House Rules

Start-class article · First seen: s02 · Last seen: s16

The House Rules tracker collects the table’s specific rulings — homebrew, table-precedent calls, 2024-vs-2014 reconciliations, Rule of Cool moments, and ongoing meta-mechanics like “crybaby points” — sourced from each recap’s “Table Rulings” section and the scratch notes. Each entry: rule, session(s), specifics, precedent for future play.

About this tracker

DM rulings, table conventions, homebrew mechanics, and 2024-vs-2014 reconciliations as they emerged in play through end of session 16. Rulings are listed by topic; first-cited session in parentheses. Multiple sessions reaffirming a ruling are noted.

Critical hits and damage

  • Perfect crits homebrew (s2) — table uses “max damage dice + roll dice” (max all the dice, then add a regular roll of the same dice, then add modifiers). VTT-configured. Distinct from RAW double-roll (s2 ruling). Reaffirmed: s2, s3.
  • Crit damage (2024 RAW reaffirmed s5, s6, s12) — roll all damage dice once and double the total roll, NOT roll twice. DM clarified twice when Hugo and Harvo were unsure (s5, [1], [2]. Mathematically equivalent to double-the-dice. The table uses the perfect-crits homebrew on top of this baseline for headline-rolls; standard RAW for routine crits.

Action economy and item interaction

  • Drinking own potion = bonus action; administering to another = action (s5) → Updated [3] to RAW: drinking your own AND administering to a creature within 5 ft are BOTH bonus actions per 2024 PHB. Reaffirmed s14, s16. (Earlier sessions had administered-as-action; switched mid-campaign.)
  • Throwing a healing potion to a downed ally [4]: flat d20, DC 15 to hit a precise target; on hit, healing applies as if drunk. Used successfully on Vasquez s9; on Caelumn s11 (Ruin’s snatch-and-pour during airlift).
  • Free item interaction for snatching from a belt/pack (s10, s11) — snatching a healing potion off a downed ally’s belt was ruled a free interaction; the heal cast was a bonus action via subclass. Confirmed s10, [5].
  • Free item interaction for opening a door [6] — no action cost.
  • You don’t need movement to go prone (s6) — only to stand up from prone. Clarified mid-Titan-fight.

Spell-list rulings

  • Twin Spell metamagic (s3, s4, s6 — 3rd time in 6 sessions) — targets two creatures with a single-target spell at one slot higher; does NOT permit two casts at the same target, does NOT increase the spell’s level for damage scaling. Caelumn re-routes to higher-level direct casts instead. Twin Spell on Chromatic Orb table-flagged but unresolved [7]; Caelumn rebuilt his metamagic on the s14 level-up to remove the question.
  • Witch Bolt (2024) — subsequent rounds deal lightning damage even on initial miss, via bonus action, even if the initial spell-attack roll missed [8] Ruin verified; s11 confirmed). Tactical-relevant. Each higher slot adds an extra d12 [9]; ritual damage on subsequent turns is 1d12; effect ends if target leaves spell range [10], s7 confirmed).
  • Command (2024) is no longer charm-typed (s5, Terry’s assertion, DM confirmed) — Command is its own thing, requires no shared language, and works on Undead. Future-relevant: Terry can attempt Command on undead enemies. Used to “Flee” the fungal-zombie giant in s5.
  • Eldritch Cannon (Artificer) (s4): requires a token; cannon’s mode (flamethrower vs. force ballista vs. protector) is a configuration on each summon. No opportunity attacks for the cannon [11]; analogous to Spiritual Weapon).
  • Eldritch Cannon push 5’ is mandatory, not optional [11]; reaffirmed [1], s7) — Harvo cannot choose not to push. Reaffirmed three times.
  • Eldritch Cannon range from artificer (s6) — must be summoned within 5’ of caster in 2024 rules; can later move further than 5’ on its own movement (Harvo’s reading, accepted by DM).
  • Eldritch Cannon Protector mode (s8) — grants 1d8 + INT temp HP to selected creatures within 10 ft. Affects up to 4 creatures within range. Harvo first used s8.
  • Web spell + fire (s6) — any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in one round, dealing 2d4 to creatures starting in the fire. Caelumn was caught off-guard when Harvo’s firebolt detonated his own Web in the Titan fight.
  • Detect Magic does not require touch [12] — confirmed.
  • Detect Magic ritual (10-minute cast) [13], s16) — ritual cast time, no slot.
  • Identify ritual on a magic item (10 minutes) (s16) — Althea identifies the Hat of Disguise.
  • Bonus action ranged attack while charmed (s8) — Harvo confirmed he can use a bonus-action cannon attack against the dominator even while charmed forbids spending an action against them. Allowed.
  • Find Familiar requires a 1-hour ritual + components (incense + brazier) (s8). Components consumed only upon successful cast. Confirmed.
  • Dragon’s Breath [14]; reaffirmed s12) — concentration spell, requires bonus action + action to use the breath weapon, so cannot fully replace a single-action attack spell. Caelumn re-cast as 2nd-level Burning Hands instead.
  • Healing potion (s5) — grants 2d4+2 HP standard.
  • Greater Healing Potion — 4d4+4 HP (identified s13 mid-combat).
  • Cantrip damage scaling vs first-level spells (s13) — Terry observed cantrip outputting comparable damage to a first-level spell slot for the encounter; no formal ruling.
  • Reaction-cast Hellish Rebuke (Tiefling Infernal Legacy) [15] — free use is at 1st level; using a regular spell slot upcasts to that slot’s level.
  • Held action vs reaction-cast Shield (s15) — Caelumn’s Held Action Chromatic Orb was triggered by the first enemy in vision; reaction-cast Shield happened the same round.
  • Holding an action and using a bonus action both (s6) — NOT allowed (Vasquez asked about priming + holding; ruled no).
  • You can hold an action across rounds via reaction (s7) — confirmed for Vasquez; reaction must trigger on a specific cue.
  • Drinking a healing potion with action-surge / two actions in one turn (s7) — Harvo asked if he could use his action to drink while the bonus-action was already used; DM ruled it allowable in this circumstance. Drinking is generally bonus action; under exceptional circumstances, action acceptable.
  • Jim’s Magic Missile (homebrew variant from Acquisitions Inc.) (s7) — rolls to hit, but if rolls a 1 the spell backfires. Terry’s preferred variant.
  • Bladesong AC + CON saves [16] — Bladesong adds Intelligence modifier (+5) to Concentration / CON saves and gives flat AC bonus. Per Terry’s player: “It’s why Bladesinging is the best wizard. You don’t need to actually be a melee, it just gives you a good con save.”
  • Shadow Blade as a thrown weapon [17] — Shadow Blade has the Throne (thrown) property RAW. The DM was surprised at this reading and allowed it; the blade respawns at the next turn. Used s15, s16.

