[Mechanics] House Rules & Changes from Vanilla 5e in Brief

[Silent Rain]

 

Combat
Combat rules remain unchanged from the core 5e rules.

Alignment and Corruption
Alignment is not used. All characters in Adventures in Middle-earth are intended to be broadly speaking “good”, and when they encounter evil, they fight it. However the Shadow is always a temptation, always a risk. Adventures in Middle-earth features a new Corruption system. Characters gain Shadow points for:

• Experiencing distressing events (Anguish)
• Crossing or dwelling in an area tainted by manifestations of the Shadow (Blighted Places)
• Committing despicable of dishonourable acts (Misdeeds) – this may occur in this scenario – feel free to give the players a Shadow point whenever they commit a misdeed
• Taking possession of a cursed or tainted item or treasure (Tainted Treasure).

Everyone should be aware that getting too many is a bad thing, and can lead to a player losing their mind for period of time.

Virtues
Player-heroes have access to a series of powers called Virtues. These work similarly to feats. They are often powered by spending Hit Dice or Inspiration.

Journeys
Journey rules create a sequence of bonuses, penalties and engaging Middle Earth events that make traveling great distances engaging, challenging and interesting, while increasing the feeling of being in the setting.

Audiences
When Player-heroes in Middle-earth encounter one of the great, powerful or wise, it is well to go about it in the proper way. This system is used for determining the response of significant characters that player-heroes meet along the way.

Inspiration
Besides the normal ways of gaining and using inspiration, many virtues actually use inspiration as a resource. As such, there needs to be a more reliable way of gaining inspiration. This is where the hope and despair system comes into play. Every background has a list of actions listed as hope or despair that are tied to the specific background.

If a player takes an action that is in line with either the hope or despair action, they automatically gain inspiration.

New Skills
Player-heroes in Adventures in Middle-earth have access to a few setting-specific skills, some hard to come by, and some near-essential.

Riddle
An accepted custom among many creatures, speaking in riddles is usually allowed among strangers meeting for the first time who want to speak guardedly. Use Intelligence (Riddle) checks to discuss a subject while concealing part of what you know, such as when explaining something about yourself without revealing your true identity. This skill is also used to gain helpful insight into spoken or written riddles.

Lore
Your Intelligence (Lore) check measures your ability to recall unusual and obscure information about old legends, ancient war gear, bits of song, rare artifacts, and the reading of runes. Lore replaces the Arcana skill; magic is an imprecise term, for folk use it to describe both the blessings of the Elves and the deceits of the Enemy.

Shadow-lore
A dark branch of knowledge, Intelligence (Shadow-lore) checks allow you to share what you’ve learned about the ways of the Enemy and the various creatures that stalk through the dark places of Middle-earth. Where Lore deals with the past, Shadow-lore deals with the present and the rising threat of the Enemy’s many minions.

Traditions
Your Intelligence (Traditions) check measures your ability to recall the proper courtesies and etiquette expected by the various Free Folk cultures, along with some of their stories about their people and their respective histories. An Intelligence (Traditions) ability check is used whenever you wish to gain an Audience with someone of influence. Traditions also covers the knowledge of such religion as exists in Middle-earth.

 

Enemy AC The AC of enemies will be displayed during combat. I do this to speed up combat by allowing players to know if their attacks will land and write their posts accordingly

Initiative The player's base initiative modifier will be determined by taking the highest modifier from either Dexterity or Wisdom. This is done to reflect that players either react faster because of their Dexterity or perceive situations better than others because of their Wisdom score. Enemy initiative will be determined by taking the average of all enemy initiative rolls. This will make all enemies attack in the same round. Player initiative will be rolled by me. This will create three groups of actions: Players that act before the enemies, the enemy turn, and players that act after the enemies. Players are free to post in whatever order once it is their turn (before or after enemies).

Encumbrance If you carry weight in excess of 5 times your Strength score, you are encumbered, which means your speed drops by 10 feet. If you carry weight in excess of 10 times your Strength score, up to your maximum carrying capacity, you are instead heavily encumbered, which means your speed drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. While pushing or pulling weight in excess of 10 times your Strength score, you are encumbered, which means your speed drops by 10 feet. If you push or pull weight in excess of 20 times your Strength score you are instead heavily encumbered, which means your speed drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

Stat Blocks To expedite the checking of stats, modifiers, dice, etc. please post an updated stat block at the bottom of your posts. You can hide these if you like, but please do not secret them. An example of some stat blocks can be found here In your stat blocks, please also include the number of temporary and permanent shadow points you currently have. In addition, please indicate whether your character currently has inspiration or not.

Reactions To avoid having to retcon posts, please include a list of reactions that you would like to automatically make if certain conditions are met. These could be for combat or not. For example, you can indicate that if you fall more than 10', you will cast Feather Fall. This can be displayed in your stat block of anywhere you like at the bottom of your posts.

Combat During combat, please include an OOC short summary at the bottom of your posts that include Movement, Actions, Bonus Actions. and Reactions

Concentration & Ongoing Effects If your character is being affected by any positive effects (i.e. Mage Armor) that are either permanent or have a limited duration, please include these (along with the remaining time) in your stat block or the bottom of your post. Similarly, if your character is concentrating on a spell or effect, please indicate this as well, along with the remaining time. Time spent traveling overland will be told to you. (i.e. 3 hours getting from point A to point B). Time in combat is always represented as 1 round = 6 seconds.

Posting While not in combat, actions will be considered taken in the order in which the posts are made. However, please follow the "rule of 3" (Allow 3 posts to be made from other players before you post again) to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate. The minimum posting rate for this game is 1 post per week. However, if everyone is posting faster than that, I will also increase the speed of updates.

Flanking Flanking is allowed by both players and enemies. In order to successfully flank your opponent, you must have an ally that is on the directly opposite side of your position. That ally must also be actively engaged in combat (i.e. not unconscious, paralyzed, sleeping, etc.). If flanking is achieved, all attacks would be made with advantage.