# House Rules ### Character Creation Please see the details in [[Gaming/Modes of Play|Hero Mode]]. ### Critical Success Nat 20s: A heroic success. The player deals double damage, land a devastating blow, or completely outshine expectations. **Critical Hits**. A roll of a natural 20 in combat means that the attacker gets double-damage against its victim. - On a critical hit (normally a NAT 20), damage begins at Full Weapon Damage + (Normal Damage Roll + Modifiers). If that second die scores the max, it explodes. This can explode a number of times equal to half the character level. I.e. a first level character can only explode the die once, a tenth level character can explode the die up to five times. ### Critical Failures Nat 1s: A critical failure that makes things worse. Maybe you drop your weapon, hit an ally, or completely botch your action. ### Exhaustion Exhaustion is long-term physical and mental fatigue. **Gaining Exhaustion**. Things that can cause Exhaustion: - Being reduced to 0 HP - Running out of Rations - Interrupted Rest with failed CON check - GM's discretion **Effects of Exhaustion**. For each level of Exhaustion, characters reduce their maximum gear slots by one. If all gear slots are full, an item of the player's choice is removed. - 10 Exhaustion levels = PC Death. You can recover 1 point of exhaustion from 1 night of rest. The “Restoration” spell will also remove one level of exhaustion. ### Resting **Short**. Characters may spend an hour and 1 Ration to regain 1 HP Doing so triggers a Crawling Die roll (if applicable). Can only be performed once between Long Rests. **Long** (8+ hours). If in the wilderness, each character must spend 1 Ration and 1 Torch each. After Resting, characters recover all spells, stat damage, and 1 rolled HP die per level. **Downtime** (1+ weeks). Recover all HP and spells, recover stat damage, clear exhaustion and other status effects. ### Death & Dying **Wounded**. When a character drops to 0 HP, they suffer a level of exhaustion due to their wound. Roll 1d20 each round. On a natural 20m you regain 1 HP and are conscious. Otherwise you take 1d4 CON damage, dying at 0 CON. **Damage and Dying**. Damage whilst dying is taken as CON damage. **Stabilize**. INT Check of 15+ on a target within Close. If successful, target stops dying and regains 1 HP but is prone. ### Luck Tokens Sometimes the GM awards a luck token to a player for exceptional roleplaying, heroism, or just plain coolness. Big sacrifices, moving speeches, or incredibly daring maneuvers might be worthy of luck tokens, whether or not the characters' actions were successful. **Starting Luck**. Every character begins the session with 1d4+1 luck token. **No Limit**. There is no limit to the number of luck tokens that a PC might have. **Locked Fumbles**. Luck tokens cannot be used to reroll a natural 1 on a D20 roll. **Fumble Reduction**. A PC can use a Luck Token to negate the effects of a fumble. **Elevate Critical**. A PC can use a Luck Token to elevate a normal success into a Critical. **Transfer**. A PC may give one Luck Token to another PC. **GM Disadvantage**. A Luck Token can be used by PCs to force the GM to make any roll with Disadvantage. Must be declared before the roll is made. ### Gear Slots Characters can carry a number of items equal to 10 or their STR stat (if higher). A backpack gives +2 to gear slots. Gear Slots work as written with the following differences: **Worn**. **Small**. Small items can fit three in one slot. - A ball of twine, a jar of glue or larger pieces of jewelry that aren’t worn would also fit in this category. **Petty**. Petty items can fit ten in one slot. - A spool of thread, a whistle or small pieces of jewelry like rings that aren’t worn would also fit in this category. Equipment slots are limited, so there is a system where you could carry pouches, sacks, scroll cases, and bandoleers to hold more items. You can only carry 2 pouches, 1 sack, 1 scroll case, and 1 bandoleer – each costing one item slot. Anything put into these containers must reasonably fit inside. _(you can’t store a crossbow inside a pouch)_ - **Pouches:** Tied to your belt, these can hold 2 small slot items inside for quick retrieval. - **Sack:** Carried in one hand, it can hold 3 slot items inside. - **Scroll Case:** You can carry 10 single pages in a case. - **Bandoleer:** This belt wraps around your chest for quick access to potions (and poisons). Using a potion from a bandoleer for yourself is part of your move action. However, giving a potion to another character is an action. ### Magic All classes can cast spells via items or scrolls. If a non-caster fails by 5 on a spellcasting roll, it is considered a critical failure. On a critical failure, the spell backfires. The GM decides the details. Detect Magic is a Core Spell. Wizards automatically know the Detect Magic spell and it doesn’t count towards their known spells. If a spellcaster fails their casting roll, RAW means that the spell is lost until the character has rested. My alternative is here: - **Wizards**: Instead of losing a spell entirely, they can’t cast that spell for a number of rounds equal to its tier (e.g., a Tier 1 spell is unavailable for 1 round, a Tier 4 spell for 4 rounds). A Nat 1 removes the spell until they rest and a Wizard Mishaps still occurs. - **Priests**: Same spell loss rules as Wizards, but a Nat 1 removes the spell until they rest or the next session begins (which usually happens naturally) and they must make penance. ### READING & WRITING Characters with an INT score lower than 10 cannot read or write. ### EXPERIENCE Characters gain XP equal to half of the defeated monster’s level, rounded down; as well as the treasure XP. ### Epic Levels RAW, the Shadowdark RPG is capped at Level 10. There are a number of ways fans and third-party groups have chosen to approach this. Here’s how it’s done in The Ironhaven Chronicles. #### Core Level Progression Leveling continues as does from 1-10; each new level costs 10x the current one. Thus, a LV 12 Hero needs 120 xp to reach 13th. **HP & Talents**. Heroes continue to gain HP and roll on their talent tables every odd level. **Spellcasters**. Priests and Wizards gain a new spell known every level (see the following tables). **Martial Classes**. Fighters continue increasing Weapon Mastery, gaining +8 ATK and damage by LV 16. They gain 2 attacks a round at LV 18 and 3 attacks at LV 20. **Thieves**. Backstab damage continues to increase every even level, capping at 20 total dice. **Other Classes**. In general, whatever progression is expressed for their Abilities and Talents should continue at the same rate. **Maximums**. To-hit bonuses max at +20, spellcasting at +15, and AC at 25. **Attribute Boosts**. Starting with Level 11, Talents rolled that increase Stats can be applied past 18, with the appropriate bonuses added. The maximum for this is 24 (+10). ##### Wizard Spells Known 11-20 | Level | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | Tier 5 | | ----- | --------------- | ------ | ------ | ------ | ------ | | 11 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | | 13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | | 14 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | | 15 | +1 Any Tier 1-3 | | | | | | 16 | +1 Any Tier 1-3 | | | | | | 17 | +1 Any Tier 1-4 | | | | | | 18 | +1 Any Tier 1-4 | | | | | | 19 | +1 Any Tier | | | | | | 20 | +1 Any Tier | | | | | ##### Priest Spells Known 11-20 | Level | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | Tier 5 | | ----- | --------------- | ------ | ------ | ------ | ------ | | 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | | 12 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | | 13 | +1 Any Tier 1-3 | | | | | | 14 | +1 Any Tier 1-3 | | | | | | 15 | +1 Any Tier 1-3 | | | | | | 16 | +1 Any Tier 1-4 | | | | | | 17 | +1 Any Tier 1-4 | | | | | | 18 | +1 Any Tier 1-4 | | | | | | 19 | +1 Any Tier | | | | | | 20 | +1 Any Tier | | | | |