Variant Rules (Project Moon Supplement)

Variant Rules

This is a list of Variant Rules that may be fun to add to your campaigns to spice things up if your DM allows of course. None are mandatory; however, they are recommended for the overall experience of the campaign.

Sanity

Due to sanity being a difficult thing to translate to DnD from the source material, there are two versions that you may either choose from or use in conjunction with one another as you see fit.

Version A. Overall Version

A version dedicated to the impact of sanity over the course of a whole session.

When creating a character, they will have a second health bar dedicated to their sanity. Sanity is calculated like hit points using your class hit dice + your Wisdom modifier per level. It will recover to full upon a long rest just like hit points and can be used as a resource for features such as E.G.O. or depleted in certain RP scenarios if witnessing or experiencing something traumatizing.

When taking psychic damage, you take half of that damage as sanity damage. When receiving a penalty to your rolls due to sinking or other features, lose sanity equal to the penalty

When sanity is lost by a certain threshold, you will take a -1d4 at 50% and a -2d4 at 25% to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks when at these sanity thresholds. You do not lose sanity for having these penalties.

Upon hitting 0 sanity, you will lose control of your character and roll a 1d6, doing one of the following forms of madness.

• 1: Try to kill yourself making a weapon attack against yourself
• 2: Attack the nearest creature indiscriminately
• 3: Cower in fear, falling prone and becoming frightened.
• 4: Become Paralyzed
• 5: Fall unconscious
• 6: Run as far away from whatever cause you to hit 0 sanity taking the safest route possible

If none of these madness forms or application make sense or your DM does not like them, feel free to make your own. Madness under stress is not a one size fits all problem.

Alternatively, if the user has access to a Corrodable E.G.O. they may use their reaction upon hitting 0 sanity to corrode for the turn and use the effects of a randomly determined corrodible E.G.O. Using its indiscriminate targeting rules for the sake of what creatures will be hit or targeted.

Upon rolling the result, you may make a Wisdom Saving throw taking into account any penalties you have at the end of each of your turns. The DC is equal to (15-your wisdom modifier). On a successful save, you no longer suffer the penalties of your madness. Additionally, when you recover from your madness, you may spend any number of hit dice to recover sanity equal to the dice roll.

Any effects that can cure madness will instantly recover you from madness and return half of your sanity immediately before allowing you to roll your hit dice for additional recovery.

In order to recover sanity, players must take a short or long rest. In doing so they will recover half of their total sanity on a short rest, allowing for them to roll hit dice for their sanity or hit points, or fully recover their sanity on a long rest along with their hit points. There are other events along a journey that can recover sanity, however those are up to the DMs discussion.

Version B. Combat Version

A version dedicated more to combat than the overall session.

Upon rolling initiative, your sanity is considered 0 with the maximums being -45 and +45.

Increasing Sanity

• Landing an attack roll: +5 sanity
• Causing a creature to fail a saving throw: +5 sanity
• Reducing a hostile creature to 0 hit points: +15 sanity

Decreasing Sanity

• Failing a Saving Throw: -5
• Ally reduced to 0 hit points: -15
• Being inflicted with a penalty to roll or sinking (-1 x size of penalty)

Effects of Sanity

Gain a +1 to attack rolls and saving throws equal to every 10 sanity from 0. Ex: +10 sanity equals +1, -25 sanity equals -2

Repercussions of -45 sanity with E.G.O.

while at -45 sanity when equipped with an E.G.O. capable of corroding, you will instantly corrode for the turn and use the effects of a randomly determined corrodible E.G.O. Using its indiscriminate targeting rules for the sake of what creatures will be hit or targeted.

Upon combat concluding, these effects will remain until the user takes a short or long rest or has encounter that either increases or decreases this stat.

Distorting

This mechanic is intended to be played with a sanity mechanic, however it can be used without at the DMs discretion. To determine if you are prone to distortion, ask yourself the following questions.

• Are you under an extreme amount of stress?
• Is your character facing their past or a vulnerable memory?
• Is your character in denial about who they are?
• Are they being faced by insurmountable odds?
• Do you wish you had the power to fix these problems?

If you answered yes to any of those, then it is possible that your character can distort, especially if there is a monolith nearby.

After determining that you are currently capable of distorting, upon hitting either 25% sanity if using Version A sanity or -35 sanity if using Version B, you must make a Charisma saving throw at the beginning of every turn. On failure, you will hear the voice of Carmen trying to tempt you to distort. If you fail 3 of these saving throws, upon hitting either 0 sanity in Version A or -45 in Version B, you will immediately distort. Upon distorting, take on an appearance that represents how your character feels and what may have caused them to stoop that low in their mental wellness. Additionally when you distort, you will lose control of your character and use the following guidelines to find out what you become capable of. Choose either option A or B. This decision cannot be changed later.

Option A (simple)

Decrease Charisma by 4 and increase Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom by 2. If you choose, your size increases to large Increase your AC by 2 Increase all damage you deal by 1 dice tier Choose one status on the status effects page. All successful attacks will inflict your proficiency bonus number of this status. Any saving throw you force will inflict double that status. Double your hit points

Option B (complex)

Work with your DM to create a stat block. Distortions traditionally are stronger depending on the severity of emotions felt, and so they should be made to be a boss stat block.

After having chosen one of the previous ways of making a distortion and upon successfully distorting, lose control of your character and become a hostile creature. You will indiscriminately attack any creature who opposes you while distorted. Upon distorting, you will remain that way forever unless you are suppressed (reduced to 0 hit points) within 48 hours. If you are not suppressed, your character will be considered dead or permanently out of control and will become categorized as an abnormality from then on forth. If you are successfully suppressed within the timeframe however, you will become undistorted and either return back to your original self or become the Half Distortion race (player’s discretion). Finally, upon being distorted and reaching 50% hitpoints, the character must make a Charisma Saving throw at the end of every turn. On three successes, they may upon being suppressed, make a single saving throw with advantage. In success they gain the Volatile Ego feat. On failure after succeeding the former three saves, they may make the same charisma save to gain volatile ego at the end of every long rest following their suppression.