The Wandering Lynx's House Rules

DMs Homebrew

• Race + Feat Compendium
• Reworked Classes
• Subclass Compendium
• Spell Compendium

Benjamin Huffman

The Pugilist Class

Jonoman3000

• Blazing Dawn Players Companion
• Dark Art's Players Companion
• Sprouting Chaos Players Companion

MythmakerGM

• The Mythmaker's Grimoire Vol 1-3
• All subclasses

Swordmeow

The Atavist Class
Meow Magic

Valda’s Spire of Secrets

With the following Changes

• Geppettin can start play as size: Tiny
• Spirithost are not allowed
• Gunslinger High Roller is not allowed
• Warmage Cards and Dice are not allowed
• Use this document to expand the spell lists for the Valda’s core classes: Unofficial MHP Spell list

Constitution In Starting HP

To give characters more baseline fortitude, calculate level 1 hp by taking the maximum of the class Hit Die as usual, but then add your Constitution score (the ability score itself) rather than the Constitution modifier. Essentially this is your Constitution contributing your baseline health and your class contributing the benefits of training.

New background

Background: Custom

With Gm approval you can create a custom background by kitbashing parts of multiple backgrounds together. When all is said and done you should have a combination of any 2 skills, and any combination of 2 languages or tools. Starting equipment should total less than 50gp.

Traits should be copied from existing backgrounds. If you are creating a new background trait, balance it against the existing background traits. GM approval will be needed.

Background: Outlander

To stop trivializing the ranger class the following change is made:

You have advantage on Survival checks to guide, navigate, or forage in a favored terrain. Choose one of: aquatic, arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, or Underdark (includes caves).

Backgrounds: Dragonlance (DSDQ)

These backgrounds are unavailable unless you are playing in a Dragonlance game as they provide a bonus feat.

Backgrounds: Ravnica (GGR)

These backgrounds are unavailable unless you are playing in a Ravnica game as they provide mechanical benefits such as enhanced spellcasting.

Backgrounds: Strixhaven (SCC)

These backgrounds are unavailable unless you are playing in a Strixhaven game as they provide a bonus feat.

Dark Gifts: Ravenloft (VRGR)

From VRGTR these powerful enhancements are campaign specific. AKA ask your GM.

Supernatural Gifts & Piety: Theros (MOT)

From MOOT these powerful enhancements are campaign specific. AKA ask your GM.

Valda’s Starter Feats

These feats can add some fun flavor and mechanics to your starting characters. GM approval only.

Character Languages

Viridian spent much of his youth nose-deep in poetry. As a tiefling, his primary language is Infernal. With INT +2, he is able to speak, read, and write in three languages: Infernal, Common, and Elven.

Chansi, meanwhile, never had much time for books. As a halfling, her primary language is Halfing. With INT -1, she can speak Halfling and Common, but can't read or write with either language.

Spending Fate

When you spend a fate point, you (usually) cannot act for the rest of the scene—everyone, friend and foe alike, thinks you're dead or otherwise not worth any attention. But you are immune to any further damage during the rest of the scene, regardless of whatever else happens around your unconscious body. At the end of the scene—or whenever appropriate—you regain consciousness with 1 hit point. You also recover any failed death saving throws.

Gaining Fate

Fate points are extremely rare. In some campaigns, you may begin play with a single Fate point. But beyond this, additional points can only be gained by facing—and defeating—the most dangerous monsters in your world. Dragons, liches, beholders—these fated monsters are significant threats to the party. Fate smiles on those who brave the darkest of these optional dangers and survive.

Changing Fate

When you attempt an action that has a chance of failure the roll of a natural 20 or natural 1 can cause dramatic effects to occur.

Only player characters can succeed at a cost. NPC’s cannot, except for specific examples listed below: Summoned creatures, spell effects, animal and non-animal companions, controlled constructs, CAN succeed at a cost. This includes Beastheart companions and all other “Pet Class” companions, including Captains. When they do, the controlling PLAYER CHARACTER suffers the SaaC result.

Boons & Complications

Boons & Complications only occur during scenes using the initiative tracker.

• Critical Success: You rolled a nat 20 and succeeded on a save or skill check. Things have gone perfectly. You achieve your goal and something else happens in your favor. You gain a boon. The exception to this is critical hits, which already deal max crit damage dice.
• Complications: life can be hectic and crazy, especially during a battle. If a combatant rolls a nat 1 for an attack, save, or ability check a complication occurs.

Success at a Cost

If you attempt a check, save, or attack and you fail by 1, 2, or 3 you can choose to succeed instead, at a cost. This is called succeeding at a cost and can have some stiff penalties.

• You can attempt to succeed at a cost outside of combat initiative, rolling on a different table for the costs.
• Players must reroll any damage or numeric variables their action would have caused after choosing to Succeed at a Cost.
  • For example, rolling fresh damage for an attack.
• If a player asks if they can succeed at a cost, and they can, they do, it is not optional after asking.

