D&D 5E What Is Your "Must-Have" House-Rule (If Any)?

[DND_Reborn]

For a long time I've been trying to make 5E "my own"--something I would continue to have fun playing. As such, I've spent a lot of time going over house-rules and variants, trying to find a blend I could live with so that the game feels right to me, but also isn't bogged down with extra rules other players might not care for or want to bother with.

So, in that light I was wondering, for those who care to share, what is an absolute must-have house-rule for you or your table?

If you don't have any, feel free to chime in to that effect, but the purpose of this thread is to share what others think are the most important house-rules for them that help make 5E fun.

Thanks to all who contribute. I am curious to see what others have to share.

I'll start:

Three Strikes And You're Out!
Once your character dies for a third time, the game is over for them--nothing can bring them back. Make a new character and get back into the fun.

 

[Ringtail]

Short Short Rests
A Short Rest lasts 10 minutes.

Dungeon Turns
Exploration in a dungeon is handled in 10 Minute turns. An action, such as picking a lock or checking a trap, takes an entire turn. Multiple actions can be done on a single turn, if done by different players.

Investigate Secrets
You can use EITHER Perception or Investigation to locate traps or secret doors. Only perception can be used to detect creatures.

The first two are things I developed after reading B/X D&D (Specifically old-school essentials.) There is a great and simple system for dungeon crawling in there, tracking time in a dungeon, etc. The simple version forward to 5e is my houserule. From that it's easy to check for monsters say, every 30 minutes (3 turns) and that a torch lasts 1 hour (6 turns.) Making short rests 10 Minutes just fits into that system better. I find there is very little mechanical repercussions for making a short rest 10 minutes but I find players are more likely to take them this way, especially when there is a sense of urgency.

As for Investigation, I always found the difference between it and Perception confusing. Even when people explain it I found it too niche and open to argument from the players. Allowing Investigation to be used to detect traps makes the skill and Intelligence more useful I think, though just a little. But often I would have players, who didn't know Investigation was going to be used for traps, complain, because they took Perception instead. So I allow both. I keep them distinct by saying anything involving other creatures is still Perception (since stealth is often compared to Active or Passive Perception) and anything involving research or experimenting is Investigation. (Kind of like Library Use in Call of Cthulhu.)

 

[TwoSix]

Maybe not so much a rule, just a general guideline I give to my players is "Don't feel bound by what you see in the books. If you have an idea that doesn't quite work with the rules, talk to me about it." Want to play a wizard with metamagic? A monk that can rage? We'll work it out.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

No Evil PCs. I just can't be bothered. Of course, the world is a harsh place, so non evil characters (murder hobos) may look pretty evil by today's standards.

 

[Puddles]

Great idea for a thread, I am interested in seeing what people suggest!

I have a number of house rules I am running in my current campaign, we’ll see which one becomes the must clutch out of them.

One house rule I am having fun with so far is after every 3 rounds of combat initiative is redrawn. Adds a nice spice to combats that go on for longer. I call the rule “Fog of War”.

 

[Shardstone]

I've kept the meatgrinder rule from ToA, where it requires a 15+ to succeed on a Death Saving Throw. Has made my games...much better.

 

[iserith]

Players claim Inspiration.

 

[Stalker0]

I run with a fair amount of houserules, but looking them over, there is only 2 for me.

1) Death Rules: No death saving throws. When players have 0 or negative HP, they are unconscious. Every round you are unconscious, you lose 1 HP until you are stabilized. At -10 you are dead (this is your death threshold). Healing automatically brings you to 0, and then you heal from there.

2) No resurrection magic (The 3rd level revivify is now 9th level....it is the only res magic in the game).


For number 1, it doesn't have to be this rule specifically, I have tried various houserules to limit the Yo-Yo effect or make going unconscious scarier. But the theme is clear....my must have houserules are to make 5e deadlier. 5e at base is training wheels to me, honestly even with these rules I find it nigh impossible to challenge my groups without tinkering with the monsters.

Also, I have never liked worldbuilding around the aspect that resurrection magic is in any way somewhat common for mid to high level people, or people "of means". Especially not revivify, it is hard enough to kill a player for them to just pop up alive the next round.


I love a lot of my other houserules, but these are the only ones that my game imo would truly suffer if I dropped.

 

[Stalker0]

One house rule I am having fun with so far is after every 3 rounds of combat initiative is redrawn. Adds a nice spice to combats that go on for longer. I call the rule “Fog of War”.

I like this idea. I have always found that rolling for initiative every round was just too much for me. But since many combats are over after 3 rounds...this is a way to spice up the longer fights in a way I don't deal with every fight. I may give this a shot!

 

[DND_Reborn]

One house rule I am having fun with so far is after every 3 rounds of combat initiative is redrawn. Adds a nice spice to combats that go on for longer. I call the rule “Fog of War”.

I also really like this rule. I might run it by our group tomorrow...