I use a system where when going up a level, the PCs have to go through a "test"in addition to training so I hurl puzzles, bosses, and spells at them. Only if they pass the test THEN can they go up a level. I also mimic the 3.5 negative levels for my PCs and they can have as many as their class level, with a minimum of 2.
Mercer's Resurrection rules are definitely in my top 10 homebrew rules, so I always try to work that into the narrative.
Most of my other homebrewing deals with changing around monster stats to more challenge the PCs and creating campaign-specific items. I do particularly like the crit-initiative rule, and will be implementing that in my campaign.
For leveling up, I only give out exp totals at the end of each session so that we don't get bogged down with everyone choosing their new abilities and what not in the middle of a full session.
I've been thinking of introducing a 'chill' mechanic to places like the Feywild or Shadowfell, to see how well a PC maintains their calm in these environments, but I haven't been able to playtest it yet with the party to see how it needs to be balanced.
I didn't read through all of the replies, so I'm sorry if these were already said but I have two that I really enjoy using:
If a player has advantage, and they roll 2 nat 20's, then something incredible happens. As the dm I take time to talk to the player that rolled it, to get their input on what they want to happen. I've only ever seen this happen once, and it was during combat. The player that rolled it was fighting a magnetic golem of sorts, and he wound up having part of the magnetic substance embedded into his arm, allowing him to make a Thor/Mjolnir type throw with his warhammer and have it come back to him.
Conversely, having disadvantage and rolling two nat1's will have something permanently scarring happen to your character. They may lose a limb, gain a new character flaw, or even die if they are making death saving throws.
This can be in or out of combat. But this rule is both harsh and fun, and I'd advise anyone using it to talk to the players before implementing.
The other rule I like to use is that during combat, each player (If they want) can make one 'free' perception check on something: their enemy, the environment, etc. If they roll well enough on this, I'll give them a bit of insight into something useful. This could range from how hurt an enemy looks, or any weakness it might have, to noticing a precariously placed boulder above the dragon's head. It makes for a lot more fun and strategic thinking in combat.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
When players in my campaign acquire enough xp to level up; I require them to take a long rest before they go ip a level.
Similarly, I implement the alternate rules in the DMG requiring downtime and a training fee (both dependent on level) to actually level up.
I also make PC's take a long rest to Level Up. But we have been playing a hard core style of leveling up; After level 5 you can only gain exp from monsters CR= PC LVL (within reason, when they reach lvl 20 it will most likely be made CR 18+) so basically it's a boss rush. even when going through other campaigns I beef up the challenge if it's for lower levels and in general.
One of my favorites is letting the players choose how they execute the killing blow, giving more of a story-based element to combat. I'll often allow the characters to simply kill enemies that are unaware (depending on the enemy) of them so that the game feels more realistic. There is nothing more annoying than sneaking up on a cultist, then rolling minimum damage, even though your character could simply just slit their throat and kill them. These kinds of things I like to call "Contextual Combat", wherein certain game rules are modified or discarded entirely depending on the situation the players find themselves in.
I also use another homebrew rule where if anyone rolls a 20/1 on initiative, they get advantage/disadvantage on their first action. I think this helps alleviate a lot of the complaining of when players are like "awww I wasted a 20..." and logically sometimes it makes sense that when someone's ready for a fight (and roll a 20) they're REALLY on top of their game and ready to go, and alternatively a lot of times people can be completely off-guard (ie rolling a 1) and therefore be at a disadvantage until they get their head into the game.
I was thinking of using something simular but sligtly diferent in my campaign. Putting the roling of a 20 or 1 into the suprise system, so if you rolled a 1 on initiative you count as being suprised. If you roll a 20 you count as suprising the enemy (or at least count as not suprised if the enemy ambushed you )
A house rule I now implement for all characters, which arose because our Sorcerer wanted a more "chaotic" element to her wild mage character: When leveling up you can take the class average, or roll the dice. When you roll, I also roll your hit dice behind screen. You can take your roll, or my "blind roll". The only way to know what I rolled is to choose it over yours.
Another wild magic house rule: I flip a coin and either roll the wild magic surge chart from the 5th Edition PHB or the 2nd Edition Wizards splat.
I have one of my players roll for random encounters while travelling. And each player rolls for their watch while resting.
