20 Quick Questions: Rules from Necropraxis

I have been listening to Judd Karlman’s Daydreaming about Dragons podcast, which I highly recommend, and he mentioned this set of rules-based questions from Necropraxis that I thought would be fun to answer for the Sea of Stars.

Quote: “Here are 20 rules clarifications that are likely to be needed anyways at some point.”

1 Ability scores generation method?

Whichever you want to use. I am a fan of roll 4d6, drop lowest, arrange to suit but I am flexible,

2 How are death and dying handled?

Standard D&D 5E rules for this at the moment.

3 What about raising the dead?

Very rare but not impossible, usually not through anything as simple as a spell, a quest of some sort is likely to be required.  Except from dragonkine, they are just dead and not coming back.

4 How are replacement PCs handled?

Depends on the circumstance but usually at a rough parity, level wise, as existing characters.

5 Initiative: individual, group, or something else?

Group initiative just seems to work best.

6 Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?

Standard D&D 5E with the better critical rules.  Fumbles on a natural 1 are situation but only inconvenience.

7 Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?

Situational but yes.

8 Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?

Yes, but you will be warned of the risk beforehand.

9 Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?

Oh yes, something will flat out murderize you.  But with proper planning and a bit of luck, most things can be killed.

10 Level-draining monsters: yes or no?

No, life draining, memory draining, the unliving and unbound feed on various things but “levels” are not among them.

11 Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?

As in straight up save or die, no.  Will a failed save cause enough damage to drop you, probably.

12 How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?

Not very.  The rarer and more valuable a resource, the more closely it will be tracked.

13 What’s required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?

In general, “leveling up” happens immediately.  New wizard spells are thing you have been studying and researching, so will usually have to wait until you can catch your breath and put things together.

14 What do I get experience for?

Exploring, learning, making friends and allies, doing cool things, surviving.

15 How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?

Preferably by description and investigation, though some dice rolling may be involved.  Traps that work as puzzles so that they can be overcome is the ideal.

16 Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?

If the player characters want to seek them out, why not?  But not actively encouraged.  Morale is situational, well treated retained are, obviously, more like to take risks for their employers but almost all of them want to survive to spend their pay.

17 How do I identify magic items?

Use, trail and era, visiting a sage, conjuring the spirit of the item and asking it.

18 Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?

Theoretically, yes.  There are those that make magic item for sale but they are very expensive.  Expendable magic items, like potions and scrolls, are more widely available but be sure to purchase from a reliable source!

19 Can I create magic items? When and how?

Yes, with time, research and exotic ingredients.

20 What about splitting the party?

Not recommended in dangerous territories and actively discourage in online play.

Endquote: “If you decide this stuff early, you are less likely to have misunderstandings and more likely to all be on the same page.”

Fun to think about such things.

Notes: For a more story focused set of questions, look here. And if you have questions for me you can ask them here.

Images upper “Old books” by S@ndrine Néel is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0; lower “Impossible Dice Triangle Optical Illusion” by The Lex Talionis is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0