Rulings and House Rules

This section lists adjustments, bans, and advice regarding game balance, as well as several rulings.

• Classes
• Spells

Overview

For rulings regarding specific spells or class abilities, check the corresponding pages, linked above.

Rules that have been changed compared to the original game are marked with .
Entirely new additions are marked with .
Clarifications are marked with .

Unearthed Arcana

If you wish to use UA material, the following applies:

• You are required to inform your DM of which UA material you intend to use before you do so.
• All material is subject to DM approval.
• Most subclasses will be allowed. (If they weren’t later published; see below.)
• Material from OneD&D playtests is not allowed. (Some of those changes have been integrated, however. See Classes for more info.)
• Using the UA version of material that has later been published is not allowed. Use the published version instead.
• The following UA materials are explicitly disallowed:
  • The Mystic class.
  • The Stone Sorcery subclass for the Sorcerer. See the updated Stone Sorcery option included here instead.

Homebrew and third-party classes, subclasses, spells, &c.

If you wish to use homebrew material, you must inform your DM ahead of time, and they must approve of its use.

Character Creation

The following rules apply to character creation.

Ability Scores

Assign your character’s ability scores using either the point-buy system (using the standard 27 points), or the standard array.

Background

Remember that you may customize your background. See Customizing a Background in the Player’s Handbook (p. 125) for more information.

Customization

You may apply the Customizing Your Origin rules described in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (p. 8).

Starting Gold

If you do not use the pre-determined starting equipment packages, use an average result rather than rolling for starting gold when creating a character. The table below lists those values for each class.

Hit Points

Upon gaining a level, your maximum hit points increase. If you choose to roll the increase rather than select the average value, reroll all ones on the hit dice. (This causes the average increase of both options to be exactly equal.)

Combat and Conditions

Invisibility

Invisible creatures do not gain advantage on attack rolls made toward creatures that can see them (via e.g. See Invisibility or blindsight), nor do they impose disadvantage on attack rolls made against themselves. (This is an explicit rules change compared to RAW. Unfortunately.)

In combat, unless an invisible creature is also hidden (requiring the Hide action, or equivalent), its approximate location is known to other creatures due to noise. (A creature can, of course, be hidden before combat starts.)

Movement

Diagonal Movement

Use the Diagonals rule from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, p. 252, when moving diagonally. (Every other diagonal step costs 10 feet/2 squares.)

Using Different Speeds

The official rules (Using Different Speeds, PHB, p. 190) for swapping between different forms of movement are silly. Instead, use the following.

If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. You can never move more in total than your highest speed allows, and each speed you have can only move you that far.

For example, if you have a walking speed of 30 feet and a flying speed of 40 feet, you could do any of the following on your turn, in either order:

• Walk up to 30 feet.
• Walk 30 feet and fly 10 feet.
• Walk 20 feet and fly 20 feet.
• Walk 10 feet and fly 30 feet.
• Fly up to 40 feet (but not walk any distance).

Compared to the original rule, this allows you, using the same speeds as above, to fly 10 feet and then walk 30 feet. This would not be allowed under the original rule, which only allows you to walk 20 feet in this case.