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Rules (Read Second!)

Posted by GMFor group 0
GM
GM, 2 posts
Thu 3 Jan 2019
at 06:30
  • msg #1

Rules (Read Second!)

House Rules and Other Important Notes (may be updated as we go along):

0 - Respect your fellow players and the DM(s). Don't godmod other people's characters, try to be proactive, avoid anything too provocative or insensitive.

1 - DM has the final say on all rulings.
  --ADDENDUM: I will listen to any objections or arguments. But I reserve the right to deny, modify or outright fiat anything I don't agree with. Yes, I read Sage Advice and Mike Mearls and whatever it is Critical Role is up to these days. I am none of these people. Sorry.

2 - Milestone progression instead of EXP is in place (characters will level at key moments in the story, instead of the number of sad goblin families they have utterly ruined)

3 - I am aware that anyone can download the module off the internet. Please don't spoil the campaign plot for yourself or others.

4. - Resurrection magic and the diamonds needed for them are strictly regulated, and may not be easily purchased.

5. - Magic items aren't easy to buy - non-combat, utility items are usually on sale to order, while combat ones may be controlled or treated as heirlooms.

Mechanical Rulings:

1 - All spellcasting components are very showy and public. Verbal components are akin to a loud speech, somantic components are flashy and obvious, while material components must be held in hand. Many spells themselves are accompanied by visual or auditory side-effects. Short of subtle spell or certain class abilities, it is usually very hard to hide or disguise your spellcasting. Keep this in mind when in town.

2 - Variant Rests - we will be using the "Rest Point" variant for long and short rests. For most part, resting remains unchanged: Short Rests take a minimum of 1 hour, Long Rests take a minimum of 8 hours. You can only benefit from one Long Rest every 24 hours.

The main change is that while sleeping and such is still needed, characters need to be resting in a 'Safe Point' in addition to the other requirements to gain the benefits for a Long Rest. Otherwise, characters will only gain the benefit of a Short Rest. This means that simply sleeping for 8 hours will not recover HD, Hit Points, all Spells and long-rest class abilities, though short-rest benefits still apply.

A 'Safe Point' is loosely defined as any area that is dedicated to a divine power, though certain exceptions may apply. Cities and Towns usually automatically qualify as Safe Points. While travelling, delving or out in the wild, characters may need to search for such areas to gain a long rest, or even take specific actions to 'unlock' it. Such locations can be anything from an old shrine to the Forest Queen Mielikki, a travellers' lodge with an altar for Tymora, a sacred grove deep in the forest, or an abandoned prayer room in the dungeon, restored and rededicated to Lathander the Morninglord.

The intent of this ruling is to make travelling and dungeoneering over a long period of time more taxing, so as to minimise situations in such scenarios where players enter every combat with full HP and spells. This change strongly affects the balance of long-rest and short-rest classes, and is intended to be experimental - should it not work out, we may make changes or switch back to the original Rest rules.

3 - Guidance is an action and requires a spell to be cast, usually a prayer, where one beseeches a deity to help with their next challenge. If you are unable to perform any of these prior to making a particular check, you cannot get guidance on that check. Other people may also observe you casting a spell.

4 - Magic missile rolls separate d4s for each missile.

5 - Encumbrance rules are for most part, hand waved unless it obviously would cause problems.

6 - Enhanced tool and skill checks from Xanathar's Guide to Everything are in effect, subject to DM modification depending on the scenario provided.

7 - Goodberry can be fed to an unconscious creature to heal them as an action.

8 - Counterspell and Spellcasting: I'll automatically roll Arcana checks for those proficient with it. Failure means you don't recognize a particular spell being cast (but can still choose to Counterspell if you like). Once a spell has been cast successfully, subsequent casts by the same caster in the same combat are automatically recognized.

