D&D 5E Which Homebrew Rules do you use? Fixes, styles of game, pillars, etc.

[DEFCON 1]

House and variant rules I use over all of my 5E games:

- Skills are not set to specific abilities. I ask for an ability check first, and then if a skill could apply to it, I allow it to be added to the roll.
- Traps, secret doors, and other inanimate things that are hidden are found with Investigation.
- Acrobatics, Intimidation, Medicine, Sleight of Hand, Performance removed as skills. Dexterity (Athletics) replaces Acrobatics, Strength (Persuasion) replaces Intimidation, Wisdom (Survival) replaces Medicine, Dexterity (Deception) replaces Sleight of Hand, Dexterity or Intelligence (Persuasion) replaces Performance depending on the type of performance or instrument.
- Commerce (money-related matters), Etiquette (nobility and high society-related matters), and Folklore (commoner and low society-related matters) added to the skill list.
- Special crafting rules for Alchemy, Poisons, Tinkering, Herbalism etc.

House and variant rules exclusive to my current Curse of Strahd campaigns:

- The Exhaustion table replaces the 3 Death Saves table and every time you reach 0 HP (and/or fail a death saving throw) you drop down a level on it. Thus it requires 6 failures to die, but each failure causes exhaustion penalties.
- 8 hours for a Short Rest / 3-5 days for a Long Rest, depending on the number of Exhaustion levels a PC needs to recover from.
- Re-worked the Backgrounds and Feats to be setting specific.
- Re-worked the Wild Mage table to include more options and make many of them setting specific.

Lots of other minor things I probably created on the fly that I can't remember at the moment.

 

[cbwjm]

Sorry if i revamp an old thread that I've started myself. Now that the dust has settled, and many of us had penty of time to adjust to the "new" edition: how about your house rules? What have you modified from this wonderful edition? These are a few of my own:

1) Searching for traps, secret doors, and such with Intelligence (Investigation) instead of Wisdom (Perception).
2) Fighting in melee range without a melee weapon, shield or martial arts gives advantage to the attacks against you (being disarmed is dangerous).
3) Using Hit Dice is dependant on Medicine checks and first aid kits. Also (this isn't a houserule), I use the Natural recovery option from the DMG, and short rests only allow to use 1 hit dice unless the Medicine roll is 20 or higher (see below).
4) I've made Medicine work with Intelligence, and every time a creature uses Medicine to use a Hit Dice, I grant a free hit dice if they roll a 20, two if they roll a 25, and three if they roll a 30 (I like to reward taking this feat).
5) Every time a character falls to 0 HP, it gains a level of exhaustion.
6) Druids' wildshape share HP with the human form. Temporary hit points may come only when the druid polymorphs in a creature with more HP than him, and it's the difference between the maximum HP of the druid and the beast form HP- injures are carried also from one shape to another (so, if the druid has 10/25 hit points, in dire wolf form it has 22 hit points, and 12 of them are temporary). If the creatures have equal less HP than the druid, then they share HP.
7) Druids may wildshape only on beasts they have studied alive for enough time.
8) Long rests are food dependant. Short rests are water dependant.
9) The Goodberry spell requires a freshly picken berry, consumed by the spell. Berries harvested with a gold sickle last until used.
10) Banished Create and destroy water and Create food and water spells, and the ranger's and outlander's features only grant Advantage on foraging, instead of auto-succeed. I've revised also the foraging rules.

I use other house rules, specifically to enhance the survivalist aspect of the game, but they are a bit complex.

I like rule 5, I might add that into my games.

I think rule 1 might already be the default in that if you are searching for traps, secret doors then you'd be using investigation. Perception might allow you to see a shaft of light or a draft coming through a crack in the wall but investigation would be the skill to find out how to open it. I do sometimes find the use of these skills a little vague though.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Sorry if i revamp an old thread that I've started myself. Now that the dust has settled, and many of us had penty of time to adjust to the "new" edition: how about your house rules? What have you modified from this wonderful edition?

