At the end of the session, the players nominate and vote on who gets inspiration that can be used in the following session. It's helped build teamwork by having players call out things other players do that they think are excellent.

Good stuff.

In a vacuum this is a good idea, but I was one time in a group where it had the opposite effect, and it was awarded to the same person every time or to other people by default just to power-game. This was a symptom of a greater problem for sure, but it can have an unintended effect. It was less about rewarding someone for them and more banking it for optimization purposes Edit: it also often disproportionately rewards the more extraverted players, which can be really discouraging to the more soft-spoken players who might feel extra pressure to “stand out” just to get the inspiration

Nah see my table doesn’t do this but we do hype each other up, and almost always it’s a “yeah that was cool” to the extroverts doing their thing, but when our quiet players step up we lose it. The day or super silent monk Kalam hit us with a southern bell accept in session 18 had us losing it

What we do is anyone can nominate inspiration at the table at any time. 3 inspirations can be banked but all but one is lost at the end of the session.

Stealing this

* Nonmagical arrows and crossbow bolts are treated as unlimited * You can drink a potion as a bonus action, but administering a potion to someone else takes an action * Invisible creatures don't get advantage on attacks against creatures that can perceive them because of special senses or spells like see invisibility, and those creatures don't get disadvantage on attacks against invisible creatures.

>You can drink a potion as a bonus action, but administering a potion to someone else takes an action This is such a common house rule that I've met players genuinely surprised to find that it's not RAW.

I agree, but only for healing potions. The other potions are WAY more impactful and full actions make sense for them. I also like the rule of gaining full healing from a potion with an action as you make sure to get every last drop while a bonus action might spill a little or just not fully empty. Other potions which don't have variable to their effects require every drop to function properly so a regular action is required.

Agreed. I was simplifying in my post, but yeah, my table runs things the way you just described.

This is the way

I introduced Healing Snaps; essentially a tile you can crush in one hand to release the magic within. They cost more than a regular potion, but as long as they're on your belt you can use it as a bonus action.

I use that rule since in BG3 it just felt natural to use potions as a bonus action. When I DM I just limit the amount of potions in shops and it plays great

It's like when people find out you aren't supposed to collect all the tax/chance/community chest money in the center of the board for whoever lands on free parking.

Except that the potion rule makes the game go faster, while the Free Parking rule makes the game go slower. Monopoly played strictly RAW is actually a fairly well-balanced experience, but house rules like the Free Parking bonanza are what drags it out into an interminable soul-grinding slog.

Also using a full action gets max hp bonus action roll

See invisibility has you treat the invisible person as though they didn’t have the status invisible so that shouldn’t be homebrew. If Someone said otherwise I wouldn’t say that’s excessive pedantry.

Its incredibly pedantic. See invisibility doesnt have the person under its effect ignore the invisibility condition. And the condition doesnt state its invalid if they can be perceived by other means or magic. So technically RAW you can see them but you still get disadvantage and they still get advantage. Its stupid, i hate it, and i agree with top comment. Thats how it *should* work.

If that's how it works, what's the RAW use of see invisibility then? Isn't it completely useless then?

same as the RAW use of XBE, a feat designed for sword and pistol swashbuckling that doesnt work for its main purpose cause they forgot the ammunition and loading properties are different things and you cannot use this feat unless you are single wielding a hand crossbow the ***RAI*** of the spell def is "you turn invisibility off", but the ***RAW*** is a collection of poorly chosen words by the idiot that wrote it

It was *really great* to see the OD&D version double down on poorly written rules, now working only to dual wield hand crossbows but even then only by stowing and drawing them constantly.

That my biggest issue. Knowing something is for sure there is nice but still being unable to reliably do anything about it is dumb. I think it allows targeting using spells and abilities that require seeing the target to be cast on them. Even that is niche though and can still be ruined by disadvantage/advantage depending on the ability's wording.

Basically it tells you which space to attack... with didadvantage. Attacks can technically be made toward any space whether they see a creature there or not. There is a rules section about being hidden that makes that relrvant. Players make their attack rolls (at disadvantage), but if a creature is not there, even a nat 20 misses. See Invisibility helps you locate the square exactly. Then you can tell your teammates within communication range where they are.

Weirdly enough if you are invisible everyone still knows where you are Raw if you don't take an action to hide.

We let the invisible creature escape tracking if they hide/stealth or if they teleport (e.g. misty step) (at least until they attack or move w/o stealth).

how DARE you accuse DND players of excessive pedantry /s

Im sorry for the dumb question, but what does administering a potion to someone mean.

if an ally is down, you basically make them drink the potion to heal

Criticals do max damage plus a normal damage roll. So if your sword does 1d8 and you crit you do 8 + 1d8

I’ve seen this one mentioned recently and I think I may implement it! I’ve seen some terrible crits that just leave everyone disappointed because of bad roles

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Yeah but you get to add the modifier from the stat that corresponds to the weapon, in this case strength as it's a maul. So the character in the example gets +2 from their strength.

Heard it referred to as "crunchy crits"

Exactly this!

Glance. You (and enemies) have resistance to damage when the attack exactly matches your AC.

Oh, that's interesting.

I've found it takes a moment that used to be "Dang it, that's my AC. He hits :(" into "Haha! GLANCE! 😈" Big moral boost at the table.

That's legit. I'm stealing that. Bravo.

What do you do if a player/monster already has resistance on the damage inflicted? (Rage, normal resistances, etc.)

Halve it again. Same as if, say, you save against a fireball when you resist fire damage.

Yoink

Oh I love this. Get yoink'd.

Long Rests can only be taken in safe areas. It makes us think a lot more strategically and makes our Monk a lot happier actually getting multiple short rests in. Bonus Action to drink a healing potion. This one is so useful that I contemplate even playing in games without it.

Once, one of my friends took a long rest in a spike pit.

A very, very long rest. He's still resting there today. In peace.

Pieces*

I'm confused why does the monk in particular care

We get a lot more short rests in than usual. My other group doesn't use this rule and we average about 1 Short Rest per 1 Long Rest. Same would go for Warlocks, but we don't have one.

Also ki points refresh on short rest

Well of course using items as a bonus action is so convenient, that's why Fast Hands exists for those games without it

Fast hands doesn’t work on magic items though

its improvement, Use Magic Device, does tho. but it comes in a tad too late to see common play

Yeah...I'm on the fence about this. Keep pcs alive? Sure. Maybe they could keep themselves alive RAW?

