D&D 5E What are your 5e houserules

[Musing Mage]

Can you elaborate on this a bit since I can see different ways this might work?

The way I run it is that once they choose to take a feat, or to multiclass - that choice is fixed and they can no longer select the other option. A variant human, for instance starts with a feat, meaning that character is committed to being single classed. All other races retain the option for either path until they make a choice and lock it in.

They don't have to make the choice at character generation (unless the aforementioned human variant of course).

 

[DND_Reborn]

Thanks for sharing! I have only skimmed through at this point, so I may have missed something.
Doesn't the critical hit being determined by the damage die mean d4 weapons like daggers and clubs will get a critical hit more often (25% of hits) than a d8 battleaxe (12.5% of hits)? And both will crit more often than a d10 greatsword (10% of hits)?

You're welcome. I was originally planning on releasing it all when I was done, but at this point with things going on in my life I just decided to share it now and return to it later maybe.

Yes, due to the smaller die size, daggers and other such weapons will result in critical damage more, BUT even with them exploding their average is less than a d6, and the exploding d6 is less than the d8, and so forth. It is actually intended to work that way so it keeps lesser damage weapons appealing still due to the increased chances of getting critical damage.

Why do you have "cleave" as a damage type distinct from slashing?

Because it is really a different type of damage and IMO should have been included from the beginning. At first different armors offered different DR against all four damage types (chain was great against slashing, but not good against pierce or bludgeon, and okay versus cleave, for example). Of course, since then we went to simply average DR instead...

 

[DND_Reborn]

The way I run it is that once they choose to take a feat, or to multiclass - that choice is fixed and they can no longer select the other option. A variant human, for instance starts with a feat, meaning that character is committed to being single classed. All other races retain the option for either path until they make a choice and lock it in.

They don't have to make the choice at character generation (unless the aforementioned human variant of course).

Ok, I assumed most of that, so I'll be more specific:

1) A 3rd level Fighter gains 4th level. The player decides to multiclass and pick up a level of Rogue, making them 3/1. Now, next level they take another level of Fighter. Fighter 4 gets an ASI (optionally a feat, but in this case no since they multiclassed). Do they still get the ASI???

What about at 6th level Fighter and the bonus ASI? do they get it (I would think so), so can they use that ASI as a feat??

OR

2) When the 3rd level Fighter becomes 4th, if he takes 4th level Fighter but instead of the ASI gains the features of a Rogue 1 and makes that his multiclass?

Finally, I like this concept (actually version 2 is pretty appealing to me) but if I did it I would allow the variant human to get his feat normally and still multiclass, but then he would never gain another feat. Using the second variant above, this also means a human who multiclassed would start off with 1 "level" of multiclass ahead of other races.

The 2nd variant is appealing because I have experimented with multiclass as subclass, which is obviously different but has some similarities.

 

[Minigiant]

I forgot the additional skills in my game.

Weightlifting (Strength)
Endurance (Constitution)
Commerce (Intelligence)
Law (Intelligence)
Nobility (Intelligence)
Dungeoneering (Wisdom)
Etiquette (Charisma)
Streetwise (Charisma)

 

[Musing Mage]

Ok, I assumed most of that, so I'll be more specific:

1) A 3rd level Fighter gains 4th level. The player decides to multiclass and pick up a level of Rogue, making them 3/1. Now, next level they take another level of Fighter. Fighter 4 gets an ASI (optionally a feat, but in this case no since they multiclassed). Do they still get the ASI???

What about at 6th level Fighter and the bonus ASI? do they get it (I would think so), so can they use that ASI as a feat??

OR

2) When the 3rd level Fighter becomes 4th, if he takes 4th level Fighter but instead of the ASI gains the features of a Rogue 1 and makes that his multiclass?

Finally, I like this concept (actually version 2 is pretty appealing to me) but if I did it I would allow the variant human to get his feat normally and still multiclass, but then he would never gain another feat. Using the second variant above, this also means a human who multiclassed would start off with 1 "level" of multiclass ahead of other races.

The 2nd variant is appealing because I have experimented with multiclass as subclass, which is obviously different but has some similarities.

Ah yes, you still get your ASI's if you've chosen to multiclass, you don't lose them... (unless you trade for a feat, of course)

I'm not quite understanding what you're going for with #2 - You can't use your ASI to take Rogue features... you would either take the 4th level in fighter and your ASI (or feat), or take a level in Rogue 1 to be Fighter3/Rogue1.

You can't use the ASI to take class features in another class as a feat... (unless you're referencing some rule from Tasha's or other book, which I'm not using)

 

[DND_Reborn]

Ah yes, you still get your ASI's if you've chosen to multiclass, you don't lose them... (unless you trade for a feat, of course)

Ok, I thought so but I wanted confirmation because...

