Races & Classes

I prefer humanoid races. Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfing, etc.

I will accept a unique race in a party at a ratio of 1 of 4 / 2 of 5.

Certain races make campaign story telling difficult and may be limited or approved at DM discretion

All official 5e classes and subclasses will be permitted (PHB, XGE, TCA, etc.)

A diverse party of classes, no duplicates, please

Characters can multiclass.

Alignment

Alignments are reserved for creatures from the outer planes and creatures tightly connected to them (such as, for example, paladins and clerics). Otherwise, they are replaced with the idea that it's not so much about how the character acts, as it is about where they side in the major struggle of the setting, with good/evil being the major alignment and lawful/chaotic being the minor. Though, of course, it does at least suggest how one might behave. For one shots and campaigns I expect characters to be on the side of good.

Leveling

Leveling in campaigns will be based on story milestones. Though may be granted early/late to accommodate the session

Ability Scores Increases

Ability Score Increases are tied to character level at 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, and 19. You have three choices when applying ASIs:

Language

When players speak to someone or hear another language that not all players know we will use the sidebar room in discord. That way, other characters will (realistically) not know what is being said. Just as in the real world, they will have to rely on someone else to translate.

Equipment

Characters are limited to one such unique item as it should fit, such as one pair of gloves or one helmet. This world has no attunement events, items possessed or worn will bestow their benefits, and items may be carried with no ill effect but when used/examined may reveal any negative qualities. Any ideas of weapons/items you would like to obtain can be worked into the game. Everything you carry and wield is considered within your reach and there is no action for you to be wielding it. Within reason, players can carry what they feel necessary for adventure, additional weapons, and extra armors. Worn magic items will not be taken into account for encumbrance. We will keep track of ammo and other limited-use items.

Attunement

Equipment does not need to be attuned to. Positive benefits are known immediately at possession. Negative penalties are discovered after the item is used or equipped.

Resting

Rest is a period of stationary downtime, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, keeping watch, and tending to wounds. If the rest is interrupted by any period of activity such as walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity-the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it. I like to use a semi-gritty realism, where you can only long rest in safe places such as town or with an ally that controls an area.

Combat

On the first turn of combat

Players with the highest initiatives can lower their initiative to one point lower than that of an ally. Sometimes a character really wants to go after someone else, and it’ll help their teamwork. I’m willing to let them assign a penalty to their own enterprise to make that happen. Sometimes this results in the whole group wanting to go in a specific order and dropping their initiative to do it. Keep in mind a big block of enemies going before you tends to work out poorly for the players.

Team Inspiration.

Players share a pot to serve as a group pool of inspiration. I limit the pot to holding four pieces of inspiration at a time. I' ve found that people are more likely to use inspiration when doing this, knowing that there might still be some left over.

Bonus Actions

Anything you can do as a bonus action you can also do as an action.

Healing Potions

Using a potion of healing on yourself is considered a bonus action and using it on other willing creatures is considered an action.

Flanking

When making a melee attack, you get a bonus of 1d4 to your attack if your opponent is threatened by a player character or creature friendly to you on the opponent’s opposite border or opposite corner. Only a creature or character that threatens the defender can help an attacker get a flanking bonus. An additional bonus of 1d4 can be added for each friendly PC character surrounding an opponent.

Roll Stealth only at the moment of possible detection.

Players make stealth rolls only when someone is in a position to see them or look for them. The Player’s Handbook doesn’t say exactly when players are supposed to roll their stealth skill and many players will use the skill as if they’re entering stealth mode with a roll up-front, so this is more of a clarification of how I handle things. When a character announces they are going to creep somewhere, I don’t ask them to roll. Instead, I wait until someone could see them or is looking for them and ask the player to roll at that moment of discovery. I find this adds tension and reduces the total number of rolls in a session. These rolls can be made in secret if the enemy is also hidden.

Critical Hit Max Roll

Standard Dungeons and Dragons rules state that a natural 20 results in a critical hit. If this happens, the player rolls twice the normal damage dice but does not double the bonus. For example, if your weapon does 1d6 + 1 damage, a critical hit under the standard rules does 2d6 + 1 damage. Under this rule, a critical hit results in maximum damage from the weapon's normal damage dice. For example, a sword that does 1d6 + 1 damage under normal circumstances does 7 damage on a critical hit and then roll for the additional critical 1d6 damage.