What house rules are you adding to your 5E D&D game?
>Flanking confers advantage.
>Everyone can Charge, straight line 20', add +1d6 to damage on a succesful attack; if unsuccessful opponent has advantage on next attack.
>Prone takes all your movement to get up, not half.
>Disbelieving illusions uses INT not WIS.
>Short rests heal only 1 Hit Die.
Group/side initiative. Downtime activities. No feats.
>>37013121
Those are all terrible houserules.
>>37013214
You may want to explain why you think so, otherwise your opinion is worthless.
>>37013163
>No feats.
Brave man.
>>37013362
Why no feats? They're pretty dope, especially if you go for flavor over just maximizing damage output or whatever.
My DM says that advantage and disadvantage can stack, and cancel each other out proportionally. If you have advantages from 4 sources, and disadvantage from 2 sources, you have a sum of 2x advantage (or roll 3d20, take the highest). It can get crazy once in a while, but I think it's definitely a good decision.
>>37013422
>you have a sum of 2x advantage (or roll 3d20, take the highest).
That's pretty insane, alright. With 3d20 you really can't lose/win.
You can use bonus actions from different sources. If your weapon lets you do something and your class lets you do something else you can use them both instead of being forced to pick.
All the magic items like belt of ogre power all give the old +x bonuses. Also brought back all the weapon and armor bonuses from 3.5.
A number of other things as well mainly focused of bringing the math back to the game.
>>37013509
this, I just randomly rolled 3d20 3 times. Picking the highest numbers, I got 19, 20, and 20.
Picking the lowest I got 1, 3, and 8.
>>37013422
Cancelling out proportionally makes sense (so if you have disadvantage from three sources and advantage from one then you net to still having disadvantage), but actually stacking them up would make even two sources instead of one extremely strong, never mind three or four.
>>37013533
>All the magic items like belt of ogre power all give the old +x bonuses. Also brought back all the weapon and armor bonuses from 3.5.
>A number of other things as well mainly focused of bringing the math back to the game.
By adding all those old magic items you're breaking the bounded accuracy math of the game. Seems kind of contradictory.
Sounds like a super-powered game you have there.
I dont like how simple they made it, it really fucked over the game in my and my groups opinions.
Having 20 be the mas a stat can be is fine if its NATURAL only. I have players that had 2o in stats at character gen, what the fuck are they supposed to do to get more powerful? Core gives them nothing. This way the max is 20 naturally and has no cap for magical effects.
Now they have a reason to hunt down that belt deep in an old cult dungeon instead of shrugging their shoulders because they are already maxed out.
>>37013712
They can improve themselves in other areas. How about that?
>>37013712
>I have players that had 2o in stats at character gen, what the fuck are they supposed to do to get more powerful?
The entitlement is just oozing out of your post.
>Superhuman beings that can't attain godhood in their stats?!? How UNFAIR!
But hey, it's your game, do wahteva.
All I did was add in a few combat maneuvers, and tone down 2-3 spells (I'm looking at you contagion).
Also, I forced my players to have a 3 part background instead of 1 part. It instead covers "birth", "childhood" and "adolescence". Each gives you essentially 1/3 of what a background would, and now provide more specific details of your back story and more customize your character. I have some standard ones, but I allow my players to come to me with them so that we can work out what things they'll receive.
I'm thinking of allowing any Fighter, Paladin or Ranger to do some of the Combat Maneuvers of the Battle Master, to make their combat options more interesting.
Yeah, I know this kind of fucks over the Battle Master, but I can cheer him up in other ways.
>>37013712
>Having 20 be the mas a stat can be is fine if its NATURAL only.
You can go above twenty... with MAGIC!
Also, fuck off asshat.
>>37013712
Jesus Christ.
I used to thin everyone is entitled to their gripes with whatever system and that they've all got their merits and flaws, and while that still certainly rings true, more and more I see that the only people bitching about 5E are the absolute scum of the hobby.
I don't even really like 5E that much myself, either, but good fuck.
>>37013121
For plot reasons, everyone gets the Lucky feat, but it's renamed to Favor of the Crystals. They start with 1 favor point, but gain another at levels 7 and 14. The Lucky feat can't be taken.
Stats are 4d6 drop lowest six times, and anyone with total modifiers of +5 or lower gets a bonus feat. I'm still not completely sold on rolling and will probably just go with an array of 16 15 14 13 11 9 instead. Every time I tell players to roll, we end up re-rolling two to five times until we get something good, with me watching the whole time and shaking my head and going "No, roll again." I'm still trying to find something that has the fun of rolling but the fairness of a standard array.