My house rules:

Simple changes

1.) On ability checks only, an odd score gives an extra +1. So Str 19 means you have +4 to Strength-based attacks and saves, but +5 to Strength checks.

2.) You can use both your move and your action in a Readied action, and can maintain a readied action from round to round.

3.) Champions: Improved Critical lets you auto-crit on natural 17-20, Superior Critical lets you auto-crit on 13-20, and Remarkable Athlete stacks with proficiency. So a Str 18 Champion 9 would have +4+4+2=+10 to Strength (Athletics) checks, not just +8.

4.) Everyone uses spell points instead of spell slots. A player can opt for DMG spell points or use the rules here: http://bluishcertainty.blogspot.com/2016/12/spell-points-by-formula-5e-variant-rule.html. Must decide when spellcasting is first learned; cannot change.

5.) An attacker unseen by his target has advantage only on melee attack rolls, not ranged attack rolls; however, he does qualify for sneak attack damage at range despite not having advantage if he is unseen.

6.) Anyone with any weapon can attack vital areas at -5 to-hit for +5 to damage. GWM and Sharpshooter feats merely increase the bonus when you are using those weapons.

7.) Casting a non-bonus-action/non-reaction spell while moving at more than half speed, riding a horse or on a moving ship forces a concentration save every round even if it's not a concentration spell (Fireball) or it fizzles; getting hit when you're trying to cast a non-reaction spell likewise forces a concentration save to avoid fizzle (if you've been hit earlier on this round and start casting after due to Delay, you must make the same concentration save.) Fizzling does not cost spell points but does waste your action to no effect.

8.) There is no Disengage. Opportunity attacks occur when you move at full speed away from an enemy (turning your back). You can back away at half speed without turning your back. Creatures like beholders and black puddings have no backs to turn and can move at full speed in any direction without provoking opportunity attacks.

Remark: Dashing while moving backwards replaces and is equivalent to Disengage. You move half speed ('15), but you do it twice because you Dashed, so you move 30' without provoking opportunity attacks--that's why Disengage does not exist, because it's redundant.

9.) Falling damage doubles for every size category over Medium, and halves for every size category under Small. For example, an Ogre falling 100' would take 20d6 HP of damage, not 10d6, because it is Large; and a Fire Giant falling the same distance would take 40d6 damage because it is Huge; but a housecat would take only 5d6 because it is Tiny, and a rat would take 2d6 because it is Tiny II.

Complex changes

1.) Open-ended d20 rolls. Since skill checks and saves, unlike attack rolls, don't auto-succeed on a 20 or auto-fail on a 1, but I always want there to be some chance of failure, on a 20 you re-roll at +10 and take the highest roll. Roll again at +20 if you roll another 20, etc. If you roll a 1, re-roll at -10 and take the lowest. If it's obvious that you've already failed or succeeded you can of course stop rolling already.

2.) Different initiative variant which makes complex plans easier to execute for those with higher intelligence. Declare actions in Int order (descending), resolve all turns concurrently but use initiative contests to resolve order of actions when necessary. Alert gives bonuses to both declaration and resolution. Delay action is possible; Dodge and Maintain Readied Action always win initiative. Feints are possible with Deception vs. Insight contest. Ask DM for details (or consult brief writeup here http://bluishcertainty.blogspot.com/2017/01/simultaneous-initiative-in-5e.html).

3.) Magic Resistance and Legendary Resistance works differently--requires a reaction and can dispel a spell it's affected by, regardless of whether or not it has a save. Details here: http://bluishcertainty.blogspot.com/2016/03/5e-magic-resistance-variant-rule.html

4.) Concurrent multiclassing is an option. With concurrent multiclassing, you can advance in two classes or three at the same time, e.g. you could be a 10th level Battlemaster/Necromancer with the abilities of both a 10th level Battlemaster and a 10th level Necromancer. See http://bluishcertainty.blogspot.com/2017/01/5e-old-school-multiclassing-rules_29.html for more details.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Re #2, I tend to either use either Investigation or Perception at player preference, or require Investigation for secret doors and such, or say Perception to detect presence, Investigation to work out how to open it. I think "Passive Investigation" is a bit silly but due to the Feat I have to allow take-10 on Investigate.

