HML Campaign Rules

Homebrew My Life has rules adapted to our playstyle, taking into consideration that our groups are generally small and fairly inexperienced.

Food & Water During Travels
All living creatures need sustenance to survive. Our Homebrew automatically applies food and water to a creature during short and long rests, so long as the party is traversing an area that would reasonably be bountiful in necessities such as fruit, huntable game, or sources of water. However, if Players traverse into an area where food and water become scarce, such as a volcanic mountain or the Underdark, it is recommended they procure enough rations and supplies for the journey.

Inventory & Safehouses
"'The weight of our destinies weigh just as heavy on our aching backs...'"Our campaigns do not follow encumbrance rules for lower levels, essentially giving them temporary 'Bags of Holding'. When Players rise up in level enough and earn their coin by completing treacherous quests, they may secure a homebase, of sorts, to return to whenever they feel homesick or fatigued from their journies. There are plenty of incentives to get one, such as increasing maximum hit points when sleeping in a comfortable bed and a place to store prisoners! I mean, guests. However, after a party does procure a homebase, their inventories tend to shrink a bit.

Although weight still holds no restriction, certain objects - reasonably too large to fit in an average backpack - no longer can be carried (unless Players have obtained a real Bag of Holding). Examples of objects too large, in size and in number, include a record player, carpets, large creature eggs, 30 potions, etc.

Resurrection Spells
If a character is dead, and a resurrection is attempted by a spell or spell effect with longer than a 1 action casting time, a Resurrection Challenge is initiated. Up to 3 members of the adventuring party can offer to contribute to the ritual via a Contribution Skill Check. The DM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the DM feels the contribution would be.

For example, praying to the god of the devout, fallen character may require an Intelligence (Religion) check at an easy to medium difficulty, where loudly demanding the soul of the fallen to return from the aether may require a Charisma (Intimidation) check at a very hard or nearly impossible difficulty. Advantage and disadvantage can apply here based on how perfect, or off base, the contribution offered is.

After all contributions are completed, the DM then rolls a single, final Resurrection success check with no modifier. The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone (signifying the slow erosion of the soul’s connection to this world). For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1.

Upon a successful resurrection check, the player’s soul (should it be willing) will be returned to the body, and the ritual succeeded. On a failed check, the soul does not return and the character is lost.