D&D 5E Fun & Engaging House Rules

[77IM]

• Beyond the Wall has brilliantly streamlined yet evocative character classes, highly useful playbooks, and magic that feels more magical and folkloric than most D&D clones. But it retains many OSR quirks that feel nonsensical to many newer gamers such as saves vs. poison, death, spells, etc.

Hot damn, I would pay good money for version of Beyond the Wall that could shed its OSR idiosyncrasies. Something "d20 lite" would be really awesome.

 

[John Brebeuf]

Any time a player rolls a 20 on any check, save or attack, award an inspiration point. This makes rolling a 20 even cooler and it helps award inspiration (something I always forget to do).

I really like this. It also takes the subjectivity out of awarding inspiration, and the feeling that, "Well, I awarded players X and Y inspiration, so I have to give it to Z too."

 

[Rhenny]

I really like this. It also takes the subjectivity out of awarding inspiration, and the feeling that, "Well, I awarded players X and Y inspiration, so I have to give it to Z too."

Exactly, I hate trying to decide when and if a player deserves an inspiration point.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Some variations of these have been said already, but here you go...

- stack up to three inspiration points (players do hoard them, by the way)
- group checks - +2 to skill check if helped by one or two people, +5 if helped by 3 or more - has to be an action for which it is possible for people to help (not picking a lock on a small chest) - courtesy of The Angry GM
- on leveling up, if player rolls less than average on Hit Die, they get average (for less squishy PCs)
- Roll initiative at the beginning of the session so can jump right into a combat when it comes up
- if spells are copied from a found/stolen spell book into a PCs spell book, the spells disappear from the original spell book (as if copied from a scroll). This caused the two wizard players in our group to negotiate a bit when splitting up the spells.
- implement some skill checks ala Matt Colville's method: Skill Challenges! Running the Game #21 - YouTube
- create "graduated success/failure" on some other skill checks - you'll need to prep this ahead of time accordingly. For example, when picking a complex lock, 20+ = immediate success 15-19 = takes 1 minute, 10-14 = takes 2 minutes and is not quiet, 5-9, takes 5 minutes and makes considerable noise, <5 takes 10 minutes and makes considerable noise and breaks two lock picks

 

[Phineas Q. Conundrum]

I think these are all good. My only real changes are to always incentivize players to use Intelligence and Strength over Wisdom and Dexterity. Initiative uses Intelligence modifier. Escaping from a grapple is only using Strength. There are quite a few Dexterity and Wisdom type characters in the party and I feel these help the other abilities become a little more powerful.
There are a ton of huge changes mentioned. I've always been in favor of simplification, but it's always about what the players enjoy and what's the most fun.

 

[Valdier]

Rather than type them all out, I'm just linking to our house rules document

We have modified little bits of a lot of things, including feats, classes, some healing spells, magic item creation, paladin alignments, etc.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NqxLcG2JO4sWrprys94juvszGx_knALmyEzTJvpG_Lo/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Blue]

Rather than type them all out, I'm just linking to our house rules document

We have modified little bits of a lot of things, including feats, classes, some healing spells, magic item creation, paladin alignments, etc.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NqxLcG2JO4sWrprys94juvszGx_knALmyEzTJvpG_Lo/edit?usp=sharing

Normally, I'm not a fan of large amounts of house rules unless it's to create a significantly different feel for a specific setting, but I am surprisingly happy with these. This is pretty good, and that's coming from being predisposed against it.

 

[cooperjer]

I have about 37 house rules, but a few come into play regularly. Critical hits deal max die damage plus one roll of damage dice (ie. 1d6+2 critical is 8 +1d6). Rolling a 1 on the attack roll allows the player an option to miss or miss, receive 1 inspiration plus a bonus inspiration to a teammate, roll on the critical fail table. The critical fail table has changes to HP, changes to movement, changes to perception, changes to the number of NPCs, etc. Players can give inspiration to other players for good role play. Inspiration stacks.

Sent from my VS988 using EN World mobile app

 

[cthulhu42]

When a PC drops below 0 HP and has to start making death saves, we don’t roll until someone reaches him to help or until combat ends. We just keep track of how many rounds pass, and how many saves he’ll have to make.

This means that none of the other PCs know anything about his status other than he’s dying and it’s been x rounds. We’ve found this more dramatic than knowing that “he’s made his first two saves so he’s not really in danger, I have at least two more rounda of attackkng the bad giys before I need to help him”.

Kind of minor but it helps make a PC going down a big deal.

We also add a level of exhaustion to PCs who reach 0 HP. This level of exhaustion stacks with others, but is automatically removed on a short or long rest.

I quite like this rule, but how do you account for the possibility of a natural 20 roll that might give the character back a hit point? If you didn't roll until someone came to his aide, he/she might have rolled that nat 20 and got up to take an action.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

• On a Natural 20, gain an Inspiration point. Otherwise, I tend to forget to give them out.
• May bank up to 3 Inspiration points. Why? Because I bought the d20 Coins: Copper, Silver and Gold. I hand out a copper, then a silver and then a gold. Doesn't really make a difference in play, but aesthetically, it appeals to me.
• Rolls that fail but are within 5 points, triggers a "No, but..." moment. That way failure doesn't have to be a complete failure. For example, "You didn't pick the lock. But after messing with it for a few minutes, you figured out the foibles of this lock. You can try again at Advantage."
• Conversely, rolling 5 or more over the amount, triggers a "Yes, and..." moment. For example, "Not only do you notice the Orc hiding in the bushes, but you notice that he's looking to the left at another Orc that you would never had seen if he hadn't been looking."
• PCs gain a level of Exhaustion when they go down. That way they can't just POP back up and be unaffected by the near-death experience.