D&D 5E House Rules That Make The Game Better

[DaveDash]

Grapple/Shove uses Str/Dex instead of athletics/acrobatics. Makes it much more potent in the hands of monsters now.
If you roll a nat 20 you get an inspiration to hand out to someone (including yourself).
I generally ignore the rules around spell casting and S/M components, however we still say that casters have to be able to easily free one hand to cast (so shields and swords are generally out, unless you take Warcaster). But you can wield a 2h weapon and take your hand off to cast spells without having to drop it or anything silly.

 

[Flamestrike]

I think I only have two, not counting Planescape specific rules.

• 15 minute short rest
• Everyone gets a feat at first level (variant human get 2)

As far as Planescape goes, I have extra skill uses, extra spells, and some Faction rules.

Doing the same. Short rests are just arbitrary periods of time from 5 minutes up, and you'll generally get away with 1 every 2-3 encounters, and 2-3 per day. Also giving everyone a feat at 1st. More variety, opens more concepts, gives happier players, and doesn't increase player power too much.

Here is a house rule I use and love:

'A monster can substitute a use of its legendary resistance to also automatically pass an ability check it has just failed'

Allows shovers, stealthers and grapplers to also contribute to the attrition of a monsters legendary resistances, and makes sure those 'BBEGs' dont get one shotted by the Uber grappler or assassin, without making them completely invulnerable to such tactics.

I also allow advantage on grapple and shove attempts if youre a bigger size than your opponent. Technically thats an 'inherent capabaility' but monsters are often larger than PC's and suck at Athletics, so I actually find it evens the thing up (and just feels more realistic).

Finally, another one I love:

'If you are reduced to 0 HP and not killed outright, you may instead be reduced to 1 HP and accept a roll on the lingering injuries chart. You may use this option once per long rest. Only PC's and some DM approved important NPC's characters can take advantage of this rule.'

It provides a critical hit/ injuries system that is totally 'player buy in' AND it doesn't hurt the PC's (since you effectively choose to take the injury, but stay up and in the fight).

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

Everyone gets a feat at first level (variant human get 2)

I've been thinking about implementing this, myself.

 

[Flamestrike]

I've been thinking about implementing this, myself.

I've been doing it mate; it breaks nothing.

The game is pretty swingy at low levels, so the slight extra boost avoids TPK's, and (importantly) really allows for a lot of concepts to be realized at 1st level that wouldn't otherwise.

It's also a way for demihumans to start with a stat of 18's at 1st level with the right feat choice, which is a very tempting thing for a lot of them to do (Half orc tavern brawlers are definitely things in my games).

I actually find I get a broader range of races than the 80 percent human choice that's normal in most other 5th edition games i play.

 

[Psikerlord#]

That reminds me of another house rule, albeit character creation one - you can put your ability stat bonuses on any stat. So when you choose your race, you are choosing it based on matters other than "which race boosts my main stats".

 

[ad_hoc]

I've been doing it mate; it breaks nothing.

The game is pretty swingy at low levels, so the slight extra boost avoids TPK's, and (importantly) really allows for a lot of concepts to be realized at 1st level that wouldn't otherwise.

It's also a way for demihumans to start with a stat of 18's at 1st level with the right feat choice, which is a very tempting thing for a lot of them to do (Half orc tavern brawlers are definitely things in my games).

I actually find I get a broader range of races than the 80 percent human choice that's normal in most other 5th edition games i play.

The starting 18 sounds like a problem to me.

I think stats are already too high in 5e.

Still, it is fun to have feats. I think I would like something closer to only allowing to buy up to 14 and have 23 or 25 points to buy with but get that extra feat.

The other problem is that it weakens fighters (and also rogues) as their extra ASIs are no longer as strong because you get diminishing returns.

 

[Fralex]

I've been using the Speed Factor Initiative variant and it's actually sped combat up as far as I can tell. Everybody decides what they're doing ahead of time, which means that A) everyone is prepared when their turn comes up, B) regular play transitions into combat really smoothly when the only change is "people take turns saying what they'll do and then doing it" to "people take turns saying what they'll do, roll a die, and then take turns doing it," C) I barely have to write anything down to track initiative, and D) initiative modifiers and effects that boost it become more interesting and relevant.

