thoroughlyS
2021-05-08, 05:24 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 warlock which I change pretty considerably. The official warlock operates more like a magical martial character than a spellcaster. On top of that its first few levels are structured so that it is incredibly dippable. My changes are made to make it fit more in-line with the wizard and the sorcerer than the artificer.
Warlock (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ha_0AFmQdNopat9FP81M0JHeweyQdZ5f/view?usp=sharing)
Cantrips
You know three cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table.
I establish a few baselines for spellcasters. The first of which is that full casters get a minimum of 3 cantrips at 1st level.
Spell Slots
You gain a third spell slot at 6th level, and a fourth spell sloth at 18th level.
The official warlock doesn't get a third spell slot until 11th level which makes it hard not to fall back on eldritch blast for most combats, since you will most likely get to drop a single spell slot in any fight. I give them a third slot at 6th, so that they can at least drop one more somewhere in there. The decision for which level to grant this is based on how many spell points the wizard's spells are worth at each level.
Pact of the Chain
You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn’t count against your number of spells known.
When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.
As its action, your familiar can magically turn invisible until it makes an attack, makes a damage roll, forces a creature to make a saving throw, or until its concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment it wears or carries is invisible with it.
Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to make one attack of its own with its reaction.
The imp, quasit, and sprite can all turn invisible, so it feels like a wrong move to pick anything other than them. This way you aren't punished for wanting a pseudodragon or even an owl or a tressym.
Pact of the Blade
You gain proficiency with light armor, medium armor, and shields. Also, you can use a bonus action on your turn to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it. You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Your pact weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you at the end of the turn. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die.
You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can’t affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.
I move the armor proficiency from the Hexblade to here. That way you can become a decent frontliner as a blade warlock of any patron.
Note: I vehemently protest allowing blade warlocks (and other characters) to use their spellcasting stat for weapon attacks. I strip that feature from Hexblades, and never put it back anywhere. If you want that option, add it to this feature.
Mystic Arcanum
At 11th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose two 6th-level spells from the warlock spell list to be your arcana spells.
You can spend your arcanum to cast one of your arcana spells once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
At higher levels, you gain more arcana that can be spent in this way: one 7th-level arcanum at 13th level, one 8th-level arcanum at 15th level, and one 9th-level arcanum at 17th level. Each time you gain an arcanum, choose two arcana spells of that arcanum’s level from the warlock spell list. When you spend an arcanum, you can cast any arcana spell of that arcanum’s level or lower. You regain all of your spent arcana when you finish a long rest.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of your arcana spells with another spell of the same level from the warlock spell list.
The official Mystic Arcanum is so needlessly restrictive in relation to full casters. I give twice as many spells known, the chance to trade out spells, and allow warlocks to spend higher level arcana to cast lower level spells. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to cast a 6th-level spell using your 7th-level arcanum.
Eldritch Master
At 20th level, you can supplicate your patron for renewed power in your time of greatest need. As an action, you can regain all your expended spell slots from your Pact Magic feature. You may also choose to spend one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points, as if you had just finished a short rest. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
I buff this significantly to feel like a true capstone. You can basically take a short rest as an action once per long rest.
Invocations
Armor of Shadows
You can cast mage armor on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components. Until the spell ends, you can use Charisma instead of Dexterity for Stealth checks.
The official Armor of Shadows gives very little, but is almost mandatory for a non-blade pact warlock. I give it a nice little boost.
Beast Speech
You can comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts. Most beasts lack the intelligence to convey or understand sophisticated concepts, but a beast can relay information about nearby locations and creatures, including whatever it has perceived within the past day. This feature doesn't grant you friendship with beasts, though you might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion.
I just make this into a passive effect.
Devil’s Sight
You can see normally in dim light and darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
A minor correction to what was probably an oversight.
Eyes of the Rune Keeper
You can magically read all writing and can cast detect magic at will, without expending a spell slot.
I just staple this with Eldritch Sight, because they have so much thematic overlap that I don't want to punish people for wanting to take both.
Gaze of Two Minds
You can use your action to touch a willing humanoid and create a mystical connection between your minds. Until the end of your next turn, you can telepathically communicate with the creature and perceive through its senses. As long as the creature is on the same plane of existence as you, you can use your action on subsequent turns to maintain this connection, extending the duration until the end of your next turn. While perceiving through the other creature’s senses, you benefit from any special senses possessed by that creature, and you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.
I don't quite understand what the intention of the original feature was. When are you supposed to care about seeing through a different creature's eyes if you can't communicate with them? My change allows you to effectively use a headset to guide another creature through situations without needing to be there (like in a spy movie).
Otherworldly Leap
You can cast jump on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.
