House Rules

Every table has house rules, every GM I know has some degree of house rules to make the game a little more unique and tailored for their players and honestly I’m no different.

When it comes to house rules, the most important thing to remember is that these should be a negotiation with your players, and every rule should be designed to enhance the game at the table. Not control or detract from it.

And that is the guiding principle that swill help you keep from going astray.

With that in mind, these are the rules I run at my table.

Critical Rolls:  If you get a critical role (Natural 20, unless otherwise noted by your class), your damage on that attack is doubled (dice and modifiers in total).

Glancing Blow:  One of the tables favorite rules is Glancing Blow, which says that if you have a “To Hit,” that is equal to the AC of the creature, you hit, but deal half damage, round down.  This true for PCs, NPCs, and monsters alike.

Encumbrance:  I do not keep track of encumbrance expect to say that it must be “reasonable and explainable”.  So if you are not trying to do anything unreasonable we can account for you carrying a fair bit of goods.

Potions:  A potion may be consumed as a bonus action, and does not require a full action. I do this because honestly I find the rules that force it to be an action cause a detriment to players.

Changing of Weapons:  You may change weapons on your turn, but this counts as a bonus action.

Flanking:  Flanking is in effect and does provide advantage in an attack situation, you must be within 10 feet of an enemy to receive a flanking bonus.   Flanking occurs when an opponent has their back to you, but then you have advantage on your attack.

Combat Turn:

1 – Each player will be expected to complete their entire turn (move, action, bonus action) within 1 minute.  This will basically require that you be prepared for your turn with a plan and potentially a backup plan.  If you have not taken your action within the minute, you will take the “Dodge” action, which means any attack made against you will be at disadvantage.  If you have not completed your move / bonus action within the minute, then those will be skipped.

The initiative order will be posted in discord for everyone to see.

2 – I am onboard with people pre-rolling but that is strictly a player preference.  To be clear though, once you roll for your preroll, that value is “locked”, and generally speaking I trust everyone not to abuse this by fudging rolls or rerolling until desirable alternatives.