D&D 5E Failed House Rules

[Blue]

Many of us have tweaked the game with house rules to fix issues, fit a setting, make things run more smoothly, or add something lacking. But those don't always work out. I'd love to hear house rules that you have put in place and the goal for adding them, and then why you removed them. Could be they didn't do what expected, or had other repercussions, or just weren't a fan of the players.

Looking to make this a positive thread. Please no shaming about why someone wanted a rule, or how their rule doesn't fit their goals. We're all opening up on things we tried that didn't work, so be respectful when asking for details.

I'll add some of mine in comments - I don't want to focus the thread just on what I said, I'm really interested in lessons learned by others.

Idea for this thread came from @clearstream while discussing his already filtered list of rules for his open campaigns.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

We experimented with Popcorn Initiative in two of our campaigns to see if it would speed up combat and make it more dynamic. Both groups independently felt it was too "gamey" so we dropped it after a few sessions and returned to the standard initiative rules.

 

[dave2008]

In 4e we did an adventure were we improvised everything (no powers) using the DMG 42. It was a bit to much of a shock for my players, and we went back to powers with the next adventure.

 

[Dausuul]

My group tried the "gritty rests" rule from the DMG, where a short rest is 8 hours and a long rest is several days in a safe location. The goal was to bring classes with short-rest resources and classes with long-rest resources into balance (the short-resters were getting... shall we say... shortchanged).

While it did work to accomplish the goal, the players were frustrated by the difficulty of taking a long rest. Everyone had to manage their resources very carefully, and that was not fun for most of the group. We switched to a new rule where a short rest is 5 minutes but you're only allowed two of them per day, and that has worked out much better.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

This crap actually happened one time and was a rule.

I love cats. If you are a dm that makes it a house rule that game play must stop until the cat decides to walk back off the table of its own accord and characters lose levels when you move the cat instead of waiting or you prevent it from leaping onto the table when it looks like it wants to by shooing it away, i WILL move your cat. If that develops into a serious problem where you throw shade at me because i keep doing it i take any friends i brought with me and we dont play at that house any more.

For a more reasonable rule everyone thought was going to be awesome, we decided to roll for level adjustment allowence at beginning of campaign in another dm's campaign. The allowance you got you could spend however you wanted with only a few exceptional items banned and you would gain xp like you didnt have one (up to the limit of your rolled allowance).

One person managed to roll an 8 (we were rolling a 10 sided die because there are a few ways you can have LA of 0 or even -1. No one was jealous (it was a great group) we were all just excited to see what it would be like playing with all this extra fire power and tricks and skills. No one rolled lower than a 4.

7 or so sessions later. Guess who was still having a fun time but not optimal fun? The guy with 8 free LA. His character was in danger occasionally but it was so hard to get that way that he asked if he could drop one of his templates just so he could have fum feeling what it was like to try hard. Poor guy. We let him. That being said it actually was still pretty fun. I think if i were to ever have a dm try it again i would just have him somehow reduce the range that could be rolled. A range of 10 was just too much.

 

[RSIxidor]

We tried using 2d10 for attacks, saves, and checks. We actually still use it for checks but it didn't work great for attacks and saves, too flat.

 

[JeffB]

In 4e we did an adventure were we improvised everything (no powers) using the DMG 42. It was a bit to much of a shock for my players, and we went back to powers with the next adventure.

I've run improv games as the DM like that in 4e, and it was great, but the players used standard powers. We're your players just uncomfortable with the improv/coming up with ideas?

 

[JeffB]

Mearls' GH initiative did not go over well with my players.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

Back in 3.5 my group and I collectively felt that critical hits did not do enough damage. So, with agreement from the whole group we instituted the following house rule: critical hits do X 4 damage and the damage dice 'explode'; that is if you roll the highest number on a damage die you keep that and roll again and repeat if necessary.

First combat where we used that rule, the PC 5th level Dwarven fighter engaged a half Troll who was using a Maul. I don't recall the fighter's hp exactly but it was in the mid 40s. The Half Troll scored a crit on it's very first attack and the damage was... spectacular. The Dwarf went from mid 40s hp to -75 hp in one hit dying a truly gruesome death. After that, we all decided to stop using that houserule as it was a bit... excessive.

 

[Charlaquin]

I used a house rule once where when you drop to 0 HP, you can stay conscious as long as you maintain Concentration. But you are still dying abs have to make death saves. First session with that house rule, a player dropped to 0, decided to stay conscious, which meant the monsters still saw him as an active threat and attacked him. He got hit, took a death save fail, and immediately said he wanted to drop concentration. No one ever concentrated to stay conscious in that campaign again.

I have considered bringing that one back, but ruling that you are still stable while you maintain consciousness.