For out of combat tasks you have time to repeat, (sitting in your room trying to lockpick a lockbox when you have time to work at it, for example) you can 'take 20' but then I'll focus on the other characters and come back to them when everyone else's actions are done.
Can always reroll 1 on rolling hit points upon leveling.
Can train up new skills, not just tools. Takes twice as long as tools to do so, however, and costs twice as much for the training.
If something by the rules is completely dumb when actually played out (Bugbears' arms grow 5 feet longer when it's their turn, and shrink back down when it's not) I'll make a spot ruling to make it not dumb anymore.
If something by the rules is completely dumb when actually played out (Bugbears' arms grow 5 feet longer when it's their turn, and shrink back down when it's not) I'll make a spot ruling to make it not dumb anymore.
I'm all for ignoring dumb rules, but I'm wondering if the example you provided is actually a rule you found somewhere and, if so, where you found it.
Daggers can be used as an offhand weapon with any light or normal weapon in the main hand when fighting with two weapons.
The dice rolls work out so that rapier and dagger have roughly the same damage average as two scimitars (rapier & dagger avg. = 7 + damage modifier VS scimitars avg. = 7 + damage modifier, but I'll give the rapier a slight bonus because the main-hand weapon is 1d8 instead of 1d6 so it could deal more damage whenever you feel like saving your bonus action for something other than an offhand attack).
This rule allows a weapon combo that was very common at one point in history, and it resolves a flavor choice nearly every swashbuckler character has to make with the rules as written.
Best homebrew rule I have ever played/seen by far (and should just be standard practice for every table) is to remove the extra Skill from the Variant Human and give it to the Standard Human.
If something by the rules is completely dumb when actually played out (Bugbears' arms grow 5 feet longer when it's their turn, and shrink back down when it's not) I'll make a spot ruling to make it not dumb anymore.
I'm all for ignoring dumb rules, but I'm wondering if the example you provided is actually a rule you found somewhere and, if so, where you found it.
From the Bugbear's racial statblock:
Long-Limbed
When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
The only explanation for that is when it's their turn, their arms grow longer when they attack. If they were to hold their action, they wouldn't benefit from this. Nor would they when making an attack of opportunity. So Long Limbed is only applicable when making an attack on their turn? That means that they are not long limbed at other times.
I really don't like it when players have to sit idle at the table. Players are there to play, not to watch. If there's a situation where a player is incapacitated, but gets a chance to repeat the save every round, I'm thinking about trying out a house rule that would let them willingly take up to 10 points of psychic damage in exchange for adding that number to their saving throw. They would have to do this before the die was rolled, which means there would still be risk of failure, but the damage would be certain. The idea is that they would fight through the pain to get back in the fight.
Do you think that unfairly minimizes the dangers of effects that can incapacitate PCs?
I just scanned quickly through all of these posts and decided to share a couple that we use. I’m not sure if any are actually variant rules in the handbooks or not, but here they are. Most of my things come down to “just do the thing, let’s not take a ton of time figuring it out. I just want to get to the fun part.”
On a grid. Every square is 5 feet, even moving diagonally. It just speeds up decisions and combat without having to count every other space per turn.
We don’t track things like food and water, unless the environment is harsh enough that it becomes a possibility. But they are level 12 with a Paladin that can make that stuff anyways. So even if we DID track it, there is the workaround to expedite it. We also don’t track things like arrows or other resources for the same reason, unless they are specifically using up all of the resource. Like the 1,000 ball bearings...
Death saves remain completely hidden, even from me, the DM. This way, the player can roll, and it adds a layer of urgency to getting to them to try and heal the downed player before it’s too late. I also narrate the heal first, and then follow it with “does the heal work, do you wake up?” to see if they had died or not.