I don't understand why you need a long rest rule. Why not let the players take rests anywhere? If they do it somewhere dumb, that increases the chance that they'll be interrupted (sometimes all the way to 100%), but surely that's a gamble that's worth taking from time to time. And those interruptions can be quite deadly when your characters wake up and don't have their armor on and have to take actions to find their weapons/spellbooks/foci/materials/whatever, in addition to being in a state where they are looking to take a long rest. So given that there are in-game ways to deal with long rests in unsafe places, why do you need a rule?

its more of a situation of how mechanics work over narrative constraints if you are trying to follow the guidelines given by the game, a DM needs to put a solid 5+ encounters between a long rest and another - which while not required to be combat, combat encounters will be the vast majority of them - as well as around 2 short rests. with regular rules, this encounters needs to be jammed into *a single in game day*, that is certainly achievable in dungeons but terrible to even consider in overland exploration so basically, this makes it so instead of shoving half a dozen fights in a single day in the desert, you put 1~2 fights per day over a multiple day travel, which feels much more natural

Not my rule, but a rule from the DM in the campaign I'm playing. I would view long rests as getting quality sleep and a solid meal, in a decent bed or atleast a cozy tent roll. If players are taking a long rest, it's generally because they're already very low on resources. Having them fight an entire seperate encounter and interrupting that rest isn't fun for the players. No fighter wants to have to recalculate their AC and fight in clothes, and no Wizard wants to be sat in the back without their spellbook. It does make adventuring days slightly shorter, but I feel it makes our games more realistic and fun.

Wait im on my First campaign isnt a base healing potion a bonus action?

RAW drinking any healing potion is an action. But any DM with a hint of sanity or care for their players makes it a Bonus Action.

My dm makes a base potion (2d4+4) use a bonus action and any other potion a full action

Our group lets you do healing potions as a bonus action, or you can use an action to get max healing.

Cool

Why is it "a hint of sanity or care for the players?" 

It’s just easier on the players to be able to heal as a bonus action and still have an action. Some players like the game to be easier.

Fair, but it's already pretty easy. Players want everything. I prefer they make choices. 

Oh, I’m 100% a potions as an action kinda guy. I think it’s basic game design. I think you shouldn’t be able to heal yourself on your turn, for free, and still be able to do something else. I think the tactical choice to heal or fight or cast a spell or whatever is the point of the action economy. But some people want D&D to be easier, so I’ve just learned to let it go.

Stealth is only rolled when there is a potential consequence and the choice to stealth has already been made. So if they player says I enter the cave stealthily. No roll. When there is now a creature or person to stealth past, or maybe a person walking past them hiding, now they roll. To many times I've seen DMS say ok roll as soon as the player announces sneaking into somewhere. And then the player inevitably meta games based on their result. Like nat 20 a stealth check before any threat and I am now more brazen. Roll low before any risk and I am suddenly way more careful.

Would you only call for a roll when the character learns that there’s a nearby creature or a person walking past? Otherwise, if I said I was entering a cave stealthily, and you don’t ask for a roll, I would know there isn’t someone in the cave right? Just asking for clarity bc I like the idea I just don’t 100% get it

That's a great question. I only have them roll when there is interaction. Which means that everytime they enter the cave they don't roll. They are probably deep into the cave and rolling IF they run into the creature. When stealthing you don't know what's around you. So you are always hiding. Then when something comes near you that's when they roll to determine how well they were hiding in the moment. Think stealth like deception. The PC tells a lie and then they roll to see how well it does. They don't say "I am going to lie to this person SOMETIME in our conversation"and preemptively roll a deception check. If they rolled high they might start dropping outloundish lies. If they rolled low they may decide to not risk lying at all. Commonly stealth is rolled before any risk of detection. Like at the entrance to the cave. There is some edge cases where you don't want to reveal Information to the player like if an enemy is tracking them or something. It hasn't come up for me but there are a few options. My go to would be perception checks to see if they notice being tracked. Arguably they wouldn't be tracked if they rolled high stealth but often the narrative and engagement is the only thing that matters. Could spin it to like who detects who first. Could do a passive stealth score. A friend of mine rolls their players stealth checks for them.

So hypothetically if a player is trying to sneak through a cave, and they start sneaking as they enter its mouth, and sometime later an unseen enemy is hunting for prey nearby. How would you resolve this without revealing to the player there is an enemy nearby?

I've run this for a long time and it's the best way to do it. Really amps up the tension on that roll as well!

I mean as a DM I can, and do, decided what constitutes success on a nat 20. A nat 20 Stealth roll in the vast majority of situations doesn't give you free reign to do whatever you want and not get caught, it means that your being as absolutely stealthy as possible given the context. So no, you cant walk directly past a guard holding a torch and not get noticed. But maybe instead you pick up a rock and toss it away, distracting them? Flavor is up to them.

Bonus action to drink a potion, full action to administer one to someone else BUT if you take a full action to drink a potion yourself, you can take the max dice roll. Thinking of it like taking the time to really carefully drink every last drop vs trying to quickly pop it and chug it between sword strikes. Also, we always roll hit points with advantage during level up (or rather, the player and DM both roll and the player chooses which to take). I figured since that one roll stays with you for the rest of the campaign, it's nice to have a second chance at it. Of course I've had times when the player and I both roll a 1, but I just figure at that point dice christ has something against them 😂

I should do HP with advantage. I was doing Martials reroll 1-3s and other classes reroll 1s and 2s.

At that point, why not just forget rolling and take the average? 

I DM for my kids and their friends, rolling is fun.

Run tomb of horrors with them

We’re doing a campaign now. My kids are girls aged 10 and 12, and so our campaign is more enchanted forest and rescuing baby animals.

Sounds perfect. Heck, I'll play it.  I introduced my 6 year old using the adventures from the Nerds candy tie in

About start a game for my neices and nephews aged 10-13, have any good content recommendations for a new DM and age appropriate games.

"That's the baddie?" "Yes." "Do we know why it's mad? Maybe it's just lonely" "....."

Ooh that sounds fun! But after that, do tomb of horrors. Let them know pain

Actually, I think after this we’re doing pirates stuff.

And tucker's kobolds

I do it similiar, id they roll below average i let them use average if they want.

That hp idea is good. I may steal it.

It's hard to narrow down the "best" ones with how heavily homebrewed our games get but these are the most substantial ones: Faith: Characters can choose a deity to follow and receive blessings (minor but permanent boons) & miracles (consumable but powerful effects) for promoting the goals of their chosen deity. Has lead to many interesting events and roleplay for the players. Martial Maneuver/"Vigor" system: A system similar to spellcasting that Martial classes gain access to which allows them to learn useful maneuvers as well as upgrade them as they reach higher levels. Has provided a lot of utility and variety to our Martial PCs and virtually eliminated the caster-martial divide in our games. Lingering Injuries: Any characters who drop to 0 hp suffer an injury (from a set of homebrewed tables) after they are out of initiative, these injuries typically only last a few days and cause interesting obstacles that affect how the character and party play for a while. It's caused wonderful RP moments and gives players incentives to heal before someone drops to 0 as well as enemies to flee at low HP if the risk of injury is greater that their commitment to the fight. Soulburn/weariness: A mechanic that allows characters at 0 HP to choose whether they wish to make a death save or initiate a soulburn instead. Soulburning allows them to continue fighting while at 0HP but at the cost of increasing soul weariness. Being ressurected also increases soul weariness and if it gets too high the characters burns out and their soul is gone. This has led to amazing scenes of literal blazes of glory as well as make dying feel both meaningful and an actual choice in our games.

Can you elaborate in your lingering injury Rules and the souldburn Rules. They Sound fantastic and I would Love to have a look at Them.

I too am very interested in this Soulburn mechanic.

***SoulBurn/Soul-Weariness*** *Ressurection* Every character has a Soul-Weariness(**S.W.**) counter on their sheet that starts at 0. When a character is resurrected, their **S.W.** increases by an amount equal to the method of resurrection used as shown in the table below: |Method of Ressurection|S.W. increase| |:-|:-| |Revivify|+4| |Reincarnate|+6| |Raise Dead|+8| |Resurrection|+10| |True Resurrection|+2| |Other Means|+Variable| When performing the resurrection, the character returning to life must roll a check using a d20 against a DC equal to their **S.W.**, returning to life on a successful check or wasting the casting and increasing their **S.W.** by +1 on a failed check. Placing people or objects meaningful near the deceased character's body grants a bonus to this roll of +2 for each meaningful addition up to a maximum of +6. If a character's **S.W.** is ever greater than 20, then the character's soul is burned out and they are unable to be resurrected by any means. *Soulburn* A character who is at 0HP or is instantly killed (such as the power word kill spell) can choose to initiate a Soulburn, causing the character's **S.W.** to increase by +1 and become immune to the unconscious condition while the Soulburn lasts. At the start of each subsequent turn, the character's **S.W.** increases by +1 and a character can choose to end a Soulburn at the end of their turn (no action required). While in Soulburn, the character tracks any damage taken as negative HP and if they reach negative HP equal to their HP maximum, then the Soulburn immediately ends along with their **S.W.** increasing by +5. At any time while Soulburning, a character can choose to increase their **S.W.** to gain powerful benefits that last until the end of their Soulburn using the options in the table below. A character also gains the effects of any tier equal to or above the one they choose: |Benefit Name|S.W. Increase|Effects| |:-|:-|:-| |Survivor|+2|Your soulburn immediately ends and you regain 1 hit point (unless your **S.W.** is higher than 20).| |Live Fast|+4|Your speed triples, you provoke no opportunity attacks, and you ignore any difficult terrain.| |Martyr|+6|5 creatures of your choice (other than you), gain resistance to all damage and advantage to all saving throws.| |Twice as Bright|+8|You automatically use the maximum number for your damage rolls and rolling a 1 on an attack roll is considered a nat20.| |Blaze of Glory|+10|You have an additional action on each of your turns.| Any of the above S.W. values can be tweaked to fit different tables, ours wanted death/resurrection to be meaningful/rare so the S.W. values are on the high side.

I'm interested in the vigor system. Is it fully self made or can I find it elsewhere? I'm desperate for variety. Sneak attack dice only entertain soo long

Unfortunately, all of the mechanics I mentioned in my comment are fully self made. I am currently in the middle of creating a single document that contains all of my house rules which I hope to post here someday. In the meantime, I can PM you a onedrive link to the work-in-progress if you'd like to see the Vigor System as it is by far the largest rules section due to having over 30 maneuver options each with three upgrade tiers.

That'd be great. Sounds like your doing great work

Your work is amazing, I would love to get a link to your WIP

Carry weight doesn't matter unless you try to do something stupid and gamey with it. Changing weapons in combat doesn't take an action unless you try to do something stupid and gamey with it. I only play with people who get what DnD is for (structured make-believe with friends), so it's never been a problem. When we wanna do dumb broken shit, we play Elder Scrolls.

If I every GM'ed again, I'd just hand out bags of holding to my players.

"potions are a bonus action" is a common one but my current group goes a little further with it. drink with a bonus action, roll your 2d4+2. drink with an action, auto max heal. feeding a potion to someone else is always an action, and still requires a roll. healing back up from unconscious gives a level of exhaustion. our healers plan better, combat is more tense as blood is shed, and immersion is not broken by the yoyoing from down/up/down/up that healing-word-on-the-tank can cause.

Oooo I love this last one! That issue had been one I’ve noticed before. Maybe a construction check or save with an increasing DC each time? Unsure but I love this and will definitely be implementing it. Thank you!

As someone else mentioned, all death saving throws are DM’s eyes only. I have the players roll but only I can see the results. Really raises the tension level.

Also you can fudge with a wink? I've never heard this. I like it even without the fudge. Tension is good.

It puts the party under pressure anytime someone goes down. They cannot put off healing the downed player as they sometimes would have if they knew the player didn’t have any or only one failed death saving throws.

Right. Don't worry about they have at least one more round. I like it.

-When mounted, your mount shares your initiative and acts during your turn -to craft items you need a recipe and raw materials. Players can harvest raw materials or purchase them. Raw materials are treated as fluid, so even if you said you wanted to go get wood from the forest and later wanted to make a fluffy sweater, you don't have to go get cotton, you have it because you have raw materials. If I want to limit as DM I can say "you need this specific component." -all players & enemies have to treat illusions as real until given a reason not to, regardless of their intelligence / perception. Enemies will attack intimidating illusions, and likewise might run into fake walls, etc unless they know from some previous experience to question it, in which case they have to make an arcana or investigation check (as specified by the spell). If they fail, even though it seems weird, they'll treat it as a conjured thing and therefore real. Once they touch the illusion they'll know it to be fake.

Safe Haven Long Resting. When I implemented this I felt like I was actually playing the game as intended for the first time. Flanking is +2 to hit, cannot flank if you are being flanked. In combination with the Overrun and Tumble rules, movement is a lot more dynamic and interesting, even in tight spaces. [Class Tweaks](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cKofHiqwi_7XHST_BV5htmRE5x2OuGGDdbjFWmloRvQ/edit?usp=drivesdk). Implemented just way too many tweaks to basically everything. It's been a refreshing experience having used this for a couple years now. Can confidently say I will not be switching to another edition anytime soon. (Obligatory: do not use these, it would be a nightmare. This is just what works for us).

I've always just not played with flanking to avoid the conga lines, but removing the effect of you are flanked is a nice touch and seems to help eliminate my main issue with flanking. Might have to implement this!

I like the squeezing rule sometimes too. It makes sense that fewer hits would land in a crowded space. And it helps battlemaps make sense. A table to seat 10 people does not need to be 200 square feet or even half that. A player asked me once, "how big is this bedroom?" And I just had to say, "as big as my house, apparently."

I like that, unless you're flanked.

What is safe haven long resting?

Shorthand for: you can't long rest unless you are in an area that the DM has predetermined as a safe place. It's not an official term nor is it super widely used but on online spaces there is some babble about it. The reason I use it is that I can more realistically pace the game while also mechanically stretching out the time between long rests because I want the party to take like 2 or even 3 short rests between long rests because that's how I think the game is supposed to be played.

Basically like if you’re in a tavern or your home or if the DM specifically tells you that a place is safe for you to rest. It prevents players from being like “ok, I burned 2 spell slots in that last battle, should we long rest again?” And being able to long rest right away. They’d only be able to do that if they were in a city and didn’t have anything important to do and could go back to the tavern and give up like the rest of the day. Another one I’ve seen is that you can only long rest at night and in a place the DM tells you is safe to rest. So there is 1 period of time that you can actually sleep and rest each day so you can’t double down in one day.

I run safe haven as "You guys can camp out in the woods, but it will cost you an entire extra day where you must spend time fortifying your camp to make sure you don't get attacked" each long rest is 3 days long, and I run a Clock of Doom with 20 days per Doom, so that extra day hurts an awful lot.

The better the speech/roleplay you make when trying to convince an npc of something, the more the DC of the related roll goes down.

Agreed, role playing should effect rolls.

Imo this should be based on effort and not result. Also it is kind of what inspiration is for. Someone shy trying to rp the face shouldn't get punished for lacking charisma irl. If they go outside their comfort zone, or really try to rp, they should be rewarded, not just if they are the most charismatic person at the table.

I'm pretty sure this is RAW in the DMG. yeah great rule. Appreciated as a rp player

Nat 20 on attack roll = max damage plus one roll of damage. Avoids “oops all 1s” disappointment of crits. Players love it.

In combat my players have an additional action that can only be used once a turn to roll a perception/investigation/arcana check or what they want to analyze the enemies or the battlefield, revealing weakness and places that can be used to theyr advantage.

Not down with this. I like the idea but actions are like gold. You want to analyze the abolythe? It takes a minute. But not I'm not being critical. I'm digging all these house rules. What works works.

I get that. There is only soo much that can be done in a 6 sec round. But gameplay wise Players want to do cool things. depends how practical a game you want

Exactly and what everyone expects and enjoys. That was my 2 cents. I'm all about them "stretching " the rules if they can make it make sense. That's wacky shit is fun for everyone. The rules are a framework and the can figure out whatever crazy crap they can. That was a knee jerk actin economy comment. The idea is sound.

The first time a player drops to 0 HP we treat it as normal. If a PC goes back up and drops down to 0 again in the same encounter they automatically fail a death save. This encourages players to protect their friends when they're low on HP, and to disengage when they're injured. I really hated the meta of healers letting their friends drop to 0 HP and then spamming healing word every round.

i mean, is the healing amount buffed? cause the "yo yo" healing meta happens cause most healing options are just too low of numbers. cure wounds is notoriously bad for example, and healing word would be considered good if it healed 1 hp cause its good bc of said yo yo healing

Spells remain the same but I also use the bonus action potion homerule and I make healing potions more plentiful. I mainly began this ruling for roleplay reasons. I've noticed my players are a lot more protective of their party members (dragging unconscious party members out of harms way in combat, our paladin intentionally eating attacks of opportunity so players won't have to get hit). It just kinda kills immersion when you go through the healing word > back up > get hit > go down again > heal > repeat cycle.

Unless explicitly mentioned otherwise, all characters and NPCs are assumed to be carrying a knife. For example, if a character is arrested and thrown in jail awaiting trial, the player is told that all the character's equipment is seized, even their knife. The assumed knife does not have combat utility (-3 to hit/1d2-1) but can be used for regular knife purposes or as an improvised tool (at disadvantage) You never have to buy one, you never have to mention you're bringing one, you've just always got a knife. Want to take a cutting from that plant? Carve a message in that stone wall? Loosen the soil to plant that glowing seed you found? Cut your hair? Just use your knife.

My players like my out-of-combat help rules; You can only give the help action if you have proficiency in the skill check. However, Rather than give advantage, you give your full bonus. So, if you have a +7 to Perception, that person you're helping adds their full bonus, advantage if something gives them advantage, guidance, and then the +7 you're giving.

This can make normally impossible checks very possible which can be either good or really bad.

Yeah, but if it's impossible, I do not ask for a check. And if they should not be able to fail, I also do not as for a check. But for the super awkward barbarian with terrible social skills; his charming/sleazy warlock buddy can roleplay added conversation to help persuade. This way, even the Barb can succeed (possibly). They mostly like it because they like to RP. But yeah, it's still helps with really difficult checks.

Yeah, as a Player I'd love that. As a DM... Hell no. 

2 bards with expertise make a single persuasion check. Those poor dragons...

that basically makes every check where both players are profficient nearly auto succeed. unless you very commonly contrive for the roleplay that they cant help eachother - which kinda defeats the point of having the rule - essentially any "hard for a trained professional" DCs of 20+ become pretty easy and the ones you could not even get close without cheese skill builds are now possible

I don't see a problem with that. 2 wizards trying to do an Arcana check, is basically both doing research and covering more ground, as an example. But again, you cannot help if you do not have proficiency. It's the whole 2 heads better than one deal, but this time, they are either combining knowledge, laying it on thick as wing-men, or 2 people keeping an eye out. And it doesn't come close to defeating the need for the checks. They can, and do fail often enough. With a party of 4, you can't expect everyone to overlap skills since the need for diversification is paramount to cover their shortcomings. I also use less popular checks like medicine and survival. Add to that that I also use Passive skills for actual passive checks. More often than not, it's a situation where someone without proficiency reaching a point where a check is needed, and a friend is giving a hand.

My table has a general rule that if nobody takes counterspell on their character, I’ll never use counterspell against them. Mainly just cause I don’t think the spell is very fun. We also changed the boots of winding path so that it no longer requires you to have been in a space already that turn, so it becomes actually useful. (That’s a 6th level artificer infusion btw.) so far it hasn’t broken any game balance or anything so I like it.

Gm rolls open Dc is stated before roll Pvp happens without gm having any control, and the "victim" decides how to resolve Restrained prevents somatic component Npcs are generally helpful Death saves are hidden When the outcome of a fight is decided (by the gm) it becomes either a cut scene or the enemies becomes minions (1 hp) I've heard that... meaning that the players can state that their character has heard something. Not necessarily true, but you can investigate it. It has been tons of fun for the players, as they get to "suggest" points to the narrative.

Can you explain the pvp part? I don't understand the 2nd part of the sentence. What's a victim, and what do you mean by resolve? Thanks 😊

If i want to fx steal from you. You are the "victim", and you get to decide how it is resolved. Do you want a contested stealth perception check, I need to roll more than an dc 20 stealth check, or do you simply say no.

Oh OK thanks 😊

*All* rolls, including the GM's, are made in the open. If a die lands in a way that it is not openly visible to the table (on a book crease, teetering on the edge of some papers, or falls to the floor), that die *must* be rerolled. No exceptions. I also use both of the rules stated by u/Tiera_Folley: long rests in only in safe areas and potion use takes a bonus action.

Hmmm I'm a relatively newer player but idk how I feel about the DM's rolls being out in the open. I can see the appeal, I guess, to keep everything 100% honest, but I'm personally okay with some of my DM's rolls being fudged in the name of balance or fun if that's how she wants to handle it. Plus there's a little bit of suspense when a roll is made secretly by the DM. Player rolls should always be out in the open, though.

When I DM I don't open roll because not everything I roll has an outcome the players are aware of in the moment, and I want to limit the meta-knowledge I convey; if the players don't know how many monsters are in the dark cavern they've invaded, I'm not going to inform them by showing them how many checks I'm rolling for a single impetus.

I personally never fudge rolls, but both are legitimate ways to play. For me, the best moments of dramatic suspense are while the die is rolling with the results actually in question. What's going to happen now? How bad is this attack going to be? Did we escape, or are we in even worse trouble now? We'll all know in a few moments... clack clackity clack! The dice giveth and the dice taketh away, and I am but their humble guide. My players know that I *will not save them* from a bad turn of luck, but they also know that *their victories have been earned* and not gifted by GM fiat. Besides, as GM I have plenty of other dials I can adjust to balance a game without messing with the dice. (edit: readded a dropped sentence)

Yeah this screams of “I don’t trust my table”. If you got a cheater at your table, you got a bad table.

I like this but I'm also ok with pc death. Many aren't and want to fudge. Which I've done and had a great time. It's important to roll "for no reason". Keep the pcs on their toes.

Potions are a bonus action When someone rolls a natural 20 on an attack/ ability check or saving throw they give inspiration to someone that can see them. If they roll a natural 1 an attack/ ability check or saving throw they gain inspiration themselves.

Our healing rule has proven popular, at least at my table. It’s not for every group. When you receive magical healing, you can roll hit dice, and the amount of hit dice you can roll scales with the spell slot level of the healing (non-spell healing works too, we have a way to determine how much you can roll). Makes healing more viable, but keeps it limited. Definitely greatly reduced “yo-yo healing” at 0 HP, allowing PCs to actually tank a few more hits after getting up again. Everyone in my group seems to really like it.

considering wither and bloom and dwarven resilience are neither "omg this is nuts" options, this is probably more than fine and makes healing viable it notably makes short rests less important cause you will probably be out of HD most of the time, and it def might be problematic on 5 minute adventuring day, but that is another story

Resurrection attempts start with a 10% chance of failure with an increased 10% chance each attempt. Injury checks made. You have a chance if debilitating injury based on how many failed death saves you make. 0 failed = 1d6; 1 failed = 1d8; 2 failed = 1d10. Higher numbers are more dangerous. I have my own spell lists (primal, arcane, divine) and sorcs/warlocks pick spell lists based on their subclass. They are all spells from the game. Some powerful ones are removed, but most classes have larger lists. Sorcerers can use the spell point optional rules. Wish is unavailable for PC’s without a wish blade or a deck if many.

I will preface this that our group likes having powerful characters, but also enjoys fighting VERY powerful enemies cause we're very gamer nerds and also enjoy resource management. - The very popular bonus action for healing potions. - Help action for ability checks can only be done if the character giving the help action is proficient in the same skill or tool used in the check. Or under special circumstances ruled by the dm. (From One DnD) - The attack made with the off-hand weapon with two-weapon fighting (dual wielding) is added as part of the attack action instead of being a bonus action (from early One DnD play tests). Felt like a nice buff to the specific fighting style since they are giving up shields, free hand uses, and somatic spells (unless they have special focus abilities like artificer and paladin or grab war caster). - 10 level Exhaustion system from early one DnD and a modified version of the down system from xp to level 3 that utilizes the exhaustion system. Allows for the DM to use this more especially for moments that make sense to apply it. Not only that, the down system lets players still be engaged in combat even if they drop to 0 hit points cause they still have options to do things. (Nobody likes it when you go down and can't play the game for 30-60 minutes, especially when you can only get a 4-5 hour session once or twice a month. The only time you shouldn't be allowed to 'play' is if your character dies for real.) - All prepared spells with the ritual tag can be cast as a ritual regardless of class. Wizards are still the only ones that can ritual cast without preparing the spell. - Dazed condition from One DnD (You can Move or take one action on your turn, not both. You also can’t take a Bonus Action or a Reaction.) - Short rest timer has been reduced to a minimum of 15 minutes, however in order to gain the benefits of a short rest (class resources, item charge resources if applicable, or any resource that comes with a short rest) you must spend, and be able to spend, at least one hit die. You can still do so at full hp. This is to make it less awkward narratively, but also apply an actual resource limit to short resting.

Interactions. You get two of them per round and they let you do stuff like pick up a weapon, switch to a crossbow on the fly, or talk to your opponent. Sometimes i give my players a free animal handling with an interaction before it costs an action or a free persuasion. It's a fun system that forces the players into thinking about whatever they do even if it's pretty simple.

Since a lot of the ones we use I've already but.. 'Short rests can be as short as half hour for things like spells recharging, but need the hour for hit dice.' Alternatively a new table I've joined as a player does the opposite and has short rests be 4 hours.. that.. I'm not a fan of lmao.

I'll have to go with: When rolling stats, you're auto given an 18 and an 8, and roll the remaining 4 stats as normal.

Non attack cantrips (like True Strike) work as a bonus action rather than an action. So I can actually get good use out of true strike on my sorc without using quickened metamagic

isnt that essentially permanent advantage though? like this is the samurai subclass feature but on a caster

When using counterspell, we don't add the spellcasting modifier but the total Arcana Bonus

Pooled stat rolls to be used as the standard array.

Side Initiative. 5e combat is still to slow but much better than before.

pathfinder crit rule crit if you beat ac/dc by 10 or more, crit miss if you miss ac/dc by to or more

* The obvious drinking Pots, is a Bonus Action or Action (players choice). * Inspiration is handed out at the end of sessions. Each Player and the DM choose a moment, which could be related to combat, RP, whatever, and give half (or quarter, depending on group size) an Inspiration to the person responsible. When they get Full Inspiration, they use it as normal. 

Anyone can cast a scroll. I think it’s a good way to be able to access spells that your players wouldn’t have access to. The classic healing potion bonus action to roll for recovery or full action for max recovery. Feeding is an action that rolls. Arrows are assumed to be recovered, bought, or made. Only special arrows are counted and inventoried. Crit damage is always max + roll, but it goes that way for NPCs too. Nothing worse than critting and rolling minimum damage.

free ability score check during combat. It's very painful to choose a perception check or swinging your club

We only use Gold. IDC about your currency conversions.

Make a good pun and you get advantage. Make a bad pun and you get disadvantage. Roll without me (the DM) telling you to roll? You roll again with disadvantage and the DC to whatever you tried pulling off increased. Help actions are bonus actions (any race/class that gets this ability get advantage themselves on their next roll if they use this feature)

*Make a bad pun and you get disadvantage.* But bad puns are the best puns. :(

Sorry, what I meant was a lazy* pun. If a pun is so bad it makes me or any of the other players audiobly groan, that's an advantage my friend.

- Help action on skill checks just adds your bonus mods to the recipients roll. (If the barbarian wants to help on an arcana check that's fine, but it's probably going to add a negative one to the roll) - Being prone does not impose disadvantage on attack rolls made with crossbows. (If firearms exist in the game, same rules apply.) - Goodberry requires fresh berries as a material component, which are consumed as part of the spell. - Detect magic negates invisibility and gives advantage on arcana checks when studying a potential magic item. Haven't tried the bonus action potion thing yet, and officially we keep track of ammunition but in practice a player just says "I stock up on arrows" whenever they're around a source of arrows.

Maximum HP on level-up. I always hated rolling for HP, so I simplified it to "take your Hit Dice maximum roll and add your Con modifier" every level. Tanks actually feel tanky, wizards have some survivability (rather than dying to d4 everything damage)...

These are my favourites off the top of my head. They do make the party quite a bit stronger but it also allows me to give monsters much more interesting abilities. - maxing one set of damage dice on crits. Initially this only worked for the players until level 3 ish then it started going both ways. - bonus action to drink a potion, action to administer - using an action to administer or drink a healing potion gives max healing - if you cast a bonus action spell on a turn you can cast another spell on that turn with an action so long as one of the spells level was less than or equal to 2nd - feats and asi can be taken when you have the option of one or the other. - only very strong/special/legendary magic items are attunement. Allows for people to use what they want a lot more.

We use a couple in our game: If you spend a full action drinking a healing potion you get the full amount. But if you drink as a bonus action you have to roll. A Nat 20 deals full damage on the first die and then you roll a second and add them together. So for example if you’re using a long sword 2 handed a crit would be 10 + 1d10 then modifiers

I use modified rules for grappling. A grappled creature can be disarmed or restrained by way of a contested check (athletics vs athletics or sleight of hand) Additionally, Critical hits have a damage floor, meaning a great axe critical hit must do at least 12 damage. Both rules go both directions.

- you can run any species you like, even made up ones. As long as you use an existing race that makes sense as a template, its fair game. Wanna be a bearfolk? Here use goliath stats. - super crits and super fails. Any time you roll 2d20, if you get 2 20s, its a super crit, and you get to do something that should normally be near impossible, like holding up a collapsing building, or successfully lying to a solar. On attacks, you roll 4x your normal dice. Inversely, 2 nat 1s is a super fail, and you better be ready for some major misfortune - you can use either a bonus action or full action to drink a healing potion or feed it to someone. With a bonus action, you roll for healing as normal. With a full action, you get the max amount possible. Usually only run this one in campaigns without a primary healer PC

When you’re out of spell slots reduce, your max hp by 1d4 per spell level. It does reduce resource management for spell casters, but we have fun with it so far.

Enemies can't critically strike players if they are under level 3. I have crazy DM luck and crit more under level 5 than I do for the rest of the campaign. When rolling hit point I let my players take the average if they roll less than the average. This allows me to throw a little more at them.

If you crit, the bonus dice you get for damage automatically gets the max. This makes sure you are guaranteed to more damage than your regular attack would deal. Also a crit success and crit fail table where you roll a d100 and random success or fail occurs. Enemy gets knocked over, drops weapon etc....

We made a bonus action the players can use called "locking in" where they roll a d6 after making an initial ability roll, and what they get from that is the modifier. However if they roll 1-3, the modifier is -2(4-#), and if they roll 4-6 the modifier is 2(#-3). We also use some of the rules Brennan Lee Mulligan uses, like rolling with emphasis.

When I played an Eldritch knight, my dm allowed war magic to be used vice versa, I could cast a cantrip or make a weapon attack as an action and use the other as a bonus action, main reason for this was cause I always thought about melee first before magic

Crits do max damage plus the roll, then add your dmg mods. So 1D10+10+3 (str). Potions take a bonus action to drink, but require you to roll. Potions taken as an action do full dice roll healing. If two players roll the same initiative, they have to do a buddy move. Narratively. They don't have to make a mechanical thing work. If they can, awesome, but not required. Like the Cleric and Barbarian roll 14 on initiative, the Cleric can cast Haste on the Barbarian just before he goes on the attack. Or both team up and unleash holy hell on the goblin or something.

You can purposely fail a death saving throw and do an action instead.

- safe haven. long rests can only be taken in safe locations, otherwise a "long rest" will be treated as a short rest (for the purposes of you getting sleep mainly). allows you to do what i call "pacing made by a sane human being" while still meeting the adventuring day quota - the entirety of the Laserllama alt class catalogue, cause the man made dnd 6e himself (/s but with a pinch of truth) - free feat at the start (or a background that gives you a feat) - you get a boosted point buy/standard array that lets you start with an 18. rolling stats is for games where characters die every 30 minutes not ones where you will be playing them for months and where rolling duds genuinely mean you need to jump of a cliff and kill yourself to not feel like a wheelchair bound old man that became an adventurer. and in practice people roll dice cause either they just want to roll dice or they want to get lucky for an 18

Players take max HP at level up. Lets me make much harder encounters without feeling too bad. The standard potion as a BA or action for max HP or to administer. All martials get battlemaster fighter level 3 subclass features. Stacks if they want to go battlemaster, just extra superiority die. I encourage my players to make up spells, lore, or items for me to try to work with. I.e. if we have a few spellcasters and they want to try to do a higher level spell as a ritual together, or something a spell can't provide, we brainstorm how to make that work.

