Feedback on House Rules Balance Changes Version 1.5

[dmhelp]

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[Tosamu]

I usually prefer general rules to specific ones, so that they're easier to remember, and don't need to be updated to apply to newly printed material. With that in mind, here are my thoughts on some of your changes.




No multiclassing
Multiclassing is ripe for abuse, but also the only way to build certain character concepts. I like banning it but allowing specific exemptions if cleared in advance, similar to how some DMs treat UA material.



Crossbow Expert/Polearm Master bonus attacks are not eligible for power attack (-5 hit/+10 dam with Great Weapon Master/Sharpshooter)
A more general rule would be changing GWM/SS to only allow power attack when taking the Attack action.



Magic Missile - each arrow is rolled individually (as in every other edition of D&D)
A more general rule would be if the spell can hit the same target multiple times (Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, etc) it rolls multiple times, and if it can't (Fireball, Lightning Bolt, etc.) it rolls once. Regardless of how the caster actually distributes targets.



Players use a modified standard array (17, 15, 14, 13, 10, 8)
Is this before racial modifiers, or in place of them? Can a level 1 Changeling start with 20 Charisma?



Fighter Champion - at level 3 gains Weapon Specialization
I like the concept, but with the rarity of magic items in 5e, Weapon Specialization feels real bad when you find a magic weapon of a different type.



Ranger - most subclasses gain Beast Master progression
I understand why you singled out Gloom Stalker, but I don't like the implementation. Gloom Stalker is mostly front-loaded anyway, and removing features at 10 and 18 doesn't change that.



Rogue - may also Sneak Attack with all melee weapons/improvised weapons that are not heavy (except lances & nets; this allows strength builds) and with unarmed strikes that do 1d4 or more base damage (e.g. Lizardfolk, Tabaxi, or Tavern Brawler)
You could maybe extend this to any unarmed strike, but I'm mostly adding this comment because I wanted to complain about Dex focused races (Tabaxi/Arrakocra) with Strength-based claw attacks.



Sorcerer Draconic Bloodline - at level 1 may choose either Draconic Resilience or Elemental Spells[/I])
You give the example of green dragon fireball, but don't list poison as a damage type. I also feel like dragon sorcerer, and single-element casters in general, need a way to deal with elemental immunities.



Sorcerer Wild Magic - at level 1 gains Chaos Knife
You could word this as "Once during each of your turns, when you damage an enemy with a spell, you may deal 1d6 additional damage of the same type". Otherwise you have corner cases like Chromatic Orb vs single target Magic Missile, or multi-target cantrips like Green-Flame Blade.



Certain proficiency half feats may be picked two for one with loss of ability bonuses
Proficiency feats are a nice catagory to remember, but I'd also like to see this extended to things like Actor or Keen Mind. Really, any half-feat except Resilient and Elven Accuracy is probably OK.



Dual Wielder - while wielding a one handed melee weapon in each hand may power attack (-5 hit/+10 damage) with melee weapon attacks made during an attack action
This is what I'd change GWM/SS to as well.



Elemental Adept - also can choose poison damage type (this change is intended for Green Dragon Sorcerers)
There are 6 enemies between DMG/VGtM/MToF with poison resistance, and 191 with immunity. With or without this feat (and Elemental Spells above) I would never choose Green Dragon without a way to work around that.



Non cost material components are ignored except for Clerics/Paladins (they still require holy symbols for those spells)
There is a weird corner case where (S,M) spells are easier to cast than (S) spells, since the former can be cast with a spellcasting focus + shield, while the latter can't. This solves that issue, since a Cleric/Paladin is able to emblazon their holy symbol on a shield. It is also a significant buff to Sorcerer's Subtle Spell.



Single target leveled damage spells (from casters, not items) gain an additional dice of damage (on first damage roll only if there is a duration) at character level 5 and 11
This seems overly specific, and not all that necessary. Most higher-level casters are probably using their low level slots for things like Shield and Absorb Elements, anyways.

[Fnissalot]

Trickery domain has a great spell list aöready and don't need hex, and the subclass works great at being a tricky utility character. People overvalue the bad lvl 8 ability when looking at the class.

I would delay the wild sorcerer buff a few levels to not make it so frontloader.

For rogues, preventing it from being used with special weapons are the second limitation you are looking for.

I am not sure why you are making single target spells scale with level and I don't think it is needed. Or why you are removing material components?

Overall otherwise, it looks ok what I can see.

[bid]

Fighter Champion - at level 3 gains Weapon Specialization - choose one weapon type (e.g. greataxes) to increase standard damage dice size by one, to a minimum of 1d8 (1/1d4/1d6 -> 1d8 -> 1d10 -> 1d12 -> 2d8, or 2d6 -> 2d8)
Sorcerer Draconic Bloodline - at level 1 may choose either Draconic Resilience or Elemental Spells - ability to pick variant Sorcerer elemental (acid, cold, fire, or lightning) level 0-3 spells as ancestry damage type instead (e.g. green dragon may pick a poison variant fireball or a poison variant shocking grasp)
Change weapon type on long rest, maybe.

You *can* channel your draconic blood to change the damage type, you can still use the default type, right?

[Bosh]

Why not change GWM/Sharpshooter to minus your proficiency to hit and double your proficiency to damage?

[TyGuy]

I don't have any objections and would gladly play with your stated changes.

[MoiMagnus]

I want magic missile to be rolled as it is traditionally in previous editions 3d4 not (1d4)x3 (which a Jeremy Crawford tweet said it could be interpreted as according to RAW). Scorching Ray damage is already rolled individually since each one is an attack. As far as I know magic missile is the only case this applies to.

I believe they tried to word it such that if a monster magic missile its 3 missiles on someone at 0HP, it count as only one "taking damages" and not 3 distinct "taking damages" (which would be instantaneous death with a spell that require not attack test...).
[While if you use scorching ray on someone at 0HP, you can damage him multiple time in one spell, but that's acceptable since there is a probability to fail the attack rolls].