I figured this would be a nice place for fellow DMs to swap ideas about house rules. I'll post a few of my own to start. Off the top of my head:
Duelist Style: +2 to hit instead of damage; just like Archery.
Favored Enemy: I think that in addition to the other perks, the ranger should get their Wisdom modifier either to hit OR damage, and then their Foe Hunter ability at 20th level should be to hit AND damage,
Weapons: Add the Finesse quality to spears and the quarterstaff, also add the spear to the weapons useable with the Polearm Master feat. Rationale: "the Mountain vs. the Viper,"and pretty much every kung-fu movie ever. Also add Finesse to the club so that rogues can use it for knockout purposes.
What ideas do the rest of you have?
Second Wind / Healing Surges (or whatever it's called in the Final Form of Fifth Edition):
Do not roll a die to determine HP regained. You always gain the max.
Based on experience with a 5ePlaytest Fighter trying to recover after a fight, and rolling all 1-2s on d12. Contrasted strongly with my 4e WIS/CON druid who was almost HP-indestructible.
As always, YMMV.
Primeval Awareness: The ability also gives you a general direction as to where the creature is.
You may not be aware of this, but I have a thread devoted to compiling all homebrew content on the forums (including houserules such as conversions, rules modules and the like). You can find a link to said in my signature below.
Variant:Damage Threshold
- Damage Theshold is a variant rule that fits well into the system, without adding additional dice rolls and keeping your narrative's momentum. Attacks that deal massive amounts of damage can impair or incapacitate you regardless of how many hit points you have remaining. Your damage threshold determines how much damage a single attack must deal to reduce your combat effectiveness or, in some cases, kill you. Your damage threshold is calculated as follows:
Size Modifier: Characters and monsters larger than Medium size gain a size bonus to their damage threshold. This size bonus is +5 for Large, +10 for Huge, +20 for Gargantuan.
For the most part I'm trying to play the RAW since it's a new game, but I'm considering the following two house rules - both taking advantage of the Exhaustion levels:
1.) When a player drops to 0 hit points he receives a wound (described appropriately). He adds a level to his Exhaustion until his wound is healed (determined by DM).
2.) In an emergency, the players can take a short rest of 5 minutes instead of one hour at the cost of adding a level to their Exhaustion.
I see you've got Wish Rules as a variant.
Here's the article on wishes I wrote for 1st edition, published in Dragon #146 many years back.
http://www.sff.net/people/Kevin.A.Murphy/If_You_Wish_Upon_A_Star.html
At the moment I efficiently use only this in case, someone has an odd ability score:
If you have an odd ability score, you increase the following by +1:
- Saving Throws
- STR, DEX or substitute (like the druid’s Shillelagh spell): Weapon Damage
- DEX: Initiative
- CON: Bonus due Hit Die/Dice healing
- INT, WIS, CHA: Spell Attack Modifier
- When (for some reason) your ability score/modifier is halved, round up
For the 5e game I'm going to be running, I have a number of new house rules:
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To determine ability scores, the characters may chose between: a standard array of 16, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8; rolling 4d6 six times (dropping the lowest die from each roll); or a point buy with 30 points. Players can choose whatever method they feel works best—if they have a crappy roll on the random method, they may chose point buy or the standard array instead. Characters may then choose one of the following options: They may add 1 point to 2 different stats, may add 2 points to a single stat, or may pick 1 feat.
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I have a number of changes/additions to the races. humans get +2 to one score, +1 to a different score, 2 free proficancies in their choice of skills, tools, or weapons, a free feat, and a cultural benefit. High Elves are Eladrin and get to teleport 30 feet (like Misty Step) once per short rest. Drow also get to teleport, but it's limited to shadowy areas (but they gain advantage immediately after teleporting). Both Drow and Eladrin are Vulnerable to weapons made from Cold Iron. They also suffer from a racial insanity as they age, but that's more a flavor thing than anything mechanical. Dwarves have a subrace that gives them many of the tinkering benifits of the Rock Gnomes (dwarves in my setting are artificers). Tieflings have a subrace that trade their Charisma bonus for a Consitution bonus, and get poison resistance instead of fire resistance, as well as bonuses to using poison kits and alchemy supplies (also world-based--these tieflings are from a land that is radioactive instead of hellish). I also made up rules for Shadar Kai, Changelings, and Warforged (which have several different subraces, because the Forged in my world are a technology developed by several different cultures--one subraces are the warforged similar to the ones from Eberron, one subrace are living suits of armor powered by elven souls, one subrace are made from magic clay and animated by runes carved in their heads, and one subrace are actually undead).
