D&D Players, What are your favorite D&D house rules?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ย. 2024
- What are your favorite D&D house rules?
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We have always used Vicious Mockery as a bonus action. It lets you play as Spider-man or some other wisecracker.
Deadpool Lives !!
Mockery as a BONUS ACTION?!
…as a bonus action it might give Eldritch Blast a run for its money
Before they released an official version of the Kender, I thought a good homebrew of them would include VM as a bonus action. Turns out that's more or less what they did
If any party member makes an insult towards an NPC that makes me actually laugh out loud, they immediately gain the Vicious Mockery cantrip and it counts as a nat 20 immediately. It's why the vampire doctor of my party has the spell.
Potions are a bonus action. You can drink a healing potion as a full action and get maximal healing from it. Makes them much more versatile and have only gotten good reviews of the rule change from players.
Healing potions. Bonus action, roll for healing. Full action and you get full healing
@@billcox8870 Yes exactly
We do this at my table as well
Of course they won't complain when you make it easier for them.
I like that idea, sure you can try to swallow 3 gulps of the healing potion and spill the rest for some healing, or take your time, drink it fully and have the complete effect.
Huh... In the first campaign I played, the rule zero was, 'If you put it on the table, it's for everyone' (it was to stop people from putting food/drinks/snacks on the table).
That just encourages people like me to put an entire tray of cheese ball or fajitas on the table. You will undo that rule, or you will gain 6 inches on your waistline.
Challenge accepted
So, if i unzip my pants, and put that on the table... Oh, god....
I have a house rule where if a long range character hits a nat 20 on the attack, and if there is residual damage after the target dies, the projectile travels along the path until it either hits a wall, the target directly along the target path eats the residual damage, or the max range has been met.
I think you could call this rule "through and through". If the target can't absorb all the damage, some of it keeps going.
there is an optional rule in the DMG i think, that allows to do that on meele attacks without needing a nat20.
Your fighter just dealt 12 damage with his greatsword? Cool. The injured 3 hitpoints goblin dies, the goblin next to the fighter takes another 7 from the same swing, and the third goblin also within range takes the remaining 2 damage as the swing ends/runs out of speed/strengh.
I'm a kind DM and allow my hiding ranged rogue to do the same with their ranged weapons. Why punish them for going after the small minions by wasting their damage, if I could instead allow them to have an amazing moment.
I think multi-classing is fine if your character is representative of what you're taking. A paladin doesn't have to explain to their god why they're taking levels in sorcerer because levels are a meta abstraction of progress. The character doesn't "choose" to be a sorcerer. It's something in your blood and out of your own control. Calling out multiclassing in game is incredibly silly because characters don't recognize themselves as having a "class". It should only really be called out in the narrative when two elements clash NARRATIVELY, regardless of your numbers. Like a glory oath paladin taking levels in thief rogue, or a lawful good cleric making a warlock pact with a fiend.
When someone dips warlock, especially sorlocks, I will generally have the patron approach them in a dream _before_ the level where they take their first dip and explain to them exactly how this all works. This includes working out any narrative conflicts with other entities the character may be beholden to, or at least acknowledging that they exist and might come back to bite the character in the ass. (Unless it's a Great Old Ones patron, then they just get an acid trip and the awareness they're subject to more such acid trips in the future.)
Issue is certain classes do generally have narrative clashes. Only exceptions I can see is Sorcerer and maybe fighter on a martial non monk class. A class is a reflection on the character and their lives and skills. A rouge may not always be the same but their skills are always learned from practical experience (unless I guess you're a locksmith? But even then that's a whole other can of worms), why would a barbarian, or rather where would a barbarian, a savage violent headstrong person, learn the precision and patience needed to lock pick. Where is a wizard going and why are they going to take an oath to a god to protect the weak and uphold justice. Why are they turning their backs on YEARS of study and research to seek power from the divine. Where is a fighter going to learn to be a ranger? Who taught them to live from the land and be a guardian of it, which berries are safe and which are certain death. Also why take an interest in it? Every multiclass (again besides Maybe sorcerer but even then it should have a legitimate reason why you have it and why it didn't show up earlier) needs a why and where. You're right that levels represent progress. And people don't just master a whole new set of skills
Overnight
@@Caragoner Everything you described is based on the narrative of the character, not of their classes.
A wizard doesn't necessarily think "I'm a wizard and can only understand the weave through books". A "wizard" can be extremely pious and live by the word of their God, even join the clergy and become a cleric. Being a well-learned, studious scribe is a very flavorful character choice. There's even a UA wizard subclass called Theurgy about that idea. You've thrown nothing away, you're just expanding your horizons outward rather than upward.
A rogue/barbarian is an underworld bruiser. A goon. A ferocious hitman.
Ranger is a real occupation that you can opt into with the right potential. There are hunting halls and guilds that will teach you how to be a ranger because it's a necessity to keep the lands around a country safe, just like guards, firemen and healers. Leaning on the martial side a little more when you expect to be fighting often isn't strange, and deciding, as a fighter with loads of martial skill, to apply it to an occupation you're already partially trained for isn't weird. They could already appreciate nature beforehand. They could be an amateur survivalist.
As for how they multiclass out of the blue? There's plenty of ways to narratively satisfy that. The point is that the multiclasses themselves aren't clashy if the character represents them well.
@@Tabledar There is still something to say about classes being an antithesis to each others. It also ties back to what I said about why and where. In order for a person taking something in their background there has to be a why and where. That bruiser wasnt just a barbarian who randomly decided to be a thief. He had a backstory that fit it. The wizard. again, had a narrative tie to what he was doing making it an appropriate choice.
