Belswick campaign - house rules

We're getting into the Belswick posts that are directly useful for players. These house rules cover the game in general, and  5th Edition spellcasting, class archetypes and feats.

UPDATE: new version

This house definitely rules. (Not sorry.) From.

DURING THE GAME

Experience points will be given out for bringing home loot, not for killing monsters. Every gold piece of value (after taxes) brought safely to a home base is worth 1 experience point. Bring chests and a crowbar, and pay attention to what the local church, sage and lord are interested in buying.

No magic shops - spells can be bought or bargained for with the local church or wizard order. There are no magic shops. Potions are most definitely a thing. Only nobles and higher-ups in the clergy can afford to buy or commission permanent magic items - trade with them directly or do the alchemist a favor. Considered as dangerous in commoner hands as swords and crossbows. Maybe get a permit?

Carousing and other downtime
Lookie here, it's the carousing rules! Throw gold at the townies to boost your reputation and experience points.

Healing and resting
Short rest and long rest are still a thing you use to recover use of class abilities. They interact with healing a bit differently though:

• Long rest: a good night's sleep, eight hours at least, and a solid meal at the start or finish. Heals up to half your hit points of damage if you can sleep somewhere safe, dry and warm. Lacking this, you only heal 1d6+level hit points. Either way, recover a level of fatigue. Takes 8 hours and a full ration. Can do this once per day.
• Short rest: either...
• a relaxed meal time somewhere safe and comfortable to take your mind off things: heal 1d6+level hit points. Takes an hour of time and a full ration. Can do this once per day.
• a quick bite - fifteen minutes of breathing space in a safe, uninterrupted lunch: heal 1d4 hit points. Takes a half-ration.

Death and Dismemberment
Different way of handling what happens at 0 hp. Earn those scars.

RACES

Check out the overview of available races. Specific rules:

• Subrace: can play these for flavor, but they give no mechanical benefit on top of the base race.
• Ability bonus: replaced by a number of rerolls equal to the bonus. Take the highest value.
• Darkvision: only works in dim light, not in pitch darkness. Mere mortals need light.
• Cantrips: these work once per day until you perform a special blood rite at level 3+.

CLASSES

Hit points: always roll these, except at level 1 when you get maximum hit points.

Subclasses & archetypes: you can learn how to be a totem warrior, gain access to higher cleric domain powers, get into a bardic college or druid circle, become a specialist wizard or gain a warlock patron, even learn how to be an assassin. But it'll happen during play.

Basically, treat these as prestige classes where you have to complete a quest or trial before you gain this power. You'll have to do this every time you want to gain a new archetype power; let me know well in advance so I can prep.


Clerics have been rewritten somewhat:

More like a sanctified wizard than a holy warrior. Changes from 5th edition:

Hit dice: d6
Armor proficiency: Light armor, shields

Equipment (in addition to that from your background):

• (a) a quarterstaff or (b) a dagger
• (a) a leather armor or (b) a chain shirt (if proficient)
• (a) a priest’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• A shield and a holy symbol

Domains
Pick a domain and note the Holy Order and Saint it belongs to. You gain the 1st level power(s) and access to your domain spells for free (these spells do not have to be written in your prayerbook, you always have them prepared). Higher level domain powers have to be learned from a higher up in the Church. A renegade priest could also teach these secrets.

Domain changes:
The Life, Nature & Tempest domains give access to medium armor, not heavy. The War domain gives access to both medium & heavy armor.

Clerical spellcasting:
You learn and cast spells as a wizard of your level - indeed, clerics function little different than specialized white mages. You do not automatically gain access to all clerical spells of a certain level (except your domain spells) but have to find and learn them like a wizard would, and write them into your prayerbook. Investigate ruined churches and trade favors with your fellow priests.

At first level you start with 6 cleric spells and 3 cantrips. Every morning, you may prepare a number of spells from your prayerbook equal to Wisdom bonus + cleric level. Cantrips don't count against this number (you know these minor prayers by heart) but they do cost a spell slot to cast. You can of course learn the mystery of casting them without paying spell slots - at a price.