>mfw players roll like shit and are stuck with it because I don't want to seem like a pushover DM
I'm also planning on having rare shards of crystallized magic energy as treasure and rewards, which can be used for a few purposes:
>transmute one metal into another (steel, mythril, adamantine, orichalcum, whatever) because weapon and armor material will be important for fighting and defending against certain enemy types
>inscribe a rune of power into weapon or armor to give it an unusual effect not covered by regular magic items
>unlocking ancient vaults with randomly-generated (but level-appropriate) treasure, whether it's great or crap (think the power node doors from Dead Space)
>>37014378
I can hear it read in his voice.
>>37013362
why brave?
>>37013422
i don't see the need for feats. they don't enrich the game for me and my players are very pro rules light. in fact, 5e is considered a bit rules heavy for our group.
>>37014378
>I'm still trying to find something that has the fun of rolling but the fairness of a standard array.
Make a deck of cards with 1 ace, 2 twos, 3 threes, and 4 fours, fives, and sixes. 18 cards. Approximates a 4d6-drop-lowest approach in the stat sum you end up with.
Draw 3 cards per stat, gives you nice random arrays yet still balanced since everyone's got the same overall total. Can also introduce a 'Can swap the Ace with one other card' house rule, or allow players to assign the array as they see fit.
>>37013163
oh, and also rolled stats, 4d6 drop lowest, player choice for order.
>>37014393
I'm adding the spells Hand to Foot, Embalden, and Eye Contact, TV, and Love to the spell list.
I'm also adding the following magic items: Honky Muffs, Spirit Crumplers, Adam Smashers, Fuckup Boots, Murder Hats, and Baby Givers.
>>37013533
>All the magic items like belt of ogre power all give the old +x bonuses. Also brought back all the weapon and armor bonuses from 3.5.
That fucks over the game's math and makes players pretty overpowered.
>>37014448
I suggested dropping feats and my players started whining, wheedling and whinging like mad.
>>37014553
fuckin love you baby cakes
- Custom races for my setting
- Option to use Spell Points variant from the DMG if they want.
- Removed Religion from the skill list for lore reasons (no planes or divine magic makes it useless, the fluff for divine casters is also changed but they're mechanically the same)
- Restrictions on teleportation and plane shift spells
- DMG rules: flanking, disarming, creature climbing, shove aside, tumble, overrun, and lingering injuries on death saves of 5 or lower.
- custom language set for setting
As a note 4d6 drop 1 is actually the standard statting method in the PHB, alongside the standard array (15 14 13 12 10 8). It's not a variant or a house rule, it's bona fide core.
>>37014378
There was a card based character generation system that was posted on /tg/ in a recent thread about rolling ability scores. Unfortunately, I didn't save it, but you could try looking for something similar elsewhere; I know an issue of Dragon had a similar system using the Three Dragon Ante deck.
>>37013533
>old +x bonuses
>all the weapon and armor bonuses from 3.5
>bringing the math back
Serious question: Why are you using 5E instead of just sticking to 3.5?
>>37014963
Because 3.5 is the superior system, and must be emulated at all costs.
>>37014946
Thanks, I'm going to start a thread tomorrow about interesting and different methods of stat generation. I'm looking for something for the 5e game I've got planned and nothing really jumps out at me. I like rolling, but I don't like significant power gaps between party members. I like standard arrays, but I don't like their blandness.
I plan on mentioning
>3d3 exploding
>25d6 dice pool
>5d4
>1d10+8
>1d8+10
>1 new elf subrace and playable duergar (neither of which the players decided to take)
>languages that negate 'common' as an existing thing, replaced by regional stuff
>anyone swordnboarding can drop their shield AC bonus for the round to use their versatile damage instead of standard as a bonus action
>>37013121
>What house rules are you adding to your 5E D&D game?A game that isn't D&D
>>37015019
I was always fond of 2d6+6.
>>37013712
>the only motivation for adventuring is to increase your stats
jesus fuck
>>37015120
Might as well just go play a video game at that point, am I right?
> no healing from short rests
> only minor healing from long rests
> any healing spells cast during a long rest with use of a healer kit are automatically maximized
> skill checks can critically fail
> sanity stat, but not how the DMG does it
>>37015173
I get that you're trying to be cute, but yes, you might as well play a video game at that point.
The only houserules I use are
>Official feat variant and official variant human
>Official diagonal movement variant
>If it falls off the table, get stuck in a crack, etc. -- reroll
>>37015236
I have a similar house rule
>if it falls off the table, I get to break one of your fingers with a hammer
>>37013121
>Disbelieving illusions uses INT not WIS.