Potions are an action in combat, but will give you the maximum amount of healing from the potion. You can drink it as a bonus action, but that’s almost as if you were rushing to drink it and some spilled down your chin, this is when you would roll for health from it. Also, it’s an action to administer a healing potion to someone else, but you need to roll for that to see how much takes and if they don’t swallow it all. The reason for it being an action on yourself, is the levels of getting the potion out of your bag, uncorking it, and drinking it, all while still holding your weapon/shield in your hands? It’s just a lot to consider.
When rolling a natural 20 on initiative, you get advantage on your first attack. It doesn’t grant a whole surprise “round” for you, but you surprise them enough to get that first hit off. Rolling a 1 already sucks for the player having to go last, so we don’t do anything additional for that.
If there is ever a time when players take a short rest in a holy temple that isn’t filled with enemies, they can roll their hit die and double the number. It isn’t very often that this happens, but it gives a little value to seeking out temples in towns and cities.
When rolling a 20 on an attack roll, we take max and then roll. So instead of rolling all damage die twice, you take the max for the first set of rolls, and then roll out the second set. This includes all dice. Hunter’s Mark, Sneak Attack, etc. For a while, we did this thing where, when you roll a 20, you roll a d10. Rolling a 1 means you need to roll all damage dice as normal. Rolling a 2-9 is the max/roll. Rolling a 10 is just the total max across the board. We found that, when teaching new players that rule, it just bogged it down, so we have recently just switched to the rule as stated above.
We have only had one character die so far that was revived. I did give her a lasting effect, changing her hair color to a near white (based off of the effect from how she died,) but things like that are very much a route I would explore more of if we had more deaths. Altering scores or saves, losing limbs (depending,) a limp or even a stutter. Things that don’t make the character less fun mechanically, but add a new layer to their story.
I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but this seems like a good place to stop. I am also looking for some home brewed bandaging mechanic for in combat, or even a way to buy “bandage rolls” in town to do a short rest while traveling so that it doesn’t have to hold the party up for an hour. This is my next puzzle. So any ideas or help would be great, thank you in advance!
If something by the rules is completely dumb when actually played out (Bugbears' arms grow 5 feet longer when it's their turn, and shrink back down when it's not) I'll make a spot ruling to make it not dumb anymore.
I'm all for ignoring dumb rules, but I'm wondering if the example you provided is actually a rule you found somewhere and, if so, where you found it.
From the Bugbear's racial statblock:
Long-Limbed
When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
The only explanation for that is when it's their turn, their arms grow longer when they attack. If they were to hold their action, they wouldn't benefit from this. Nor would they when making an attack of opportunity. So Long Limbed is only applicable when making an attack on their turn? That means that they are not long limbed at other times.
If something by the rules is completely dumb when actually played out (Bugbears' arms grow 5 feet longer when it's their turn, and shrink back down when it's not) I'll make a spot ruling to make it not dumb anymore.
I'm all for ignoring dumb rules, but I'm wondering if the example you provided is actually a rule you found somewhere and, if so, where you found it.
From the Bugbear's racial statblock:
Long-Limbed
When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
The only explanation for that is when it's their turn, their arms grow longer when they attack. If they were to hold their action, they wouldn't benefit from this. Nor would they when making an attack of opportunity. So Long Limbed is only applicable when making an attack on their turn? That means that they are not long limbed at other times.
Wow. That is a silly rule. I'd not looked at the Bugbear as a player race. I think if anyone wants to play a bugbear in my campaign that will have to be home-brewed out somehow.
I have always felt that if characters are allowed to try as many times as they want to succeed at a skill check it makes success inevitable and DC's meaningless. To counter this, I allow one roll at the given DC. If it fails and the player wants their character to retry, they must make a DC10 Wis check (this difficulty increases with each successive failure of the original skill check) until they either succeed at the task or fail the Wis check. Failure of the Wis check represents the character giving up at the task because they are now convinced they won't succeed and are wasting their time. Characters with high Wis therefore have an advantage when it comes to repeating skill checks which reflects their will power and patience. Characters with low Wis are impatient and give up more easily.
