I know the game hasn't been released yet, but based on what you've read and experienced so far, how will you make D&D 5e your own?
What house rules are you going to add? What rules are you going to remove or change?
Personaly, I'm going to wait for the game to mature a bit more before I buy into it, but at some point I will attempt to make the game my own. I don't need WotC to provide me with everything, I just need a base game that can be modified with little effort.
Thus far, I know that I'll need to change all the healing rules and perhaps edit the weapons chart. I will also being modifying several spells and changing the way invisibility functions by removing the auto-locating mechanic.
I haven't seen the monsters yet, but I'm hoping vampires are still scary. I'm not sure how energy drain will work in this edition, but if it still reduces max hit point totals I might be ok with it. I will also be including rules for non-magical weapon immunities since it makes magical weapons more valuable and allows the DM to keep monsters alive for more than one encounter, which is very important for some of my fav modules.
At this point, I think I'm looking at about two pages worth of changes. The good news is that so far it doesn't appear as if 5e will require a major system overhaul, but there are things that need to be changed/fixed to make D&D Next my own.
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
I'll probably limit Inspiration to one per session or scene and change it to something players claim rather than the DM awards. I'm going to try it RAW first though.
I see nothing else that needs changing at the moment.
These I'll almost certainly house-rule:
1- Healing: To me the worst offender of all. I'll remove all the excessive healing abilities and tone down the overall healing in the game to more or less 3e/2e standards.
2- Ability Scores: Less racial ability score increases. Probably sticking with 2e standards. Humans being flat, other races around +1/-1. No ability score increases with leveling either. Probably just use Feats in place, but let's see how Feats will be. Maximum for humans is still 18 and not 20 as I see no reason for this increase other than number-inflation.
3- Classes: I'll probably remake them entirely from scratch. Don't like much how classes are in 5e and I especially dislike certain overpowered or "ubber-burst" class abilities.
4- Weapons and Armor: I'll use my own tables. Have been doing so for a long time in other editions too, as I like a more historical approach to weapons and armor. Shouldn't have to change much in the tables I already use, though, as rules for weapons haven't changed much.
Otherwise, the overall general system rules for 5e look interesting. I'm willing to give them a good try as they are before deciding whether I'll house-rule something else in it.
Too soon to say for certain but I am planning on making subclasses that you can swap around with other classes. I think it is a cleaner way to 3X multiclass.
kev777 wrote:
I will hug it, and feed it, and pet it, and call it George!
For the most part, I'll need to play before I'm sure. I imagine, I'll probably houserule a few weapons (Greataxe to 2d6), do.... something for tridents. 
The other thing is, neither I, nor my players like squishy 1st level characters. The obvious answer is to start at 2nd or 3rd level, but I DO like first level, I just want a little more survivability. IF it actually becomes a problem, I may add an extra Hit Die at first level (ya know, the average roll). We'll see though.
For the most part, even the things I don't like are pretty workable, though.
I'm not 100% sure I will adopt DDN, I can only determine that by 1) finding a group to try it out with, and 2) waiting for the DMG to see how good the modification tools and modules are.
That said, there are some things I will be altering right off the bat.
Multiclassing Requirements: As is, there is no requirement to practice anything. As long as you meet the attribute requirements, you can literally just wake up one morning able to cast spells. Honestly, for some classes that might be fine (maybe a character discovers her psionic powers along the way) but for a studious class like the wizard (or a class like the fighter who is presumed to have extensive practice with various weapons) it doesn't pass the smell test. Additionally, I will be throwing out the stat requirements. If you can be make a Str 3 single-class fighter then you don't need to meet some attribute requirement to take a level of fighter later on. My rule on practicing will replace the attribute requirements.
Multiclassing: I'm not fond of 3e-style multiclassing. I'm hoping the DMG gives us an AD&D 2e-style MC option. If not, I will work it out.
Beginning level: I want everyone to have access to their subclass right out of the gate so everyone will start at level three. This also helps with the low starting HPs.
