Variant Rules for Masada

Masada is not a forgiving world. These rules exist to remind players that survival has weight, wounds matter, and choices leave marks.

Combat Adjustments

• Potions: Drinking a potion yourself is a bonus action. Giving one to an ally is a full action.
  Ex: You can heal yourself in the thick of a fight, but helping a dying comrade costs you a turn’s risk.

• Barbarian Intimidation: Barbarians may use Strength instead of Charisma for Intimidation checks.
  Ex: A growl backed by muscle is as effective as a silver tongue.

• Critical Injuries: Dropping to 0 HP from a critical hit or overwhelming strike may leave a lingering injury or scar (DM discretion).
  Ex: An ogre’s club may leave you with a limp long after the battle ends.

Health & Recovery

• Variant HP: On level-up, you roll your Hit Die. The DM secretly rolls the same die. You choose which result to keep.
  Ex: Your cleric rolls a 3, but the DM may have rolled a 7, you’ll never know unless you pick it.

• Private Death Saves: Death saves are rolled in secret by the DM. Neither you nor your allies know if you’re stable or slipping away.
  Ex: The paladin might spend their last spell slot to heal you, not knowing you just failed two saves.

• Rest Rules: A long rest requires shelter, security, and actual downtime. Dangerous places may prevent full recovery.
  Ex: Sleeping in a swamp while being hunted may restore only part of your strength.

Magic & the Supernatural

• Arcane Magic is Rare: Outside the Vale and a few enclaves, arcane casters are uncommon and often distrusted. Expect social consequences, not mechanical ones.

• Identify is Limited: Identify and similar effects reveal partial truths. Cursed or ancient items often resist easy answers.
  Ex: “It’s a blade of elven make… but the voice in your dreams doesn’t show up in the spell.”

• Spell Components: Mundane components are assumed unless abused. Rare or costly components matter.

Grim Hollow Mechanics

Masada makes use of Grim Hollow’s systems for curses, transformations, and talents. These add risk, consequence, and strange opportunities.

Transformations

Transformations are multi-stage changes that alter your character’s nature:

• Stage 1: You gain minor powers (darkvision, resilience, claws, etc.) but also visible signs or urges.

• Stage 2: You gain stronger abilities (shapechanging, regeneration, blood magic) but develop compulsions, vulnerabilities, or social stigma.

• Stage 3: The transformation completes. You are no longer entirely mortal, your identity, control, or even your soul may be contested.

Ex: A bitten warrior may grow sharper senses (Stage 1), then struggle with hunger for flesh (Stage 2), and finally lose themselves to the beast (Stage 3).

Transformations can be resisted, delayed, or even reversed, but always at a price.

Curses

Curses in Masada are not one-and-done spells. They cling, evolve, and demand answers.

• Suppression vs. Removal: Remove Curse may suppress a curse, but true removal requires a tailored ritual, rare component, or narrative act (atonement, sacrifice, slaying the source).

• Escalation: Some curses worsen over time, what begins as a mark may grow into visions, pain, or possession.

Ex: A Mark of Rot may start as a blemish, spread into nightmares, and eventually turn your body into a walking plague.

Diseases

Diseases follow progressive stages and may resist magical cures. They can bring exhaustion, ability penalties, hallucinations, or contagious spread.

Ex: A fever in the Vale might leave you weak for days, even if your cleric pours magic into you until you find the herb that truly treats it.

Exploration & World Systems

• Travel Matters: Locations must be physically visited before they can be traveled quickly.

• Resources Matter: Rations, torches, ammo, and tools are tracked. Forgetting them has consequences.

• Living World: Factions act, seasons turn, and threats evolve whether or not you intervene.

Key Takeaway

Masada remembers what you risk. Wounds may scar, curses may linger, and choices may carry you down paths you cannot undo. These rules aren’t here to punish they exist to make victories matter.