D&D 5E Optional or homebrew rules

[toucanbuzz]

Remove feats. Remove variant human. Give them player psionic talents as an option instead of ASI....

Hmmm, that might be an interesting way to go. The Psion rules I'm using has psionic feats.

 

[Maestrino]

SPELL POINT VARIANT (it's in the DMG). Specifically for sorcerer, which IMO should default to this rule, but there's an argument to be made for allowing it for other classes. Definitely not for wizard or (and I hope this is obvious) warlock.

 

[NotAYakk]

I'm planning on having all magical healing also require you to spend a HD to heal (which you also get back in HP).

That makes small healing amount significantly worse than large healing amounts out of combat.

When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4rd level or higher, the healing increases 1d6 for every 2 slot levels above 2nd.

A 5th level "mass cure wounds" is 3d8+stat (18.5) on up to 6 targets (111 HP), and uses 6 HD.

A 4th level "healing spirit" has 2d6 (7) x 10 (70 HP), and uses 10 HD, but can be on one creature.

(The only spell and effect this doesn't apply to is Regeneration and Ring of Regeneration, and arguably anything similar.)

At lower levels, healing spirit simply exhausts someone's spirit as it converts their HD into Healing.

 

[Blue]

That's what I thought but it wasn't clear(at least to me). I like this critical style better then just rolling and doubling or rolling 2 dice.

I find that style of max damage plus roll is a large power boost to rogues and paladins, both of which add dice to the critical.

5d6 Sneak Attack averages 17-18 points of damage. The same from a crit adds 47-48 points to the weapon damage. Even worse for a paladin who can decided what sized smite to add after seeing it's a crit.

 

[Blue]

SPELL POINT VARIANT (it's in the DMG). Specifically for sorcerer, which IMO should default to this rule, but there's an argument to be made for allowing it for other classes. Definitely not for wizard or (and I hope this is obvious) warlock.

Spell points and flanking granting advantage were the two DMG rules we playtested and didn't like. Once you started getting mid Tier 2 and higher, it really encouraged use of your highest level spells - they are the most efficient for an action. But this would lead to using up all the spell points quickly and with 15 minute adventuring days, or whiny casters who don't like using nothing but cantrips for the rest of the day.

Note that even after the players had been through this, they continued to do it. Because your highest level slots are very effective against opponents of your level.

 

[Blue]

I'm planning on having all magical healing also require you to spend a HD to heal (which you also get back in HP).

That makes small healing amount significantly worse than large healing amounts out of combat.

When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4rd level or higher, the healing increases 1d6 for every 2 slot levels above 2nd.

A 5th level "mass cure wounds" is 3d8+stat (18.5) on up to 6 targets (111 HP), and uses 6 HD.

A 4th level "healing spirit" has 2d6 (7) x 10 (70 HP), and uses 10 HD, but can be on one creature.

(The only spell and effect this doesn't apply to is Regeneration and Ring of Regeneration, and arguably anything similar.)

At lower levels, healing spirit simply exhausts someone's spirit as it converts their HD into Healing.

Are goodberries under this, or under the "regeneration" exemption?

What happens when you are healed and out of HD?

13th Age has an interesting take on this. It is a lot closer to 4e in that it has Recoveries, which are similar to 4e's Healing Surges. A lot mroe healing than a 5e HD. Most characters have eight of them a long rest. You can spend them yourself (first time in an encounter auto-works, next time is a check). Healing uses them and gives a bonus. If you are below half at the end of a combat, you must spend them to get up to half. (Again, think of this as recovering the battle fatigue part of HPs.)

The interesting this is what happens when you are out. They still work - sort of. They only give back half as many HPs, and they give you a cumulative -1 to all d20 rolls until you have long rest ("full heal up"). I've had characters get there when they were particularly beat upon and worn down. Real attrition.

 

[NotAYakk]

Are goodberries under this, or under the "regeneration" exemption?

Under this. Goodberries become "activate a HD, and get a +1 to the roll". If you don't spend the HD your belly is still full.

Note that a simple healing potion on a barbarian goes from 2d4+2 (7) to 2d4+2+1d12 (13.5); almost twice the healing per action. On the other hand, chugging basic healing potions is less efficient in terms of healing/HD than drinking 10d4+20+1d12 potions (51.5 HP/HD: almost 4x more efficient that way).

Both Ring of Regeneration and the Regeneration spell are extremely powerful magic that bypasses this limit. I could be tempted by the Heal spell and the Mass Heal spell as well bypassing the HD requirement (ie, level 6+ spells).

What happens when you are healed and out of HD?

You stabilize if unconscious, but cannot heal from magic.

Magic enhances your existing life force. You are already depleted, it has nothing to grab onto.

I'm also giving a level 1 "racial" HD (d6 for small, d8 for medium, d10 for 'large build' and dwarves), so level 1 characters can be healed twice. Plus once for every level after that.

 

[Blue]

You stabilize if unconscious, but cannot heal from magic.

Magic enhances your existing life force. You are already depleted, it has nothing to grab onto.

I'm also giving a level 1 "racial" HD (d6 for small, d8 for medium, d10 for 'large build' and dwarves), so level 1 characters can be healed twice. Plus once for every level after that.

Does this mean that it is always better to use magical healing first? Because spell+HD = both. But if you spend your HD during short rests and have nothing left, then healing does nothing for you.

In other words, order of healing matters.

 

[Einlanzer0]

I do not like randomness, but HPs are too high IMHO, I would go with +6 HP at 1st level then -2 HP per level from then on.

Agree with this. HP is too low at 1st and gets too high later on, something I find weird they didn't address in playtesting.

I use the same " roll or take a fixed number" system but the fixed number is one less than what's listed in the PHB, representing the rounded down median, and it also applies at 1st level.

So, a 1st level fighter with 14 con has either:
10 + 2 + 5 or 10 + 2 + 1d10 HP. At every subsequent level they gain 1d10 + 2 or 5 + 2 HP.

I also buffed the attributes in such a way that most are competitive with con as a secondary score.

 

[Maestrino]

Spell points and flanking granting advantage were the two DMG rules we playtested and didn't like. Once you started getting mid Tier 2 and higher, it really encouraged use of your highest level spells - they are the most efficient for an action. But this would lead to using up all the spell points quickly and with 15 minute adventuring days, or whiny casters who don't like using nothing but cantrips for the rest of the day.

Note that even after the players had been through this, they continued to do it. Because your highest level slots are very effective against opponents of your level.

I can see that, though the DMG does add the restriction that for spells level 6 and above, you can still only cast one per day at each level - you have to restrict your spell-spamming to levels 5 and lower. (I suppose the in-game lore justification is just that some types of spells are just more "taxing" to cast than low-level magics.)

I played a druid (in Curse of Strahd) that ran on spell points, and I still found myself really hoarding those spell points because sure, I could go nova on the big awakened treant thing, but what if that damn vampire shows up again right after? I was very much playing in the style of "use the least possible resources to deal with a threat b/c there might be a bigger threat incoming".

Anyway, it's maybe not for every table or every character, but man - it makes sorcerers more fun.