D&D 5E What House Rules Can You NOT Live Without?

[el-remmen]

Heh... yeah, like I said, I was so deadset on keeping that movement measurement that I never even bothered to look up what 5E actually did. I guess the 5E designers agreed that the alternating 5'/10' was unnecessary.

Funny, I am the opposite. I never bothered to check, b/c I can't imagine it not costing (in my group's language) 1.5 boxes of movement to move diagonally.

EDIT: That is to say, I find the language of "alternating" confusing and prefer measuring distances in boxes anyway. So 1 box horizontal, 1.5 boxes diagonal is nice and easy to remember.

 

[Oofta]

I'm probably an outlier, I've just gone to hexes instead of squares. Works more logically for my brain.

 

[Strider1973]

I'm currently playing in two campaigns, in one as a DM and in the other as a player. As a DM I play the D&D using the Rules As Written. I'm just too lazy maybe to change the rules... ;-))) I've had some issues with Dex being all-too-important as a Stat in D&D 5e, and with rapiers being very (almost too) good and convenient as a weapon; I tried to introduce some house rules about this topic, but I was really never satisfied. In the end I decided to play the game as it is: after all, there are some very good 3PP archetypes that reward Strength based fighters, and even the Cavalier in the Xanathar's Guide to Everything seems to prefer having a high Strength score.
In the campaign in which I'm a player, our DM has completely removed Hit Dice and Healing during Short Rests, and lets us heal half our total hit points after a Long Rest. Moreover, Finesse Weapons let a character add her Dex Bonus only to hit, not to damage rolls: that is Strength field.
I usually like and prefer playing a game as it is written: if it's too broken, for me, or unplayable (it has happened for me with a couple of fantasy tabletop rpg that seemed to have a great potential, at least initially), I prefer changing the game itself.
Nowadays, D&D 5e is one of my four go-to-fantasy rpg, at the same level with the other three: when I'm a DM I decide which I'm going to use depending on the characteristics and the interests of the group of players I'm going to play with.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I'm probably an outlier, I've just gone to hexes instead of squares. Works more logically for my brain.

But how do you map out dungeons? The rooms are all squares and rectangles and such and corridors are 10-feet wide, right?

 

[Oofta]

But how do you map out dungeons? The rooms are all squares and rectangles and such and corridors are 10-feet wide, right?

Don't tell anyone, but all my dungeons are ... wait better put this in a spoiler ... made by bees!

 

[DND_Reborn]

Don't tell anyone, but all my dungeons are ... wait better put this in a spoiler ... made by bees!

COOL!!!

 

[Oofta]

If we're considering alternate rules, I always forget about stat generation. I'd be hesitant to join a game where we used straight rolls for ability score generation. I've just had bad experiences with it and have never (even going back to before there was an official alternative) liked rolling for stats.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm currently playing in two campaigns, in one as a DM and in the other as a player. As a DM I play the D&D using the Rules As Written. I'm just too lazy maybe to change the rules... ;-))) I've had some issues with Dex being all-too-important as a Stat in D&D 5e, and with rapiers being very (almost too) good and convenient as a weapon; I tried to introduce some house rules about this topic, but I was really never satisfied. In the end I decided to play the game as it is: after all, there are some very good 3PP archetypes that reward Strength based fighters, and even the Cavalier in the Xanathar's Guide to Everything seems to prefer having a high Strength score.

The 5e weapons table has some wonky balance. Nothing too severe, but rapiers being a little too much bang for your buck is one of the biggest ones, right next to tridents being nothing more than spears that cost more and are harder to get proficiency with.

I have a revised weapon table that isn’t a must-have for me, but I do prefer to use when I DM.

 

[spinjammer]

Two house rules:

Drinking potions as a bonus action when you have a special fast draw potion belt (5 slots).
Rolling hp when levelling up: Player rolls, I roll (without the playing seeing the roll), Player looks at his roll and decides if he would rather use my roll (without knowing what it is) or his. If my roll is lower and he takes it - bad luck.

 

[Charlaquin]

Oh! You know what’s an absolute must-have for me, both as a DM and as a player? Experience. Not technically a house rule, but story-based advancement is such a common house-rule that I think it’s worth noting here. No, I won’t accept leveling up whenever the octopus in your brain decides it’s time for me to, I prefer to have a measurable indication of my progress towards leveling up, thank you very much.