D&D 5E Common house rules for 5e.

[Nikosandros]

Anybody use alternate stats for skill checks?
Like Dex for medicine check if the injured player is shrunk to tiny?

Not sure about your specific example, but I use alternate stats all the time. In fact, normally I think about it as: you need to roll a specific ability; if you have an appropriate skill, tool proficiency or background, you add your proficiency bonus.

 

[Nikosandros]

Other house rules that I use:

• 5 minutes short rests, max per hour, 2 per long rest
• variant humans only
• certain checks can be rolled only if you have a relevant proficiency

 

[darjr]

Other house rules that I use:

• 5 minutes short rests, max per hour, 2 per long rest
• variant humans only
• certain checks can be rolled only if you have a relevant proficiency

The proficiency one comes up a lot in my games too. Weirdly I’ve never asked for it players just seem to do it that way.

 

[rooneg]

Eldritch Blast scaling with Warlock level instead of character level.

Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master working via -prof bonus/+double prof bonus instead of -5/+10.

Sadly, I don't get to use these often, as I mostly DM for AL games.

 

[DND_Reborn]

What are your most used house rules or common ones.

Oh, so many...

Currently, this is a "brief summary" of many of them (but not all...):

It is continually being added to.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

• Slow Natural Healing from the DMG
• Short rests are 5 minutes, 2 max per day.
• No ASI at chargen or no ASI after chargen, I'm still on the face which I prefer.
• Minimum HP for monsters, but + #HD in damage on a hit.
• CON score HP + 1 HD rolled HP at 1st level.
• No limit on concentration spells (1 hit may make you lose all of them, though)
• Long Rest in the wilds require a Con check at dawn to see if you benefit from the rest.
• Better spell progression for 1/3 casters, no limitation on schools

in the work:

• Equipment proficiency based on the character's STR score.
• Front loading the class features.

maybe:

- Removing the archetypes and using their features to make classes that are the ''optimal classic experience'' . In tandem with front-loaded features.

 

[Reynard]

The proficiency one comes up a lot in my games too. Weirdly I’ve never asked for it players just seem to do it that way.

Yeah, "trained only" seems to have just wormed its way into our games without anyone actively suggesting it.

I started using initiative rolls per round recently and love it. We play on Fantasy grounds, so it doesn't increase our workload and adds a sense of chaos to the fighting which i appreciate. Next time I am going to have individual enemies even of the same type roll seperately (again, because using the VTT means it is no extra effort).

I think i will institute the "bonus action" potion rule. There needs to be a set of standard bonus actions, IMO.

 

[darjr]

Yeah, "trained only" seems to have just wormed its way into our games without anyone actively suggesting it.

I started using initiative rolls per round recently and love it. We play on Fantasy grounds, so it doesn't increase our workload and adds a sense of chaos to the fighting which i appreciate. Next time I am going to have individual enemies even of the same type roll seperately (again, because using the VTT means it is no extra effort).

I think i will institute the "bonus action" potion rule. There needs to be a set of standard bonus actions, IMO.

Oh! That initiative change sounds interesting

 

[Bolares]

I do free feats for everyone, use a free form version of skill challenges where you can also cast spells instead of rolling skills for successess, but most of the time I just make rullings during the game.

 

[overgeeked]

I mostly house rule 5E to get it to work more like older editions where exploration is actually a challenge, combat isn’t a foregone conclusion and slog, etc.

I ban a few races, backgrounds, spells, feats, and subclasses.

I do five-minute short rests, no more than two per long rest.

Potions as a bonus action or standard action. As a bonus action, you roll healing. As a standard action, you heal the max.

I do genre-based inspiration, allow players to spend it after a roll, and let players get more than one at a time. Haven’t settled on the number. Prof bonus, double prof bonus, something else.

I’m also leaning hard into the idea of gritty realism when out of civilization or as the default all the time.

ETA: I also use verisimilitude over rules. You take a swan dive off a 200ft tower, you die when you hit the ground. I don't care how many hp you have. Take a lava bath? Time to roll a new character unless you're resistant or immune to fire. I care way more about the world and the fiction than the rules. If the rules get in the way, chuck 'em.