Rules Changes . DnD 5E

OOC

We use D&D 5E with some modifications.

See also: Chain; Character Creation; Limits of Magic; Paradigm

Armor

The following armor is available to PCs where the tech level is Modern or Future. (It's available in Fantasy Grounds.)

Armor	Category	AC	Strength	Stealth
Undercover Vest	Light	12 + Dex modifier	.	.
Tactical Vest	Medium	14 + Dex modifier (max 2)	Str 10	.
Light Military Armor	Heavy	16	Str 13	Disadvantage
Heavy Military Armor	Heavy	18	Str 13	Disadvantage

This table is partly inspired by My New D20 Modern Campaign.

City Circle Spells

A druid of the Circle of the Land can choose City, and receive these spells.

• Level 3
  • Knock
  • Pass Without Trace
• Level 5
  • Stinking Cloud
  • Tongues
• Level 7
  • Compulsion
  • Fabricate
• Level 9
  • Cloudkill
  • Passwall

Fighting Style: Gun Kata

Available to: Fighters; Paladins; Rangers
Adapted from: Close Quarters Shooter (Unearthed Arcana: Light, Dark, Underdark!)

You are trained in making ranged attacks at close quarters. When making a ranged attack with a one-handed ranged weapon while you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll. If you make such an attack, you may take a bonus action to make a melee attack against any creature using your ranged weapon; the base damage for this attack is 1d4 bludgeoning damage, and you can use Str or Dex. You may make the ranged attack and melee attack in either order. If you hit with the first attack, you have advantage on the second attack. When making the melee attack, on a roll of 1 you lose your grip on your ranged weapon and it lands 10 feet away (DM's choice of direction).

Miscellaneous

1. You're Unbound (unless you and the DM have agreed otherwise). You will frequently make Unbound Checks.
2. Professional Specialty: You have 1 professional specialty. Choose 1 skill in which you have proficiency. When using this skill, you usually have advantage. If something would cause disadvantage, the basic rule applies: you have neither advantage nor disadvantage (see PHB 173).
3. Healing from a potion (or any source other than a direct spell or feature) causes Exhaustion, up to Exhaustion level 2.
4. Choose your own magic items using Essence Points. Work with the DM on how you obtain each item.
5. Inspiration: You have 3 Inspiration slots; Inspiration carries over sessions; you can spend Inspiration for a reroll; you can spend Inspiration to retcon preparation for an op.
6. We use a Tactical Formation for loosely-assigned team roles and a buddy system on operations and in combat. (In Fantasy Grounds, search Images for "tct".)
7. Periodically throughout the campaign, there are IC opportunities to respec or change characters. If you're interested, talk with the DM.
8. If you want to speak but you're trying not to interrupt, type "..." in the Fantasy Grounds chat.
9. I assume a caster is using a spell focus for any material component. When you use a focus, please describe it. If a spell description includes a material component that's destroyed (e.g., Resurrection), you must use that component and it's destroyed.
10. Spell Boosting
11. Swift

See also: Character Creation

Weekly d20s

You get two d20s to roll each week. You can spend one or both on any of the following projects.

• Contacts: Develop connections with beings and/or factions outside the team.
• Crafting: Make stuff. The stuff can be mundane and/or magical. This project can include crafting a variation of a spell. Invention and prototyping may first require Research.
• Help: Spend a Weekly d20 to give another PC advantage on their project.
• Inspiration: Gain 1 Inspiration.
  • You can spend one Weekly d20 to get Inspiration, then spend that Inspiration to roll another Weekly d20 with advantage.
  • You can't have more than 3 Inspiration total ever.
• R&D (Research & Development): Learn more about something (e.g., person, place, object, phenomenon). This project may include scholarly research, lab work, and/or fieldwork.
• Resources: Accumulate money, weapons, armor, gear, real estate, vehicles, etc.
• Spiritual: Deepen your connection to the subtleties of the multiverse, based on your paradigm. This project may include participating in religious services, doing charity/volunteer work, prayer, meditation, etc.
• Synergy: Practice working together with at least one other being (PC or NPC). If that being is a PC, they must also spend a Weekly d20.
• Training: Maintain current abilities and/or develop new ones.

