Shadowdark: The Borderlands House Rules

Below the break are the house rules used in the Borderlands campaign, modifying the core Shadowdark rules. Some of these are to emulate older versions of D&D, some for the setting, some to bump up player character life expectancy a bit, and some to make certain elements a little more dramatic.

Swap Two Stats

At character creation, you may swap any two stats.

Ancestries

Because player characters get max hit points at 1st level, dwarves get advantage on starting gold to make up for the loss of advantage on hit points at 1st level.

The following additional ancestries may also be selected.

Gnome

Usually living in burrows in hills, excellent metalsmiths and miners, they love gold and gems and have been known to make bad decisions just to obtain them.

You know the Common and Dwarvish languages.

Artificer. You get a +1 bonus to all checks repairing or dealing with mechanical items (e.g., traps) OR you can detect precious metals and gems, once per day, as though casting a detect magic spell not blocked by barriers (using Intelligence to maintain your focus).

Half-Elf

Their mixed ancestry makes them natural diplomats and they are generally well-liked by all who meet them.

You know the Common and Elvish languages.

Charismatic. You gain a +1 bonus to Charisma checks.

Classes

Bards, druids, paladins, rangers, and witches are available classes in addition to the core classes of Fighter, Priest, Thief, and Wizard. (Ask for details on the non-core classes.)

Hit Points

You get maximum hit points at 1^st level. Constitution modifier only applies if it is a positive modifier.

After 1^st level, you roll for Hit Points as normal.

Experience Points

XP awards are given after each session and are based on the quality and progress made during that session as determined by the GM rather than on the treasure gained.

You can still gain XP by carousing as in the Shadowdark rules.

Dying

When a player character is reduced to 0 hit points, they are not incapacitated or unconscious. They are dying and will die after 1d4 + CON modifier rounds (minimum 1) unless they somehow recover hit points or are stabilized. They can still act in a limited fashion. The character can move or they can take an action. All actions are at disadvantage and all actions against the character have advantage.

If the character suffers additional damage while dying, the number of rounds remaining on their “death timer” is reduced by one each round that they suffer additional damage (not for each source of damage). If this reduces the timer to zero, the character dies.

If a character moves or acts, they forego the normal d20 roll at the start of their round to see if they recover a single hit point. If they take no action and do not move, they can make this check per the normal rules.

Once stabilized, the player character remains at 0 hit points and falls unconscious until at least one hit point is restored.

That’s all the house rules for now. These may be tweaked or dropped and others may be added as we play and “fine-tune” the rules to fit both the campaign style and our play style.

One more Borderlands intro post to come…