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View Full Version : Scrutinize my Houserules [Episode 2]



Bjarkmundur
2021-09-26, 06:27 AM
Houseruled Mechanics


Special Actions

Block Path

As an action, you brace yourself against incoming attackers. Until the start of your next turn, any creature of your size or smaller that attempts to move past you has to succeed on a contested Strength ability check or lose their movement for that turn.

Choke-outs

You can attempt to choke out a target if you have advantage on the attack roll and either have both hands free or are wielding a garrote. As an action, make a contested Strength ability check. On success the target is grappled. If you maintain this grapple using your action each turn for a number of rounds equal to the target’s Constitution modifier the target is knocked unconscious for 1d4 rounds.

Tactical Strike

You can attempt to attack an enemy to have a special effect by reducing the attack’s damage to 0. An example of this would be making an attack for 0 damage, but also knocking an item out of a creature’s hand, hindering its movement, shoving it or tripping.

Death From Above

If you are positioned at least 10 feet above a creature you can perform a drop-down attack as an action on your turn. As a part of the action, move up to half your speed, initiate the fall, and make a single melee weapon attack against the target.
On hit, you deal an additional 1d4 damage for every 10 feet you traveled vertically, and take an equal number of 1d4 falling damage as you land. If the target is one size category larger than you or smaller, the target also falls prone.
On miss, you fall prone in an unoccupied square within 5 feet of your target and take falling damage as normal.

Modified Rules

Critical Hits

Critical hits don’t deal additional damage but instead you roll a 1d12, add your level to the result, and consult the Crit Table (https://sterlingvermin.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/critical-hits-revisited.pdf).
For expediency, the DM can instead have minor NPCs deal twice their average damage, such as enemies with a CR under 1 or when rolling for multiple creatures at a time.

Death Saving Throws

A long rest recovers one failed death saving throw. All accumulated failed death saving throws are removed at the end of a downtime.

Dying

Dying works as normal, but the Unconscious condition has been replaced with the similar custom condition “Helpless” to better describe what's happening in the narrative. This clarifies that non-actions such as talking are still possible.
In addition, a dying character gains access to the special action Last Stand.

Last Stand
When a dying character makes a successful death saving throw on his turn he has the ability to make his Last Stand. Roll a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On success, your character can take a single action on his turn. On a fail, you gain one failed death saving throw.

Fall Damage

Fall damage has been increased to 1d10 per 10 feet. A successful DC 13 Dexterity (Mobility) check can reduce the damage by 1d10, and a DC 17 check reduces it by 2d10.
A character can use his action to lower himself down a ledge, reducing the effective fall by 10 feet.
If you take more than 10 damage as a result of falling you also suffer one Minor Injury (https://sterlingvermin.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/critical-hits-revisited.pdf). If the damage is more than 20, you instead suffer a Major Injury (https://sterlingvermin.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/critical-hits-revisited.pdf).

Hit Points

The way your maximum hit points are determined has been modified. To calculate your character’s hit points simply fill in your Hit Dice and Constitution modifier on this (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1h-9OTJsJfmcJOFCkYXFgCcxVPsQJhpJQwiNGej9NbEo/edit?usp=sharing) spreadsheet.

I’ve seen some confusion regarding what Hit Points, and Attack rolls in general, represent within the game of Dungeons and Dragons:

Even when no rolls are being made, combat consists of constant feints, jabs, parries and repositionings.
An attack roll represents the moment a character decides to press the assault. He might lead with a series of smaller attacks, a verbal distraction or simply spot a momentary opening in his opponent’s defenses.
Sometimes the attack strikes armor, and sometimes the defender reacts quickly enough to counter, and the attack is unsuccessful.
When a player hits with an attack roll and deals damage it does not necessarily mean severely injuring the defender, but instead successfully taking a step towards tiring him out. Successful attacks catch the defender off guard, which results in him having to defend from an awkward position, costing a lot of effort, in order to stay alive. Doing so repeatedly leaves him fatigued, cut and bruised. A character with a lot of Hit Points can take more punches to the head and more small cuts before becoming too overwhelmed to fight back. The defender is worn down, until he can no longer stand upright, falls, and becomes Helpless. Many combatants know what's in store long before that happens, and might attempt to flee or give up before they completely run out of options.

When you are down half your hit points you are considered Bloodied. When an attack depletes your hit points completely you fall down Helpless.


Inspiration

Inspiration is a resource gifted by players for creativity, prioritizing roleplay, bribing the DM, and generally being an upstanding player. Inspiration can be given for doing something that yields no mechanical benefit in order to better portray your character, serve the story or immerse the players. As such, Inspiration is a method to move away from metagaming in order to focus on better overall storytelling.
A player starts each session with one inspiration token, and can have a maximum of two unused tokens at any given time. Inspiration can be used in one of three different ways:

Healing Surge
You can use one Inspiration token to restore your vigor. You regain a number of hit points equal to 1d6 + your level.