House Setting: I have my own setting that is based off of some short stories and a novel that I worte (all unpublished). I will need to create the races and classes for that setting.
Spell list: I will be combing over the spell list to cut out spells that don't fit with my preferences. In general, any spell that contributes to the "magical arms race" (that is, requires magical countermeasures for) is gone. Examples of this include teleportation and scrying (which require warding against those things). I'll also have to take a look at any monster summoning spells to see what's going on there. If they require concentration, I'll probably give them a pass.
Magic items: There are no +X items. I may ease up on this and say that +X weapons only add damage while +X armors give you DR. If I go the +X as damage or DR route, I'm thinking of turning each +1 of the item into 1d6 damage or DR. That's just off the top of my head; I have no idea how the math works out.
Wound tracks: I'll be using my modified version of 4e's disease tracks to model actual injuries like broken bones. HP does that horribly, which is appropriate because HP wasn't meant to do that, so I need something to handle it and I've had success with that during 4e.
Anything else is wait and see at the moment.
My first houserule will be not buying into the starter set. It's blatantly a money grab how they're releasing.
The next houserule is to watch these forums and specifically a few posters here, I trust, if they give the full set of rulebooks accolades.
Then, once I can buy all three core books on amazon/ebay/bargin bin for not $150.00 I will finally be able to post in this thread the ways I will make D&D 5e my own.
I am looking at healing and most likely either rewriting the monsters or just running the 2e versions instead.
Rastapopoulos wrote:
I'll be running a homebrew setting Inspired by the write ups in the playtest. I won't be house ruling the game to start with as I'd like to see how it runs rather than bring in assumptions from previous editions.
Well, first of all I have to find some players 
maybe this summer, though I'm in my final year of university. I'll use a setting of my own, either the swashbuckly Shrieking Seas, or the Daggervale. It depends on my players' preferences. As for the rules, if we start at 1st level I might bump the initial HP a bit; if we start at 2nd level or later, no changes. But I'll allow for classes and races from the latest playtest packet, not just Basic.
I will most likely have some houserules for my non-Adventurer's League campaign;
Long Rest: Regain all HDs and no HP.
Ability Score maximum: Ability score cap of 18 without magic items.
Attunement: No limit on magic items attunement.
I prefer low magic campaign and to have control over magic items fully IMC so i will unlock attunement limit. As for ability scores limit, its to both be in line with old school limit 3-18 (as Rodney put, numbers matters!) and because i think it sits better with BA. I like more gritty style of game personally so the long rest will regain all HD and no HP and there will be lots of hobgoblins and bugbears to tear PCs apart! 
Like Mecha, I too am not sure if I will play 5e. If I do though here are some minimal houserules I'd have to make.
Advantage/Disadvantage
The DM will adjudicate whether advantage or disadvantage is in effect when multiple reasons exist for both. So instead of cancelling out for sure, the DM will use judgment and declare the state of affairs.
Healing
1. Ignore hit dice and restore level hp/day for each long rest.
2. Instead of Second Wind just give the fighter a flat 9 extra hit points. (I've thought about the toughness feat but it's too weak at low level and too strong at high level).
3. If any non-magical class has a non-magical healing power provide a magical explanation or an alternative. Fighters and Rogues though will not be magical.
Other power fixes I would like but would probably do myself for the
Fighter
1. Indomitable --> Advantage/Disadvantage on all saves
2. Action Surge --> one use per encounter.
3. Survivor --> For each die of healing you receive you get to add your constitution bonus
Rogue
1. Stroke of Luck --> On any saving throw or attribute check when you roll a 5 or less, you reroll. A second failure requires you to use the original die roll as the result. If the second roll is successful then use it. This is automatic and not a player decision and thus is not dissociative.
2. Thieves Cant --> No. I will allow something akin in the form of signs and procedures common to thieves. Maybe that is all they mean but for me it's not a communicable language.
