The House Rules

Spirit of the Game - Notes

The following will go over some of the general rules and expectations for the game.

1. There is no right or wrong way to play a character. Don't be afraid to make a mistake and don't criticize others for theirs. Keep it to reactions your character would make, not an out of game response to another player.
2. Always act on character knowledge and character motivation if at all possible. I recognize this can't always be the case but do your best to abide by the spirit of putting your character development first.
3. We will be using DND Beyond for all character creation, advancement, and inventory. I can add custom homebrew right into the game and make it available. I've also purchased the majority of rulebooks and addendums so that will be a big player resource.
4. My single biggest pet peeve is sidetalk. We are here to play the game. It is ok to get distracted and go off on tangents but be cognizant and reign it in as best you can. I will gently remind you of that if it goes too far. No judgement but let's stay on task!
5. In lieu of of the sidetalk. No Cell Phones Put them on silence. If you are using them for DND Beyond thats fine.

On Meta & Power Gaming

Meta gaming

Meta Gaming under any circumstance is not cool. There's things those of us who have played before will know but other players may not. Let that knowledge come out in game or in your actions, not in verbalizing something. i.e. that a troll is vulnerable to fire, enemy has x encounter rating, "oh you are a mage do this". I'm not going to be a jerk about it but I will remind you if its something you know that your character does not. Monsters in combat be identified from description, do not make assumptions or comments on challenge rating or npc/monster attributes from the handbooks. Make decisions and comments in-character as much as possible.

Power Gaming

Power gaming is equally discouraged in this campaign. It's not about how much damage you do or how you can game the system. Act as your character would. Not as a number oriented calculator but as an emotional response. We aren't trying to "beat" the game we are trying to experience the story. I will call you out on this privately.  Also worth noting that as a DM I won't fudge die rolls. I expect you not to either. An failed roll can be just as interesting and inventive, if not more so, as a successful one.

Character Creation

Characters will be created individually with the Dungeon Master at character creation session.

Ability Scores

Ability Scores when making a character will adhere to the following criteria.
Roll 4d6 six times, dropping the lowest score. Use rolls in any spot. Option to re-roll entire set if total ability points add up to less than 70. Remember: Low numbers are not a bad thing, they are an opportunity to roleplay!

Character Background

We will have a character creation session and will individually work with the DM to create a canonical backstory for each character. Character background, stats, and abilities will be private to each player until it is revealed in game. Backstory will generally be 1/2 - 1 page in length. DM will help write and finalize character backgrounds and we may do some introductory sessions with smaller groups to get to know each of the characters and feel out how it is to roleplay. DM will also talk with players about goals and fears that their character may experience.
DM will also help players to create goals for each of their characters. Which may be as simple as "I need to get back to my family" or "I want to undo something I caused in the path" to more concrete goals (that may morph as the campaign proceeds.

Character Knowledge

Characters wont always know things their player might. For example when shopping there will be a list of items from that vendor, if theres a specific effect you will be trying to achieve you may have to search for it or roll if you know what you are looking for. This is to avoid the "I want a robe of invisibility or give me a +1 magic sword" This also can relate to how armor is viewed and ac is calculated. Again, these things including the the stat analysis side of things is intentionally subdued in my games. My goal is character and story first, actions and stats second. I don't want it to turn into "Hey I have an AC of 19 so I can tank this thing" When that may not actually be the personality of your character. Or "Hey I need to find a ring of protection to buff my AC". I like to use items and things like that as massive rewards, not as an Amazon.com simulator.

Experience and Leveling Up

Experience will be tracked by milestone, not by encounters or monster experience. You'll also be required to take a long rest. Pacing will be fairly slow. The story will have an impact on your characters outside of stats that will hopefully keep things engaged. This is a journey not a race.

Campaign Goal

The goal of this campaign is to get better at roleplaying, at articulating within the boundaries of the story and explore a fully realized world with developed and tangible characters.

Campaign 1: Rule Changes and Clarifications

House roles include the following list of modifications and additions to the rules as written. This is intended to speed up play, add additional ease of use, and to clarify specific rules. They are open to discussion but will serve as a base for the campaign.