SPELLCASTING IN GENERAL

• all cantrips are treated as level 1 spells. Casters learn a number of them for free as indicated in the rulebook and always have them prepared, but they have to expend spell slots to cast them just as if they were level 1 spells. A caster may be able to learn how to turn these spells into proper cast-all-day-cantrips during the game. Expect sacred tattoos, binding rites and vision quests, as well as having to sacrifice something in return.

• druids and rangers learn spells as they level up as in the rulebook. 

• clerics, bards, sorcerers, warlocks and wizards do not automatically gain spells when they level up; they have to earn or find them in play. This also holds for fighter and rogue archetypes that grant spellcasting.

• clerics, bards, warlocks and wizards as well as spellcasting rogues or fighters need a written spellbook, song book or book of pacts to hold their spells. (Flavor these with another look, like knot-coded ropes or inscribed metal tiles.)

• sorcerers (once unlocked) don't need a spellbook - their spells become part of their blood once learned.

• to learn new spells, book casters and sorcerers will have to go out and look for forgotten tomes, perform rites that attune them to relics, awaken the power of their blood in sacred caverns, venture into dark crypts or, gods save them, ask their mentors. Players of these classes should let the DM know in advance which spells they are going to try and find so some of these can be planted in the upcoming sessions. Track down the shunned pyromancer, who holds one of the rare copies of Fireball and all that jazz.

• to learn a spell by copying it into their spellbooks or unlocking their blood potential, these casters roll the Arcana skill versus difficulty 10+spell level. One opportunity per spell per character level.
• Success means the character learns the spell, which takes 50 gp and 2 hours per spell level. Casters with a spellbook will have copied the new spell into their spellbook after this time, sorcerors will have memorized it forever.
• An unsuccesful roll wastes 2 hours and 10 gp. The character can try to learn the spell again next level. Or perhaps by expending extra money and effort to hire a tutor, rent or augment a lab, or find other reason for a retry.

FEATS

D&D 5e normally lets you take either +2 to an ability score or a feat when you hit level 4, 8, 12 etc. I like the idea of extra specialization outside of the normal class options, but again I want to turn getting a feat into a story.

Self-taught feats
The following feats you can take without any formal training, quest or initiation. You do have to weave these feats into the story before you take them; maybe you're always taking watch (observant), maybe you regularly flip out during combat (savage attacker), maybe you're always getting in fights without your weapons (tavern brawler).

• alert, athlete, actor, charger, durable, grappler, great weapon master, inspiring leader, keen mind, lucky, observant, resilient, savage attacker, sharpshooter, skulker, tavern brawler, tough

Trained feats
The following feats take formal training by an expert to master. Find someone who has this feat (tell the DM in time so they can prep) and ask how to get training. I'll need to do a follow-up post about this whole training thing...

• crossbow expert, defensive duelist, dual wielder, dungeon delver, elemental adept, healer, heavily armorered, heavy weapon master, lightly armored, linguist, mage slayer, martial adept, medium armor master, moderately armored, mounted combat, polearm master, ritual caster (any spell list but Warlock - see below), sentinel, shield master, skilled, spell sniper, war caster, weapon master

Warlockry
For those who want a taste of magic power without the hassle of taking Warlock levels, there is always the option of making a Minor Pact. This means performing a special rite with a warlock patron spirit and then taking the feats magic initiate or ritual caster.

• if you choose ritual caster in this way, it gives access to spells from the bard, warlock and wizard spell lists
• the cantrips learned from magic initiate function by-the-book: you don't have to expend spell slots on them like other classes do
• your spellcasting ability for all these spells is Charisma

You can take these feats at any time by summoning a patron and making a Minor Pact with it. And I do mean at any time:

• rites to summon a Warlock patron in this series
• either give up an existing feat, or 2 points of ability score (can be from different abilities)
• or give up your next feat / ability score raise, but perform a favor for your warlock patron every time you gain a level until then.