Save mechanics

  • Death save protocol [18] — rolled in private to the DM during dryad fight.
  • Death save can be auto-stabilised on nat 20, recover at 1 HP per RAW. Multiple uses by Vasquez (s5, s6 twice, s7).
  • Caelumn’s CON-save proficiency mistake [19] — DM realised Caelumn had been clicking “check” instead of “save” in the VTT for the entire campaign; future saves use the proficiency bonus.
  • Sorcerer Innate Sorcery (s4) — grants advantage on sorcerer-spell attack rolls during the effect.
  • Heroic Inspiration on CON saves (s15) — confirmed; can be used.
  • Failed Performance can have permanent stat consequences [20] — Terry’s failed Performance check during a culturally-loaded ritual (the Rite of Returning) cost him -1 Charisma permanently. DM-imposed; precedent for ritual-significant skill checks.
  • Mage Slayer feat (s14, [21] — once per day, choose to succeed on a failed Wisdom or Charisma save. Vasquez used s15 vs Mharos.
  • Owl familiar warging — when the familiar dies, the owner doesn’t necessarily perceive what killed it (s8) — only if the attacker doesn’t beat stealth vs. owl perception. Earthwing’s perception was insufficient to catch the 20-stealth attacker.
  • 2024 Stealth rules [22] — DM has reverted to old rules (passive perception comparison), NOT the new “DC 15 = invisible” 2024 rules.

Combat conditions

  • Restrained (5e 2024) [23], reaffirmed s3) — speed 0; attacks against you have advantage; your attacks have disadvantage; you have disadvantage on Dex saves.
  • Reckless attack must be declared before the roll [24], reaffirmed [25] — Hugo’s house. Going forward, Hugo will declare it as automatic.
  • 2024 magical-resistance change [26] — undead are no longer flat-resistant to non-magical damage with the magical-weapon exception; they are flat-resistant to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing or not at all. Confirmed at the table.
  • Searing Smite stack [27] — Cholmondeley applies Searing Smite as a bonus action concurrent with Booming Blade; takes effect on the hit. Both abilities allowed simultaneously per the build (per s2 scratch). Note: Cholmondeley used Shillelagh + Booming Blade as a signature combo; the 2024 cantrip stack is uncontroversial here.