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Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
A house rule I came up with that the groups I run and play in like is a modification to the death saving throw rules:
3 non consecutive successes to live; 6 non consecutive fails to die
If the character lives; Roll 1d6 + # fails
If value is 6+ character receives a Lingering Injury
If value is 1-5 then nothing
A character that dies automatically fails this check
This does make dying less likely, but it makes being knocked down at all more costly. To note, we do not use the Lingering Injury chart in the DMG as those are rather absurd, the DM comes up with the injury on the fly based on how the character got downed and what happened to it while downed. More failures typically means a more severe injury. And these injuries are (usually) not fixable by a long rest or healing that the players have access to in most cases.
For instance, one character was downed by a fireball, he survived but failed the lingering injury check. I ruled that the fire had burned and scarred his face horrifically, giving him disadvantage on all persuasion checks until they got it fixed. Which was simply finding a healer at a temple to pay and get it fixed, in that instance.
Another was cut down by a blade and ended up with a festering wound that would not heal properly, even with magic the party had access to, giving him disadvantage on Constitution saves.
This rule also has the benefit of letting the DM feeling less like a jerk for hitting downed characters.
When rolling for Hit Dice when level up, both the player and the DM rolls the dice. Than the player gets whichever is the highest. Because rolling a 1 is bad and I tend to push my players a little too much when combat happens, so high HPs are fine.
I made the following changes to the PHB weapon table: Greatclub is a 1d10 bludgeoning simple weapon with the Heavy and Two-Handed properties, Mace gains the Versatile (1d8) property, Quarterstaff loses Versatile and gains the Double (1d6 bludgeoning) and Monk properties. Greataxe gains the High Crit property, Halberd gains the Special property, Morningstar gains Versatile (1d10), Shortsword gains Monk, Trident gains Special, War Pick gain Versatile (1d10).
Halberd. You have advantage on checks to knock a creature prone with a halberd.
Trident. You have advantage on checks to disarm a creature with a trident.
Double. This weapon has another end that can be used offensively. You are treated as fighting with two light weapons for the purpose of two-weapon fighting. A damage value and type in parentheses appears with the property --- the damage when the weapon is used to make an off-hand attack as a bonus action.
High Crit. On a critical hit, roll all damage dice three times instead of twice.
Monk. This weapon is a monk weapon, even if other properties or its proficiency would exclude it.
Martial Arts, page 78, I changed "which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property." to "which are weapons with the Monk property and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property."
I have other homebrew rules, but these changes are my favourites.
Rolling a natural 20 is always a success. There are exceptions depending on the situation. A wizard with 8 strength can attempt to kick down the door, and more than likely will fail. But if said wizard rolls a natural 20, the door may not actually be kicked in but maybe he kicked it just hard enough that the key hidden above the door frame falls to the ground.
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Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
A wizard with 8 strength can attempt to kick down the door, and more than likely will fail. But if said wizard rolls a natural 20, the door may not actually be kicked in but maybe he kicked it just hard enough that the key hidden above the door frame falls to the ground.
I'm not big on natural 20s being automatic successes for skill checks but this is a really smart and creative way of handling that. Good on ya, and I'm definitely stealing this!
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DM: The Cult of the Crystal Spider (Currently playing Storm King's Thunder) Player: The Knuckles of Arth - Lemire (Tiefling Rogue 5/Fighter 1)
I haven't tried this in a campaign but I think it would be cool. I haven't named but it is basically you can gain favor with a god or goddess and they can randomly bless an action you do to work. You gain this favor by how you act and react to others. I think the DM rolls a d100 and decides how the deity helps them do an action.
I run a campaign with a tight-ass regime that governs most of the land. It gives me a lot of opportunities to make up stupid laws on the spot, and it gives the players a 'the man' to rebel against (I had a problem with my players always rebelling, even against people they weren't in disagreement with. This solved that problem). The laws all make sense in theory but when put to use it just seems ridiculous. For example: One of the characters is a carpenter, and out of good will fixed a broken step in a staircase in a tavern, and the tavernkeeper then gave him a tip for his efforts. A government guard saw this transaction and started writing him a ticket for building inside the city without a permit.
