House Rules¶
Clarifications¶
The GM is Not Out to Get You¶
Debates have raged since the dawn of D&D (if not before) over whether the GM’s goal is to “beat” or actively oppose Players, to act as a purely “neutral” arbiter of the rules, or to in some way “champion” the Players and their Characters.
Let it be known that your GM for this campaign takes the third position.
Check Your Sources¶
The official rule set for this campaign shall be the D&D 5e 2024 core rules, as described in the 2024 editions of the Players Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. Other 2014 edition core rule books (e.g., Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Volo’s Guide to Monsters) may be used at the GM’s discretion provided the content in question does not conflict with or confuse the “core” rules.
In addition, content from setting or adventure specific sources related to Critical Role’s “Exandria” setting may be allowed, at the GM’s discretion provided the content in question does not conflict with or confuse the “core” rules.
Unearthed Arcana (UA), other play-test materials, other open source materials, and homebrew materials are not allowed.
The (Pinko) Rule of Cool¶
The “Rule of Cool” shall hold sway at our table insofar as it advantages the party as a whole, or advantages a Character in such a way as to advantage the party. It shall not apply in cases where it would merely advantage a specific Player. Because inequity is not cool.
Substituting Skills¶
As the core rules make clear, the link between skills and abilities is not absolute. You may make a skill check using an alternate ability as the GM’s discretion.
Rules¶
Bonus Action Quaffing¶
Drinking a potion yourself is a bonus action. Feeding a potion to another person is an action.
Perkins’ Critical¶
When you roll a critical hit, instead of rolling damage twice or doubling your damage rolls, roll your damage dice once and use the attack’s maximum damage roll as the second result. Applies to PCs, NPCs, and foes.
Kingsmill’s Brutal Criticals¶
- Lookup Dael’s critical and wounding rules.
Skill, Ability, and Save Critical Rolls¶
Natural 1s and natural 20s respectively count as automatic failures or automatic successes on skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws. Applies to PCs, NPCs, and foes.
Initiative Critical Successes¶
Natural 20s on initiative checks allow a Player to decide where they will go in initiative after knowing how the other Players are ordered, but without knowing how NPCs or foes are ordered. Applies only to PCs.
Mercer’s Resurrections¶
Revivify works as in the rules as written. It is a defibrillator.
“I Know a guy!”¶
At the GM’s discretion, if the party cannot determine what to do to resolve a particular situation, a Player may declare that they “know a guy” and describe who their Character knows and how they hope the person can help. The GM reserves the right to modify the request or to accept it in spirit only.
“More What You Would Call ‘Guidelines’”¶
Downtime¶
I like downtime. Let’s do more of that.
Languages¶
The campaign setting has numerous distinct cultures that have their own languages. For the purposes of roleplaying, it is assumed that these cultural and regional languages are dialects of “Common.” Some dialects may be more or less mutually intelligible with your own. Therefore, the GM may rule that one or more characters are unable to speak with a given NPC.
Unencumbered by Encumbrance¶
Encumbrance rules suck. When trying to move heavy loads over short or long distances, the GM may call for an appropriate check, impose disadvantage on specific checks, apply exhaustion, or rule the action impossible without additional help.