9 - In general for skill challenges, Advantage is something gained through situational leverage, whether this is a literal tool or maybe something more abstract, like social leverage (blackmail) or bribery. Backgrounds, experience or familiarity will instead lower the DC for a specific character attempting a check. To illustrate:

Someone trying to make medicine on the fly will roll 1d20+bonus against DC 16
Someone with the hermit or acolyte background will roll 1d20+bonus against DC 14
Someone using particularly high-quality herbs will roll 1d20+bonus with Advantage against DC 16
Someone receiving the direct supervision of a skilled herbalist will roll 1d20+bonus against DC 15. This can just as easily be rolling with advantage, depending on the type of supervision given.

As a DM I'll adjudicate most of these, but for most part these are the rough guidelines I will be using when adjusting for PC traits in skill challenges.

10 - You may draw one or both your weapons as part of the same use object action

11 - In light of Rule 10 the Two-Weapon Fighting feat has been 'improved' - instead of allowing the PC to draw one or both weapon as part of the same action, it allows the off-hand attack to be made as part of the Attack action if the character attacks with their primary weapon as well. If the off-hand weapon is used to attack this way, it cannot be used to attack again as a bonus action.

12 - Glyphs of Warding and Arcane Locks are considered magical traps for the purposes of disabling them via Arcana checks. In some cases, Investigation, Thieves Tools or Religion may also apply.

13 - Curses and Cursed Items: Remove Curse does not automatically remove a curse without issue - most weak ones yes. Stronger curses, like lycanthropy, may have a window it must be removed by, or certain ingredients like wolfsbane or a specialized ritual may be needed. More powerful curses will require work on a case by case basis. Identify does not automatically find curses, a Caster check (1d20+mod) will be rolled secretly whenever identifying an item against a DC modified by the PCs' background and knowledge presidencies (each relevant background/knowledge trait will lower the DC by 2 on average).

=======================================================================================

More will be added as specific cases are brought up - above are only the most pertinent ones that come to mind. If you have read all these rules, especially rule 0, please put "I agree with rule 0" inside your RTJ.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:33, Thu 26 Aug 2021.
GM
GM, 12 posts
Mon 7 Jan 2019
at 06:01
  • msg #2

Rules (Read Second!)

Rules on Posting and Formatting:

1. Spellcheck and proper grammar please! Typos are fine, but do try to keep things readable :)

2. OOC will be in Orange. Post Titles will be in bold. Everyone else can claim a Speech Color for their character if you like. Brown is reserved for general NPC speech.

3. If you are performing any mechanical actions, please include all rolls and mechanical keywords at the bottom of the post in Orange. Feel free to PM me instead if you prefer to keep your rolls private.

4. For knowledge checks or information gathering, PM me your roll in the Private Thread I have set up. I will reply with the result, and then you can make your post. This minimizes the awkward "Jace tries to remember what his name was, rolls arcana --> dm PMs you a result --> player either edits post or posts against with what they recall". If you are interacting with something though (say a Investigation to find traps), go ahead and post + roll first.

5. In some skill scenarios, especially for Perception and Investigation, I will either roll for you, or use your passive score, depending on how active/passive your character is behaving when the check comes up. I will always let you know your score in the dice roller. This is again to keep posting smooth.

6. For most part, if you want to make a check that you are certain you know the relevant skill for, go ahead and make the roll first. If you are unsure, feel free to PM me first, or ask me to roll on your behalf.

7. Language groups will be in place! This is experimental, but I like the idea of players being actually unable to read other players/NPCs 'speaking' Druidic. Not using a language group assumes you are speaking Common.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:14, Mon 07 Jan 2019.
GM
GM, 13 posts
Mon 7 Jan 2019
at 06:09
  • msg #3

Rules (Read Second!)

Combat

Combat is one of the things that slows down PBP the most. Hence, I will be a lot stricter about enforcing posting rates during combat. That said, I am experimenting with hopes of streamlining it better. Ideally, we will be able to set some time where everyone is online for about an hour and try to speed through a bulk of a fight.