Probably my favorite law, and one I've realized has the potential for a lot of different adventures: "It is only legal to sell magic items through a state-owned action house. And the state has the full right to seize items it deems too dangerous". (Not consumables and spell scrolls). This means, as one of my players pointed out upon having a sentient hammer confiscated, that there is a vault somewhere filled to the brim with incredible magic items. And now they are planning a heist.
Nice! Should've had the local tax collector also levy a tax on the tip >:) That would've been D&D comedy gold (pun intended).
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Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
My players wanted Flanking rules so I house ruled if a friendly is already melee engaged with an enemy a player may be granted advantage on their first melee hit against that enemy. But after that initial hit they have to use class abilities or spells typically to gain advantage there after.
I also changed Grappler feat up a bit even from the eretta that with an action the player could move their full movement with an enemy just to juice it up a little.
No. In the Dungeon Master's Guide on page 251 there's an alternative rule for what constitutes flanking on grid and hex maps. It grants advantage as long as positioning is correct. I don't use grid maps so I made my flanking rule a little more abstract. Otherwise there aren't any flanking rules. Just monster abilities like Pack Tactics that my version mildly mimics.
I use a system where when going up a level, the PCs have to go through a "test"in addition to training so I hurl puzzles, bosses, and spells at them. Only if they pass the test THEN can they go up a level. I also mimic the 3.5 negative levels for my PCs and they can have as many as their class level, with a minimum of 2.
Just an average metalhead who plays DnD in his spare time.
PbP Character: Roberta Thalan, Void Beyond the Stars Otherside
PbP Character: Primus Eidolon, Eotha 2
PbP Character: Usmor Illiqai, Tomb of Corrosion
PbP Character: "Templar" Danver, You're the Villains
Homebrew stuff
Mercer's Resurrection rules are definitely in my top 10 homebrew rules, so I always try to work that into the narrative.
Most of my other homebrewing deals with changing around monster stats to more challenge the PCs and creating campaign-specific items. I do particularly like the crit-initiative rule, and will be implementing that in my campaign.
For leveling up, I only give out exp totals at the end of each session so that we don't get bogged down with everyone choosing their new abilities and what not in the middle of a full session.
I've been thinking of introducing a 'chill' mechanic to places like the Feywild or Shadowfell, to see how well a PC maintains their calm in these environments, but I haven't been able to playtest it yet with the party to see how it needs to be balanced.
I didn't read through all of the replies, so I'm sorry if these were already said but I have two that I really enjoy using:
If a player has advantage, and they roll 2 nat 20's, then something incredible happens. As the dm I take time to talk to the player that rolled it, to get their input on what they want to happen. I've only ever seen this happen once, and it was during combat. The player that rolled it was fighting a magnetic golem of sorts, and he wound up having part of the magnetic substance embedded into his arm, allowing him to make a Thor/Mjolnir type throw with his warhammer and have it come back to him.
Conversely, having disadvantage and rolling two nat1's will have something permanently scarring happen to your character. They may lose a limb, gain a new character flaw, or even die if they are making death saving throws.
This can be in or out of combat. But this rule is both harsh and fun, and I'd advise anyone using it to talk to the players before implementing.
The other rule I like to use is that during combat, each player (If they want) can make one 'free' perception check on something: their enemy, the environment, etc. If they roll well enough on this, I'll give them a bit of insight into something useful. This could range from how hurt an enemy looks, or any weakness it might have, to noticing a precariously placed boulder above the dragon's head. It makes for a lot more fun and strategic thinking in combat.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
One of my favorites is letting the players choose how they execute the killing blow, giving more of a story-based element to combat. I'll often allow the characters to simply kill enemies that are unaware (depending on the enemy) of them so that the game feels more realistic. There is nothing more annoying than sneaking up on a cultist, then rolling minimum damage, even though your character could simply just slit their throat and kill them. These kinds of things I like to call "Contextual Combat", wherein certain game rules are modified or discarded entirely depending on the situation the players find themselves in.
ORTRTA, ORTFT, ORTBTA, AITDBT.
A house rule I now implement for all characters, which arose because our Sorcerer wanted a more "chaotic" element to her wild mage character: When leveling up you can take the class average, or roll the dice. When you roll, I also roll your hit dice behind screen. You can take your roll, or my "blind roll". The only way to know what I rolled is to choose it over yours.
