Dianmallo Variant Rules
The following are house rules that are welcome at this D&D table. The first two are rules that the DM will enforce and remind players of. The rest are rules that benefit the player and may be considered optional if you would like to choose otherwise.
Extended Rest Intervals
In the Deals of Dianmallo campaign, we are going to try the following variant of the variant rule from the DMG 2014.
A short rest will require 6-8 hours, and a long rest will require 24 hours. This will allow for better balancing of encounters and plotlines within the city as things unfold, as well as raise the stakes for resting.
If a healing kit is expended over an hour period of time, the benefactor may heal up to half their total hit dice without expending any.
For example, if Gunter the 6th level barbarian with +4 to constitution takes an hour to use a healing kit on himself, he may roll 1d12+4 up to three times without taking from his total 6d12 reserves.
Hidden Death Saves
The DM rolls death saves from behind the screen to keep players from knowing their status, which builds the suspense of whether the character will die sooner or later. It is unknown.
Optional Rules
Max Crit Damage
If you roll a Nat 20 on an attack roll, you get to add the max damage dice roll value to your normal damage. For example,
or...
Bob the elf gets to roll 1d8+2 damage on his longsword of mundaneness. He rolls a nat 20 for an attack roll, so now he gets to deal 1d8+2+8 damage instead.
"I know a guy..."
If the party is stuck, a member may use the "I know a guy" variant rule to create an NPC contact or informant that may have helpful information regarding the task at hand. The following caveats apply:
- The player must give the DM a compelling reason for how they know this NPC and why they can be helpful.
- The player must be willing to improvise any relevant past events with the NPC.
- The DM has control over how the NPC interacts with the party
- The DM has veto power if this variant rule is being abused
Later on, Jeb gets out of prison and wants to turn his life around, so he begins to cook at the The Gilded Keg . The food becomes more addicting.
Maximally Effective Potions
Per the PHB 2024, drinking or administering a potion of healing requires a bonus action. However, if you use an action to drink a potion of healing, you gain its max benefit instead of rolling.
No 1's on New Hit Dice Rolls
When you level up and roll a hit dice to determine your new HP, you cannot roll a 1. Reroll your hit dice if you receive a 1 on the new HP roll.
Bastions
When you hit level 5, we are taking up the Bastions rule from the DMG. It is completely optional, but it provides means for you as a character to invest in the game with different results. You can see all the rules for this in the last chapter of the 2024 DMG, which should be shared with you in DnD Beyond.
Downtime
Downtime, as expounded on in Xanathar's Guide, is a way to add depth to your character's life in Dianmallo. You are welcome to consider any downtime activity and work on them in moments between adventures. For our purposes, a workweek is any 7 days of work in a tenday, because a week in this world is ten days.
Comments