaving past the opponent using the Tumble Option.
Hitting Cover (DMG p272)
If an attack roll would hit but doesn't due to cover (not a clear miss), then the attack strikes the cover.
Massive Damage (DMG p272)
When a creature takes damage from a single source equal to or greater than half of it's hit point maximum it must save on a DC 15 Constitution Save or suffer from an effect from the System Shock table.
Injuries (DMG p272)
Lingering injuries can occur when one suffers a Critical Hit, Drops to 0 HP but not killed outright. As with Massive Damage a creature that takes this type of damage must save on a DC 15 Constitution Save or suffer from an effect from the Lingering Injuries table or optionally a type of injury determined by both the player affected and the DM using the table as a guide.
Morale (DMG p273) & Add NPC Loyalty (DMG p93)
Rules for monsters and NPCs and their feelings and reactions when it comes to support or allegiance.
Madness (DMG p258)
Various magical effects can inflict madness on an otherwise stable mind. Certain spells, such as contact other plane and symbol, can cause insanity, and you can use the madness rules here instead of the spell effects in the Player 's Handbook. Diseases, poisons, and planar
effects such as psychic wind or the howling winds of Pandemonium can all inflict madness. Some artifacts can also break the psyche of a character who uses or becomes attuned to them. Resisting a madness-inducing effect usually requires a Sanity saving throw.
Downtime
Variant for Equipment Size (PHB p144)
Slow Natural Healing (DMG p267)
Characters don't regain all hit points at the end of a long rest, instead they spend Hit Dice to heal at a long rest just as a short rest.
Healers Kit Dependency (DMG p266)
A character can't spend any Hit Dice after finishing a short rest until someone expends one use of a healer's kit to bandage and treat the wounds.
Magic
Uncommon and Common Items (potion of healing, potion of climbing and cantrip spell scrolls) may be purchased in very large cities. Common Items may be purchased in towns and larger villages.
Most magic items are considered so rare that they are not available for purchase. (DMG p135)
Selling of magical items is possible through roleplaying interactions, downtime activities (DMG p130) as is the Crafting of Magical Items (DMG p129) using Magic Item Formulas (DMG p141).
More Difficult Magical Item Identification (DMG p136)
Remove ability to identify properties during short rest. Add Requires Identify spell, experimentation, or both to reveal what items do.
Potion Miscibility (DMG p140)
When drinking a potion while still under the effect of another or mixing two potions and drinking the combination.
Scroll Mishap (DMG p140)
Trying and failing to cast a spell from a scroll may result in a mishap.
Wands that don’t recharge (DMG p141)
Increase maximum charges in a wand to 25 but they are not regained once expended short of using Crafting.
House Rules/Campaign Specific Changes
Effects that change the flavor, though not the playability. Some are as basic as name changes while others are complete deviations in order to fit the current events of the setting and era.
Spellcasting
Cantrips
PHB p201 states "A cantrip is a spell that can be cast at will, without using a spell slot and without being prepared in advance."
This is replaced with:
"A cantrip is a spell that can be cast using a cantrip spell slot and without being prepared in advance. A caster has as many cantrip spell slots as number of cantrips known. A spellcaster that has access to cantrips may cast a cantrip using a slot that is of a higher level, a cantrp cast in this way assumes the following effect: this cantrip can be cast at will for the next day or until the next short or long rest, whichever occurs first, without using a spell slot level for that casting. Finishing a short or long rest restores any expended cantrip spell slots (see chapter 8 for the rules on resting)."
Wildshape and Shapechange
PHB p67 states "You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn't change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it. Equipment that merges with the form has no effect until you leave the form."
AND
PHB p275 states "When you transform, you choose whether your equipment falls to the ground, merges into the new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal. The DM determines whether it is practical for the new form to w ear a piece o f equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn't change shape or size to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can’t wear must either fall to the ground or merge into your new form. Equipment that merges has no effect in that state."
These are replaced with:
"When you transform your equipment falls to the ground, it does not merge into the new form and if it can be worn by the new form it must be donned or taken and re-equipped after the change completes. Worn equipment functions as normal. The DM determines whether it is practical for the new form to wear or use a piece of equipment, based on the creature’s shape and size. Your equipment doesn't change shape or size to match the new form, nor does the target of the change or anything worn take damage as a direct result of the change. If the change occurs in a location where the immediate dropping of all equipped items may result in the equipment taking damage or being lost or broken than the result of this will be determined by the DM based on the circumstances of the location. For all intents and purposes after the change to or from the new form the target is considered naked and without the benefit of any equipment immediately after the change of form."
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