16th Point Buy

You're allowed to buy the 16th point in an attribute, if you couldn't have reached 16 due to having no points in it racially. This allows you to have a level 1 half-orc with 16 int, or a level 1 elf with 16 str, etc. Really opens up race/class combinations mechanically.

Ammunition Dice

My table has really enjoyed using ammunition dice instead of tracking ammo 1 by 1.

Basically whenever you make an attack with a ranged weapon, you also roll it's ammunition die. On a 1, the die goes down a step (eg. D12>D10) and on anything else it remains where it is. If you roll a 1 on your D4, you have 1 arrow remaining.

It's very intuitive, quick to do (just roll an extra die whenever you attack) and removes the boring book keeping of tracking ammo

Starting die	Arrows, approx
	10
	18
	28
	40
	60

Bag of Holding

If any edible substance is put in the bag of holding, it will always come out with a small bite taken out of it.

Darkvision

I've seen an 'only races with sunlight sensitivity get darkvision' rule and I like that quite a bit.

Dogpile Initiative

Another variant of this is the current actor chooses who acts next, this includes the enemies. Dog piling can happen at first but your party better be damn sure they finish in the first round otherwise the enemies will all choose each other and get 2 back to back rounds. If you put them up against dangerous enough opponents then they will naturally want to ensure they can react between opponent turns.

Then as long as your players are playing nice and giving your villains turns then you have the opponents play nice and choose players to follow them.

Dropping backpack

Dropping your pack at the start of combat gives advantage for first round attacks. Keeping it on gives disadvantage for the first round. Dropping it is a free action if you do it when initiative is rolled. If you wait until combat starts, it's a normal action per PHB but I will still give you Advantage on your first attack roll after dropping it. Also, if you get ambushed (sneak attack) it becomes a normal action per PHB to wriggle out of your backpack.

Two reasons for this;

we use the encumbered rule (which reduces movement by 10ft when encumbered) and

loose bags are vulnerable to AoE attacks.

My players actually suggested the idea for this.

"Do I get any bonuses if I drop my bag?"

So you can keep the bag on and protect the gear from AoE attacks but have disadvantage at the start and a reduced movement, or wriggle out of your backpack to gain a quick advantage and better movent but risk losing gear to AoE attacks.

This rule applies to enemies as well. If you see the Orc shake off his pack, you know he's getting advantage on his attack.

2. Rolling 1s on leveling up hps stack with the first non-one.

So if I roll a 1 to increase my Max hps, I get to roll again and add that roll to my 1. If I keep rolling 1s they keep adding.

So for example, if I roll a 1 and then a 2, I add them together for a 3 hp gain.

Or if I roll a 1 and another 1, and then another 1 and then a 4, I add all the 1s to my 4 for a 7 hp gain.

It's not a huge bump up, but it makes those 1s painless.

Food == Inspiration

Anybody who brings food to share to a session gets a die of inspiration. Every single one of our sessions has been a goddamn feast fit for a king.

Grappling

Democratize the Grappler feat.

https://thinkdm.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/grappling/

Gritty Resting

Resting:

Patchjob, 1 hour, as short rest but you do not regain anything that refreshes on a short rest. Requires healers kit expenditure for everyone spending HD

Short rest, sleep, as per long rest

Long rest, spend 1 day without strenuous activity (Combat, travelling etc.), only regain con mod (min. 0) hp automatically.

HP Rolling

When we roll for HP, the player rolls a dice, and the DM on the table, covering the result. After seeing our dice, but not the DM's, we decide if we want to take our roll or the DM's. Sort of like gambling for your HP, and if you play the odds right, you'll end up above average on your HP rolls.

You can re-roll HP but have to go down 1 die.

Inspiration

Everyone gets one inspiration per session. You can use it on any roll that is in any way related to your traits/ideals/bonds/flaws.

Inventory System

Hands down it's scrapping the weight-based encumbrance system for one using inventory slots. The quick and dirty version:

You have a number of inventory slots equal to your Strength score

Most items take up one slot.

Smaller items can stack (typically up to 3 or 5 to a slot, whatever makes sense) and tiny things like pieces of paper or whatever take up zero slots.

