D&D 5E Your Favorite 5e Houserule

[Flamestrike]

Or just ban guidance.

Spells fine as long as it isnt gamed.

 

[overgeeked]

Spells fine as long as it isnt gamed.

And since it will inevitably be gamed...

 

[Flamestrike]

And since it will inevitably be gamed...

You wrap your players on the knuckles and they learn an invaluable lesson.

I initially just stopped the player and asked them: How do you know X is about to make a skill check?

If they cant answer it, they get a disapproving stare down from me.

It should only ever be cast when there is a clear task that needs to be achieved (a lock being picked, a door forced etc). Mental skill checks (anything relying on Wis, Int and Cha) it's nearly impossible to justify.

This gets the players thinking about their PCs and not the numbers.

 

[Stalker0]

Or just ban guidance.

I did the following houserule for guidance:

Guidance
1 action
Duration: 1 hour (concentration)
Targets: Up to 6 people

Targets gain +1 to all ability checks for the duration.


So effectively its fire and forget. The party's cleric puts it up, everyone knows they get a simple +1 all the time. On the one hand, it reduces the big bonus to skills, on the other...it now works for checks it wouldn't previously. No more "can I use guidance on this, can I use it on that", etc etc. Simple, no muss, no fuss.

 

[el-remmen]

Spells fine as long as it isnt gamed.

Guidance can be gamed? I guess I have never run across this. Mostly it is cast when someone is doing something like searching for traps, listening of activity, trying to pick a lock, climb a wall etc. . . all times where it is clear someone is using a skill. And since the receiver of the spell chooses when to use it within that minute, I just assume they use it at the most opportune time. It is only +1d4, plenty of times the check is still failed. Unless the PCs are in tense situation with distractions and threats, I assume they just cast it / use it at the best moment for themselves within that duration.

Can you give examples of it being "gamed?"

 

[jmartkdr2]

I HR 1's on saves always fail, and 20's always succeed.

I've come around to liking this variant, but I will always ask for Warcaster to allow some sort of minimum damage before rolling for concentration.

 

[Flamestrike]

Guidance can be gamed? I guess I have never run across this. Mostly it is cast when someone is doing something like searching for traps, listening of activity, trying to pick a lock, climb a wall etc. . . all times where it is clear someone is using a skill. And since the receiver of the spell chooses when to use it within that minute, I just assume they use it at the most opportune time. It is only +1d4, plenty of times the check is still failed. Unless the PCs are in tense situation with distractions and threats, I assume they just cast it / use it at the best moment for themselves within that duration.

Can you give examples of it being "gamed?"

Every time someone goes to make a skill check of any kind the cleric leans over to start drenching the PC in holy water and handing them some literature.

 

[CleverNickName]

Yeah, I don't like the Guidance spell as-written either, but I don't have the mental energy to fix it. Instead, I "house-rule" it by mentally adjusting the skill DC by +2 whenever I hear the word "guidance" mentioned. No mess, no fuss.

(Okay, I don't always do this. I'll only start doing this after about the 5th or 6th time they cast it.)

 

[DigestPantheon]

Another growing favorite of mine is making the players make all the rolls. Switch it from DM rolls for the monster to hit to the player rolls to defend. Same with saves. The player rolls to attack instead of the monster rolling to save. I really enjoy that one.

This is how Dungeon World does things, they GM very rarely rolls anything at all. It obviously means you can't fudge the dice if you wanted to, but it does have a certain feel to it that is quite fun.

 

[el-remmen]

Every time someone goes to make a skill check of any kind the cleric leans over to start drenching the PC in holy water and handing them some literature.

I guess I 'house rule' it by assuming it can only apply once per check. I've never had problem with it.