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Characters get an extra background that provides them 1 free skill and 1 free language, both based on culture.
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Characters can have up to 3 uses of Inspiration saved up at a time.
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I pulled a lot of rules from 13th Age, including the One Unique Thing and the Icon Relationships (using my own custom Icons, depowered to be the movers and shakers of a specific region in the world rather than world-shaking powers)
Interesting rules everyone!
Another house rule I'm thinking of adding has to do with the homebrew pantheon I'm working on. I'll include Domains, spheres of influence, and even 4E style basic tenets. What I'm considering leaving out of the equation is alignment, as in I'll keep the alignments a secret from the players. The rationale is the standard fantasy trope of people possibly getting duped into worship on an entity who's not all they're cracked up to be. Also, there's some potential roleplaying gold to be found in a scenario where a character's personal ethics possibly don't match up to the religion he or she espouses.
Thoughts?
Ansbach wrote:
The only house rule I have is that I am using a 16, 14, 13, 12, 10, 9 array.
The problem with the existing array is that it tends to lead towards race/class stereotypes. One of the things I really admired about 4th edition is that nearly every race could be credible in any class due to the combination of racial attributes and an easily achieved 16 in the prime attribute.
Meh, I always have to houserule new races. I dislike the Tolkien-ish default races and they bore me, even though the subrace options add a little more flavor than they used to. That's the biggest thing. I am also providing some alternative class options for some players who like the flavor of the ranger or paladin as examples, but don't like the book keeping that comes with spellcasting.
Xaielao2 wrote:
teron82 wrote:
Okay, I haven't actually implemented any houserules yet, but I am considering some for my next campaign. I'd like to get some feedback on them / possible changes etc.
- Multi-class changes:
Multi-classing characters get to choose one kind of proficiency (or ability) of their new class for every level taken in that class, this should replace the normal multi-class rules and applies to the following proficiencies/abilities. Another available option is to train for half the usual ammount of time (125 days) to gain these proficiencies, this requires investment of (down)time and 1 gold per day but no ability checks are needed, success is automatic.
Light armor, medium armor, heavy armor.
You need to be proficient with light armor before medium armor and medium before heavy.
Shields
Simple weapons (all), Martial weapons (1).
You gain proficiency with two weapons if you select this option, either all simple weapons or one martial weapon of choice. You need to have proficiency with all simple weapons before you can select a martial weapon to become proficient in.
Cantrips
You do not get the usual cantrips automatically, rather you can choose to gain 1 for every level in your new class up to the starting number of cantrips, you do also gain cantrips as usual by advancing but you start out knowing / preparing fewer cantrips.
Tools
select one kind of tool to become proficient with that starting characters in the class usually get.
Skills
Pick one skill from the options a starting character in the class usually gets, up to the maximum number of skills in your new class-the number of skills in your original starting class. For example a fighter getting a level of rogue can pick 2 additional skills since a rogue starts out with 4 and a fighter with 2 (4-2=2), if you startaed out a bard you could only get 1 additional skill, and a rogue taking a bard level has no skills to gain.
- Training:
Training is identical to the rule in the PHB except that you can also train with additional skills, it is however more difficult:
(Training) Skills
You can train a skill of your choice that you could pick as a starting option for (one of) your class(es). It requires 125 gold of training time to gain a +1 (training) bonus up to the maximum of half your proficiency bonus (rounded down). Nor does it increase automatically like your other skills do.
Skills that are not a starting option for one of your classes can not benefit from training.
