D&D 5E What's in YOUR house rule document/collection?

[Jester David]

Until recently, I was also compiling the WotC Unearthed Arcana into a document, tweaking a few rules as needed. The speed of releases has slowed that down for me. But that's available. There's a favoured soul at my table right now.

I'm very selfish in "my personal Unearthed Arcana".
I tend to allow a lot of my homebrew content, linked by the OP. Although I've been posting revised and updated versions on the DMs Guild. The options from my Giant Killer's Companion, Heroes of the Mists, Feats, and Maneuvers & Commander PDFs are available for players. The Grippli and Expanded Wand of Wonder PDFs were made because of content needed at my table.

Which is the catch, I'm a non-incompetent designer. I *think* I can design remotely balanced content, so when there's a content gap at my table, or an desired option, I don't need to allow someone else's content. I just write it myself. And then usually turn around and sell it myself.

There is a lot of other good content I'd allow if asked. Such as Pozas' Blade and Claw, Additional Archetypes, Introcaso's backgrounds, the Shaman class, and the Tome of Lost Spells. And there's a few other good books I might look though to find a subclass if someone had a concept they really wanted to play, but don't have copies in my Dropbox right now.
There's also some awesome stuff in En5sider. Been a subscriber for a good long while, but I've gotten super slack at actually reading the content.

Kobold Press sees a lot of love. Much of their Southland Heroes, Midgard Heroes, and Unlikely Heroes is allowed. I make regular use of the Tome of Beasts. And a few of the Deep Magic line fit nicely, like Clockwork Magic and Leylines.
I'd probably allow Mercer's content, such as the gunslinger and blood hunter. Looking forward to the Critical Role setting book.
Jeremy Forbing's stuff also looks pretty solid.

 

[Jester David]

For house rules:

Feats
I limit the bonus damage from sharpshooter and great weapon master to once per turn.

Healing
You have to spend a usage of a healer's kit to spend Hit Dice during a short rest. You can treat another creature during a rest to induce a Hit Dice expenditure.
You only heal full hit points when you rest in a safe location, like a comfortable inn. Resting in the wild restores 1/2 hp. Resting in an uncomfortable or unsafe space, like a dungeon or marsh, restores 1/4.

Fudging
I have Fate/Fudge dice at the table. You can choose to roll them when you roll a d20. If the come up ++ you get a flourish (something cool happens), but if they come up -- you suffer a complication (something uncool happens).

 

[Greg Benage]

Mostly just some tweaks to feats.

Barbarian Frenzy
You can rage and bonus-action attack on the same turn. Frenzy eats two uses of Rage. No exhaustion.

Crossbow Expert
This feat does not cancel Disadvantage from firing in melee.

Dual Wielder
In addition to the benefits listed in the Player’s Handbook, you gain the following features.
• You gain a +1 bonus to the damage roll with light weapons when two-weapon fighting.

Great Weapon Master
The “power attack” feature (-5/+10) of Great Weapon Master may not be used with the bonus action attack from Polearm Master.

Medium Armor Master
Instead of the listed benefits, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class and do not suffer Disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when wearing medium armor.

Polearm Master
The benefits apply to the quarterstaff only when it is wielded two-handed.

ETA: Oh, and also created three new feats to support other combat styles -- Close Combat Master, Shield Brawler, and Thrown Weapon Master.

 

[MechaPilot]

One of my most commonly applied houserules is this: "The 5+ Rider"

A player can choose to do something extra (add a "rider") with an attack (like shoving an enemy back, proning an enemy, or smacking an enemy so hard they can't take reactions until the end of their next turn), but they must declare it and must beat the target's AC by 5 or more. Hitting the AC or beating it by 1-4 does not grant the extra effect, but you still do damage normally.

 

[Sadras]

One of my most commonly applied houserules is this: "The 5+ Rider"

A player can choose to do something extra (add a "rider") with an attack (like shoving an enemy back, proning an enemy, or smacking an enemy so hard they can't take reactions until the end of their next turn), but they must declare it and must beat the target's AC by 5 or more. Hitting the AC or beating it by 1-4 does not grant the extra effect, but you still do damage normally.

Great rule. Do you allow this for special NPCs or monsters?

 

[MechaPilot]

Great rule. Do you allow this for special NPCs or monsters?

I allow it for all NPCs & monsters because 1) it preserves the balance of giving that ability to the PCs, and 2) it helps keep combat lively and encourages creative and tactical thinking.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

As mentioned elsewhere, damage bonus on ranged attacks only within half short attack range.
You also need a full day of mostly inactivity to take a long rest. Sleeping restores 1/4 hp and healing surges if done in a safe place.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Here's my variant rules and houserules in my GREYHAWK campaign

- Ability Scores Maximum: A score of 18 is the highest that a person usually reaches, rather than 20, thus the normal range of ability scores is 3-18 without magic. (PHB171)
- Choose Race: The dragonborn, drow and tiefling are not allowed. The Variant Human Trait can be selected. (PHB09)
- Unearthed Arcana: The new class features from Unearthed Arcana: Kits of Old (Cavalier & Scout), Gothic Characters (Monster Hunter & Inquisitive), Waterborne (Swashbuckler), Class Design Variants (Ranger with no spells) are permitted. (UA_E)
- Villainous Class Options: The cleric death domain and paladin oathbreaker can be selected. (DMG96)
- Alignment: No evil alignment can be selected. (PHB122)
- New Languages: New languages that can be selected are ancient baklunish, flan, old oeridian, ancient suloise. (PHB 123)
- Starting Wealth By Class: The starting gold is determined either randomly or by class. If you use the optional rule from chapter 5 to spend coins on gear, you do not receive the starting equipment from your background. (PHB 125-143)
- Multiclassing: The ability score minimum to multiclass is 16 rather than 13. (PHB163)
- Wands That Don’t Recharge: Most magic staff, rod and wand are incapable of regaining charges. (DMG141)
- Slow Natural Healing: Characters don't regain hit points at the end of a long rest. Instead, a character can spend Hit Dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest. (DMG267)
- Healer’s Kit Dependency: A character can't spend any Hit Dice after finishing a rest until someone expends one use of a healer's kit to bandage and treat the character's wounds. (DMG266)

 

[azathosk]

My group decided yesterday to skip the "1 minute is 10 rounds" and ruled that if something lasts a minute it will last all through the fight.

This is just so we remember the effect (and don't need to keep track of how many rounds an effect have lasted).

Sent from my EVA-L09 using EN World mobile app

 

[Caliban]

Dragonborn: May use their breath weapon as a bonus action.

Healer: Proficiency in the Medicine skill also grants you the Healer feat. You can still take the Healer feat normally if you do not want to take the Medicine skill.
For the feat itself, the second benefit (healing 1d6+4+level) cannot be done in combat. (Alternatively, if the players really want to do it in combat: both the healer and the target count as Restrained for 1d4+1 rounds while the wounds are treated and bandages applied.)