With the "living" style of campaign that I've set up I try to stay as close to the rules as written as I can. However, there are a few house rules that I play by and I wanted to list them here. Everybody Gets One Despite
my profile picture, I allow each player to have a single take-back
during a session. This take-back can be used to cancel something you
have done on your turn. For example if you attacked the wrong creature
you could cancel that attack and roll your attack against a different
creature. If it's something that only affects you and not the game
world, such as tipping the barmaid too much gold, I may allow a
take-back from your previous turn. What you can't use a take-back for :
canceling a movement that triggered an ambush or a trap. Canceling an
event that happened several turns back. Also you can't use a take-back
to re-roll the dice and you can't tell me you want me to take-back
something I did. The intent of the take-back is to cover you in the event of an honest mistake. It is not meant to be used tactically in any way. Fumble Rules A fumble is when a die is rolled and a natural 1 comes up. You may have stumbled for a moment, or fizzled a spell, or sneezed. Attacks :
A fumbled attack roll, whether melee, ranged, or magical, causes you to
grant advantage to all attack rolls until the start of your next turn. Ability Checks: You
fail spectacularly, or "epic fail" in the parlance of our times. The
penalty for this depends on the check you were trying to perform. Social
check fumbles mean you have made a faux pas in the extreme and future
interactions will be impacted. Physical skill check fumbles could mean
you fall prone, mash your finger in the doorjamb, or tie an extremely
weak knot in the rope. Knowledge check fumbles would mean your
information is way off. 3d6 This is everybody's
favorite rule. I know that normally with D&D players can roll 4d6
and drop the lowest die result. This generates a very uniform character
with 10-14 in every attribute and the occasional outlier of 16 or more. I
find those characters very boring and one-dimensional. I ask for 3d6
because you have the same odds of getting an 18 as you do a 3. I'm not
some draconian GM who delights in seeing the suffering of players (I
have been accused of this). I just like characters with character .
I want you to have an 18 in an attribute but I also want you to have a 4
or 5 in something else and then see how you overcome that debility. Knowledge Check During
your turn you may move your speed, take an action, and interact with
the environment (or your pack) one time for free. Subsequent
interactions with the environment (or your pack) require you to use your
action. Also one time for free during your turn you may make a single knowledge check (Arcana, Nature,
Religion, etc). Spellcasting If your class has access to the
Spellcasting feature you may choose to use the Spell Slots by level as
per the PHB ~or~ the Spell Points variant rule as per the DMG p.289. Spell
Points will be tracked on the green bar of your token. For classes that
already used that bar (ex: Paladin Lay on Hands, Fighter Superiority
Die, etc) you'll have to track those using an icon. For simplicity,
Paladins may track their Lay on Hands in increments of 5 with the 'Fist'
icon. See the board for an example. My Forgotten Realms This campaign takes place in 1374 DR, "Year of Lightning Storms". Please note this is prior to the Spellplague. Tracking Time At the start of each session I will ask you where you have been staying and what you have been doing since the last time your character played. This is an opportunity for roleplay of course, but I also need to know what Lifestyle you're maintaining (PHB p.157). At the start of the campaign the only Lifestyles available in Red Larch are Wretched (homeless), Poor (Mother Yalantha's), Modest and Comfortable (The Swinging Sword). Both Poor and Comfortable lifestyle costs include regular bathing and laundry services from Haeleeya's. If there has been some calendar time since your character's last adventure then you may also commit some time on 'Downtime Activities' such as crafting, performing a trade, or practicing a profession (PHB p.187). Please be ready with this information. Since it all happened in the past and is therefore background I don't want to spend a lot of time on it during the session. Random Loot ~or~ Faction Points If you want to see the thought process behind this check out this forum post . There are two ways of gaining magic items (hereafter called "loot") in this campaign. Random drops or Faction Points. The Random drop is handled the usual way with D&D. You find a magic item and discuss with your party how to handle its distribution. For those players who don't like the process of loot distribution, or who want more control over the direction of their equipment, there is the second option: Faction Points. Faction Points are the same idea as Renown in the official Wizards public play rules and in the DMG. The way they're handled in this campaign is that your faction contact rewards you with an item that you can use when you complete a major task or quest. It represents your faction's investment in you as an adventurer and your future endeavors. The way Faction Points work is that you gain one point each time you complete a major quest. This will usually coincide with those times when a boss monster "drops" magic items for those who chose Random Loot (but not always). You will only ever gain one point no matter how difficult the challenge was. You then reference this list (see the equipment tab) and PM me between sessions on what items you'd like to 'buy'. Then, the next time you meet with your faction contact you are rewarded with the item you selected. (I need some lead time to get pictures uploaded as handouts, etc). You may trade in items gained with Faction Points for their full point value in exchange for another item. The idea is exactly the same as rolling for Hitpoints or taking median; do you want to gamble? I have no say in how Random Loot is distributed; this is entirely up to those players who want to participate. Further, if you chose Faction Points you have no claim to Random Loot, or its distribution. It's as if the item does not exist to your character's knowledge until after it gets distributed. Magic items cannot be sold. Once an item has been taken/accepted by a character it is permanently 'bound' to them. They can leave it in their study or war room but they cannot give it to another character. However, when magic items drop and there are no 'random loot' players, those items go into the Armory. At the start of each session all 'random loot' players distribute all the items in the Armory between themselves. Raw cash (and usually gems and art objects) is split evenly as always. I will ask each new character if they want to go Random or Faction Loot. This choice is per-character, and it is permanent . Paladin Mount; Find Steed You send me a PM with a picture of your desired mount. This can be anything that could normally carry a person as a mount (four legs and one size category larger than you are). Choose from the beasts listed in the spell description (a warhorse, a pony, a camel, an elk, or a mastiff). That is the stat block that will be assigned to the mount. Include this in the PM so I can have the mount ready to go for next session. Character Death If the unfortunate should happen and your character dies you may transfer half of the XP from that character to a new character. You may not transfer items or money to a new character. If you realize that you don't like your character you may retire it. The rules for this are exactly the same as for character death. Respec If you realize that you made some wrong choices with your character or have a story element that does not fit with your class choices you may change those. I'm fairly lenient with this because the point of the game is to have fun. If you think you'll have more fun with a different build then I'm fine with it (as long as it's not a weekly thing). The only caveat here is race. Outside of magical means you can't change race so that will need to remain intact.