I play with a house rule feat that lets people use their INT modifier instead of STR for attack rolls.
>>37015285
How do you fluff that? I can see INT being used for disbelieving because you can notice the illusion isn't accurate or is impossible or something but how would you use your INT to attack someone?
>>37015407
Probably something like attacking weakpoints or something.
>>37015407
He probably fluffs it as attacking weak points (though if you ask me, that's covered by rolling Knowledge against the monster to learn about it)
>>37013121
>>Disbelieving illusions uses INT not WIS.
You're a monster.
>>37014128
I just use the clarified intent of contagion, where the disease doesn't come into effect until they've failed 3 saves (that is, before that, they can feel they're getting sick, but they're not suffering any penalties yet)
>>37014168
I'd suggest having the battlemasters combat maneuvers naturally upgrade with levels (i.e. Sweeping Attack upgrades to do full damage to the second creature, Distracting Strike gives the next 2/3/4 attacks advantage, etc), while the other classes only get the default versions of the abilities
Strength modifier is how many "heavy items" you can carry without receiving a penalty. Heavy armor and weapons with the "heavy" attribute count as heavy items. Also, carrying a fuckton of small items counts as carrying a heavy item.
>>37013121
Trust me, DO NOT GIVE ADVANTAGE THAT EASILY, the rogue will murder everything.
>>37015602
how many is a fuckton?
>>37014168
Use the same rules as grappling, shoveling, and so on: use one of their attacks to perform it as an opposed check. With player characters having a ton of proficiencies, these special attacks are incredibly useful as control, it's a shame that 5e doesn't put more emphasis on them in the rules for classes and combat itself, to try to do away with the "all fighters do is full attack" ideology.
>>37015617
The rogue will have Sneak Attack if he's flanking no matter what, because there will be another friendly creature within 5 feet of your target.
>>37015617
Rogues get Sneak Attack on flanking anyway, or the 5e version of it.
Advantage will give, well, an advantage, but that applies to all the other classes too.
>>37015640
With all the ways monks can get free unarmed strikes, they're super competent at grappling and shoving even when they have only one attack per round. I love it.
>>37015617
Rogues get their sneak attack from target-adjacent allies anyway, and it benefits people with multiple attacks way more. It's a nice rule to make battlefield positioning important.
>>37015657
>>37015660
>>37015688
Yes, but if he hits twice on sneak attack, it dies. If he always has advantage, then he's barely going to miss, especially if he's already optimized. Combat turns into glass cannon blitzkrieging and it's just bad.
>>37015737
I dunno, I mean -- I'm against it because I think it throws off combat balance for everyone, not just rogues.
Are rogues strong? Sure. But to do max damage they have to open themselves up to melee attacks. My monsters usually prefer to attack whoever dealt the most damage last round.
>>37015737
No I don't think you understand. You'd have to have a custom rule to have him not be able to sneak attack from flanking. Also, you vastly overestimate sneak attack.
>>37015737
>hits twice on sneak attack
I'm not sure if you're referring to crits (because Advantage is great for crit-fishing) or if there's a misunderstanding about the rules here.
Anyways, just to be damn sure (like asking if someone's computer is plugged in when helping them with tech support), I'll throw some shit out there about it:
You can only ever trigger the sneak attack damage bonus once per round (phrased turn, arguably it could trigger from AoO, but that's beside the point)
Advantage isn't attacking twice, but rolling twice for the better result.
>>37015802
Level 5 rogue, finesse fighting with a rapier, flanks for advantage. Advantage means his mean roll is a 13ish, he's getting +5 from dex and prof to hit, so on average he has a to hit of 18. That on average, is going to hit just about anything I throw at them at level 4.
His damage, unless I'm retarded and checked the rules wrong, is then about 1d8+4d6+3
Two turns of combat with him and everything he targeted died.
Not to say he wasn't dead by the mythical turn 3 and recieved about 80% of the group's healing.
>>37013121
>Disbelieving illusions uses INT not WIS.
As far as I can tell, Illusion magic spells can be disbelieved/dispelled using an Investigation check, which is INT.
Is there an illusion that uses WIS to disbelieve?
>>37015869
> about 1d8+4d6+3
Sneak attack at level 5 is 3d6.
>>37015869
>Level 5 rogue
>That on average, is going to hit just about anything I throw at them at level 4.
Think you messed up here buddy.
>is then about 1d8+4d6+3
On average this produces 21.5 damage
What are you fucking throwing at them? CR2 creatures? Night Hags, a nice CR5 creature has 112 hit points and AC of 17. He'll hit it roughly 60% of the time and takes 5 turns to down it. It could easily kill a party member before that.
