House Rules

House Rules

Standing rulings and homebrew mechanics that the DM (Wes Vaske, "Papa DM") has established at the table and that now apply to the Deez Nuts campaign. These are collected from session play; each notes the session where it was set down. New rulings are added as they arise.

Character Build

• Faction feats auto-qualify. Because the party stands high in their factions, prerequisite faction feats are granted free as you climb (e.g. a Harper Agent feat unlocking Harper Teamwork). (Session 47)
• +1 stat feats give +2. Any feat that would grant a +1 ability score increase instead grants +2 in this campaign ("you get +2 AND something cool"). (Session 47)
• Legacy favored-enemy carryover. Abilities from the old (2014) rules carry into the 2024 rules where sensible — e.g. Keyleth retains advantage on dragon-knowledge checks from her former favored-enemy. (Session 47)
• Major respec between arcs. At arc breaks, a player may change subclass — or even class — and the associated mechanics freely. Story, background, and species remain canon and locked ("that part is canon and lore, and we're keeping that"); e.g. Shade may rebuild from bard toward wizard but stays a tiefling tied to the Eye of Gilbraxis and her infernal pact. (Session 48)

Attunement

• Flexible attunement. You do not need a short or long rest to attune to a magic item. You may attune (and swap attunements) freely at any time — up until you take your first action in initiative, after which your attunements are locked for that encounter. (Session 44)

Magic Items & Consumables

• Anyone can use spell scrolls. The normal restriction (spell must be on your class list, or an Arcana check to cast) is waived — any character may use any spell scroll. (Flagged by the DM as provisional.) (Session 44)
• Healing potions drunk as a full Action heal the maximum. If you spend a full Action to drink a healing potion you regain the maximum possible hit points instead of rolling. Established values: regular 10, greater 20, superior 40. (Drinking faster, as a bonus action, rolls normally.) (Sessions 44–48)

Combat

• No massive-damage instant kill. There is no rule in this campaign by which a single huge hit instantly kills a creature above 0 HP; damage is tracked normally. (Session 44)
• Mounted combat — full footprint. A mounted character occupies the entire space of their mount (all four squares of a Large mount) for the purposes of reach and aura effects, not just a single square. (Session 43)
• Riding huge+ creatures (mounted grapple). To ride a Huge or larger creature, succeed on an Athletics check to grapple onto it; while mounted you hold on with one hand (advantage on melee attacks with the other), it does not reduce the creature's speed, and you make a contested Strength check at the end of each of the creature's turns to stay on. (Session 45, Alexios vs the Mind Gobbler)
• Falling. Falling damage caps at 10d8. A creature that falls onto another deals — and takes — the same falling damage. (Session 45)
• Cover. Creatures of equal size grant each other only half cover (+2 AC), not three-quarters. Cover applies to ranged attack rolls but not to save-based spells. Line of sight is tracked strictly. (Session 46)
• Alexios's Battlefield Command. Requires the target to have a minimum Intelligence and to understand language — it does not work on mindless creatures. (Session 46)
• Hidden/surprise initiative. Attacking a foe who can't see you means that foe rolls initiative at disadvantage (you roll normally); being fully invisible additionally grants you advantage on your own initiative. (Session 48)

Spells & Effects

• Moonbeam is not sunlight. It does not trigger drow (or other) sunlight sensitivity — but it still damages allies who stand in it. (Session 46)
• Circle Magic. A homebrew ritual: secondary casters lend the primary caster spell slots (any matching-or-lower slot, no specific spell required) to expand a spell's area, safeguard chosen targets from it, and extend its duration (up to 24 hours with seven casters). Casting time scales up — up to roughly one minute. (Used to thaw the frost giant Hrimthur with a "safe" Burning Hands that healed rather than harmed him.) (Session 48)

Sea Travel (hex-crawl subsystem)

Established in Session 47 for ship voyages:

• The map is a hex grid at 6 miles per hex. Ship speed is measured in hours per hex: with the wind ~1 hour, neutral ~2 hours, against the wind ~3 hours; travel time is doubled at night.
• Crew morale (cap +10) is added to ship checks and is raised via Performance (DC 10 + current morale), once per day per player.
• Cold-water immersion: a character can last a number of rounds equal to their Constitution modifier before they must begin making Constitution saves.
• The ship's railing grants half cover against things in the water. Underwater attacks require an Athletics check (with disadvantage for two-handed weapons). The ship's ballista: +6 to hit, 3d10 damage, with a loading action.

Exploration & Travel

• Group nat-20 = double travel. On a group travel check, a natural 20 (with the group succeeding) covers double distance for that leg. (Session 43)
• Take 10. In a safe, unpressured moment a character may "take 10" on a Perception or Investigation check. (Session 43)
• Ice traversal. On steep ice, "slope" costs apply: +5 ft of movement to climb a slope (difficult terrain even with crampons), with steeper slopes also requiring an Acrobatics check or you slide prone to the bottom; vertical climbs are DC 15 Athletics per 8-ft level (advantage with crampons). High ground gives +2 to hit, low ground −2. Boots such as Xanphina's Winter Strider ignore all of it. (Session 48)

Flavor / Sensory

• First-time sensory save. A genuinely novel, disturbing sensory experience (e.g. the wet sound of the Eye of Gilbraxis tearing free of its socket, or looting a long-rotted corpse) forces a one-time Constitution save — only the first time. (Session 45)