 

[Flamestrike]

The starting 18 sounds like a problem to me.

I think stats are already too high in 5e.

Been playing since the red box, and 18 in a stat after racial mods (in rare cases) has never been too high.

One high stat and a couple of dump stats is actually a pretty poor investment in 5th edition. Spreading your stat points out tends to make for a much more survivable character.

Also; for ever Half Orc barbarian tavern brawler or Mountain Dwarf heavy armor master gunning for Strength 18 at first level, there is a Strength 16 Half Orc or Dwarf with an extra 2 points to allocate to another ability score, and the Great weapon master, Polearm master or Shield master feats.

Still, it is fun to have feats. I think I would like something closer to only allowing to buy up to 14 and have 23 or 25 points to buy with but get that extra feat.

I toyed around with a Shadowrun style priority system.

You can either have 30 ability score points, or 27 and a feat (along those lines).

The other problem is that it weakens fighters (and also rogues) as their extra ASIs are no longer as strong because you get diminishing returns.

Disagree here mate. If they run out of intresting feats, it lets them use those extra ASI's for... well.. ASI's! This improves saves and skills (survivability and utility).

Also, I do use a fair few homebrewed feats.

 

[manuzed78]

Since 4e, I hate death saving throws,
we re playing old school with negative hit points
you loose 1 hit point per round in negatives unless you heal with a medicine check (that stop bleeding)
or magical healing that goes up to 1 HP
You die at a négative score that is CONSTITUTION score + LEVEL

We like that rule

 

[pukunui]

I'm pretty happy with the 5e rules, so I haven't got many house rules:

- Hit Points: At 1st level, add your Con score to your hit points instead of your Con mod.
- Healing Surge: As an action, you can spend up to half your hit dice to regain hit points.
- Feats: If you're playing a non-human race, you can trade your +2 racial ability bonus for a feat.
- Wild Magic: A wild magic surge triggers on a d20 roll equal to or less than the level of the spell slot cast (instead of always only on a 1).
- Injuries: You can choose to take a lingering injury instead of die.

I have also been using Plot Twist Cards in place of Inspiration but I'm thinking of just switching back to the default actually. My players just aren't really using the cards when they get them, so there's not much point.

Other house rules I've considered but haven't implemented:
- Adding "radiant" and "necrotic" to the list of things the barbarian's bear resistance doesn't apply to.
- Reducing the length of a short rest to 20 minutes.
- Turning the personality traits and inspiration mechanic into more of a FATE aspects sort of thing, whereby you have a pool of inspiration points that you can spend by invoking your traits, while the DM can give you more points by compelling those same traits. I haven't worked on it in any great detail, though.


EDIT:

• Setting-specific: Raise Dead only available to 3 deities/temples/clerics of those deities. 1 Good (goddess of healing & life, cuz, ya know, Healing and Life!). 1 Neutral (goddess of death, cuz she decides, "You're dead when [I say] your fate's tapestry is done and not before!" Raise Dead through her temple her may or may not come with riders/demands being made/services to be performed upon your return to the mortal realm). 1 Evil (cuz he's an elder god with "tuh powaaah!" like that...that will bring you back to be his slave/lackey for the rest of your, now, unnatural life).

I really like this one! Very flavorful! If I ever get around to running a homebrew world, I might do something like this too.


For all of you who've said you use house rules for initiative: how are they working out for you? I'm not satisfied with the default method for initiative, as I find working out the initiative order grinds everything to a halt and can sometimes take the tension out of a pending combat. I imagine rerolling initiative - and thus have to reorder the list - every round would make that feeling even worse and thus slow the game down even more. And I'm not sure I like the idea of side initiative either, in which all of one side goes and then all of the other side (assuming they haven't been completely decimated before they even get a turn). I've tried just running freeform combats without rolling initiative but my players don't really like that. So yeah - I have yet to find a method of running turn-based combats that I actually like.