Vaelreim House Rules

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G
ames taking place in Vaelreim and the 9 Realms are played using the core of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. In this article you will find a compilation of the rullings, variant rules, and homebrew, used in this setting to balance the game and keep it compelling, novel, and fun.

Variant Rules

Feats

While often used, Feats are technically an optional rule per the PHB, but one that is embraced for the Vaelreim setting
A feat represents a Talent or an area of Expertise that gives a character spe⁠cial capabilities. It embodies Training, experience, and abilities beyond what a class provides.

At certain levels, your class gives you the Ability Score Improvement feature. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking that feature to take a feat of your choice instead. You can take each feat only once, unless the feat’s description says otherwise.

You must meet any prerequisite specified in a feat to take that feat. If you ever lose a feat’s prerequisite, you can’t use that feat until you regain the prerequisite. For example, the Grappler feat requires you to have a Strength of 13 or higher. If your Strength is reduced below 13 somehow—perhaps by a withering curse—you can’t benefit from the Grappler feat until your Strength is restored.

The DM may also apply further restrictions to your choice of Feat based on your character. Feats should line up with and highlight a character's training, abilities, and talents. If you wish to take a Feat that is outside of your character's ability, the DM may allow you earn it by dedicating prerequisite amount of downtime to study and training. This training could happen leading up to the level where you take the feat, or you could take the Feat and be unable to use ituntil your training is complete.

Tool Proficiencies

Per the Tool Proficiencies optional rules from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, a player character can use their tool proficiencies to gain additional benefits when making skill checks. For instance a player can use a set of tools they are proficient in to give themselves advantage on a skill check. That player may also gain additional benefits from rolling a success with the check than they would have if they weren't proficient in those tools.

Additional uses and benefits players can get from taking advantage of tool proficiencies are detailed in the Tools, Kits, and Supplies section of this compendium.

Renaissance firearms

In Vaelreim the contributions of artificers and other tinkerers has led to the creation of basic firearms. As of the 1435th year these firearms are common enough to be available in many places but are still very expensive, costing several months wages even for folks living a confortable life. As they are also prone to various malfunctions you will often only found them used by those clever enough to maintain them, or those brash enough to ignore the risks.

See the Equipment section of this compendium for a table containing these weapons. Additional options may be available to your character if they are a gunslinger or an artificer, ask your DM for details.

House rules

Critical Hits

Instead of a player or NPC rolling double dice + modifier for critical hits, they instead roll damage regularly and add the maximum die roll to that as well.

Examples:
criting on a 1d10 +4 attack becomes 1d10 + 10 + 4
criting on a 3d8 spell attack becomes 3d8 + 24

Opportunity Attacks

In addition to the base opportunity attack rules, the following actions also provoke an attack of opportunity to foes within a creature's reach:

• Standing from prone
• Picking up an item

Flanking and Surrounding

When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides or corners of the enemy’s space, they flank that enemy, and each of them adds +2 to melee attack rolls against that enemy.

When a creature and its allies have flanked an enemy and occupy half or more of the spaces adjacent to it, the enemy is surrounded, and each of them adds +5 to melee attack rolls against that enemy.

Some creatures can be immune to flanking and surrounding due to special abilities and characteristics. Creatures with tremorsense or blindsight are immune to flanking, as are creatures that have the ability to see in multiple directions at once.

High Ground

When a creature makes a ranged attack against another creature while standing on terrain that is higher than their target is tall, the higher creature has a high ground advantage and adds a +2 to the attack roll.

Unearthed Arcana Exhaustion Rules

This system replaces the 5th Edition exhaustion rules with the rules introduced in the OneDND playtest. Under these rules, while a character suffers from the Exhausted condition, they have -1 modifier to all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws, as well as their spell save DC. Each consecutive level of exhaustion gained adds an additional -1 to this effect, up to 10 levels of exhaustion. If a character accumulates 10 levels of exhaustion, they die.

