thoroughlyS
2020-11-01, 10:39 PM
Index (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?620527-Dungeons-amp-Dragons-5-1E-%97-Houserules-to-Revise-amp-Revamp-the-Game)
I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about half of my life, first introduced to the game at the tail end of v3.5. I have been playing 5E since its release, and it is my favorite version of the game. I feel like the rules are simple, elegant, and cohesive... for the most part. But no game is truly perfect, even to an individual, and there are some rules that I feel were suboptimally implemented. Some build options in the game outshine others, leading to an oversaturation in play. Meanwhile, other build options are so underwhelming that they are neglected an are often called for reworks.
In this thread, I present my list of houserules (listed in red) which have the sole purpose of trying to make bad options good, and the best options merely great. In doing so, I hope to allow players at my table a greater breadth of concepts to explore, simply by making everything worth playing. These changes are to the basic rules of the game, and to feats (which are more closely tied to the basic rules than other features).
Playing the Game (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JPYrd-xgY7qAEWG4SiRKbYiOnZjKwU6kR8drpYAhqr8/edit?usp=sharing)
Vision and Light
The most fundamental tasks of adventuring— noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a spell, to name just a few—rely heavily on a character’s ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area—such as light fog or moderate foliage—creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when trying to see something in or behind that area.
A heavily obscured area—such as a sandstorm or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition when trying to see something in or behind that area.
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.
Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness.
An area which is only obscured by dim light or darkness doesn’t obscure the area behind it. For example, a creature can see a lit lantern at the end of a dark hallway.
This is a small change meant to make stuff like fog cloud make sense. This doesn't address the ambiguity of how the darkness spell (etc.) works, but that is a separate issue.
Drawing Weapons
Immediately before you make a weapon attack on your turn, you can draw one weapon you are proficient with (no action required). This is in addition to the one interaction you can make on your turn for free.
The official game makes it very difficult to play a thrower past 5th level. This is a character archetype found throughout the various media D&D evokes, so I made sure it could be represented. This change has the added benefit of making it easier to play a dual wielder. This rule explicitly only works on your turn, because it seems unrealistic for a character to draw a weapon as part of an opportunity attack.
Unseen Attackers and Targets
Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness.
When you can’t see a creature, you have disadvantage on attack rolls against it. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the GM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.
When you can see a creature but it can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it. If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard— when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.
In the official game, if you drop a fog cloud onto a battlefield it gives everyone within disadvantage to hit with attacks, because they can't see their targets. BUT it also gives everyone advantage to hit because their targets can't see them. Because advantage and disadvantage always neutralize and become normal roles, this limits the impact of the spell (and all others that create heavily obscured areas). The best case to use fog cloud is when your side already has disadvantage, which is counterintuitive. Why would blanketing the battlefield in fog IMPROVE your aim? This rule change means fog cloud gives everyone disadvantage, but NOT advantage. This makes the spell do what the average person expects it to do.
Also, I know that fog cloud allows creatures to move without provoking opportunity attacks, but I still don't think that is the use people would first assume the spell has.
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
If you have the Extra Attack feature, this additional attack is made as part of the Attack action instead.
Two-weapon fighting is the black sheep of the fighting styles family. People have debated up and down about it since the game was released, and it has even been addressed by Mike Mearls multiple times. One important factor to consider is that it is ACTUALLY competitive with other styles in Tier 1. It does the most damage, can hit multiple targets, and provides additional consistency, for an additional action cost. But that all changes once a character can make multiple attacks. Other fighting styles catch up in terms of damage, and also gain the other benefits (though to a lesser degree). Meanwhile two-weapon fighting is now saddled with an action economy loss for marginal benefit. The simplest solution is to change the rules as soon as the gap closes.
This benefit intentionally does not change rogues who use two-weapon fighting for different reasons than other martial characters. It also intentionally provides additional damage to the monk, who usually deals significantly less damage than other martials.
Casting Multiple Spells
If you cast a spell of 1st-level or higher, you can’t cast other spells except cantrips for the rest of the turn.
