Careless Whisper House Rules

Sneak Attack

• You can perform a Sneak Attack (Rogue ability) with a Finesse, Light, or ranged weapon.
• Normal: Sneak Attacks can normally only be performed with Finesse or ranged weapons.

Hero Points

• A character starts with 5 hero points at 1st level. Each time the character gains a level, he or she loses any unspent hero points and gains a new total equal to 5 + half the character’s level.
• Gain Advantage: A player can spend a hero point whenever he or she makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw to make that check at advantage.
• Gain a Reroll: On a failed roll, the player may spend a hero point to re-roll.
• Heroes can gain additional Hero Points through Social Traits.

Social Traits

• Personality Traits: These are simply quirks and habits of the character. They do not gain Hero Points.
• Bonds: These are the entities, places, and things that that character holds dear.
• Ideals: These are the personal beliefs and philosophies that drive the character's decision making.
• Flaws: These are the limitations, weaknesses, vices, and phobias that inhibit the character in some way.
• Regrets: These are specific flaws and missteps that continue haunt and stay with your character in some way. While flaws are often a character trait, a regret is often an action or something that happened to your character that stays with them and continues to cause them difficulty.

Player-Generated Difficulties

• When you roleplay your character's decision making with these in mind, you can gain additional Hero Points.
• You must make a decision that is unwise, tactically unsound, or otherwise causes difficulties for you or the other PCs.
• If this decision is motivated by one of your Social Traits, the DM may grant you an extra Hero Point.
  • Bonds can motivate decisions in order to preserve or assist your Bonds.
  • Ideals can motivate decisions as part of upholding that belief or philosophy.
  • Flaws and Regrets can motivate decisions because of the character's limitations or weaknesses.
• If you make such a choice, inform the DM of your doing so, and indicate which Social Trait you are motivated by.
• If the DM agrees, they will award you 1 Hero Point. You may only gain 1 Hero Point in this way per encounter.

DM-Generated Difficulties

• The DM may also choose to take advantage of your Social Traits in order to make the scene more difficult.
• The effects of this may vary, but can include the triggering of traps, arrival of additional enemies, the infliction of disadvantage on a PC's roll or the addition of advantage to an NPC's roll.
• When the DM does this, they will award you 1 Hero Point. You can only gain 1 Hero Point this way per encounter.

Healing Rules

There are multiple ways for characters to gain the benefit of non-magical healing.

During Encounters

• Healing Surge: As an action, you may roll a number of your Hit Dice (maximum equal to your Proficiency bonus), and add your Constitution bonus to each die result. You recover that many hit points.

Short Rest

• Tending Wounds: There are two ways to end wounds by characters during a short rest.
  • Healer's Kit: You may use one use of a healer's kit to allow you to spend as many of your Hit Dice as you like to recover hit points. You may use this on yourself or on someone else. This constitutes both of your actions during the short rest.
  • Medicine Check: Alternately, another character may make a Wisdom (Medicine) check while working on you during the short rest. This is a DC 12 check, and constitutes both of your actions during the short rest. You may make a check for yourself, but this check is made at disadvantage.

Long Rest

• Recuperating Strength: During a long rest, characters recover up to half of their Hit Dice.
• Healing Rest: During a long rest, you may spend as many Hit Dice as you like in order to recover hit points. This comes about as a natural part of the long rest.

Critical Hit and Failure Dice

• Critical Hit: When you roll a natural 20 during an attack roll that causes any kind of physical damage, roll a d6 to determine the results of the critical hit.
  • 1: Double damage
  • 2: Triple damage
  • 3: Max damage
  • 4: Double damage and opponent is stunned
  • 5: Double damage and sever limb (roll location dice)
  • 6: Death
• Critical Failure:
  • 1: Hit self (1/4 damage)
  • 2: Hit ally if within reach (1/2 damage)
  • 3: Drop weapon - must spend a move or bonus action to pick up
  • 4: Break weapon - weapon is no longer usable
  • 5: Fall - you are knocked prone
  • 6: Knocked out - you are unconscious
• Location:
  • 1: Right arm
  • 2: Left arm
  • 3: Right arm
  • 4: Left arm
  • 5: Right leg
  • 6: Left leg

Contacts

Players start the game with 2 Level 2 Contacts in Sharn that give them access to advantage on social checks. Players can gain contacts as campaign progresses.

• Level 1: Add proficiency to relevant skill checks
• Level 2: Advantage on relevant skill checks