Rules

Oct 22, 2015 6:20 pm
This is where we discuss the rules, as well as rules variants we'll be using in this game.

There are a lot of optional rules that you can apply to D&D5 to alter the game slightly to make it feel more like one previous edition or another. Since this is playing in an AD&D module, I’m choosing to use the optional rules that make it more closely resemble AD&D, while NOT using the optional rules that make it more like D&D 3, 3.5, or 4. The only exceptions to this are Alignment and Morale, which I never particularly cared for in any edition; I think the backgrounds in fifth edition work much better to guide role-play than alignment, and if I can’t decide when monsters quit a fight, I shouldn’t be a DM.

Most of these won't have much of an effect on normal game play, as they cover edge cases or special situations in combat. I also plan to point them out as the situations arise (it's my job). But I will elaborate them here for your reference, because I don't want any player to ever NEED the DMG.

The following optional rules from the PHB and DMG will be used:
Combat option: climb onto a bigger creature – DMG 271:
Smaller creatures can jump onto and cling to larger creatures. To do so, they make an opposed check: Athletics or Acrobatics vs the target's Acrobatics. While clinging to the target, the smaller creature has advantage on attack rolls against that target, and can climb around on the creature. The larger creature can make opposed checks to remove the smaller creature: Athletics vs. the smaller creature's Athletics or Acrobatics.

Combat option: disarm – DMG 271:
Declare that you are attempting to disarm your target, then make an attack roll. This is opposed by the target's Athletics or Acrobatics.

Combat option: overrun – DMG 272:
Push through a hostile creature's space, using opposed Athletics checks.

Combat option: shove aside – DMG 272:
A variant of the shove attack: roll a shove with disadvantage. Succeed and move the target to one side or another.

Combat option: cleaving through creatures – DMG 272
Hit an undamaged creature and reduce it to 0 HP in one attack, you may check to see if the attack roll also hits an adjacent creature. If so, apply any remaining damage to that creature.

crafting magic items – DMG 128
Rules for crafting magic items. This is more likely to come into play as NPCs fulfill player orders, rather than the PCs making their own items.

equipment size – PHB 145
Equipment from downed enemies may not fit every PC.

fear and horror – DMG 266
There are some situations so awful that characters will have to perform WIS or CHR saves to avoid getting Frightened or Mad. Unlikely to occur in this adventure.

healer’s kit dependency – DMG 266
In order to use Hit Dice to heal, a healer's kit must first be applied to the wounds.

slow natural healing – DMG 267
You heal naturally only through using hit dice.

inspiration – PHB 125
You do something that makes sense for your character's personality traits but which isn't in the best interests of the character, you get a point of inspiration. You can then cash in that inspiration to get advantage on a d20 roll.

injuries – DMG 272
A critical hit or dropping to 0 HP has a chance of inflicting a lingering effect on the character, which then becomes an additional flaw that the character can incorporate into role-playing. The chance from a critical hit is 10%. The chance from going to 0 HP is 40%.

milestones for additional XP – DMG 261
I will grant XP for achieving objectives/accomplishing tasks in addition to defeating enemies in combat.

mixing potions – DMG 140
Drink a potion while still under the effect of another potion, and there's a chance that something...weird will happen.

more difficult magic item identification – DMG 136
Figuring out a magic item's properties requires using identify or experimentation, not just 'attuning' to the magic item overnight.

multiclassing – PHB 163
Players may choose another character class when leveling, assuming a class trainer of the requisite type is available.

planar effects – DMG 50
When traveling to other planes of existence, characters experience...weird effects.

scroll mishaps – DMG 140
When you attempt to cast a spell from a scroll and [i]fail[/u], something weird happens.

skills with different abilities – PHB 175
As the situation requires, I may ask you to do a skill check using a different ability score than the default.

