Showing posts with label house rules. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house rules. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Prices for magic items

 Shopkeepers use mundane prices, i.e. a magic ring will only be sold for the price of regular ring, a magic sword for the price of a regular sword.

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Terrain movement modifiers in AD&D 2e

 This isn’t really spelled out in the books so I’m documenting it here. 

Terrain Costs for Overland Movement are multiplied to the distance of the terrain. 

For example, travel over 5 miles of rocky Desert terrain, with a terrain cost of 2, becomes effectively 10 miles of travel.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Daily travel time in AD&D 1e

The PHB states that the players can move their inches rate in miles in "a half day's travel". Would that imply that a full day's travel is double that number? One would assume that means 12 hours, but if you cross-reference those numbers with the DMG, you'll notice those numbers are still too low. But they do work out if you use 14-16 hours of travel per day.

AD&D 1e assumes 16 hours of travel per day.

It may not be the most realistic metric, but I like the idea that characters are spending the entire day sans rest time, traveling. The 12 hour travel rule otherwise gives characters 4 hours of downtime in which they are not sleeping or traveling. AD&D 2e explicitly states 10 hours of travel, allowing for 6 hours of downtime and 8 hours of sleep every day. Kind of a waste, I think, even if it is more realistic.

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

House Rules for 5e

 This is not a typical campaign as I am using a host of variant rules aimed at making this a more engaging and immersive experience. Please read on for details:

Character Creation


Allowed Races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Dragonborn, and Tiefling

Allowed Classes: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Character stats can be generated by using Standard Array or Point Buy.

You may choose starting gold or background equipment for starting equipment.

PHB races and classes only. Subclasses and spells from only one of the following books of your choice: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.  

Races and Classes not listed above are not allowed in this campaign. No Unearthed Arcana allowed, no homebrew.

Skills


Please only roll skill checks when I call for them. Any skill rolls that I did not call for will result in an automatic failure
Persuasion, Deception and Intimidation are not mind-control, they will not function like a Charm Person spell.

Milestone Levels 


Levels will be gained for completing story milestones and time played. The time required per level is shown below:

TierHours of Play to Gain a Level
14
28
312
416

Variant Rules


Variant: Encumbrance 

We are using variant encumbrance rules from the PHB.

 If the total weight you carry is 5 times your strength score, your speed drops by 5 feet. If it is 10 times, your speed drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

You cannot automatically convert currency to the most convenient coinage. You have to carry coins individually until you can convert them at a banker or money changer.


Magic Item Variants 

Potion miscibility.

Wands don't recharge and have a finite amount of uses. To "regain" the charges of a wand, you will have to craft it again.

Roleplay


I prefer role-playing over "roll-playing". This means that I will ask you to describe your character's actions before you attempt to roll the dice. I will ignore any dice rolls that I did not call for. 
I generally assume that your character knows as much as you know, so if you have knowledge of the lore and history of a place, item or monster, you can just convey that to the rest of the party. 

I do not follow the "rule of cool".

Death and Recovery


If your character dies, you may create another one of the same level.

When I ran 5e, I felt like I was fighting the system itself in order to run any kind of campaign through it, as characters had too many spec...