Leaflet, Inc.

House Rules

The following rules are a combination of house and variant rules and, as such, represent a divergence from the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition as written and published by Wizards of the Coast.

Levelling Up

This campaign will use Milestone Levelling. Characters will level up, together, at certain points within the campaign.

This comes with a few benefits: You don't always have to fight, and if you do fight, you don't always have to kill your opponents. Dead NPCs tell no tales...and that can work both for and against the party.

Variant Rule: Proficiency Dice

Under this rule, the usual Proficiency Bonus is replaced by a Proficiency Die which increases in value as character level increases. Any time a proficiency bonus would apply to a roll, add the value of a roll of the character's proficiency die to the roll instead of proficiency bonus.

CHOOSE A SPECIFIC DIE OR DICE FROM YOUR COLLECTION TO SERVE AS YOUR PROFIENCY DI-E/CE - This will make it easier to disambiguate your proficiency die from any die involved in a damage roll.

If a value that does not involve a roll would utilize the character's proficiency bonus, use the standard bonus for the character's level instead.

The following table indicates the proficiency bonus and proficiency die for each player level:

Level Bonus Die % worse % better
1 +2 1d4 25% 50%
5 +3 1d6 33% 50%
9 +4 1d8 38% 50%

DM Discretion on Checks

Sometimes, the opportunity to utilize or participate in a skill or ability check may only be extended to characters who are proficient with a given skill. It's common knowledge that you can apply pressure to stop bleeding, or that CPR can be performed. Without proficiency in Medicine however, you could potentially just be squeezing / crushing somebody, or pounding on their chest really well with a high roll, while actually making the problem worse.

Additionally, knowing what a tool is and owning that tool doesn't mean you have a clue how to use it. Tools always require proficiency to use to any great effect...attempting to use a tool with which you lack profiency may lead to complications or higher DCs.

Critical Success / Failure

A critical roll applies only to attack rolls and only affects rolled damage dice for an attack. Modifiers and additional effects are not modified by a critical hit.

A critical failure may or may not have consequences in addition to automatically missing the attack, depending on circumstances.

Example of possible consequences for a Critical Failure

Gurgand swings his rapier at a stone wall…and critically fails. Possible outcomes might be disadvantage on one or more future attacks due to the shock of the impact jamming their wrist, or perhaps even damage to the weapon's blade, resulting in a negative penalty to damage rolls until the blade can be re-sharpened / re-honed by a blacksmith, or by using a whetstone.

Saves, skill checks, and ability checks are not affected by critical rolls. Their outcome is based on whether or not they meet or exceed the DC for the check, and potentially by what margin.

Determining critical hit damage - Variant Rule: MAXRoll+

To determine the damage of a critical hit, add the maximum possible roll for the attack's damage dice to a single roll of the attacks damage dice.

Example

Stavros the Ranger (DEX + 2) critically hits an enemy with his Shortbow (1d6+DEX).
Stavros deals 6+1d6+DEX damage.

Variant Rule: Healing Surges

Heroes of spell and blade are particularly resilient compared to the average commoner, and can draw on their inner wellspring of determination and vigor to surpass the limits of their normal tolerance for pain and injury.

Activating a Healing Surge

A character may expend 1 Action to activate a Healing Surge.

When activated, that character may spend up to ½ of their maximum hit die to heal themselves. The amount healed is equal to the roll plus their CON modifier (minimum of 0). The player may roll these dice one at a time.

This action may not be taken again until the character has completed a short or long rest.

Regaining Hit Dice

A player regains hit dice equal to ¼ of their current character level, rounded down (minimum 1) on a short rest.

On a long rest, all hit die are restored.

Medium and heavy armor are difficult to rest in...If you wear your medium / heavy armor throughout a long rest, you regain only ¼ of your hit dice (minimum of 1) (XGE, p77)

Variant Rule: Flanking & Surrounding

Players can gain a tactical advantage over their opponents by strategically maneuvering around the battlefield, leaving their enemies few or no routes of escape.

Flanked

A creature is considered to be flanked if two of its enemies are within melee range on opposite sides of the creature. This opposition may occur across diagonal lines.

Any melee attack made against a flanked creature is made with a +1 bonus to the attack roll.

