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One additional good piece of advice comes from Sage advice -- temporary hit points do not affect the DC of the concentration check you may have to make when you take damage while concentrating on a spell. A direct quote follows: Q. "If I have 10 temporary hit points and I take 30 damage from...

Thanks, I missed that word when I first read it.

Ah, yes, thanks. I missed that in my first read-through.

The Psi Warrior's Telekinetic Movement feature is broken. It needs a saving throw, like Telekinetic Thrust has. Otherwise, it's an automatic 3d6 damage to any target you choose to lift 30 feet straight up... or worse if you drop him over a cliff. I wonder if the Noble Genie's Elemental Gift...

I have been using variations on the following house rule for decades -- • Thrown objects have a maximum range of 10’ x Strength, horizontally; 2’ x Strength, vertically; 10’/3 x Strength, slinging vertically. (These numbers are based on actual human performance). Weapon range increments...

I have a simple solution. If a character's Passive Perception is = or > the search DC, the DM secretly rolls a Perception check to see if a secret door or a trap is noticed. Otherwise, the characters need to make active checks to find it. Drop a clue if they "need" to find it.

DM's Guild has a few very useful pdfs called "Simple Caster NPCs" from Andy Pearlman. They are inexpensive and well written.

There is an excellent article in the ENworld forums (link below). It goes into a mathematical comparison of Advantage/Disadvantage compared to flat bonuses. http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?506057-Advantage-vs-Disadvantage-What-s-the-Math

Spend excess gold on faster skill training I expanded the training rules from the Player's Handbook to give the PCs something to spend gold on when they can't buy magic items. Note the limitations I added so it can't get out of hand, as well as the rules for accelerated training that will use...

Psionics is always an orphan, except in superhero RPGs. Fantasy players say it's "too much like science fiction" Science fiction players say it's "too much like magic". Those of us who like the idea of psionics in either genre are just left out. Psionics being dismissed out of hand is a...

I'm surprised how many players and DMs don't read the books in full. Making assumptions about the rules leads to mistakes and missed opportunities. When I get a new book, I read it cover to cover. Additionally, I take notes of important page numbers and rules that are different from previous...

Flying races -- a level progression I posted the following in another thread, but this one is a better place for it. Here is what I would do. For most campaigns, I don't think it is a good idea to just give a character the ability to fly, especially when fly is a 3rd-level spell and the...

For most campaigns, I don't think it is a good idea to just give a character the ability to fly, especially when fly is a 3rd-level spell and the draconic sorcerer doesn't gain wings until 14th level. It allows him to overcome many situations that would challange any character who cannot fly...

Simple rule for swimming in armor Here is what I came up with, based on previous editions, and consistent with the styles of 5th edition rules. • While swimming, each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot, unless a creature has a swimming speed. To swim or stay afloat, you might require a...

Fixing Solo Monsters -- Two Good Solutions I have had the same problem with single monsters. Here is my own quick-buff solution: Solo Creature Defense Bonuses — Solo creatures rarely last long against a party of adventurers. In fact, the adventurers sometimes manage to eliminate an...

Some products are great quality and some are really bad. I stick with "Pay What You Want" and "Free" because it's hard to know what you are getting. "Full Preview" is a big help, but not all products have this option available. The Star Ratings are helpful, but only if a lot of people have...

Perhaps players would respond to increased rewards for more encounters in a row. Action points don't do the job and extra treasure is problematic since you never know what you would have gotten in other circumstances. Perhaps they would respond well to an experience point bonus -- say +10%...

Hey all, if you are looking for new material to supplement D&D 4th edition, I have recently updated some of my game files -- equipment, armor, weapons, combat maneuvers, house rules, etc. Since some of the D&D material can be easily adapted to Gamma World, here are the URLs for both folders...

prevent power chaining In addition to the house rules suggested above, I would recommend that the same Encounter or Daily power cannot be used in consecutive rounds. This prevents certain powers from being used continuously (such as those that grant flying for 1 round lasting for 2 or more...

An idea for healing in 5th edition D&D: I wanted to come up with a way for a character to recover from damage without needing to use a daily resource, such as the Healing Surges of 4th edition D&D. The following method allows a character to recover from injuries quickly, but not completely...