D&D 5E Flanking House Rule

[BookTenTiger]

Here's a simple Flanking House Rule I use in my game:

Flanking
When flanking an enemy, melee attacks are treated as a critical hit when a 19 or 20 is rolled.

I find this helps reward flanking while reducing "advantage bloat." I also like the idea that it's easier to get in a devastating strike on a distracted enemy.

What do you think? Do you have any special house rules for flanking in your game?

 

[Morrus]

For us flanking takes place in theatre of the mind when 3 or more creatures are attacking a single target (because it's so easy to 'flank' in totm if it's just two opposite).

 

[BookTenTiger]

For us flanking takes place in theatre of the mind when 3 or more creatures are attacking a single target (because it's so easy to 'flank' in totm if it's just two opposite).

I like that, and I can see it as being a good solution for Theatre of the Mind. It reminds me of the rule in d20 Conan in which each additional person to attack the same target received an additional +1 to their attack (so the second person to attack the same target would get a +1, the third would get a +2, etc).

 

[touc]

I like it. Easy to track and gives a meaningful benefit. I also agree on larger #s triggering it. Will make Pack Tactics creatures and rogues much more dangerous, however (e.g. given sneak attack can crit).

 

[GMMichael]

For us flanking takes place in theatre of the mind when 3 or more creatures are attacking a single target (because it's so easy to 'flank' in totm if it's just two opposite).

I'd rather have the extended crit than wait for the third guy to show up. If a rogue can do d6 more damage just for having an ally somewhere nearby, I can see how anyone could get an extra 5% chance to do double damage (or an average of 5% more damage?) under Sneak Attack conditions.

What's this about Advantage bloat, though? You either have advantage or you don't, right?

 

[Morrus]

I'd rather have the extended crit than wait for the third guy to show up. If a rogue can do d6 more damage just for having an ally somewhere nearby, I can see how anyone could get an extra 5% chance to do double damage (or an average of 5% more damage?) under Sneak Attack conditions.

What's this about Advantage bloat, though? You either have advantage or you don't, right?

Advantage bloat?

 

[Rabulias]

What's this about Advantage bloat, though? You either have advantage or you don't, right?

Advantage bloat?

I took this to mean "ubiquitous advantage," which is how I see the official optional Flanking rule: It makes it too easy to get advantage.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I took it to mean that there are many things that give Advantage, so BookTenTiger is trying to reduce the bloat by changing one source of Advantage (with a big 'A') to a different kind of advantage (with a little 'a').

In other words "ubiquitous Advantage".

 

[CleverNickName]

I have two problems with the optional Flanking rules in the DMG. The first problem is that it just amounts to one more way to get Advantage, and I fell like there are already too many ways to easily do this. Eventually, getting Advantage on every attack roll becomes the expectation and not the rare exception, and when that happens...what's the point?

My second problem with Flanking is that it wrecks the narrative and breaks immersion. Combat scenes already feel like a weird board game to me, no matter how hard I try to keep everyone in character. Flanking makes everyone even more focused on squares and numbers than usual.

An expanded crit range sounds like it would be an interesting way to address the first problem. The only way I've found to address the second problem is to just not use a battle mat....but I'm open to ideas if anyone has some.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I like the second way of addressing the problem. If we play on a board, it's going to feel like a boardgame. However, admittedly, I rarely get to play in the theater of the mind.