>>37015939
>>37015943
Even worse! That means average is 18 damage per round, taking a whopping 6 rounds to kill it if every hit connects, which it won't (using the Night Hag example). The rogue by himself would take roughly 8-10 rounds to kill it, and would be dead long before that.
>>37015407
He was making fun of him
Have I been trolled?
>>37015943
>He'll hit it roughly 60% of the time
I forgot to mention it in >>37015939 but at level 5, the rogue would have +6 tohit due to having a proficiency of +3. Not sure how that would change the hit calculations.
Which doesn't mean much, since >>37015969 already takes into account if every hit connects on average.
>>37015943
You're blatantly told not to pit CR5 monsters against a party of 5s, you're supposed to use a squad of lesser monsters. So the nighthag surviving is irrelevant.
>>37015939
I'm going to have to check over his character sheet when I get back to college. Rogue died to a dragon attack, now he has a ranger that isn't doing too much, but I think I'm also going to have to start roll checking him.
Perhaps this is just an issue of a player cheating.
>>37015432
I would put that as Dexterity
Strength is how hard you hit
Dexterity is where you hit
>>37015638
2 fuckloads probably
>>37016036
>You're blatantly told not to pit CR5 monsters against a party of 5s
Where? You're told not to pit a party against enemies that EXCEED their average party level. Night Hag is both within the XP budget and CR budget of a level 5 party.
>>37016036
>You're blatantly told not to pit CR5 monsters against a party of 5s, you're supposed to use a squad of lesser monsters.
CR is a mess in 5e anyway, but I got the impression using a squad of lesser monsters is to create more threat to the player party, due to action economy.
A single monster tends to get focus-fired down too quickly. That sneak-attacking rogue might not hit, but the Smiting paladin and the Extra Attack fighter might.
>>37016086
someone want to give me a hand, I don't have the memory to locate this tidbit
>>37016099
Honestly, I've been basically ignoring CR entirely and just eyeballing monsters to fit. I mess with the environment way too much for CR to be relevant, and my players love the combat I throw at them.
What's up with AC not scaling with Proficiency?
>>37016125
Also, for 5 lvl 5s it is within their XP budget to fight 2 Night hags as a just under Hard encounter.
Also, I do not that that tidbit exists. There are in fact rules that when you fight many enemies you need to increase their XP value depending on how many.
>>37015943
You know, a good number of lower CR creatures would actually be a good encounter for his party. They wouldn't be able to focus fire.
Hell--getting bushwhacked by a bunch of goblins would be a great encounter.
A handful of goblins in the treeline along with a hobgoblin and hobgoblin captain would be a fine challenge for single-target tactics like that. The goblins would all get off at least two rounds before anyone could get in close, and they'd disengage and continue being slippery before anyone could close in.
>spells per day replaced with mana
>"soft cap" of 20 is removed
>being proficient with shields now adds your proficiency bonus to AC while using a shield
>added more feats
>>37016174
I'm the guy in question, not only is the rogue dead now, but I have already learned to work around the 5e structure. It's just a god damn pain with how lethal the system is, because I can't mundanely keep a "recurring" guy alive, because two rounds of focus fire kills just about everything, and even if it doesn't, turning tail and fleeing doesn't get him away from the wizard in time.
Solo fights just do not work, especially with a rogue, and I damn near cry whenever he has advantage.
>>37015236
>official variant human
Eww, no. That's nasty.
>>37016139
I have no idea.
>>37016247
You're supposed to be able to afford higher AC armor then hit a soft cap around lvl 8. It makes the numbers work at high levels, because having both HP and AC scale at higher levels would make players too survivable. One had to be limited, unless you wanted them to both progress slower. Easiest way would be to make AC scale and move everyone down 1 dice type.
>>37016275
That seems kinda a bad idea, particularly given that things attack AC whose primary effects aren't dealing damage, unless every non-damage effect has to allow a saving throw for some reason.
>>37016174
I don't know if this is officially in the rules (or "Officially Approved DM Suggestions"), but I always got the feeling the "proper" way to design an encounter in 5e is to use multiple lower-CR creatures, balancing based on XP value with multipliers.
So solo fights are already hugely discouraged by the system. The BBEG should have at least a few bodyguards around.
This also makes early-level 5e more lethal, because if even two or three goblins or kobolds focus-fire on a single level 1 character, that level 1 character is going down.
>>37016356
Well, that makes sense. Lvl 1 characters are barely a head above commoners.
>>37013121
All I can think when I look at that pic is
"Female Witcher."