Reroll
You can use one Inspiration token to reroll one d20, or have the DM reroll a saving throw, but you must use the second result.

Make a narrative declaration
You can use one Inspiration token to alter details regarding the current narrative, within reason.

Injuries

Injuries are included in my game and come in two variants; Minor and Major Injuries. A player character has a chance of gaining an Injury as a result of a Critical Hit, Fall Damage or via a consequence, as determined by your DM.
Injuries include conditions such as disadvantage on certain actions, reduced maximum hit points, reduced movement speed, temporary adverse conditions such as stunned or unconscious, and more. The full list of Injuries can be found on the second-to-last page of this (https://sterlingvermin.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/critical-hits-revisited.pdf) document.
Although Injuries are always included, the method for how they are resolved, and whether they can be fatal or not, is negotiable by the players during Session 0. They have the following options for how Minor and Major Injuries are resolved:


When your character is restored to full health.
At the end of a short rest.
By the use of the Cure Wounds spell.
At the end of a Long Rest.
By the use of the Lesser Restoration Spell
By spending his Downtime doing nothing.
By the use of Greater Restoration spell.


For example, Minor Injuries can be resolved by the Cure Wound spell, and all subsequent actions on the list. Major Injuries can be resolved by the use of the Lesser Restoration Spell, and all subsequent actions on the list. Short Rests and current Hit Points are listed before Cure Wounds, and therefore have no effect on your Injuries.

It's also worth noting that creatures in encounters that are meant to be challenging but not life-threatening to the players, will not roll on the Critical Hit table like the players do. They will instead only deal additional damage when rolling a natural 20 on an Attack roll.

MulticlassingAt my table we use a limited multiclassing system. This is done to reduce metagame-shenanigans whilst keeping in-game shenanigans intact.
To multiclass you simply spend your downtime training for a secondary role, the Warrior, the Specialist or the Spellcaster. The next time you would gain a level in your class you can then choose to instead gain a level in your secondary class instead.
More details can be found in the Downtimes section.


RestingHit Dice are referred to as “Short Rest Healing”.

10-minute Break
A 10-minute break is a short period of downtime, just long enough to catch one’s breath. During it PCs can use up to half their remaining Short Rest Healing to regain hit points.
It is not advised to take a breather where a battle has taken place, since the sounds of battle might have alerted nearby enemies.

Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime, typically 1-2 hours long, during which the PCs might have a meal, clean their weapons, read over his prepared spells, perform a ritual, take a nap, or prepare for the day ahead in any other way. During a short rest, a PC regains expended uses of some of his abilities and can use any remaining Short Rest Healing to regain hit points.
Be careful, however, since short rest in a hostile environment might trigger a random encounter.
Each character can benefit from a maximum of two short rests per day.

Long Rest
A long rest is a period of extended downtime in a safe environment and includes a good night’s sleep. At the end of a long rest, you regain all lost Hit Points, all expended uses of your abilities and half your Short Rest Healing pool.

Hostile Environments & Random Encounters
Some environments are simply too dangerous to risk a rest and a DM might specify that the players cannot benefit from a rest while in certain locations. During a rest in a hostile environment, the players make a single luck roll. On an unlucky result, there’s a random encounter. Players may gain advantage or suffer disadvantage on this roll, based on various factors.


Two-Weapon Fighting
Base Rules
If you have the Extra Attack Class feature, your secondary attack deals an additional die of damage.

Fighting Style
You ignore the light requirement for Two-Weapon Fighting.

Rewards & TreasureTo determine your reward, roll a 1d6, add the sum of your level and appropriate Renown, if applicable, and consult the reward table (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NfxAz5ipRDEIQwfs1JWnRwxZ6-vRVa9SveIrcwBPu7U/edit?usp=sharing).

ExhaustionReplacing the standard exhaustion table, when exhausted your hit point maximum is instead reduced by half until the end of your next long rest.

Optional RulesUse Average ResultAny dice roll that does not include a d20 has the average result of the roll displayed next to it on your character sheet. You can substitute the roll for its average result, but you must choose to do so before the roll is made. This can be used when rolling for damage, Hit Dice and even Treasure!

Spell ChangesOptional changes to Sleep, Color Spray, Cure Wounds and Witch Bolt can be found here (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/r1ce8aCSH).

New RulesLuck RollsWhen the result of any action is determined by fate alone, the DM can ask a player to make a luck roll. A luck roll is an unmodified d20 roll with a DC of 10 for a lucky result.