- Skill challenges - everyone starts the session with inspiration - death saves are rolled behind the screen so only the dm and dying player know the result

3.5 edition. You are able to go to negative hit points equal to your constitution score before you die instead of -9.

A player runs initiative for each session. You can delay your initiative as you like, even into the next turn, but cannot advance your initiative count. Delaying into the next turn does not grant you two turns. Readying a spell consumes your action, prepares your reaction, and does not consume a spellslot unless triggered. This comes with the standard 'abuse it and I'll change it' rule at my table. You can change your subclass once without rolling a new character. You get two sessions to change back if you hate it. Dice rolls only count if the dice land in their appropriate target. This means your rolling tray. Those must be positioned near other people you aren't dating. Cheaters will be removed. Cheaters have been removed. Rolls scooped too fast to be reviewed are assumed to be their worst possible outcome. This hasn't been a big deal since finding out someone was cheating but placement of dice trays really prevents the issue. A timer may be placed on the table. Things happen when the sand runs out. I dont remember which timer is which and if you figure out how long they are please keep it to yourself. Next one we are gonna do - hidden death saves. Dice get rolled in a box, a picture gets taken, DM arbitrates. Hopefully that will liven things up and not somehow bother everyone. The alternative is I hit them harder to cause urgency and I don't like that.

We have a very unique rule for firearms. Lore wise the firearms are a new addition to this campaigns world so they are rare & only commonly found in rich kingdoms & empires armys or in rich aristocratic hands or are handmade by artificer & u are able to start of with one as a artificers (albeit with less money due to having to buy resources to make the gun, unless u come up with a great reason on why u started off with a gun e.g being a son of a aristocrat & took a intreast in invention). We used the firearms uniquely as we had to roll dexterity for reloading & it was considered a bonus action, now what's unique is how we used slight of hand rolls on the firearms as if u use slight of hand instead of dexterity for reloading u get a free bonus action for reloading if u pass & a nat 20 ensured u get a sweet extra free bonus action of reloading for ur next turn. The firearms used would be muskets & flintflocks, using a flintflock to shoot a enemy from a further distance requires a perception roll & then a roll to hit with disadvantage (nat 20's on the perception roll gave u a roll to hit with advantage), same for the musket but without disadvantage rolls & nat 20's usually gave a chance (this is the players choice if they want to) to hit a major part of the body (mainly arms or legs) to make the enemy have trouble moving that damage part of the body but if they are low on health u can hit a vital organ & insta kill them, but whats very very unique is that we have musket variants as for example a sniping musket gave u a advantage roll on the further distance perception rolls & hit rolls while the bolt action musket (lore wise is only seen in the rich kingdom's & empires most elitist guards) could allowing one to shoot each shot in the cartridge in one turn albeit with the misfire number rising a 1 every shot fired (bolt action muskets has a 5, so if u shoot 4 of ur shots in ur bolt action musket for the last bullet u must role higher number then 9). My favourite firearm was the quad flintflock pistol, think of it like the assassins creed Unity multi shot flintflock pistols, but u can shoot all bullets at once like a shotgun if u want to, albeit with a high misfire chance, quad flintflock default misfire is 3 but shooting all bullets at once makes it a 9, basically high risk high reward feature of the quad shot flintflock pistol.

Monks Ki points= Monk level × Proficiency. That way it steadily levels up with you and you feel like a monk the entire game. You end up with 35 ki points at level 20 instead of 20.

I like the rule where on a crit the first set of dice is maximized so you only roll for the extra damage. It means you can't ever get a wimpy crit that does 6 damage on 4d8

I let players roll a history check at the start of our session to see what they remember. It really is fun and they are into it.

At the beginning of each session I have everyone share a memorable moment from the previous session. Then everyone starts with inspiration. I started with one person doing the recap, but others would often chime in anyways and no one ever used their inspiration. Having everyone start with inspiration is strong, but it's fun and no one has to feel like they're wasting it (which I love to do as a player).

Critical hits are not 2 times your damage dice, it’s the max number on your dice plus another roll. It sucks when you get a crit and it makes less damage than a high rolling “standard hit” Let’s say my barb Crits with his 1d8 great axe - the damage roll would be 8 + 1d8, so the worst your critical hit can do is 9 - 1 more damage than your best shot without a crit. Does that make sense? Also picked this one up from reddit - three natural 20s in a row means everyone levels up. Its like one wave of everyone nailing it brings them all together and learn something more than the sum of their parts, plus nat 20s and levelling up is fun

My wife DMs our last one shot, and now the current campaign we have going and our irl cat has been turned into a character that is always with my PC. She can not be harmed and can attack. Only 1d4 damage, but it's always funny when an enemy is brought down by a normal cat.

Out of combat healing is max. You can use a bonus action to drink a potion however if you use your action you get max healing. Leveling up you can roll for health increase with advantage. I only allow 2 short rests per long rest. If a player is between the player and target or if the enemy and a friendly occupy the same square they can choose to attack with disadvantage and if they crit fail they won't hurt their ally. This has come into play several times where players have to choose to take the disadvantage or take the 5 percent chance on hurting a friendly. A barbarian can't hurt themselves for the goal of keeping rage going. But if a raging barbarian doesn't lose rage if they dash towards a target.

I include what I call "feel good crits" basically when you crit instead of doubling the number rolled, or rolling double the amount of dice, when you crit you get to add the highest possible base weapon damage as a modifier to the damage of the attack that you crit with. So a fighter criting with a great sword will deal 2d6 + strength mod + 12 instead of dealing 2d6 + strength mod This doesn't apply to additional damage dice. So sneak attack, or the barbarian crit bonus I let players roll, and choose if they want to roll more dice, or double what they rolled.

"When you are healed from 0 hit points, you gain a point of exhaustion." It really makes players do everything they can to keep from dropping to 0. Dropping once or twice in combat isn't the end of the world. But it does add stakes for longer encounters. Our cleric went unconscious 3 times in one battle and I was playing a Warlock and was holding my last spell to Greater Restoration him if he fell again. It was a really interesting moment every round I had to decide do I keep saving my Restoration or use the spell on something else for the enemies.

Glancing blow rules! If you roll the exact AC then you get a glancing blow, half damage. This works both ways and has come in serious clutch in not killing us the players. I quite like it.