Alternate rules in use:
Climbing on monsters and Skill checks can auto pass at stat minus 5 in no stress encounters and -10 in stressed encounters.
We do halving for resistance than subtraction for things like Heavy Armor Mastery.
Additional things I'm goofing around with:
Parry can use any number of superiority dice. A version of Parry called Block that requires a shield and uses str instead of dex.
For both, If damage is reduced to zero, the attack doesn't count as a hit for special effects. I also allow a Superiority die to be sacked to deflect ranged attacks with parry and block.
I'll probably have to do something that makes that shit scale with fighter level, to prevent cherry picking though.
I'm working additional feats as well that have stat requirements/level requirements for benefits, Simple shit like the effects of boots striding and springing being turned into a feat.
>>37016800
>A version of Parry called Block that requires a shield and uses str instead of dex.
Stealing this, sorry.
Crits are assumed to be max damage on the "base" roll plus whatever damage is rolled again.
So if a level 1 Rogue gets a critical hit with a finesse rapier, they do Dex Mod + 8 + 6 + 1d8 + 1d6. A level 5 Rogue would do Dex Mod + 8 + 18 + 1d8 + 3d6.
This is to prevent the situation of "you crit for 2 damage".
While this benefits burst damagers (who roll tohit) a lot more, crits don't happen often enough for it to matter that much.
Not sure whether enemies should get the same benefit, since that will make low-level play much more lethal as well.
>>37017554
>Dex Mod + 8 + 6 + 1d8 + 1d6
Why are you doubling his dex on crit? Or are you adding his dex to the two-weapon fighting offhand for some reason?
>>37017697
>Why are you doubling his dex on crit?
It should be:
Dex Mod + 8 (max rapier 1d8) + 6 (max Sneak Attack 1d6) + 1d8 (rapier crit) + 1d6 (Sneak Attack crit)
I'm only counting one Dex Mod.
>>37017554
Oh, 4e Crits!
>>37017804
Oh, you're giving him max sneak attack too.
I do the max first damage die but not the max sneak attack. That seems a bit much.
>>37017822
>I do the max first damage die but not the max sneak attack. That seems a bit much.
The situation hasn't come up in play yet, since nobody in the party seems capable of getting a crit, but it does seem to be too high a damage for Sneak Attack.
However, I'm also reluctant to have a special exception to the houserule for Sneak Attack, since the players are new and are still unsure about whether Sneak Attack dice need to be rolled twice on a crit. I'm trying for the option of allowing satisfying crits with as few exceptions/special cases as possible.
>>37013214
The firstone isn't a houserule its an optional rule from the DMG.
Planning on using renaissance firearms. Anyone proficient with martial weapons is proficient with firearms. Also thinking of using this feat:
GUNSLINGER
> Thanks to extensive practice with firearms, you gain the following benefits:
> You ignore the loading quality of firearms with which you are proficient.
> Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
> Attacks you make with firearms ignore damage resistance.
Does it seem decently balanced?
>>37014128
whats wrong with contagion? And what other spells....for reasons.
>>37017956
Ignoring damage resistance is kinda bullshit.
>>37017956
Guns are already strong. 1d12 at a range instead of a longbow's 1d6? Yes please. That's enough reason to use a gun, you don't need >your gun doubles as a greataxe (no disadv, no loading)
>your gun is better than a magic item for resistance
Besides, why is one rifle round better at killing a swarm of rats than an arrow?
>>37018015
Buckshot?
But in all honesty I feel like you could just copy crossbow mastery and replace crossbow with gun and hand crossbow with pistol and it would be perfect. My DM presently just treats guns as improved crossbows anyway.
Also a longbow does a d8
>Gun talk
It's times like this I wish my Gunslinger homebrew was finished...
>"Plotspiration" (name coined by a player)
Inspiration that can be used either as Inspiration (advantage) or as a Plot Point. Plot Point subject to DM approval.
>Wands
Wands for every spell, but ones outside the DMG are fixed uses and cannot recharge.
>Rule of Cool
>>37017965
>whats wrong with contagion?
If the disease effects start immediately, then Slimy Doom is pretty much a guaranteed 3+ round stun on a hit. It also gives disadvantage to Con saves, which are used to resist Contagion making it even more likely to stick.
>>37013712
Wait, wait, are you complaining because your dude was....too awesome?
What the fuck, son? Just adventure to score more cash so you can fuck lots of bitches with all your 20 attribute scores, shit.
>>37015407
Extensive katas, the knowledge of "If it moves like this, attack like this".
>>37015407
An incredibly tactical mind that is multiple steps ahead of the other guy at any given point?
I think that was the fluff behind Swordmages being able to do it in 4e. Like bards doing it by being stylish, showy...but skilled fighters who rely heavily on feints and showmanship to put the other guy off balance. Letting them use Cha.
>>37014916
>- DMG rules: flanking, disarming, creature climbing, shove aside, tumble, overrun, and lingering injuries on death saves of 5 or lower.
Since these were previously things in the PHB, does it mean they're going to become "core" rules?
My understanding was that the general game is very open, so DMs can improvize.
"I climb on the creature!"
"Okay that's a uh, Dexterity (Athletics) check. It's a Large creature but since it's prone, you have Advantage."
"21! What now?"
But I have this terrible feeling the rules in the DMG are going to become how you're "supposed" to run the game, maybe in organized play and stuff like that. And then we'll have splatbooks that assume usage of these "optional" rules.
>>37013121
>>Prone takes all your movement to get up, not half.
>>Disbelieving illusions uses INT not WIS.
>>Short rests heal only 1 Hit Die.
These ones aren't very good.
>>37018522
>elves
>actually having tits
Why does this only show up in hentai? Are Tolkien elves starved or something?
Someone in another thread brought up giving the eldritch knight the choice of any two schools. Are there options there too good or too sucky?
>>37013163
>Group initiative
>No feats
Nice dude.
I can't think of two faster and easier steps towards making 5e a better game.
>>37021463
Simpler, sure. Better is a matter of taste. I would miss feats, myself.
>>37021452
Evocation is a horrible mix with the Eldritch Knight is the issue. It gets evocation spells later than a wizard when they rely heavily on being on-time to remain useful and it has less slots to shove them up in to improve them.
It's an issue Evocation in general has in 5e (Terrible scaling) but it's most visible with the Eldritch knight who suffers heavily for it.
>>37021491
As a DM and a player, I find feats really fun, myself. As long as it's not a situation where everyone in the party takes Alert and Lucky.
THAT shit's boring as all hell.
>>37013121
Abilities:
3d6 in order
b/x style ability modifiers
no racial ability modifiers
Races/Classes:
No feats
Rename halfling to hobbit
No dragonborn, gnomes, half-elves, halforcs,
or tieflings
No sub-races
Fighting men get one attack per level against 1hd creatures
Exploration:
12/9/6" moves, 2 moves per turn, 10 minute turns, 1 rest turn after every 5 turns. Movement doubled during fleeing/pursuit.
>>37021583
You sound fun.
>>37021583
>Fighting men
Get out of here, gygax.
>>37021551
I'm DMing a game where I let everyone have the option of taking their Level 4 feat early at Level 1 (and once you reach Level 4, you don't get another feat or stat ups).
I got a varied mix.
The Rogue conman took Actor because he wants to be a non-magical master of disguise.
The Wizard linguist who took...Linguist, because he's fascinated with learning as many languages as possible.
The Barbarian who took Tough because he's a walking goddamn brickwall.
>>37021636
Oh crap, they've discovered me!
>>37013121
Not much houseruling yet. I'm trying to compromise a replacement for druid wildshape (not because it's OP but because it doesn't work too great for the setting) and using a few homebrew "Advanced Styles" feats.
I'm giving everyone two languages to taste on a list instead of common. That's about it.
>>37021393
>talking shit about Tolkien elves
I'm pretty sure they'd have pretty rockin' tits, m8. Consider that the paragons of Masculine Heroism frequently found them quite attractive.
>>37021642
God, I love Actor. In the playtest I ended up with a level 8 Thief who specialized in confidence schemes and subterfuge.
+10 to Disguise checks with advantage, the ability to mimic most voices, the ability to easily forge handwriting from the Charlatan feature. I played it like Arsene Lupin.
Fucking.
Glorious.
>>37021695
>Arsene Lupin
10/10, woud DM for something like that
>>37021583
I get the feeling you're playing the wrong game.
VARIANT: MORE DIFFICULT IDENTIFICATION - items only (not potions)
HEALER'S KIT DEPENDENCY
INITIATIVE MODIFIERS
ACTION OPTIONS
CLEAVING THROUGH CREATURES
LINGERING INJURIES - When it drops to 0 hit points but isn't killed outright
MASSIVE DAMAGE
PDF PLEASE STOP COPYING IN ALL CAPS
>>37021682
>Not Anderson elves
GTFO
>>37021682
I'm talking western elves in general.
>>37021636
It's more Arneson's half abortion of a game.
>>37021856
But you're ignoring some top tier elves. Actually, fuck, what elves are you even talking about? Even vidya has some fairly bosomtastic elves, Anon.