Casting and Material Components

Material Components will be used same in the player handbook. Components that are not consumed will be considered part of your component pouch (or arcane focus). Materials with a gold cost (i.e. Small or Large Diamonds) will be required to be consumed to use (i.e. Chromatic Orb, Revivify). Somatic and verbal descriptions are not required if you do not feel comfortable.

You can describe or just cast the spell by name unless it has aforementioned material components.

Example "I cast magic missile"; No components mentioned. "I take a large diamond out of my pouch and cast Revifify"; The diamond shatters as a glow surrounds the downed character... Consumed components mentioned and then the effect described by DM.

Regarding crafted and created components. Crafted components are valued the same as non-crafted components money wise but will not work in spellcasted due to their inherit magical property disrupting the spell.

Critical Hits (Modified)

Whenever a critical hit as made, just double the damage of the initial roll. This will speed up combat and generally wont affect the outcome of combat.

Identify (Modified)

Identify cast instantly now will tell you information based on a spellcheck. DC10 or Higher will tell you what school of magic and item is from. DC13 or Higher will tell you whether it is a positive use effect or negative use effect (i.e. healing or damage) not to whom it occurs. DC15 or higher gives you all information on the item. Identify used as a ritual by a spellcaster will give you all necessary information upon completion of the ritual

Intimidating Presence (Modified)

Intimidating presence is now based on either Strength or Charisma at discretion of the DM.

Multi-classing

If you want to multi-class you must find a trainer of some sort and spend a little bit of downtime to gain access to the new class abilities. It will be roleplayed.

Non Tracked Character Stats

Encumberance and Standard Ammunition are not tracked. It is assumed you have enough space or ability to carry at the DM's discretion. There may be times where you have not rested or been to a town in a while where there may be rolls for ammunition usage and ability to carry extra large items outside of statistical numbers. DM will still expect magical or non-standard ammunition to be tracked.

Overextend

Some adventurers fight recklessly, allowing them to land cutting blows at the cost of leaving their defenses open to counterattack by opportunistic foes. Once per turn, when you miss with a melee attack, you can choose to reroll the attack with advantage. If you do so, all creatures within 5 feet of you can use a reaction to make a single melee attack against you. Any player may use this action once per round.

Potions (Modified)

Potions may now be used on self as a bonus action. Feeding a potion to another player is still an action.

Resurrection Rules (Courtesy of Matthew Mercer)

If a character is dead, and a resurrection is attempted by a spell or spell effect with longer than a 1 action casting time, a Resurrection Challenge is initiated. Up to 3 members of the adventuring party can offer to contribute to the ritual via a Contribution Skill Check. The DM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the DM feels the contribution would be.

Example: Praying to the god of the devout, fallen character may require an Intelligence (Religion) check at an easy to medium difficulty, where loudly demanding the soul of the fallen to return from the aether may require a Charisma (Intimidation) check at a very hard or nearly impossible difficulty. Advantage and disadvantage can apply here based on how perfect, or off base, the contribution offered is.

After all contributions are completed, the DM then rolls a single, final Resurrection success check with no modifier. The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone (signifying the slow erosion of the soul’s connection to this world). For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1.

Upon a successful resurrection check, the player’s soul (should it be willing) will be returned to the body, and the ritual succeeded. On a failed check, the soul does not return and the character is lost.

Only the strongest of magical incantations can bypass this resurrection challenge, in the form of the True Resurrection or Wish spells. These spells can also restore a character to life who was lost due to a failed resurrection ritual.

If a spell with a casting time of 1 action is used to attempt to restore life (via the Revivify spell or similar effects), no contribution skill checks are allowed. The character casting the spell makes a Rapid Resurrection check, rolling a d20 and adding their spellcasting ability modifier. The DC is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone. On a failure, the character’s soul is not lost, but the resurrection fails and increases any future Resurrection checks’ DC by 1. No further attempts can be made to restore this character to life until a resurrection spell with a casting time higher than 1 action is attempted.

Skill Check Criticals

RAW only attack rolls can crit succeed / crit fail. Ability checks and saving throws can now also be subject to criticals. A critical roll on a saving throw might negate an additional quarter damage as opposed to half on certain spells. This is circumstantial and up the DMs discretion for story purposes.