The review the possible outcomes of these system check out this document: SaaC v5

What do you learn? Guide for GMs

Knowledge Skills

Exhausted

Changes to exhaustion

While you are subjected to the Exhausted Condition (known in older books as Exhaustion), you experience the following effects:

Levels of Exhaustion. This Condition is cumulative. Each time you receive it, you gain 1 level of exhaustion. You die if your exhaustion level exceeds 10.

d20 Rolls Affected. When you make a d20 roll, you subtract your exhaustion level from the d20 roll.

Spell Save DCs Affected. Subtract your exhaustion level from the Spell save DC of any Spell you cast.

Ending the Condition. Finishing a Long Rest removes 1 of your levels of exhaustion. When your exhaustion level reaches 0, you are no longer Exhausted.

Dazed

• Whenever possible substitute Dazed for Stunned
• While Dazed you can take an action or a bonus action but not both.
• You can only take one attack during your turn regardless of abilities or effects that would allow more than 1.
• Your speed is halved.

Inspiration

You can hold up to 3 inspiration points at once. You can spend inspiration to make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check with advantage—though you must declare this before you make the roll.

Gaining Inspiration: You gain inspiration by acting in accordance with one of your characteristics in an interesting way for the game. You can't be "inspired" by the same characteristic multiple times in one game session, so keep it varied.

Players Awarding Inspiration: You can give your inspiration away, but only when you feel something suitably cool has happened that deserves such a reward.

Lingering Effects

You may see the term lingering in regards to status effects.

• A lingering effect lasts until the creature afflicted by it makes a saving throw.

These saving throws are made at the end of the creature’s turn using the original DC unless otherwise noted.

Lucky

Lucky status grants a +1 to all attacks, saves, and checks.

• Most commonly caused by fortune tokens
• Fortune and misfortune tokens cancel each other out
• if you have 1 or more Fortune tokens you are Lucky
• Fortune & Misfortune reset to 0 after completing a long rest.

Marked

Creatures that have been marked find it difficult to attack those that did not mark them.

• A marked creature has disadvantage on attack rolls that do not target the creature that has marked them.
• If two or more creatures mark the same target, the target does not have disadvantage to attack any of them (though it does have disadvantage to attack any creature that has not marked it).

Mounted

While in the target’s space, the smaller creature moves with the target and has advantage on attack rolls against it.

The smaller creature can move around within the larger creature’s space, treating the space as difficult terrain. The larger creature’s ability to attack the smaller creature depends on the smaller creature’s location, and is left to your discretion. The larger creature can dislodge the smaller creature as an action—knocking it off, scraping it against a wall, or grabbing and throwing it—by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the smaller creature’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The smaller creature chooses which ability to use.

Restrained

The restrained status now potentially prevents spellcasting if the spell would require somatic (S) components.

• Casters must succeed in a concentration check with a DC equal to the escape DC for the restraining effect, else, they cannot cast spells requiring (S) components.
• If no escape DC is possible, no concentration check can be made.

Sickened

Sickened is mechanically similar to poisoned status but can be caused by any number of sources and ignores poison immunity.

Unlucky

Unlucky status grants a -1 to all attacks, saves, and checks.

• Most commonly caused by misfortune tokens
• Fortune and misfortune tokens cancel each other out
• if you have 1 or more Misfortune tokens you are Unlucky
• Fortune & Misfortune reset to 0 after completing a long rest.

Well-Rested

This status effect can be used to prevent 1 level of exhaustion. You gain well-rested by:

• Completing a Long Rest
• Passing a sleep check while camping (Optional) Well-Rest lasts until used and does not stack. When recovering Hit Dice, you can exchange a hit die to remove a point of exhaustion.

Active/Popcorn Initiative

• Turn order changes and shifts during the battle
• This must be voted in by the group

Intelligent Initiative

• You may substitute you INT stat for DEX when calculating initiative.
• War Wizards (or similar) with Tactical Wit add both INT and DEX as normal.

Critical Hits

• Critical hits now deal max crit dice damage plus normal weapon dice roll.
• Because crits are so powerful, they do not provide Boons like other nat 20’s

Unarmed Strikes

Unarmed Strikes are considered weapons with the Light property and you are always proficient in them.

• Natural weapons will fall under the same category

Dragoon Attacks

If you fall on top of an enemy you may roll a melee attack roll as normal, if you hit your target also takes the result of of your falling damage roll.