As for out of the blue ones, I simply cant agree. It would take far more than even a few months of study for a character to pick up the basics of a wizard, or learn to channel divinity/nature. Even class skills are written in a way to tie into your backstory and why you learn those skills. Im not just gonna let my player randomly take a level in rouge because they want sneak attack. Nor would I let them just pick up being a wizard. They need to train and should hone much more than a level up before hand if they want that multi class.
@@Caragoner I feel like you're totally missing the part I keep writing about the character representing the multiclass well. I'm "pretty" sure we're saying the same thing.
Natural ones on melee means the enemy can counter melee and vice versa for players. The longest chain of melee attacks I've seen is 7 which was an intense duel between two skilled sword users. The player involved felt invigorated meeting a worthy foe who could fumble as bad as he could.
I choked a little as i laughed at the end😂😂😂😂
This is a horrible fucking rule
"At our table, a nat 20 always hits regardless of AC,"
Umm... That's just how critical hits work lol?
Absolutely, but some dms don't care about that. I actually had a DM deny my crit because it didn't meet ac (it was for a forced loss scenario, but still disheartening)
I think that within this same story, that table will probably find out the "Perkin's Crit" or maxing all the dice values and adding that to the roll, is way too OP to use in later game scenarios. Maybe they like that their characters can be felled in a single blow (assuming enemies play by the same rules) or dropping the BBEG in two rounds, but my table found that it's just too powerful very quickly. The poster even proves the point by listing off all the dice that his paladin has and how much that would actually amount to, but it backfires when you find yourself in a fight with a frost giant which would *START* with 42 damage _before_ rolling any dice on a crit!
I first took it away from the enemies my group was fighting and then we threw it out altogether. Instead, I made a custom critical success / critical failure table that adds extra effects (one of which is the Perkin's Crit) to the hit. Some of the rarer ones even see the character getting wounded and suffering a -1 to an ability score for a certain amount of time or a -1 to AC because their armor is damaged. Those examples are the very rare ones on the percentage table, but not knowing what the crit will do and knowing it can have lasting effects makes it much better than just "big hit hits hard"!
A house rule I'd implement from a friend of mine has nothing to do with gameplay in the moment, but character stats. Health to be precise. From level 1 to 5, you are free to take a max roll for your health to start, and when you level up. This is where my part of the rule comes in: from level 6 and onward, you take the average, or you can roll for higher. However, if you roll higher than the average, you take that roll. If you roll lower than the average, take the average, instead. Helps keep players HP from being too low.
Yep, I use this as well. One of our most passionate players is really unlucky with rolls.
I have been doing this since I started to DM. I rolled a 1 on my HP for the first 2 levels on my first character ever... I was supposed to be the Frontline fighter....
I had less HP than the wizard.
4:33 - I mean, typically one doesn't _choose_ to be a sorcerer, they just _are_ one.
4:40 THAT is the worst possible example. A sorcerer is something you are born into and is literally self taught they basically feel out their powers that suddenly start coming to them lol
You have to act out vicious mockery. This has backfired in the past, when I a player made a dead baby joke, and the new guy started crying, BECAUSE HIS WIFE HAD A MISCARRIAGE THE PREVIOUS WEEK!
DAAMMMM
When I did jokes and insults for vicious mockery, I directed them towards the race of opponent I was facing. I thanked an orc for the vegetable stew recipe. He did not like that😂
Damn... Nat 1 in real life, dude.
I feel like you aren't treating this with nearly as much respect as you should.
@@addison_v_ertisement1678
Agreed, that joke was born dead.
Everyone gets a free feat at level 1. It just allows for more customization among the players.
I usually offer my players to take -4 in an attribute of their choice to get one feat.
It's hilarious looking at the variant human wizard Harald with strengh 4, but two feats allowing him to take "spell sniper" (to get eldritch blast) and "eldritch adept: agonizing blast". He is a full wizard with warlock EB gun, but he's so weak physically that even a dog could easily grapple and kidnapp him lol
@@dsargus3 ok. THAT'S funny. I may have to try that sometime.
2024 PHB says hello
I agree with requiring in-character story reasons for multi-classing, but the given example of trying to explain why a paladin would multi-class into sorcerer is weak. Explaining how and why a paladin would multi-class into a warlock with a patron other than its deity would indeed be a challenge; explaining why the dragonborn paladin of Bahamut has awakened a draconic (or divine) sorcerous bloodline is much less so.
Agreed. In my opinion, for most classes "character class" really is just a way to quantify different fighting styles. The wizard asking the fighter to show them some moves so they can survive the front lines is easy enough to handle in game and is easy to do organically. If you are a paladin/sorcerer, it can just be a way to explain that your divine gifts are more tailored to the magical side of things. Some like Warlock are much more RP heavy because it involves a relationship with a supernatural entity. I for one would always prefer a player to start with that kind of multiclass already active, like paladin 1 / warlock 1 at the start with the reasoning in their backstory. Of course, if you start at level 1 you can claim the knowledge and take the other class at level 2.
I agree it i a pretty weak example, especially cause its not like they stop being a paladin, presumably they still have their paladin powers and are still doing paladin things.
As long as the multi class doesnt contradict theie oath/god it shouldn't stop them from being a paladin. Unless their god is just petty like that
I feel like in many ways that just depends on the narrative around the mutliclass. One of my party members is an oath of the watcher paladin who just multiclassed to Hexblade. He talked to out DM about making a narrative reason and they came up with an ancient sentient weapon belonging to one of the founders of his order for the patron and came up with a side quest for his character to make the change make sense. I've also played a vengeance paladin who multiclassed into warlock and it was about desperation the paladin was at their lowest and desperate for vengeance against a particular foe and a patron took advantage of that desperation getting them to agree at their lowest point. If you work with your dm you can probably find a narratively satisfying way to do the multiclass.
