The Adventure Rules

The adventure rules chapters ability checks, contest rolls, survival rules, weather effects and much more. These are the rules used in almost every encounter. They build upon what the core rules present as a base.

Ability Checks

Survival

Breathing

A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds).

When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round). After that, at the start of each next turn, the creature gains 1 exhaustion.

For example, a creature with a Constitution of 14 can hold its breath for 3 minutes. If it starts suffocating, it has 2 rounds to reach air before it drops to 0 hit points.

Falling

When falling from any height, you instantly descend up to 50 feet. If you're still falling on your next turn, you descend up to 150 feet at the start of that turn and 300 feet at the end of that turn.

If you're still falling on any turn after that, you descend up to 500 feet at the start of your turn. 500 feet at the end of your turn, for a total of 1000 feet per turn.

A creature can choose to, as an action, increase or decrease the end of turn descent rate from between 500 feet to 1000 feet per turn.

At the end of a fall, you take 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet you fell, to a maximum of 100d6. You also land prone, unless you somehow avoid taking damage from the fall.

A flying creature falls if its knocked prone, its flying speed is reduced to 0 feet, or if it otherwise loses the ability to move, unless it can hover or it is being held aloft by magic.

Many flying creatures have a better chance of surviving a fall than a non-flying creature does, simply by having their anatomy constructed for it. These modifiers can be applied if one see it fit when calculating falling damage:

• Reduce the amount of feet by the creature's current flying speed. Simulating a conscious creature taking measures to slow its fall.
• Reduce the amount of feet by the creature's normal flying speed. Simulating a creature with hollow bones, like many small birds.
• Modify the falling distances per turn by for example: one half, one fourth or one fifth. Simulating creatures with very low terminal velocity thresholds.

Food & Water

Characters who don't eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion (see the appendix). Exhaustion can't be removed by resting until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.

Additionally, characters who haven't eaten or drunk their full required amount for at least two days, have vulnerability to poison and disease.

Food

A medium character needs a fifth of their total Strength plus Constitution score in pounds of food per day. For each size category larger or smaller, double or halve the required consumption.

After every two days without enough food, a character must make a DC 8 + half the total days starved Constitution saving throw, or suffer one level of exhaustion.

Consuming at least a quarter of the required amount of food, quadruples the number of days before each saving throw, making each day count as though it was one fourth of a day.

Consuming at least half the required amount of food stops the starvation from continuing, however it only locks the amount of days starved in place. Meaning exhaustion caused by lack of food still can't be removed until the character eats the full required amount.

1. 1. 1. 1. Food Summary

| Consumed Food | Effect | |:-:|:-:| | **Required Food** | One fifth of your Strength score + your Constitution score | | Full | Exhaustion can be removed by resting. | No Food | Every two days, make a Constitution Save DC 8 + half the total amount of starved days. On a failure, suffer one level of Exhaustion. | 1/4 Required Food | Constutiton Save every eight days instead of two. Each day counts as 1/4th of a starved day. | 1/2 Required Food | Starvation on hold.

Water

A medium character needs one gallon of water per day, or two gallons per day if the weather is hot. For each size category larger or smaller, double or halve the required consumption.

A character with no access to water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character who drinks only half the required amount, must make a Constitution saving throw DC 10 + 5x the amount of days without water, or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.

Resting & Sleeping

Even the mightiest of warriors and adventurers need rest, as such they can't spend every hour of every day socializing, fighting, traveling and exploring. Resting comes in different forms, either lighter or heavier rest, short rest and long rest. Creatures can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it, meaning; a long rest can only be taken once every day.

During both short or long rests, a character can spend one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points, up to a character's maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character's level. After a long rest, a character regains all spent Hit Dice.

> #### Regaining Hit Points from Hit Dice > Your character's hit points define how tough your character is in combat and other dangerous situations. Your hit points are determined by your Hit Dice (short for Hit Point Dice). > > At 1st level, your character has 1 Hit Die, and the die type is determined by your creature size. You start with hit points equal to the highest roll of that die, as indicated in your class description. (You also add your Constitution modifier, which you'll determine in step 3.) This is also your hit point maximum. > > Record your character's hit points on your character sheet. Also record the type of Hit Die your character uses and the number of Hit Dice you have. After you rest, you can spend Hit Dice to regain hit points (see "Resting" in chapter 8). >

> #### Hit Dice > For each Hit Die spent, the player rolls the die and adds the character's Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0). The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest.

Short Rest

A short rest is a small time of pause and repose, for one to catch one's breath, ranging from at least 30 minutes to 4 hours long, during which a character can take time to eat, drink, read, meditate, cast rituals and tend to illness and wounds.

For each short rest without a long rest, short rest times increases.

| Short Rest | Time |:-:|:-:| | 1st | 30 min | 2nd | 1 hour | 3rd | 2 hours | 4th + n | 4 hours

Death save failures reset on short rest. At the end of a short rest, players may spend 1 hit dice to recover 1 level of exhaustion. Only 1 dice per short rest per long rest may be spent this way.

Long Rest

Long rests take 8 hours, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

At the end of a long rest, a character regains spent Hit Dice, up to half the character's maximum, rounded up. A character does not automatically regain any lost hit points, but finishing a long rest reduces a creature's exhaustion level by one, provided that the creature has also ingested their full requirement for food and drink.

A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period, and a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.