House Rules

House Rules

House Rules

During the campaign there are several house rules to be aware of, either linked to simplifying the rules or for campaign flavor.

General

• Alignment doesn't exist. Players are encouraged to roleplay characters how they believe a character would act in the given circumstances. Spells dependent upon alignment like protection from good and evil will be based upon the outlook of the character casting the spell. That said, playing your character as Chaotic Stupid or Lawful Annoying will not be tolerated.

• Spell scrolls and spellbooks do not exist in Sytheria. Instead spells are found in shards of crystals of varying colors, all with a strong magical aura. These spell crystals are kept in a spell satchel at the waist of the wizard and also replace the physical spell components used by the spell (unless the component is consumed by the spell, in which case that is an additional physical component to the spell shard). The crystals types are as follows:
  • Natural (bluish glowing): Natural spell shards are a new phenomenon. They can be found in small clusters and when they are not charged they glow a pale bluish glow. Natural spell shards are able to be "charged" with a spell by casting that spell into the shard as a ritual, granting the shards user one casting of that spell. After the spell has been cast from the shard, the shard takes 1d6 days to become rechargeable and can then be "charged" with another spell.
  • Lesser (pale/translucent): These shards are used like scrolls, and cannot be memorized from. Each shard contains one spell, with 1d4 castings. Cost- Same as a spell scroll of that level
  • Average (average colored): These shards can be used as scrolls with 1d6 castings, however their primary use is for memorization. If used for memorization, the shard is tied to the user and can no longer be used as a scroll. Cost- Double the cost of a spell scroll of that level
  • Greater (deep/opaque): These shards cannot be used like scrolls and are only for memorization. If a spell is memorized from one of these shards, it is cast at +1 caster level. Cost- Four times the cost of a spell scroll of that level

• Psionics exists in Sytheria, and as such the Psionic class specialties from Unearthed Arcana are in use. That said, only the psionic races (Gith, Ashtar, and Mechanus) may use the psionic specialties.

• Humans and Mechanus do not have any innate magical properties, and as such can not become Sorcerers.

• Ability scores are rolled with 4d6d1 (four d6 rolled per stat, lowest dice ignored). Dice are all rolled and then assigned with a score of 6 or below rerolled.

• The optional Feats rules from the PHB are in play- a player may select a feat instead of an Ability Score Increase when given the opportunity. In addition, each player gains a bonus feat at level 1.

• At level 1 everyone gets maximum hit points, after that reroll any 1s rolled for hit points after leveling up.

Combat

• Grappling in combat will be treated as if everyone has the Grappler feat.

• When a player or enemy is disarmed, on its turn it may pick up its weapon as a bonus action an is treated as being "Off Balance", giving it disadvantage on all attacks until it's next turn and losing its reaction.

• When a player or enemy is prone on its turn it may stand up (using half of its movement speed) and is treated as being "Off Balance", giving it disadvantage on all attacks until it's next turn and losing its reaction.

• Flanking grants the flankers a +2 modifier to attack rolls. If there are three flankers, they get a +5 modifier to attack rolls.