If you believe another player has played true to their personality traits, ideals, bond, or flaw in an interesting way or otherwise added to the narrative of the game you may, with the Game Master's approval, grant Inspiration to the other player. You do not need to wait until the end of the game session to nominate someone for Inspiration.
TopAny rolls, such as ability checks, made before they are requested by the Game Master are void. Should the Game Master agree with the need for a roll, the dice will need to be re-rolled regardless of how awesome the unsolicited roll was. This rule excludes normal attack rolls made during combat.
TopWhen making an ability check, only one player rolls.
On rare occansions, such as scenarios where using the Teamwork rule may not be possible, the Game Master may allow multiple ability checks from different characters.
You can't roll multiple attempts for the same action - recalling a piece of knowledge, sweet-talking the castle guard, pushing a heavy boulder aside, etc. But you can work together with your allies to make that one attempt as successful as possible.
Characters with a relevant proficiencies or abilities may help you attempt something - the first person grants you advantage (per the Help action), and every additional person grants you a +1 bonus. If the roll fails, however, everyone involved is liable for the consequences.
The result of an ability check die roll represents your best effort at achieving your goal. If you failed, you may not attempt to overcome the challenge using the same method until after you have gained a level. Any other party members that assisted with the ability check are similarly affected.
TopIf a circumstance arises where you attempt a knowledge check on something that you would realistcally have no chance of knowing, the Game Master will rule that you do not have that knowledge (at that time) instead of setting a ridiculously high DC on the knowledge check.
If you have encountered a creature before you may attempt a Recall Knowledge check as a free action. For the purposes of recalling the details of creature you must have either fought or studied the creature previously; just seeing one in the distance or in a managerie is insufficient to glean details about its capabilities.
If you expect to make monster knowledge checks in the future, you should maintain a list of creatures you've ecountered or studied on your character sheet.
During character creation, select 10 monsters that you have encountered prior to adventuring. These should be recorded on your character sheet.
If you spend a least 1 minute observing or interacing with another creaure outside of combat, you may make a knowledge check to discern some of its abilities.
When recalling knowledge or after studying a creature, make a Knowledge Check as a Free Action.
| DC | Character Knowledge |
|---|---|
| 5+ | # of Hit Dice |
| 10+ | Senses |
| 15+ | Attack Actions |
| 20+ | Resistances & Immunities |
| 25+ | Weaknesses |
| 30+ | Everything |
| Monster Type | Skill |
|---|---|
| Aberration | Arcana |
| Beast | Nature |
| Celestial | Religion |
| Construct | History |
| Dragon | History |
| Elemental | Arcana |
| Fey | Arcana |
| Fiend | Religion |
| Giant | History |
| Humanoid | History |
| Monstrosity | Arcana |
| Ooze | Nature |
| Plant | Nature |
| Undead | Religion |
Instead of rolling for initiative, we'll use a single deck of playing cards with both Jokers left in to determine the combat order.
Deal in characters as follows:
Exactly which nonplayer character groups get their own cards is up to the Game Master. For example, the Game Master may break a group of 30 zombies into 5 groups of 6.
Shuffle the deck after any round in which a Joker was dealt.
Once the cards are dealt, the Game Master starts the round by counting down from the Ace to the Deuce, with each group resolving its actions when its cards comes up.
Ties are resolved by suit order: Spades are first, then Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs (reverse alphabetical order).
When a player draws a Joker, they can go whenever they want in the round, even interrupting another character's action.
If you have a character feature or ability that normally grants a bonus to initiative, such as the Alert feat, you may draw two cards instead of one. You may choose either card to determine your place in the initiative order.
TopYou are not limited to the actions written on your character sheet. The only limits to the actions you can attempt are your imagination and the Game Master's threshold of incredulity.
When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the Gane Master tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll to make, if any, to determine success or failure.
Additional combat actions that aren't usually found on your character sheet can be used. Use the table below as a quick reference.
| Combat Option | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Climb onto a Bigger Creature | Dungeon Master's Guide | 271 |
| Disarm | Dungeon Master's Guide | 271 |
| Dodge | Player's Handbook | 192 |
| Grappling | Player's Handbook | 195 |
| Help | Player's Handbook | 192 |
| Hide | Player's Handbook | 194 |
| Improvised Weapons | Player's Handbook | 147 |
| Ready an Action | Player's Handbook | 193 |
| Search | Player's Handbook | 193 |
| Shove | Dungeon Master's Guide | 272 |
| Trip | Player's Handbook | 195 |
| Two-Weapon Fighting | Player's Handbook | 195 |
Proposed Combat Variant Rule - NOT CURRENTLY USING
Whenever the Game Master would normally make an attack roll against a player character, that player makes a defense roll instead to see if their character can avoid the attack. Roll a d20 and add your Armor Class (AC) - this is your defense roll. The opposing Difficulty Class (DC) is 22 plus the attacker's attack bonus.
| Defense Rolls | |
|---|---|
| Defense Roll | d20 + your AC |
| DC | 22 + attacker's attack bonus |
If your defense roll equals or beats the DC, you avoid the attack. If you fail, however, the attack hits you.
If your attacker would have advantage on their attack, apply disadvantage to your defense roll - and vice versa if your attacker would have disadvantage.
If your defense roll comes up as a natural 1, it's a critical failure - you are critically hit by the attack. If you roll a natural 20, it's a critical success - you defend with style.
If your attacker would normally score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, then their attack is a critical hit on a 1 or 2, and so forth.
If you are a divination wizard, it's easy to use your character's Portent ability with Active Defense. When you give a portent result to someone making a defense roll, they may use either the normal value or the d20-inverse value (calculated as 21 - portent value).
Whenever the Game Master would normally make a saving throw, the player instead rolls a saving attack to see if they can beat the target's defenses.
When you make a saving attack, roll a d20 and add your normal spell save DC. The opposing DC is 22 plus the target's saving throw bonus. If the spell would affect multiple targets, make a separate attack roll for each - but roll the damage only once for all targets.
| Saving Attacks | |
|---|---|
| Saving Attack Roll | d20 + your spell save DC |
| DC | 22 + target's saving throw bonus |
If your saving attack roll equals or beats the DC, you successfully land your attack.
If your target would have advantage on their saving throw, apply disadvantage to your saving attack - and vice versa if your target would have disadvantage.
On a critical hit, roll all the attacker's damage dice twice. On a critical failure, however, the spell has no effect at all - even if it would normally cause an effect on a miss.
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