Not sure if anyone said this but personally, I’m a fan of the crit rule I think Chris Perkins came up with. Instead of rolling twice as many damage dice on a crit, you roll your normal damage dice, add your modifiers as usual, then add the maximum possible value of those dice.
So if your attack normally does 2d6 + 3, on a crit you’d deal 2d6 + 3 + 12.
It keeps crits exciting and guarantees they always feel stronger than a regular hit, without the weirdness of rolling low and getting a “disappointing” crit.
This is how critical damage works in Daggerheart too. It definitely ensures a critical hit always feels powerful.
My favorite home rules for a "simple, straight-forward" game (ie, not custom to a campaign setting, etc):
Species choice at character creation includes a native language, eg, Dwarf starts with Dwarvish. So picking 2 languages means 2 additional language to that and Common. Humans are out of luck. This is for RP reasons.
New characters start with a Chest not equipped back at their home base (whatever that is) to stash extra gear that would otherwise overflow their backpack. Common examples include crafting tools (you craft at home, not in the field). 5e is lenient about gear, but not everyone should be a "Nodwick" carrying everything as they trudge along.
Tie tool proficiencies less to background. If a player wants to swap out tools "Y" for tools "X" and it fits the character, add the custom proficiency in DnDB and pretend they don't have the background tool proficiency.
Even when not using Legacy 2014 gear, include equipment choices like "Chalk" that have "just worked" but were missing in 2024.
This is how critical damage works in Daggerheart too. It definitely ensures a critical hit always feels powerful.
pronouns: he/she/they
My favorite home rules for a "simple, straight-forward" game (ie, not custom to a campaign setting, etc):