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

[Distracted DM]

I would treat it the other way round. Inspiration should not be something that you are desperately holding onto in case you need it. Better if it refreshes once per long rest. And that way, it is not a game balance issue how often the destinies trigger inspiration.

And a significant problem that I have seen in play with some of the other destinies is even remembering to get inspiration at all, then needing to ask and prod the DM as to whether you get it in given circumstances.

As an example, I have a Warlock with the Coming of Age destiny. I have a tendency to sit on the inspiration to use it when I need proficiency or say to reroll a saving throw. As a result, I seldom use it. The character's triggering criteria to gain inspiration ("when you achieve a personal milestone; join a new guild or organization, travel somewhere new and far from home; accept a new major quest or mission; change worldviews and grow as a person") and not using inspiration often, mean that I have used inspiration a total of 3 times in 9 levels. That makes inspiration an unimportant mech complication that is an afterthought in play. If it was gained once per long rest, or once per session, I would use it more often and it would be a meaningful mechanic.

I’m happy to have inspiration come up more frequently, we switched to TotV’s Luck for that reason, but giving inspiration every session doesn’t change Excellence being a better choice than the other destinies.

 

[Distracted DM]

Oh! Another rule we fell into: Heralds get a small Exertion Pool. I'm still iffy on whether it should be REALLY small (half PB) or just small (PB). We started with =PB.

 

[Morrus]

Nothing particularly common here--lots of little idiosyncratic preferences, but what we're really looking for is those houserules which are so obvious that everybody uses them, so they should really be core. We've got 3 or so, so far.

 

[Sepulchre]

We play with a feat at level 1.

I’m also going to try letting my players select synergy feats with a 1/1 prerequisite instead of 3/3.

 

[lichmaster]

Nothing particularly common here--lots of little idiosyncratic preferences, but what we're really looking for is those houserules which are so obvious that everybody uses them, so they should really be core. We've got 3 or so, so far.

I think it could be useful to have polls on some aspects of the game where you have doubts.

Personally, I think a significant fraction of groups kinda ditch the material/somatic components shenanigans with having a free hand/no shield, etc.

I'm definitely ignoring everything material components related unless they're expensive. And I've long been thinking with a totally different subsystems where material components are optional but allow for easier/better spellcasting. Since I'm just starting a new campaign I may tinker with it, although we have 3 non spellcasters ATM, so IDK if will come into actual play

 

[Tessarael]

I think one common house rule that gets applied by different groups is allowing a benefit like Inspiration for advantage on a roll or Parry to be used after the roll rather than before, if you would otherwise say fail a saving throw or be hit by a melee attack. (Parry doesn't state whether it is used before or after the melee attack's outcome is determined.) It means you don't waste that benefit on a roll that would have succeeded anyway, or an opponent's melee attack that would have missed anyway. Shield spell as a reaction is another example - allowing the decision to cast it to be based on whether the attack would have hit and by how much, hence knowing whether or not Shield would actually help or not.

 

[Distracted DM]

I think one common house rule that gets applied by different groups is allowing a benefit like Inspiration for advantage on a roll or Parry to be used after the roll rather than before, if you would otherwise say fail a saving throw or be hit by a melee attack. (Parry doesn't state whether it is used before or after the melee attack's outcome is determined.) It means you don't waste that benefit on a roll that would have succeeded anyway, or an opponent's melee attack that would have missed anyway. Shield spell as a reaction is another example - allowing the decision to cast it to be based on whether the attack would have hit and by how much, hence knowing whether or not Shield would actually help or not.

I'll agree that choosing to use inspiration as a reroll, rather than rolling with advantage, is an incredibly popular house rule.. basically universal across 5e tables. I think it's more of a rules-ignorance thing for many tables, rather than an intentional house rule... I know that's how our table started doing it, because that's how we thought it was done. When I discovered that you were supposed to use it as advantage rather than a reroll.. we didn't change how we were doing it.

Honestly I thought parry from a weapon like short sword was done after the attack was made, not before :'D

The one thing that I often have to correct my players on is the A5E human Intrepid feature. For whatever reason that stuck in my mind as "have to declare it beforehand," where the others failed to do so.

edit: it looks like Parrying (below) is supposed to be done after the attack's been rolled, at least according to previous EN clarifications on how "an attack made against you by a creature" is intended to work. So at least I've got that right :'D

Spoiler

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 .

 

[Tessarael]

Yes. I would allow the Human Intrepid expertise die to be used after the roll too, for the same reason.