3. Reliable Talent --> Fine except I might say that a roll of a 1 is still a 1. There has to be some chance for failure.
Wizard
Arcane Recovery --> Gone. I might give a slot or two extra to make up for it.
Cantrips --> Instead of at-will, the caster will just get a lot of cantrip spell slots. I'm thinking somewhere between 30 and 50.
Spell Slots --> I will likely keep the existing wizard as one option. I will offer though a fixed spell slot system akin to 2e that essentially doubles the number of spell slots. You have to pick ahead of time.
Cleric
Cantrips --> Instead of at-will, the caster will just get a lot of cantrip spell slots. I'm thinking somewhere between 30 and 50.
I'm pretty happy with the cleric. I like the new spell system for the cleric too. It seems to fit the cleric better than the wizard conceptually.
Now you see why I'm on the fence. :-).
Edit: I agree with Mecha on multiclassing. I prefer 2e approach so add that.
If I play it, I'll include a wound module. But I'm terribly close to leaving for Microlite, even though I like the new rules set. It's fairly simple, but I'm up for even simpler.
Maybe all of us old school people should just get together and rewrite the basic pdf to strip out all of the stuff we hate and just share it around amongst ourselves.
The more I study 5e though the more I believe I'm probably a 3e person. I wouldn't need to simplify that many aspects of it.
Here is a good example of the 5e thinking versus the 3e thinking...
Use Magic Device.
In 5e, they just give it to you wholesale at 13th level. In 3e, you have to increase a skill until it becomes useful which interestingly is probably around 13th level. :-). Once explains where you got it from and the other just hands you the result. I think I'm more of a system guy. I like the rules to build upon themselves and be constructive.
My number one reason for liking 5e over 3e would be the fat feats, the bounded accuracy (though I could compromise halfway between 3e and 5e), and the monster manual approach.
Maybe the DMG will give me more of what I am looking for but I don't have a ton of faith they can pull that off. Still. I am rooting for them to do it.
I'm waiting for something in 5e to WOW me before I decide.
Emerikol. wrote:
Lawolf wrote:
Emerikol. wrote:
kev777 wrote:
Emerikol. wrote:
dmgorgon wrote:
Muskets, Insanity rules, Henchmen, Contacts, and the Scholar class.
Attunement is based on Charisma.
PC's get half a bonus language per Intelligence Mod.
Drinking and Endurance skills
Gazra wrote:
dmgorgon wrote:
I'm considering a ton of stuff but one thing I'm probably going to do is change the initiative system.
I'm going to return to the old school standard of declaring actions first and then rolling initiative afterwards. I will also have initiative rolled every round but not allow dexterity to modify initiative rolls (except maybe for the first round).
I can certainly understand why most people don't want to do it that way, but I like that it makes combat more unpredictable and chaotic.
Gazra wrote:
akaddk wrote:
Emerikol. wrote:
Gazra wrote:
Well, I never use HP as strictly meat, so it doesn't bother me unless it's something extreme like a Warlord shouting HP into you. If a player takes a particularly brutal hit that drops him to negative, I'll require some magical healing before he can get back to max capacity.
Emerikol. wrote:
I'm gonna have to play it some before I know for sure what, exactly, needs fiddling with. Based on past experience, we'll prolly ignore opportunity attacks. Didn't care 'em in 2e's Combat & Tactics (where they first popped up) and I still don't. Something about 'em . . .
Also, based on our group's habit of kicking in the door and rolling initiative (or is that rolling for init and kicking in the door 
?), we'll prolly add an extra HD of hit points at level 1; so the PCs aren't too squishy right off the bat. docdoom mentioned the same idea earlier, and as he says, we'll see.
When playing v3.5, we started at 3rd level. I'd really like to give levels 1 and 2 a try though --if the PCs are too squishy tho, we'll prolly just go back to that.
