Homebrew Rules

The following are a list of rules that are specific to all realms on Grendoth.

Action Surge Economy
Since this has come up recently, I wanted to put this in writing so that it covers future adventures and campaigns. This is a ruling that I made and I want it here so that it can be referenced by all. 'Those characters with multiple attacks in a round, that use Action Surge or a feat that would grant them another attack action, they are only allowed those attack actions and 1 bonus action. There can only be 1 bonus action in a combat round.'

Attack Action
One attack action means you attack with one weapon. Through some Feats in the Player’s Handbook and the Fifth Edition Feats book, you can gain the ability to attack with a shield or offhand weapon during your attack action. However, unless you have gained these Feats, you can only make one attack during an attack action.

Called Shot Rule
After some thought on the matter, I have decided to add some flavor back into the game world by re-instating the Called Shot Rule. There will be some rules to use it, however. First of all, the application. A player character makes an normal attack roll against their opponent’s AC, then subtract 8 from the roll. If that roll hits, then their called shot is a success with the appropriate result. If their roll doesn’t hit after subtracting 8, but it would hit normally, then it is just a hit on the creature with normal weapon or spell damage rolled. This way, it isn’t an “all or nothing” roll and there is a chance you can hit without it being a death dealing blow.

In addition to this, there are some limitations to the use of the Called Shot. I don’t want it used every single strike, because this becomes mundane and takes away from party tactics to make it about one character, so a Called Shot that will result in death to the opponent can only be used once per combat round. Even if you have multiple attacks in a round, only one of those can be a Called Shot. Also, I am sticking to my “no boss mob Called Shots allowed” rule, unless it is a non-lethal attack (This means that it doesn't kill them or incapacitate them, it does something else that wouldn't alter the event). As the DM, I will let everyone know if they are dealing with a boss mob or not.

Critical Fumble Rule
When a player or monster rolls to hit and rolls a 1 on a d20, it is a fumble. The player or monster then rolls a d20 again. If the result is a 1 or a 2 it is a critical fumble. This could mean that they fall, stumble or drop their weapon and becoming vulnerable. They then have to give up their action for that turn. If they have another action they can use one of those to get up again but, depending on the DM’s ruling, it  could require more than one action to rise, find their weapon and be ready to fight again. In some cases, it could be their next turn before they can act again.

In addition, if a spell is cast that requires a saving throw (not a roll to hit) and the player the spell is directed at rolls a 1, this is a critical fumble against the spell and the damage of the spells is doubled. This rule does apply to monsters the players fight as well. Also, there is no second roll to combat this like there is a critical fumble in melee combat, a critical fumble against a spell is instantaneous.

Critical Hit Rule
When you roll a critical hit (a 20 on a d20, unless you have a bonus to your critical hit roll), the player should roll a d20 again. On the result of a 19 or 20 (10%), the wound they dished out is considered a ‘mortal wound’. A mortal wound is the same damage done by the original critical hit, but the victim takes this damage each round at the top of the round until they die, or until they receive healing sufficient enough to keep the wound from overwhelming them. The amount of healing required to ease a mortal wound is half the damage taken or more.

Critical Damage Rule
I’ve played around with some formulas to determine damage from critical hits and they just don’t seem to be what I’m hoping for. I’ve used double maximum damage, figuring in all modifiers. I’ve done it by the book, rolling an extra damage dice. Those don’t seem to capture it for me. With the peripherals that some characters get (i.e. Sneak Attack, among others), it seems a bit high to me. I want a natural 20 to be important to all players, but it seems the amount of damage that some characters can do, as opposed to others, is excessive. So, I am going to play test a new method to see how it works out. I hope this will be fair to all characters and classes.

For a critical hit, be it with a melee weapon or a spell, the player will roll their damage, plus 1 additional dice (per the PHB). The end result is doubled and this is their damage. Sneak attack damage or other peripheral damage is not doubled, but is rolled normally, only weapon damage plus modifier or spell damage is doubled.

Healer's Kit and Medicine Skill
If you have ever read up on Healer’s Kits and the Medicine skill, you probably noticed they serve no great purpose in the game. You can use either one to bind the wounds of a character who is at 0 hit points and stabilize them. If you have a healer of any kind in the party, Spare The Dying does the same thing, and if they have a healing spell, why bother? In the past, binding wounds would heal the character a little, keeping you from being at 0 hit points, which is the point. These are my changes to these two items.