I track progress on your projects using wheels. I set the length of a wheel and you can see it. See: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nB0Uhkubnz7XvOdXSM6evrY7Hzzpd02G3IB7hL71cxk/edit?usp=sharing

Your progress depends on your roll:

• n1: No progress
• Failure: 1 tick
• Success: 2 ticks
• n20: 3 ticks

You always get two d20s each week. If we don't play, these d20s accumulate until we play. At that point, you must spend all your d20s.

Skills: Sci/Tech & Tradecraft

• Sci/Tech (Int) measures how well you perceive, understand, and manipulate any technology from a Modern or Future tech level (see below). This includes computers or computer-like systems. This skill also measures your perception, understanding, and application of relevant sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc.).
• Tradecraft (Dex) measures how well you perform certain clandestine activities, including: planting, finding, and disarming bugs and traps; surveillance; and other intelligence gathering and analysis. Sleight of Hand still applies to Picking Pockets. Survival still applies to tracking.

Spells

Haelra's Chains

Level 2 Necromancy
Casting Time: 3 rounds
Range: Touch
Components: V,S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You touch a creature which has two of its wrists or ankles touching (e.g., together, crossed). Its wrists may be in front of or behind its back. If the creature moves it wrists/ankles while you're casting the spell, the spell fails.

The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have its wrists/ankles paralyzed and connected for the duration. The connection can be tight like glue or loose like a short chain. Every 1 minute the target can make another Constitution saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target.

This spell causes the actual flesh and bones of the wrists/ankles to be magically chained together. It may not work on a creature without flesh and bone (e.g., a construct). There are no permanent side effects.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one pair of wrists/ankles (on the same creature or another creature) for each slot level about 2nd. Each pair must be touched while you're casting the spell.

Tech Levels

We use 4 tech levels:

• Past: Stone Age through the Age of Sail
• Mythic: Past, plus magic is relatively common, which has removed some pressure/incentive to advance technology
• Modern: Industrial Revolution through the Digital Age
• Future: Microtech Age and beyond; mad science

I loosely base this on the the GURPS tech levels. Your PC can be from a Past, Mythic, or Modern setting.

Weapons

We use the optional Firearms rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide (p. 267-268).

Explosives

• Dynamite… As an action, a creature can light a stick of dynamite and throw it at a point up to 60 feet away. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
• Grenades… As an action, a character can throw a grenade at a point up to 60 feet away. With a grenade launcher, the character can propel the grenade up to 120 feet away. Each creature within 20 feet of an exploding fragmentation grenade must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 5d6 piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Firearms

Firearms are Martial weapons. The DM decides whether your character has proficiency in firearms, based on your backstory.

Firearm	Damage	Weight	Properties
Pistol, automatic	2d6 piercing	3 lb	Ammunition (range 50/150), reload (15 shots)
Revolver	2d8 piercing	3 lb	Ammunition (range 40/120), reload (6 shots)
Rifle, hunting	2d10 piercing	8 lb	Ammunition (range 80/240), reload (5 shots), two-handed
Rifle, automatic	2d8 piercing	8 lb	Ammunition (range 80/240), burst fire, reload (30 shots), two-handed
Shotgun	2d8 piercing	7 lb	Ammunition (range 30/90), reload (2 shots), two-handed

• Ammunition… The ammunition of a firearm is destroyed upon use. Renaissance and modern firearms use bullets. Futuristic firearms are powered by a special type of ammunition called energy cells. An energy cell contains enough power for all the shots its firearm can make.
• Burst Fire... A weapon that has the burst fire property can make a normal single-target attack, or it can spray a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the weapon’s normal damage. This action uses ten pieces of ammunition.
• Reload… A limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the reload property. A character must then reload it using an action or a bonus action (the character's choice).

Other

Weapon	Damage	Details
Shock Baton	1d8 lightning	Simple Melee Weapon Light No ability bonus to damage Con Save (DC 12) or Prone, Paralyzed (1 turn)
Spring Baton	1d6 bludgeoning	Simple Melee Weapon Finesse, Light
Taser	1d6 lightning	Martial Ranged Weapon Ammunition (range 10/20), Light, Loading No ability bonus to damage Con Save (DC 12) or Prone, Paralyzed (1 turn)