Surrounded

A creature is considered to be surrounded if four of its enemies are within melee range of the creature, on two sets of opposing sides. This opposition may occur across diagonal lines.

Any melee attack made against a surrounded creature is made with a +2 bonus to the attack roll.

n.b., the DM will clarify whether flanked or surrounded status applies when asked, but it is up to the players to remember to make use of this benefit.

Quibbles and Quandries

D&D is as much about making the rules work for the situation at hand as it is anything. With that in mind, I've put some thought into various situations and questions.

Drinking Potions

To drink a potion during combat, you must:

Using Spell Scrolls

To use a spell scroll, the spell must be on your class spell list. If the spell is of a higher level than you are able to cast, you must succeed on an ability check using your spell casting stat, with a DC equal to 10 + the spell's level.

Examples

Durwood is Barbarian. Durwood cannot read any spell scrolls. Durwood cannot read at all. Poor Durwood.

Petunia is a 3rd level Wizard. She wants to read a Scroll of Fireball. Her highest spell slot is is 2nd level, and Fireball is a 3rd level spell. She must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence check in order to cast Fireball from the scroll.

Aldo is a 5th level Cleric of the Light domain. He wants to read a Scroll of Find Familiar. Since a Light domain Cleric cannot learn this spell, Aldo cannot use the scroll.

Grestacian is a 20th level Arcane Trickster Rogue. Grestacian wants to read a Scroll of Wish. Hey, wait a minute, Grestacian...Where'd you get that kind of money? Hey...where's my Vorpal Blade? Where's Petunia's Ioun Stone of Intellect? Grestacian! WHAT DID YOU DO, GRESTACIAN?

“But that's athletics, not acrobatics !”

This is a judgment call for any DM. In the most general of terms, Strength (Athletics) is jumping like the Incredible Hulk, while Dexterity (Acrobatics) is sticking the landing. Athletics and Acrobatics don't necessarily have to be based on Strength and Dexterity, either, though those are their base stats. If you're proficient in Athletics, it's a good bet that you know how to swim...but there's a difference between swimming across a river quickly (Strength), and having the endurance to make the crossing (Constitution). You might even have to dodge debris floating downstream while you do it (Dexterity)! In any of these situations, you'd still use your proficiency with Athletics to accomplish the task.

Jumping

Making a long jump with a running start can lead to a potential jump distance that would result in moving further than your movement speed would allow. This leads to weird mechanics during combat...like being suspended mid-air during a jump at the end of your turn. The rules for movement (PHB, p190) are pretty clear...you can't surpass your maximum speed on a turn. So here's the deal: If you want to make a long jump with a running start, it requires a minimum of 10 feet for the running start (PHB, p182), and allows you to cover a distance of up to your Strength score...if that distance would surpass your movement speed (including the 10-foot run-up), you must take the Dash action on your turn, or any other action / bonus action that increases your movement speed to cover the distance of the jump.

Drawing / Stowing Weapons & Shields

We're going with the RaW for this.

Two-Weapon Fighting

Regardless of whether you've taken the Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style, attacking with the second weapon requires one Bonus Action, and both weapons must be light in order for your character to dual-wield (Exception: The Dual Wielder feat removes the light restriction). The only benefit to this fighting style is that it allows you to add your melee attack damage modifier to the off-hand weapon's damage rolls, which you would otherwise be unable to do.

ANY character can hold a light weapon in each hand, and use a bonus action to attack with the off-hand weapon, regardless of whether they know the Two-Weapon Fighting style or not.

Example of Two-Weapon Fighting

Thalia is a fighter (dexterity based, DEX +3), and has learned the Two-Weapon Fighting style. She also has the Extra Attack feature. She wields two shortswords which are finesse weapons, allowing them to utilize Dexterity.

Thalia attacks with her main hand weapon as her action...Her attack roll is 1d20+Proficiency+3(DEX) for her first attack, and the damage is 1d6+3(DEX). She uses her extra attack to swing this weapon again, using the same rolls.

Thalia then uses here bonus action to swing her off-hand weapon, using the same rolls.

If she did not have the Two-Weapon Fighting style, the damage of her off-hand attack would instead be 1d6 with no stat bonus added, though her attack roll would remain the same.