Black Cloaks House Rules

Black Cloaks primarily uses the Shadowdark system developed by Kelsey Dione. Available here. Modifications and additions to the standard Shadodark ruleset are described below:

Grit

Black Cloaks replaces the Shadowdark Luck tokens with Grit points. Grit represent a PC’s reserve of inner strength built up by overcoming adversity. When PC’s perform memorable deeds e.g. a moving speech, a cleverly conceived plan, a fantastic performance, a heroic sacrifice, they may receive a Grit point whether the action succeeds or fails. PC’s have a maximum grit point total equal to their character level (minimum 1). Characters may spent grit points to add a +1 to checks and cash in up to three to gain advantage. Other PC’s can also contribut to a pool to have PC’s

Sanity

Sanity represents a character’s mental defenses and health. It is taxed by traumatic events, monster’s special abilities, and most notably the Shadowdark. Sanity is equal to your Charaisma modifier (minimum 1) Sanity increases every level according to class:

• Fighter - 1d4 *Thief - 1d4
• Priest - 1d6
• Wizard - 1d6

When a caster fails their spellcasting check they may put their Sanity at risk to successfully cast the spell. To perform this, caster’s make a CHA check (DC = Casting check) – on a failure the caster takes 1d4 * spell lvl.

Example DC’s for Sanity damage:

• DC 9 - Particularly gruesome death.
• DC 12 - Performing emotionally or mentally difficult actions.
• DC 15 - Moving through the Shadowdark.
• DC 18 - Monster effects, moving deeper into the Shadowdark alone.

Confirmed Criticals

Critical hits and misses are classically considered to be a natural 20 and natural 1 respectviely. The natural 20 and natural 1 are often house ruled to represent double damage or a fumble. However, the probability of rolling one of these critical options is 1/10. given the frequency of rolls this ensures that criticals will happen several times a session. Moreover this creates silly, immersion-breaking situations where a 10th level experienced knight may critically miss against a pathetic kobold. In order to mitigate these issues the confirmed critical requires a second roll. In the case of a critical hit (natural 20) the second roll must be above the target’s AC and in the case of a critical miss (natural 1), the second roll must be below the target’s AC. This balances interactions between high and low level creatures and reduces the frequency of crits to more reasonable levels overall without .

Sundering and Weapon Quality

Weapons and armor may chip and break with use. Equipment damage and sundering occur when confirmed critial hits or misses are rolled for attacks for or against a creature.

• The weapon of an attacker may be damaged or sundered when a confirmed critical miss is rolled by the attacker.
• Armor of a defender may be damaged or sundered when a confirmed critical hit is rolled by an attacker.
  Higher quality equipment can resist more damage before being destroyed. Equipment quality is summarized in the table below.
  | Quality | Criticals Sustained | Deciption | |—|—|—| |Crude|0|Old, rusted, or primitive equipment.| |Good|1|Standard issue equipment.| |Excellent|2|Higher grade equipment made to last.| |Legendary|3 (1st must be a double crit)| Unique masterwork items of excelptional quality.|
  Repairing a piece of equipment 1 quality level is usully equal to half of its value. More exotic pieces of equipment may be more difficult to repair.