The adding damage for creative ways to use momentum is a good one.
I think it might even help spark a group that would normally prefer to just have a mostly-static slugfest into describing their actions more, and getting creative with using their environment. Because it now has a tangible reward for doing so.
The trick is going to be finding that sweet spot between making it too weak to keep it from being the objectively best way to do things all the time, but strong enough to make it worth doing when there's options for it.
Yea but you need to be carfull of your player starting to use real physicks
I added a charge bonus. If a character travels 15 feet or more to engage in melee they deal an extra d6 damage on the first attack. Travel full movement speed and it’s a full damage die. If you choose to tandem-charge with another player (moving on the turn of whoever is lower in initiative) then you get to add a d6 to hit for a short charge, or advantage in a long charge.
2 or more players charging across the board to attack a monster, getting an extra damage die each and advantage to hit can make them feel really strong for that round…. But the monsters get to do it too….
DM just implemented a house rule involving attuned magic items. Now, instead of the base limit of 3, the limit is extended to correspond with your proficiency bonus.
That sounds balanced in Tier 1 and 2 of play,
but as soon as you get to Tier 3 where you get 4 attunement slots it can become quite whacky. There are a handful of recommendations on what not to buff to much, stuff like AC and Imunity to damage and Attunement Slots.
But hey why not, could be quite fun :)
@@dsargus3Plus we've also have areas in our sandbox where we have to wear Attuned magical items to survive the harsh environment. So no leaving the Con necklace at home when heading to the Tundra.
9:24 best house rule ever, using the 2024 exhaustion rules. Gives me a reason to heal in combat and not just yoyo people up
It could be the better choice to heal my barbarian across 3 rounds for 6d8+15 (2d8+5 per round [21-63 HP]) instead of throwing a few Guiding Bolts and laying a Bless across the team. Plus the adaptability of upcasting if I notice they’re hitting pretty hard, since upcasting Cure Wounds is usually not the move in combat without that rule.
I dislike that rule immensely. It heavily punishes frontline characters who (depending on the class) may or may not even have the capacity to heal themselves and/or lose damage from disengaging from combat to be healed (barbarians rage, for example) meanwhile the back line casters once again get to profit off of the suffering of the martial classes. Additionally, exhaustion penalizes martial far more than casters anyways, as its effects do literally nothing to the casting of spells while it prevents martials from retreating, attacking, or making ability checks. Overall, it’s probably one of the worst house rules I’ve heard of since it causes problems for classes that are already far weaker than they need to be.
One that my players have really enjoyed that added quite a bit of fun was compounding Wild Magic Surge rolls. Essentially you roll normally for Wild Magic when you cast a leveled spell. If the roll doesn’t trigger a surge, nothing happens, but then the DC goes up by 1. Saw it before running my first (now completed) campaign, the player actually playing the WM Sorc, as well as my other players, loved the idea. They loved the chaos that ensued from a higher chance of it going off.
Everyone starts with 1 feat.
House rule by my DM for the homebrew setting games, so I also implimented that in the game in this setting I am currently running.
I also allow players to change the damage type of weapons if it sound resonable, like a knight murder stroking another dude with his longsword to get some nice blunt damage.
I also let them do things like cleave, trip, disarm and what not if they crit or roll max damage.
(Spoilers the enemies get to do this too.)
Every adventure starts out at level 3, simply because most of the subclasses start at level 3, which it helps define the characters a lot more from the start
and now EVERY subclass is level 3
Passive skill checks. Passive perception is the only RAW passive skill check so my group calcs it the same way for every skill and can opt to choose the passive or role for the skill(when prompted by the DM), it helps to streamline checks. Sometimes rolling dice is fun, sometimes continual skill checks break the flow or the scene. It's also a fun surprise when someone like a ranger or a rogue with a passive acrobatics of around 20 goes passive to avoid traps then runs into one with a check around 25 and get's a reality check instead.
My current DM uses a rule of "every session you get an inspiration point" My group has a very large tendency to roll super shitty and not do very well in combat which has lead to some great comedy but when its a serious moment it gets very annoying. He has counteracted this by saying that certain bosses also can use an inspiration point which he will very openly say before re-rolling. He also increased fall damage from a max of 20d6 to a total of 150d6. We have had our resident monk run up a wall and just fall from more than what the max fall damage would allow. He would've survived if we followed the 20d6 rule. Due to how much damage he took he broke nearly all his bones and had several points of exhaustion after being rezed.
I had a GM that offered 1 favor per campaign to his players. This favor was used for anything that the player wanted to nudge the favorability of. Usually used to change fatal blows in combat to not being quite as lethal.
One player who was playing a rogue, leading a spying network, was trying to gather intel through conversation with one of the leaders of an opposing faction. The conversation had been moving steadily poorly and his roles weren't helping. He used the favor to nudge the results in such a way that he was able to talk himself out of the situation and leave. After the session was over the GM told him that if he hadn't of used the favor the rogue would've been seized and executed on the spot.
One that I’ve heard and will attempt to implement the next campaign I run, is when rolling for stats all players use the same set of numbers to keep the PCs of equal power
Use point buy. Please use point buy.
Point buy, my friend
Pretty straightforward, but at my family’s table, the Ranger’s beast companion acts on its own initiative immediately after the Ranger. Why does telling your companion to attack that guy take an entire action on your turn? Especially if it is an intelligent creature or one that normally works in a pack, like a wolf?
PANR has tuned in.
I'm the DM rather than a player.
