Additional Rules

This is a quick and dirty list of all the rules I've added. They're not as bad as you think.

Using More of Your Stats
This is a set of rules that make your base ability scores have more impact on your character, affecting carry weight, attunement, and skills. We aren't using the change to Dexterity, and only the Berzerker barbarian subclass benefits from the Constitution change.

Everybody Gets One
When you get knocked out, you don't suffer any penalties as normal. However, each additional time you go unconscious before a long rest will automatically add a level of exhaustion to your character. While this can start a death spiral, those are the times when you're outmatched or outlucked, and you should run or surrender. Killing a person who has surrendered is a war crime, and is a safe if not embarrassing out against humanoids, and many intelligent creatures won't bother to chase you down unless you've put them in a situation where you can't be allowed to live, like if you stole their magic thingy that would cure their magicancer.

New/Changed Conditions
New status conditions because they don't exist for some reason.

Burning
Burning creatures and objects take 1d6 fire damage each turn, and an additional 1d6 for each turn they've been on fire. Creatures that have been on fire for 4 or more turns begin suffocating. Burning may be removed by taking an action to put the fire out, or being doused with water. (This by and large deals less damage at first compared to the fire elemental's 1d10 all the time, but reflects actually catching fire and staying that way for a long time). A creature with fire resistance can't burn, but lands will continue to do so.

Bleeding
Bleeding creatures suffer damage equal their largest hitdie + Con Mod (min of 1) at the start of each of their turns. Bleeding creatures have disadvantage on Constitution checks and saving throws, as well as death saving throws. I am not a super turbo bastard though, a creature doesn't take bleed damage while they're down, that's what death saves are reflecting to begin with. Bleeding can be stopped by making a Medicine check of 10 as an action, or by using a spell that restores hitpoints. Lesser Restoration can remove bleeding if need be, as well as more powerful spells that remove status conditions. It goes without saying, creatures without blood can't bleed.

Paralyzed
A Paralyzed character loses their Dexterity bonus to AC

Blinded
A blinded character has disadvantage on Dexterity saves, fails them automatically if also deaf. They fail any check relying on sight as normal

Grappled
A grappled character attacks with disadvantage. In order to cast a spell, the target must succeed on a Concentration check equal to your 8 + Strength Mod + Proficiency bonus or it fails.

Coup de Grace
A helpless character can be killed instantly. You may use your action and bonus action to make a single attack roll with disadvantage against a target that is restrained, paralyzed, or unconscious. The attack scores a critical hit, and the target needs to make a Constitution save or die.

Rest Variants
PCs use standard rest rules, NPCs without sparks use gritty long rest rules.

Extended Short Rest: A short rest taking 3 hours instead of one, or three days instead of one for normies

Extended Long Rest: A long rest taking a week instead of one day, or a month for normies

Arduous Rally: A short rest where you only receive half the healing from hit dice, but it takes only 10 minutes, or 1 hour if you're a normie.

Strongholds, Recruits and Businesses
The PCs should probably expect a keep or home base in one way or another at some point to call their own. This is a simple set of rules and stuff to keep track of all that stuff.

Players can also spend resources to provide additional income by acquiring or starting businesses or their own. That's something to ask me about since it will have to be done on a case by case basis, not all bars are created equal.

Players can also find and recruit NPCs to assist them on adventures. These can range from simple 20gp a day healbots, to full fledged adventurers that you pay with equal share. For most of these followers, you will just get a sheet or statblock and control them yourselves. Followers with personalities or secret bullshit will be piloted by me for a week or two and then turned over. Important note: Followers will almost never be better than you at anything. Their stats are probably lower than yours, and their skills will be picked to deliberately keep you the best at the thing you wanted to be best at. Myrren is a good example, he doesn't deal more damage than Guk or whatever character Mitch ends up on, and he isn't sneakier than Rolen, but he's still a flexible damage dealer with a lot of mobility. Elizabeth's spellbook is focused on buffing and out of combat spell and is leaving blasting to the players that wanted to blast. Just keep in mind, most NPCs don't have a divine spark, and can't deal with the punishment PCs can.

Drugs
Do drugs

Crafting Materials
So there's been a few times where there's been some weapon where you all ask me "wHeRe dO wE FiNd WhAt tHaT DoEs" well here it iiiissssssssss

Divine Spark
This is an important piece of lore that makes PCs exceptional. It's a fragment of Sirrion's divine power that allows them to be heroes way better than everyone else.

By default player characters follow normal long rest rules. Particularly battered PCs and most NPCs follow the gritty long rest rules where a short rest is 8 hours and a long rest is 7 days, as well as needing a healer's kit to roll hit dice.

Fate
Sometimes a player does something exceptional. Be it roleplay, clutch moments, or maybe you donated bone marrow or an organ, perhaps even willingly. In these circumstances, I might award Fate. This is a single use, only hold one, deus ex machina bullshit point. Expend it to turn any roll at the table into a critical failure or critical success, max a roll, or stay at 1hp instead of dropping to 0. Legendary resistance gets around it, but otherwise the thing you want occurs, typically by time being stopped while you dick around and make it happen.

You are not allowed to tell any players you have Fate. I tell you when you get one via some of sliding into your DMs. Keep it hidden, preferably off your sheet. If any player figures out you have a point of Fate, you lose it. Spending Fate is meant to be dramatic and surprising, and if everyone plans their boss fight around spending Fate on the paladin's attack to crit it loses its luster.

Sometimes I goof and make something too hard (but it's usually that way on purpose), or the table makes a million bad choices in a row and are about to TPK. Fate can (and has) turned that around.

Fate Used
Farren Spent Fate to allow Layla to avoid being destroyed by dragonfire when she was one of two remaining players left standing.

Guk used Fate to survive an Adult Cave Dragon's breath weapon. (3/16/19)

Rolen cashed in Fate to critically injure a Chosen of Baphomet (3/24/19)

Table Rules
Nat 1s don't mean auto failure on anything. Nat 20s aren't auto successes on anything but attack rolls. This is technically the rules as they are written in the book, with the exception of Nat 1s failing attack rolls because all it does is gimp fighters. If you get to the point where you have +14 to hit and roll a one, that AC 15 mage is still getting hit. You're essentially a demigod, you don't trip over your own feet anymore

If your die falls off the table it fails. A d20 is a miss or failure no matter what, a damage roll is 1 point regardless of mods. It isn't hard to keep your damn dice on the table, I play by this rule too and I've been affected the most.

Talk over me and you get the dart gun.

Pay a-goddamn-ttention. Y'all have pickled your way through the campaign. I've lost count of the number of times I've described an item, person, or room, and nobody paid attention and I had to do it all over again. If you remember lore, or obscure things I said you get a point of DM Inspiration. Jon holds the record for most Inspiration awarded this way with basically 90% of it.

Once a game if you get me a snack or a drink or if you're feeling like a bigman a box of minis you get Inspiration. It's been an unstated rule the entire time I've been behind the screen. Is it Pay-to-win? Yea maybe but I'm hungry, and you can just bring your own stuff as offerings to sate your hungry god.