Level Up (A5E) What are your common house rules?

[Morrus]

It's been 4 years since Level Up: A5E was written.

We will be publishing a short article in Gate Pass Gazette this year updating the rules with a handful of common houserules, making them official.

We've selected some already (stacking proficiencies giving expertise, ways to get feats at 1st level, etc). But what houserules do you use in your A5E games which you feel should have been how the core rules worked? (Not that we promise to adopt them, but we feel it's prudent to check we haven't missed anything obvious!)

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

I use the critical damage first mentioned by Chris Perkins, much to the joy and chagrin of my players. Max damage plus regular dice roll.

 

[noodohs]

Off the top of my head, these are the two that we use.

• Level prerequisites for knacks are based on total character level rather than class level. Feels a little better for multiclass characters, though truthfully we started this rule because we didn't see the bit about it being based on class level and had to make a call.
• We changed the reach property to be more simple and just extend your reach as it does in o5e. I mentioned this on the errata thread, but there are several rules that conflict with each other in are since the reach property extends the weapon's reach, not the character's. Having it adjust the character's reach makes it easier to deal with attacks of opportunity and the like. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other tidbits of why, but it's all in the errata thread if you are curious.

 

[Tessarael]

Animal Handling skill is combined under Nature knowledge, but this is in a campaign setting where animal riding and handling is used less often.

In one campaign, we have long rests as a week, and short rest as just a few minutes. In the other one which will be a dungeon crawl, it is the typical 8 hours long rest.

A few other house rules that I am intending to use with A5E when I DM:

• Everyone gets an inspiration at the start of a session, and refreshed after a long rest.
• Extra attacks can be used to try to escape being grappled.
• Defense fighting style gives +1 AC also when unarmored.
• Defensive weapons give +1 AC, if you are also wielding a shield of the appropriate degree or lighter, providing that you have shield proficiency.
  • This is instead of using a bonus action for +1 AC or to attack with the shield.
• Great Weapon Fighting style gives a flat +2 damage with that weapon, rather than rerolling rolls of 1 or 2.
• Parrying weapons give +1 AC, if you are not wielding a shield, and you are proficient. (No, you can’t wield two parrying weapons to get +2 AC.
  • This is instead of once/turn getting +d4 AC vs. a melee attack.
• Skills have by default two abilities that you can select between, e.g., Dexterity of Strength for Athletics, rather than needing to do this on-the-fly mid-session with DM's permission.
• Spellcasting with hands full with weapons and/or shield is okay, if you are proficient. (No tracking of seen/somatic and material components and whether or not you have a free hand to do so.)

 

[DeviousQuail]

I use a variant rule for AC calculations when unarmored. You get the equivalent AC of the worst armor available to you minus 1 AC. For no or light armor proficiency it's still the basic 10 + Dex. For medium armor folks it's 11 + Dex (max +2) and heavy gets 15. You can choose which one if more than one applies. At level 5 the minus 1 goes away.

I originally used this in 5e. The armor tables are different in A5e so heavy armor users ended up getting a +2 AC boost.

 

[Pedantic]

• Parrying weapons give +1 AC, if you are not wielding a shield, and you are proficient. (No, you can’t wield two parrying weapons to get +2 AC.
  • This is instead of using a reaction for +d4 AC vs. a melee attack.

Just wanted to call this out: the normal rule for the parrying property does not use a reaction, parrying is a 1/round ability outside the rest of the action economy:

Parrying†. When you are wielding this weapon and you are not using a shield, once before your next turn you can gain an expertise die to your AC against a single melee attack made against you by a creature you can see. You cannot use this property while incapacitated , paralyzed , rattled , restrained , or stunned .

I haven't done much in the way of house rules personally. I'm still using bonus action potions, which makes Rapid Drink sad, but they're just so much more usable that way.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

The Forest Gnome culture's speak with beast ability isn't limited to small or smaller beasts. There's no balance or narrative reason for this restriction.

I use the 5.2 version of the Conjure X spells. Much tidier.

You can trade the floating stat bump from your background for the non-stat part of a half-feat.

 

[Distracted DM]

Culture
Tyrannized chooses either Defiant Will or Saving Face, not both. Scars of the Scourge's energy type is determined by GM based on origin.

Destiny
Excellence is removed. Alternatively, Excellence's "nat 1" Source of Inspiration only applies to proficient skill checks.

Berserker
Versatile Exploration is moved from 3rd level to 8th.

Creatures get CON saving throws at the end of their turns to end Furious Critical effects without existing saving throws; DC equals the character's Maneuver DC.

Juggernaut is removed from core Berserker features, and added as a 3rd level feature to the Dreadnought archetype.

Tempest Archetype's Whirling Winds doesn't grant cover against adjacent attacks. Touched by Thunder's damage is 1d6, 1d10, 2d6, 4d6.

Maneuvers
Stances end when you rest, short AND long.

Stunning Assault has two fixes; A simple, B nuanced:
A. the only attacks affected are the ones with your attack action/extra attack (so bonus actions, reactions, etc aren't also Stunning).
B. a creature that fails is rattled. rattled creatures that fail are stunned. (this makes teamwork a possibility, with other PCs using rattling effects to set up for a stunning assault).

Defy Magic gets a buff- spell attack rolls are very uncommon at mid and higher levels. It works against magic targeted magic (non-AoE), including Save spells (such as hold person). If successful, you get advantage on the save against the spell.

Gaze of Conviction gets a rewrite (as it is, it'll force a wizard to run at you with their staff/dagger until you've hacked them to pieces while all your friends also beat on them):
You stare down a creature you can see within 30 feet, and if it can see you it makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure the creature is compelled to focus its aggression on you. It must target you with single-target features and attacks, and include you in multiple target/area features. The creature can't willingly move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.

The effects of this maneuver end when you target a different creature with an attack or feature, if the creature is unable to continue its aggression against you, or if you end your turn more than 30 feet away from the creature.

 

[Tessarael]

Just wanted to call this out: the normal rule for the parrying property does not use a reaction, parrying is a 1/round ability outside the rest of the action economy:
[..]

Sorry, you are correct. My mistake when typing it up. Thank you for spotting that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's been 4 years since Level Up: A5E was written.

We will be publishing a short article in Gate Pass Gazette this year updating the rules with a handful of common houserules, making them official.

We've selected some already (stacking proficiencies giving expertise, ways to get feats at 1st level, etc). But what houserules do you use in your A5E games which you feel should have been how the core rules worked? (Not that we promise to adopt them, but we feel it's prudent to check we haven't missed anything obvious!)

I've been using the idea of anti-expertise, or maybe flaws (I haven't worked out a good name). Basically, it is an aspect of a skill, like existing skill concentrations, that works against you rather than for you. Just like adding an expertise die when the task would logically be covered by a specialization, it would remove one when it would logically be covered by a flaw. A character might for example have a flaw in hearing on Wisdom (Perception) rolls, such that any such roll involving sound would subtract 1d4 from the total roll. A PC may take up to two flaws at character creation, choosing from the same categories as skill concentrations. Succeeding on a skill roll that features a flaw earns the PC Inspiration in the same way that one earns it from various tasks related to the PC's Destiny.