Questions tagged [house-rules]

House rules are small fan-created additions and replacements to core rules in a rules set, and this tag should be used when there are locally-created rules at the core of the question. In most cases, they are not officially sanctioned by the designer, in contrast to optional rules (see the [optional-rules] tag). For creation of substantial new content or rules subsystems, use the [homebrew] tag instead.

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3 votes
1 answer
140 views

What combat implications has this proposed alternative initiative rundown?

Combat in the WoD is notoriously lengthy. The git rundown is about this: Roll initiative Sort high to low Combat Round Start Announce spending of rage for extra actions & handle "pre round&...
8 votes
5 answers
3k views

What would be the impact if I allowed Barbarian's Unarmored Defense to stack with Lizardfolk's Natural Armor?

I am going to preface this question with the fact that yes, I am well aware they are separate AC calculations that you choose between. I am simply posing a theoretical question that warrants deeper ...
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

How will this static Initiative houserule affect game balance?

In my current D&D group all the PCs have a static Initiative (8 + Proficiency + Dex + any other bonuses) while enemies and NPCs keep rolling the original way (d20 dice roll + Dex). This enables us ...
2 votes
1 answer
325 views

Will being able to "mix-and-match" subclass features break the game?

I'm wondering what the impact of a house rule that would allow players to choose which subclass to get features from whenever they would get a subclass feature. For example, a wizard could get ...
68 votes
17 answers
79k views

I dislike how players accurately place fireballs. Is there an alternative?

I'm running 5e on a grid with minis. The one thing that I hate is when sorcerers or wizards cast a fireball that perfectly hits enemies in the AOE. The player counts the squares on the grid to ...
15 votes
4 answers
2k views

Are my house rules good to make it easier to run away from combat in 5E?

I want a house rule to make it easier for either side to run away from combat. My main gripe with the standard rule is running away from combat devolving into: A dashes + moves away from B (provokes ...
4 votes
3 answers
729 views

What would happen if characters gained resistance to spells proportional to their martial level?

I am considering the potential implications of a house rule for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. The rule is as follows: A character's "Martial Level" is calculated by determining their ...
-5 votes
1 answer
224 views

What would happen if spells took a round to resolve?

I am considering the potential implications of a house rule for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. The rule is as follows: When a creature casts a spell of level 1 or higher with a casting time of 1 ...
3 votes
2 answers
338 views

What are the risks and implications of this fighter-multiclass-buffing house rule?

I’m considering house ruling the Fighter class’s Extra Attack feature. The change would be to the second paragraph, which would now read: The number of attacks increases to three when you reach 11th ...
9 votes
4 answers
5k views

How would a house-rule allowing the Wild Magic Surge sorcerer feature to work with cantrips as well affect its power level?

I’m preparing to run a 5e campaign, and want to make a change to the Wild Magic sorcerer's Wild Magic Surge feature (PHB, p. 103). Instead of the description saying: Immediately after you cast a ...
8 votes
1 answer
948 views

Is it unbalancing to let off-guard stack?

In my current game, I'm playing a Scoundrel Rogue which gives me a lot of opportunities to leave opponents off-guard via successful feints. In addition, we have a couple of other melee-oriented ...
8 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is spell switch on the go homebrew OP?

I recently started playing DnD5E (the starter campaign Lost Mines of Phandelver), and read about the memorization of spells. And even more recently I started playing Baldur's Gate 3. In BG3 I noticed ...
100 votes
13 answers
33k views

3d6 vs a d20: What is the effect of a different probability curve?

What is the effect on game play of replacing d20 rolls with 3d6 rolls in a D&D 4e campaign? I started thinking about this after reading this question where the example was given of playing a d20 ...
5 votes
3 answers
962 views

How would this extra spellcasting rule affect game balance?

I once heard of a D&D 5th edition group who played using various house rules. One such rule was as follows: As a bonus action, a spellcaster may cast any cantrip, 1st level spell, or 2nd level ...
31 votes
8 answers
7k views

How do I avoid micromanaging character creation?

What aspects of character generation should the DM limit? I'm a new DM starting a new campaign with 6 players that have no previous Dungeons and Dragons experience. I've played before; they haven't. ...
20 votes
6 answers
5k views

How does class balance change when I remove spellcasting?