I'm collecting house rules and interpretations for my campaign here:
https://brunches-dragons.obsidianportal.com/wikis/rules-interpretations
The highlights:
- A fighting style option for fighters & rangers that enables rapier/dagger style but doesn't overshadows dual-scimitar style
- A few of patches to make BM hunters make sense
If someone wants to do something, I will relentlessly reskin to accomodate it. There was a 100+ post topic about whether or not a katana could be a finesse weapon on this forum, when dealing with a setting where I can make a character who punches with more force than someone swinging a sword, and flings a 12 foot tall Ogre back more than ten feet at the same time. If you want a rapier to be slashing, I really do not care, and call it whatever you want. I'll also allow small rules changes, if it seems like there is no reason why a player is being prevented from doing what they want. For example, I allow a Sorcerer in one of my groups to set her unarmoured AC to be 13 + strength, instead of 13 + dexterity, because the player think someone themed after a Red Dragon should be more of a tough guy. I just say she can flex to tighten their scales and deflect incoming attacks; it's less ridiculous than many, many things that exist in core D&D rules.
I do not have to think about the far-reaching implications of these, because we actually sit down as a group and talk about what everyone wants to play in the campaign and agree on what enables it.
As an aside, I still do not agree with the "consensus" that dexterity is better than strength, considering I play a strength-based Fighter using a one-handed weapon and I feel no envy towards the alternative. The dexterity-based Fighters can keep their skills and higher initiative; I get a higher AC without needing a feat, and can instead use that feat for the very potent Heavy Armor Master. As for dexterity saves being more common, I think we should look at the Monster Manual before concluding that.
I'm mostly trying to stick the rules as written, but here some of my House Rules so far:
Long rest: roll dice equal to your total Hit Dice and get that number of HP back (instead of getting them all back). You regain Hit Dice as per the PHB. (I use rules as written if the PC's are somwhere very cushy like a comfortable inn with plenty of downtime).
Knocking a Creature Out: As written, but must be called before damage is rolled and the attack does -1 damage (with a minimum of 1)
Dropping a weapon or object: Dropping an item already held does not cost an action or a free action (so a PC can for isntance, drop a bow and draw a sword with one free action). Of course the dropped item will need to be retrieved (I've been pretty kind so far and assuming that the bow is retreived automatically at the end of the fight -but if the player makes too much a habit of this you had better believe that will be looking for circumstances where dropping the bow means that it is lost)
Scavanging for ammunition: If the enemy was using ammunition of the same type as your own, you can scavange 1d4 peces of usable ammunition after the battle (if you are still in the same area). (I might have to increase the size of the dice here as levels increase - will see how it goes)
Dark_Stryke wrote:
Here are some ideas I'm considering:
You may choose to deal 1d4 or weapon's die of bludgeoning damage, whichever is less, with any weapon you are proficient with.
When you drop an individual opponent with a melee attack, you may opt not to kill them. However, they are still considered dying and will need to be stabilized unless the dropping attack was with bludgeoning damage, the defender has non-bypassed resistance to piercing or slashing damage, whichever applies.
If you use pure psychic damage to reduce someone to 0 or less, you may take them alive.
After a bit of theorycraft, I'm bringing back Minions. RAW, a 20th lvl fighter with a two-handed weapon has less than average odds of "one-shotting" a CR 1/2 orc 
I am not completely sure about this, but it feels like the fighter is lacking a bit in the first levels
fighter 1st
Second wind:
The fighter can heal 1d6 hp as a bonus action, also the fighter's next attack, if taken before the end of the round, deals extra damage equal to the ammount rolled if it hits. This dice increases to 1d8 at 5th, 1d10 at 10th and 1d12 at 15th lvl. You can use this feature 1/ per con modifier and is restored after a long rest.
fighter 2nd
Action Surge
The fighter can use action surge an additional time by expending two uses of second wind.
Thoughts ?
Lord_Phobetor wrote:
RCanine wrote:
Lord_Phobetor wrote:
Lord_Phobetor wrote:
I didn't play 4E, but I guess I'm not surprised they didn't work in that system since they are an element of fast, cinematic combat instead of tactical combat crunchiness. I think the designers probably added them for entirely the wrong reason - to try and speed up combat because the rest of the system was too slow. They don't really fit the flavor of 4E combat at all.
Ansbach wrote: