{"id":26571,"date":"2022-03-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/?p=26571"},"modified":"2022-03-04T08:31:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T14:31:42","slug":"finders-archives-house-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/finders-archives-house-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Finder’s Archives – House Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.<\/em><\/p>\n

This time around we talk a bit about House Rules and how these may or may not be applied to your game.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rules as Written (RAW)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whenever a roleplaying game is created and released, it is done so with a particular gameplay in mind. Often, this also includes the theme, and the way the rules are presented often skews the game in a particular direction. As an example, Dungeons & Dragons, in all its many incarnations, has always had a considerable amount of space and words dedicated to combat and spells. This means that these are likely to feature prominently in any game that takes place within that system, and especially if a group plays the rules exactly as written.<\/p>\n

But, rules are not always applied evenly (especially if you look at the many ways that D&D 5th<\/sup> Edition is being bent) and you\u2019ll eventually find that you fall into a hole where the rules generally do not apply. This is where house rules and GM’s Call come in.<\/p>\n

First, GM\u2019s Call<\/strong><\/p>\n

GM\u2019s are called on to make spur-of-the-moment judgment calls every time that a group sits down around a gaming table. Whether that is how the NPCs react to the actions of the PCs, or how a particular spell works (\u201cCan I talk to fish with speak with animals<\/em> if I can\u2019t breathe water?”) or how any given (usually obscure) rule is applied, and when one isn\u2019t. This is part and parcel of the role of the GM. There are times, though, where you find some rules you keep applying and so, you\u2019ll have to establish them as house rules because you find that they make your game flow more easily.<\/p>\n

House Rules<\/strong><\/p>\n

House rules then are those times where you\u2019ve found yourself making judgment calls on a particular rule or application multiple times, and to ensure that you\u2019re fair and even with it, you establish it as a house rule. It could be anything really, but they tend to fall into two categories: utility and combat. Those with utility tend to have less impact, while those for combat tend to have greater consequences because they directly affect the mortality of characters and NPCs.<\/p>\n

So to show you, here are a few examples from my own D&D 5e campaign and my reasoning behind them:<\/p>\n

Healing Potions: (Combat and Utility<\/em>)<\/p>\n