There is a corollary to this problem; the case of cycling the PC's on a task until someone inevitably succeeds. I would also like to place a logical limitation on this behaviour on the grounds that if the most skilled character chosen for the task failed repeatedly, it is unlikely that a less skilled character would succeed. However, I find that players really want to make those extra rolls - I guess to emulate those theatrical moments when the underdog actually succeeds. To strike a balance, I'm considering raising the task DC by 5 for each subsequent PC to attempt the task.
I'd be interested to hear whether others find retries to be problematic and what their solutions are.
I have always felt that if characters are allowed to try as many times as they want to succeed at a skill check it makes success inevitable and DC's meaningless. To counter this, I allow one roll at the given DC. If it fails and the player wants their character to retry, they must make a DC10 Wis check (this difficulty increases with each successive failure of the original skill check) until they either succeed at the task or fail the Wis check. Failure of the Wis check represents the character giving up at the task because they are now convinced they won't succeed and are wasting their time. Characters with high Wis therefore have an advantage when it comes to repeating skill checks which reflects their will power and patience. Characters with low Wis are impatient and give up more easily.
There is a corollary to this problem; the case of cycling the PC's on a task until someone inevitably succeeds. I would also like to place a logical limitation on this behaviour on the grounds that if the most skilled character chosen for the task failed repeatedly, it is unlikely that a less skilled character would succeed. However, I find that players really want to make those extra rolls - I guess to emulate those theatrical moments when the underdog actually succeeds. To strike a balance, I'm considering raising the task DC by 5 for each subsequent PC to attempt the task.
I'd be interested to hear whether others find retries to be problematic and what their solutions are.
Yes, retries can be problematic and relying on dice rolls sometimes also interrupt the flow of the game. If they insist on a retry, I increase the DC unless the situation is one that lends itself to the retry. On the other hand, if it's a situation that the characters should be able to do it, I'll usually make it automatic unless there's a complicating factor. For me it's a feel thing. A good rogue with the right skills, for example, should be able to pick a normal lock given enough time; in that case, I either lower (or eliminate) the DC or allow the retry unless circumstances do not permit.
I have always felt that if characters are allowed to try as many times as they want to succeed at a skill check it makes success inevitable and DC's meaningless. To counter this, I allow one roll at the given DC. If it fails and the player wants their character to retry, they must make a DC10 Wis check (this difficulty increases with each successive failure of the original skill check) until they either succeed at the task or fail the Wis check. Failure of the Wis check represents the character giving up at the task because they are now convinced they won't succeed and are wasting their time. Characters with high Wis therefore have an advantage when it comes to repeating skill checks which reflects their will power and patience. Characters with low Wis are impatient and give up more easily.
There is a corollary to this problem; the case of cycling the PC's on a task until someone inevitably succeeds. I would also like to place a logical limitation on this behaviour on the grounds that if the most skilled character chosen for the task failed repeatedly, it is unlikely that a less skilled character would succeed. However, I find that players really want to make those extra rolls - I guess to emulate those theatrical moments when the underdog actually succeeds. To strike a balance, I'm considering raising the task DC by 5 for each subsequent PC to attempt the task.
I'd be interested to hear whether others find retries to be problematic and what their solutions are.
Yes, retries can be problematic and relying on dice rolls sometimes also interrupt the flow of the game. If they insist on a retry, I increase the DC unless the situation is one that lends itself to the retry. On the other hand, if it's a situation that the characters should be able to do it, I'll usually make it automatic unless there's a complicating factor. For me it's a feel thing. A good rogue with the right skills, for example, should be able to pick a normal lock given enough time; in that case, I either lower (or eliminate) the DC or allow the retry unless circumstances do not permit.