SpaceSeeker 19's Travel Rule with Mounts (read it on Gamer's Plane)
Mounts increase the distance you travel per day.

training to gain levels – DMG 131
When you earn enough XP to gain a level, your HP and attack modifiers go up immediately if you are gaining a level in the same class. But any other gain of new abilities - or gaining a level in a new class - requires that you spend some time with a trainer in the class to learn the new abilities. This almost always requires returning to town.

variant backgrounds – PHB 130-136
Pretty much every background in the player's handbook has a variant background: the pirate, the knight, the gladiator, etc. These are all available for players to choose during character creation.

The following optional rules from the PHB and DMG will not be used. I am not going to elaborate on them here, unless people ask about them.
alignment – PHB 122
feats – PHB 165
mark – DMG 271
Alternatives to epic boons (won’t come into play anyhow) – DMG 230
point buy for ability scores – PHB 13
encumbrance (D&D5 base rules are sufficient) – PHB 176
firearms, explosives, alien technology – DMG 267
healing surges – DMG 266
hero points – DMG 264
hitting cover (I’ll determine this myself, not using this mechanic)– DMG 272
honor – DMG 264
initiative variants – DMG 270
level advancement without XP – DMG 261
loyalty – DMG 93
massive damage – DMG 273
morale – DMG 273
only players award inspiration – DMG 241
piety – DMG 23
playing on a grid – PHB 192
plot points (I’m happy with suggestions from players, but not the mechanics) – DMG 269
proficiency check variants – DMG 263
proficiency dice – DMG 263
renown – DMG 129
rest variants – DMG 267
sanity – DMG 264
spell points – DMG 288
variant human traits (naturally, since feats are out) – PHB 31
wands that don’t recharge – DMG 141


Edit: I added a percentage chance for the injuries; RAW, the injuries just happen or are up to the DM's whim. I prefer to make it a percentage chance.
Oct 22, 2015 8:49 pm
Just to make sure I have this right:

1. No full heal at the end of a long rest, just healing with Hit Dice and,

2. Must use a healer's kit to do any healing at all with Hit Dice
Oct 22, 2015 8:50 pm
Does the Herbalism Kit count as a Healer's Kit?
Oct 22, 2015 9:24 pm
No, they're different. A herbalism kit is a set of tools, mechanically speaking. Using them gives you ADV on a medicine check to stabilize a character, but does not expend any part of the kit. In play, I'd encourage the characters with a herbalism kit to look out for opportunities to look for herbs to restock the kit (for role-play purposes; it's mechanically unnecessary).

With this variant rule, a healer's kit is a resource with 10 uses. A use will automatically stabilize a creature at 0 HP, and/or enable a creature to spend hit dice to regain HP after a short rest. The healer's kit and herbalism kit are both likely to be available for purchase at Fantikaflar's Fantastic Items shop. A fine point: a given set of wounds only needs to be treated with a healer's kit once to heal, no matter how many hit dice are needed to heal the damage. Example: a 1st-level PC takes a bunch of damage in a fight, applies a healer's kit, spends his hit die to regain HP. He continues adventuring and takes no damage that day. When he gets the opportunity, he takes a long rest to regain the hit die, and at the end of the long rest can then spend the hit die immediately to regain more HP.

Short rest with prior application of a healer's kit: spend hit dice to regain HP.
Long rest: regain 1/2 of total hit dice, minimum 1 (in addition to spell slots, class powers, etc)
Oct 23, 2015 1:55 am
Edit: In this post, I put forth the idea of using a crit (fail) deck. No one really liked the idea, including me. So I've redacted it.

So, I've put forth that we'll be using the variant injury rules, which I like. But...!

I am a HUGE fan of CritJuice, particularly the innovative mechanics that the DM has created. One of them is the idea of a Crit Deck and Crit Fail deck. So, I'll put it to all of you, as the players: would you like to play with a Crit (Fail) Deck, to lend some humor and chaos to the game, and possibly invite other people on GP to suggest Crit cards for us?
Oct 23, 2015 2:08 am
I'm okay with the idea. And since this is a play by post I won't have drunk people roaring in my ear, I like it more. Just a jest, the story on CritJuice is actually fun, but I can't stand it when they get loud. Some episodes are better than others, it's just to much for my tastes.
Oct 23, 2015 3:59 am
The drinking is my least favorite part, for all that I love the show and it's a D&D drinking game.

