D&D 5E (2014) Your Favorite 5e Houserule

[touc]

Crits: max on the first damage die/dice. There should never be a situation where you roll a crit and it's a dud (does not apply to sneak attack).

Reach: From 3rd edition, if you have at least 10' reach and foe without it enters your threat range, you can use attack of opportunity on them (otherwise follows same rules, such as no aoo if shoved).

 

[Shiroiken]

The two most notable changes I've made are attempts to move players away from the ultra-common great weapon fighting and archery styles. To make sword and board more appealing, I've reduced the action to don/doff a shield to a bonus action (I tried making it an object interaction, but that was way too much). For two weapon fighting, I allow a 1d4 light weapon to be used with any other one handed weapon, allowing things like the stereotypical rapier/dagger combo without the need for a feat (and it reduces the damage dropoff for multi-attack warriors).

Object Interaction Rules: A reasonable amount.

I've modified this in my game fairly reasonably. Your first interaction is free. You may perform a second interaction as a bonus action. If you desire a third object interaction, then it will require your action. Oh, and the interaction occurs over the full turn, so you can open and close a door as a single interaction.

 

[abirdcall]

My favourite houserule is to not allow familiars to grant advantage to attacks by using the Help action in combat.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Oddly enough, despite the dozens of house rules we have had (and many we still use) in 5E, there is nothing that is my "favorite". We played strictly RAW for the first 3-4 months and it worked well enough.

 

[Dillon]

Once per session, everyone at the table can substitute a d30 for a d20 roll, with any roll of 20-30 being treated like a natural 20.

 

[Horwath]

1. initiative is 1d12 instead of 1d20.

2. bonus feats at 1st,5th,9th,13th,17th and 20th level. They must be racial feats, UA skill feats and "weak" PHB feats like Skilled, Observant, Keen mind, Linguist, etc...

3. damage bonus is also doubled on crits(to prevent low damage crits). "power attack" from SS and GWM removed and now it is a half feat.

4. All feats reworked as half feats.

5. Added back negative HPs. You die when your negative HPs are equall to your CON score + your level.

 

[dave2008]

2. bonus feats at 1st,5th,9th,13th,17th and 20th level. They must be racial feats, UA skill feats and "weak" PHB feats like Skilled, Observant, Keen mind, Linguist, etc...

What, now UA weapon feats!

3. damage bonus is also doubled on crits(to prevent low damage crits).

You might like the house rule up thread a bit: first dice of damage is maxed, roll the extra damage dice.

 

[Weiley31]

-Any character race, at level 1, may choose ONE of the UA racial feats for their particular race at character creation. (So a Dwarf can't have Grudge Bearer, Dwarven Resilience, or Squat Nimbleness at the same time. I thought of allowing for multiple racial feats at certain level thresholds, but since ALL the UA racial feats give ASI boosts,I wasn't sure if it would be balanced if I allowed that.)

Update: I would allow that,depending on if feats are favored OVER ASIs, since it would open up more room for regular feat usage and normal lvl ASIs would be made up somewhat via multiple racial feats. But it's either choosing feats or ASIs like usual. Not both. Players must choose which style to take.
Additionally if it's a one-on-one DM/player and no group as per the Essential Starter kits statement on no groups, then multiple racial feats can be allowed/gained at certain level thresholds.

-UA Weapon Mastery/Skill feats can be earned IF the character devotes enough time/downtime to learn/train with the respective weapon/skill for the appropriate mastery. Sometimes this requires training from someone who is a master or much more skilled.

-Max HP gains. No rolling for it unless the player wants to roll for HP.

-UA Class rules Variants allowed.

-Players, as mentioned before, award each other Inspiration.

-Crits are Max Damage PLUS what ever the two dice roll results end up.

"I stake this fight upon this finishing blow!!". rolls 1s on both Crit Hit rolls
Yeah no.......

-Way of The Astral Self UA Monk can have it's arms lift things/do STR tests.

-NPC/Sidekick only unique feats. Example: so a Circle of Life Druid NPC can aquire the Circle of The Moon's wild shaping ability via the NPC only feat *Rage of Gaia once the plot reveals said Druid decided to dedicate themselves to Nature and the absolute punishment of society. Such feats are NOT for player use and require DM creation.

-Spell points AND Sorcery points are combined together. Only Sorcerer's may do this.

 

[Coroc]

In my current campaign: additional feat at level 1, only var humans so they even start with two.

Some equipment tweaks, depending on setting, mostly about naming things correctly. In current campaign:

TWF only rapier dagger style as historic (or two daggers or a shortsword and a dagger). No feat needed and +1 AC with a parrying dagger.

No bows, the campaign was modeled to support firearms so I cannot have bows be better due to faster loading. It turned out one of the players did not want firearms so crossbows are the supplement.

Quarterstaff 1d6 two handed no one handed use.

Leather armor and studded leather armor get padded linen armor/ padded armor / brigandine instead (AC 11,12,13) with brigandinde +3 allowable Dex boon
Intimidate can be keyed of Str for fighters.

A natural 1 might always have an effect, something like hitting yourself/a party member dropping the weapon, stumbling prone etc. Also for mobs. A botched save with nat. 1 might lead to spel crit. No fixed rule for that, that is my fun field as a DM.

Inspirations may also influence d20s rolled by the DM.

Rolls in the open, no matter the consequences.
It is my challenge as a DM to provide mobs whch brings the party to their last edge without TPK,
One left standing is fair game.

Many race/class/combo/alignment restrictions I like my campaigns to have a certain feel.

Wizards can buy any scroll of any level if they got the cash.

Players can buy things like ships, war machines and astronomic instruments if they feel like it.

No more come to mind atm, might be I oversaw one, yes I got another one full hp at first level afterwards it is rolling, a die roll of 1 can be repeated once and stands afterwards no matter the outcome.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Fast Swapping - characters can swap out gear as an object interaction.

For example, you can put away your sword and shield to draw your bow as a single object interaction (which you can still do for free once per round). Having to drop gear just clutters up the table, rarely for any benefit, and this encouraged players to try different actions, rather than sticking with whatever their gear would enable because swapping would get too expensive in terms of the action economy.