Judge Toast House Rules Vol1

     I wanted to talk a bit about house rules this week. Things I've picked up from other games or tables and integrated into my own game. This was spurred by someone asking for a document of my house rules to see what i do differently. I figured I could share the list in sections and talk a bit about why I use those rules. For this post I'm gonna cover about half of my general house rules, future installments will cover the rest of this section and rules that are more relevant to specific classes. 

 

General Rules:

Lore: as described in this post.

 

Not gonna go too much into this one as it's in the middle of a re-write. The reason I have a rule for this at all is because I like magic items to be mysterious. Characters shouldn't pick up a sword and instantly know the name and powers of it. They should have to use it or study it, questing for information. Lore gives threads for characters to pull on to learn the specifics of a magic item they find, an avenue to quest for it.

 

 

 

Destiny changed: Upon reaching 1st level a character may choose to re-roll their birth auger on a different table, they must accept the new results

 

With this one I don't show the players the alternative table, I tell them that I'm not going to use the standard one in the book and that they must accept the results of the new table. This is a good chance for someone who has something that they won't really feel is relevant to them to have a second shot at their birth auger. This could represent a lot of things, usually I say this represents the character breaking from the mould and destiny of their old life as a turnip farmer to become an adventurer. If their stars don't change? well then it's clear this was always their destiny.

 

 

 

All babies are born lucky: All players have at least a +1 to their birth auger even if they would otherwise have a penalty. 

 

This is NOT an original from myself, I know I took it from someone but I couldn't tell you it's origin. I liked this because it mitigates situations where a guy who would otherwise make a decent warrior and nothing else suffers because he's got a -3 to hit or damage. 

 

 

 

Forged by fire: At each level, other than first level, players roll 3d6 and find the total. Any ability score they have that is below this total may be increased by +1.

 

DCC doesn't have built in stat increases, some people say Quest for it, other say it should be a part of the rewards for adventure. I actually agree with both of those but also think there is room for this.  This represents, just as levels do, a growth over time. These are people who are facing challenges day in and day out, it makes sense to me that they would have growth in unexpected ways.

 

 

 

God Calls: When a character is at death's door, usually hitting zero hit points or undertaking a task that will certainly kill them, they may reach out to any god they worship. This is similar to divine intervention but can only be used in this moment of death and is rolled on a d%. Characters have a base 1% per level, Clerics gain 5% per level, and paladins 10% per level. Players may write out their character's prayer or offer magical items to boost their roll. Things that modify this include if what you're asking for or attempting are within your god's portfolio, if the sacrifice is selfless, if the character has been shown to be devout, or if the prayer is relevant to the god.

 

This one is a bit of a relic from my days playing 2e. I adopted this from a DM I used to play under. It's been in every game I've run for decades now and it sees way more mileage in fantasy games than modern ones due to the prevalence of the gods. I think it really adds something and makes everyone rethink if their character has a relationship with a deity. suddenly the thief might actually think about if there is a god appropriate for their character to worship. A warrior might find a deity that resonates with them and actually carry out work for the faith.

EXP and encounters: Everything that uses up resources or presents challenge is an encounter. This one is covered pretty well under this post. I won't cover this one too much.

 

 

 

This is the first half of my general house rules, I don't expect anyone to take this as the word of law, it's just how I do things at my table. These rules won't work for every table and certainly wont fit well with the groups who lean more into sticking to the book as written, and to be clear I think this is a perfectly valid way to play the game. Everyone does things differently and I really feel like just how diverse tables are really says how good DCC is as a game.