20 questions about the rules (Hole in the Oak, pt. 1.5)

Once, Jeff Rients posted a list of 20 questions about your game world. It is decent. Someone else posted a list of 20 questions about your rules. That is more interesting, I think. Here are the questions.

Ability scores generation method?
3d6 in order, swap one attribute with another if you want to.

How are death and dying handled?
Characters are knocked out at 0HP, and their injury is rolled when they receive treatment. Until then, you don't know if the PC lives or dies. There are various modifiers to the treatment die roll, such as time lapsed between wound and treatment, wisdom modifier of the one treating you, and so on.

What about raising the dead?

1,000 gp * level, it takes 1 * level days to raise someone. There might be side-effects.

How are replacement PCs handled?
Promote a hireling, or roll a new character which will be introduced whenever possible.

Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
Something else.

Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
There are not.

Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
Style points, perhaps. No mechanical benefit.

Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?

Yes. If there are 1 PC and 1 monster in a fight, you have a 50% chance to hit either, if there are 2 monsters and 1 PC, it's a 67% chance to hit a monster.

Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
You'll probably need to run.

Level-draining monsters: yes or no?

Yes.

Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
Yes.

How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?

Not very strictly at all.

What’s required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?

You can't level up in a dungeon. You need to describe a training montage for your character, preferably with background music fitting for them. You get new spells automatically, but, again, training montage.

What do I get experience for?

Treasures and monsters. Monsters pay very little XP.

How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?

Description. I will try and telegraph traps, I don't find gotchas to be engaging or fun.

Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?

It's probably a good idea, given the inventory system. Morale is rolled when necessary -- if PCs are knocked unconscious or if other retainers flee and so on. Morale cascades, so if one hireling fails their morale check and flees, any further morale tests are done at -1. If three or more flee, morale is rolled with -2.

I figure it's a good approximation on how one person panicking might trigger a group to panic.

How do I identify magic items?

I don't know. I've asked my players for suggestions.

Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
Potions can be bought in larger cities. Magical items are very rare to find on the open market.

Can I create magic items? When and how?

I don't know yet. I'll think of something.

What about splitting the party?

If you think it's wise, go for it.