Whitehack 3e House Rules

Jun Suemi

Here's a collection of some current house rules and bits that have come up in Whitehack so far this year. Some are pilfered from various sources but none are set in stone. Anything can change during play. 

Maybe I will keep this updated! In the meantime, I've also made a 3e Rule Summary, a Community Compendium, and Character Record sheets.

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Agile Defense

Those forgoing armor or wearing light armor (AC 1 and 2) may count as resistant (p. 59) to hazards involving dodging or agile movement at the Referee's discretion. Those wearing heavy armor (AC 5 and 6) count as vulnerable to hazards involving hazard or agile movement at the Referee's discretion. 

If the side-based initiative is used, rather than adding to initiative, dexterity bonuses should now be added to saves made against such hazards.

Bucklers, Hell Yeah!

Bucklers can be used to represent any small shield. They grant +1 AC in melee only and count as a minor item (half slot). Cost 2.

Crits: Double Damage & Instant Death

Crits and fumbles no longer use the tables on p. 71. Instead, if a crit is scored in an attack, it does double damage, stacking with the Deft double damage. Furthermore, there is an additional chance for an "instant kill", roll another d20, on a 19-20, the target is instantly dead, whatever their hit dice may be. This represents a supremely "lucky hit" on a vital spot.

Those beyond mortality or the scope of a single blow may not be vulnerable to such "instant kills" at the Referee's discretion.

N.B. Since helmets no longer allow re-rolls on any crit table, they now generally protect against crits. While wearing a helmet, the extra damage from a crit is negated (but not the normal damage roll or instant death chance!). 

Encounter Distance

If either party is surprised, an encounter occurs at 10-60’ - otherwise 20-120’.

Encounters distance varies based on the current surroundings:

• Structures, dense environs, or during the night do not adjust this distance.
• Relatively open terrain doubles the distance.
• Extremely expansive terrain quintuples the distance.

Errata: Morning Star Weight

In 2e, the morning star had an encumbrance weight of 20 to account for its bonus critical damage. In 3e, this was lost in the change to encumbrance slots where it is listed as a Regular item. To correct this, we treat it as a Heavy item that takes two slots. 

Great Cleaves

The Referee and table should be generous with the Strong's "cleave" ability, adjusting based on genre and consensus. Perhaps it can be stretched to include ranged weapons and enemies adjacent to one another. Or perhaps it can conservatively be "melee only and adjacent to the character". 

Ferocious monsters should also gain this ability as well as NPCs who are Strong or otherwise have Strong abilities. Whenever such foes put an enemy to zero or negative, they may attack another adjacent enemy. This doesn't count toward the number of attacks an NPC can make based on their HD.

Reach Weaponry

Weapons with Reach indicate that enemies within 10 feet are within melee range. While this is important when dealing with free attacks (p. 72) we also grant such weapons first attack when applicable supplanting initiative results.

Reaction & Parley

The book has rules for "Reactions" on p. 68, but I cross this out and replace it with "Parley" instead. These rules heavily rely on Charisma and communication via language a tad too much for my taste rather than setting a default inclination *before* you get a chance to influence someone otherwise.

Instead, when the attitude of a party is uncertain or chaos is desirable, roll 2d6. Reputation and appearance may modify this roll, with a strong opinion eliciting a +/- 4/.

• 2 or less: Hostile reaction
• 3-4: Negative reaction
• 6-8: Uncertain reaction
• 9-11: Positive reaction
• 12 or more: Enthusiastic reaction

Extrapolate any results (even extreme ones) to reveal facts about the reacting group!

Retainers & Hirelings

All characters may have a number of Retainers equal to their number of Slots. They are Referee characters with HD, AC, keywords, etc. As such they are played by the Referee who determines if they require some kind of compensation and how loyal they are.

Characters may give XP gained from acquired gold to their Retainers in order to raise retainers' HD. The cost follows the XP curve most fitting to the character type (e.g. Strong, Deft, Wise, etc.).

The special slotted Retainers of the Fortunate aren't subject to the above limitations. They loyally serve and are controlled by the same player, rather than the Referee. The Fortunate can choose to make one of their special retainers suffer a grisly death on behalf of them or anyone else (perhaps shoving the Fortunate out of the way of an attack!).

As for Hirelings, they are HD 1 and there is no limit on their number aside from compensation, treatment, and loyalty. The basic info in the Traditional Toolkit suffices for them.

Side-Based Initiative

Combat is conducted in rounds of 10 seconds. At the beginning of combat, each side rolls a d6—the highest roll determines which side takes their actions first. This is rolled every round.

Ties: In the case of ties, missiles go before melee and lighter weapons go before those that are heavier or need to be drawn. All other actions are resolved simultaneously.

Ready Action: Any readied actions are executed on a predefined condition.

Effect Duration: 1 round effects last until the next round ends.

Surprised: Surprised sides aren't part of the initiative roll until the second round. Others have Combat Advantage against them.

Boss Interrupts: Boss monsters get an Interruption (an extra move, special action, or extra attack at full AV) each round. They may use this action at any point in the round, except to go first.