Variant Rules
Aging
If your campaign takes place over an extended period of time, or you otherwise want to allow your players to generate characters at elder stages of life, you might want to allow for aging. This variant rule, introduced in Chapter 2, illustrates rules to include this in your game.
Aging Thresholds
Every species ages at a different rate. While many species age at a similar rate as humans, others might age more rapidly or slowly. Consequently, rather than tying Aging to specific numbers, we instead use the three age milestones discussed in that species entry—adulthood, middle age, and veneration—as thresholds where a creature's age might take its toll. Alternatively, you can use these rules to generate a character that is starting their adventure later in life.
Adulthood
Generally, most adventures will occur while the characters are experiencing adulthood. As a result, aging has no direct impact at this threshold.
Middle Age
When a character reaches middle age, they experience one aging boon and one aging bane, discussed below.
Veneration
When a character reaches veneration, they experience two aging boons and aging banes, discussed below, in addition to those they experience at middle age.
Aging Boons and Banes
At the middle age and veneration thresholds, characters encounter one or more aging boons and banes. Each time a selection is made, you can choose from the options provided below, roll on a table to determine it randomly, or assign other possibilities suitable to your realm and the character in question.
Aging Banes
| d4 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your Strength score decreases by 1. Your maximum for this score decreases by 1. |
| 2 | Your Dexterity score decreases by 1. Your maximum for this score decreases by 1. |
| 3 | Your Constitution score decreases by 1. Your maximum for this score decreases by 1. |
| 4 | Your base walking speed decreases by 5 feet. |
Aging Boons
| d4 | Boon |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your maximum for this score increases by 1. |
| 2 | Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Your maximum for this score increases by 1. |
| 3 | Your Charisma score increases by 1. Your maximum for this score increases by 1. |
| 4 | You gain proficiency in a skill or any combination of two languages or tools. |
Casting Failure in Armor
In some realms, casting in armor might come at the consequence of failure, regardless of armor proficiency. This variant rule, introduced in chapter 6, can help you introduce this concept in your campaigns.
Casting Degree
When a creature attempts to cast a power higher than 1st degree and with no longer casting time than 1 action while wearing armor or wielding a shield, they must make a Concentration saving throw (DC = 10 + the power's degree). On a success, the power is cost as normal. On a failure, the power is not cast, but no resources are spent.
The degree of powers affected increases to higher than 2nd degree at 5th level, 3rd degree at 9th level, 4th degree at 13th level, and 5th degree at 17th level.
Impact of Armor
The armor—or shield—the creature is wearing or wielding also impacts this DC. Add 1, 2, and 3 to the DC for light, medium, and heavy armor, respectively. Add an additional 1, 2, or 3 to the DC if the creature is wielding a light, medium, or heavy shield, respectively.
Fatigue
You might want to represent fatigue in your realm as a way to encourage a party to remain Healthy. This variant rule, introduced in chapter 9, offers a new penalty to reaching Bloodied status.
Fatigued
When a creature becomes Bloodied, for the duration they are Bloodied they are also Fatigued. While Fatigued, a creature's school resource maximum is halved, as discussed in Chapter 10.
Quick Turns
Sometimes, a creature might need to act urgently in a round, whether to rescue an ally or to avoid impending detriment, and be willing to incur a penalty in order to do so. This variant rule, introduced in chapter 9, can help introduce this concept in your realm.
Acting Quickly
At the start of each round, you can choose to declare a quick turn by forgoing your action, bonus action, or reaction recovery on your turn for that round. Doing so grants you a +5, +3, or +2 bonus to your initiative for that round. You can forgo more than one option to gain multiple bonuses; for instance, you could forgo your action and your reaction to gain a +7 bonus to initiative for that round.
Additional Actions
If a feature you have grants you an additional action, bonus action, or reaction, you can still benefit from those features if you forgo your base option.