Let's say I want to DM a hypothetical, low-magic, homebrew D&D 5e game, that pits weapon-wielding heroes against supernatural foes and evil sorcerers. Think Conan the Barbarian or Game of Thrones ...
3 votes
1 answer
517 views

What balance pitfalls result from simplifying the range of all D&D 5e spells to either Touch or Line-of-Sight?

For context, the Everyday Heroes product line is based on, and designed to be largely compatible with, D&D 5e. It is essentially a revival of the 3e d20 Modern line. Unlike the d20 Modern Core ...
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

How unbalanced would it be to change the duration of the Expeditious Retreat spell to "Concentration, until the end of a long rest"?

I have been playing Baldur's Gate 3, and the rules in the computer game are slightly different than the ones in paper 5e. One that I found surprisingly OK in the game was that the duration of several ...
0 votes
1 answer
212 views

Replacing one of multiple instances of innate damage resistance in 5e? [closed]

Since damage resistance doesn't stack in D&D 5e, is there a consistent ruling or general consensus for replacing one damage resistance with another in the event that multiple instances of the same ...
9 votes
1 answer
385 views

How to add flashbacks to our game?

I'm interested in adding a system for flashbacks into an intrigue-heavy Dark Ages Vampire game. Gomad gave some fantastic albeit general ideas in: How to make in-game planning more fruitful and fun? ...
5 votes
1 answer
186 views

What effects would allowing to flank with reach have on game balance?

One of my players asked me recently if I would allow their character, who has 10ft. reach, gain advantage from flanking while still using their reach. I am aware that RAW this would not work since you ...
18 votes
5 answers
4k views

Will anything break if prone crossbow-wielders get advantage instead of disadvantage?

Being prone imposes disadvantage on attacks, which makes sense for melee weapons and traditional bows. However, for things like crossbows and firearms, laying prone seems like it should have the ...
16 votes
3 answers
4k views

House Rules: Exploding dice for damage in 5e

My players and myself feel the "wear down" mechanic of hit points in 5e considerably subtract from the fun of the game and the strategy. I've been considering introducing a exploding dice ...
12 votes
5 answers
3k views

Would it harm game balance to allow potions to be self-administered with a bonus action?

Potion usage costs an action according to RAW, as stated in the DMG on page 139: Drinking or administering a potion takes an action. However, I have heard of GM's house-ruling that PC's may use a ...
47 votes
5 answers
15k views

Is there a D&D 5e equivalent of the e6 variant style?

Now that 5e's been out for a few years, has anyone found a point past which characters have a significant jump in power and developed a set of rules for capping levels below that, similar to the "E6" ...
4 votes
1 answer
298 views

Gestalt caster balance: what price should allow multiple casting classes to share a spellbook?

I'm planning on running a P6 (tl,dr: stop leveling at 6, keep getting feats every 5k XP) campaign wherein the PCs are all gestalt characters, one "side" of which needs to be a full caster. ...
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Does Tiamat's Breath Weapon Circumvent Circle of Power?

Tiamat has the Limited Magic Immunity trait, I know that much. Unless she wishes to be affected, Tiamat is immune to spells of 6th level or lower. [...] However, the last portion of the 5th level ...
14 votes
2 answers
591 views

Making Mountain Stance interact with the Knockdown monster ability not frustrating

Mountain Stance gives, among other things: you gain a +4 item bonus to AC and a +2 circumstance bonus to any defenses against being Shoved or Tripped. Some creatures, like a wolf, have the knockdown ...
26 votes
7 answers
6k views

Respawning mechanics for quick and easy recovery from death

The standard means of recovering from death in 5e mostly require the use of spells like revivify, raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection that are all costly to varying degrees in terms of time and ...
17 votes
9 answers
5k views

Does the DM need to declare a Natural 20?

I see a lot of D&D content out there and when combat starts eventually someone gets a roll of 20, a so-called Natural 20, shouts out "Nat 20" and everyone cheers. The DM then does some ...
1 vote
0 answers
172 views

House ruling Darkness Blindnes and Obscured [closed]

Background I am DMing Curse Of Stradh - and there is a lot of Fog in Barovia. The party have characters with and without dark-vision. I am not really happy with how light, darkness and obscurement ...
21 votes
4 answers
7k views

How do we deal with my DM's house-rule about critical damage?

In the campaign I'm playing in, our DM has set a house-rule for critical damage. So, we do maximum damage for one set of dice, roll the second set and add modifiers at the end instead of the typical ...
16 votes
6 answers
25k views

Drawing and sheathing weapons as one item interaction

In PHB, page 190, it explains about the free item interaction: You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you ...
18 votes
1 answer
3k views

Is this homebrew tweak to the Druid class balanced?