I often do the same thing. If the skill check is necessary to complete a mission I will increase the DC by a bit, and allow them to roll one more time. If everyone rolls one more time, someone needs to get it right on the second try. If it isn't necessary, like doing Nature to identify a creature, or Arcana to feel if something is magical, I will probably not let them try again.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I really don't like it when players have to sit idle at the table. Players are there to play, not to watch. If there's a situation where a player is incapacitated, but gets a chance to repeat the save every round, I'm thinking about trying out a house rule that would let them willingly take up to 10 points of psychic damage in exchange for adding that number to their saving throw. They would have to do this before the die was rolled, which means there would still be risk of failure, but the damage would be certain. The idea is that they would fight through the pain to get back in the fight.
Do you think that unfairly minimizes the dangers of effects that can incapacitate PCs?
A bit of a late response... but I just wanted to say that I like this idea, but it should probably scale a bit with level. 10 HP is a hard gamble for, say... a level 5 cleric. But for a level 10 barbarian or fighter that's pretty negligible and there's barely any downside to just taking the hit and continuing.
always played a full follower as a second playable character that gets an equal share for that player. only allow it to players that can handle playing 2 characters not new players.
A lot of things that I found all across the internet, that I adopted can be seen below (love this community)
If you guys have more, please do keep me posted.
Loopuleasa Imported Pack v1.0
Combat
Facing directions: Creatures have facing directions
Flanking applies (advantage if behind, +2 to hit if to the side)
Eyes to the front: Affects visual on stealth checks if behind (advantage on sight behind, +2 on sight if side)
Shield cones: Shield only protects from front & the shield side
Stealth
Stealth Insta-Gib: No need to roll die for weak mobs that get insta-killed in stealth situations (for consistency and speed)
Objects
Cover (normal rules) -2 for half, and -5 for full
Damage thresholds: Each object or monster may have damage thresholds, all damage done below that line does nothing
Crits
Maxed die crit: just max the base damage die(s)
Non-spell: If it is a high damage spell, apply old crit rules instead
If max damage die already: For each original maxed damage die when a crit occurs, roll an extra damage die
Initiative crits: Initiative crits imposes advantage(20)/disadvantage(1) on the next attack
Ability check crit: can crit, in creative ways
Mega-crits: If you roll two 20-20 on adv, or two 1-1 on disadvantage, an incredible, even permanent effect happens
Overkill cleave: Extra damage after mob kill allows for cleave, if situation permits
Morale for creatures and characters
Fear - can be freightened by surprises, or other actions
Flee: - if characters think they can't win, they try to flee
Horror: - if situation is terrifying, apply madness debuffs
Hireling morale: PC actions and requests can affect hireling morale
Initiative
Initiative Speed Modifiers: Balanced for speed (you can delay or speedup your initiative order by taking faster/slower actions)
Spell -1 for each spell level
Crossbow -5 if reloading
Two-handed -2 initiative
Light weapons +2 initiative
Potions
Bonus action potions: Drink / throw potions as bonus action
Kills
Finish him: Ask players how do they want to finish a character, when they have the last blow
Important NPCs: Important characters use the death saving throw system, or are outright immune to death
Last Stand: In some situations, PCs or Monsters gain advantage on next attack if an important ally has been downed
Minimum Big Bad Rounds: If PCs manage to kill a character too quickly, the fight can be delayed for dramatic purposes
Statuses:
Bloodied status: If below half HP, a character is bloodied (visual effect, and improvised potential)
Mighty blows: If an attack takes off a huge chunk of a monster's HP, or the monster is close to dying, some mighty improvised effects can happen like incapacitation, stun, or knockdown, even severed limbs
Characters
Leveling
Train & Sleep Lvlup: Train + Gold + Sleep to level up
