Behind the Screen - Rules and Mechanics.

So.....now that we're a good way in to our campaign "Tyranny of Dragons" it seems like a good point to look at the house rules and game mechanics that we've been using.

This campaign is being played based on the DnD 5e not the recent updated version and uses the pre published material with a few tweaks which we will talk about later.

The adventure has our characters starting off at level 1. On the basis that the party is small 3 characters the following house rules have been implemented. 

1-All characters get a bonus starting feat.

2-At level up all characters get maximum hit point increases. 

3- Drinking potions is a bonus action.

4-Critical Hits do maximum damage plus a dice roll. 

5-All level 1 spell components are available. Higher level components have to be found/purchased.

6-Flanking in combat gives advantage.

7-Characters can choose weapons with which they are proficient not just those in the starting equipment.

So why give a bonus feat? Well the reason for this is to give some additional flavour to a new level 1 character to set them apart from other characters. It gives each a unique starting ability that will help them in their early days of adventuring. With Pete having chosen his characters and rolled up their stats and abilities it was time to add their feats. Dafnae the rogue was given crossbow expert and we swapped out the short bow from her starting equipment to a hand crossbow as this felt more in keeping with a character who had spent time on the mean streets of Baldur's Gate. Chard the fighter was given Pole Arm Master and this allowed him to take a glaive as his primary weapon. Being a mercenary soldier from Baldur's Gate seemed appropriate that he would have some additional martial training before setting out on this adventure. Last and by no means least, Torsion the cleric was given Observant giving an increase to his base intelligence score and a boost to his passive abilities. 

Hit points. Because we were playing through this campaign with a small party, 3 characters it seemed to make sense to maximise their hit points as in the early chapters they would potentially face off against a lot of enemies and we felt this would help to offset the need to keep adjusting the encounters. Even a group of 6 kobolds could potentially TPK 3 characters at level 2.

Drinking potions is a bonus action. Again this rule has been implemented to maximise the action economy of our small group of adventurers. It means that in the midst of combat each character can still take an action whether it be attack, disengage, magic etc and also heal themselves if necessary as having to rely on other party members may not be possible in a small party.

Critical Hits do maximum damage. The mechanic for "Crits" seems to be something that a lot of people debate and house rule. We felt that the damage of a "Crit" should be just that. Rolling 2 1s on a "Crit" just doesn't seem fair. A "Crit" should be just that. So if Chard scores a "Crit" with his glaive he now deals the full 13 points of damage plus an extra D10. This does work both ways and monsters and enemy creatures also deal maximum damage. 

With no wizards in the party the rule for level 1 spell components isn't really applicable to our Tyranny of Dragons campaign but it did mean a lot in Rime of the Frost Maiden. 

Flanking. I personally like the flanking rule as it seems right that if you're having to fight 2 or more enemies simultaneously and at least 1 of them is behind you, you are going to be distracted enough that the chance of one of them hitting you is more likely. Also in Tyranny of Dragons many of the early combat encounters have enemies with pack tactics. Again I didn't want a small group of kobolds wiping our party out before they'd even got going. 

Starting Equipment. This again was part of the characters build and related to their bonus feats. Essentially allowing for choices that would allow some early bonus attacks.

Some may argue that we could have just started the characters at a higher level. That's true but part of the fun is taking a character and seeing them grow over the course of the adventure and these small but not insignificant tweaks felt right and most importantly balanced for a group of characters starting out on their first adventure. 

Has it worked? 

Now that our party is level 4 and on their way to level 5 with an additional party member having joined their ranks does it make any difference? Yes I think so. Chapters 1 through 3 were tough and a number of encounters were still tweaked to manage the difficulty level as written. Even in our last session the group encountered a large number of relatively low level creatures and they took quite a hammering with death saves and healing required. I think it's definitely given Pete and his party more options to think about. The characters have leaned into their abilities and as a result the party feels well balanced and able to deal with most things. As for me as DM I feel like I can certainly throw more at them without worrying too much that it will all end in disaster. It's also been great fun learning the rules and running the campaign. I'm sure there will be a few more tweaks made along the way and we will see how that works out.