07/21/2023

It has been a while since I last put out some of my house rules. I have used some of them in my games and thought I would update the list with my thoughts on the House Rules.

Ethos (Borrowed from Professor Dungeon Master at Dungeoncraft)

Instead of just using Alignment, we will also be tracking Ethos. This is a scale that goes from +4 to -4. Doing good earns a +1 ethos point while doing evil earns a -1 ethos point. Characters start at 0 except clerics and paladins who start at +1. Healing spells add the ethos points of the caster to the amount healed.

If a character reaches +4, they are considered Good. As word spreads of their actions, the PC will attract followers who pledge their loyalty to the hero. The followers will leave if the character ever falls below +2 as they refuse to stick around as their idol slowly moves away from the ideals that drew the follower in the first place. If a character reaches -4, they are considered Evil. They become an NPC villain in the campaign. The players run the retainers in combat but they are controlled by the DM besides that.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I tried this out in a 5E game that was running through the Morgansfort campaign from Basic Fantasy. I noticed that most players were happy to stay somewhere in the middle and would “bank” good points just to do bad things later. If I would use this rule again, I would have the DM (me) keep track of the Ethos secretly so the players wouldn’t know the score.

Madness (Borrowed from Professor Dungeon Master)

The life of an adventurer is exciting, thrilling, and brief. There will be situations where the adventurer encounters extreme conditions that test the limits of their minds. A madness test is a DC 10 Wisdom Save. Failure means the hero gains a Madness point. Some situations are so extreme that the hero gains an automatic Madness point. Heroes can get rid of madness points by spending some time and money to focus and reset their mindset. Have the PC roll a D20 and D6. The D6 is the number of days the PC spends trying to get rid of the madness and it costs the PC 10gp per day. The D20 is the success of the attempt. If the D20 is a 1, the madness point becomes permanent (The PC will never be able to get back down to 0 Madness points).

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I used this rule in the same campaign. It was ok, but it seemed to slow down the game at times as the players would spend time getting rid of the madness points almost as soon as they got them, so they didn’t have to worry about accumulating too many. It would break down the tension of getting the points. Probably won’t use it again.

Critical Hits/ Failures

There are two options for Critical Hits/ Failures

Option 1:

Critical hits are maximum weapon damage + weapon die + ability modifier. So a critical hit with a longsword would be 10 + 1d10 + STR mod. This keeps a critical hit from getting two 1s on the damage roll (that is an awful feeling).

Critical Failures are pretty boring. It is just a miss. If there is an ally adjacent to the target (ranged or melee), Roll 1d6. On a 1, you hit the ally for normal weapon damage. (The enemy moves out of the way, the ally steps in front of the attack, etc)

Option 2:

We use the Critical Hits for Players, Critical Hits for DMs, and Critical Fumbles decks from Nord Games. There are some great ideas in these decks which include Magic so Critical hits on spells have effects too. Most groups like this idea. I might do a “review” of them here. Players really get excited when they have to draw from the deck.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I have used both systems and everyone seemed to like both.

Option 1 always makes a critical hit feel like a critical hit. The character is able to cause more damage to the enemy than he could otherwise, even if they rolled maximum damage on the die.

Option 2 is great as the character grabs the deck of cards, shuffles them, and then pulls out a card. I once had a character roll a 20 on the 1st attack of combat, pulled a card that required a CON save or instant death, and watched as my Titanboa failed its save and died. The character was happy and made a big deal about it for sessions after that.

Death Saves

Secret Death Saves. The DM tracks the death saves of fallen players so the party doesn’t know. More paperwork for DM but it brings tension to the game as the players struggle to get to the player.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I have done this in most of my campaigns. It keeps the players from ignoring fallen characters. You can even do this online, just have the player send you a ‘whisper’ roll and let them know if they tell the others, the character will die automatically.

Taking Potions as a Bonus Action

Items that are stored in a belt pouch can be retrieved as a free action instead of a bonus action. Potions that are stored on the character’s belt can be taken as a bonus action instead of a full action. Whenever the character rolls a Natural 1 on a Dexterity Save, one random item on their belt pouch is lost/destroyed.

Healing Potions (Borrowed from Dungeons of Drakkenheim by The Dungeon Dudes )

All healing potions heal maximum hit points for their level. See the table below:

Type	Rarity	HP Cured
Healing	Common	10
Greater healing	Uncommon	20
Superior healing	Rare	30
Supreme healing	Very rare	60

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I like this rule. It doesn’t waste the PC action to heal a little and max healing really help the PCs compared to getting 1s on the die rolls.

Hirelings/Followers (Retainers from Matt Colville’s Strongholds and Followers)

There will be NPCs that the party can pay to help if they feel the need. Most are normal people looking to help by carrying things, holding torches, etc. Most will have a small daily fee plus will want a small portion of whatever is found. Mistreating hirelings will be worth -1 ethos point and word will spread so it will be more difficult and expensive to recruit.

Retainers do not track hit points, but rather health levels. A retainer has health levels equal in number to their level. Each time a retainer is hit by an attack, they make a Constitution saving throw. The DC is the average damage from the attack. If they succeed, they take no damage. If they fail, they lose one health level per die of damage from the attack.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: In the Out of the Abyss campaign that I ran years ago, I used followers. Every character got a follower. I “ran” the followers when it was outside of combat and the PCs ran them in combat. I would do it again if there was a need for a lot of characters for an encounter/adventure.

Weapon Quality (Taken from Bob World Builder)

Quality Tier	Price	Damage Adjustment	Properties
Mastercraft	X4	X1 (Roll w/ advantage)	Reliable
Sturdy	X2	X1	Reliable
Standard	X1	X1	—
Faulty		X1 (Roll w/ disadvantage)	Defective
Ruined	X0	STR/DEX Mod	Defective

Defective – On an attack roll of a Natural 1, the wielder of the weapon takes their STR/DEX mod (whichever is used as part of the attack) in damage.

Reliable – This weapon can be used to reduce the effects of two critical hits to normal hits before downgrading its quality.

Downgrading Weapon Quality – In combat, a weapon’s quality can be downgraded when subjected to a critical hit of bludgeoning or slashing damage while wielding the weapon. In this case, the character chooses to either take the critical hit as usual or to use their reaction to sacrifice their weapon, downgrading its quality and reducing the critical hit to a normal hit.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I haven’t got a chance to use this rule yet, but I think it would be great for a low fantasy game. Instead of always looking for magical weapons and armor, the PCs could get better quality items that had roughly the same properties.

Two-Weapon Fighting (The Dungeon Coach/Treantmonk’s Temple)

Two-weapon fighting is the same RAW except for characters that take Two-Weapon Fighting as a fighting style or have the Dual Wielder feat. In that case, the PC is allowed a second weapon attack as a free action when attacking with a weapon in the main hand. Only the Dual Wielder feat allows for an ability modifier to be added to the off-hand weapon.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: I haven’t tried this rule yet in a game. I believe it would help out characters that are dual-wielding but I would like to see it in action.

Sacrificing your Shield (Five Torches Deep/EZD6)

You can allow your shield to be destroyed to lower the amount of damage that you take. Double the AC bonus that the shield provides and reduce the damage by that amount. Damage reduced to zero or below is ignored, but the shield is broken and no longer provides any AC bonus until repaired.

UPDATE/THOUGHTS: While I haven’t used this rule in my games yet, the fact that it is part of 2 other games that get good reviews leads me to think it would be a great addition to the game.

Keep on gaming!