= = =
One thing I plan to do to make the game mine is convert tons of stuff from earlier editions. Unlike many posters here (or so it seems to me ), I am not very good at original game design (like, at all). I am a longtime hobbyist thought, and I have a knack for knowing what works in our games (and what doesn't). I wanna get as much use outta my shelved boxed sets as possible (especially stuff from the 2e era). I think DDN is just the game for me to have some fun with in that regard.
Orzel wrote:
I've been running the playtest rules in a homebrew setting for about 30 sessions and found a lot to like. Experimented with slower healing but didn't find a good alternative I liked and reverted to the rules as written. Mostly my houserules are additional weapons (especially polearms) and weapon properties (like disarm, trip, and dismount) and rules for those kinds of special attacks. I've played four other editions (Original Basic, AD&D, 3.5, 4) plus Pathfinder and this is my favorite rules set by far. Deep options with easy math, consistency, and tons of flavor. Very happy.
I'm okay with using the defualt in just about everything in Basic. That said, I might decide to adjust the dial on healing a tad.
I too am also curious about the vampire and creatures with "energy drain" type attacks. I'm not sure if I prefer the maximum hit points reduction via necrotic damage we saw in the playtest, or if I would rather go with ability damage like the 3E version of the monster. Making the vampire a playable class or template is also something I'm going to end up doing, as I have a campaign world with an empire of undead based around the ideas of the City of Nocturnus from 3E's Libris Mortis and Hammerfast from 4E.
Artifact wrote:
Fear, Horror, and Madness
Curses
Ravenloft races
Lasting wounds
Pie
Dark Powers checks
Simple Firearms
I'm also working on a system that adds a new background option tied to a curse or corruption that I'm calling "Dark Shadows".
The_Jester wrote:
Luciender wrote:
kev777 wrote:
FallingIcicle wrote:
My only hosue rule will be to not assume I know better than the designers until I've been gridlocked on a game mechanic for no reason.
Until then, vanilla 5E all the way.
Luciender wrote:
Grifford wrote:
GhostStepper wrote:
kev777 wrote:
I'm going to be applying the following principles (derived from my exposure to Fate):
1) Simplicity and flexibility are key. I'd rather avoid set DCs and fiddly subsystems wherever possible, especially when 'ability check + proficiency bonus if it makes sense vs. whatever DC makes sense, opposed roll or saving throw' works just fine (so, for instance, I won't be using the grapple rules: I'll just say "Make a... hmm, you're a heavyweight sumo wrestler and he's an oversized stick insect, so make a Con check with double your proficiency bonus vs. his advantaged Dex save.") If the player wants to use an existing mechanic, they're responsible for remembering how it works. If it takes more than about five seconds to figure out the rules for an action, it just becomes an ability check against a reasonable DC. Basically exactly the same way I played 2e (when I didn't understand the rules).
2) Narrative properties take precedence over mechanical ones. Whenever the rules conflict with what makes sense at the moment, the rules lose. If you try to abuse that to get mechanical benefits, karma will bite you. I may even go so far as to have each player write down one line for each of their features that describes what it does in non-mechanical terms (which also lets them interpret reflavorable features according to their concept).
3) I'll be adapting the Inspiration system to work more like fate points (complete with offering Inspiration as incentive to act in a certain manner rather than giving it as a reward after acting in that manner, and requiring narrative justification for how the character is inspired by their traits when they use it).
4) Equipment is mostly background information. If you need an item for a particular action and it's reasonable that you might be carrying it, you are assumed to have it. Additionally, your equipment looks like whatever you want it to regardless of its function. I'd also like to see players using the common-sense interpretation of many weapon styles ("the halberd is designed to be used against horsemen, so it makes sense that I'd have advantage when trying to use the bill-hook to drag this guy off his mount") rather than just relying on the stats on the table.
5) I'll be discouraging 'attack' as the default action in favor of activities that justify granting advantage (again, according to what makes sense at the time).
