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Grage Magical Combat & Damage
 
Campaign Rules - We are not playing by 5.Woke rules (for now): The changes made in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse are not going to be used for at least, this campaign. This means Kobolds still have pack tactics and sunlight sensitvity, older book races that had set attribute bonuses (and negatives) will keep them. The tiefling variants are still valid as are the pre "Monsters of the Multiverse" creature types. Grage is designed a bit differently in comparison to other campigns and these newer changes to game remove too much of the character creation infrastructure at this time.

Also
  • All are Welcome - My issues with the Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse book are the changes to character creation infrastructure and the exclusion of penalties on a PC race, but not on the entire race itself. As far what a person's gender choices/preferences are... I don't care. I neither praise nor condemn anyone who can be reasonably social with other people in general - I am not on this planet to judge you and I really just want decent players at my table, and if others can't keep from mocking those they perceive as unacceptably different, then I will simply shut down my table. Look, when I was young kids came together from different backgrounds and levels of popularity and put aside childish differences to play this game, and in some cases the goodwill that developed between players would leak outside the game. Sadly, since the game has gone mainstream people are breaking into social cabals complete with morailty checks and echo chambers.
  • Focused on the Game- We are trying to avoid out-of-game politics.
  • During Football Season - On days/evenings that fantasy football takes precedent, but we still want to play - Foundry VTT has an excellent visual cue when it is your turn and a different one when when a player(s) needs to pay attention. So feel free to zone out until commercials.
 

Grage Facts:

Classes & Subclasses
  • Paladins & Alignment:
    On Grage the relationship between the pantheon of powers that be have a more direct relationship with their religious warriors. This means that all Paladins must be of lawful alignment with good, neutral and evil being options. Any Pally that breaks from a lawful alignment immediately becomes an Oathbreaker. So why does a Paladin have to be lawful when a deity may not be at all? Well every holy warriror has to adhere to the tennets of an oath. Why? Beecause even the deity of insanity has a method to his madness and that method is governed by an oath.
  • Warlocks: Pact of the Chain:
    Just about every DM has an opinion on how this pact is handled. Some treat it no different than the Find Familiar spell to the point of ignoring the actual description text. Others basically give the Warlock an actual Quasit or Sprite, and everything that goes with it. To clarify, this familiar is a spirit of the fey, fiend or celestial origin as in the pact description, but this pact with this spirit does provide the full familiar varient benefits as per the Monster Manual. Seriously, what is the use of this pact pre Tashas with out the familiar variant benefits?
  • Rangers: Spells - I find a ranger not being able to change spells fron their spell list to be asinine, especially when they get less spell choices than 3rd casting classes. So, once per long rest a ranger can select one spell from the class list and replace a memorized spell using the spellcasting focus rules from the 5e Tasha's book.
  • Rangers: Beast Master: I like the Tasha addition of primal companions but it is still complete garbage that the original best master that actually uses an standard beast requires the sacrifice of the ranger's action and later lose one (5th level) of the ranger's attacks. So the following parts of the original class and options will be smeared together:
    1. As with just about all of the other pet and companion sub-classes, the beast master can call on his non-spirit companion to attack and possibly other commands as a bonus action.
    2. The beast that you can tame as a companion can be up to a 1/2 challenge rating.
    3. You must have a living beast present in order to bond your beast companion to the primal beast you summon. After the bonding the primal companion, it assumes the primal companion's hit dice and hit points in the same manner as a druid's wild shape. If the primal companion is slain, the ranger's actual animal companion reverts to the number of hit points before the bonding.
    4. While bonded, the companion can use both primal and natural animal abilities including pack tactics!
    5. The companion can be bonded with the land, air or sea primal companion summoned, making for a beautiful or horrid version of the bonded animal (whatever the play wants to visualize), but the rest of the Tashs rules apply.
    6. Healing spells will work on your comapnion while bonded as standard, but if the primal companion is struck to zero hit points, the regular beast will be left. If your standard beast is reduced to zero - it is slain and no more bonding is possible until you get a new compainion or somehow bring it back to life.
    7. In the case that your primal bonding is lost - you can summon back the same type of primal companion using a spell slot just like the Tasha rules. Again, the rest of the Tasha rules apply.
    8. The 11th level two attack OR multi-attack is valid depending on the original animal companion's abilities!

Spells & Magical Effects:

  • Magic can be a painful pursuit - Since the end of the Gith invasion, any spell that requires concentration will cause 1 hit point of psychic or necrotic damage (DM's choice) per minute after the initial casting in wild magic regions and/or during wild magic storms.
  • Many spells from earlier additions are making a comeback via 5E with a twist - Any of these spells that are brought back officially by WOTC will be taken out of the vitalilty loss category.
  • Pulse Wave is a standard wizard spell - The 3rd level spell Pulse Wave is originally a Wildemount Chronomancer / Gravimancer spell, but everyone likes it too much not to upgrade it to standard offensive spell.
  • Boccob has forbidden Leomund's Tiny Hut (Homebrew)- Boccob has decreed that Tiny Hut has been replaced with Galder's Tower. Casters that have the ability to Tiny Hut instead will cast Galder's Tower. Casters that enter into Grage from a gate and know the Tiny Hut can cast it, but the spell will be able to cast it, but the Tiny Hut will fail as soon as someone from inside touches the dome. So casters should tell guests to bring a shit bucket.
  • Silvery Barbs is a 2nd level spell - Don't hate it, but Silvery Barbs is just a little OP for 1st level, and I usually do not have an issue with OP. Also, I am going with the wisemen that Silvery Barbs does not overcome legendary resistance.
Weapons: Magical & Mundane
  • Some old ass weapons make a comeback - The Broadsword and the Sling Bullet are returning, as well as the two weapons from the Exotic category: The Bastard Sword and the Kopesh. The Weapon Master feat opens access to learn these two options as part of your four weapon choices.
  • Guns - The development of firearms did not begin testing until midway through the war post-invasion, and unfortunately gnomish artificers focused on using magical ammunition with elemental effects that had disastrous results. By the time guns, rifles and cannons were introduced on the battlefield using metal and wooden shot, only a year remained in the conflict - well, at least on a world-wide scale. After the Gith had vacated Grage, it was agreed by allied forces that though this technology was initially ineffective, these weapons were easy to produce and train with... and the fact that a mere commoner could kill a skilled wizard or even a hardened barbarian with one good shot was destabilizing to society enought to halt further study and distribution of all firearm forms, ammunition and smoke powder. The four shot revolver that is mainly carried by Artificers is considered a magical weapon by the common humanoid.
 
Rules of Combat
business beast
  • The "Natural 20" Rolls Rule - A natural one is always a miss and a natural twenty is always a hit. It doesn't matter if you are striking an unconscious frog if you roll a one you miss, and if you are fighting a bull with a wooden spoon on a natty twenty you hit.
  • Bad Luck has Consequences (Homebrew) - Three natural one roles against a single opponent or four natural one roles during a battle with multiple opponents will cause any melee weapon of less than artifact status to break with no save (see magic items for the fate of sentient weapons). A player can opt to spare a weapon(s) by submitting to a critical fumble.
  • Flanking - When a player and an ally (or another player) are on opposite sides/corners of a foe, they gain a +2 bonus to hit. Both flankers must be able to attack on each round flanking occurs to receive the bonus.
  • Being Surrounded - A physical combat target can be surrounded by up to eight attackers (see diagram to right) in hand to hand combat. Any number past this amount cannot effectively inflict damage on the combat target with the following exceptions: An attacker with a reach weapon or thrown weapon can attempt an attack with disadvantage. If the attack misses by more than five the attack strikes an ally with evasion or dodging not possible.
  • Dueling is Allowed - I got yelled at by my DM some years back after going nerd raging and telling another player I was gonna kill his ass, and with good reason. This is why: When I first joined a live gaming group we had a GM who crapped out after about six weeks because too busy teaching high schoolers or something, but a few weeks later the player whose house we were using gathered us back up and took over as GM with a new campaign. All but one of us came back, but to my surprise our old DM was back as a player. Since that point the guy had some issue with me or my character, and it gradually got worse with little quips and griping to the point where he let me almost get killed twice – including this douche refusing to pull me out of gelatinous cube that he was standing next to less than 5 feet. He would also do stupid ass stuff like casting spells that would damage the party and even healing enemies – And the one night I was done with his bullshit and the DM put the brakes on me. In hindsight I should have just left the group because I did not realize at the time how many people were looking for groups, but I ate the shit because I wanted to finish the campaign. To be fair, I had a few douche moments myself after that verbal spat, but in my defense it was learned behavior lol. If we had dueled I would have most likely lost because he was an a Moon Druid and I was a death cleric with a level of fiend warlock, but just to get one or two shots on the self righteous prick before going down would have been worth it. After I started DMing my current group, I did lose a player for a while because of in-fighting, so I am allowing duels to settle squabbling with the following stipulations:
    • Any verbal grievances between the duelers must be within the current game only. Bitching about previous game bad behavior or once of the players cheating at fantasy football is groundless.
    • This is not to the death. The duel is over if one gets reduced to zero or duelist can also yield.
    • You don't get to take any gear or money from the loser.
    • When the duel is over, so is the point of fighting. You wan't revenge? Talk to the DM in private.
  • Death is not a one spell trip - I do like the fact that the permanent loss of a constitution point is a mechanism of the past, but catching a ress in 5E with only -4 to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks that can be fixed with 32 hours rest at an inn. In addition to the "ordeal" penatlies of some spells that restore life, any character or NPC that has Revivify, Raise Dead, Reincarnate, Ressurection and Limited Wish (Genie Warlock) casted upon them will tempoarily lose 1D4 points of constitution (trouble breathing, lethargy, muscles ache), as well as 1D4 points of intelligence (unclear memories, otherwordly visions, headaches, slow thoughts). With each long rest a character can deduct one point of players choice, and a greater restoration spell will restore one point at random. Please note that true resurrection spell or its equivalent via a wish spell does not have any negative effects.
    I am adding these penalties because having damaged front liner or healer pushes the player group to change common tactics (at least for a while) or make them take a less travelled path to accomplishing a goal.
  • Deathly Changes - If you are dead long enough for a funeral (so a raise dead spell or better), you can choose to either change your subclass or one feat if you are brought back.
 
Magical Combat & Damage
  • The Belch Cantrip can Interrupt Spell Concentration - But the caster receives advantage on the concentration save and Belch is subject to Counterspell.
  • Point Blank Spellcasting - The five foot disadvantage rule is suspended because I love point blank Ice Knives.
  • Spells from earlier Editions - Spell from earlier editions as well as magic from 3rd party books are subject to the effects of Mordant Arcana / Burning Grey.
  • Vile Damage - I never liked the name level drain, and the term energy drain is hated and fateful, but stupid. 5th edition has greatly decreased the damage from the undead, fiends and the more powerful necromantic spells. So I am creating an upgrade to necrotic damage taken from the 3rd edition Book of Vile Darkness, and the 5th edition version of necrotic with a twist. Vile Damage: Vile damage works the same way as 5e necrotic damage along with hit point reduction, but if you fail a constitution save you are -1 on your proficiency bonus. If you are drained to 0 you flat out die, and in some case could become an undead. In addition, this proficiency drain can only be restored via a Greater Restoration spell cast on consecrated ground or ground effected by a Hallow spell. Vile damage causes such a violation to the body to the soul that these extreme measures are needed. Failed save effect: -1 to proficiency bonus that affects ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls.
 
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