Another wild magic house rule: I flip a coin and either roll the wild magic surge chart from the 5th Edition PHB or the 2nd Edition Wizards splat.
I have one of my players roll for random encounters while travelling. And each player rolls for their watch while resting.
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
A house rule I came up with that the groups I run and play in like is a modification to the death saving throw rules:
This does make dying less likely, but it makes being knocked down at all more costly. To note, we do not use the Lingering Injury chart in the DMG as those are rather absurd, the DM comes up with the injury on the fly based on how the character got downed and what happened to it while downed. More failures typically means a more severe injury. And these injuries are (usually) not fixable by a long rest or healing that the players have access to in most cases.
For instance, one character was downed by a fireball, he survived but failed the lingering injury check. I ruled that the fire had burned and scarred his face horrifically, giving him disadvantage on all persuasion checks until they got it fixed. Which was simply finding a healer at a temple to pay and get it fixed, in that instance.
Another was cut down by a blade and ended up with a festering wound that would not heal properly, even with magic the party had access to, giving him disadvantage on Constitution saves.
This rule also has the benefit of letting the DM feeling less like a jerk for hitting downed characters.
When rolling for Hit Dice when level up, both the player and the DM rolls the dice. Than the player gets whichever is the highest. Because rolling a 1 is bad and I tend to push my players a little too much when combat happens, so high HPs are fine.
I made the following changes to the PHB weapon table: Greatclub is a 1d10 bludgeoning simple weapon with the Heavy and Two-Handed properties, Mace gains the Versatile (1d8) property, Quarterstaff loses Versatile and gains the Double (1d6 bludgeoning) and Monk properties. Greataxe gains the High Crit property, Halberd gains the Special property, Morningstar gains Versatile (1d10), Shortsword gains Monk, Trident gains Special, War Pick gain Versatile (1d10).
Halberd. You have advantage on checks to knock a creature prone with a halberd.
Trident. You have advantage on checks to disarm a creature with a trident.
Double. This weapon has another end that can be used offensively. You are treated as fighting with two light weapons for the purpose of two-weapon fighting. A damage value and type in parentheses appears with the property --- the damage when the weapon is used to make an off-hand attack as a bonus action.
High Crit. On a critical hit, roll all damage dice three times instead of twice.
Monk. This weapon is a monk weapon, even if other properties or its proficiency would exclude it.
Martial Arts, page 78, I changed "which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property." to "which are weapons with the Monk property and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property."
I have other homebrew rules, but these changes are my favourites.
I love that the quarter staff gets some love for monks! Brb time to be Donnie Yen
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Almost forgot a big one..
Rolling a natural 20 is always a success. There are exceptions depending on the situation. A wizard with 8 strength can attempt to kick down the door, and more than likely will fail. But if said wizard rolls a natural 20, the door may not actually be kicked in but maybe he kicked it just hard enough that the key hidden above the door frame falls to the ground.
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
DM: The Cult of the Crystal Spider (Currently playing Storm King's Thunder)
Player: The Knuckles of Arth - Lemire (Tiefling Rogue 5/Fighter 1)
I haven't tried this in a campaign but I think it would be cool. I haven't named but it is basically you can gain favor with a god or goddess and they can randomly bless an action you do to work. You gain this favor by how you act and react to others. I think the DM rolls a d100 and decides how the deity helps them do an action.
I heard one time at band camp
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
My players wanted Flanking rules so I house ruled if a friendly is already melee engaged with an enemy a player may be granted advantage on their first melee hit against that enemy. But after that initial hit they have to use class abilities or spells typically to gain advantage there after.
I also changed Grappler feat up a bit even from the eretta that with an action the player could move their full movement with an enemy just to juice it up a little.
Doesn't 5th Edition already have a Flanking rule like that?
ORTRTA, ORTFT, ORTBTA, AITDBT.
No. In the Dungeon Master's Guide on page 251 there's an alternative rule for what constitutes flanking on grid and hex maps. It grants advantage as long as positioning is correct. I don't use grid maps so I made my flanking rule a little more abstract. Otherwise there aren't any flanking rules. Just monster abilities like Pack Tactics that my version mildly mimics.
Link to good website for creation of your own homebrew here