D&D 5E Your Favorite 5e Houserule

[el-remmen]

2. Natural 20 on a ranged spell attack like a ray = critical hit. Not sure if it's covered anywhere (I didn't see it), but I decided that it's so at MY table.

This came up recently in one of my games and we could find nothing that said it was not the case, so in the spirit of trying to say YES more in my D&D games, we went with it.

 

[overgeeked]

Scorching Ray. “Make a ranged spell attack for each ray. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 fire damage.”

Natural 20s. “If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this chapter.”

Nothing in the casting spells section suggests “spells don’t crit” to me. We’ve always run it that way. Natural 20s with spells are crits, too.

 

[TwoSix]

Scorching Ray. “Make a ranged spell attack for each ray. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 fire damage.”

Natural 20s. “If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this chapter.”

Nothing in the casting spells section suggests “spells don’t crit” to me. We’ve always run it that way. Natural 20s with spells are crits, too.

Same. I'm pretty sure spells critting is RAW. I've seen people argue that rolling a 1 on a save should result in crit damage, which isn't RAW, but seems like a good house rule.

 

[Rabulias]

Same. I'm pretty sure spells critting is RAW. I've seen people argue that rolling a 1 on a save should result in crit damage, which isn't RAW, but seems like a good house rule.

Far from RAW -- a 1 on a Saving Throw is not an automatic failure.

 

[Stormonu]

Inspiration: I hate the PHB inspiration rules, so I made my own. To get inspiration, you must invoke your flaw, and in so doing you must choose to lose your action or be considered to roll a natural 1 in a dramatic situation. On the other hand, when you use your inspiration by invoking your ideal or bond, you automatically succeed at the action you were attempting or can invoke a minor story change (subject to table's approval) that you can capitalize on.

I actually had a group use this where they chose to give up surprising a major villain and use their flaws in a way that they ended up listening to his monologue (as he in turn tempted each PC with their flaw, and the PC chose to loose their action wrestling with possibility of succumbing to their flaw). But it gave them all a point of inspiration, which they proceeded to use to whittle the boss down in a rather dramatic and story-appropriate fashion. T'was really fun.

 

[Flamestrike]

This came up recently in one of my games and we could find nothing that said it was not the case, so in the spirit of trying to say YES more in my D&D games, we went with it.

Spell attacks are attacks like any other.

They always hit and crit on an attack roll of 20 and always miss on a natural 1.

 

[Flamestrike]

Not really a house rule, per se, but a clarification: Guidance can only be used for skills that can be started and completed in their entirety within the one minute duration.

I used to rule it with common sense (Me: Dude, seriously? How does your cleric know Steve is about to make a skill check?) but have reverted to a mechanical rule, and let the players sort it out:

'Once a creature has benefited from guidance, it cannot do so again till it completes a short or long rest.'

 

[overgeeked]

Another growing favorite of mine is making the players make all the rolls. Switch it from DM rolls for the monster to hit to the player rolls to defend. Same with saves. The player rolls to attack instead of the monster rolling to save. I really enjoy that one.

 

[Flamestrike]

Far from RAW -- a 1 on a Saving Throw is not an automatic failure.

I HR 1's on saves always fail, and 20's always succeed.

 

[overgeeked]

I used to rule it with common sense (Me: Dude, seriously? How does your cleric know Steve is about to make a skill check?) but have reverted to a mechanical rule, and let the players sort it out:

'Once a creature has benefited from guidance, it cannot do so again till it completes a short or long rest.'

Or just ban guidance.