House Rules

A list of house rules in effect for the games I run, in no particular order. Some are common sense and just listed out for clarity.

Make a case for new rules you think up and they can be added.

• Drinking a potion uses a Bonus Action. A potion may also be used as your Action, in which case any dice rolled will be maximized (ie. Healing Potion will recover 10 points).
• Potions come in bottles and are dropped on use automatically. Players will not pick up bottles unless explicitly called out (which is a free action to interact with one mundane object).
• Players may speak at any time combat, out loud and in general. But any conversation with a specific character will need to alternate between the turns of the involved parties. No message may be longer than six seconds.
• The following rolls are VOID:
  1. Rolls not requested by the DM (player rolls perception before prompted to do so)
  2. Misrolled combat (player performs an attack roll instead of a damage roll)
  3. Rolling out of turn, or rolling with invalid bonuses (Failure to add applicable bonuses DOES NOT VOID the roll. It's up to the player to remember what bonuses apply, and be able to justify if challenged)
• Ammo is tracked. All ammo that is non-explosive and does not disappear is eligible for recovery. Your character must take the time to recover them and must be able to see / reach / find them.
  1. Calculate the enemy adjustment number as below:
     • 90% of spent, rounded down, for an encounter of fleshy bodies. Ex: 12 arrows used = 10 adjusted arrows.
     • 30% of spent, rounded down, for an encounter of armored/bony opponents. Ex: 12 arrows used = 4 adjusted arrows.
     • 10% of spent on enemies that were not felled. In general, arrows are not removed from the wounded on the battlefield so would travel with the escapee. Ex 12 arrows used = 1 adjusted arrow.
  2. Multiply by the environment, higher numbers represent locations where is it easier to recover arrows that have not been irredeemably damaged.
     • Natural, lush environments (plain, forest, road, dirt, beach, etc): 90% rounded down. Ex: 10 adjusted arrows = 9 recovered arrows.
     • Urban, rocky environments (city, caves, street, stores, dungeons): 50% rounded down. Ex: 10 adjusted arrows = 5 recovered arrows.
• Inspiration
  1. Inspiration may be used to force a reroll of any one die at any time for any reason. This includes damage dice, hit dice, encounter rolls, any table that was rolled for a material purpose like Wild Magic.
  2. Players can use inspiration for rolls made for themselves, other players, NPCs, monsters, anything.
  3. A player may volunteer to take adventure notes for any particular session. Upon completion, and sharing with the group, their character earns inspiration if they do not already have one.
• Breaking things
  1. Breaking things with weapons or tools is a matter of fact, not a chance. Rolling for damage is unnecessary.
  2. Not having the appropriate tools means you simply cannot open. Think metal doors, stone above-ground walls, certain fragile glasses and crystals.
  3. If you think it should work, but the DM disagrees, obvious the DM ruling prevails. They know more about the material and substance than you do.
  4. Instead of keeping track of damage and rolling, this is mostly a function of time.
  5. Some examples:
     • A piercing weapon will not do anything for opening a wooden chest. A slashing tool might work, eventually, might take a few hours. A bludgeoning tool is better, it could take anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour depending on the wood and the characters attacking it.
     • "Clever" ways to open with weapons will be allowed, but keep in mind there may be side effects you will have to deal with: using your sword as a prying tool will most certainly harm it, or make the magical properties thereof lose focus harming whatever magical bonus that was conferred.
  6. Do not expect breaking to be quiet.
  7. Breaking bottles will not be able to recover the liquid inside them in appreciable quantities, unless measures are taken specifically to preserve them.
  8. A player may use knowledge to target a weak point, such as a rope holding a bridge up. A character may roll to discover a weak point and choose to exploit it, if so equipped.

Rejected House Rules

• Natural 1 does not automatically fail skill checks
• Natural 20 does not automatically succeed at skill checks
• Natural 1 on combat rolls to not self-injure