Resurrection When a spell other than Wish brings a character back from the dead it anchors the character's soul to the material plane. If the same character dies a second time this anchor causes his soul to be torn to pieces as it tries to move on to the afterlife, creating a mindless (and very angry) Spectre (https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Specter#content) in the character's image which attacks on sight. The character's soul is torn and cannot be resurrected again.

Bjarkmundur
2021-09-26, 06:00 PM
Alright, giant infodumps with no explanations, background or design goals don't do well. Noted.🤷

I'll make my next post a bit more bite-sized, and maybe go into the thought process, assuming that's what people engage with?

Ilerien
2021-09-27, 03:16 AM
Alright, giant infodumps with no explanations, background or design goals don't do well. Noted.🤷

I'll make my next post a bit more bite-sized, and maybe go into the thought process, assuming that's what people engage with?Dunno, I'm fine with walls of text. :D
Let's see...
Block Path

As an action, you brace yourself against incoming attackers. Until the start of your next turn, any creature of your size or smaller that attempts to move past you has to succeed on a contested Strength ability check or lose their movement for that turn.I think you have to define formally what constitutes "moving past a creature". Also, a cloud giant blocking path for a rat looks weird, so probably no more than 2 size categories smaller?
Choke-outs

You can attempt to choke out a target if you have advantage on the attack roll and either have both hands free or are wielding a garrote. As an action, make a contested Strength ability check. On success the target is grappled. If you maintain this grapple using your action each turn for a number of rounds equal to the target’s Constitution modifier the target is knocked unconscious for 1d4 rounds.Why not use standard grapple rules? If you're grappling with both hands or a garrote (in this case, can substitute Strength (Athletics) with Dexterity (Sleight of Hand)), you can try to choke the target.
Tactical Strike

You can attempt to attack an enemy to have a special effect by reducing the attack’s damage to 0. An example of this would be making an attack for 0 damage, but also knocking an item out of a creature’s hand, hindering its movement, shoving it or tripping.Can actually cannibalize battle master maneuvers. But instead of dealing bonus damage, deal no damage.
Death From Above

If you are positioned at least 10 feet above a creature you can perform a drop-down attack as an action on your turn. As a part of the action, move up to half your speed, initiate the fall, and make a single melee weapon attack against the target.
On hit, you deal an additional 1d4 damage for every 10 feet you traveled vertically, and take an equal number of 1d4 falling damage as you land. If the target is one size category larger than you or smaller, the target also falls prone.
On miss, you fall prone in an unoccupied square within 5 feet of your target and take falling damage as normal.Shouldn't the target be at least entitled for a save not to drop prone?
Critical Hits

Critical hits don’t deal additional damage but instead you roll a 1d12, add your level to the result, and consult the Crit Table.
For expediency, the DM can instead have minor NPCs deal twice their average damage, such as enemies with a CR under 1 or when rolling for multiple creatures at a time.Critical hit tables look sound. I might want to change something minor (like maybe get rid of that 1 on d12, a crit without a crit sounds very disappointing), but they're quite good overall! I'd say resistance to the damage type in question should grant "disadvantage", and vulnerability should grant "advantage". And if a supposed crit deals no damage at all, either due to immunity to damage type or some sort of damage reduction, a crit should have no additional effects.
As for injury tables, my nitpicky soul is bugged by the fact different creatures might have different general anatomies. Even playable races have additional limbs sometimes... Delving into it kinda contrary to general 5e premise, but if you aren't afraid of this, might be useful to have different tables for some common types of creature anatomy.
Death Saving Throws

A long rest recovers one failed death saving throw. All accumulated failed death saving throws are removed at the end of a downtime.I presume, successful death saving throws get cleared out after a characters becomes stable or regains at least 1 hit point? I can see potential issues. Might be better to use exhaustion levels?..
Last Stand
When a dying character makes a successful death saving throw on his turn he has the ability to make his Last Stand. Roll a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On success, your character can take a single action on his turn. On a fail, you gain one failed death saving throw.Looks good.
Fall Damage

Fall damage has been increased to 1d10 per 10 feet. A successful DC 13 Dexterity (Mobility) check can reduce the damage by 1d10, and a DC 17 check reduces it by 2d10.
A character can use his action to lower himself down a ledge, reducing the effective fall by 10 feet.
If you take more than 10 damage as a result of falling you also suffer one Minor Injury. If the damage is more than 20, you instead suffer a Major Injury.Did you mean Dexterity (Acrobatics)?
I do like the increase of falling damage.
Hit Points