Saves and skill checks

  • Tool proficiency check formula [28], DM ruling) — utilise-action + relevant ability check + proficiency bonus, with advantage if the character is also proficient in a relevant skill (e.g. alchemist’s-supplies identification with Arcana).
  • Tool-proficiency identification of items (s3) — utilise + ability check + proficiency, advantage with relevant skill (DM ruled in s2, referenced again in s3).
  • Running jump RAW [29], DM Nick) — strict reading. “If a running jump, you can move as far as your strength modifier is. you should be able to make that with 10 strength.” Strength 10+ enables a normal-distance running jump without a check; below 10 requires an Athletics check.
  • Insight check on a charmed ally [30] — Ruin can use Insight to detect that Vasquez’s eyes weren’t glazed and that he was actually un-charmed. The DM allowed this as an in-mid-combat reveal.
  • Group stealth check vs Aurelian patrol (s16) — party averaged 7 vs ~15 DC. DM allowed the sneak past based on the patrol’s prior distraction. Group check effectively used.

Magic items and pacts

  • Devil pact mechanics homebrew (s4) — pacts are explicitly inviolable per Black Mask’s lore; deals can be renegotiated mid-signing; persuasion checks can shorten or amend; pen draws blood as the binding signature; magical items granted are unremovable.
  • Time freeze in Black Mask’s pocket realm [31] — no time passes in the real world during a Black Mask audience. Used both s4 visits and s12.
  • Soulbinder’s Packed Ring vs CR [32] — spell slot two levels lower than the creature’s CR gives 25% chance to bind, but the slot must still match — second-level slot vs CR3 was outside range and the spell fizzled with no save. Caelumn’s spell slot is consumed regardless.
  • Soulbinder’s Packed Ring at higher slot [33] — a 2nd-level slot vs CR3 was just barely outside the strict bind range, but the DM permitted a 4th-level slot attempt. The 4th-level slot succeeded.
  • Soulbinder’s Packed Ring summon and traps [34] — the conjured-essence owlbear had physical weight sufficient to trigger pressure-plate traps. The party tested this by walking the owlbear up and down the hallway; no further pin-rolls fired.
  • Identify a Nullstone item [35] — the wearer/caster must make a CON save (the armour resists the casting). Ruin succeeded.
  • Modifying enchanted armour [36] — changing the crest is no-check; full appearance overhaul requires Smithing tools, a forge, eight hours, and a flat d20 (no Arcana proficiency = no advantage), with risk of ruining the incantation.
  • Rage and arcane casting in Nullstone armour [37] — Nullstone blocks rage as well as arcane casting.
  • Mummy’s curse [38] — 3d6 max-HP loss per 24 hours; cannot regain HP, max HP reduced (Caelumn -13, Vasquez -11) on first hit; cannot be removed by short or long rest. Revealed via DM-narrated history check.
  • Disguise Self via Hat of Disguise (1-hour attunement) (s16) — confirmed; Vasquez attunes during boat trip and successfully disguises as a dwarf.
  • Conjuration food regenerates 10 minutes after consumption [39] — DM-introduced; novel mechanic for the Candy Cottage arc.
  • Door fire damage (s12) — opening a burning door triggers a Dex save; Caelumn made the save and took half (5 fire damage of 10 max).
  • Sweet Hostility (Candy Cottage doormat) [40] — animate object did not engage until Terry failed to wipe his feet. Establishes that the Cottage’s animate-object hostility is conditional on rule-breaking.

DM-side / meta

  • Race-change as a story consequence (s9) — Vasquez’s race rewritten on the character sheet from elf to half-demon-elf with new visible features (horns, runes, ember eyes), new face (scars healed, oral bracing fallen out), and new resistances (necrotic seemingly partly resisted). DM-introduced, no RAW citation.
  • Scripted execution / Aurelian chain (s15) — the chain attack on Ruin had no save. The DM noted out-of-character that this was a scripted death because Mordane (Ruin’s player) had been removed from the table between sessions 14 and 15, and Maliwana was joining session 15 as his replacement bringing a new character (Althea). The previous character was being retired in-fiction. Future Aurelian chain attacks will likely follow the regular rules.
  • Crybaby Point (table mechanic, DM-facing) — Per DM canonicalisation 2026-05-17: a real table mechanic, not in-fiction lore. If a player complains too much, the DM may give them a Crybaby Point. The DM can later spend it to force that player to reroll any roll. Tracked at the table; not formal RAW. The earlier wiki framing of “negative inspiration / -1d4 punishment” was a partially-correct read of the same mechanic; the canonical phrasing is the reroll version above. First observed: s10 onwards (DM jokingly tracking Terry’s Crybaby Points after the failed Rite of Returning in s9). Still tracked s15 (“Terry has 2”).
  • Lightning conducting through sewer water (Rule of Cool) [41] — the DM allowed Vasquez’s lightning charge to electrify the water with consequences for anyone standing in it. The party then debated who was in the water vs on the walkway, and the DM allowed Caelumn to be “on the walkway” via player negotiation.
  • Quantum/illusion wall traversable backwards [42] — novel ruling. Wall is visible from one side and passes through from the other. The DM applied this; Hugo’s earlier (uncalled) attempt was retroactively allowed when Caelumn made the same attempt later.
  • DM uploads / scene readiness [43] — DM had to upload the new scene because he hadn’t expected the party to make it that far; affirms an improvisational table style.
  • Dominate Person upcast mechanics (s8) — 8th-level upcast extends duration, not effect strength.
  • 5e 2014 vs 2024 metaphysics OOC (s4) — discussed at session start; group running a hybrid table-rules approach.
  • Treasure split policy change [44] — Ruin requested per-character splits rather than party pool. The party agreed: the 100gp mining payout was split four ways (Ruin excluded), but all future loot is per-character unless explicitly party-marked. Existing 120gp in the party pool remains for rations and potions.
  • Shoving with magical bludgeoning works at elevation (s9) — DM ruling.
  • Type your inventory adjustments on D&D Beyond (s8) — Terry showed Hugo you can type “-3” in the field (Hugo had been doing manual subtraction). Mechanical-but-funny moment.
  • Aurelian magic detection method [45] — opaque. “The only ones that can get away with using arcane magic near Aurelia are the people in Arcanthys, just basically because of the [pact / treaty] that they have with that city. They don’t pin them down, but they do.” Tieflings exterminated on sight [46].
  • DM inspiration awarded for in-character recap (s2, s4) — Cholmondeley got d100=90 → Ring of Swimming for the s1 recap [47]. Polar got Heroic Inspiration for the s3 recap [48], d6=5). Standing precedent: a clean recap earns a roll or inspiration.

Notable shifts in rulings over time

  • Healing potion administration cost shifted from “action to administer to another” (s5) to “bonus action” (s13) per the 2024 PHB text. Earlier sessions used the action-cost version.
  • Twin Spell on Chromatic Orb flagged at [7] as questionable; resolved by Caelumn re-spec’ing his metamagic at the s14 level-up.
  • Caelumn’s CON-save proficiency was retro-fixed [19]. Prior CON-save rolls in s2-s14 were rolled without proficiency by VTT-button mistake; future rolls correct.
  • 2024 magical-resistance for undead changed at the table [26] — undead are no longer flat-resistant to non-magical damage; they are either flat-resistant to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing or not at all.

References

  1. ^ Session 6, line 8 — Inline citation.
  2. ^ Session 12, line 1349-1356 — Inline citation.
  3. ^ Session 13, line 1697-1699 — Inline citation.
  4. ^ Session 9, line 1437 — Inline citation.
  5. ^ Session 11, line 1538 — Inline citation.
  6. ^ Session 12, line 541 — Inline citation.
  7. ^ Session 13, line 482 — Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 10, line 967 — Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 3, line 1004-1018 — Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 3, line 1192-1198 — Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 4, line 482-492 — Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 3, line 1574-1580 — Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 12, line 853 — Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 11, line 1272-1278 — Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 13, line 1075 — Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 15, line 555 — Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 15, line 1245 — Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 2, line 1626 — Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 15, line 562-572 — Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 9, line 1646 — Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 15, line 488 — Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 8, line 1815 — Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 2, line 1368 — Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 11, line 1554 — Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 12, line 1296-1298 — Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 9, line 640-644 — Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 2, line 1470-1480 — Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 2, line 1986-2014 — Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 2, line 1078 — Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 14, line 865-866 — Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 4, line 1736 — Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 9, line 755-765 — Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 11, line 1568-1571 — Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 13, line 249 — Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 10, line 1631 — Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 10, line 1740-1745 — Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 10, line 1659 — Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 14, line 626 — Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 12, line 856 — Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 12, line 1049 — Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 15, line 1163-1175 — Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 16, line 1224 — Inline citation.
  43. ^ Session 16, line 1611-1612 — Inline citation.
  44. ^ Session 11, line 193-225 — Inline citation.
  45. ^ Session 14, line 1616 — Inline citation.
  46. ^ Session 14, line 1619 — Inline citation.
  47. ^ Session 2, line 48 — Inline citation.
  48. ^ Session 4, line 30 — Inline citation.