If someone proficient in the Medicine skill (does not have to be a Cleric) has a Healer’s Kit and uses it on a character, they can roll their Medicine skill to see how much they actually heal a character. The higher the roll, the more hit points restored. Anyone with a Healer’s Kit, if they don’t have proficiency Medicine in skill, can use it on a character (even themselves) as an action, healing 1d4 hit points. Those with proficiency in the Medicine skill can use an action to apply a Healer’s Kit to a character and roll their skill check. DC 10 means they add 1 addition hit point; DC 15 means they add 2 additional hit points; DC 20 means they add 3 additional hit points and DC 25 means they add 4 additional hit points to the d4 roll (maximum healing with a Healer’s Kit is 8 hit points).

Massive Damage Rules
Once you reach 100 or more maximum hit points, I’m going to be putting in a Massive Damage rule to make things crunchier. If your character takes 75% of their maximum hit points or more, even with magical healing, there will be some side effects. When this happens, I will choose a side effect that will persist until that character has had a long rest. It could be a level of Exhaustion, it could be a loss of Strength due to loss of blood, or it could be a wound that requires stitched up. I will make the side effect fit the type of damage that character took. To cure this side effect, that character must be above 50% of their maximum hit points before taking that long rest or it will require a second long rest to fix their side effect. This is being done to make the damage a character takes more realistic and it also will cause the player to pay closer attention to their health in combat. Certain circumstances may come up where this rule will not go into effect during a particular combat, but I will be the one to determine this. 'Due to this rule coming in to play, I will be removing the “taking half of your maximum damage in one hit” rule out once the character reaches 100 maximum hit points. By then, they should be used to combat and can handle it.'

Monk Martial Arts Damage
According to the PHB, a 1st level Monk’s open hand damage is 1d4 plus modifier. To me, this is ridiculously low. A trained martial artist does a good deal of damage with their hands and feet and this should be reflected in the Monk’s martial arts damage. In my game worlds, a Monk’s martial arts damage is 1 dice higher than what the PHB says, i.e. 1d4 becomes 1d6, 1d6 becomes 1d8, etc. By 20th level, the Monk’s martial arts damage will be 1d12, which is much better.

Nature and Arcana Rules
Although the Player’s Handbook explains how these checks work and what they tell the character, I feel that some of it has been overdone. It says that the check measures the ability to recall lore about creatures and wildlife and plants, and this is fine, but the amount of information recalled seems to be in question. For a character to have never seen a Balor to know they are immune to fire and poison and exactly what it is resistant to is just way more information that someone might read in a book. What they should know is what kind of attacks the Balor might use in combat, but not all of them, and that it is probably immune to fire because of where it comes from.

As the DM, I will be limiting the amount of information these checks might give a character based on this belief. I will be giving that player the information I feel they might have learned from reading about the monster, not everything the Monster Manual tells you about them. The only deviation from this is, if the characters have dealt with one of these monsters face-to-face before. If anyone in the party has dealt with a Balor before, then yes, I’ll give them all the information they would’ve noted during that encounter.

Parry Rule
A character, holding a melee weapon, may attempt to parry a blow from an opponent by declaring at the beginning of the round that this is their desire. The opponent then rolls a normal “to hit” roll to determine if they hit. The Parry adds +2 to the target’s AC for that round, including additional attacks coming from one attacker. The character may only use the Parry maneuver a number of times equal to their Dexterity modifier in a single combat encounter. They must take a long rest to recover those. Only character classes that are considered “melee” classes may use this ability. Wizards, Sorcerers, Warlocks and some Divine classes are not trained in the finer arts of melee combat and will not be able to use this ability. This is a homebrew ability and ruling.

Proficiency With Weapons
I think there has been a misconception about proficiency with weapons in 5E and I would like to give my take on it. When you choose a class, it has the weapons that you are proficient with or can be proficient with in that class. This does not mean you can’t use a different weapon. What it means is, those are the weapons you’re proficient with and therefore can use your proficiency bonus to your “to hit” roll.

Under Druid, these are the weapons they are proficient with: Clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces, quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears. Does this mean you can’t use a Long Sword? No, it doesn’t mean that. What it means is, if you choose to use a Long Sword, you will not get to add your proficiency bonus to your “to hit” roll, because you’re not proficient with a Long Sword. Do you want to become proficient in the Long Sword as a Druid? Then take one and use it. Yeah, you lose your proficiency bonus, but over time and use of the weapon, you’ll gain proficiency with that weapon and will get to use the proficiency bonus again.