The way your maximum hit points are determined has been modified. To calculate your character’s hit points simply fill in your Hit Dice and Constitution modifier on this spreadsheet.Changing max HP calculation that drastically opens all kinds of cans of worms. I agree characters should have, like, their constitution score added to their max HP so 1st level characters don't die during their first combat encounter (my poor hexblade got ambushed and one-shotted by an assassin vine! :( ). But then your table slows max HP progression approximately 3 times, and this will have drastic influence on combat at level 5+. So it should warrant monster and spell damage recalculation. Also, healing and temp HP should be affected too. Do you recalculate monsters' HP as well?
Two-Weapon Fighting

Base Rules
If you have the Extra Attack Class feature, your secondary attack deals an additional die of damage.Tbh, I like another fix that relies on Extra Attack: if you have the ability to attack at least twice with your attack action, you can perform an additional attack using two-weapon fighting as part of the same attack action. Basically, frees up your bonus action to do something else.
Yours might have minor unintended effects like making a single attack more powerful (especially with the right value rolled on d12 in case of crit).
You ignore the light requirement for Two-Weapon Fighting.Overlaps with the Dual-Wielder feat.
Replacing the standard exhaustion table, when exhausted your hit point maximum is instead reduced by half until the end of your next long rest.So no exhaustion levels at all?
Resurrection

When a spell other than Wish brings a character back from the dead it anchors the character's soul to the material plane. If the same character dies a second time this anchor causes his soul to be torn to pieces as it tries to move on to the afterlife, creating a mindless (and very angry) Spectre in the character's image which attacks on sight. The character's soul is torn and cannot be resurrected again.This is kinda harsh. I'm sure a lot of faiths will flat out forbid their clerics to do any resurrection shenanigans because this way it will surely result in the poor soul's destruction given time.
Maybe this anchor should exist for some limited time?

BerzerkerUnit
2021-09-27, 07:57 AM
Choke Out needs to grant advantage to attackers I think.

Tactical Strike is maybe not so good if it’s replacing standard shove and trip attacks. For example, you’re fighting a creature with extremely high AC and the whole party is struggling to hit, knocking them prone is probably far easier than landing the hit and will help other attackers, but it’s unlikely to happen if you have to land an attack to do it.

Yakk
2021-09-27, 11:34 AM
Block Path:
This is just "ready action grab" but works on infinite foes and defenders can't use dex and skills are removed.

Choke-out:
On a +0 or lower con foe ths is an instant KO.

On a high con foe, this is mostly a waste, as the foe is likely to be dead before the counter runs out.

Also differs from Grapple in strange ways.

Tactical Strike:
Sure.

Death from Above:
Simplify and just split the falling damage in half.

Critical Hits:
These happen a lot with some builds. It will get ridiculous.

Death:
Sure. Looks like modified gritty.

Dying:
Meh, a roll that leads to a roll.

Maybe just make death saving throws to be constitution saving throws with a DC of 15.

Falling:
Those are strange DCs.

A 4e rule that is decent is reduce damage by half of your Dexterity(Blah) check. This is similar to your rule, but less to memorize.

Hit Points:
You seem to love spreadsheets and tables.

It is "double HP at level 1, -1 and halved at higher levels".

I don't get why you are using a spreadsheet when you round down every level.

A d10 HD gives 4 extra HP at level 1 and zero at other levels compared to a d8 HD at 14 con. 16 con does nothing for a d8 HD past level 1, but gives that d10 HD person 1 HP/level.

So, very meh.

I'm guessing no multiclassing either?

Try "sum of max HD/4". And (level/2 times con bonus). That covers your advancement cleaner than your spreadsheet.

Hit Dice are referred to as “Short Rest Healing”.

Ok, that seems pointlessly confusing.

In any case, it appears you added a 2 short rests/day and a 10 minute half short rest break. This overall looks like it makes short-rest based classes worse? Do you have a problem with them being overly strong?

Two-Weapon Fighting

Sure. Still make level 11+ fighter TWF fail to scale.

Fighting Style

While DW is a bit of a feat tax, I think having twf use smaller weapons than s+b fighters is good for the game-feel. I'd rather make them viable without people dual wielding long swords all the time.

Exhaustion

Ok, so now it takes you out of being a viable combatant at 1 exhaustion, then does nothing.

Resurrection

Ok, so don't resurrect people. If people know about this, resurrecting someone will be a high crime. The worst penalty will be being put to death, resurrected, then killed again in a magic circle surrounded and forbiddance enchanted location that causes the Spectre to be destroyed.

The 2nd death is performed by a gillotine or similar, so only the Spectre is inside the circle. It takes 5d10 damage per round, usually dying instantly; if it survives, it is trapped in the magic circle, and dies within seconds.

Witnesses watch as the condemned soul is fried in agony.