The official rules for casting multiple spells in a turn (found in the rules for spells with a bonus action casting time) seem simple, but create a bunch of different outcomes and can be confusing to navigate. This change preserves simplicity in understanding, and creates simplicity in execution. I believe many tables already use a ruling like this.
Somatic (S)
Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
A spellcaster can perform somatic components with the hand used to hold a material component or spellcasting focus.
Much like the above change, the rules for using spellcasting foci had some weird edge cases which come from the rule being part of the rules for material components and not somatic components.
Feats (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h_PQRvWHuyaXf0atZpfd3r1Xa_Pdl2glOEm6KGH4NTc/edit?usp=sharing)
All feats from the PHB are available except five: Charger, Durable, Lightly Armored, Linguist, and Savage Attacker. Their benefits have been appended to (or recreated in some form with) Great Weapon Master, Tough, Moderately Armored, and Skilled, respectively (Savage Attack was removed entirely as it is superfluous). I removed ability score prerequisites from all feats that had them. Which feats had them seemed entirely arbitrary.
Weapon Master
You have practiced extensively with a variety of weapons, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficient with simple weapons and martial weapons.
Choose one simple or martial weapon: Before you make an attack while you are wielding the chosen weapon, you can choose to take a penalty to the attack roll equal to your proficiency bonus. If the attack hits, you add a bonus to the attack's damage equal to twice your proficiency bonus.
You can select this feat multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different weapon.
I present this feat first, because it is at the center of multiple changes. Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter dominate the game, because they can be used for every attack you make, and their drawback can be mitigated easily by granting advantage. This prevalence means that those fighting styles are also the most commonly played, because other styles can't compete in terms of damage output. By moving the "power attack" to a feat that has very marginal benefit, and allowing to be accessible to everyone, this levels the playing field.
Furthermore, I base the penalty and bonus off of your proficiency bonus. The fact that such a huge bonus could be used at-will made maximizing your chances to use it a priority. They have become a cornerstone of frontliners and ranged attackers. Will you definitely take this version of the feat on every martial character you build? No? Good. The point of feats was that they were supposed to be elective, not mandatory.
I also grant proficiency with all weapons, because this should've done that from the beginning.
The next six feats are what I like to think of as the "Fighting Style" feats. They are the feats which related to a set of weapons, and improved your combat abilities with them. One broad change that was made is that I clarified that you gain the features while you are wielding the specific weapons (like with Shield Master).
Crossbow Expert
Thanks to extensive practice with the crossbow, you gain the following benefits while you are wielding a crossbow:
You ignore the loading property of crossbows.
Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.
This feat is only impacted in that it no longer happens to apply to things like bows or spells. You are a CROSSBOW Expert. Plus I really don't see how one would mitigate the difficulty of attacking someone within 5 feet of you with anything other than a crossbow. They are simply point and pull, whereas something like a bow you need some space.
Defensive Duelist
Nimble and sly on the battlefield, you gain the following benefits while you are wielding a finesse weapon:
When another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.
When you use your action to Dodge, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack.
The official Defensive Duelist seemed like the least impactful fighting style feat of the bunch (or perhaps in competition with Dual Wielder). Now it offers a second impactful benefit, that allows you to fight while on the defensive.
Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits while you are wielding a separate weapon in each hand:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
When you make an opportunity attack, you have advantage on the attack roll and can roll both weapons' damage dice for the attack’s damage.
The official Dual Wielder was basically an afterthought. You got more benefit from using your ASI than from taking the feat specifically to gain benefits for your fighting style. I add one feature which boosts a part of combat you fell behind in.
Great Weapon Master
You've learned to put the weight of a weapon to your advantage, letting its momentum empower your strikes. You gain the following benefits while you are wielding a two-handed weapon or a versatile weapon in two hands:
On your turn, when you score a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.
When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack.
If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before making a melee weapon attack, you gain a +5 bonus to the attack's damage roll.
Firstly, I allow this to be used by Small characters, because you shouldn't feel bad about wanting to play a halfling barbarian with a longsword. Secondly, I had to replace the "power attack" that this feat lost, so I just added the damage benefits of Charger. I also made them two separate bonuses so they come up more often.
