Thoobn's Knave House Rules

Character Creation

Replace Character Creation with the following.

1. Pick a Beyond the Wall playbook and follow the instructions, with the following changes.
• Skills and Weapon Specializations give you advantage when applicable.
• Spells and Cantrips take up slots as usual. Rituals do not.
• Ignore Knacks.
• Ignore all class abilities except Sense Magic.
• If an attribute modifier makes more sense in a different attribute in Knave, ask the GM. If they agree, put it there.
• You can have a defense under 11. That means your bonus is not positive, and probably negative. Tough luck.
2. Roll for Starting Gear as usual.
3. Roll 1d8 for HP as usual. If it’s lower than 5, take 5 instead.
4. Pick or roll for traits as usual.

Thoobn’s Note: If none of the Beyond the Wall playbooks make sense for the game, know that I am working on a more generic sheet. I’m just lazy as fuck and haven’t finished it.

Fray Die

You get a d4 Fray Die at level 4, which increases to d6 at level 6, d8 at level 8, and d10 at level 10. When you’re in combat, you may roll your Fray Die at the beginning of your turn and deal that much damage to a target. Thoobn’s Note: Hopefully this will mitigate the lack of damage scaling with HP scaling at higher levels. This system is used in Sine Nomine Publishing's Scarlet Heroes and Godbound.

Advancement

In addition to the achievement system, each 1 copper you gain equals 1 XP. However, to reach the next level, you need XP equal to your current level x 1000. Thoobn’s Note: I like coin for XP in addition to achievement or milestone XP, but I need to slow advancement down a bit for that.

Boons and Banes

Instead of advantage and disadvantage, add a boon for each thing helping you and a bane for each thing hindering you. GM has the final say, and boons and banes cancel 1-to-1. When it's time to roll, add Xd6 where X is the number of boons/banes and add/subtract the highest result only. Thoobn's Note: I like the stacking boons and banes system from Shadow of the Demon Lord, so I'm using it here.

Variable Hit Points

If you're a GM that's itching to challenge players, have them reroll HP every time they rest, with a 1 HD bonus if they're attended by a healer. They still only get to keep a number of dice equal to their level. Thoobn's Note: This is the standard approach in World of Dungeons. I think it's interesting to see players be more careful in certain days and braver in others.

Determination

On the other hand, if you're a lenient GM, have the PCs roll 3d6. This is their Determination. A PC can spend Determination before a roll to get a bonus equal to the Determination spent. PCs get Determination back when they rest. Thoobn's Note: This is basically the equivalent of Luck in Dungeon Crawl Classics.