Brutal Criticals, as described in the video
Spill over damage, often linked to the above Crits rule. If an attack does way more damage than the target has HP, and there's another possible target within striking distance with an AC under the attack roll, I describe the attack in such a way as it devastates the intended target and also carries over to the adjacent target.
They definitely improve the fun for the players when they occur.
We have two that have become standard in our games.
1) Overwhelmed instead of Flanking. The advantage/disadvantage of flanking is applied to anytime a single creature is taking on multiple enemies. Applies to both PCs and monsters.
2)If a player is willing to actually perform their performance checks, i.e. sing, dance, etc., they will automatically pass the check and their roll is how well it is received. For example, in a homebrew campaign, someone had to sing to appease the Matriarch of a village of siren-folk. One of the players sang beautifully, shocking everyone at the table. He rolled an 18 after singing. Not only did they appease the Siren Queen but two women in the village proposed to his character on the spot. He was married already in his background so they were disappointed. If he had rolled much lower, i had planned to have the matriarch's daughter to propose to him and not be as willing to take, "I'm already married," as a good enough reason to refuse.
I hate flanking and glad it was removed
people inventing charge because they took it out, lol
Critical embarrassments: If you roll a 1, there is no mechanical effect, but the DM describes how you failed in a really embarrassing way. I think it is much better than critical fumbles which can mess things up too much.
I adore this because it just brings so much chaos. Fumbling to a not completely detrimental degree can be hilarious. My favorite is "You shoot a cartoon outline around them and run out of ammo"
I like the revival exhaustion. I do a similar thing, to allow for colossal mess ups to have consequences with out being too brutal. If a character dies the can be revived, but each revival technique brings you back in a different way metaphysically, and as you use each one your soul becomes damaged in different ways. This means each time your revived by the same method you get exhaustion in increasing intensities. This means eventually a certain revival method won't work anymore because it would immediately incur enough exhaustion to kill you again. So early on a player is allowed to die somewhat frequently but they will slowly run out of options. First one is always free of exhaustion and this doesn't apply to getting knocked out, only proper death.
Late to the party on this one, but I roll with death saves are done in private + life flashes before your eyes. Each time a player makes a death save, they have to recount to the table a memory from their past. This can be anything back story related or something improved on the spot. It really helps to draw out backstory naturally in a meta game sense. It gives the players a hook to talk to that player in character in relation to it instead of random talks that might have no substance. It works really good.
A house rule that I've heard of but would totally use is using passive scores for all skills, think of it like using Passive Perception but with any skill. Doing this makes things streamlined and you can actually cut out unneeded rolls. For example if you have a passive History of 15 you don't need to roll if the DC is 15 because you meet the minimum, you'd only roll to gain more information. This also gives you a decent floor for the skill because they lowest you could ever get is whatever the passive score is. You don't have to tell a player with a +10 to History that they don't know anything about a bit of info even if it is extremely common because they rolled a 1. It might be a little difficult with some skills but works perfectly with all the knowledge ones and tools.
I do know that some people might say that passive skills are in the book but outside of Passive Investigation I couldn't find anything that mentions a passive skill but I've never looked at the DMG. They could be there as optional rules. In that case this is more a PSA about that optional rule then as a favored house rule.
I’ve run a version of that exhaustion in battle rule for years, it makes going down much more interesting
One homebrew rule I'm in favor of is Aabria Iyengar's use of planning tokens from Blades in the Dark during Exu: Kymal. It seems too often a party has a mission that they have to plan, leaving a choice between spending valuable session time thinking of every condition and eventuality, or simply creating a framework and hoping to improvise the rest. I like the idea because it can give players a sense of agency, while also keeping momentum.
As a DM I have decided that a roll of one means you have left an opening for your opponent to get either a reaction attack on you or has an advantage attacking you
I sort of agree with the narrative explanation for multiclassing. It SHOULD make sense in-character. Not just "Oh, this is pretty strong, so I wants it."
HOWEVER: the example used, with Sorcerer, is not a problem. Being a Sorcerer is something that is inborn. It just HAPPENS to manifest at that time. And it has NO bearing at all on their oath or relation with their god.
Dipping into *WARLOCK* is a different story. They better have a good explanation how that doesn't go against their Oath indeed. There are some Patrons that aren't necessarily counter to a Paladin's Oath, and the Paladin doesn't need to be Lawful Good. Or even be beholden to a deity.
But you're gonna have a hard time convincing me your Redemption Paladin is just going to accept a deal with an Archfiend for some extra power. A Vengeance or Conquest Paladin I could see doing something like that.
One of my favorite things is making up a reason for why I’m the class I chose. my first ever Dnd character was a ranger. He was a ranger because the circus he lived in was goin broke fast. So if he didn’t go hunting at night the fam didn’t eat. So he picked up a bow and taught himself how to track and hunt.
I also put his subclass in his back story. When he was younger and the circus was doing well they stop somewhere to do a show. He ends up wondering off and finding a talking fey tree he eats a peach and swallows the seed. He was my very first character so he was kinda goofy lol, anyways. That seed gave me fey power which tied into my subclass. It was also the reason he had a bald head, bright blue eyes, and always slightly smelled like peaches.
