Hi all, I wanted to gather feedback on houserules I'm planning on enforcing in my home game. I know that alternative rules will be in the DMG but I can't wait.
Prior to reading my houserules, I need you to understand two points:
1) I started playing D&D with 3e, for me it was a good edition overall and it is the edition that feel most D&D too me. 5e fixed most of the problem I had with its predecessors so now it's my system of choice.
2) I love exploration type campaigns and a more slow pace game that the one presented as a guideline for 5e.
So, what I want to do in my home game (awaiting the DMG fixes) is bring back the survival aspect of 3rd and prior into my 5e game. What I mean is that the game is balanced around 6-8 encounters a day with 2 short rests and it is not the way I play it. For most games, we usually have 4 encounters maximum in a day and sometime there is none. So with an average of 2.5 encounters a day and a system balanced around an average of 7, my players (especially spellcasters) are overpowered having access to twice/thrice the resources needed for the number of encounters.
Also, as you may have read in some of my previous posts, I'm not a fan of the 8 hours long rest full heal, the HD and the death saves mechanic. I find the first two obliterate the danger of wandering monsters and the three rules together make the game play on easy mode (my opinion not subject of this thread).
What I intend to do is a mix of numerous houserules I read on those boards:
- Short Rests take 8 hours and you regain up to 1/4 your maximum HP.
- Long Rests take a week of downtime, you must pay your lifestyle expenses and you are brought back to full health.
- The fighter's Second Wind is replace by: Defensive Surge - As a reaction when you are dealt damage, you can reduce the damage by 1d10+ your level. An attack reduced to 0 damage as no effects.
- Death saves aren't used, you die when you reach -Con score HP. When in the negatives you lose 1 HP per round until someone stabilize you (which brings you to 0 HP but unconscious). When receiving healing you are automatically stabilized before the HP gain is applied. I also intend to bring back the Coup de Grace action.
By doing so, I bring back the resources management, attrition mechanic and danger of death from older editions that I like and I slow the pace of the adventuring day to a spot I'm comfortable with. It nerfs some spell that have a duration of 8 hours (mage armor I'm looking at you) that are supposed to last 6-8 encounters, but I'm ok with that (spellcasters have other options after all).
I also know that the removal of easy non-magical healing will put more emphasis on magical healing (bard, cleric, druid and paladin) but they will have less spell slots and uses of abilities as the long rest is a week. It will still be an important decision between healing the fighter or keeping the slot for later. I also find that this approach goes well with a low magic setting (not a lot of spells flying around all the time).
Finally, what I want is feedback on my rules and to see if they affect things I didn't foresaw or if you found other alternatives that accomplish the same.
Thank you.
Edit: Also keep in mind that I rarely do dungeon-crawls and if I do they tend to have between 3-6 enounters so they should take about 1-2 days to go through with my houserules.
Yeah, would love that kinda play if thats whats going on. Would make for really gritty play style.
Cap short rests to no more than 2 in a week.
The fighter's second wind change is a meaningless terminology change only. Don't even see why you'd bother since the effect is essentially the same.
If you want a defensive surge that's actually a defensive surge, simply allow total negation of an attack, spell, damage, or effect as a reaction. Your player will be happier than with a piddly damage reduction.
cowleymen wrote:
If you wanted only a fluff change on Second Wind, why not just make it an actual fluff change, saying the fighter gets to "grin and bear it" to forget he's hurt.
Or require it to be used outside of combat? That way the player describes a tourniquet, snapping his shoulder back into place, mixing an herbal tea or whatever, and this takes longer than simply "WHOOP Bonus action 1d10+lvl HP! HUZZAH!" Plus, making it a reaction, I believe, puts a damper on the action economy of some builds. But! That's dependant on what the PCs bring to the table (if they even pick fighter).
Would you do the same for a Moon Druid and their self-heal ability...?
Alright. I see where you're coming from.
My reason for capping is soft-balance one. Reducing encounters to 4 per day while increasing rate of heal pretty much solely benefits casters by offloading their heal-spell duties to 8 hr rest periods. In other words, full health after taking it easy for 3 rest periods. This in tandem with fewer encounters per day frees a lot of spell caster resources.
This could well be what you intend. But I wouldnt. If I were promoting a grittier game, I'd keep the 2 shorts rests per long rest restriction. More strategery on resource attrition - but somewhat less "organic."
The Second Wind change is actually a significant reduction in power at low levels, because you don't take that much damage per hit.
If you want to change the flavor but not the effect, make it temporary HP from a surge of adrenaline.
Timborama wrote:
Warlock, Monks, and Battle Masters (of which you have ALL THREE!) LIVE for short rests. I think that's why he made that suggestion maybe, partially to limit ability (with spells/abilities), and partially to limit recovery (with HP). Your Champion, for example, won't care much, because he's an "all day er'ry day" kinda class, like the rogue, so limiting his natural healing and recovery will cause him to poop out around the same time as the rest of the party!
Timborama wrote:
@Timboram
I must also point out that for now I'm playing RAW with HD and I don't think the HD cap or short rest cap must be enforced to keep the ''I LIVE for short rests'' characters in line.
In my experience, if we take my warlock for exemple, he rarelly or barely suffers damage in a fight because of his range cantrips/spells and the work of the melee characters (the rest of the party). So he wants to take short rests all the time but himself doesn't care much about long rests because he almost never runs out of HD. But when the melee guys want to take a long rest he goes along because he knows that it is a team game and that his teamates' resources are as important as his own. He knows that his success and his ability to avoid being targeted or suffer damage are directly dependant on the others work and abilities. Warlocks and every class for that mater need long rests because they need all their friends 
.
I see ''I LIVE for short rests'' characters as ''all day er'ry day'' characters with a different mechanic.
Also sometimes the party take a short rest only to replenish the warlock's slots but no on else needs one and they don't even spend HD. Other times the champion has to take a short rest to spend HD but the warlock hadn't spent a single spell slot. That is why I don't think a cap on short rests is useful because sometime one doesn't even regain anything out of it (no HD spent and no spell slots regain: see the spelless rogue) and shouldn't be penalized because he took the last two for the team without gaining anything and now he really needs one but has to spend 7 days doing nothing for it.
1) Party takes a short rest because Warlock wants his spell slots back - Uninjured Rogue wants to help because Warlock spent his last slot today taking out the raging orc that was about to hit him
2) Party takes a short rest because Fighter took an axe to the face - Uninjured Rogue takes Fighter hand through it saying that everything is going to be alright
X) Rogue took a nasty fall from a pit trap leaving him at 1HP and is F$%?"# because he has no short rest left and has to spend a long rest if he wants to heal.
Truth - a lot of this comes down to your table. You might have different priorities, concerns, even strategies than my players have.
Part of how I see it wrt extended rests is that not all sleep is rest. Rest is the type of thing that doesn't include roughing it. It's not bed rest, but it's not hiking either.
Also, even if I'd do it slightly differently than you, NBD. I think you're real close to your goal, all the same.