Flanking

• If you regularly use miniatures, flanking gives combatants a simple way to gain a +2 bonus to hit on attack rolls against a common enemy.
• A creature can't flank an enemy that it can't see. A creature also can't flank while it is incapacitated. A Large or larger creature is flanking as long as at least one square or hex of its space qualifies for flanking.
• When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides or corners of the enemy's space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has a +2 bonus on melee attack rolls against that enemy.
• When in doubt about whether two creatures flank an enemy on a grid, trace an imaginary line between the centers of the creatures' spaces. If the line passes through opposite sides or corners of the enemy's space, the enemy is flanked.

Climb onto a Bigger Creature

If one creature wants to jump onto another creature, it can do so by grappling. A Small or Medium creature has little chance of making a successful grapple against a Huge or Gargantuan creature, however, unless magic has granted the grappler supernatural might.

As an alternative, a suitably large opponent can be treated as terrain for the purpose of jumping onto its back or clinging to a limb. After making any ability checks necessary to get into position and onto the larger creature, the smaller creature uses its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by the target’s Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If it wins the contest, the smaller creature successfully moves into the target creature’s space and clings to its body. While in the target’s space, the smaller creature moves with the target and has advantage on attack rolls against it.

The smaller creature can move around within the larger creature’s space, treating the space as difficult terrain. The larger creature’s ability to attack the smaller creature depends on the smaller creature’s location, and is left to your discretion. The larger creature can dislodge the smaller creature as an action—knocking it off, scraping it against a wall, or grabbing and throwing it—by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the smaller creature’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The smaller creature chooses which ability to use.

Cleaving through Creatures

If your character’s Pure Martial level is 9 or higher.

When a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack might carry over to another creature nearby. The attacker targets another creature within reach and, if the original attack roll can hit it, applies any remaining damage to it. If that creature was undamaged and is likewise reduced to 0 hit points, repeat this process, carrying over the remaining damage until there are no valid targets, or until the damage carried over fails to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 hit points.

Mark

This option makes it easier for melee combatants to harry each other with opportunity attacks. When a creature makes a melee attack, it can also mark its target. Until the end of the attacker’s next turn, any opportunity attack it makes against the marked target has advantage. The opportunity attack doesn’t expend the attacker’s reaction, but the attacker can’t make the attack if anything, such as the incapacitated condition or the shocking grasp spell, is preventing it from taking reactions. The attacker is limited to one opportunity attack per turn.

Catch Up Mechanic

• During combat you can skip your turn to place yourself adjacent to any allied Player Character. Assuming:
  • Your speed is not 0
  • You are not adjacent to or within ranged attack distance of an enemy
  • You are not suffering from any adverse status effects
  • Your DM will allow it. The DM can allow it even if the other 3 things listed here a
• This is designed to help the party stay together on big maps, and ensure no one spends an entire fight running to catch up.

Armor and Weapons

• Flying in light armor requires a Strength score of 11 or higher.
• Flying in medium armor requires a Strength score of 13 or higher.
• Flying in heavy armor requires a Strength score of 17 or higher.
• If your Strength score is less than 13, you have disadvantage on weapon attacks with weapons that lack the light property while flying.
• If your Strength score is less than 17, you have disadvantage on weapon attacks with weapons that have the heavy property while flying.

Maneuverability

• You can start flying if you are in an open space at least one size larger than yourself, and you are not prone, restrained, or incapacitated.
• While flying, if you aren't incapacitated or restrained, you gain the following benefits:
  • You can move in any direction.
  • You can start gliding on your turn (no action required).
  • You gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity saving throws.

Falling

• While flying or gliding, if you are prone or restrained (and you cannot hover), or if you are incapacitated at the end of your turn, you start falling (unless something else is keeping you aloft).
• While falling, you fall 500 feet at the start of each of your turns. Unless it is your first round falling, you also fall 500 feet at the end of each of your turns.
• If you aren't restrained or incapacitated, you can use your reaction while falling to start gliding.

Gliding

• During each of your turns while gliding, you descend a number of feet equal to twice your flying speed, spending 5 feet of movement for every 10 feet you descend.
• While gliding, you can move up to 20 feet horizontally for every 10 feet you descend.
• If you take the Dash action, you descend an additional number of feet equal to twice your flying speed.
• You take no fall damage if you land while gliding.
• On your turn, you can spend movement equal to half your flying speed to stop gliding and start flying normally.
  • Once you do this a number of times equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum of once), you cannot do so again until you spend 1 minute without using your flying speed.
• If you can hover, you cannot glide.

Other Rules

• If you have a racial flying speed, and you aren't 5th level or higher, you fall prone if you end your turn in the air and aren't gliding. This replaces any racial limitations on flight.
• You can fly a number of hours equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hour) in one day. For each hour you spend flying past this number, you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or suffer 1 level of exhaustion. The DC of this saving throw is equal to 10 + the number of additional hours traveled.
• If you are carrying weight over 5 times your Strength score while flying, and aren't gliding, then you must make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check at the end of each of your turns, falling prone on a failure.