Consistent HP Die: If you roll HP hit die below average, count it as average
Delayed XP: XP is calculated and given only at end of session, to avoid delays
Resurrection
Mercer's Res Ritual
Need DC10 to res
Each PC can contribute with ability checks to the res ritual (add DC-1 or more)
For each res or failed res ritual, increase DC+1 for that character
Death
Death Suspense: During death saving throws, character & DM roll the die, without the rest of part seeing
Injury variant: 6 death saving throws total, but each has a 1/6 chance of injury (Dmg272); 3 life saving throws as normal
Death save exhaustion: For each death recovery, you gain one level of exhaustion
Traits
Bonus Non-Combat Trait: Each class has a bonus non-combat trait to choose
Underground Darksight Only: characters that are not underground types have dimlight sight instead
Stats:
Skillful INT: Each +1 your char has for INT allows him to get an extra skill, tool proficiency or language, to denote his knowledge
Passive Knowledge Checks: No need to roll for History, Nature, Animal Handling or whatnot, just check passive stats
Arcana for Interaction: Arcana is not just knowledge no more, but interacting with magic things in general
Odd Stats Bonus: For each odd stat +1 in a stat (like 17INT), you gain as a bonus +1 to saving throws using that stat, even if for abilities that doesn't count as +1
Plot & Story
Past Acquaintance Plot Points: Each PC has +CHA Nr of previously met character plot points (can use them to announce "I actually know this person" and improvise)
Immersion
Hot & Cold effects: Depending on environment, unequipped characters will suffer debuffs or damage
Long rests after big encounters: After big encounters, affected characters need 7 days to complete a long rest (including when they came back from the brink of death)
Rest healing needs healing gear: A healing kit or similar is required to recover HP while resting, otherwise you might just bleed out more
Repeated Check Discouragement: Repeated checks require an additional DC10 Wis check, to account for the characters will and resolve of failing repeatedly at a task
@LoopuleasaI really love many of the rules you've adopted including:
Shield cones: protection from front and side of shield only. LOVE THIS!!!
Eyes to the front: Affects visual on stealth checks if behind (advantage if behind, +2 on sight if side)
Initiative crits: We do the same in our campaign, but it applies to most things you do on your first turn.
Mega crits: Love this idea! Where you keep rolling for every max die you roll. Nearly impossible with Cantrips, but a great morale boost for players with weapons.
Crits in general: we've gone back and forth with max damage die + a full roll. I have extensive crit tables we've tried. Even crit decks. All are fun, but the one that resonated with my players most was the old school double damage rule. Roll damage once, including ability score bonus per normal, then double the total. This allowed weaker weapons such as daggers to actually hit hard (example from official rules: roll 2d4+Dex could lead to a total crit of 6 damage with two 1's and +4 Dex , vs 10 damage when a 1+4 Dex multiplied by x2).
Saving Throw Crits: If a player or enemy rolls a natural 1 on a saving throw, they take double damage from a critical failure. Similarly, if someone rolls a natural 20 on a saving throw, they take 1/2 damage or 1/4 damage if a success already granted 1/2 damage.
Repeated Check Discouragement: Repeated checks require an additional DC10 Wis check, to account for the characters will and resolve of failing repeatedly at a task. LOVE THIS!!!
Skillful INT: Each +1 your char has for INT allows him to get an extra skill, tool proficiency or language, to denote his knowledge. This is something I've been considering. How has it been for your players?
Consistent HP Die: If you roll HP hit die below average, count it as average. We did this in our first campaign and it led to all our characters being extremely powerful. We now reroll natural 1's as many times as needed when doing hit points on a level up.
Morale: for creatures and characters. I want to include this in our campaign, but aren't really sure if there is a solid rule to build off of. For example, the monsters or players make a DC10 (Wis) morale save when:
Half enemy forces are defeated
A captain or boss is defeated.
A player or enemy loses 1/2 their HP.
If escape would be easy and more beneficial.
