D&D 5E House Rules That Make The Game Better

[ThirdWizard]

The reason this works for me is that I've found I'm just really bad at remembering to grant Inspiration. So, rather than not having it appear in the game at all, we use this. (Obviously, YMMV. As I said, it works for me. )

I'm loathe to admit that I have completely forgotten to hand out inspiration for the duration of my currently running 5e campaign...

I might just do what you do.

 

[keterys]

For inspiration, I think what I'm tempted to do is give out inspiration token(s) to each player, but players can't use them for their own characters. When another character takes an action in line with their personality (bonds, flaws, etc), especially one that is less optimal for that PC (ie, they're taking an extra risk or penalty to match their character), someone can give them advantage with one of the tokens.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Action Points/Inspiration is something I am happy to forget.

 

[S'mon]

For inspiration, I think what I'm tempted to do is give out inspiration token(s) to each player, but players can't use them for their own characters. When another character takes an action in line with their personality (bonds, flaws, etc), especially one that is less optimal for that PC (ie, they're taking an extra risk or penalty to match their character), someone can give them advantage with one of the tokens.

I do this in practice, but maybe I should formalise it.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Ease of house ruling is a major strength of 5e. It can be easily tweaked to get the feel you want, and this is officially encouraged.

It is officially encouraged, yes, and it's downright necessary under many circumstances, but 'easy' isn't quite the right word, IMHO. Ultimately, authoring variants for any game is not so different, save in scope, from designing a game, which is no easy thing to do. 5e gives you permission to change the rules, makes it clear to the players that they can't 'play by the rules' without DM intervention (the core resolution system inserts 'ask the DM' into basically everything), and has a loose enough design that you can't make it a lot worse with a 'bad' house rule.

That makes it 'easy' to house-rule if your intent in doing so is to, say, dynamically maximize 'fun' for a group you know well, as you're running it. If your intent is to somehow flog a degree of mechanical balance into the system, OTOH, you're looking at a lot more and more difficult work.

What do you do that you've found has worked really well?

I find that the best way to house-rule 5e - and to run 5e, in general - is to stick to the 'rulings not rules' spirit in which 5e is presented. Not house-rules, in a codified sense, but house-rulings.

A rule you change is a rule you have to document, explain up-front, and stick to. Rewarding, if you're a frustrated would-be game designer, worthwhile if you're going for a very specific and consistent tone for you campaign, but not easy.

A ruling is one and done, and the next time a similar situations comes up you're still free rule differently. Thus, you can tailor how the game works to the moment, to get the best result. As long as you have a good feel for what will entertain your players and/or a clear vision of how you want your campaign to go, that is. If you mess up, you mess up that one moment in the campaign, learn from the mistake, and move on.

 

[houser2112]

A ruling is one and done, and the next time a similar situations comes up you're still free rule differently. Thus, you can tailor how the game works to the moment, to get the best result. As long as you have a good feel for what will entertain your players and/or a clear vision of how you want your campaign to go, that is. If you mess up, you mess up that one moment in the campaign, learn from the mistake, and move on.

Well, as a player, I can tell you that the DM ruling differently in similar situations would be decidedly NOT entertaining. I can accept a ruling that differs from my initial interpretation as "Well, that's how things work in this game, I guess.", but I should be able to use that to inform future actions. If I can't rely on the DM to be consistent (even if he's consistently wrong from my POV), I think I'd be finding myself a new DM.

 

[neobolts]

1) Checks to maintain a concentration spell are only triggered when the caster takes 10 or more damage from a single attack. This value may scale at higher levels.
2) Players may choose to take average (round down) on HP recovered via hit dice during short rest.
3) Players roll individual initiative at start of combat. Monsters roll a single initiative. On a whiteboard, a line (the monsters) is drawn; the players are either above or below the line. The players above the line can go in any order, then the monsters go in any order, then the players below the line go in any order.

 

[Moorcrys]

- I don't know if home-brewing content for the game constitutes house rules or not, but I've added a slew of cleric domains to my campaign world, which include spells from the Book of Lost Spells by necromancer games to add some uniqueness.

- A sorcerer's Charisma modifier determines the number of metamagic options they can choose at 2nd level and they get the additional ones as they level.

- Rangers consider all terrain favored. They add their Wisdom modifier to the number of favored enemies they can choose. Their capstone ability at 20th level applies to all attacks.

- Berserker barbarians get one freebie Frenzy per long rest before they begin to rack up exhaustion levels. While frenzying, all current penalties for exhaustion are negated, but return post-frenzy.

- No more than two short rests provide benefits between long rests except under special circumstances. Environment determines the length of time needed for a short rest. The safer or more comfortable the environment (such as in the wild being tended to by a ranger, or in the safe space of a rope trick spell), the shorter the rest. Optimal or safe/comfortable environments let you rest up in 10-15 minutes, sub-optimal/uncomfortable/stressful environments can take up to the full hour.

- Bards can only pick magical secrets from full-progression spell casting classes. I want to keep the paladin and ranger spells unique to their class.

- Pact of the Blade warlocks gain medium armor and shield proficiency.

- I'm still trying to figure out the best way to up the staying power of the Beastmaster ranger. Right now they only need to use an action to command the animal once, then the beast follows the command to the best of its ability until the ranger commands it again.

- Dragonborn can use their breath weapon as a bonus action, rather than a full action.

That's pretty much it right now, I think.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think the easiest way to make Beastmaster pets more durable is to give share life as a class feature. The cleric spell, that is.

The reason I favor this is because it means little else about the pet stats need to change.

Except of course what you already do, give it some kind of independent actions, that is.

 

[Moorcrys]

I think the easiest way to make Beastmaster pets more durable is to give share life as a class feature. The cleric spell, that is.

The reason I favor this is because it means little else about the pet stats need to change.

Except of course what you already do, give it some kind of independent actions, that is.

Cool - I'll look it up when I get home from work tonight. Thanks!