D&D 5E Your Favorite 5e Houserule

[overgeeked]

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

Once per check isn’t the problem. Spamming it for every single check ever made by any party member ever is the problem. Bless exists. Use that. Guidance be banned.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Once per check isn’t the problem. Spamming it for every single check ever made by any party member ever is the problem. Bless exists. Use that. Guidance be banned.

Bless doesn't apply to skill checks, so it wouldn't be a good solution.

(I'll admit spamming *guidance for every dang skill check is cheesy, though. It's be like a guy who says a quick Hail Mary every time they do... anything. Anything at all.)

 

[S'mon]

Only problem I saw with Guidance is the Cleric wanting to retroactively apply it to every skill check another PC made, as if it were a Reaction. Just enforcing play procedure & RAW sorts that out.

 

[el-remmen]

It takes an action to cast, so in combat it has limited use unless someone really needs to complete some ability score-based task as part of it (which sounds like fun and exactly the kind of combats I like to run, actually ). But otherwise, I guess I am not calling for enough ability checks for it to seem like an issue - usually calling for it when it matters.

I am curious about this phenomenon of game problems to which some significant number of people are looking for solutions that other gamers never seem to have. I wonder about the dynamics and expectations that lead to them - though that would be another thread I would have to give some thought to how to frame.

 

[CleverNickName]

I am curious about this phenomenon of game problems to which some significant number of people are looking for solutions that other gamers never seem to have. I wonder about the dynamics and expectations that lead to them - though that would be another thread I would have to give some thought to how to frame.

The Guidance cantrip is unique, I think. I don't think the game mechanics are problematic; the trouble comes from the way it gets implemented in the game. The problem is that it can be cast multiple times per minute, so it eventually will be cast multiple times per minute. It amounts to a constant +1d4 bonus to all skill checks. And I don't think that was the game designers' intent, but here we are.

And on a more personal note, it becomes odious to me after the 4th or 5th time in a row that it gets used. Every character, every skill check, every situation, the cleric squawks "Guidance!" like a deranged magical parrot. It drives me up the wall.

DMs who find themselves in this position feel they have to make a choice: either come up with a ham-fisted way to make sure it doesn't annoy me, or remove it entirely and have the players revolt. Neither option is good, IMO, and I haven't heard of a third.

 

[el-remmen]

The Guidance cantrip is unique, I think. I don't think the game mechanics are problematic; the trouble comes from the way it gets implemented in the game. The problem is that it can be cast multiple times per minute, so it eventually will be cast multiple times per minute. It amounts to a constant +1d4 bonus to all skill checks. And I don't think that was the game designers' intent, but here we are.

And yet, I've run a game for over a year with a character who has access to that spell and that has never happened to an annoying degree. Yes, there have been instances where he casts it multiple times in a very short period but those instances seemed to call for that kind of care. Which is not to say I am doing something right and you are doing something wrong, but returns me to the notion of expectations and dynamics with a group of players and general table culture.

 

[Mannahnin]

I just run that it can only apply when it makes sense in the fiction; that the Cleric can see his friend is about to attempt something challenging, and has time to go over, and say a prayer to aid said friend just before the attempt.

So it's not going to apply to knowledge checks; there's no visible action or prompt there for the Cleric. It's basically never going to apply to social skills. Again, those are intangible and stopping your friend in the middle of negotiating for a "dominus vobiscum" wouldn't make any sense.

But when your friend pauses before attempting a tricky climb, a jump or swim across a ravine carrying a line for the party, or to disarm a dangerous mechanism? Heck yeah.

 

[el-remmen]

So it's not going to apply to knowledge checks; there's no visible action or prompt there for the Cleric. It's basically never going to apply to social skills. Again, those are intangible and stopping your friend in the middle of negotiating for a "dominus vobiscum" wouldn't make any sense.

I can totally imagine guidance working in those instances b/c the recipient chooses when to use it within the minute.

Player A: I am gonna hurry over and try to convince the peddler to tell us which way the pickpocket went.
Player B: May Bast guide your silver tongue! (casts guidance)
Player A: [walks over starts talking, makes a persuasion check gets +1d4].

Player C: That piece of lore sounds familiar, we studied that stuff at the Academy of Wizardry, but I didn't pay that much attention in class. Let me think about it for a moment and see if something is jogged in my memory.
Player B: May Thoth make your mind and memory clear, so your knowledge can guide us. (casts guidance)
Player C: [Makes History check with +1d4]

 

[CleverNickName]

And yet, I've run a game for over a year with a character who has access to that spell and that has never happened to an annoying degree. Yes, there have been instances where he casts it multiple times in a very short period but those instances seemed to call for that kind of care. Which is not to say I am doing something right and you are doing something wrong, but returns me to the notion of expectations and dynamics with a group of players and general table culture.

Yep, agree. And for my table and my players, the best way to handle it that I've found is to start mentally adjusting the DCs when they start spamming the cantrip. They still get to cast the spell and get that all-important bonus, and I have a way of pushing-back on it that they can't argue with.

I don't really want to deal with house-ruling it or banning it. It's not worth the arguments and sore feelings.

 

[Mannahnin]

I can totally imagine guidance working in those instances b/c the recipient chooses when to use it within the minute.

Player A: I am gonna hurry over and try to convince the peddler to tell us which way the pickpocket went.
Player B: May Bast guide your silver tongue! (casts guidance)
Player A: [walks over starts talking, makes a persuasion check gets +1d4].

Maaaaybe. Your framing is decent, but situations where this is going to make sense are rare IME. I'm open to the possibility, though.

Player C: That piece of lore sounds familiar, we studied that stuff at the Academy of Wizardry, but I didn't pay that much attention in class. Let me think about if or a moment and see if something is jogged in my memory.
Player B: May Thoth make your mind and memory clear, so your knowledge can guide us. (casts guidance)
Player C: [Makes History check with +1d4]

Absolutely not.