House Rules: Simplification the Autistic Way

These rules serve the story we're telling together. When in doubt, choose what feels authentic to your character.

Design Philosophy

My goal isn't to complicate games — it's to streamline them and improve their worst parts. Every rule change here does at least one of the following:

• Provides demonstrable benefit to players while making things move faster and smoother
• Creates opportunities for big character moments
• Is written so that a player who opts out of a particular rule can do so without affecting anyone else's enjoyment

Example: A player could choose standard death saving throws over the Wounds system without impacting anyone else at the table.

Philosophy: Authentic Choices Over Survival Anxiety

Your Character Won't Die From One Bad Decision. Period.

Failure creates story, not endings. Failed rolls introduce complications that enhance the narrative. When Dorian touched the cursed cart, he fell unconscious and was revived — consequences that enriched the story rather than ended it.

Multiple safety nets exist for terrible ideas. Before something catastrophic happens, I'll ask for a roll to see if your character senses the danger. Even if they fail, I'll ask if you're sure. You'll have multiple chances to reconsider.

Death requires multiple conscious decisions. Character death comes from deliberate choices: entering dangerous combat, refusing retreat opportunities, poor positioning, party decisions, and continued aggression while wounded. Our exhaustion-based system requires 6 Wounds — that's multiple conscious decisions to keep pushing forward.

Make the choices your character would make. Don't second-guess yourself or play it safe out of fear. Tell the story that feels authentic. If I ever ask you to say goodbye to a character, it will be because you decided that ending was right for their story.

The Promise: Focus on authentic roleplay and meaningful character decisions. I'll handle making sure the consequences serve the story we're telling together.

Resting

Short Rest

1 hour. Roll as many hit dice as you like, one at a time. Requires a relatively safe location where you can catch your breath and tend to wounds.

Field Rest

8 hours in a non-safe location. You automatically receive the maximum value for any rolled hit dice at the end of the rest. Does not provide Long Rest benefits.

Long Rest

Option A — Sleep in Your Own Bed Sleep 8 consecutive hours in your permanent home or established residence in Venturia. You gain Long Rest benefits immediately.

Option B — Establish a Safe Haven Sleep 8 consecutive hours per night in the same location for 3 consecutive nights without actively adventuring (no combat encounters, dangerous exploration, or strenuous activity during the establishment period). After the third night, you gain Long Rest benefits. You continue to gain them each consecutive night you sleep there, as long as you don't abandon the location for more than 48 hours.

Long Rest benefits: Recover all HP, Mana, Hit Dice, etc.

Location Categories

Abandoning or Losing a Safe Haven

A previously established safe haven is lost if:

• You abandon it for more than 48 consecutive hours
• The location is destroyed, structurally compromised, or becomes inaccessible
• Enemies or hostile forces take control of the location
• The location shifts categories (e.g., Vallombrosa's fog expands to consume it)

If a safe haven is lost, you must re-establish it through 3 consecutive quiet nights, or find a new location.

Why This System Exists

Standard D&D assumes 6–8 encounters per day. I refuse to pad sessions with meaningless fights. With only 1–2 meaningful encounters per day, players enter each fight at full strength — which forces me to either make everything lethally dangerous, accept trivially easy encounters, or contrive reasons the party can't rest.

This system fixes that in three ways:

• Unpredictable difficulty — The same encounter might be trivial when well-rested or deadly after a week without a Long Rest.
• Natural pacing — Story creates resource pressure organically. Being in hostile territory naturally explains why Long Rests aren't available.
• Geography drives challenge — I design encounters based on what should be at a location, not what will challenge the party. You decide how to navigate them.

Heroic Reactions

One (1) reaction per round. Choose any spell or ability with a reaction component, or one of the following:

Dying: Your Way

When You Drop to 0 HP

• Gain 1 Point of Exhaustion
• Gain the Dying condition until you regain HP
• No unconsciousness. No death saving throws.

Dying Condition Effects

While Dying, you act normally on your turn (action, bonus action, movement), but:

• Concentration is broken
• You make a DC 10 Constitution save or take 1 Point of Exhaustion when you take an action or bonus action that does not heal you
• Taking damage causes 2 Points of Exhaustion (3 on a critical hit)

The Exhaustion System

This system is in addition to, not in place of, the 2024 edition exhaustion mechanics.

• Subtract 2 × your Exhaustion points from all d20 tests
• Movement is reduced by 5 feet per point of Exhaustion
• A PC dies at 6 Points of Exhaustion
• Recovery: 1 Exhaustion point recovered per Long Rest

Additional House Rules

Player vs. Player Combat

Direct PvP is not permitted except as part of in-world contests. PCs may attack or counter-attack each other to serve the story, but combat concludes once it has served its narrative purpose — ideally decided by the players involved, with the DM having final say. A private post-game conversation is required to ensure any hostility stays with the characters, not the players.

Player vs. Player Insight Checks

Permitted. One player rolls Insight; the other rolls Deception (if lying) or Persuasion (if telling the truth). The rolling player chooses which, and the table is not told.

Spell Components

Only components with a gold cost are physically required.

Group Checks

For group activities only. Majority pass or fail. NAT 20 counts as 2 successes; NAT 1 counts as 2 failures.

Individual Checks

Generally limited to 1 party member unless reasonable assistance is offered.

With assistance: choose between one roll with Advantage, or each relevant party member rolls independently. If rolling with Advantage, the DM determines who rolls based on who does the heavy lifting.

Untimed Skill Checks

If there's no time limit and the PC is capable, the check determines how long it takes and whether complications arise.

Miscellaneous

You can certainly try.