Prof. Dice's: Darkest Soul
The greatest achievments are those we struggle the most to gain. Herein is an expansion of ideas for the "Adventuring Options" found in the 5e DMG as well as a collection and revision on uncommonly used rules found in the 5e PHB. For intention of quick reference, much of this content is found already in the published books. The Darkest Soul's intention is to create a greater challenge for our heroes, with out drastically changing the pace of the game, and to act as a quick reference guide to rules as written. Use one, some, or all of these rules to adjust the game to fit your setting. As always all of these rules are optional; to be turned off and on at the DM's discretion. Fully original content will be marked with a DS, and revisions noted with an asterisk (*).
Healing
Healer’s Kit Dependency
A character can’t spend any Hit Dice after finishing a short rest until someone expends one use of a healer’s kit to bandage and treat the character’s wounds, *or if the character had received magical healing since the last time it received damage.
Slow Natural Healing
Characters do not regain hit points at the end of a long rest. Instead, a character can spend Hit Dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest.
Resting DS
Both a short and long rest are considered to take the same amount of time as in standard Heroic Fantasy, being one hour and eight hours respectively. However, character's regain Hit Dice and Spell Slots differently. A character must be fed and hydrated to benefit from a long rest.
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Hit-Dice: Characters only regain one Hit Die at the end of a long rest, two Hit Dice if someone expends one use of a healer’s kit to treat their wounds, *or if the character had received magical healing since the last time it received damage. A character can not gain more than one hit die while resting in medium or heavy armor.
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Spell Slots: A spell caster regains a number of spell slots equal to their proficiency bonus, always starting with the lowest level slots expended.
Wounds DS
When a creature receives damage from a critical hit or suffers 20 or more damage from a single source, they receive a wound. When a creature receives a wound their maximum hit points are reduced by 1d4.
Whenever the character receives magical healing the source can end the effect of one wound.
All wounds are also healed if the character has all of it's hit dice at the end of a long rest.
Toxicity DS
Magic elixirs grant a variety of powerful effects, but side effects could be devestating to their abusers. When a creature drinks a potion they receive a number of levels of Toxicity based on the rarity of the potion consumed. The higher the characters toxicity level the more penalties they suffer.
A character's toxicity level is halved (rounded down) at the end of a long rest. These effects persist until the character's toxicity level is below their respective thresholds.
The Restoration spell can reduce a character's toxicity by an amount equal to the spell slot expended.
| Toxicity Level | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 5 | You gain the poisoned condition. |
| 10 | Your speed is halved. |
| 15 | You maximum hit points are halved |
| 20 | Death |
| Potion Rarity | Toxicity |
|---|---|
| Uncommon | 1 |
| Rare | 2 |
| Epic | 3 |
| Legendary | 4 |
Food and Water (PHB, p. 185)
Characters who don't eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can't be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount. *In addition, a character must be fed and hydrated to benefit from a long rest.
Food
A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.
A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
Water
A character needs one gallon of water per day, or two gallons per day if the weather is hot. A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.
If the character already has one or more levels of exhaustion, the character takes two levels in either case.
Encumbrance
Lifting and Carrying (PHB, p. 176)
Your Strength score determines the amount of weight you can bear. The following terms define what you can lift or carry.
Carrying Capacity. Your carrying capacity is your Strength score multiplied by 15. This is the weight (in pounds) that you can carry, which is high enough that most characters don't usually have to worry about it.
Push, Drag, or Lift. You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.
Size and Strength. Larger creatures can bear more weight, whereas Tiny creatures can carry less. For each size category above Medium, double the creature's carrying capacity and the amount it can push, drag, or lift. For a Tiny creature, halve these weights.
Coin Weight
A standard coin weighs about a third of an ounce, so fifty coins weigh a pound.
Souls Currency DS
Instead of all that coin weighing you down, perhaps trading in souls may be preferable to your campaign setting. Simply follow these rules.
- When a character would gain xp they instead gain that many souls. If a character has a number of souls equal to the amount of xp required to reach the next level they gain a level. A character level is NOT lost if they later have less souls than the previously required amount.
- A character can spend souls currency as though it was coin, 1 soul is worth 1 gp.
- A soul can buy a single item (including items with a quantity) with a value of 1 gp or less.
If souls are not already the accepted currency of your setting, than perhaps the souls transform into coin when presented to a merchant.