6) 'Die' won't be the default assumption for losing all your hit points. Whoever drops you gets to decide what happens to you, and you only start making death saves if they actually have murderous intent (if they don't specify, it's assumed they just leave you for dead). Massive damage isn't a thing. Also, because the homebrew setting is a fantasy alternate-universe WWI and I want it to be both gritty and surviveable, starting hit points will be max hit die + Con score, but you only recover half your max hit points with a long rest. And the vampire cleric can't die at all (even if she's killed, she automatically rezzes the next day).
7) I'd like people to use the standard array for ability scores, since I know my players hate point buy but I'm not keen on situations like what happened in my first (and only) 4e game, where I presumed 16 and 15 to be good scores and got completely upstaged by someone else who thought that good scores only started at 16. If I allow for rolled abilities, I may specify 'no rerolls: either you keep what you rolled or you use the standard array' (although it'll be on the honor system).
Building my own setting, along with houserules that fit said campaign. Campaign has strong Tarot Arcana themes. Rules including:
1) Cleric Domains - There are 3, each based on the "Celestial Arcana" (Sun = Healing, Moon = Divination/Illusions and Star = War)
2) Wizard Schools - Only 1 "school", Runic. Wizards can modify their spells by expending Runes or by "burning" them for various effects. Takes place of Cantrips
3) A system for town/fortress building
4) Multiclass requires time and training
Otherwise, I am happy with the basic rules as stated. Once I get further into it, I will have to take a look.
Gonna change healing system soon, hope that will be a viable alternative in DMG.
For now i think i'll make players replenish their full HD pool after long rest, and that's it. I'm thinking about changing Second Wind too, never liked autoregen for martial classes, i'll go for something like that: "You can regain 1d10 + Class lvl hits with a bonus action after been hurt during combat".
After really reading the equipment section I found a little thing I'm gonna houserule right away. Chains can be broken with a DC20 Strength check. I'm moving it up to DC 22. I don't want your average guy to be able to burst a chain without a tool ever. STR 14, 5% of the time... I can suspend my disbelief that far.
Attributes - Standard array is what I'll be using in my games. Changing the array to 16, 14, 13, 12, 10 & 8
Spell preparation - As it stands now, spellcasters can prep a number of spells equal to Ability Modifier + Caster Level. I feel like this all but necessitates players maxing their spellcasting stat, which makes playing races without an Intelligence bump pretty much unviable. Therefore, spellcasters can prep a number of spells equal to 4 + Caster Level, regardless of their spellcasting stat. Spellcasting bonus and save DC remain the same, however.
For clerics, I'm considering changing number of spells prepared, to number of spells known.
Healing - Considering dropping Hit Dice entirely and replacing with a system where characters recover 25% of their HP max during short and extended rests.
Monsters - I'll be giving interesting abilities to low level "mook" monsters to make them more interesting.
Hobgoblins: Phalanx Formation - gain +2 bonus to AC when adjacent to another hobgoblin with this ability.
Orcs: Bloodthristy Savage - When reduced to 0 HP, an orc can make a melee attack as a reaction before dying
Bullywugs: Poison Skin - When reduced to 0 hp, the attacker must succeed a DC 10 Constitution save or become poisoned
Ability Drain - If any monsters have ability draining attacks, I will change it to persistent disadavantage with all attacks, checks and saves with that ability score, until you receive a restoration spell or something.
I'm gonna lick the back of my books. That way if you're touching them, I'm licking you.
*Greivous wounds mod
*Encumberance as slots, not weight (like torchbearer)
*Fear Horror and Madness (for when I play Ravenloft. Not if. When.)
docdoom77 wrote:
Rastapopoulos wrote:
I think I've played long enough to make a decision on things I definitely don't like such as martial healing or HD recovery. On other things I will probably try it out before I would consider houseruling it. Something like advantage/disadvantage for example. If it works well I'll play it and if it doesn't I wouldn't.
"Gizmoduc_5000 wrote:
Rastapopoulos wrote:
Jaguar451 wrote: