What kind of rule changes have you folks tried at your tables, and how have they worked out for your games? Good? Bad?

Two of the houserules I implement for every campaign I run:

  1. No multiclassing until after 5th level, and no further multiclassing unless you have at least 5 levels in all your existing classes. I do this for two reasons, the first being to ensure that every character has access to extra attack/third level spells and slots/some other equivalent before they start dipping elsewhere, and to keep the munchkins at my table from taking multiple 1-3 level dips into classes just to set up a niche wombo combo. Even then, I’m pretty stringent on what I’ll allow from a storytelling perspective - I want to know what motivates your Paladin to dip into Warlock besides getting to use CHA for attack and damage modifiers.

  2. Instead of an ASI or a Feat, every ASI level gives a +1 and a feat. My players and I like this rule because it allows them to pick something fun at those levels instead of feeling obligated to dump straight into the primary stat, and encourages grabbing those fun half-feats like Actor or Linguist that would otherwise go by the wayside.

  • Aielman15English
    2•1 year ago

    GENERAL CHANGES

    1. 10 minutes short rest, 24 hours long rest (only two short rests per long rest). I think it’s the sweet spot between the normal rules (which often don’t allow enough short rests, severely limiting martials and warlocks) and gritty rules (which I think are a bit too prohibitive), and don’t force the players to look for “safe heavens” to rest.

    2. Diminutive size for very small creatures. Diminutive creatures, which would include spiders and mosquitoes, only have vision up to 30 feet (they still retain other senses from their stat blocks, if any), and druids gain access to diminutive wildshape at the same level as flying creatures.

    3. Also, colossal size for very big creatures, although that’s rarely used. Who knows, maybe today’s the day you finally fight Allabar, Opener of the way.

    4. I like playing Counterspell as a contested check (d20 + spellcasting modifier + level of the spell/counterspell). This way, it’s actually two casters wrestling for power, instead of one trying to cast a spell and the other telling them “lol nope”, which feels cheap for players.

    5. A player can drink a potion with a bonus action. Giving a potion to another player/NPC still requires an action.

    6. Something that can be done with a bonus action can also be done with an action - for example, if a wizard uses their bonus action to drink a potion, they can use their action to Misty Step away. “One levelled spell per turn” rule is still in place.

    7. Playtest’s Exhausted rules in place of the PHB’s Exhaustion rules, because they are unusable.

    8. No rolled stats. It leads to one party member having all stats above 14 and the other having all stats bar one under 10. With point buy or standard array, everyone begins on equal grounds.

    AIMED BUFFS

    1. Monk gets additional ki points equal to its PB. It helps making the lower levels feel less like a slog.

    2. Arcane Archer has a number of arrows equal to its INT modifier. Small (very much needed) improvement.

    3. Berserker doesn’t gain exhaustion by using its main subclass feature. Not sure why it was a thing in the first place.

    4. All fighters and barbarians get the Martial Adept feat for free with their subclass. As far as I can see, it doesn’t break anything and allows for a bit more strategy and diversity.

    5. Two-Weapon Fighting (fighting style) allows to make the off-hand attack as part of the attack action if both weapons are light.

    6. All sorcerers and warlocks know the spells from their expanded spell list automatically upon reaching the required level (only exception being Wish for Genie warlock). Increases versatility without altering the power level too much.

    7. Probably more, I may be forgetting something.

    NERFS

    1. Silvery Barbs, Pass Without Trace, Polymorph and Wish are banned. In survival campaigns, Purify Food and Drink, Create or Destroy Water, Goodberry and Create Food and Water are banned as well. Banned spells may still be available through purchasable scrolls.

    2. Summon/Conjure spells are heavily discouraged, especially those from the PHB that summon a bunch of creatures, as they slow the game down to a crawl and break action economy. I don’t ban them because some build are reliant on them (on top of my head, Sheperd Druid and Necromancer Wizard). Find Familiar and familiar-based subclasses such as the Beast Master and the Drakewarden Ranger are allowed, and if players want to summon things, I encourage them to play Tasha’s Summon X spells which only summon one big creature in place of eight small ones.

    3. Peace Cleric is banned, Twilight Cleric is either nerfed or banned.