I think you're just full of shit, m8.
>>37021856
>>37022053
Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of a female drow or dark elf, even from the old school, where they didn't have an obvious/nice pair of tits.
>>37013121
>that image
Is that supposed to be Bailey Jay?
>>37022436
whatever happened to BJ, anyway?
>>37022533
still alive andsucking last time I checked
>>37021856
Western elves are the ONLY elves.
Anime elves is just the Japanese trying to draw something from western cultures and failing.
>>37022548
Whoa, wait, really? I've only ever seen vids of gettingsucked. I need to keep up, I guess.
>>37015407
You see the Sherlock Holmes movie? Like that.
>>37022436
If that's the case, the artist should've drawn a bigger nose.
Does anybody have any houserules concerning HP loss? I personally want to try to come up with something to make taking damage feel more immersive, rather than "You're fine right up until you start dying." I was considering the possibility of combatants taking a lasting injury once they fell below 25% health, like dislocating their shoulder, breaking a bone, etc. that would result in disadvantage rolls until they were healed/restored. Thing is, I haven't actually gotten the chance to run 5e yet. Would this fuck with the combat mechanics too badly? If so, can anyone recommend alternatives?
>>37023182
It wouldn't be awful, no, especially if you had your monsters retreat if too many of them were dying as well.
Awfully Banner Saga of you, though. I like it.
>>37023182
Long ago, someone tried to do it in 2e AD&D for Ravenloft specifically. If Alanik Ray's library still exists they might still be there, but iirc it was basically a modified version of WoD's health levels with the total HP split between six or seven levels of them.
>>37023182
If you're incapacitated, (broken shoulder, anything else that would take you out of combat), that's 0hp = dead.
Hit points represent how far you can stretch your luck by dodging, parrying, or catching a glancing blow.
>>37021521
So evocation sucks, how do the other schools stack up for it? And I don't know the rules for magic crafting and scroll use and such, how does the ek handle those?
>>37023228
I'm surprised I haven't heard of that game. I wiki'd it, saw "...Inspired by games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Shining Force" and was immediately fucking interested.
>>37023306
Do you ever run into problems as a DM narrating that? It seems like you could only tell your players so many times that they dodged another arrow before it would start getting repetitive
>>37023327
It's basically 'what if /tg/ made a tactics rpg' minus the monstergirls.
>>37023308
Eh, it's not so bad.
EK still get a few spells for utility, but keeping the lion's share of their spells limited to Evocation and abjuration keep them focused on dealing damage, and blaster spells got a big big boost in 5e. To be honest, EK probably have a bigger Burst damage potential than the other Fighter archetypes, and earlier.
The problem is more that they have a very short work day and don't get much in return for it other than being able to utterly devastate encounters for a few levels - At level 10 or so the other fighter types finally start to catch up, but certainly not in dealing with flying enemies or groups of enemies.
>>37023374
"The arrow thuds into the tree just behind you, inches from your face, take seven damage."
"The arrow slides past your cheek, leaving a gash before it sticks into the hilt of your greatsword, take seven damage."
"The orc in front of you grins and raises his axe to strike as you feel the thump of an arrow hitting you in the back, take seven damage."
The trick I've found from running a few Fate games is to make it about everything around the character, like, they can get hit in the arm anywhere, but it's only in certain places that the blow can knock ale mugs flying everywhere as they barely manage to duck in time.
On the other hand, I struggle in the opposite way, when I try to do direct damage it just ends up as "An arrow hits you in the arm, seven damage."
"An arrow hits you in the leg, seven damage." and so on.
>>37023465
I suppose I'm still stuck in more of a videogame mindset wherein I would use your first example as a miss. To me HP is more representative of actual injuries you sustain. Thank you for the advice and the descriptions, though. I may stick with core HP loss rules, at least for a while, and write up an entire page or two of damage narrations. Those are good descriptions and I'll definitely toss them in if I do.
>>37023647
D&D has always been a bit schizophrenic about what HPs actually represent.
>>37013712
what if i told you that increasing stats isn't the only way to improve a character
>>37021105
the only reason you'd need to worry about how you're "supposed" to run the game is if you're an official Encounters DM. it's the same as it always has been. and unless Chris Perkins is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to DM as the book states, DM however the fuck you want
>>37021354
Agreed.
>Prone takes all your movement to get up, not half.
This immediately doubles the effectiveness of knocking creatures and PCs prone.
>Disbelieving illusions uses INT not WIS.
Really needs to be a Wisdom check.
"Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight."