The reason I’m pointing this out is, I feel that sometimes people look at the Player’s Handbook and take it as gospel when it’s really just a guideline. It doesn’t mean you can’t just because it doesn’t say that you can use a long sword in the PHB. So expand your imagination and talk to me if you want to do something outside of the norm.

Reaching 0 Hit Points Rule
When a character is dropped to 0 hit points, they will begin to make death saving throws. Three successful saves will stabilize the character at 0 hit points and three failed saving throws will mean that the character has died. A stabilized character can be healed through magical healing (i.e. a cleric spell of healing or a potion of healing, but not bandaging) and they return to the living, but this doesn’t mean they are able to just get up and fight. Upon being revived by another player (or by rolling a 20 on a death save to return to 1 hit point), they suffer 1 level of Exhaustion. If the character goes to 0 hit points again in the same fight, if they are revived, they suffer another level of Exhaustion. It requires one long rest to remove 1 level of Exhaustion. If they have 2 levels, they must complete 2 long rests and so on. (Levels of Exhaustion are explained on Page 296 of the Player’s Handbook).

Rogue Extra Attack
Rogues gain an extra attack action at level 5. However, sneak attack damage is only allowed on the first attack. This only applies to Rogues.

Spell DC
According to the Player’s Handbook, there is no way to increase spell DC other than improving your ability score modifier or your Proficiency Bonus, but there is a cap to those. Since the ability to take your ability score improvement and put it toward spell DC was removed, there is now another option. At level 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20, every spell caster gains a +1 to spell DC.

Spells Known
In the past I have allowed Wizards to have all of the known Wizards spells in the Player’s Handbook. I have decided to level the playing field in regards to the Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard. The Sorcerer and Warlock must choose their spells and have Spells Known with a severe limitation to how many. I am changing this, also. The following are my changes to Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards. I am also allowing Bards to double their spells known as well.

Bard

Bards have a limited number of spells known. Their maximum at Level 20 is 22 Spells Known. I will now double that number.  Whatever the Player's Handbook says the Bard has for Spells Known, double that number for that level and this is how many Spells the Bard can know.

Sorcerer
Sorcerers have a very limited number of spells known. The maximum at Level 20 is 15. This leaves them very hamstrung in my opinion. To combat this and to make them a more viable class, I am doubling the known spells amount for them.  They still have to choose the spells, but their pool is doubled. Sorcerers can scribe spells that they find into their spellbook.

Warlock
Warlocks also has a very limited number of spells known, so I am doubled those as well. They still have to choose the spells, but their pool is doubled. Warlocks can scribe spells that they find into their spellbook.

Wizard
Wizards will now similar to the Player’s Handbook as for spells granted to wizards per level. At first level, Wizards have a spellbook that contains six 1st level wizard spells of their choice. As they level, they add four wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook, instead of two which is what the Player's Handbook grants you. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table.

Wizard do not have to prepare spells, they can cast any spell they know. Wizards can also scribe spells that they find into their spellbook.

Spells Slots
All casters get additional spell slots.

1st +1 to all Spell Slots

5th +1 to all Spell Slots

12th +1 to all Spell Slots

A player should gain +3 to all spell slots by the time they reach 12th level. This does not change Spells Known, Cantrips or anything else, just the allotted spell slots for each class.

If they are running only one casting class and one non-casting class, they get the casting class spell slots, plus the bonus spell slots I grant as a homebrew.

Stealth Rules
Lighting is a major factor in the use of Stealth and I have been remiss in enforcing the lighting rules about Stealth. When a rogue says they are going to Stealth, lighting and cover will now be enforced. If there is nothing to hide behind or it is brightly lit when this occurs, my ruling will be that the enemy sees them. If a rogue says they are going to Stealth, regardless of lighting and cover, they can only move up to 1/2 of their movement base or they will be noticed by the enemy. If the enemy is engaged fully with another enemy and the Stealthed character flanks them (not behind them, beside them), the character makes a normal 'to hit' roll, not at Advantage. Only an unnoticed rogue behind the target gets Advantage on the roll. If the rogue has 2 attacks by this point, and has Advantage on the roll from behind, they have Advantage on both rolls to hit in that round.

Clarifications
All character creation ideas must have Dungeon Master approval.

Party combat is discouraged unless it is approved by the Dungeon Master for roleplay purposes.

If you didn’t say it, it didn’t happen. So be careful and keep track of what you do or don’t say.

Talking during combat is encouraged. Direct traffic, warn your allies or insult the enemy. It’s ok.

​​​​​​​ Speeding up combat. Have your action ready to go when it’s your turn or at least have an idea. If not, we’ll move on and you can catch up next round.