Home Rules

I have many rules in my games that are a departure from basic dungeons and dragons. Each of these rules are in response to parts of the game I think are uninteresting, unfair, or are counterintuitive to how i've observed players want the game to work.

###### Flanking:

If you are targeting a creature with a melee attack, and you have 1 or more ally within melee range of your target, you gain a +1 to your attack roll for each ally within melee range of your target.

###### Advantage/Disadvantage:

When determining advantage or disadvantage, add together all sources of advanatge/disadvantage and roll that many dice for example 2 sources of advantage = 3 rolls, 1 standard roll + 2 advantage rolls taking the highest roll.

###### Critical Hits:

In combat, if a Natural 20 is rolled on an attack roll done by a weapon attack the damage done will be the maximum damage that could be done by the dice + the dice roll + any applicable bonuses. For example a character, with a +5 strength, rolls a natural 20 with a great sword, the damage will be 12 + 2d6 + 5. For spell attacks the damage dealt will be double the dice that would be normally rolled for the attack. For example a character rolls a natural 20 when casting chromatic orb will deal 3d8 + 3d8 damage.

###### Leveling up:

When reaching levels in which you would be able to select an ability score improvement or a feat you can choose both. Any feats which grant increases to ability scores will not do so.

###### At Death's Door:

When a character’s hitpoints go into the negatives they do not immediately fall unconscious, instead they are in a state called at deaths door. While at deaths door the character must make a “death saving throw” at the end of each of its turns. If the character fails a death saving throw or receives damage they will gain a level of exhaustion. These levels of exhaustion do not go away when a character is brought back above 0 hitpoints and can only be removed through rest or some other effect that removes exhaustion. If a character reaches the 6th level of exhaustion they die.

While a creature is at Death's Door they can choose to fall unconscious. If a creature chooses to fall unconscious they will no longer be required to make death saving throws, but will be unable to act on their turn and will be subject to all other risks associated with the unconscious condition.

###### Opportunity attacks:

A character gets an opportunity attack against any targer that leaves their melee range regardless of if that movement was the result of the target using their movement speed or not. The only exception is if the target has an ability that would make them exempt from opportunity attacks such as the disengage action.

###### Impact damage:

If you are moved by some effect, magical or otherwise, that causes you to collide with a surface or object such as a wall, you take 1d6 damage for every 10 ft traveled before hitting the surface or object.

###### Concealing a Spell:

If you are attempting to cast a spell and wish to do so in a way that is unnoticed you must pass a series of checks depending on the components of the spell. If the spell has a verbal component you must pass a deception check. If the spell has somatic (requiring some kind of gesture or movement) or material component you must pass a sleight of hand check. The DC for these checks is 10 + the spells level. If either check fails you are unable to conceal the casting of the spell. Sorcerers with the "subtle spell" meta magic automatically pass these checks.

###### Intelligence Bonus:

If you have a positive intelligence bonus you may select additional skill, tool, language, or other proficiencies equal to your intelligence bonus.

###### Using spell components \***HIGHLY SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON GAME\***:

If a spell has specific material components which do not have a gold cost or are not stated to be consumed on use, a spell caster may choose to use the spells components if they have them rather than their spell casting focus when casting spell. A spell cast in this way will be treated as if it were cast at a spell level 1 higher than the spell slot the caster expended (or some other bonus if increasing the spells level is not an applicable bonus). The components used to cast the spell in this way will be consumed on use.

###### Drinking a healing potion:

In combat when drinking a healing potion drinking it using an action will restore the maximum possible, drinking it using a bonus action will allow you to roll the healing amount as normal.