D&D 5E Rewarding Bad Ideas (Mechanically)

[BookTenTiger]

I think the DM had a table from the DMG. Whenever a player took a critical hit from an enemy then he'd have to roll a d20 and the DM would give the results. Low numbers were bad. Maybe if you could add your constitution save modifier to the d20 roll then it wouldn't be so bad. Martials wouldn't lose an eye, hand, or foot which would make them useless. The glee that the DM had when he got to use that table was a bit disturbing, to be honest.

See, my idea is that you offer characters Lingering Injuries in exchange for something... Like 3 successful Death Saving Throws, or Max Damage on a melee attack against an enemy, or immunity to damage or the effects of a spell. Then Lingering Injuries are a player choice, rather than a punishment.

 

[Bupp]

I've used lingering injuries in play, and provides me the opportunity to drop cybernetic magic items. Cue the Hand of Vecna...

One of my favorite rules is Shields Shall be Splintered. You can sacrifice your shield or weapon to negate a single attack.

Shields Shall be Splintered!

I'm working on giving the shield a bit more love in my Moldvay/Cook/ LL hack. The shield really doesn't get the prestige it deserves. The...

trollsmyth.blogspot.com

In a recent game, the party was getting beat up by a white dragon. Two characters were down, and the paladin was protecting his downed companions, but was as single digit HP, and the white dragon rolled a crit on it's bite attack...
The paladin's shield was a key point in his backstory, as it had the names of all his dead family members engraved upon the back of it.
The players decision to invoke the rule was the a key part of the party avoiding a TPK, and was a huge story moment as well.

I've used 13th Age's Escalation Die as well. It can really speed up big, sloggy fights, and you can use nat 20's and nat 1's to move the die as well.

 

[Rune]

I highly recommend ditching Inspiration and just giving everyone the Lucky feat. Makes luck happen more often AND makes it less of a feat tax.

Also, consider a “What will you sacrifice?” rule. If a PC really needs something to happen (or not happen), simply ask: “What will you sacrifice to make it so?” If they aren’t willing to make a worthwhile (and personal?) sacrifice, fair enough. Back to the dice to let fate do it’s thing.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I highly recommend ditching Inspiration and just giving everyone the Lucky feat. Makes luck happen more often AND makes it less of a feat tax.

Also, consider a “What will you sacrifice?” rule. If a PC really needs something to happen (or not happen), simply ask: “What will you sacrifice to make it so?” If they aren’t willing to make a worthwhile (and personal?) sacrifice, fair enough. Back to the dice to let fate do it’s thing.

When the characters in my campaign wanted to change the attunement requirement for a powerful artifact, they were each given the opportunity to sacrifice something important... The Warlock wound up sacrificing worship of their patron and switched patrons and subclasses! It was a really cool, memorable story beat.