This is an overview of the house rules you can expect when you play in one of my games.

Brutal Critical

When you score a critical hit, add the maximum damage for the extra dice, instead of rolling them.

Players award Heroic Inspiration

Each player can award Heroic Inspiration to another player for a cool moment.

Magic Item Requirements

Any character can use spells from a magic item, regardless of their class.

Revivify Check (from Tal’Dorei Reborn, pg. 215)

When a character attempts to uses a spell with a casting time of one Action (including the revivify spell) to return another character from the dead, the caster must make an Ability check using their spellcasting Ability. The DC equals 10 + 1 for each previous resurrection attempt on the target. On a success the target is revived, on a failure, the target can only be returned to life with a spell with casting time longer than one Action, and +1 is added to the DC of any future resurrection attempt on the target.

Resurrection Ritual (from Tal’Dorei Reborn, pg. 215)

When a character attempts to resurrect another character with a spell with a casting time of more than one Action (except true resurrection which succeeds automatically), up to three characters present can participate in a resurrection ritual. A character who participates describes their contribution to the ritual. The DM then calls for an appropriate Ability check, and records successes and failures.

After up to three contributions have been made, the DM rolls a d20 with a DC of 10. The DC is lowered by 3 for successful contributions and increased by 1 for each failed contribution, and for each time the target has previously been the target of a resurrection attempt. On a success, the target is resurrected, on a failure, the target is permanently unable to be raised from the dead.

Retreat Action (from 13th Age)

On any PC’s turn, any player can propose that all the characters retreat from the fight. If all players agree, they successfully retreat, carrying any unconscious or dead characters away with them. The party suffers a significant negative consequence within the campaign’s story. The point of this rule is to encourage daring attacks and to make retreating interesting on the level of story rather than tactics.

Dreadful Blessings

Certain boss monsters can use a number of Dreadful Blessings (usually 2-3) to be effective in combat against powerful characters. These replace Legendary Resistances and can, for example, be used to negate damage resistance or immunity, end a spell effect, make an attack hit that would have missed…

2024 D&D Rules

We use the following rules from the 2024 D&D Player’s Handbook in any 2014-based game.

One Spell Slot per Turn (from 2024 D&D)

On a turn, you can expend only one spell slot to cast a spell.

Surprise (from 2024 D&D)

If a creature is caught unawares by the start of combat, that creature is surprised, which causes it to have Disadvantage on its Initiative roll.

2014 D&D Rules

We use the following rules from the 2014 D&D Player’s Handbook in any 2024-based game.

Grappling (from 2014 D&D)

Whenever a creature attempts a Grapple, it makes a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use).