Polearm Master
You can keep your enemies at bay with reach weapons. You gain the following benefits while you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear:
When you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action to make a melee attack with the opposite end of the weapon; this attack uses the same ability modifier as the primary attack. The weapon's damage die for this attack is a d4, and the attack deals bludgeoning damage.
When a creature enters your reach, you can use your reaction to make one melee attack against them.
The official Polearm Master synergized just a smidge too well with Sentinel for my tastes. I just took away that interaction.
Sharpshooter
You can make shots that others find impossible. You gain the following benefits while wielding a thrown weapon or ranged weapon:
Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
You have advantage on ranged weapon attack rolls against prone creatures even when you are farther than 5 feet from the creature.
Again I needed to replace the lost "power attack", so I made it easier to gain advantage with ranged weapons. Now you can snipe prone creatures.
Actor
Skilled at mimicry and dramatics, you gain the following benefits:
Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficient with the disguise kit, and can don a premade disguise as an action. If you are already wearing a disguise, you doff it as part of that action.
You have advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Charisma (Performance) checks to pass yourself off as a different person.
You can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking, or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check allows a listener to determine that the effect is faked.
I've heard complaints that Actor isn't very good, and I kind of understand. It is a half-feat that provides advantage in specific circumstances and a new use for a skill. Not exactly the most exciting. I add a little bit of utility. I'm thinking something like Agent 47 from the Hitman series. You perform some caper, then quick-change and blend into the crowd. I think this makes this feat better in the campaigns it is designed for.
Elemental Adept
Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell
Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder. You gain the following benefits when you cast a spell that deals damage of the chosen type:
When you roll damage, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3.
You ignore creatures’ resistance.
You deal 2 damage per damage die to creatures who are immune, ignoring their immunity.
You can select this feat multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different damage type.
I recently ran the numbers on Elemental Adept, and they are pitiful. If the spell uses d6s you're looking at an increase of 1 average damage for every 6 dice. Sure, technically the floor for your spell's damage is raised, but let's look at some examples. For burning hands you only have ~4.6% chance to roll 5 or less for the damage. If you look at fireball you are looking at ~0.4% chance to roll 15 or less! Bumping this feat up to a minimum of 3 on each die means it adds ~1 damage for every 2 dice, and actually provides a meaningful floor to spell damage. I also add in a bonus for dealing with immunity. You're still not going to be beating devils with fire damage, but if you encounter a creature with immunity to your damage, now you can contribute with the spells you want to use.
Grappler
You've developed the skills necessary to hold your own in close-quarters grappling. You gain the following benefits:
You have advantage on attack rolls against a creature you are grappling.
You can use your action to try to pin a creature grappled by you. To do so, make another grapple check. If you succeed, you are grappled and the creature is restrained. These effects last until the grapple ends.
You can attempt to grapple Huge or smaller creatures.
The official Grappler feat really got hit hard by a last minute rules change. If you have a 1st printing of the PHB, you may have seen that Grappler originally had a third benefit. Unfortunately the rules had been changed and that benefit no longer actually did anything, so they removed it. I give it back. I am down with grappling dragons. You are mythic heroes.
Additionally, I make it so that you are grappled while pinning a creature instead of being restrained yourself. This is a higher investment than knocking a creature prone, but it has additional benefits which balance it out.
Healer
You are an able physician, allowing you to get your allies back in the fight. You gain the following benefits:
When you use a healer's kit to stabilize a dying creature, that creature also regains 1 hit point.
As an action, you can spend one use of a healer's kit to tend to a creature and restore hit points to it equal to its maximum number of Hit Dice + your proficiency bonus. The creature can't regain hit points from this feat again until it finishes a short or long rest.
The official Healer is monstrous in Tier 1. I get rid of the die, and make it match Inspiring Leader.
Heavily Armored
Prerequisite: Proficiency with medium armor
You have trained to master the use of heavy armor, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficienct with heavy armor and shields.
This just closes a small gap where you can potentially end up as a mountain dwarf without shield proficiency.
