House Rules

Rule 1Grappling

Grapple and Shove Attempts

We are reverting to the 5e (2014) contested-check model for grappling and shoving. The 2024 saving throw version removes too much of the skill-based interaction that makes grappler builds viable and interesting.

Official 5.5e Rule 5.5e (2024): When you attempt to grapple or shove a creature, it makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against DC 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. Escaping a grapple uses an Athletics or Acrobatics check against the same DC.

House Rule 5e (2014) rule is restored: To grapple, make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (target chooses). On a success, the target gains the Grappled condition. To escape, the grappled creature uses its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by your Strength (Athletics) check. The same contested-check model applies to shoving.

Rationale: The 2024 saving throw model is simpler but eliminates the counterplay that makes grappling a viable specialty. A dedicated grappler in 2014 invested in Athletics, and so did any creature trying to resist them. That back-and-forth creates interesting decisions. The saving throw model removes the grappler’s advantage from investment - a high-CON fighter resists grapples as well as a high-STR one, which doesn’t reflect the fiction. The contested check also scales better: grappling a giant is genuinely hard, and a master grappler feels like one.

Retained from 5.5e: Grappled Condition

The following 5.5e improvements to the Grappled condition are kept:

• Being Grappled imposes Disadvantage on all attacks except against your grappler.
• Grappling a Tiny creature does not impede your movement, regardless of your size.

Rule 2Encumbrance and Carrying Capacity

Encumbrance is Eliminated

Official 5.5e Rule 5.5e (2024): Carrying capacity applies only if you carry something “unusually heavy” or a “massive number” of things - already a relaxed standard, but still technically tracked.

House Rule Encumbrance is not tracked at this table. Characters can carry a reasonable amount of gear without penalty. The DM retains the right to rule that something is simply too large or too heavy to carry (you cannot put a catapult in your backpack), but no numerical carrying limit applies. Equipment lists do not require weight tracking.

Rationale: Encumbrance adds bookkeeping without adding meaningful gameplay for most sessions. Combat, exploration, and roleplay are the focus. If a situation arises where what a character is carrying matters narratively - swimming in full plate, fleeing while loaded with treasure - the DM will adjudicate it in the moment using common sense.

Rule 3Ammunition

Ammunition is Not Tracked

Official 5.5e Rule 5.5e (2024): Ammunition must be tracked. You can recover half your expended ammunition after a battle by searching the area for 1 minute.

House Rule Mundane ammunition is not tracked under normal conditions. In situations where the DM determines scarcity is a meaningful factor (extended wilderness travel, a siege, being cut off from resupply), the DM may call for a d20 check - typically Survival or a relevant crafting skill - to determine whether you have enough to continue or need to improvise. Magical or special ammunition (silvered arrows, +1 arrows, etc.) is always tracked individually.

Rationale: Day-to-day ammo counting adds friction without adding decisions. If the party has been stranded in a desert for two weeks and has been fighting every day, whether they have arrows left becomes a real question - and one worth a single roll rather than a spreadsheet. The DM will signal when this rule is in effect.

Rule 4Food, Water, and Foraging

Subsistence is Not Tracked

Official 5.5e Rule 5.5e (2024): Characters must consume food and water daily or risk gaining Exhaustion levels. Foraging is tracked against daily requirements.

House Rule Food and water are not tracked under normal adventuring conditions. In situations where the DM determines scarcity is a meaningful factor (a desert crossing, being shipwrecked, trapped underground), the DM may call for a d20 check - typically Survival or a relevant crafting skill - to determine how well the party is managing resources. Success means the party is adequately fed and watered. Failure means they are short, and Exhaustion rules apply as written. The DM will tell players when this rule is in effect.

Rationale: Subsistence tracking is only interesting when survival is the point of the adventure. Rather than making it a background tax on every session, scarcity becomes a narrative event the DM frames deliberately, resolved with a single meaningful roll rather than daily bookkeeping.

Rule 5NPC and Monster Death Saves

All Non-PCs Get One Death Save

Official 5.5e Rule 5.5e (2024): Monsters and NPCs do not make death saving throws. When they reach 0 HP, they die immediately (or are knocked out at the DM’s discretion for story reasons).

House Rule Any non-player creature that drops to 0 HP makes one death saving throw at the start of their next turn (DC 10 Constitution save). On a success, they are Unconscious but stable at 0 HP. On a failure, they die. A player or ally can stabilize them (Medicine check DC 10, or any healing) before that save is required. This applies to enemies and allies alike - if players want to keep someone alive, they have a window to act.

Rationale: This gives players a meaningful window to save anyone they care about - or to finish off a downed enemy before they stabilize. It creates a consistent rule that applies universally rather than requiring the DM to make judgment calls about who counts. A downed enemy is a decision point: do you spend an action to finish them, or press on and risk them recovering?