The most intelligent man in the world might not realize it's an illusion, whereas someone who's heard of or been in a similar situation before could use his Wisdom to figure that it is in fact an illusion.
>Short rests heal only 1 Hit Die.
"You know what sounds fun? Having to rest a lot or hope there's a party heal-bot or potion dispenser."
Ok here is one that I really need opinions of:
>You can no longer identify magic items by just spending time with them during rests. A short rest allows you to make an appropriate knowledge check to identify it, the DCs are 5 for common, 10 for uncommon, 15 for rare and so on. Instead doing this during a long rest adds +5 to your rolls.
So basically if you do it during a long rest you can identify a rare item 50% of the time without being trained in that skill. I think it's more than fair and am considering upping the DCs.
>>37013121
Dead characters are replaced with 1st level characters.
Old-timey morale checks for NPCs.
XP for treasure successfully retrieved.
No evil humanoid races (the playable races are the only medium and small humanoids).
>party has a dice throwing issue
>put in -1 HP rule for every time a dice touches the floor
>party no longer has a dice throwing issue
not a house rule but there isnt a 5e general thread.
My campaign has an evil dragon and an invading force of alien aberrations (probably intellect devourers) as the main bad guys, but I can't think of a good way to tie them together. Do any existing settings discuss relations between dragons and aberrations. I could make something up, but its always nice to be able to draw inspiration from existing fluff. Plus I would just enjoy reading it anyway.
>>37025375
Mind Flayers and Tiamat, the goddess of evil dragons, are both Lawful Evil
Perhaps they've simply entered into a mutual arrangement
>>37024146
I believe that's mostly in line with the DMG's variant rule.
Which is more or less:
>Must use identify, or experimentation, or lore for items (can still 'taste test' potions)
I like you're DC approach, conceptually, but I think I would tailor it to the item ad hoc. Some common or uncommon items would be vague and difficult, while they would quite likely have heard Legendary items (it would then be a matter of recognizing properties). Artifacts would be a 15-20.
And if it's something they would have likely heard of because of their class or background, I'd probably give them advantage.
>>37024565
>a dice touches the floor
>>37024374
>Dead characters are replaced with 1st level characters.
Never really got this one, all this causes is him to then be oneshotted again and again and forced to restart at level 1. This makes the party weaker and forces more deaths and simply puts the entire party back at level 1.
How would you ever make it past level 5?
>No damage rolls, if anything is hit by anything it goes directly 0 HP. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
>>37025449
>>37025375
The starting zone in dungeons and dragons online has a white dragon that's been dominated by a mind flayer.
>>37025503
Yeah, it seems to me that only works with systems like 3.PF that scale experience gained from a comparison of CR and ECL. 5e has no such scaling so it just fucks them over even more.
>>37025508
>hit ancient dragons by throwing a rock as an improvised thrown weapon for 1d4+str damage
>it instantly dies
>>37025503
The typical example is Gygax running solo adventures or doing the equivalent of Diablo II fast track runs to fast track the character back to the rough level of the party before introducing it.
The typical faux-grog implementation tends to amount to just being a dick, though.
>>37025638
Not, it instantly becomes incapacitated and starts making Death Saves
>>37025672
I think, instead, I would start the character at the lowest level of whatever tier of play we're on.
That way they shouldn't have too much trouble sticking through it, even if they're not *quite* as capable and would have to play it extra safe for a level or two.
>>37025375
>>37025449
>>37025540
Brainstealer dragons! They are in dragon mag. Dragon mindflayer hybrids created by mindflayers which were too powerful to control. They are dragons with mindblast and brain eating. You can easily refluff them to be intellect devourer / dragon hybrids, since int devourers also eat brains.
>>37026093
>mfw picturing these dragons with a hoard of brains that they sleep on
>>37013121
>You can't spend inspiration on someone else's behalf. You can only spend it on you own rolls.
>That rule where you can identify a magic item just by sitting with it is horseshit. Identify is a first-level spell, people; come on.
>Polymorph and wild shape does not affect your hit points at all. Baleful Polymorph ends as soon as the affected creature takes damage.
> Don't take Lucky. It slows everything down too much. And you have to announce if you're using Cutting Words and other shit like that before the dice hit the table.
> Those magic items that restore some weird dice roll of charges every day are too much paperwork. Activated magic items are all either once per day or non-rechargeable.
>>37026135
So you like the idea? I think it could be fun. The dragon and aberrations could have colluded to create these, and then possibly lose control of them later.
>>37025503
You survive by being reasonably cautious. This approach trends to solve most caster supremacy issues, btw.
>>37026212
Pointless, pointless, shit, lame, and shit