Heavy Armor Master
Prerequisite: Proficiency with heavy armor
You can use your armor to deflect strikes that would kill others. You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Once per turn, when you are hit by a weapon attack while wearing heavy armor, you can reduce the attack’s damage by half your level (no action required, minimum 1).
The official Heavy Armor Master is monstrous in Tier 1, and worthless after that. I change it to a scaling benefit which is equally useful against multiattackers and single heavy hitters.
Inspiring Leader
You can spend 10 minutes inspiring your companions, shoring up their resolve to fight. When you do so, choose up to six friendly creatures (which can include yourself) within 30 feet of you who can see or hear you and who can understand you. Each creature can gain temporary hit points equal to its maximum number of Hit Dice + your proficiency bonus. A creature can't gain temporary hit points from this feat again until it has finished a short or long rest.
This is specifically to make it match Healer.
Keen Mind
You have a mind that can track time, direction, and detail with uncanny precision. You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month.
Each workweek you spend training counts as two towards your goal.
If an illusion can be discerned by using an action to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check, you immediately recognize it if your passive Intelligence (Investigation) score would succeed.
The official Keen Mind had one useful benefit. I just replace the two worthless ones with slightly less useless ones. I specifically tried to give this an application that wasn't anywhere else in the game. I think it's appropriate for some characters to be able to discern illusions immediately
Mage Slayer
You have practiced techniques useful in melee combat against spellcasters, gaining the following benefits:
When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature immediately before they finish casting the spell. If the attack hits, the creature must make a concentration save or the spell fails and has no effect.
When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.
You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within 5 feet of you.
The official Mage Slayer is pretty good, but it misses out on the main thing you want to do as a mage slayer: interrupt spellcasting. I haven't seen this in play, so I don't know how strong it is yet. If it ends up too strong, I'll move the interrupt to a separate bullet point based on Readying an attack.
Medium Armor Master
Prerequisite: Proficiency with medium armor
You have practiced moving in medium armor to gain the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Wearing medium armor doesn't impose disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
When you wear medium armor, you can add 3, rather than 2, to your AC if you have a Dexterity of 16 or higher.
I make this a half-feat like Heavy Armor Master, because it felt underwhelming otherwise.
Moderately Armored
You have trained to effectively armor yourself, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficient with light armor, medium armor, and shields.
Lightly Armored just never felt worth it by itself, so I just rolled it into this.
Ritual Caster
You have learned a number of spells that you can cast as rituals. These spells are written in a ritual book, which you must have in hand while casting one of them.
When you choose this feat, you acquire a ritual book holding two 1st-level spells of your choice. Choose one of the following classes: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You must choose your spells from that class's spell list, and the spells you choose must have the ritual tag. The class you choose also determines your spellcasting ability for these spells: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid; or Intelligence for wizard.
If you come across a spell in written form, you might be able to add it to your ritual book. The spell's level can be no higher than half your level (rounded up), and it must have the ritual tag. The process of copying the spell into your ritual book takes 2 hours per level of the spell, and costs 50 gp per level. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it.
It bothers me that this feat is worse than Book of Ancient Secrets.
Skilled
You have dedicated much of your time to broadening your skills. You gain the following benefits:
You are proficient with one skill of your choice, one tool of your choice, and can speak, read, and write one language of your choice.
Choose one skill in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that skill, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. The skill you choose must be one that isn't already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles your proficiency bonus.
Literally the same text from Prodigy, which this feat replaces.
Tough
Hardy and resilient, you gain the following benefits:
Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points.
When you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, you add your Constitution modifier twice (minimum 0).
The official Durable feat is very underwhelming, even for a half-feat. Also it competes for conceptual space with the Tough feat. I basically staple them together, except that I also buff the part from Durable.
Variant Human and Custom Lineage
Because the variant human race and the new rules for custom lineages give are based on feats, it is prudent to mention changes to them here. They both share the same major change: the feat you choose must increase an ability score. This drastically reduces the versatility of those options, so they are NO LONGER the default choice for most builds. Furthermore, the ability score increase of a custom lineage must be different from the ability score increased by the feat. This way you can't start with an 18 in your primary ability.
I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about half of my life, first introduced to the game at the tail end of v3.5. I have been playing 5E since its release, and it is my favorite version of the game. I feel like the rules are simple, elegant, and cohesive... for the most part. But no game is truly perfect, even to an individual, and there are some rules that I feel were suboptimally implemented. Some build options in the game outshine others, leading to an oversaturation in play. Meanwhile, other build options are so underwhelming that they are neglected an are often called for reworks.
In this thread, I present my list of houserules (listed in red) which have the sole purpose of trying to make bad options good, and the best options merely great. In doing so, I hope to allow players at my table a greater breadth of concepts to explore, simply by making everything worth playing. These changes are to the basic rules of the game, and to feats (which are more closely tied to the basic rules than other features).
Playing the Game (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JPYrd-xgY7qAEWG4SiRKbYiOnZjKwU6kR8drpYAhqr8/edit?usp=sharing)
Vision and Light
The most fundamental tasks of adventuring— noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a spell, to name just a few—rely heavily on a character’s ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area—such as light fog or moderate foliage—creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when trying to see something in or behind that area.
A heavily obscured area—such as a sandstorm or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition when trying to see something in or behind that area.
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.
Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness.
An area which is only obscured by dim light or darkness doesn’t obscure the area behind it. For example, a creature can see a lit lantern at the end of a dark hallway.
This is a small change meant to make stuff like fog cloud make sense. This doesn't address the ambiguity of how the darkness spell (etc.) works, but that is a separate issue.
Drawing Weapons
Immediately before you make a weapon attack on your turn, you can draw one weapon you are proficient with (no action required). This is in addition to the one interaction you can make on your turn for free.
The official game makes it very difficult to play a thrower past 5th level. This is a character archetype found throughout the various media D&D evokes, so I made sure it could be represented. This change has the added benefit of making it easier to play a dual wielder. This rule explicitly only works on your turn, because it seems unrealistic for a character to draw a weapon as part of an opportunity attack.
Unseen Attackers and Targets
Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness.
When you can’t see a creature, you have disadvantage on attack rolls against it. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the GM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.
When you can see a creature but it can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it. If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard— when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.
In the official game, if you drop a fog cloud onto a battlefield it gives everyone within disadvantage to hit with attacks, because they can't see their targets. BUT it also gives everyone advantage to hit because their targets can't see them. Because advantage and disadvantage always neutralize and become normal roles, this limits the impact of the spell (and all others that create heavily obscured areas). The best case to use fog cloud is when your side already has disadvantage, which is counterintuitive. Why would blanketing the battlefield in fog IMPROVE your aim? This rule change means fog cloud gives everyone disadvantage, but NOT advantage. This makes the spell do what the average person expects it to do.
Also, I know that fog cloud allows creatures to move without provoking opportunity attacks, but I still don't think that is the use people would first assume the spell has.
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
If you have the Extra Attack feature, this additional attack is made as part of the Attack action instead.
Two-weapon fighting is the black sheep of the fighting styles family. People have debated up and down about it since the game was released, and it has even been addressed by Mike Mearls multiple times. One important factor to consider is that it is ACTUALLY competitive with other styles in Tier 1. It does the most damage, can hit multiple targets, and provides additional consistency, for an additional action cost. But that all changes once a character can make multiple attacks. Other fighting styles catch up in terms of damage, and also gain the other benefits (though to a lesser degree). Meanwhile two-weapon fighting is now saddled with an action economy loss for marginal benefit. The simplest solution is to change the rules as soon as the gap closes.
This benefit intentionally does not change rogues who use two-weapon fighting for different reasons than other martial characters. It also intentionally provides additional damage to the monk, who usually deals significantly less damage than other martials.
Casting Multiple Spells
If you cast a spell of 1st-level or higher, you can’t cast other spells except cantrips for the rest of the turn.
The official rules for casting multiple spells in a turn (found in the rules for spells with a bonus action casting time) seem simple, but create a bunch of different outcomes and can be confusing to navigate. This change preserves simplicity in understanding, and creates simplicity in execution. I believe many tables already use a ruling like this.