Rule 6Hiding and Stealth

Hide Uses a Contested Check, Not a Flat DC

Official 5.5e Rule 5.5e (2024): To Hide, you must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check while Heavily Obscured or behind Three-Quarters or Total Cover, and out of any enemy’s line of sight. On a success, you gain the Invisible condition. Your check total becomes the DC for enemies to find you.

House Rule We revert to the 5e (2014) contested model: make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. Compare your result to each relevant creature’s passive Wisdom (Perception). You are hidden from any creature whose passive Perception you beat. A creature can actively search (Search action) and roll Wisdom (Perception) against your Stealth check result to find you. There is no flat DC 15 floor. Requirements for cover or obscurement to attempt hiding are retained from 5.5e.

Rationale: The 2024 DC 15 rule is widely criticized as creating an all-or-nothing binary: you either hide from every enemy at once or no one. It also conflates hiding with the Invisible condition in ways that cause downstream rules conflicts. The contested check model is more granular - a rogue with a 19 Stealth is hidden from the distracted guard (passive 11) but spotted by the alert captain (passive 16). That differentiation is more interesting and more intuitive.

In Practice

• Your Stealth roll is made once when you take the Hide action.
• You are hidden from creatures whose passive Perception is lower than your roll.
• Creatures not hidden from can take the Search action to actively look, rolling Perception against your Stealth result.
• You lose hidden status under the same conditions as 5.5e: making a sound louder than a whisper, being found, making an attack roll, or casting a spell with a Verbal component.

Rule 7Currency

Gold Denominations

Standard D&D coinage (GP, SP, CP) is replaced with a simpler in-world system that reflects how money actually moves in Asylum.

Official 5.5e Rule Standard denominations: Copper Pieces (CP), Silver Pieces (SP), Gold Pieces (GP), Electrum Pieces (EP), and Platinum Pieces (PP), with fixed exchange rates between them. GP is the primary unit of account.

House Rule Currency is tracked in three tiers: Handfuls - The smallest standard denomination. Think loose coin, the kind you toss on a bar. Bags - 10 Handfuls = 1 Bag. A bag of coin; the unit most merchants deal in. Chests - 10 Bags = 1 Chest. Serious money. The kind that buys ships, favors, or silence.

Rationale: The standard D&D denominations carry a lot of baggage and introduce unnecessary conversion math. Asylum is a city that runs on deals and muscle, not mints - a simpler, grittier currency system fits the fiction. Prices, rewards, and loot will all be denominated in this system from the start.

Rule 8Character Reskinning at Level Up

Appearance and Flavor Changes on Level Up

Characters change as they grow. This rule formalizes that players have creative license to reflect that growth.

Official 5.5e Rule No official provision for changing a character’s appearance or flavor outside of specific class features (Wild Shape, Disguise Self, etc.). A character’s species, appearance, and descriptive traits are fixed at creation.

House Rule Players may reskin their characters at any level up. Anything goes - appearance, aesthetic, the flavor of their abilities - so long as it makes sense thematically and is discussed with the DM first. Mechanical stats do not change; only the descriptive layer does. This is a tool for character development, not optimization. A rogue who was once a street thug might grow into something more refined (or more dangerous) by level 5.

Rationale: Characters should feel like they evolve, and players should feel free to explore that evolution. If someone’s vision for their character shifts as the story unfolds, a level up is the natural moment to reflect that. The thematic consistency requirement keeps reskins grounded in the fiction rather than being arbitrary cosmetic resets.

Quick Reference

Rule	Official 5.5e	This Campaign
Grapple / Shove	Saving throw (DC 8 + STR mod + PB)	Contested Athletics check (5e 2014 model)
Grappled condition penalties	Disadvantage on attacks vs. non-grappler	Retained from 5.5e
Tiny creature grapple movement	No movement penalty	Retained from 5.5e
Encumbrance	Tracked (loosely)	Not tracked
Mundane ammunition	Tracked	Not tracked; d20 check in scarcity situations
Magical / special ammunition	Tracked	Still tracked
Food and water	Tracked daily	Not tracked; d20 check in scarcity situations
NPC / Monster death	Instant at 0 HP	All non-PCs get 1 death save (CON DC 10)
Hide check	DC 15 Stealth; grants Invisible condition	Contested Stealth vs. passive Perception
Currency	GP / SP / CP (standard)	Handfuls · Bags (10 Handfuls) · Chests (10 Bags)
Character reskinning	Not permitted outside class features	Allowed at level up; thematic consistency required

All other 5.5e (2024) rules apply as written. When in doubt, ask the DM.