Lost Baronies of Lendore Isle - House Rules

All games seem to start with and gain or lose house rules as they progress. These are the current house rules for the campaign, some sent at the start, others having been added during the first few sessions so far. More are sure to be added.


All characters begin play with maximum hit points for their class die and constitution bonus.

Thieves:
Thieves use a d6 to determine hit points instead of a d4.

Thieving skills - thieves may add 5% to the percentages on the chart if they have a dexterity of 16 or higher.

Clerics:
Clerics can use the weapon of their deity.

Turning undead can be tried once per encounter plus an additional number of times per day equal to wisdom bonus.

Clerics can either pray for spells in advance, or leave slots open and use a full turn to pray for them later (a turn is 10 minutes). If enough slots exist they can pray for some ahead of time and leave other slots open.

Death:
Characters reduced to zero hit points exactly are considered unconscious or incapacitated and can live if treated, bandaged, or healed. Characters reduced below zero can make a save vs death once combat ends to see if they are stable and can live. Characters in both cases that survive are treated as being at 1 hit point, modified by any healing performed.

Sheild using classes (some may recognise this as inspired by "Shields Shall Be Splintered", to be properly lauded in a future blog post):
Special Rule - when you take damage you can opt to say your shield absorbed the force of the blow or aided in your save against a damaging spell that allows an appropriate saving throw. The shield is considered damaged beyond repair. In the case of the saving throw it doesn't prevent all damage, instead acting as a successful save for half damage. Magical shields lose a plus of value instead of shattering outright. Eventually even a magical shield can be ruined. This rule does not help in the case of massive damage.

Magic Users:
No double dipping. To ensure more variety of spells in play, magic users may not memorize the same spell twice in their allotment. This should also inspire creation or purchase of scrolls, potions, or other magic items. (That's right, no loading up on multiples of sleep, fireball, etc.)

Identifying magic items (not potions). (this rule was created on the go during play and will be discussed in detail in a future blog post).
This is done by the use of a lengthy and dangerous ritual that all arcane casters know how to perform. The ritual takes 8 hours and leaves the caster so physically and mentally drained that immediately afterward another 8 hours of uninterrupted rest is required. If the required rest is not completed, a save vs paralysis is required with failure indicating collapse of the caster into a coma for 6d4 hours.
At the time of the ritual the caster must succeed on a save vs spells to know what the item can do. Failure gains no knowledge. A roll of natural 1 on the saving throw results in the caster immediately falling into a coma as above. The caster may only try to identify one item at a time.