Somatic (S)
Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
A spellcaster can perform somatic components with the hand used to hold a material component or spellcasting focus.
Much like the above change, the rules for using spellcasting foci had some weird edge cases which come from the rule being part of the rules for material components and not somatic components.
Feats (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h_PQRvWHuyaXf0atZpfd3r1Xa_Pdl2glOEm6KGH4NTc/edit?usp=sharing)
All feats from the PHB are available except five: Charger, Durable, Lightly Armored, Linguist, and Savage Attacker. Their benefits have been appended to (or recreated in some form with) Great Weapon Master, Tough, Moderately Armored, and Skilled, respectively (Savage Attack was removed entirely as it is superfluous). I removed ability score prerequisites from all feats that had them. Which feats had them seemed entirely arbitrary.
Weapon Master
You have practiced extensively with a variety of weapons, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficient with simple weapons and martial weapons.
Choose one simple or martial weapon: Before you make an attack while you are wielding the chosen weapon, you can choose to take a penalty to the attack roll equal to your proficiency bonus. If the attack hits, you add a bonus to the attack's damage equal to twice your proficiency bonus.
You can select this feat multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different weapon.
I present this feat first, because it is at the center of multiple changes. Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter dominate the game, because they can be used for every attack you make, and their drawback can be mitigated easily by granting advantage. This prevalence means that those fighting styles are also the most commonly played, because other styles can't compete in terms of damage output. By moving the "power attack" to a feat that has very marginal benefit, and allowing to be accessible to everyone, this levels the playing field.
Furthermore, I base the penalty and bonus off of your proficiency bonus. The fact that such a huge bonus could be used at-will made maximizing your chances to use it a priority. They have become a cornerstone of frontliners and ranged attackers. Will you definitely take this version of the feat on every martial character you build? No? Good. The point of feats was that they were supposed to be elective, not mandatory.
I also grant proficiency with all weapons, because this should've done that from the beginning.
The next six feats are what I like to think of as the "Fighting Style" feats. They are the feats which related to a set of weapons, and improved your combat abilities with them. One broad change that was made is that I clarified that you gain the features while you are wielding the specific weapons (like with Shield Master).
Crossbow Expert
Thanks to extensive practice with the crossbow, you gain the following benefits while you are wielding a crossbow:
You ignore the loading property of crossbows.
Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.
This feat is only impacted in that it no longer happens to apply to things like bows or spells. You are a CROSSBOW Expert. Plus I really don't see how one would mitigate the difficulty of attacking someone within 5 feet of you with anything other than a crossbow. They are simply point and pull, whereas something like a bow you need some space.
Defensive Duelist
Nimble and sly on the battlefield, you gain the following benefits while you are wielding a finesse weapon:
When another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.
When you use your action to Dodge, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack.
The official Defensive Duelist seemed like the least impactful fighting style feat of the bunch (or perhaps in competition with Dual Wielder). Now it offers a second impactful benefit, that allows you to fight while on the defensive.
Dual Wielder
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits while you are wielding a separate weapon in each hand:
You gain a +1 bonus to AC.
You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
When you make an opportunity attack, you have advantage on the attack roll and can roll both weapons' damage dice for the attack’s damage.
The official Dual Wielder was basically an afterthought. You got more benefit from using your ASI than from taking the feat specifically to gain benefits for your fighting style. I add one feature which boosts a part of combat you fell behind in.
Great Weapon Master
You've learned to put the weight of a weapon to your advantage, letting its momentum empower your strikes. You gain the following benefits while you are wielding a two-handed weapon or a versatile weapon in two hands:
On your turn, when you score a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.
When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack.
If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before making a melee weapon attack, you gain a +5 bonus to the attack's damage roll.
Firstly, I allow this to be used by Small characters, because you shouldn't feel bad about wanting to play a halfling barbarian with a longsword. Secondly, I had to replace the "power attack" that this feat lost, so I just added the damage benefits of Charger. I also made them two separate bonuses so they come up more often.