A few other things we've added in the past year:
Upcasting: Most spells can be cast at higher levels, even if they don't say so. This allows higher level casters to get creative with their options. For example, Find Familiar at 7th level could produce a cat familiar with a higher CR, HP, bonuses, etc. Phantasmal Force at 4th level could either do 3d6 damage per turn to a single target, or 1d6 to three different targets. Unseen Servant at 5th level may produce 5 servants. In the end it's at the DM's discretion to approve or modify the results.
Updated Classes: We've made several changes and balances to make many of the core classes more balanced with the new ones. For example:
Clerics get an additional 1d8 damage from their Divine Smite at 20th level. The Trickery cleric loses their 1d8/2d8/3d8 poison smite damage and instead gains 1d6 sneak attack following the same rules as a rogue. This increases to 2d6 at 11th, 3d6 at 14th, 4d6 at 17th, and 5d8 at 20th.
Rangers deal 1d4 damage to favored enemies, which increases to 1d6 (6th) and 1d8 (14th) and 1d10 (20th). They also keep their existing abilities plus the playtest class options such as the free Hunters Mark that doesn't require concentration, etc. Because many of their features are so very situational, we've found them to go from "just okay" to really incredible specifically when dealing with their favored enemies and in their favorite terrain.
Versatile Fighting Style added for players which increases versatile weapon damage by one die step when using these weapons without a shield or another weapon in-hand (spell focus and other non-combat items are fine).
Tweaked Great Weapon Fighting and Sharpshooter to allow players to reduce their attack bonus up to an amount equal to their Proficiency Bonus, and gain double that as their damage bonus. Related, we added "Versatile Weapon Master", which allows slashing and piercing versatile weapons to be Finesse weapons, and at the start of their turn, a player can reduce their attack bonus by any amount up to their proficiency bonus, and get the same amount added to their AC. Secondary effect is stolen from Great Weapon Master where a critical hit or kill grants a bonus action attack.
Repeated Checks Scaling Disadvantage: Each subsequent check for the same thing has disadvantage. The second time, has double disadvantage (roll 3d20, choose lowest). The third time it has triple disadvantage (roll 4d20). Can't roll more than triple disadvantage.
I like them (though I"d be concerned about death immunity for any NPC. You kill an important NPC, then they're gone and consequences ensue). These add a lot of crunch and undo a lot of the streamlining of the system which is there by design, but if you prefer more rules for more of a simulation, then have at, as long as it enhances the game for your table. A lot of these are pretty awesome, too.
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Ever considered using Central Casting?
Taking or handing a potion is a bonus action
For out of combat tasks you have time to repeat, (sitting in your room trying to lockpick a lockbox when you have time to work at it, for example) you can 'take 20' but then I'll focus on the other characters and come back to them when everyone else's actions are done.
Can always reroll 1 on rolling hit points upon leveling.
Can train up new skills, not just tools. Takes twice as long as tools to do so, however, and costs twice as much for the training.
If something by the rules is completely dumb when actually played out (Bugbears' arms grow 5 feet longer when it's their turn, and shrink back down when it's not) I'll make a spot ruling to make it not dumb anymore.
I'm all for ignoring dumb rules, but I'm wondering if the example you provided is actually a rule you found somewhere and, if so, where you found it.
Recently returned to D&D after 20+ years.
Unapologetic.
Daggers can be used as an offhand weapon with any light or normal weapon in the main hand when fighting with two weapons.
The dice rolls work out so that rapier and dagger have roughly the same damage average as two scimitars (rapier & dagger avg. = 7 + damage modifier VS scimitars avg. = 7 + damage modifier, but I'll give the rapier a slight bonus because the main-hand weapon is 1d8 instead of 1d6 so it could deal more damage whenever you feel like saving your bonus action for something other than an offhand attack).
This rule allows a weapon combo that was very common at one point in history, and it resolves a flavor choice nearly every swashbuckler character has to make with the rules as written.
Best homebrew rule I have ever played/seen by far (and should just be standard practice for every table) is to remove the extra Skill from the Variant Human and give it to the Standard Human.
