House Rules

  1. For critical hits, apply max damage rather than double damage dice

Tips ‘n’ tricks

  • Ask questions! The DM won’t be annoyed, and is often relying on it

    • If you can’t picture you character and their environment, ask a question!

    • If you aren’t sure what actions you character can take, ask a question!

    • If you are unsure about a rule, ask a qustion!

  • Stuck? Ask the DM about your party’s current objective

    • If the objective is too vague, ask a question!

Adventuring

There are lots of ways to adventure!

By design

  • Tell the DM what kind of story you want

    • battle heavy, murder mystery, start a business, obtain a specific item/skill/spell, etc.

    • urban, forest, undead, pirates, extra-planar, etc.

    • one-shot, small adventure, big campaign, etc.

  • Wait for the DM to perform the ritual of Content Curration, which takes a variable amount of time to complete

Curiously explore

Travel somewhere and let the magic happen! Bounce around Veldus doing as you please, or allow the story to develop into a larger campaign.

  1. Most Kingdoms & Places in Veldus have a hook into a new adventure. Some hooks are made obvious, some require minimal digging.

  2. Each adventure should end with a minor loose end that can hook into another adventure.

  3. Explore the hook at the end of each adventure and a larger narrative will form

Minor quests

  1. Estbalish a Lifstyle and start a Between Adventures task

  2. Explore and learn the history of Kingdoms & Places in Veldus

  3. Obtain an item you’d like your character to have (e.g. a specific magical item, non-magical trinket for roleplaying, etc.)

  4. Create a character motivation and play it out (i.e. I want to…learn how to ride a mount, become a noble, become a vampire, build a stronghold, form a superhero team, etc.)

  5. Slay dragons. The bigger the dragon, the bigger the horde of treasure it slumbers upon!

Equipment

The following rules are intended to enhance the official rules, not overhaul them.

A “standard” piece of equipment is any equipment as it appears in the official rules, but in Veldus a piece of equipment may have an additional property that changes the “standard” rule for it.

Each property comes with a rule adjustment and a cost adjustment that are applied to the “standard” piece of equipment. Equipment can have more than one additional property, with each rule and cost adjustment being applied.

Buffs

Name

Type

Cost Adj.

Rule Adj.

Reliable

Armor

x2

Occasionally gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing attacks.

Sturdy

Armor

x2

Critical hits against the wearer are downgraded to standard hits. An item loses this property after it is used AC-10 times, minimum 3.

Accurate

Weapon

x2

Gain advantage on attack rolls.

Superior

Weapon

x3.25

+1 to critical hit range (if a weapon would normally crit on a 20, a superior weapon would crit on 19-20).

Reinforced

Weapon

x2

Add one additional dice to damage roll, discard lowest.

Debuffs

Name

Type

Cost Adj.

Rule Adj.

Exposed

Armor

x1/4

The wearer suffers critical hits on a hit roll of 18-20.

Ruined

Armor

x0

The wearer is not proficient with this item, even if they their race/class/feat gives them Proficiency.

Imbalanced

Weapon

x1/4

Gain disadvantage on attack rolls.

Ruined

Weapon

x0

Discard all damage dice, use only STR/DEX mod.

Examples

Ruined Shield

Cost Adj. 0gp (10gp * 0).

Rule Adj. The wielder cannot gain any Proficiency bonuses with this shield.

Ruined Exposed Scale mail

Cost Adj. 0gp (50gp * 0 * 1/4).

Rule Adj. The wielder cannot gain any Proficiency bonuses with this armor and they suffer critical hits on 18-20 attack rolls.

Imbalanced Reinfocrced Shortsword

Cost Adj. 5gp (10gp * 1/4 * 2).

Rule Adj. The wielder has disadvantage on attack rolls and adds on additional dice to the damage roll, discard the lowest.

Reliable Exposed Leather

Cost Adj. 5gp (10gp * 1/4 * 2).

Rule Adj. Critical hits againts the wearer are weakened, but occur on 18-20.

Travel

Refer to Player’s Handbook rules about Movement.

Pace

Distance per Minute

Distance per Hour

Distance per Day

Effect

Fast

400 feet

4 miles

30 miles

-5 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception) scores

Normal

300 feet

3 miles

24 miles

None

Slow

200 feet

2 miles

18 miles

Able to use stealth

Pre-travel checklist

  • Determine mode of transportaion

    • By foot/mount/hired carriage

    • By road/trail/wilderness

    • What pace?

  • Plan route, estimate time, and secure rations (unless you plan to forage).

  • Set a marching order

Drinking

In Veldus, we use the drinking rules provided by the unofficial D&D wiki.

Measurement Quick Reference

  • 1 gallon equals 8 pints

  • 1 keg equals 15.5 gallons

  • 1 keg equalis 124 pints

  • 1 ponykeg equals 1/2 of a keg

  • 1 barrel equals 2 kegs

  • 1 barrel equals 31 gallons

Intoxication Threshold

You have an intoxication threshold that is equal to your Constitution score +1. Once a player reaches this threshold they are granted Liquid Courage.

Drinks have 6 levels of strength:

  1. Watered = It’s watered down, requires 2 to gain 1 level of intoxication.

  2. Weak = 1 level of intoxication.

  3. Moderate = 2 levels of intoxication.

  4. Strong = 3 levels of intoxication.

  5. Very strong = 4 levels of intoxication.

  6. Deadly = 5 levels of intoxication and a Constitution save DC 10 vs automatically falling unconscious for 1d6 x 10 minutes.

Note

A MugFlagon Acolyte’s life is spent drinking only the finest beer, spending hours of their days sampling and tasting various sample trays. As such, they’ve built a higher tolerance to the affects of intoxication. A MugFlagon Acolyte applies a -1 level of intoxication to the drink they are consuming and gain advantage on the CON saving throw made for deadly strength drinks.

Liquid Courage

Liquid courage grants you one of the following effects for 1 hour, roll a d4:

  1. 5 temporary hit points

  2. Advantage on Charisma skill checks.

  3. Advantage on saving throws made against fear.

  4. Advantage on Charisma ability checks.

as well as:

  • Disadvantage on Wisdom and Dexterity saving throws.

  • Disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom ability checks.

Note

A MugFlagon Acolyte spends hours of their lives under the influence of the Mug Mother’s Holy Ale. They role twice on the liquid courage chart (re-roll same results), and do not suffer the WIS and DEX saving throw disadvantage.

After the Threshold

Furthermore, you must make a Constitution saving throw save after each drink consumed past their threshold. The DC is equal 8 + the strength of the drink + your level of exhaustion. If you fail, you gain one level of exhaustion. If you fail the save by 5 or more, you fall unconscious for 1d4 hours.

Exhaustion: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Conditions#toc_15

Detoxing and Hangovers

  • Your levels of intoxication are decreased by 2 at the end of a short rest and reset at the end of a long rest. If you have 1 level of exhaustion gained from intoxication and no levels of intoxication, you have a hangover.

  • While you’re hungover, you are vulnerable to thunder damage and have disadvantage against being blinded. You lose 4 levels of intoxication from a use of lesser restoration.

  • You lose your hangover at the end of a long rest or from a use of greater restoration (must be used after exhaustion is cured).

Note

A MugFlagon Acolyte understands the dangers even the holiest of ales can inflict on someone unless they take great care. The Flagon Father himself developed techniques for quickly detoxing the impurities from your body and clearing your mind from the curse they inflicted. An MugFlagon Acolyte fully recovers all intoxication levels after a short rest, and loses their hangover after another short rest. A single long rest fully recovers the Acolyte.