I'm still not sure how much I like Crit Cards for this; it really sets a tone of outrageousness that can be fun, but it would be fun to play the game more "straight" and less over-the-top, too. Anyone else have a strong opinion one way or the other?
Oct 23, 2015 4:00 am
I prefer to avoid crit fails honestly, though they're ok if it's minor setbacks. It's never fun to kill your buddy
Oct 23, 2015 4:10 am
That's the sort I was thinking (disadvantage, prone, dropping weapon, that sort of thing); I don't think crit fails should ever harm an ally, even if it's just an NPC. That said, I'm interested in seeing if anyone is excited about the idea of a crit deck; I'm leaning a bit more against the idea the more I think about it.

For one thing, it's more work for me!

So let me know if you'd really like it and I'll get to work making it happen. Otherwise, I think the rules as stated are fine.
Oct 23, 2015 5:53 am
Personally, I haven't had any experience with a crit deck (I'm mainly inferring from context what that involves). I don't have strong feelings one way or the other.
Oct 23, 2015 7:49 am
CancerMan says:
Personally, I haven't had any experience with a crit deck (I'm mainly inferring from context what that involves). I don't have strong feelings one way or the other.
Same here.
spaceseeker19 says:
I'm still not sure how much I like Crit Cards for this; it really sets a tone of outrageousness that can be fun, but it would be fun to play the game more "straight" and less over-the-top, too.
As for that, I think I might prefer "straight" in this instance. I imagine the tone that the crit deck lend the game will all depend on what the cards themselves say.
Oct 23, 2015 8:04 am
I think we're fine without Crit or Failure decks. It's also a bunch more work for you (setting up Decks here in order for it to work smoothly and not just become a source of slowdown).

Personally, I've never been a fan of stacking punishment on crit fails. I mean, it's already disheartening enough that you failed at what you set out to do (which typically means you made zero progress on your objective), adding other effects for 'rolling a 1', to me, always felt like twisting the knife.
Oct 23, 2015 8:31 pm
I would prefer additional critical failure to be in line with the narrative and driven by the DM, personally. I've begun to get too attached to the weird wild rolls you can get in FFG games and would rather if I roll a 1 let you set the tone on how good/bad it is -- you can understand the state of the game such that you can make it fun, narratively, without it being terrible.
Oct 23, 2015 8:59 pm
I'm not hearing any enthusiastic support of the crit deck idea, so I will not implement a crit (fail) deck for this game. Thanks for all your feedback!
Oct 23, 2015 10:50 pm
You've really checked those rules through! I like the selection. But I'm interested...why no feats? (Not against it, they are poorly balanced in 5e)
Oct 23, 2015 11:15 pm
I really like feats in 5e, they're a lot better than they were in 3.x. I'm not opposed to being without them though. I think they could be more well balanced though
Oct 24, 2015 12:10 am
Simply put: there were no feats in AD&D.
Oct 24, 2015 6:27 am
As much as I love 5e and love feats in general, I'm really looking forward to the old school vibe this is giving me! It feels like 1986 and I'm in highschool again, having just discovered RPG's!

Which is why even though I like my character concept and the way it has developed thanks to everyone's input, part of me feels wrong playing a late-edition race haha! I guess I'm playing up his outsider-ness. We had outsiders in AD&D, right? :-)
Oct 24, 2015 8:46 pm
Sure, and there was little concern about game balance with such things in AD&D (just think of the cavalier, or some of the OA classes). But with D&D5, class and race features provide plenty of interest, despite our not using the feats option.

Your dragonborn is somewhat more playable than a Bozak draconian, even though you don't get the cool death scene built into those (which had no chance of resurrection).
Oct 25, 2015 7:31 pm
Bozak draconian! I remember those! :-D
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