From the Bugbear's racial statblock:
The only explanation for that is when it's their turn, their arms grow longer when they attack. If they were to hold their action, they wouldn't benefit from this. Nor would they when making an attack of opportunity. So Long Limbed is only applicable when making an attack on their turn? That means that they are not long limbed at other times.
I really don't like it when players have to sit idle at the table. Players are there to play, not to watch. If there's a situation where a player is incapacitated, but gets a chance to repeat the save every round, I'm thinking about trying out a house rule that would let them willingly take up to 10 points of psychic damage in exchange for adding that number to their saving throw. They would have to do this before the die was rolled, which means there would still be risk of failure, but the damage would be certain. The idea is that they would fight through the pain to get back in the fight.
Do you think that unfairly minimizes the dangers of effects that can incapacitate PCs?
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I just scanned quickly through all of these posts and decided to share a couple that we use. I’m not sure if any are actually variant rules in the handbooks or not, but here they are. Most of my things come down to “just do the thing, let’s not take a ton of time figuring it out. I just want to get to the fun part.”
On a grid. Every square is 5 feet, even moving diagonally. It just speeds up decisions and combat without having to count every other space per turn.
We don’t track things like food and water, unless the environment is harsh enough that it becomes a possibility. But they are level 12 with a Paladin that can make that stuff anyways. So even if we DID track it, there is the workaround to expedite it. We also don’t track things like arrows or other resources for the same reason, unless they are specifically using up all of the resource. Like the 1,000 ball bearings...
Death saves remain completely hidden, even from me, the DM. This way, the player can roll, and it adds a layer of urgency to getting to them to try and heal the downed player before it’s too late. I also narrate the heal first, and then follow it with “does the heal work, do you wake up?” to see if they had died or not.
Potions are an action in combat, but will give you the maximum amount of healing from the potion. You can drink it as a bonus action, but that’s almost as if you were rushing to drink it and some spilled down your chin, this is when you would roll for health from it. Also, it’s an action to administer a healing potion to someone else, but you need to roll for that to see how much takes and if they don’t swallow it all. The reason for it being an action on yourself, is the levels of getting the potion out of your bag, uncorking it, and drinking it, all while still holding your weapon/shield in your hands? It’s just a lot to consider.
When rolling a natural 20 on initiative, you get advantage on your first attack. It doesn’t grant a whole surprise “round” for you, but you surprise them enough to get that first hit off. Rolling a 1 already sucks for the player having to go last, so we don’t do anything additional for that.
If there is ever a time when players take a short rest in a holy temple that isn’t filled with enemies, they can roll their hit die and double the number. It isn’t very often that this happens, but it gives a little value to seeking out temples in towns and cities.
When rolling a 20 on an attack roll, we take max and then roll. So instead of rolling all damage die twice, you take the max for the first set of rolls, and then roll out the second set. This includes all dice. Hunter’s Mark, Sneak Attack, etc. For a while, we did this thing where, when you roll a 20, you roll a d10. Rolling a 1 means you need to roll all damage dice as normal. Rolling a 2-9 is the max/roll. Rolling a 10 is just the total max across the board. We found that, when teaching new players that rule, it just bogged it down, so we have recently just switched to the rule as stated above.
We have only had one character die so far that was revived. I did give her a lasting effect, changing her hair color to a near white (based off of the effect from how she died,) but things like that are very much a route I would explore more of if we had more deaths. Altering scores or saves, losing limbs (depending,) a limp or even a stutter. Things that don’t make the character less fun mechanically, but add a new layer to their story.
I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but this seems like a good place to stop. I am also looking for some home brewed bandaging mechanic for in combat, or even a way to buy “bandage rolls” in town to do a short rest while traveling so that it doesn’t have to hold the party up for an hour. This is my next puzzle. So any ideas or help would be great, thank you in advance!
