Character Creation

In general, the rules from the 2024 Player’s Handbook are used, with several notable changes.

a) Do not select a background.
b) Select a species from Playable Species of Taelgar
c) Build your stats using the rules below
d) Use Competencies to select your starting languages, tools, and other flavor. See Languages for information on starting languages. You may select any language although a good in-game explanation may be required for exotic or extra-planar languages, as well as halfling, which is not as a rule taught to outsiders.
e) Choose an Origin Feat as your starting feat. See Feats for more rules about feats.

Stats

Stats are bought using the Point Buy mechanism.

After completing point buy for stats, you may do the following:

• Add +2 to one stat and +1 to another OR add +1 to each of three stats
• Increase a single stat that is 8 or 9 to 10

In addition to Ability Score Increase/Feats that you get from your class or classes, you gain a +1 bonus to your primary stat at 4th (character) level, and another +1 bonus to your primary stat at 8th (character) level. If your class has more than one primary stat, you may choose which stat to increase and may choose a different stat at 4th and 8th level.

Primary stats are:

Feats

In general, the feats from the 2024 rules should be used instead of the older features, with homebrew and tweaks as appropriate. The following rules apply to all feats:

• No feats taken before 4th level can include an ability score increase. If there is a general feat that you would like to take as a starting feat that does include an ability score increase, I can homebrew an Origin Feat version of it
• All feats taken at 4th level or later include a +1 increase to an ability score, determined by the feat. If a feat does not include an ability score increase in the source rules, I will homebrew a version that does

Wealth and Gold

Tracking small purchases and gold available at the individual gold piece level is not interesting. Instead, all player characters are assumed to have a small pool of accessible wealth that fluctuates over time. This is assumed to cover daily expenses, food, inns, and so on as well as small income, i.e. from performing or similar activities. In true need, a player can liquidate this wealth to gain 50 gold, but if that gold is spent wealth needs to be tracked on a daily level until that 50 gold is ‘paid back’

Additionally, for flavor, numerous monetary systems exist (for example Coinage of Sembara, Coins of Dunmar, or Dwarven Coins). However, tracking the conversion of many different types in a realistic way is a lot of needless math, and it prevents making “interesting” monetary systems that are not easily decimalized, but which were common historically. Therefore to simplify tracking of wealth, although a treasure horde might be described as “a large pile of Sembaran royals from the reign of Bertram I”, I will also give you a value in “gold pieces” for tracking, and prices will be stated in “gold pieces”. The term “gold pieces” shouldn’t be thought of as a specific number of actual coins, but a notation of wealth. After all we are playing Dungeons and Dragons not Treasure Hordes and Accountants.

Rounds and Turns

As a reminder, because the terminology gets confusing:

• A turn is a single creature or PC acting
• A round is each character or PC taking a turn (most effects that last a round will say “until the start of your next turn” or “until the end of your next turn”)

For example, you get one reaction per round, but you can cast a leveled spell, or sneak attack, once per turn.

Spells

In general the 2024 rules apply to spell casting. A few notable changes or clarifications from the 2014 rules:

Ritual Casting

All spellcasters can now cast ritual spells - it is no longer a feature of specific classes. To remind everyone, the basic rule for Ritual spell is: The Ritual version of a spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal, but it doesn’t expend a spell slot. To cast a spell as a Ritual, a spellcaster must have it prepared.

One Spell Slot Per Turn

The 2024 rules clarify that you can only expend a single leveled spell slot per turn. That means that if you cast a spell using a spell slot with your Action or Bonus Action, you cannot also cast a spell that requires a spell slot with your Reaction. In particular:

• Quicken Spell does not allow you to cast 2 spells in a turn. You can cast a spell as a Bonus Action but you cannot then use your Action to cast another spell (unless it is a cantrip or you have an ability to cast it without using a spell slot)
• Spells that are often cast as Reactions (Silvery Barbs, Counterspell, Shield, Absorb Elements) cannot be cast on your turn (i.e. to force an enemy to re-roll the save against your spell, or to Counterspell a Counterspell) unless you have not expended a spell slot already, or can cast the spell without a slot (i.e. via an item or scroll). Note this doesn’t impact casting a spell on someone else’s turn (i.e. one PC using Silvery Barbs to force an enemy to reroll against a different PC’s spell save).

Lost Spells

In general, if a game effect prevents you from casting a spell (i.e. Counterspell, losing Concentration on a multi-turn spell) the spell slot is not expended.

Additionally, the following house rules apply:

Verbal, Somatic, and Material Components

The rules for components are changed and simplified as follows:

• Unless the spell is in the Expensive Components list below, no spells require specific material components
• Any spell that requires a Material component requires holding an Arcane or Divine Focus in a free hand
• Any spell that requires a Somatic component requires making magical gestures with a free hand, or the hand that is holding an Arcane or Divine Focus

Then, the following additional rules apply based on spellcaster class:

• Any spell cast by a Bard requires Verbal components only, regardless of what is written in the spell description, except for spells in the Expensive Components list below.
• Clerics, Rangers, Druids, and Paladins cast their spells using a Divine Focus, which is an item that is worn or held. Any spell (except for those with Expensive Components) that has Material or Somatic components can be cast without a free hand, as long as the caster is holding or wearing their Divine Focus.