I just don’t think I could fully get into a character if I don’t have them fleshed out like that. So if I ever end up multiclassing I would need to make it work with my characters or I’m just not doing it
I feel a paladin warlock mulisclass that works would tehcnicly be a Celestial warlock. A paladin who has their own oath, but asks a divine being to aid them in that task
@@andrewherrera2819 or the paladin follows some fey gods and a archfey offers him some extra powers as a deal
things to add to my next dnd campaign no.1 ring of cats
When I started my previous campaign I decided to try a homerule from a webcomic I read long ago. The DGR rule (damn good reason) referring to why anyone would ever decide to become an adventurer when a cat could probably kill them, they'd find better gear in a crackerjack box, and they have less magic that a performer at a birthday party. So the DGR started them with a moderately powerful magical item that give them a bit of an edge survival wise (around 3,000 gp value). The players loved it and they've more and more built characters that really work this into their backstory and make it a part of them instead of just a bit of free loot. For example a ring given to the player by his father in law to help bring him home safely to his daughter, a harness constructed by a loving sister to help the character overcome a handicap, a shattered artifact fused with their body that's the only reason they're still alive, and so on. The only problem is when introducing the idea I said if they couldn't find something that fit, they could homebrew something and I'd work with them to get something suitable. Now power creep has them trying to get very powerful stuff accepted.
Oh, I have one. It is the feat book system. In the game I am playing (the same one as the insane high damage cleric one), our DM has a system of feat books. Aside from getting one feat from ASIs, we can learn feats in game by buying a feat book from stores. Each book requires 1000 points to complete and it first needs a check of a reasonable stat mod, like con mod for tough feat, then you roll a d100 with the d20 roll result as mod to determine how much point you get. If you get a Nat20, 2D100. If you go to a specific place (eg a library), you roll 2d20. And since the players can make their own feat and DM forbids us get those feats using ASI, this is the only way to get homemade feats.
Booming Blade: I've long though, and will now implement now that I am starting to DM, that the range of the spell should equal the range of the melee weapon you use to cast it. Now if you use a weapon with reach at 10' your enemy has to take damage if they want to close into combat with you. It's a small change, but I think it makes logical sense, even if it boosts and already good spell.
Imagining acountless angry grizzly bears firing out the end of a wand has made my day!!!! X;'D
I would love a slide rule to quickly note what the roll should be with those "degrees of success. It could be slid to the DC for success, and point to +/- 3, +/-5, and +/- 8
The first house rule i’ll have? Add stats from both your race and your background. Especially effective for one-week adventures.
When a class feature gives you a fighting style, you get the Martial Adept feat. My modifications to the Martial Adept feat, and maneuvers as a whole:
- You gain a number of Superiority die equal to your proficiency bonus (Martial Adept)
- You can take the Martial Adept feat multiple times
- When you crit, you can use a maneuver without expending and adding a superiority die (All)
- If you have a feature that changes what your superiority die is, all of your superiority die become that die
I have two favourite house rules.
The one I ever made while DMing back in 2015 that Sorcerers get the same spells known as Bards.....it took WOTC 10 years to implement the same change in 5.5e
The other one was developed in partnership with our groups DM, Rangers can use Hunter's Mark as a no concentration cantrip which also has standard cantrip damage progression an extra dice at 5th 11th and 17th level.
At my table, DM inspirational can be used to reroll a d20. Saves the disappointment when a player declares they are using it, then rolls high on the first dice.
On the ring of bears I made something similar called the book of misspell. As a reaction you can change, remove, or add one letter of the spell and how it sounds now is what it is. Fireball now become firball as a ball of fluff flys out. Wall of force? Nah wall of farce. It's an illusion of a wall. Can only be used once per day, but becomes absolutely ridiculous.
Momentum dice: I came up with an extra d8 per 600 nutons of force. Figured from the extra charge damage minotaur get from charging.
Eating difrent foods has difrent effects.
Gor example eating standard rations has no effect, eating at a normall in gives a d4 of temporary hp, a really good meal can even give a +1 to all rools.
If you dont eat or eat unprepeared food itll eather lover your hp (not permanetly) or give a - to rools. This gives a good use for cooking tools and adds a bit more of realism
I have a homebrew rule just for fun that gives players the chance to invoke a "silly 20" once per session. If they roll a nat 20, they can choose to have it be silly, meaning they succeed so hard it actually ends up hindering them somehow in some comedic way. A rogue rolling a nat 20 on a stealth check to sneak into a house, for example, might get so into the sneak that they just kind of keep going after they get to where they wanted to go, completely unnoticed ofc but only regaining their senses separated from the party by several rooms
The anti-multiclass one is so stupid. Yes, you should have a reason and justification as to why you suddenly have a Warlock pact, but dismissing it all as metagaming is disingenuous. A Paladins god isn't going to care if they suddenly take a few levels of fighter or sorcerer
One that we recently implemented that we really enjoy is on some kind of save for a spell that deals damage, if you roll a Nat 20 for say a fireball, you would take no damage, and if you roll a Nat 1, you would take max damage. Makes for crazy moments for both the party and the bag guys!
Ur pick breaks...so i gotta buy a new one? How much? Why would the lock relock?
Why would ur god punish you for your innate magic manifesting?
I created a very similar knocked down exhaustion rule
There was way too much math explained in this simple question
basically extra dice from crits are always max damage, that's literally all it is
I ran a homebrew campaign with a bug emphasis on alchemy and potion,to do so I created a big list of plants that either exist IRL or I have copied from existing games. We are a bunch of biologists at the table,so the list contains a lot of infos about the plants active compounds. Long story short, potions have various side effects depending on what plants are used,and in which amount. My player loved to give diarrhea to their opponents by poisoning their food and water supplies
for a multi-session "one shot" (it was planned to and did run over 6 sessions) our dm said we could add our ability modifier to spell attack damage... so like agonizing blast but for all spell attacks. he also said if we had agonizing blast we could do it twice for eldritch blast. sadly i wasnt a lock but a starals druid.. man my guiding bolts did hella damage that game.