Ryan | Session Zero
Session Zero Clothing
Wow. That is a silly rule. I'd not looked at the Bugbear as a player race. I think if anyone wants to play a bugbear in my campaign that will have to be home-brewed out somehow.
Recently returned to D&D after 20+ years.
Unapologetic.
my favorite home brew race is half undead half humanoid. so my DMs allow healing spells that "don't work on undead" heal me for half the normal amount
My Spells, My Races, My Magic Items, My Monsters, My Subclasses,
I treat the patron spells for warlocks as domain spells, i have no idea why they aren't that way by default lol.
All characters get a feat at level 1 regardless of race. I give humans +1 to all stats and a tool, a language and a skill proficiency of their choice.
Dragonborn,Water/earth genasi, and tritons have darkvision
I have always felt that if characters are allowed to try as many times as they want to succeed at a skill check it makes success inevitable and DC's meaningless. To counter this, I allow one roll at the given DC. If it fails and the player wants their character to retry, they must make a DC10 Wis check (this difficulty increases with each successive failure of the original skill check) until they either succeed at the task or fail the Wis check. Failure of the Wis check represents the character giving up at the task because they are now convinced they won't succeed and are wasting their time. Characters with high Wis therefore have an advantage when it comes to repeating skill checks which reflects their will power and patience. Characters with low Wis are impatient and give up more easily.
There is a corollary to this problem; the case of cycling the PC's on a task until someone inevitably succeeds. I would also like to place a logical limitation on this behaviour on the grounds that if the most skilled character chosen for the task failed repeatedly, it is unlikely that a less skilled character would succeed. However, I find that players really want to make those extra rolls - I guess to emulate those theatrical moments when the underdog actually succeeds. To strike a balance, I'm considering raising the task DC by 5 for each subsequent PC to attempt the task.
I'd be interested to hear whether others find retries to be problematic and what their solutions are.
Yes, retries can be problematic and relying on dice rolls sometimes also interrupt the flow of the game. If they insist on a retry, I increase the DC unless the situation is one that lends itself to the retry. On the other hand, if it's a situation that the characters should be able to do it, I'll usually make it automatic unless there's a complicating factor. For me it's a feel thing. A good rogue with the right skills, for example, should be able to pick a normal lock given enough time; in that case, I either lower (or eliminate) the DC or allow the retry unless circumstances do not permit.
Recently returned to D&D after 20+ years.
Unapologetic.
I often do the same thing. If the skill check is necessary to complete a mission I will increase the DC by a bit, and allow them to roll one more time. If everyone rolls one more time, someone needs to get it right on the second try. If it isn't necessary, like doing Nature to identify a creature, or Arcana to feel if something is magical, I will probably not let them try again.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
A bit of a late response... but I just wanted to say that I like this idea, but it should probably scale a bit with level. 10 HP is a hard gamble for, say... a level 5 cleric. But for a level 10 barbarian or fighter that's pretty negligible and there's barely any downside to just taking the hit and continuing.
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always played a full follower as a second playable character that gets an equal share for that player. only allow it to players that can handle playing 2 characters not new players.
A lot of things that I found all across the internet, that I adopted can be seen below (love this community)
If you guys have more, please do keep me posted.
Loopuleasa Imported Pack v1.0
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)
@Loopuleasa I really love many of the rules you've adopted including:
A few other things we've added in the past year:
For repeated checks I have a new variant rule:
Repeated Checks Scaling Disadvantage: Each subsequent check for the same thing has disadvantage. The second time, has double disadvantage (roll 3d20, choose lowest). The third time it has triple disadvantage (roll 4d20). Can't roll more than triple disadvantage.
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)
I like them (though I"d be concerned about death immunity for any NPC. You kill an important NPC, then they're gone and consequences ensue). These add a lot of crunch and undo a lot of the streamlining of the system which is there by design, but if you prefer more rules for more of a simulation, then have at, as long as it enhances the game for your table. A lot of these are pretty awesome, too.