Larger items like heavy and/or two-handed weapons take up 2 slots

Light armor takes up 0, medium armor 1, heavy armor 2 slots

100 coins per slot

Ta-da! Tracking encumbrance doesn't have to be a sloggy bookkeeping exercise, and limiting the amount that can easily be carried can lead to a lot of interesting decisions in play. I'd go so far as to say that some sort of inventory management/encumbrance tracking is crucial for any wilderness survival campaign, and most any campaigns with an emphasis on exploration. The current system is excessively granular to the extent that most people understandably just hand-wave it away, but I feel like we miss out on what can be a very fun element of the game when we do so.

IRL Table events

Any IRL accidents on the table while combat is in session: spilled drink, flipped popcorn bowl, etc, becomes a in game hazard: flooding, rockslide, etc. Doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s nuts

Last Breath

Last breath rolls. When you die, I make a big spectacle of secretly rolling a d20 behind the screen. They don't know the exact mechanics but I can say here. On a 1-5, you die. On a 6-20, death is willing to make you a deal for your life. You don't have to accept, of course. The lower the number rolled, the harsher the deal. I also don't play with resurrection spells. It makes death real and threatening, but gives excellent plot hooks and my players LOVE the extra "safety buffer" and the whole deal with death thing.

Sure! My personal favorite deal:

We had a cleric/werewolf who had torn his own eyes out believing that sight of the moon itself is what caused him to shift.

We also had a dex based fighter who relied on skill and finesse to best foes.

We reached a point where the party was trying to identify statues of the gods in an ancient underground forgotten city, but only the cleric had enough religious knowledge to do so after failed rolls from everyone else. Sadly, he was blind. My fighter fell in combat not long after. I rolled and got a 6. Which indicates to me I need to come up with a deal that is potentially very harsh, without destroying a player's enjoyment of the character.

Death decided that in order to complete their quest, they needed to identify the statues. Death allowed the fighter to survive if he would offer his eyes as a sacrifice to the cleric. This was devastating temporarily, but they soon found someone who was willing to teach the fighter a form of daredevil-esque echolocation. He was able to fight again and use his character, but was unable to make visual perception checks going forward.

Others can be things such as taking out a prominent necromancer who is breaking the cycle of death, or perhaps on the flip side a cleric who heals people who are supposed to die. One of those is far more harsh than the other for good characters. Both are good plot hooks. Perhaps death needs someone to check up on a temple to one of the Gods. It comes down to two things: What does death want? And/or what would be a useful lesson for this character/party to learn?

Max Crit and Health

Two things. We max crits and health. So instead of 2d8 + mods we do 1d8 + 8 + mods. I hate critting and rolling two 2s or something equally as lame. We did this before maxing health and we would get one shot quite often. So far it's worked well and makes crits feel good. So when I crit as a dm my players go "oh god." Plus they are jazzed when they crit.

Misc Rules

take 10 for non-stressfull, non-combat

To help on most checks you must be proficient in the skill. (Perception check must be made separately but you can help so you will have 2 rolls)

Goodberry consumes its material component!

Everyone gets a feat at level 1, no variant human

Anyone with spellcasting ability OR Arcana proficiency can use any spell scroll. Or (Int+Arcana) >= spell level.

(My favorite) Spells can be cast without the cantrip rule, meaning you can cast as many spells as you have actions for. (Quicken spell becomes pretty good with this option. But you quickly run out of resources)

Reroll 1s on health rolls leveling up

Gain a point of exhaustion whenever you come back from death saving throws. You can expend 2 hit dice to get rid of these points of exhaustion during a short rest.

You are staggered the turn after you return from deathsaves, unless it was a nat 20

Adventurers Kit - You have an adventures kit with a number of uses equal to prof bonus+str mod. It has all your default camping gear, ammo and stuff you need day to day. If you want to pull out something that isn't an everyday item, you spend a use of the kit. Refilling the kit costs 1gp/use.

Reflavouring - you can reflavour anything so long as you run it by the GM beforehand. Your spells can be magic arrows, you can have gauntlets that use club stats etc.

Party Sheet - The party is a formal arrangement, with the party pooling in for lifestyles and a "party cache" that gets an equal split of all loot. The party sheet has all group assets, goals etc. You have to designate 3 items for the "party contract" and have at least one nonadventuring NPC to serve as your point of contact when you are away.

Ritual Caster feat gets you all ritual spells - There are too few ritual spells currently. To compensate, the tomelock is buffed.

