D&D (2024) People That Have Actually Read the DMG: What Optional Rule(s) Do You Want To Get Expanded In One D&D?

[Grantypants]

I like the idea of proficiency bonus being a die value rather than a set bonus, but in play it seems to slow down the game as you have more numbers to add every time.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I used to love playing Rogues in 3.x, so when I first started playing 5e I used the optional Flanking and Tumble rules. But I quickly realized they weren't necessary. With the 5e Sneak Attack rules, Rogues no longer needed to be flanking. And with 5e's movement rules, I no longer needed to tumble into flanking position.

But 2 optional rules that I do like using are the Hitting Cover and Cleave rules on page 272. Hitting Cover leads to iconic hostage situations where you have to decide whether you want to lay down your weapons or try to snipe the person holding the hostage without damaging the hostage. Cleave just replaces the old 3.x feat and makes my Greataxe wielding Barbarian that much cooler. It also makes battles with many low-level minions go much quicker.

The Cleave rules are fun, but I don’t require that subsequent target to be undamaged. Definitely worth expanding on.

Bloodied (pg 248) Morale (pg 273) as part of a comprehensive fight or flight system.

I’d love to see those expanded beyond fight or flight rules.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I like the idea of proficiency bonus being a die value rather than a set bonus, but in play it seems to slow down the game as you have more numbers to add every time.

I think a lot of people like the idea. I like the idea, for example! But I liked the idea of the dice mechanic in Earthdawn! The practice? Not so much.

In practice Proficiency Dice does two major things:

1) It slows the game down by a noticeable amount.

2) It nukes Bounded Accuracy from orbit as @tetrasodium points out.

It gets particularly hilarious with stuff like Expertise, where you're rolling two dice! At level 5, for example, when you're rolling 2d6 for Expertise, you can get anywhere between +2, so the same as an Level 1 character without Expertise and +12, the same as Level 17 character with Expertise. That only gets worse as things go on. At 13 you're going between +2 (still!) and +20, which is like 60% higher than you could ever see even with Expertise at any level! It's adding more RNG into a game which already has an excessive RNG problem thanks to using d20s.

It just doesn't benefit the game, and illustrates a pernicious and unhelpful kind of house-rule-making that some DMs insist on engaging in, which is changing rules because they think it's cool to change rules, without actually understanding what they're doing. That should not be the sort of optional rule that's in the DMG and that people might try to emulate.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I’d love to see those expanded beyond fight or flight rules.

Fair. My concern was that bloodied and morale have a natural interaction in a fight or flight situation.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fair. My concern was that bloodied and morale have a natural interaction in a fight or flight situation.

Absolutely. Bloodied just has so many ways it could turn dials in the system very intuitively, from “when bloodied, the Gnoll reaver gains THP and deals 1d10 extra damage on a successful melee weapon attack while it has those THP” to gating certain kinds of healing behind being bloodied (or behind a certain level of morale, for that matter).

I think you could use the class groups and stuff like bloodied to do cool stuff like “When a Warrior is bloodied, they can use a reaction to make one weapon attack against a target they can see. They regain this when they roll initiative or complete a short or long rest.”

 

[TheSword]

Lingering injuries would be my strong preference. Expanded to be interesting and long lasting.

Incurred when dropping to 0 hp, with conditions attached and probably a number of exhaustion levels. With methods of removing over time or with magic.

 

[Marandahir]

Spellpoints, but only for Sorcerers. Merge it with Sorcery Points into a single larger pool, and Sorcerers can choose to spend it on more spells per day or on altering a fewer number of spells per day.

 

[tetrasodium]

Spellpoints, but only for Sorcerers. Merge it with Sorcery Points into a single larger pool, and Sorcerers can choose to spend it on more spells per day or on altering a fewer number of spells per day.

Spell points is a mess in 5e because slot based casters mostly stop getting slots after the first for higher level slots while a handful of low level "iconic" spells punch way above what their slot levels & very low spell point costs justify. 5.5/6e will need to do a lot better there

 

[Yaarel]

In the DMs Guide I want more development of optional abilities. It gives examples such as Honor and Sanity being new abilities.

I want Athletics and Perception as new abilities for a total of eight abilities.

• Strength / Constitution
• Dexterity / Athletics
• Intelligence / Perception
• Charisma / Wisdom

In this eightsome, there are four main saving throws: Constitution (Fortitude), Athletics (Reflex), Perception (!), and Wisdom (Will).

Perception is the defacto saving throw versus hiddenness, invisibility, and noticing any sensory flaws in disguises and illusions.

Athletics is mobility and bodily agily, including dodge and the AC bonus, it combines the inseparable Athletics jump/climb and Acrobatics fall/balance into a single swashbuckling ability score.

Meanwhile Dexterity continues to include manual dexterity Slight of Hand and cautious sensitive movements like Stealth, plus weapons that require a steady hand and precise aim, such as range weapons and finesse weapons.

(By the way, in this context, Charisma handles Honor and Wisdom handles Sanity.)

It takes some adjustment in the standard formating to make it practible to add these two abilities.

 

[Yaarel]

Spellpoints, but only for Sorcerers. Merge it with Sorcery Points into a single larger pool, and Sorcerers can choose to spend it on more spells per day or on altering a fewer number of spells per day.

I am impressed with how well points per Short Rest balances.

The basic idea is, the mage gains a number of spell points equal to the fullcaster level + 1. The cost of any spell equals its slot level.

For example:

A level 5 Wizard has a spell pool equal to 6 points ( = level + 1 points).

The Wizard can use these points to cast two Fireballs (3rd slot x 2 = 6 point cost), or cast one of each Fireball, Invisibility, and Magic Missile (3rd slot + 2nd slot + 1st slot = 6 point cost).

When the pool depletes a Short or Long Rest can refresh it back to the maximum of 6 points.



This set up is amazingly balanced. It even works for the highest slot levels of 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.

It should probably the standard mechanics for any character that uses spell points, regardless of class.