(note: this is not how he ran all his games. i joined in on the last 7 or 8 games of one of his long running campaigns and he never used that. it was just something he added into the one shot cuz he wanted to give us a chance as he really tried to kill us. lol)
On the 'reason for multiclassing' thing I kinda do that a little in my own head. I have an Artificer/Wizard idea where he studied for wizardry but befriended a gnome artif and picked up some skills. A Paladin/Sorc Multi Class (Doubly so a Divine Soul one) could be a case of the Paladin learning some additional magic to round out their skills.
I had a Hexblade/Paladin idea where the guy in question got a sword from his estranged mother... which she set her soul into before she died.
As for the exhaustion rule, I have heard it before, but I was also considering adding to it a bit. What if you didn't pass out when you go to 0 hp, only going prone instead? Imagine at the beginning of your turn you roll a death save, and instead of the temp. exhaustion level you got a cumulative -1 to all rolls. This would include subsequent death saves. You would also get one just for being knocked to 0hp every time. If you survive, you reduce the -1's by your constitution modifier every long rest, and by half that rounded up on a short rest. (Max twice/day.)
In exchange, you can take a single action on your turn, be it moving half your speed in a crawl, taking a potion, casting a spell, making an attack or attacks with disadvantage, and so on. You might also include something like a self-sacrifice move like expending all your spell slots in an explosion, hoping to take an enemy with you. In order to do them, you first roll a constitution skill check against the DC of the action, and even though the DCs would be high for almost everything, starting at maybe 15 for a disengage/crawl you would receive a bonus equal to the result of the Death Save on your turn. You might possibly add a +5 to the DC if an adjacent enemy wanted to use its reaction to get in the way.
This prevents the yo-yo feeling of being unconscious for a couple seconds, awake again, unconscious again, awake again. Instead, it gives more of a feel of a tense, heroic last stand. Or a pathetic, whimpering end. Either way, it's memorable. Apply it in your head to Boromir's last stand. By making good death saves he was able to keep fighting after taking multiple lethal wounds, but afterward he fails a death save and can only look on as Lurtz prepares to execute him with his war bow. After he is saved by Aragorn, he is beyond healing, but still is awake to have a final conversation with his king.
Isn't it so strange to be knocked unconscious, be stabbed to death by an enemy, and the DM prompts you to do something like say your last words? If you are unconscious, you don't really have the capacity to do anything except grunt weakly, twitch a little and expire, but you could have a more memorable last moment this way.
A simple one to get around the BS that can sometimes be a N20 - resolve the check as per normal, but add 10.
Not being an auto-success means that it’s not possible to, say, jump across the Grand Canyon - it just means you do as well as you possibly could hope to.
WALL OF BEARS. I'm dying. I have to use that sometime, as a consumable
My biggest house rule is one I imported from another system for session zero/character creation. Essentially, when you make your character, I need the name of a living NPC and a PC in the party, and an explanation of why you care about them. It doesn't have to be deep or detailed, but your character needs to have a reason to be in the party and in the world, so I can run the game in a way that motivated the character to do stuff.
If you have the two weapon fighting style you can make as many attacks with your bonus action as with your main action, as long as you meet the requirements to use two weapon fighting.
I had a Paladin start taking fighter levels. He tried to smite a ghost to no effect and his faith started to fade. He still had access to all his powers and still acted the same way.
The Black Market/Auction House: For all the items you weren't able to give your players earlier in the game, you can make them available in the black market/auction house where they can buy it.
Basically everyone who wants to buy the item has to repeatedly roll competing d20 rolls (making these charisma rolls is optional) to beat an increasingly more difficult DC.
Ex.) Two players and an NPC want the item, so all three players roll. Round 1- DC 1. Round 2- DC 2. Round 3- DC 3. Then it keeps increasing like that until one person remains.
"The DM is always right" only works if your DM is not antagonistic.
As for not "min-maxing."... let people play how they want to play? If it isn't ruining anyone else's fun, what's wrong? Should the DM and player work together to incorporate the multi-class into the story? Absolutely! But just flat-out telling them no because you don't like it as the DM is kind of dumb.
The rules are guidelines. I generally flex a lot for fun and cool factor. My personal books are usually full of notes and modifications in the margins.
In 5e, there is only ONE inspiration slot. I've changed that to two: one only for things the character does ingame, one for things the player does out of game. You're doing a great joke? Player-Inspiration. You're encouraging the other player to do something/play something? Player-Inspiration. You're having a good idea, but it doesn't work out on the way I described the scene? Player-inspiration.
Your Character is doing something harmful for themself, but it's what their character would do? Character-inspiration. The Character is experiencing something valuable to them? Character inspiration. The Character goes to a spa and takes a relaxing day, spending a bunch of their own money doing that? Character inspiration, you're sooo relaxed now.
etc
a player can hold only 1 inspiration per slot. And like most tables we allow inspiration as a reroll, instead of "just" advantage.
and I as a DM try to give out AT LEAST two inspiration per session, up to four. I have to keep reminding myself to reward "good behaviour" or "good moments" with those inspiration points.
I have a new idea for crit damage rules. Roll dice as normal, but you get to flip damage dice to the opposite side as you want. So a roll of a 1& a 6 using d6 dice becomes a 12.
I’ll phrase this one simply: Classes are a guideline. If you want to play a warlock and follow the traditional pact and all, good for you! It’s a good way of finding inspiration for your character, too. But, I see the classes as “these are how the abilities typically look and function”, and with that in mind I made a technomancer that is a Hexblade Warlock. You can do a lot of fun things and skin abilities in different ways, and though some ways can be more vague or a stretch than others, it can be fun to think about what it would look like; as a result, for the same warlock Borrowed Knowledge can be searching up a tutorial on their equivalent of Google and Mind Sliver can be a sudden rush of unfamiliar information. As long as you have a justification for why it functions the same, go wild with skinning abilities and classes.
