House Rules

When taking a Healing Potion, it is maxed. So, for example, a Healing Potion heals for 2d4+2. We just max it, so it heals for 10HP. The primary reason for doing this is when you spend Gold for a Healing Potion, it truly sucks to roll two 1s and get a Healing of 4 HP. Also, it is simpler and avoids needless rolling. Greater Healing heals 20HP, etc.

A Critical Hit occurs in combat when you roll a Natural 20 on your 20 sided-dice for an attack. (Much cheering and yelling also ensue) We make the dice you roll for your damage maxed. 

Example.  You are using a Rapier (1d8 damage) and have a +2 Proficiency. On your turn to attack, you roll a Natural 20!  Your Damage would be 2d8+2 normally, but with our rule, your dice are maxed. So your damage is 16, plus your proficiency, +2. If you roll a 4, your Total Damage will be 18. 

The reason for this approach is to reward the Natty 20 better. It is exciting to roll a Crit. Then you roll a 1 and a 2, which in the above case would yield a Total Damage of a 5. Lame. In our method, the excited party is rewarded. Also, it greatly speeds combat in case of Crit. 

We use the Optional Melee Flanking rule. Basically this means if you are directly across from another Melee Player, you would get Advantage on your Attack. So you would roll 2 d20 and take the higher roll. Bear in mind that you must be directly opposite the other Player. A simple way to think about this is if you can draw a straight line between one Player, the Enemy, and another Player, they are Flanking the Enemy and you get Advantage.

Inspiration is an optional rule to allow a Player to get advantage on a roll.  The DM awards Inspiration from good play, epic victories, helping people, etc, etc.    However, we allow the use Inspiration to roll a dice AFTER the first roll, as long as the result of the roll is not given.

For example, you get Inspiration from fighting a tough enemy. Later in the session you roll a 4 on a Saving Throw. You can THEN use your Inspiration to roll another, perhaps a 16. 

We have our own Death Save system. Here’s the overview:

• Failed Death Saves don’t reset upon healing. 1 goes away on Short rest, all go away on long rest. 
• Taking damage while unconscious fails a DS
• Death saves happen at the beginning of turn
• DM rolls DS, and doesn’t tell party what happened, until result*
• If you succeed on 3 DS, you awesomely recover with 1hp without any healing

* Why? Well, if you are in combat and someone goes down, you don’t have godlike awareness of ‘if they are close to death or not’.  Also, raises the stakes for everyone to take care of each other. 

Modified Resurrection (Revivify, Resurrection, True Resurrection)

Dying sucks. Raising someone back should have either consequences and/or a chance of success, or failure.

• To start, each Character has a Resurrection DC 10. You get +2 for every time you die. 
• The party can have 3 people help with the Resurrection, in whatever way they want. (Ex. Prayer, tribute, sacrificing something you care about. )
• A Magical Sacrifice succeeds automatically for a max of 3. That means a Character sacrifices a Rare or higher Magic Item. 
• Those Resurrection Helps will have skill checks. The more creative and self-sacrificing, the lower that check. Succeeding lowers the dead characters Resurrection DC by 3.

Example: 
Twig has died before, and dies a second time. He now has a DC 12 to succeed in coming back from the dead with Sariel’s  Revivify, which has to be cast within 1 minute of Death.  The party scrambles and Brynn throws her Slippers of Climbing in the circle, automatically succeeding  and reducing the Resurrection DC to 9.  Talfeth prays to Pelor, and rolls a Religion check and succeeds.(DM determines the roll based on what you do) Now the Resurrection DC is 6.  Crispin tries to use his Produce Flame to intimidate Death to leave Twig alone! The Intimidation check fails. 

Twig has to roll a D20 and exceed a 6. He rolls and…

Summary