Arcana Check to modify a spell on the fly - dc10 for just cosmetic effects, higher dcs for functional changes like changing damage types

Roll health on level up with advantage.

If a spell requires an attack roll to hit and a saving throw for another affect (like ray of sickness), a crit on the attack roll is an autofail on the saving throw.

Fighting Style Changes:

Protection Style gone. Fused with Defense.

• Defense: +1 Shield bonus to AC. May force disadvantage on a number of attacks (targeting you or adjacent ally) equal to half your proficiency bonus (Must be aware of attack). Does not use reaction
• Dueling: You may add your proficiency bonus to damage with one handed weapons. In addition, you gain a bonus to your AC equal to your proficiency vs one target of your choosing. Offhand must be empty at the end of the round (may still use objects, may still draw a dagger and throw as extra attack etc).
• Archery: +2 hit, +proficiency to damage. May fire in melee without disadvantage.
• Two Handed: All weapon dice damage equal to or less than proficiency bonus are maximized. (Pumpkin Smashington has a Proficiency bonus of +2. When he hits with his Glaive, any roll of 1 or 2 on a D10 is treated as if he rolled a 10. This is also the case with multiple dice. If Pumpkin Smashington hit with a Greatsword and rolled 1,1 it would be treated as 6,6)
• Two-Weapon Fighting: You gain an attack with your offhand every time you attack. You add your ability mod to damage as normal and this does not require a bonus action

Feats:

• Alert: +5 passive perception and investigation and advantage on initiative rolls. No surprise immunity
• Heavy Armor Master: Reduce damage by proficiency bonus rather than 3. Applies to magic weapons if your armor is also magical.
• Elemental Adept: Instead of treating 1's as 2's, treat 1 as an exploding dice. 1's add to the total. Example: On 2D6 you roll 1,4 for 5 damage. Roll the 1 again and get 3 for a total of 8. Ignore resistance and treat immunity as resistance for your chosen element.
• Observant is gone
• Great Weapon Master No -5/+10. +1 Strength instead
• Sharpshooter No -5/+10. +1 Dexterity instead

Class changes: The Fighter gains Legendary Resistance in place of Indomitable.

Transpose - as a reaction you may switch places with an ally attempting to enter your space on their turn, during their movement action.

Tack - Move half your move, no AoO, but enemy gets to follow

Instead of taking the max roll for HP at lvl 1, roll normally and add 8 (commoner HP)

• Characters cannot be brought back from the dead more than once without reality warping magic (stolen from Mark Hulmes)

You can forgo the movement on your turn to disengage and move 5ft, provided you are not prone/grappled and your speed is not 0.

Picking up an object from the ground/table/shelf provokes AoO

Armor that causes disadvantage on stealth rolls also prompts a DC15 Athletics check when falling in the water to check if the character can stay afloat.

Monster knowledge checks are now based on the background of the character or research they've done ahead of time, rather than random rolls at the time of combat. Not necessarily super involved (and could still be random), but just more sensical than not knowing what you know until you run into something.

Thread #2

Medicine to stabilize allows 1HD use for healing 1hp

Trident: 3d4 damage on crit

Skill check in combat: free to test, action to complete

Monsters take 10 on initiative

Slot system from Darker Dungeons

Crit: die roll + max (?maybe champion only?)

Ignore food / ammo

Free feat, no variant humans

Prof in skill to assist

?no magic jar

Bonus XP
"Describing progress towards next level"
? RP

Sorcerers use magic points

No lucky feat

Stacking dead bodies (1st: disadvantage to attack rolls and dex checks 2nd: difficult terrain 3rd: space can't be stopped on.)

Combat exhaustion - maybe

Take 10?

Force of Will (fighter only?) - At any time on your turn, you can give yourself a point of Exhaustion to push yourself beyond your normal limits and gain an additional action.

Force points - flip coin. Player side and DM side. Can be used to gain a reroll or to add something to a scene. Using flips to opposite side

Narrative Initiative

I use something called Narrative Initiative. At the beginning of combat there's no initiative rolls, no writing down the order and following it, hoping not to skip over anyone.

Everyone gets a token, we use playing cards. At the start of the round they start face up. When you want to take your turn, you say "I'm going to take my turn now" and flip your card face down and go.

When all cards are face down, the round ends and the flip back over to repeat the process.

