D&D 5E D&D Without Adding House-Rules/Home-brew

[DND_Reborn]

For this poll, using your own world (map) is fine, but:

• You CAN REMOVE content not appropriate to your world.
• You CANNOT ADD or ALTER content, however VARIANT OPTIONS in the PHB and DMG ARE ALLOWED.
• No 3PP material, only official WotC published.

To be clear, by CONTENT I mean: rules, races, classes, subclasses, features, spells, armors, weapons, and magic-items.

Adding adventuring gear not covered in the PHB or other sources is fine, of course, providing it is non-magical.

EDIT: You CANNOT use WotC established rules (XGtE) to create homebrew magical items, spells, monsters, etc.

EDIT: Narrative/ aesthetic changes for flavor are ALLOWED.

The understanding is you will be playing in this game to a minimum of 10th level.

You play as closely to RAW as possible (or RAI subject to "reasonable" interpretation).

I think I covered everything, but if you want additional clarification, please let me know.

Sorry, there is no "Other" option in this case; you either will or you won't.

UPDATE: added conditions are included in RED given feedback in the posts below.

 

[TwoSix]

Nope. There simply isn't enough "official" material that I'm interested in playing.

Not to mention that a DM that chose to enforce those kind of rules throws up all sort of red flags to me.

 

[Mort]

If I'm joining a new group (one with players/DM I've never played with), I would much rather play in a D&D game without adding house-rules/hombrew than in a game I'm handed a medium-thick document of houserules/homebrew content.

I want to see how the "standard" game goes with a group before having to play with a bunch of untried (by me) "fixes."

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Not to mention that a DM that chose to enforce those kind of rules throws up all sort of red flags to me.

I mean, I think 90% of people playing this way aren't "enforcing" any kind of rules about 3PP material or homebrew or the like, they're just people who are more either newer or just run in a way that doesn't necessitate a whole lot of their own homebrew and so on. I've played with DMs like this and they were fine. The very best experienced DMs are obviously almost never like that, but newer or less adventurous DMs, who may be great moment-to-moment DMs absolutely can be.

If I'm joining a new group (one with players/DM I've never played with), I would much rather play in a D&D game without adding house-rules/hombrew than in a game I'm handed a medium-thick document of houserules/homebrew content.

I want to see how the "standard" game goes with a group before having to play with a bunch of untried (by me) "fixes."

It feels like there's a middle-ground the size of Eurasia you're excluding there lol.

Most groups I've encountered that use house rules post-2E have rarely had more than a page or two of them. Yeah the giant binder is always worrying as hell, usually meaning wildly OP and unbalanced races and classes for existing players, but that's rarely what "house rules" or "homebrew" actually looks like, imho.

 

[Mort]

Nope. There simply isn't enough "official" material that I'm interested in playing.

The DM can still run his own adventures.

Not to mention that a DM that chose to enforce those kind of rules throws up all sort of red flags to me.

What are "those kind of rules..."? Trying to play by RAW or RAI?

I tend to find many more "red flags" from DMs who think they can rewrite large swaths of the rules without actually having run them as intended first!

 

[Oofta]

I don't see why not. I adhere pretty closely to official rules, I could live without the handful of house rules I do have. The mechanics of the game are in some ways the least interesting aspect of D&D for me. The stories we tell, the RP, the adventures we have are facilitated by the rules not dictated by them.

 

[TwoSix]

I mean, I think 90% of people playing this way aren't "enforcing" any kind of rules about 3PP material or homebrew or the like, they're just people who are more either newer or just run in a way that doesn't necessitate a whole lot of their own homebrew and so on. I've played with DMs like this and they were fine. The very best experienced DMs are obviously almost never like that, but newer or less adventurous DMs, who may be great moment-to-moment DMs absolutely can be.

It feels like there's a middle-ground the size of Eurasia you're excluding there lol.

Most groups I've encountered that use house rules post-2E have rarely had more than a page or two of them. Yeah the giant binder is always worrying as hell, usually meaning wildly OP and unbalanced races and classes for existing players, but that's rarely what "house rules" or "homebrew" actually looks like, imho.

That's fair. But I'm not saying that they're bad DMs, or at least that's not what I mean by "red flag". I'm simply saying it's a strong warning that their play priorities don't mesh with my own, whether their reluctance is due to being a novice DM or simply one that doesn't want to take the time to evaluate homebrew on its merits.

 

[Maxperson]

I voted NO and wished that I could have voted NO! Having to encounter 6-8 combat encounters in a 24 hour period would destroy the game for me.

 

[Art Waring]

I think E6-E12 styled games that are core only work pretty well for new players & GM's learning the ropes.

I have already played in countless games like this, core only old school mode in 2e,3e, & 5e, but in my experience organic play evolves beyond any existing ruleset.

 

[TwoSix]

The DM can still run his own adventures.

I was talking about participating as a player, not as a DM. As a DM, I can set my own rules, and I wouldn't DM a game under those constraints. Not being able to customize spells and magic items is a nonstarter on its own.

What are "those kind of rules..."? Trying to play by RAW or RAI?

I tend to find many more "red flags" from DMs who think they can rewrite large swaths of the rules without actually having run them as intended first!

I'm not talking about running RAI as much (although, as a DM, not being able to overturn rules I think are problematic would be irksome). I'm talking about not allowing in material from non-WotC sources. Outside of one-shots, I haven't played a WotC subclass in years.