The implications here are:

• Bards never need an item or a free hand, but are totally blocked by Silence or situations where they want to cast without anyone knowing
• Clerics, Rangers, Druids, and Paladins never need a free hand, but always need an item, and often need to speak.
• Artificers, Warlocks, Wizards, and Sorcerers usually need a free hand holding an item and also need to speak, but sometimes need only one or two of the three.

Expensive Components

Unless noted, expensive components are consumed

• Continual Flame (a gem worth 50 gold)
• Glyph of Warding (diamond worth 200 gold)
• Revivify (diamond worth 300 gold)
• Illusory Script (ink worth 10 gold)
• Arcane Lock (golden dust worth 25 gold)
• (Only complete up to 3rd level)

Specific Spells

The following spells have specific house rules:

• Silvery Barbs

Mounted Combat

Mounted combat in D&D is a little bit unsatisfying but also designed for both simplicity and to ensure that a mounted combatant isn’t enormously more powerful than a non-mounted combatant. Here is a slight tweak to the mounted combat rules to try to keep most of the balance but make it a little bit more satisfying. 

When a mount is being ridden, the following rules apply:

• The mount acts on the same initiative count as its rider
• The mount can move and take bonus actions as normal
• The mount may not take any actions other than Dash, Disengage, or Dodge
• The rider, when taking the Attack action, may choose to direct their mount to attack in place of their own attack. If the mount attacks, it may not take any other action

When an enemy makes an opportunity attack against a mounted rider, they may choose whether to attack the mount or the rider. However, opportunity attacks do not apply to creatures that are moved by another creature or moved unwillingly. So this means that:

• If a mounted combatant withdraws from combat and their mount takes the Disengage action, neither mount nor rider can be targeted with an opportunity attack
• If a mounted combatant withdraws from combat and their mount does not take the Disengage action, either the mount or rider can be targeted
• There is no benefit to the rider taking the Disengage action

Mounted Combatant Feat

The mounted combatant feat is changed as follows:

• You may, as a bonus action, direct your mount to attack or distract, allowing the mount to take either the Attack or Help actions
• You have advantage on melee attack rolls against any unmounted creature that is smaller than your mount.
• You can force an attack targeted at your mount to target you instead.
• If your mount is subjected to an effect that allows it to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, it instead takes no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw, and only half damage if it fails

Ranged Combat

As a reminder, several official rules we have not been consistent about that I will be trying to remember:

• Ranged attacks, including ranged spell attacks, have disadvantage if you are within 5’ of an enemy
• Ranged attacks have disadvantage if you are outside the lower range of your weapon
• When targeting enemies with ranged attacks, including ranged spell attacks, if there are things in the way - including allies or other enemies - the target has half-cover (+2 to AC)

Death and Dying

When a PC drops to 0 or fewer HP, you gain the dying condition. While you have the dying condition, the following rules apply:

• You cannot take actions, reactions, or bonus actions
• Your speed is halved
• You start each turn prone
• Attacks against you have advantage
• You have disadvantage on all saving throws
• At the end of your turn, if you did not take damage, you must make a DC 13 Constitution check.
• If you fail the check, you fall unconscious. If you took damage, you also fall unconscious
• Each time you take damage while dying you suffer a wound

Once you are unconscious, you make a death saving throw each turn. On three successes, you stabilize. For each failure, you gain a wound. Once you reach 6 wounds, from a rules perspective what happens here is undefined, but in general:

• Further damage will usually result in death
• The passage of time will usually result in stabilization at 1 HP

Recovery from Dying

When a character regains hit points after being in the dying state, you also gain two levels of the wounded condition. Each long rest or magical healing for >50% of your hit points reduces your level of wounded by one. 

The effect of wounded is as follows:

• Level 1: Disadvantage on ability checks
• Level 2: Speed is halved
• Level 3: Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws
• Level 4: Hit point maximum halved. You cannot spend Hit Dice to regain hit points.
• Level 5: Speed is 0
• Level 6: Coma

NPCs and Monsters

For the vast majority of monsters and monstrous humanoids 0 HP means dead. If the plot dictates it is sensible for someone to survive, perhaps they will still be alive, but in general the default assumption is the creature dies at 0 HP. For most non-monstrous humanoids (i.e. humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, lizardfolk and other sentient creatures) I’ll generally run 0 HP as badly wounded enough to be no longer useful on the battlefield, and let the plot and party actions dictate what exactly happens – but usually emergency healing (magical or Medicine checks) would work to keep them alive.