Over on the D&D Next group on Reddit, I found a list of variant 5e rules compiled by user Spacklick. There’s a lot of stuff we won’t use, but I want to consider them rather than ignoring them out of hand. —

Player’s Handbook

• Ability Scores p13 — we used an array with higher stats than the EDH core book.
• Inspiration p125 — everyone starts the session with one inspiration, you can only have one and you can give it away. We might add some of the planned OneD&D changes.
• Equipment p144 — there’s a sidebar for equipment sizes as a variant rule, so far everyone in London 2032 is Medium sized.
• Multiclassing p163 — EDH has its own means of multiclassing, which is pretty seamless, you get class abilities from other classes by taking feats.
• Feats p165 — in EDH, everyone gets feats, and you can buy feats that increase your ability scores
• Skill Checks p175 — I’m not certain that anything on this page is a variant rule, the word variant is used to describe the GM changing the ability that the check is based on situationally. EDG gives an example of using INT-based Intimidation checks, but STR-based Intimidation is a classic of the genre.
• Encumbrance p176 — EDH uses a simplified bulk system to reduce bookkeeping.
• Grids and maps p192 — we use 5ft grids in Roll20, and I have a lot of cyberpunk maps from some Patreon cartographers.

Monster Manual

• Werewolves p207 — If we wanted to run an Underworld game, or Werewolf of London, Wolfman one shot, this might be fine.
• Vampires p295 — We could do lots of Vampire Hunter and Helsing stuff
• Familiars p347 — The Smart Hero Engineer can have a robot companion.

Dungeon Master’s Guide

• Renown P22 — This rule might not be a terrible way for my vigilante crime fighters to be so popular with the police that they don’t arrest them every chance they get.
• Planar Effects p50-68 — If we were playing Demon City Shinjuku or Silent Moebius, then extra planar stuff might be warranted.
• Loyalty p93 — the players don’t have any NPCs to be loyal to them, but might get some as their reputation builds.
• Downtime p128 — the Downtime activities listed aren’t perfect for Cyberpunk, but the characters aren’t always fighting evil cyborgs
• Identification p136 — sometimes, the hacker needs time to figure out who built the evil cyborg doomsday machine
• Scrolls p140
• Potions p140
• Wands p141
• Epic Boons p230
• Automatic Success p239 — I am kind of annoyed when my heroes can’t tie their own shoes, and there’s a 5% chance they seriously injure themselves or break the shoelaces in the process
• Inspiration p240 — see my notes on the PHB Inspiration above, except the DMG has a variant where only players award inspiration, some blend could be really cool.
• Flanking p251 — we used Flanking in our 5e Greyhawk game no reason not to use it now. I do think the 5e adjudication of what’s flanking is broader than in Pathfinder 1e.
• Diagonals p252 — when we play 5e, we just count squares.
• Facing p252 — no facing, it complicates a game that sells itself on being simple.
• Madness p258 — there are a lot of 1980s Future Mega City Special Police animes with characters that go mad, sometimes the cybernetic parts take over, 2 out of 3 of the AD Police files, at least one of the Bubblegum Crisis stories, 2 out of 3 of the Cyber City Oedo stories. Despite these numbers, some people with cybernetic prosthetics were just fine.
• Milestones & Levelling without XP p261 — EDH is a milestone system by default.
• Skills p263 — we’re playing skills by the book, however, if there is something that the character’s skills don’t cover that their background or profession should, the GM might let them roll anyway not every roll is something you need a certification, or hours of study on.
• Proficiency Dice p263 — nope
• Honor and Sanity p264 — there are a number of Samurai and Supernatural games that could use these new ability scores, but I’m not certain Honor works best as an ability score only because I like floating honor that goes up and down based on actions. A character with no honor wouldn’t use it as a dump stat they just wouldn’t have any.
• Hero Points p264 — these are weaker than the old Unearthed Arcana hero points from 3.5, but they do fulfill a need of the player to sometimes overrule the click-clack math rocks or the RNJesus in Roll20.
• Fear & Horror p266 — again, better for some of the subgenres than others.
• Healing p266 — the healer’s kit dependency to use hit dice, although in action movies, sometimes it’s just a gear-up montage and a token bandage
• Resting p267 — we’re playing according to the rules as written
• Firearms p267 —EDH is a guns everywhere setting, the EGG team reduced the damage vs. some of the DMG numbers, but there are feats and other ways to increase the average damage in a round, so the absolute numbers of a given weapon aren’t as important.
• Explosives p267 — EDH has more than a few explosives and grenades.
• Alien Tech p268 — no alien tech yet
• Plot Points p269 — we’re not that heavy of a shared narrative group, I don’t want the layers to be victims of the dice, but we’re not playing Feng Shui either
• Initiative p270 — Speed Factor kind of plays into something else I want to try, but not in this game.
• Actions p271 — climbing on bigger creatures, Priss flew into a Boomer in BGC. We might use some of the other actions.
• Injuries p272 — in a world with cybernetic implants and vat-grown graft organs, would anybody choose to have lingering injuries and scars?
• Cleaving p272 — if I am cleaving through hordes of low-level creatures, why must they be uninjured?
• Hitting Cover p272 — not terrible
• Morale p273 — not terrible, but crazed cyborgs tend to fight to the death
• Massive Damage p273 — the hacker might have killed a combat cyborg outright if they rolled better
• Spell Points p288 — we don’t use magic in our game, but running a magic game with Everyday Arcana might consider this

Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

• Human Languages

Volo’s Guide to Monsters

• Familiars

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

• Falling p77 — falling with style, we might need extra falling for people falling off skyscrapers and out of helicopters.
• Sleep p77 — we’ll see if people talking while you’re asleep or people sleeping in their armor happens in our BGC inspired game.
• Simultaneous effects p77 — that’s not open to exploitation, but what’s good for the goose.
• Adamantine Weapons p78 — autocrit weapons, nope.
• Tying Knots p78 — not everyone has Sleight of Hand that ever needs to tie or untie a knot, so my Sailors, Cowboys, Freight Teamsters and every other manjack that uses ropes in their day-to-day living will roll an appropriate ability score like Wisdom plus their proficiency bonus to tie the knot. The knot is opposed by INT, or WIS, plus some excuse to use the proficiency bonus like an Escape artist in the Victorian period, or DEX plus Acrobatics.
• Tool Proficiencies p78 —worthy of consideration
• Spellcasting p85
• Downtime p123 — we need modern downtime tables
• Shared Campaigns p173 — nope

Ghosts of Saltmarsh

• Ships p186 — My Golden Age of Sail and Steampunk games will have plenty of ships, all this stuff and plenty from Legendary Games will be in them.
• Ship Crew p194
• Ship Upgrades p196
• Ship Combat p198
• Sea Travel p199
• Ocean environments P202
• Encounters at sea P207
• Random Ships p208
• Islands P211
• Underwater p214

Essentials Kit

• Sidekicks p63

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

• Customizing your Origin p8 – superseded by the rules in Mordekainen’s
• A whole whack of class features and spells p24
• Sidekicks p142 — if you had to run down a player, a sidekick might help, Engineers have robot companions, and Hunters have animal companions which aren’t quite sidekicks.
• Parleying p148 — well, the evil cyborgs don’t always talk, but the motorcycle gangs and corporate suits behind the evil plans just might talk, monologue even.

Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

• Fear and Stress p195
• Haunted Traps p196
• Survivors p198

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Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com