Polearm Master
You can keep your enemies at bay with reach weapons. You gain the following benefits while you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear:
When you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action to make a melee attack with the opposite end of the weapon; this attack uses the same ability modifier as the primary attack. The weapon's damage die for this attack is a d4, and the attack deals bludgeoning damage.
When a creature enters your reach, you can use your reaction to make one melee attack against them.
The official Polearm Master synergized just a smidge too well with Sentinel for my tastes. I just took away that interaction.
Sharpshooter
You can make shots that others find impossible. You gain the following benefits while wielding a thrown weapon or ranged weapon:
Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
You have advantage on ranged weapon attack rolls against prone creatures even when you are farther than 5 feet from the creature.
Again I needed to replace the lost "power attack", so I made it easier to gain advantage with ranged weapons. Now you can snipe prone creatures.
Actor
Skilled at mimicry and dramatics, you gain the following benefits:
Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficient with the disguise kit, and can don a premade disguise as an action. If you are already wearing a disguise, you doff it as part of that action.
You have advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Charisma (Performance) checks to pass yourself off as a different person.
You can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking, or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check allows a listener to determine that the effect is faked.
I've heard complaints that Actor isn't very good, and I kind of understand. It is a half-feat that provides advantage in specific circumstances and a new use for a skill. Not exactly the most exciting. I add a little bit of utility. I'm thinking something like Agent 47 from the Hitman series. You perform some caper, then quick-change and blend into the crowd. I think this makes this feat better in the campaigns it is designed for.
Elemental Adept
Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell
Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder. You gain the following benefits when you cast a spell that deals damage of the chosen type:
When you roll damage, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3.
You ignore creatures’ resistance.
You deal 2 damage per damage die to creatures who are immune, ignoring their immunity.
You can select this feat multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different damage type.
I recently ran the numbers on Elemental Adept, and they are pitiful. If the spell uses d6s you're looking at an increase of 1 average damage for every 6 dice. Sure, technically the floor for your spell's damage is raised, but let's look at some examples. For burning hands you only have ~4.6% chance to roll 5 or less for the damage. If you look at fireball you are looking at ~0.4% chance to roll 15 or less! Bumping this feat up to a minimum of 3 on each die means it adds ~1 damage for every 2 dice, and actually provides a meaningful floor to spell damage. I also add in a bonus for dealing with immunity. You're still not going to be beating devils with fire damage, but if you encounter a creature with immunity to your damage, now you can contribute with the spells you want to use.
Grappler
You've developed the skills necessary to hold your own in close-quarters grappling. You gain the following benefits:
You have advantage on attack rolls against a creature you are grappling.
You can use your action to try to pin a creature grappled by you. To do so, make another grapple check. If you succeed, you are grappled and the creature is restrained. These effects last until the grapple ends.
You can attempt to grapple Huge or smaller creatures.
The official Grappler feat really got hit hard by a last minute rules change. If you have a 1st printing of the PHB, you may have seen that Grappler originally had a third benefit. Unfortunately the rules had been changed and that benefit no longer actually did anything, so they removed it. I give it back. I am down with grappling dragons. You are mythic heroes.
Additionally, I make it so that you are grappled while pinning a creature instead of being restrained yourself. This is a higher investment than knocking a creature prone, but it has additional benefits which balance it out.
Healer
You are an able physician, allowing you to get your allies back in the fight. You gain the following benefits:
When you use a healer's kit to stabilize a dying creature, that creature also regains 1 hit point.
As an action, you can spend one use of a healer's kit to tend to a creature and restore hit points to it equal to its maximum number of Hit Dice + your proficiency bonus. The creature can't regain hit points from this feat again until it finishes a short or long rest.
The official Healer is monstrous in Tier 1. I get rid of the die, and make it match Inspiring Leader.
Heavily Armored
Prerequisite: Proficiency with medium armor
You have trained to master the use of heavy armor, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficienct with heavy armor and shields.
This just closes a small gap where you can potentially end up as a mountain dwarf without shield proficiency.