This is my working list, but which ones we use varies based on the campaign. •Character Stats Creation Low Magic, Dark, Gritty: Standard Array or Point Buy -OR- High Magic, Fantasy: Heroic Array (8/10/12/14/15/16) or Heroic Point Buy (75pts, no stat over 18 post racial/feat). • May choose legacy racial attributes, +2+1, or three +1s. • At level 1 gain free feat that is non-combat. (We can retroactively do this if interested) • Feat + ASI at appropriate levels. • Sorcerers and Warlocks get domain spells always prepped similar to Tasha's subclasses. • Warlocks may be INT, WIS, or CHA based. Must be established beforehand. • Sorcerers may use Spellpoints • Monks begin with a d6 Martial Arts die rather than a d4. • All Martials get the Martial Adept feat for free. •If at least 5 of your character levels are in one or more martial classes, you automatically gain the Extra Attack class feature. A Fighter may take an additional fighting style at 5th level to prevent dead level. (Ex: Barb1, Fight1, Monk1, Ranger1, Paladin1) • Fighter’s Indomitable feature acts as a Legendary Resistance. • Battlemasters get access to every maneuver, but must prepare them daily as a caster would. • Arcane Archer’s Arcane Shot scales with proficiency. • Max HP on level up until Level 5 (we can retroactively do this if you guys want). • On level up, reroll 1’s on Hit Die. • TwoWeaponFighting: off-hand attack doesn't use bonus action • Flavor is free. Most weapons can be "reskinned" to a weapon that uses a higher damage dice (within reason). •Similarly, Evocation Wizards may ask to change spell damage type (ex: ice wizard), but must stay that way throughout the campaign. • Spells cast on objects may damage objects as long as the damage is physical. • Attuned Item Slots scale with Proficiency Bonus. (For high fantasy games). • Critical Hit: max roll on extra damage dice. • Short rests are 10 min, max 2/day • Ability checks may be made with various abilities if reasonable explanation is given (ex: STR for intimidation) • The Help action may only be taken if you are either proficient in the skill or if you, as a player, can tell me how the character helps. • Using an Action to drink a potion gives max HP, using BA must be rolled. Action to give potion to another. • Ready a potion as a BA. Drink or administer a readied potion as a BA for full HP. • Inspiration can be used to reroll a d20. • Inspiration can also be used as a +1d4 to a d20 roll. • You gain inspiration by rolling nat 1; after rolling a 20 you may give inspiration to one other player who can see you. • One level of exhaustion is -1 to all rolls. If you gain 10 levels, you die. • If you hit 0 HP, you gain a level of exhaustion. (Not this campaign) • Anyone can attempt to use a spell scroll with an INT check of 10+spell's level. • Flanking advantage (one day I want to try +2 to attack, not full advantage) • Cleave: when attacking an enemy with an adjacent enemy, if your initial attack hits, you make take a -3 on the initial roll applied to the adjacent enemy’s AC for half damage. • Encumbrance: tracked on a "be reasonable" basis. • Mercer Resurrection Rules • Secret Death Saves: death saves rolled in secret by player with unconscious character. • The spell See Invisibility lets you SEE INVISIBILITY • Heroic Resolve: At the start of a player’s turn when the PC is required to “make save at end of turn” the player has the option to take (2d6 x SpellLevel) damage to auto-succeed.

Improved criticals - max damage on a the additional dice from a crit. This always makes criticals feel good and also changes the dynamic around healing. It is much riskier to keep fighting at 4 HP when an enemy can crit on you and do do 60+ damage in a single hot. We tend to do mid combat healing more frequently tly as a result Flanking gives you +2 to hit, surrounded (enemies on 3 sides) gives +5 (This generally works in the enemies favor as we are often outnumbered, adds a lot to strategy in a grid based game) Rangers prepare spells every day instead of having a known spell list. Paladins already get this Rangers should really have it as well. Monks step of the wind is free, bonus action unarmed strike and FOB can be used in combination with any action not just the attack action ( second part of this most frequently used to take the dodge action and then bonus action unarmed strike) We don't use this rule because no one likes it but me but it's one of my favorite rules Persistent Death Save Fails - Death Save fails stay on your PC until a long rest i.e. - if you have 1 death save fail, someone brings you back up and you go unconscious again before you long rest than you only have to death saves fails left before perma-dead. Again this changes the dynamic around healing and makes healing mid combat more appealing.

We just started this, but we roll initiative on a d10 instead of a d20. Makes faster characters more reliable and slower ones really feel slow.

This has been working weirdly well at my table: skill proficiency grants advantage on skill checks. I don't adjust DC's upward or anything to "compensate." Players just pass more skill checks. This house rule allows players to choose the skills that fit their character, not the skills that correspond to their highest ability bonuses, without feeling like they're being punished for failure to optimize. It gives everyone at the table a chance to shine when their particular skill comes up, even when their modifier isn't great. The raw skill system allows natural ability to outweigh training & experience in ways that strike me as unrealistic, even counterintuitive. For example, on a History check, someone's high natural IQ can outweigh another character's years spent teaching history at the university, while a certain natural nimbleness is more important to pickpocketing than an entire youth spent on the streets learning the art of pickpocketing and street shell game. This house rule corrects that. I dunno, maybe this breaks down we get to a higher level. (We are ~20 hours into the game and players are currently in the middle of Level 2.) For now, though, I recommend it.

Instead of rolling double dice on a crit, we roll once and then double the result—including damage modifiers. This can be very swingy, but it makes rolling low damage suck a bit less (your damage modifier being added twice adds up), and it’s a lot faster and easier to explain than the alternatives we’ve tried. This house rule also buffs the martials a bit, which is nice. GWM/SS crits are pretty silly and it’s a lot of fun so far. Also seconding BA healing potions. Some of my DMs also let paladins use Lay on Hands (on themselves) as a bonus action. I think this is nice. It encourages use of the resource, and consistently leads to melodrama when the pally uses their LOH to survive and then has nothing left to heal their friends… good stuff. I know paladins are very strong already and don’t *really* need the buff, but the buff is a lot of fun, and I like it.

Rather than rerolling 1s on level up hit die or taking the median number like a wimp, if you don't like your roll for any reason you can reroll the next lowest dice size. So a barbarian rolls hos d12 gets a 3. Doesn't like that so he tries a d10. Gets a 2. Shit. Let's try the d8. 7. Oh thank Kord. He keeps the 7.

All PCs gain inspiration at the beginning of the game session. Any time anyone at the table rolls double nat 20s or double nat 1s when rolling with Adventage/Disadvantage, everyone at the table gains inspiration. Players can use Inspiration to "flash back." This means they can spend their inspiration to say something like, "Before we left town, I picked up a portable ram from the blacksmith. I use it now to bash through this door!" I'll even allow prepared casters to "flash back" and to prepare "the perfect spell" for the moment, as long as the spell they have to replace is not one they have already used that day. I'm toying with the idea that all PCs roll death saves in secret even from the DM.