Druids are great, but Wild Shape has some subtle frustrations. I'm near the end of a mid-level (5–12) campaign in which I played as a Circle of the Moon Druid, and our group may continue on to a high-...
16 votes
5 answers
7k views

Does this nerf to the Sharpshooter Feat make it too weak or unbalanced?

I'm getting pretty close to wrapping up a campaign where the highest damage dealing character in the party was a Sharpshooting Fighter, who in combination with the Crossbow Expert feat, was regularly ...
8 votes
1 answer
319 views

What are the consequences of changing the rule for casting multiple spells in a turn to "You can spend no more than one spell-slot each turn"?

The D&D 5e rules for casting multiple spells in one round are a frequent source of confusion across tables in my experience. While the rule is just a line of text You can’t cast another spell ...
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is it balanced with other races to give Dragonborn short-range blindsight as an additional racial trait?

I use this homebrew rule for darkvision and add a new racial trait called low-light vision in my games: Darkvision: The following player races have darkvision to a range of 60ft; Drow, Half-Drow, ...
11 votes
2 answers
547 views

Would it be unbalanced to allow Extra Attack on a ready action?

The rules for D&D 5e clearly state that Extra Attack can only be used on the character's turn: Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action ...
5 votes
1 answer
333 views

Flying sidecar mechanics [closed]

So here's the deal. Currently I'm playing a level 8 goliath, barb 6/fighter 2. Totem barbarian, 2nd totem is bear. Str 18. We also have a homebrew rule that allows my character to increase by a size ...
9 votes
4 answers
2k views

Review a mechanic for allowing weaker Spell Scrolls even if not on class spell list

I am a new GM so I would like to get some feedback on me "relaxing" the Spell Scroll class requirements. Basically if it makes sense and is not something I might regret in the long run. The ...
8 votes
5 answers
1k views

Games with a granular alignment system? [closed]

I've recently started out a Basic Fantasy campaign with several new players. In this campaign, I want their characters to gradually gain their alignments based on they actions they take. For example, ...
12 votes
3 answers
6k views

What are the ramifications of changing Armor Class to be Constitution-based instead of Dexterity-based?

It's never made much sense to me that your Armor Class is based on your Dexterity modifier, which carries the implication that you're harder to hit because you're somehow nimbly moving out of the way ...
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is Heightened(4th) Silence spell balanced?

The second level spell Silence can be heightened to 4th level, when its description is as follows: Heightened (4th) The spell effect emanates from the touched creature, silencing all sound in or ...
3 votes
2 answers
184 views

Would Find (Greater) Steed summoning a construct be gamebreaking?

My warforged bard has the Find Greater Steed spell. As a reflavouring, the steed is created from animating scrap and nearby objects. Would giving it the construct type instead of celestial/fey/fiend ...
2 votes
1 answer
136 views

How would a house-rule allowing a person attacking a Device to target only part of it work?

Within M&M 3E, there's the Removable Flaw for powers that turns them into items that are worn or carried that can be damaged or removed. The following rule states how the Toughness is calculated: ...
9 votes
1 answer
264 views

Will this Ritual Caster house rule break the game?

The House Rule The prerequisite for the Ritual Caster feat changes to “Trained in Arcana, Heal, Nature, or Religion”. In order to master a ritual, a player must be trained in the relevant skill (e.g. ...
10 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to run an encounter against a sleeping party, utilising a homebrew system

I'm currently working on a personal revision to traveling in the wilderness in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, and I've hit a roadblock with encounter design. Let me summarize my system and the ...
5 votes
1 answer
146 views

Why does increasing or shade-shifting a root stat not do so for skills?

Intuitively, if you learn a skill that's based on your physical strength, or your reflexes, or your ability to spot things, then if you get better at those things you would likewise get better at the ...
20 votes
9 answers
3k views

When would I give a checkpoint to my D&D party that they can return to if they die?

My sister said she didn't like how in D&D you can die, and suggested checkpoints, what would be the best way to do that, should I have them save whenever they want, or just after major bosses?
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Playing (some) monster races without racial HD

I'm interested in whether it is possible to play certain (monstruous) humanoids from MM without adding their racial HD, whist at the same time preserving balance. What exactly would I need to do to ...

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