All house rules are optional. Our house rules are meant to ease the load on the DM, make the game more interesting to play for the players, and to create a shared play-feeling across different roleplaying games. Discuss with your DM if you have questions or would like to add a house rule. If you prefer to play with the vanilla version of any system that is effected by house rules, you may do that at your own whim. # Spellcasting - To cast a spell roll (d20)+(intelligence modifier)+(Caster Level) with a difficulty of (10)+(2 * Spell Level). Spells are forgotten on failure. This is the only spell casting variation that produces the *default* spell effect. At GM discretion excess over the goal can improve the effect of the spell. - A caster can have a number of spells memorized equal to his level. - A caster can cast a number of memorized spells per day equal to his level. - A caster can, at will and at no cost, produce a cantrip effect related to any spell currently memorized. - A caster can cast a ritual version of a spell which will take a variable amount of time, gold, and resources adjudicated by the GM. - A proposed ritual most have a clear desire. To perform the ritual the player should roll a twenty sided die, add situational bonuses and penalties, as well as attribute modifiers. The higher the roll the better. Any ritual magic roll below a 12 will cause a miscast, ritual magic is dangerous. The miscast should still benefit the player in some unpredictable way unless a natural 1 is rolled. - Rituals are open-ended, powerful, and if overused may attract the attention of supernatural entities. - Spellbooks can contain an unlimited number of spells. - A caster can memorize a spell from a scroll or a spellbook. - Spells memorized are memorized until the end of day. - Spells memorized destroy the scroll, or erase the passage of the book, that you learned it from. - A caster my place a spell from his memory in to a scroll or book. - A caster may cast from a spellbook, scroll, staff, or wand without having the spell memorized. - A spell cast from a scroll this way is consumed. - A wand used this way will have a certain number of charges. - Casting from a book requires 10 minutes when outside of combat. - When casting from a book in combat the mage will be moved to the back of the initiative order, and if they take damage before resolution they will lose the casting of the spell. - A staff bestows unconditional knowledge of the spell to the caster, or a bonus to its effect if the user can already cast the spell. - A spell can be memorized in its normal or inverted form. - The inverted form of a spell has the opposite effect, for example mending could become tearing. - Spells can also be cast "backwards" without memorizing them as such by casting them at -1d. # Rolling and Checks - Checks can be made using your raw attribute score or its modifier. - To make an attribute check, you roll a 20 sided die. If the number rolled is less than your attribute score, you have passed the check. In this case lower is better. - Attribute checks move more quickly and do not require DM interpretation to resolve, you simply check the roll against your sheet. These are used often in combat, or in situations where luck may be a factor. - To make any *action* check, roll a 20 sided die, and add your modifiers based on attribute, character, and equipment bonuses. If the number scored is higher than the difficulty number assigned by the game master, you have passed the check. In this case higher is better. - An X-in-6 chance roll is performed by the GM assigning a chance out of six. You then roll a six sided die, and if you roll equal to or less than the number assigned by the gm, you succeed. These can be used for group/simple initiative, uncertain results of actions, or pure luck. - To perform a X-in-6 skill check roll one six-sided dice, and add relevant ability modifiers and bonuses at DM's discretion. - To perform a 2d6 check, roll two six-sided dice, then add relevant ability modifiers, and bonuses at DM's discretion. Roll results should be interpreted on the reaction-table-matrix, modified by difficulty. # Combat - Players are highly encouraged to lean in to the descriptive element of their attack, and the DM should reward them. - We use a Death and Dismemberment ruleset that disfigures and otherwise penalizes characters that reach negative HP, but does not *usually* kill them. - [[Grumpy Wizard Death and Dismemberment Rules.pdf|Grumpy Wizard's Death and Dismemberment Rules]] - [[Grumpy Wizard Death and Dismemberment Tables.pdf|Grump Wizard's Death and Dismemberment Table]] - Morale is rolled when monsters believe they have lost or won. - Morale is also rolled when the first member of either side dies, when the leader of either side dies, and when half of each side has died. - As a result combat may end if the enemies believe they have won and enter negotiations or otherwise. - If hit, a player may have their shield destroyed, or in the case of a magic shield, knocked free, to entirely avoid the damage from a single hit. Magic shields may tolerate this process a number of times per day equal to their enchantment level. - We use a maneuver system described below that allows you to describe nearly any action and include it in your attack. Warning the monsters may do the same. - [[https://oddskullblog.wordpress.com/2021/11/15/combat-maneuvers-the-easy-way/|Combat Maneuvers the Easy Way]]: "You declare whatever thing you want to do and make an attack roll against your opponent. If you get a hit, the opponent has the choice to either let the maneuver happen, or take the regular damage of the attack per normal rules." - Simple combat will use side based initiative. Roll 1d6 per side, higher number goes first. In case of tie sides act simultaneously. - On the player's turn they decide actions and execute them simultaneously. They may coordinate a group effort or simply act individually. - Simple initiative rewards group play, creativity, and moves very fast. - After both sides have gone roll for initiative again. - Complex combat will use individual d20+dex/agility, and each character/monster will have their individual initiative tracked. - This system is *much* slower. However it allows for a greater degree of tactical and strategic interplay. As a result this method is usually employed for climaxes. - - Characters may deal damage equal their HD with any weapon. This means that a warrior with a d10 HD may attack with a dagger for d10 damage. We do not want player to feel they must compromise character's strength to play with a weapon they prefer. # Miscellaneous - Domain play begins at level 1. - Characters have inventory slots equal to AC. (often ignored) - A world turn takes one month in game. All actions taken at the domain level are counted in world turns. - At the beginning of a session, after a major break, or at any time they are willing to progress time by a significant amount, players may access the book "Downtime and Demesne". It gives a lot of options for what characters can do with their gold in the downtime. - Options include, but are not limited to the ones listed below. - A character can learn a special trick, talent, or ability from a willing master for a cost of 3000 gold and 3 months. The cost is doubled per talent learned. - A player can learn a skill for 1000 gold and a month of time. For an additional 3000 gold and another 3 months the player can become an expert. To reach the final rank of master it costs 12,000 gold, and 6 months of time. - If you spend 2000 gold and one month you may raise one attribute by 1. The cost of this increases by 2000 gold to the power of the number of times its already been raised. The maximum value this can raise attributes to is 16. -