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Unearthed Arcana: Variant Rules
For this month’s Unearthed Arcana, we’re
showing off a few variant rules that you can use
in your campaigns. A few of these options should
look familiar to players of earlier editions of the
D&D game, as some have been presented as
variants in those prior editions.
Saving Throws
When a character forces an opponent to make a
saving throw, that player instead makes a saving
throw check. The bonus to the d20 roll for a
saving throw check equals the effect’s save DC
−
8.
The DC for this check equals 11 + the target’s
saving throw modifier. On a successful check, the
character overcomes the target’s resistance and
treats the target as if it failed its saving throw.
On a failed check, the target is treated as if it
succeeded on its save.
As with attacks, the saving throw check has
advantage if the target would have disadvantage
on its saving throw, and vice versa.
Rules Variant: Players
Make All Rolls
This variant has the players roll dice for all parts
of combat, including such things as monster
attack rolls and saving throws. By moving die
rolls to the players’ side of the table, this option
keeps things simpler for you as the DM. In
addition, the more active you can keep the
players in your game, the more engaged they’ll
be.
This is a good option if your players like rolling
the dice, and if you don’t mind doing a little work
up front to make that happen.
Contests and Checks
Whenever an NPC or monster would normally
make an ability check, roll initiative, or take part
in a contest, neither you nor the players roll the
d20. Instead, use the rules for passive checks to
determine the result. See chapter 7, “Using
Ability Scores,” of the Player’s Handbook for
more information on passive checks.
Attacking and Defending
The players roll their characters’ attacks as
normal, but you don’t roll for their opponents.
Instead, when a character is targeted by an
attack, the player makes a defense roll.
A defense roll has a bonus equal to the
character’s AC
−
10. The DC for the roll equals
the attacker’s attack bonus + 11.
On a successful defense roll, the attack misses
because it was dodged, absorbed by the
character’s armor, and so on. If a character fails a
defense roll, the attack hits.
If the attacker would normally have advantage
on the attack roll, you instead apply
disadvantage to the defense roll, and vice versa if
the attacker would have disadvantage.
If the defense roll comes up as a 1 on the d20,
then the attack is a critical hit. If the attacker
would normally score a critical hit on a roll of 19
or 20, then the attack is a critical hit on a 1 or 2,
and so forth for broader critical ranges.
Optional Rule: Vitality
Some DMs find hit points bothersome. A fighter
can survive a fireball, a troll’s rending claws, and
a one‐hundred‐foot fall, only to crumple in a
heap due to a kobold’s dagger slash. This
optional rule more realistically reflects the wear
and tear a character suffers from wounds.
Each character has a pool of vitality in addition
to hit points. A character’s maximum vitality
equals the character’s Constitution score.
Whenever a character takes 10 or more damage
from an attack or effect, the character loses
vitality. Divide the damage by 10 and round
down. The result is how much vitality a
character loses. In other words, a character loses
1 vitality for every 10 points of damage dealt by
an attack or effect.
©2015 Wizards of the Coast LLC 
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If a character suffers a critical hit, double the
vitality lost, so that the character loses 2 vitality
for every 10 points of damage. If a critical hit
deals less than 10 damage, it still reduces vitality
by 1.
Losing vitality causes a character’s hit point
maximum to drop. Calculate the character’s
current maximum using vitality instead of
Constitution. Thus, as vitality drops, a
character’s Constitution modifier for
determining hit points also drops.
A character reduced to 0 vitality is
immediately reduced to 0 hit points. If a
character is reduced to 0 hit points but his or her
vitality remains above 0, any additional damage
is applied instead to the character’s vitality. A
character is not unconscious until both hit points
and vitality reach 0.
Completing a long rest increases a character’s
vitality by 1 + the character’s Constitution
modifier, up to the character’s maximum vitality.
Effects that restore hit points have no effect on
vitality. However, a character with maximum hit
points who receives healing instead restores 1
vitality for every 10 points of healing.
Rules Variant: Custom
Alignments
Alignment serves as a handy label for the general
attitudes of characters and monsters alike. It
works as a sorting mechanism, providing a big‐
picture assessment of which creatures, factions,
and NPCs make natural allies or enemies.
The standard alignment system embraces the
fundamental points of tension in D&D: the
struggle between good and evil on the one hand,
and the conflict between law and chaos on the
other. The nice thing about this arrangement is
that it allows for tension even within a good‐
aligned party. The law–chaos divide means that
characters can still disagree on how to promote
good in the world.
Alignment is meant to serve only as a quick
summary of a character, not a rigid definition.
It’s a starting point, but elements such as flaws
and bonds paint a much more detailed picture of
a character’s identity.
You might find that the alignment choices of
good and evil, law and chaos are too abstract for
your campaign. You might prefer attitudes that
are more nuanced, without the implicit
demarcation of heroes as good‐aligned creatures
and villains as evil‐aligned ones. A simple
solution is to discard alignment in favor of an
alternative system that brings the key conflicts
in your campaign to the forefront.
Identify the Conflict. Think about the
important opposing forces in your campaign by
asking the following questions. Can you place
them on opposite ends of a continuum? Are
there multiple conflicts? What are the key
conflicts, and how do all the separate conflicts
interact?
For your own alignment system, try to create
at least two paths, one of which allows a range of
options for the player characters. The other
paths can divide the world between the
characters (including their allies) and their
enemies.
For example, imagine a campaign setting
where an ecological crisis engineered by a cabal
of necromancers threatens to transform the
world into a dead wasteland. Forming one
alignment path are the opposing forces of life
and death. Like the choice of good or evil, this
conflict defines the setting, and you would
expect most player characters to be aligned to
life or at least neutral with respect to their
support for the necromancers’ plans.
The second conflict path might be preservation
versus destruction. People who have gathered to
protect the land might disagree on whether to
attack and destroy the necromancers, or to work
instead at strengthening the natural order so
that not even the necromancers’ power can
overwhelm it.
Multiple Choices. For grittier games that avoid
obvious classifications of good versus bad, you
might create alignment paths with more than
two choices. In a game that focuses on intrigue
and power struggles, for example, alignment
might be a quick reference for which factions a
character supports. One element of a character’s
alignment might indicate his or her affiliation
with a noble house or guild. A second element
could call out which deity or pantheon the
character is tied to.
©2015 Wizards of the Coast LLC 
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Neutral Alignment. When creating your
alignment system, think about the role of
neutrality, and decide whether there’s a
midpoint for any alignment path. Neutral
creatures might choose to sit out a struggle (as is
often the case in good versus evil) or see
strengths in both approaches (as in law versus
chaos). The role of this choice in your campaign
should make sense in terms of your central
conflict.
©2015 Wizards of the Coast LLC 
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