If you have the two weapon fighting style you can make as many attacks with your bonus action as with your main action, as long as you meet the requirements to use two weapon fighting. Greased slope into a gelatinous cube!?! Added!
My old Sunday DM had inspiration coins when he used to run at a local game store. He gave 1 to each player, two if the players bought something at the store. This was to incentivise supporting the store financially. Sadly, he's no longer with us. (R.I.P)
My Wednesday DM did the same thing, but added that, whenever someone rolled a nat 1 or 20, another inspiration coin was put in the bowl. (He used a white bowl to store them). Of course, due to events in the campaign, he's replacing them with Heroic Die/ Doom Die, because we failed to realize we were manipulated by the BBEG until it was too late and were shunted in time. We're now going to be in the bad future soon.
I think it's completely fine if someone wants to multiclass a paladin and sorcerer without an in-game reason, part of the fun for lots of people is being able to do cool stuff and if that is how you can do what you want then do it (if it's too strong I would probably nerf it though)
For ability checks, a Nat1 subtracts your proficiency (even if you have modifiers or “treat 9- as 10”), and a Nat20 adds your proficiency.
Shid rule loser
I really like that one for Toughness at the very end. 'cause, yeah, as written, it's a massive waste of a valuable feat, and should only even be *considered* if you're in a position of having to take a feat, but having only garbage feats (such as Toughness) to choose from. Sure, at low levels, having three extra HP is a lot. But once you get past, like, level four or five, it stops making a noticeable difference.
This is exactly how the Tough feat works in 5e. You get hp equal to twice your level and two more hp every time you level up after.
Timed combat turns (when necessary). Never in initial sessions, generally decided if needed by 3rd session on.
If our group had a good thing going during combats and weren't spending 7+ minutes per persons turn, no problem. People like to talk when deciding things during combat turns, totally fair, but there has to be a limit.
When we did do timed combat turns, they would be 3 minutes each.
Which, if you've not decided what to do in 3 minutes, you were either too indecisive, had too much shit, or were trying to meta game.
We seemed to memorize & organize spells/items better too when we knew we couldn't go through a growing list of shit we'd gathered along the way :D
Not DnD, it was a homebrewed paranormal cyberpunk thing. Anyways, our DM had a rule that was basically is you rolled a nat20 or nat1 crit on something, and *then* rolled and hit a nat1 or 20 again on the confirm, it would make your crit... more crit, i guess. It's easier to explain with a story or two.
We were in a shootout with a rival gang after trying to take over their grow operation. I opened fire on one and rolled a nat20. DM told me to roll to confirm. I rolled again and hit another nat20. So instead of just hitting the guy for crit damage, I instead hit a grenade he had on his bandolier which cause him to blow himself up as well as do big damage to the guys around him.
Another story. Our face had to try and get into a club to find information on a dead body that showed up in our turf. To do this, she tried to flirt with the bouncer on his smoke break in the back alley. Had to roll for seduction, got a nat1. Her confirm roll was a nat1 as well. Turned out, she was actually so bad at flirting, the bouncer took pity on her and started giving her a quick lesson on how to flirt. Some comedic dialogue and a training session later, our face had fully learned how to flirt and seduce, and eventually got into the club with the bouncer's approval.
I think that first "rule" should be a no-brainer and used at every table. Don't just use the given number and pass or fail. This is a game od story telling - so tell a story!
As an extension of this, I recently incorporated a critical success and critical failure table. Each has eleven different possibilities that outline how things succeed or fail and the repercussion of that. It could be just additional damage (as a standard critical hit), but it could also mean a semi-permanent injury that has to be dealt with or even damage to one's armor - resulting in a -1 to AC until they can get it fixed. Now, the bigger the fallout, the less chance it can happen. But just knowing that you can take a -1 to a random ability score (the afore mentioned semi-permanent injury) if the enemy gets a natural 20 and then rolls well on the chart, really steps up the anxiety when they crit.
We had our first session with this a few nights ago and were able to see it in action and it really adds a lot. It makes that 5% chance of getting one of those more tense and when it does happen, there is an even larger, palpable sense of anticipation for what the outcome of the percentile roll will be.
9.38 I was thinking if this the other night it doesn't seem like exhaustion comes up much other than travel or neglecting rest
The paladin multi class exampe is kinda bad, cause its not like they stop being a paladin, presumably they still have their paladin powers and are still doing paladin things.
As long as the multi class doesnt contradict their oath/god it shouldn't stop them from being a paladin. Unless their god is just petty like that
A house rule we're currently testing out is having Warlock spellslots match yhe proficiency bonus
You don't have to pick between an ASI or feat (you get both), potions take a bonus action and heal max every time, and when you roll for HP when leveling up you can't get below half your hit dice and can reroll until you get a better one.
I found out that a lot of the game balance is solved by changing how rests work. The game expects 3-5 encounters per rests, but players long-rest at the slightest inconvenience. Thus...:
*Rugged Long Rest:* a long rest is three days. Non-adventure downtime activities can be performed (I use Kibble's Crafting).
- You must spend at least 1 Hit Die to have a short rest count, even if you do not regain hit points. This is to prevent features like the Fighter’s Second Wind or the Warlock’s Pact Magic from becoming unfair.
- Luxury accommodations (such are royal suites or hot-spring resorts) can grant paying VIP patrons the benefits of a long rest with a mere 12-hour stay.
- Effect durations of 8 hours become one day, and durations of 1 day become 3 days.
My players actually care, strategically use resources instead of spamming max-level slots, and make routes that make stops and plans for trips.