Exhaustion Level	Modifier
1	-1
2	-2
3	-3
4	-4
5	-5
6	-6
7	-7
8	-8
9	-9
10	Death

Spell Scroll Requirements

Any character with the Spellcasting or Pact Magic feature can attempt to cast a spell scroll, regardless of the spell's class requirements. All other requirements to cast the spell scroll are unchanged.

To cast a spell that is not on your class's spell list, you must make an ability check using your spellcasting ability to determine whether you cast it successfully. The DC equals 10 + the spell's level. On a failed check, the spell disappears from the scroll with no other effect.

Passing Objects

During play, a character may want to pass an item in their possession to another character, either by handing it off or by tossing it. The object must be something the characters can wield in one or two hands.

On their turn, a character can use their object interaction to pass an object that they are holding to a character within 5 feet of them, allowing the reciever to use their reaction to take the object. If the item is on their person but they aren't holding it, then the passer must use their action to pass the object. Alternatively, a character can use their interaction to take an object from a willing creature.

A character can make a ranged improvised weapon attack to toss an object to a character up to 60 feet away, allowing the receiving character to use their reaction to catch it. If there is nothing to hinder a creature from making the toss (obstacles in the path, hostile creatures within 5 feet of the thrower), then no roll is necessary to successfully pass the object. If the reciever chooses not to catch the object, it instead lands within the space they occupy.

If there are obstacles in the path of the throw, such as a creature, a bookcase, webbing, or a swinging pendulum, the DC of the attack roll is 10. On a failure, the object is stopped by the obstacle and lands in its space. If there are multiple obstacles in the path, or obstacles that make the throw particularly challenging, the DM may choose to increase the DC for a success.

Any creature in the path of the tossed object can attempt to intercept it. To do so they must use their reaction to make a contested Dexterity check against the thrower's attack roll, catching the object on a success.

Resurrection

In Vaelreim, bringing people back from the dead, while possible, is a difficult task for even the most expirenced spellcasters.

• All resurection attempts will conclude with a final check performed by the DM in order to determine if the soul is able to return from the Vael.
• Any resurection spell with a casting time of greater than 1 action requires a resurection ritual, similar to a skill challenge, that will be used to set the difficulty for the final check.
• The difficulty of this final check increases slightly each time a resurection ritual is performed on a individual as their soul becomes more entangled with the Vael.

Resting

Sleeping in Armor
Sleeping in light armor has no adverse effect on the wearer, but sleeping in medium or heavy armor makes it difficult to recover fully during a long rest. When you finish a long rest during which you slept in medium or heavy armor, you regain only one quarter of your spent Hit Dice (minimum of one die). If you have any levels of exhaustion, the rest doesn’t reduce your exhaustion level.
Short Rest Timing
A short rest may take anywhere from 15-60 minutes. The time required increases depending on what the party wishes to accomplish. For example a beserker barbarian stopping to bandage their wounds will not take as long a circle of the land druid who needs to tend to their wounds, commune with nature to regain spell slots, and rest to restore their wild shape ability.
Long Rest
A long rest may restore half or all of a character's hit die depending on the quality of the rest. For example long resting in the middle of a dangerous dungeon vs. resting in rented rooms at a quality tavern. The benefits of a long rest can only be gained once every 24 hours.

Rulings

Listed below are rulings on how certain rules as written are interpreted in play.

Elemental Spell Effects

This is a set of guidelines for adjudicating the effects of certain spells that would intuitively have a natural reaction with the environment or other triggers, such as fire interacting with flammable objects or electricity hitting water. These are up to the DMs discretion. If there's any doubt, a spell does exactly what it says in the description and nothing more.

