Jul 29, 2020 12:28 pm
Hey guys, here’s a few house rules to start with. I might add more during the game if something comes up (it probably will at some point).
Initiative
First of all, I’ll be rolling initiative for everyone. Given the fact that we all live in different time zones, can post at different times during our day or might just have a busy day, we won’t use a strict order of play. That means that you guys will "share" your initiative pool and only the NPCs will have a strict place in the order.
Example: You guys roll 20, 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10. My NPCs Chief Bandit, group of bandits, and a squire you’ve hired, roll 17, 11 and 6.
The order would be:
PC
PC
Chief Bandit
PC
PC
PC
Group of Bandits
PC
Squire
You guys can jump in at anytime during a PC slot, of course only once per round.
Activity
I don’t expect every post to be super long. Of course if you feel like writing a lot, be my guest, but if you only have time to write short posts that’s perfectly fine. If you don’t post in a non-combat encounter, I assume you’re just going with the flow of the rest of the group. In combat I will give everyone 24 hours to act for every round (roughly...if the fight has been delayed by an NPC not acting, I will add a bit of extra time). If people don’t act in time, they will be defending per default.
XP and record keeping
I expect you guys to note down damage, temp statuses etc. But I will try and hold a record as well just in case. We won’t use XP but you’ll level via milestone rules, I’ll of course let you know when that happens.
Critical hits and failures
As per usual as 20 always succeeds and 1 always fails. During some rolls it may have either extra benefits or extra consequences to crit on way or the other.
During battle a 20 works as it always does, but a 1 will knock the attacker prone until they can use their movement to stand up again. That means that attackers will get advantage on that target until then. Of course it works that way for both PCs and NPCs
Cleave rule
I’m going to use a version of the cleave rule. What that means is if you have at least half of your damage points left after killing an opponent and you’re close enough to hit another, you’ll get to give the rest of that damage to that opponent.
For example: if you roll 8 points of damage to an opponent that only has 3 points of HP left, you kill that opponent and cleave through him to deliver the remaining 5 points to the opponent next to him. If the first opponent had 5 points of HP left, then you only spend your attack on him as you have less than half of your damage points left after killing him (3).
As I mentioned, you need to have another opponent within striking range for this to work. If you use a ranged attack they need to be in the same trajectory as your projectile.
Rolls
If you think a certain roll might apply to whatever you decide to RP, just go ahead and add a roll. If you think it would be with advantage or disadvantage for whatever reason, add two rolls along with an explanation as to why you think that certain condition would apply.
An example could be that you walk into a room and see a bookshelf. You RP that you decide to look for any books that might trigger a hidden door. In that case you would add an Investigation roll unprompted. Another example could be that you (a dwarf) are having a conversation with an NPC that previously have been established to think dwarves are just the worst. You try to persuade them to help you. In that case you'd give me a persuasion check with disadvantage, or vice versa if it's been established that the NPC thinks that dwarves are the greatest, with advantage.
If you've given me a roll that I don't feel is needed, I'll ignore them, and likewise if you haven't given me a roll I think is needed, I'll ask for them as usual. But this way I feel cuts massively down on posts that are just rolls.
I might also at times roll for you, although I tend to do that very rarely. This is often when I need a roll from the whole group, then I think it might be faster to just do it that way. But I tend to prefer player agency, even if it's just a dice roller, so most of the time you'll do your own.
Hope it makes sense, if you have any questions let me know.
Initiative
First of all, I’ll be rolling initiative for everyone. Given the fact that we all live in different time zones, can post at different times during our day or might just have a busy day, we won’t use a strict order of play. That means that you guys will "share" your initiative pool and only the NPCs will have a strict place in the order.
Example: You guys roll 20, 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10. My NPCs Chief Bandit, group of bandits, and a squire you’ve hired, roll 17, 11 and 6.
The order would be:
PC
PC
Chief Bandit
PC
PC
PC
Group of Bandits
PC
Squire
You guys can jump in at anytime during a PC slot, of course only once per round.
Activity
I don’t expect every post to be super long. Of course if you feel like writing a lot, be my guest, but if you only have time to write short posts that’s perfectly fine. If you don’t post in a non-combat encounter, I assume you’re just going with the flow of the rest of the group. In combat I will give everyone 24 hours to act for every round (roughly...if the fight has been delayed by an NPC not acting, I will add a bit of extra time). If people don’t act in time, they will be defending per default.
XP and record keeping
I expect you guys to note down damage, temp statuses etc. But I will try and hold a record as well just in case. We won’t use XP but you’ll level via milestone rules, I’ll of course let you know when that happens.
Critical hits and failures
As per usual as 20 always succeeds and 1 always fails. During some rolls it may have either extra benefits or extra consequences to crit on way or the other.
During battle a 20 works as it always does, but a 1 will knock the attacker prone until they can use their movement to stand up again. That means that attackers will get advantage on that target until then. Of course it works that way for both PCs and NPCs
Cleave rule
I’m going to use a version of the cleave rule. What that means is if you have at least half of your damage points left after killing an opponent and you’re close enough to hit another, you’ll get to give the rest of that damage to that opponent.
For example: if you roll 8 points of damage to an opponent that only has 3 points of HP left, you kill that opponent and cleave through him to deliver the remaining 5 points to the opponent next to him. If the first opponent had 5 points of HP left, then you only spend your attack on him as you have less than half of your damage points left after killing him (3).
As I mentioned, you need to have another opponent within striking range for this to work. If you use a ranged attack they need to be in the same trajectory as your projectile.
Rolls
If you think a certain roll might apply to whatever you decide to RP, just go ahead and add a roll. If you think it would be with advantage or disadvantage for whatever reason, add two rolls along with an explanation as to why you think that certain condition would apply.
An example could be that you walk into a room and see a bookshelf. You RP that you decide to look for any books that might trigger a hidden door. In that case you would add an Investigation roll unprompted. Another example could be that you (a dwarf) are having a conversation with an NPC that previously have been established to think dwarves are just the worst. You try to persuade them to help you. In that case you'd give me a persuasion check with disadvantage, or vice versa if it's been established that the NPC thinks that dwarves are the greatest, with advantage.
If you've given me a roll that I don't feel is needed, I'll ignore them, and likewise if you haven't given me a roll I think is needed, I'll ask for them as usual. But this way I feel cuts massively down on posts that are just rolls.
I might also at times roll for you, although I tend to do that very rarely. This is often when I need a roll from the whole group, then I think it might be faster to just do it that way. But I tend to prefer player agency, even if it's just a dice roller, so most of the time you'll do your own.
Hope it makes sense, if you have any questions let me know.