I've definitely considered abolishing Perception and Investigation as separate skills and just making everything related to physical investigation Intelligence (Perception).

 

[schnee]

I've definitely considered abolishing Perception and Investigation as separate skills and just making everything related to physical investigation Intelligence (Perception).

Eh, the blisteringly intelligent academic that can cure cancer and not realize he's been followed for days and days by a rival organization's spy is a real thing and IMO needs to be reflected in the rules.

So does the bouncer has never read a book but can peer through a crowd and instinctively understand who is jumpy and about to start based on subtle body language cues.

Book learning vs. street smart.

Even if you have doubts in reality, it's a fantastic trope for story telling based on character types.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Eh, the blisteringly intelligent academic that can cure cancer and not realize he's been followed for days and days by a rival organization's spy is a real thing and IMO needs to be reflected in the rules.

Sounds to me like an intelligent guy with low wisdom and no Insight proficiency. I.e. I wouldn't use Investigation for this anyway, and Perception by itself will be of limited use.

So does the bouncer has never read a book but can peer through a crowd and instinctively understand who is jumpy and about to start based on subtle body language cues.

Ditto same. Perception-proficient bouncer, possibly with Expertise.

There are definitely downsides to the idea of smoothing the skills together, but they relate primarily to the question of "What if you do want a way to mechanically represent deductive capabilities?" (And the answer is, if you want that, don't use this rule. If I did this, it would be to put all responsibility for e.g. deducing traps and solving riddles back on player skill instead of character skill. However, I'm not sure yet whether I really want to do that or not.)

 

[cbwjm]

I'd probably consider the bouncer to be proficient in insight over perception.

 

[MiraMels]

I've definitely considered abolishing Perception and Investigation as separate skills and just making everything related to physical investigation Intelligence (Perception).

I'm considering the impact of combining Investigation and Insight, personally. But Investigation definitely needs some help staying relevant. I chose insight because it's a popular pick at my table, and it's really only used for one thing. ("Is this NPC lying to me?")

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I'm considering the impact of combining Investigation and Insight, personally. But Investigation definitely needs some help staying relevant. I chose insight because it's a popular pick at my table, and it's really only used for one thing. ("Is this NPC lying to me?")

I actually use Insight for a few things, including "is this combatant feinting?" and "which one of these hobgoblins is the leader?"

My discomfort with Investigation stems from the fact that it has two separate roles:

(1) Discovering physical objects like traps and secret doors, and
(2) Doing deduction on the players' behalf (deducing the location of a hidden object, finding the weak point in a tunnel).

#1 feels like something that should be Perception (or Perception AND Investigation) but was tacked on to Investigation to bulk it out a bit. In practice I often make these gated on both Perception and Investigation, e.g. Perception DC 11 to smell the goat's blood and Investigation DC 18 to realize these funny crenellations are actually booby traps, and that Goatherd Bryan's missing goat must be squished under one of the ones that have already been triggered.

#2 is something that I have trouble reconciling with game flow: I don't really like saying, "Here's a riddle, but if anyone has passive Investigation of 23+ you can flip over this piece of paper and read the answer; or you can give a Schrodinger answer and roll an active Investigation check to see if your answer turns out to be what's written here on this paper." It works okay but it doesn't feel quite right. Now, maybe I just need better game structures to make it flow more smoothly; but maybe I should just abolish the dice-based approach entirely and let a riddle be just a riddle.

How do YOU guys handle riddles and puzzles and traps? Do you give players a dice-based option, and if so how hard do you make it compared to solving the riddle/whatever with your brain?

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I'd probably consider the bouncer to be proficient in insight over perception.

I agree. That was a typo on my part. I meant to say it was a parallel case with the "followed by a spy" case, i.e. dependent on Insight. Somehow that came out as "Perception" on my keyboard.