Heavy Armor Master
Prerequisite: Proficiency with heavy armor
You can use your armor to deflect strikes that would kill others. You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Once per turn, when you are hit by a weapon attack while wearing heavy armor, you can reduce the attack’s damage by half your level (no action required, minimum 1).
The official Heavy Armor Master is monstrous in Tier 1, and worthless after that. I change it to a scaling benefit which is equally useful against multiattackers and single heavy hitters.
Inspiring Leader
You can spend 10 minutes inspiring your companions, shoring up their resolve to fight. When you do so, choose up to six friendly creatures (which can include yourself) within 30 feet of you who can see or hear you and who can understand you. Each creature can gain temporary hit points equal to its maximum number of Hit Dice + your proficiency bonus. A creature can't gain temporary hit points from this feat again until it has finished a short or long rest.
This is specifically to make it match Healer.
Keen Mind
You have a mind that can track time, direction, and detail with uncanny precision. You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month.
Each workweek you spend training counts as two towards your goal.
If an illusion can be discerned by using an action to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check, you immediately recognize it if your passive Intelligence (Investigation) score would succeed.
The official Keen Mind had one useful benefit. I just replace the two worthless ones with slightly less useless ones. I specifically tried to give this an application that wasn't anywhere else in the game. I think it's appropriate for some characters to be able to discern illusions immediately
Mage Slayer
You have practiced techniques useful in melee combat against spellcasters, gaining the following benefits:
When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature immediately before they finish casting the spell. If the attack hits, the creature must make a concentration save or the spell fails and has no effect.
When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.
You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within 5 feet of you.
The official Mage Slayer is pretty good, but it misses out on the main thing you want to do as a mage slayer: interrupt spellcasting. I haven't seen this in play, so I don't know how strong it is yet. If it ends up too strong, I'll move the interrupt to a separate bullet point based on Readying an attack.
Medium Armor Master
Prerequisite: Proficiency with medium armor
You have practiced moving in medium armor to gain the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Wearing medium armor doesn't impose disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
When you wear medium armor, you can add 3, rather than 2, to your AC if you have a Dexterity of 16 or higher.
I make this a half-feat like Heavy Armor Master, because it felt underwhelming otherwise.
Moderately Armored
You have trained to effectively armor yourself, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You are proficient with light armor, medium armor, and shields.
Lightly Armored just never felt worth it by itself, so I just rolled it into this.
Ritual Caster
You have learned a number of spells that you can cast as rituals. These spells are written in a ritual book, which you must have in hand while casting one of them.
When you choose this feat, you acquire a ritual book holding two 1st-level spells of your choice. Choose one of the following classes: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You must choose your spells from that class's spell list, and the spells you choose must have the ritual tag. The class you choose also determines your spellcasting ability for these spells: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid; or Intelligence for wizard.
If you come across a spell in written form, you might be able to add it to your ritual book. The spell's level can be no higher than half your level (rounded up), and it must have the ritual tag. The process of copying the spell into your ritual book takes 2 hours per level of the spell, and costs 50 gp per level. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it.
It bothers me that this feat is worse than Book of Ancient Secrets.
Skilled
You have dedicated much of your time to broadening your skills. You gain the following benefits:
You are proficient with one skill of your choice, one tool of your choice, and can speak, read, and write one language of your choice.
Choose one skill in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that skill, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. The skill you choose must be one that isn't already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles your proficiency bonus.
Literally the same text from Prodigy, which this feat replaces.
Tough
Hardy and resilient, you gain the following benefits:
Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points.
When you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, you add your Constitution modifier twice (minimum 0).
The official Durable feat is very underwhelming, even for a half-feat. Also it competes for conceptual space with the Tough feat. I basically staple them together, except that I also buff the part from Durable.
Variant Human and Custom Lineage
Because the variant human race and the new rules for custom lineages give are based on feats, it is prudent to mention changes to them here. They both share the same major change: the feat you choose must increase an ability score. This drastically reduces the versatility of those options, so they are NO LONGER the default choice for most builds. Furthermore, the ability score increase of a custom lineage must be different from the ability score increased by the feat. This way you can't start with an 18 in your primary ability.