This leads to combat being much more dynamic and tactical. It's SUPER fast. Everyone stays engaged the whole time because of how quick it is and because they're watching for the opportune time to go.

It took me and my players a few sessions to get used to, now I'll always use it because of how smooth and easy it is.

So Villain and PC 1 declare at the same time, they roll Initiative, the order is PC 1, then Villain. No matter what, that's the order for the next 2 turns. No one can interrupt the Villain's turn.

To keep it from being a "we all go first!" fest, I just put a cap on how many people can "challenge" to go at the same time at like 2 or 3.

Talk to your players. The point of the rule is to make combat flow better, feel more narrative, dynamic, and dramatic.

It is NOT to optimize or maximize. So if you think your players will use this rule in a way you don't like, don't use it!

Nat 20 Initiative

if you roll a nat 20 for initiative, you get advantage on your first attack roll.

I figure that's about like critting on an initiative roll, so when PCs/NPCs crit on initiative, they go first, and I give them a full additional action during their first turn. Extra attack, or spell (following casting rules, of course), dash, disengage, or what have you. Otherwise the 5e limitation on crits (only to-hit) feels kind of lame. It's a real buzzkill when someone rolls a 20 and I have to tell them it's not an automatic success and it doesn't mean anything special.

Optional Confirm Critical

Crit die does max damage or add extra die

Plot Points from DMG

Not technically a house rule, but a variant from the DMG that we love is Plot Points. Once per session the group can declare a Plot Point that changes the current events. They must also develop a setback. DM must approve (so they can’t just Plot Point that they have unlimited wealth or something).

My favorite so far was when a character earned a level of Madness and thought he could fly. He tried to prove it by jumping off a cliff.

Plot Point: He actually can fly.

Setback: His flying speed is 5ft.

Quick Inventory Slots

I have 3 quick access inventory slots per player. They can put potions, poisons, alchemist fire or other similar objects as I see fit in these slots. An item in a quick access slot can be accessed and used as a bonus action.

Silver Standard

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/5tt9tj/i_created_silver_standard_for_5_edition/

Skill Check in Combat

a skill check in combat is free to attempt, but may require an action or bonus action to actually complete if you are successful, at the DM's discretion. This encourages skills checks as creative solutions to otherwise straightforward (and potentially boring) encounters without punishing them for trying something new of they fail. Example, you are fighting in a library:

Player: I want to run up and push this bookcase over, crushing the goblin behind it.

DM: Alright, that'll be a Strength check, but it'll cost you your action to push it over.

Player: ... a 4.

DM: The bookcase proves heavier than you anticipated, but you still have 15 feet of movement and can attack.

Player: Alright, I guess I'll swing around and hit the goblin with my sword.

Tarot Initiative Cards

If the party wants, before combat/after initiative, they can draw a tarot card that puts a special condition on the encounter than can be a benefit or obstacle.

Torchbearer Ideas

Camp checks

• heal
• repair weapon/armor
• cook

Misc topics

• Conditions
• Backpack space as meta
• Wearing armor forces rest action

Skill tests

Each encounter has a set of skills with preset DCs, success changes state to another node. Nodes can have links or exit conditions.

Role playing points

Must give minor RP to crit.

In order to act in an 'event' you have to RP what your character does.

Persona/Fate points

Flaw : Acting on your flaw give ~1 point

Ideal : aka belief acting on this or growing/RP by pushing against, gives 1 point.

Bond : friend gives PC a resource, can give advantage on in town checks.

Enemy : enemy/mentor Gives pc's one 'auto pass' check related to what the mentor does.

goal : goal gives 1 point per session. Must be something plot related.

Instinct : ???

Family : grants some bonus ($$, healing potion, weapon) at character creation, based on background.

Wild Magic Surge

Wild magic sorcerers trigger a surge with greater likelihood. If they roll and nothing happens, the next time they roll it triggers on a 2, then a 3, etc. Once the surge happens the trigger point resets to 1.

Yazan Rule

I have what is called the Yazan rule. Basically, while in combat, if the player is Battle Ready, i.e. knows and declares their movement or action within 3 seconds of me telling them it is their turn, they get a +1 on their action (attack, check, whatever). Really keeps shit going with larger parties where people tend to get distracted (had a game with 7 players, one of which was online).

You didn't see that

once per session a player can reroll 1 d20 by saying " you didn't see that"