I'm not quite understanding what you're going for with #2 - You can't use your ASI to take Rogue features... you would either take the 4th level in fighter and your ASI (or feat), or take a level in Rogue 1 to be Fighter3/Rogue1.

You can't use the ASI to take class features in another class as a feat... (unless you're referencing some rule from Tasha's or other book, which I'm not using)

Yes, with #2 I am basically saying you gain a class's features in lieu of a feat (or ASI for that matter).

No, it wasn't in Tasha's...

Quick intro: Subclass as Multiclass.
Instead of gaining a subclass in your class, you gain the 1st-level features of another class (you do not gain any subclass for this second class). Whenever you would gain a new subclass feature, you gain two levels of features of your second class. You do not gain ASIs for your second class's 4th level.

Ex. A Rogue gains their subclass at 3rd level. Instead of choosing a subclass, the player selects Fighter "as their subclass" and it becomes second class. They gain a Fighting Style and Second Wind.

Later at 9th level, the Rogue gains its next subclass feature, so gains two levels of features from Fighter; in this case just Action Surge (for Fighter 2, but Fighter 3 is the subclass of Fighter, which the Rogue doesn't gain as it is a second class).

At 13th Rogue, the PC gains Fighter 4 and 5 features. Fighter 4 is the ASI, which is NOT gained as a second class, but Fighter 5 is Extra Attack, which would be gained.

Finally, at 17th Rogue the PC gains Fighter 6 and Fighter 7. Fighter 6 ASI is gained as it is a bonus to Fighters, but Fighter 7 is a subclass level for Fighter so nothing is gained.

In the end, you would have Rogue (Fighter) 17, gaining a Fighting Style, Second Wind, Action Surge, Extra Attack, and a feat as your "subclass" features.

Now, this has worked well when we've done it but can be quite powerful at higher levels.

Back to #2:

What I was thinking was similar in that instead of your feats at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th levels you gained the features for a second class at levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively.

Using the Rogue-Fighter concept, this would be a bit different as you would gain subclasses and ASI/feats still:

Rogue 4 would gain a Fighting Style and Second Wind instead of the ASI.
Rogue 8 would gain Action Surge instead of the ASI.
Rogue 12 would gain subclass features for a chosen Fighter subclass instead of the ASI.
Rogue 16 would gain an ASI (from Fighter 4). This could be used for a feat, but ONLY this one.
Rogue 19 would gain Extra Attack instead of the ASI.

The bonus Rogue ASI at level 10 would be an ASI, but could not be used as a feat (or maybe yes???).

So, obviously NOT what you are doing, but that was one way I could see it working...

Thanks for your information!

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

The Rule of Cool might in some cases get the DM's approval! To be decided on the spot.

 

[Grantypants]

One of the places it gets weird is with Clerics. The Cleric is pretty much intended to use a shield (they don't have to, of course, but...) since they need to be in melee range to use their better heals. So you have a Cleric with a weapon and a shield. Thankfully, the Cleric is allowed to use have his holy symbol attached to his shield, so that satisfies material components, but he still needs a free hand to cast spells due to any somatic components.

I used an even easier solution to this problem. RAW, your free hand to provide somatic components can also be the hand holding your material components or spellcasting focus. As DM, I ruled that when a holy symbol is emblazoned on a shield, the whole shield counted as a spellcasting focus, so you can provide the somatic components with your shield hand, no weapon juggling required.

 

[Weiley31]

I used an even easier solution to this problem. RAW, your free hand to provide somatic components can also be the hand holding your material components or spellcasting focus. As DM, I ruled that when a holy symbol is emblazoned on a shield, the whole shield counted as a spellcasting focus, so you can provide the somatic components with your shield hand, no weapon juggling required.

That just makes sense.

 

[Jahydin]

No it's still a consideration. Con saves come up a lot, as two players have learned. Casters especially still need it for conentration checks, and those 1st level hit points are still all important. So far this particular rule is working with expected parameters. The biggest benefit that players have appreciated, is that monsters are also diminished in HP by the rule, which removes the excessive bloat and makes combat faster and deadlier, more akin to old-school. (which is the aim)

Understood; I hate the hp bloat myself. It's the main reason Castles and Crusades is my main game of late.

Just a shame to see a high-level Con 20 character only differing mathematically by 5 hp to a Con 10 character of the same class.

I still think using Con bonus + 1 as the minimum gained each level would work perfect!

Negative Con would lower your max, of course!

Thanks for sharing!