Otherwise, the follow approach will apply:

1. Initiative will be rolled by the DM on your character's behalf. If you have any temporary bonuses you wish to apply on initiative (Inspiration for example, or certain spells/feats), do indicate it in a PM beforehand if possible. Otherwise, for most cases I am fine with retroactively applying your bonus (and rerolling of course). This is mostly because I find many combats start off slow with everyone waiting on everyone else to finish rolling initiative. This has a tendency to cascade into the rest of the fight.

2. Combat rolls will be handled as follows:
-initiative posting will be "chunked" by party/allies/enemies - if multiple people share the same chunk, they can post in any order. I will try to resolve things in favor of the PCs as much as possible. For example, say Doni (PC) Elkins (PC) West (PC) Goblins 1-3 (Enemy) and Stoor (Ally) act.

18 - Doni
12 - Stoor
10 - Goblin
6 - Elkins
3 - West

Stoor will post first. I will update with Goblin and Stoor's actions. Then Elkins and West will post together, with any ordering being resolved in favor of the PCs.

If the order was like so:

18 - Doni
10 - Goblin
6 - Elkins
5 - Stoor
3 - West

Elkins and West can still post together, since Stoor is an ally. Again, I will resolve actions in favor of the PCs.

When in a combat scenario, I will update either a) when everyone has posted for their "chunk" or b) at my indicated posting schedule. If doing b) results in a PC being "skipped", I will either DMPC them, or have them take the dodge action. If allowed, fellow PCs can control that character's actions, or the player can chose to let me follow a pre-determined "script". I am not entirely happy with this approach, and am open to suggestions by the playgroup. At the moment however, it seems to be the most efficient way to run combat.

3. Reactions - ideally, telegraph your intended reactions to me as a DM. I will post all my dice rolls publicly, so you can key them off things like "Shield if they roll a 14 or higher", "Counterspell anything 4th level or higher". That way, I can resolve combat actions in a single post quickly.

If you prefer not to, that's fine, just say that you have a particular reaction up so I can pause as needed. In some cases (e.g. absorb elements in response to a trap or similar) I am fine with retroactive reactions in the following post, though I will usually pause anyway.

4. Legendary Actions - these will not come up for a while, but I will also telegraph legendary actions to you players inside the initiative order (indicated as a red "?!??"). Feel free to make use of this meta knowledge in combat. Again, this is experimental and may be subject to change.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm still experimenting with these rulings, and will likely change things as we go along until we find a comfortable medium for our group.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:30, Tue 08 Jan 2019.
GM
GM, 913 posts
Wed 11 Dec 2019
at 19:34
  • msg #4

Rules (Read Second!)

Custom Magic Items

There will be many notable relics and homebrewed magic items in this campaign. Some of these items may end up reworked or rebalanced on a later date at the DM's discretion.

Giant Runes

The Giants have left behind many marks of their power, some of which may yet be harnessed. Certain Giants may carry ancient runes of power, embedded into objects, trinkets and weapons - magic or mundane.

These runes can be applied or combined with existing magic items to add additional properties to them or even upgrade them. While the actual combination is relatively simple, the outcome is difficult to predict without the necessary knowledge and rituals.

Update:

Rune Fragments may be scavenged from giant relics, or taken off Giants themselves. They can be used to enhance an existing magical item through an 8 hour ritual in which the power of the Rune is imbued into the item chosen. Details of the ritual itself vary greatly, anything from a song to elaborate magical circles may be employed, all of which will influence the outcome of the ritual.

Rituals involving weak or highly compatible rune/item combinations will usually succeed. More potent imbuings may require check(s) to determine success. Failure will waste the rune entirely. Extremely incompatible combinations may even damage the original item.

Known Rune Imbuements:

Restful Plate Armor
Cast-Off Plate Armor + Fragment of Haug, the Hill Rune + Forging Ritual involving metalworking and a long chant
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:53, Wed 26 May 2021.
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