In 2 E when fighting hordes of 1hd and lower monsters if you do more than 10 hps of damage with a weapon you pass the amonut above ten on to the next chacters ei wufgar does 15 damage to the kobal in front of him with his first attack and 5 to the guy standing next to him with the first guys flying skull. In return the surround chacters that are surrounded by a horde are allways hit on a 20 or have plus 1 if there can hit. The press works both ways
At nat 20, you take a shot and at 1, you take a shot (we have both alcool and airsoft guns)
Critical Hits add max weapon dice damage instead of rolling. If you need a nat 20 to hit, it's not a crit. Long Rest doesn't heal you to full (you have to spend HD). Degrees of success. Hitting 0 HP wounds you (1 lvl of exhaustion) - yes, other DMs use this.
"At out table, when you roll a natural 20 on an attack, it is a critical hit. It always hits, no matter the AC."
Ah yes, my favorite house rule: The actual rules of the game.
Also, why did they feel the need to overexplain how they do critical hits, which is not only very simple in itself but also a very common house rule, that everyone has already heard about, in the first place? And why do they make their way of handling multiclassing out to be something special, despite many GMs doing it the same way?
Also, what's up with that other person with the exhaustion rule? While not as common as the critical hit one, it's still done a lot the same way by many groups... Yet, this person actually believes they alone created that house rule? Or do they just think that the exhaustion being removed after the battle is such a super special variation of the rule that it bears special mention that nobody else did it EXACTLY like them?
moment dice is just more math charge from older editions
4:10 micro managing red flag.
In our sessions at our local gaming cafe, we don't have Initiative rolls. Instead we all as a team tackle the monsters which allows us to work together. It speeds up combat no end.
how does that work btw
does it work like
all enemies go together then all players go together
cause I'd assume that if there's no order at all ppl would talk over each other
Yes, we go. Then the enemies go. Yes, there are times when we all talk over each other but we make sure everyone has done something in that team turn if that makes sense.
Luck rolls upon a Crit.
Basically if you roll either a 1 or 20 you either fail or succeed in your task, the luck roll is additional effects. Let's say you nat 20 an attack, a subsequent roll above 10, then can have an additional effect, like intimidating enemies, stunning an enemy temporariy. A subsequent low roll can let you succeed an action, but something bad may happen. DMs use these alrealy, such as trying to knock people out, but killing them due to a 20 on attacks, a 20 followed by a 1 could result in death, while a double 20 in this case let's you knock a person out without damage and maybe find a silver coin on the ground.
Same with Nat 1. Let's say you attack and Nat 1 to hit with malee weapon, but roll high attack power. In this case the enemies can be intimidated or the target drops on the ground from shock or maybe the weapon.
My favourite one is bar none "no electronics at the table"
New people coming in usually throw some sort of tantrum about the merits of whatever electric gadget they just can't survive an evening without but after 6 hours of rolling crooked wooden dice across a hardwood table reading the crumbled and weathered handouts illuminated only by a small forest of candles to the sound of the crackling fireplace most players can appreciate how someone's pocket going "bling bling bling!!!!!" would have ruined it for everybody.
That one time a players preggo wife was past her due date an exception was made for his phone. Also your pacemaker gets a hall pass.
No comments about views or bots.
Great time to be alive.
Ring of bears is brilliant and I will be stealing it.
Proficiencies can counteract nat 1's. We had a bard who was trying to seduce a boss we were fighting, in order to try to get her to stop fighting us. He rolled a nat 1, but had a +12 to persuasion, for a total of 13. DM was debating taking the nat 1, or honoring the high skill level that the high bonus implies. So, he made a new house rule on the spot. If you roll a nat 1, but your bonuses bring the roll to 10 or higher, you fail at what you were trying to do, but your skills let you succeed at something else. So, the bard failed to seduce the boss, but ended up seducing one of the minions. So now the party has a harpy companion. This rule also saved the same player on his rogue character when rolling stealth, as well as the DM who made the rule when playing in my campaign, trying to salvage the power core of a construct
Crit fails only apply to weapon attacks so your DM unintentionally is just using standard rules lol
1:30 my dm does this and does dynamic dice as he calls it. Stealth checks require low numbers as it refers to the sound you are making. Dex checks means you have to get between two numbers the dm rolls. Ect ect. Rolling a 20 on a strength check to throw something might mean you over shoot it. Although he will tell you about targets and range.
Pathfinder 1e,
[]on fire when you are not resistant or immune to the damage, inflicts a -2 to all checks similar to sickened. 2d6 per round is just scratch damage later levels. so this makes it somewhat necessary to remove.
[] multi-classing restricted to two classes and one prestige to keep your sheet manageable. the prestige class needs some contact with someone who can teach it.
[] beginners can remake their class entirely up to level 5 in between sessions. find what you want to use for the rest of the campaign before the major plot point events.
5e
[] counter spell makes a caster level check, the one who lost also has wild magic roll on their side.
[] warlocks gain 1 more spells per short rest, as they should have more options incase the others do not short rest.
[] unless required for time tension, short rest is about 10 minutes with everyone meditating or stitching wounds.
[] healing from downed needs con save against 10+ how much they were below 0 hp to not gain fatigue.
Just an odd question that I’ve never thought about since I’ve never really used a wand in a game, could you wield the wand with one hand and perform the somatic components of spells using wand movements? Like those Harry Potter wands at universal studios that u can use to interact with some props by doing specific motions with them
9:13 Worlds Without Numbers has this in the form of "System Strain" but it also includes all magic healing
That crit rule is insanity. You don't get to deal max damage with your smite because you rolled a nat 20 on the attack roll.
And RAW says a nat 20 on an attack roll hits regardless of the targets AC... so that part isn't homebrew 😅