• Cantrips should generally behave exactly as written. Leveled spells are more potent and expend resources, therefor they can more reasonably have cascading effects in the environment.
• Grease created by the grease spell is flammable.
• Fire: Damaging fire effects should behave per the descriptions in spells like firebolt and fireball, "A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn’t being worn or carried." These spells can reasonably increase the temperature of an object, in correlation with the power of the spell. For instance: a firebolt could leave a doorknob warm to the touch, while scorching ray could make it hot enough to harm someone who grabs it.
• Cold: Spells that deal cold damage such as ray of frost or cone of cold should reasonably reduce the temperature of their target. The drop in temperature should correlate with the power of the spell, for instance: frostbite should not cool down a red-hot bar of steel as much as Snilloc's snowball swarm.
• Lightning: Lightning effects are ripe for abuse, and as such should err towards being restricted to the explicit wording of the spell. They also can benefit from exciting utility in certain circumstances to set them apart and reward creativity. For example shocking grasp could be cast on someone through a metal object, so long as the spell doesn't travel more than 5 feet through that object (through a metal door, for instance). A lightning bolt cast at a pool of water could diffuse along the surface in a 20 foot radius circle, affecting all creatures in contact with the surface of the water. In general, lightning effects should not affect someone in contact with an affected creature, unless it is specified in the spell (a horse would not be affected by a witch bolt that was cast on its rider, for instance).
• Acid: Acid spells should generally work as described in the spell description, but could be used to have small helpful effects at the DM's discretion. For instance, an acid spell could be used to remove rust from an old lock, or strip a coating from an item.
• Thunder: Small and fragile items that are in range of a damaging thunder effect and not being worn or carried should be pushed away, knocked over, or break as appropriate.
• Underwater spellcasting should generally behave rules-as-written, otherwise things quickly get out of control. It's reasonable to explain that spells behave this way because "it's magic".
  While underwater, a creature has disadvantage when making attack rolls with spells that deal acid, cold, and fire damage, and a creature has advantage on saving throws against these spells.
  While underwater, a creature has advantage when making attack rolls with spells that deal thunder and lightning damage, and a creature has disadvantage on saving throws against these spells.

Charisma Checks in Initiative

A creature must use their action to attempt to influence another creature. This includes using a CHA (Intimidation) check to attempt to get an enemy to flee, a CHA (Performance) check to draw a foe's attention away from a vulnerable ally, a WIS (Animal Handling) check to sooth an angry beast, or anything that similarily attempts to alter a creature's behavior.

Equipping Weapons and Items

These rules assume that a character's primary weapons are easily accessible on their person, such as a sword sheathed on a belt, or a bow slung over their back.

• A character may utilize their object interaction to either draw or put away a weapon.
• Equipping or doffing a shield still requires a full action per the Player's Handbook.
• Any item, including a weapon or shield, can be dropped on the ground for free.
• A character may draw a melee weapon as part of the Attack action to attack with it, much like how drawing an arrow is included in making an attack with a bow.
• Taking an item out of a character's pack is a part of the Use an Object action (pulling out a potion to drink, unlooping a grappling hook to throw).

Patch Notes

Matt Mercer Homebrew Blood Hunter Added

Matt Mercer Homebrew Gunslinger Added

This brings the compendium to a total of 14 Classes with 111 Subclasses

Sorcerers use Constitution as their spellcasting stat

Warlocks have the option to use Inteligence as their spellcasting stat

Monk Buffs
-better martial arts die scaling
-additional ki points equal to PB
-removed requirement to use attack action in order to BA martial arts attack or Flurry of Blow, and removed ki fueled attack
-Reworked deflect missile to deflect attack
-increased healing of quickened healing
-stunning strike only once per turn
-Reworked stillness of mind to unwavering
-perfect self moved to Level 15
-New capstone ability Ki Master

Sun Soul Monk rework

Lunar Sorcerer rework
-Subclass is changed from being one with lots of options to choose from, and instead being a subclass that uncontrollably switches between different modes depending on the day in the lunar cycle, but is much more powerful as a result

Theo3000's Ranger rework
-Removed many of rangers super situational abilities and creates a 'skill tree' using these abilities and some new ones. This allows a ranger to be customized for the campaign they are playing in.
-Removed the hunter's mark spell, and reworked it into a core ability of the class.

Theo3000's Storm Sorcerer rework
-Added ability that gives additional thunder and lightning spells so they aren't hampered by sorcerers limited number of spells.
-Added additional options that synergize with using storm spells.

Interception Fighting Style better scaling

Commander coming soon tm