I will never understand why this was gated until 9th level. How is this in anyway comparable to self levitate at will?
Agonizing Blast
Prerequisite: 5th level, eldritch blast cantrip
When you hit a creature with an eldritch blast, you deal extra force damage equal to your Charisma modifier. A creature can only take this extra damage once per turn.
Now, this is the change that will probably get me in trouble. The level gate is to make this comparable to other cantrip boosters which all come online in Tier 2. I must reiterate the point of my changes here is to shift the playstyle of a warlock away from martials and towards full casters. The second change is to remove exploits like a sorcerer/warlock twinning eldritch blast on a single target to deal more damage than disintegrate at high levels. I want to shift this invocation into being useful against mobs of enemies as opposed to a default on all warlocks.
Beguiling Influence
Prerequisite: 5th level
You gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion skills if you don't already have it. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of those proficiencies.
Proficiency in two skills is not worth an invocation. Expertise in two skills... now that's pretty good. Too good for 2nd level.
One with Shadows
Prerequisite: 5th level
When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible until you move into an area of bright light or take an action or a reaction other than the Hide action.
I feel like this invocation suffered from being released so early in the game's life. Heck, the fact that you can't hide using it should be proof that the designers still weren't very familiar with the system. I don't think a limited invisibility is too much at this point.
Master of Myriad Forms
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast alter self at will, without expending a spell slot or maintaining concentration (you can still end the effect at any time, no action required).
Treantmonk has argued that the concentration requirement on this makes it worse than Master of Many Forms. While I think it's arguable which is better, I also think it shouldn't be arguable considering this one is gated behind a higher level.
Witch Sight
Prerequisite: 15th level
You have truesight to a range of 30 feet.
Simpler and more relevant for Tier 3.
Chains of Carceri
Prerequisite: 12th level, Pact of the Chain feature
As an action, you can cause a tangle of spectral chains to appear around one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your warlock spell save DC, or be restrained by the chains. It can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, freeing itself on a success.
The chains disappear after 1 minute, after you use this feature again, or if the creature frees itself.
Shamelessly stolen from Treantmonk, and made a 12th level feature.
Extra Attack (Replaces Thirsting Blade)
Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
This just cleans up any fiddly problems with things like multiclassing or my changes to two-weapon fighting. Has the added benefit of making the gish pact more martial.
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 warlock which I change pretty considerably. The official warlock operates more like a magical martial character than a spellcaster. On top of that its first few levels are structured so that it is incredibly dippable. My changes are made to make it fit more in-line with the wizard and the sorcerer than the artificer.
Warlock (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ha_0AFmQdNopat9FP81M0JHeweyQdZ5f/view?usp=sharing)
Cantrips
You know three cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table.
I establish a few baselines for spellcasters. The first of which is that full casters get a minimum of 3 cantrips at 1st level.
Spell Slots
You gain a third spell slot at 6th level, and a fourth spell sloth at 18th level.
The official warlock doesn't get a third spell slot until 11th level which makes it hard not to fall back on eldritch blast for most combats, since you will most likely get to drop a single spell slot in any fight. I give them a third slot at 6th, so that they can at least drop one more somewhere in there. The decision for which level to grant this is based on how many spell points the wizard's spells are worth at each level.
Pact of the Chain
You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn’t count against your number of spells known.
When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.
As its action, your familiar can magically turn invisible until it makes an attack, makes a damage roll, forces a creature to make a saving throw, or until its concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment it wears or carries is invisible with it.
Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to make one attack of its own with its reaction.
The imp, quasit, and sprite can all turn invisible, so it feels like a wrong move to pick anything other than them. This way you aren't punished for wanting a pseudodragon or even an owl or a tressym.
Pact of the Blade
You gain proficiency with light armor, medium armor, and shields. Also, you can use a bonus action on your turn to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it. You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Your pact weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you at the end of the turn. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die.
You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can’t affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.
I move the armor proficiency from the Hexblade to here. That way you can become a decent frontliner as a blade warlock of any patron.
Note: I vehemently protest allowing blade warlocks (and other characters) to use their spellcasting stat for weapon attacks. I strip that feature from Hexblades, and never put it back anywhere. If you want that option, add it to this feature.
Mystic Arcanum
At 11th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose two 6th-level spells from the warlock spell list to be your arcana spells.
You can spend your arcanum to cast one of your arcana spells once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
At higher levels, you gain more arcana that can be spent in this way: one 7th-level arcanum at 13th level, one 8th-level arcanum at 15th level, and one 9th-level arcanum at 17th level. Each time you gain an arcanum, choose two arcana spells of that arcanum’s level from the warlock spell list. When you spend an arcanum, you can cast any arcana spell of that arcanum’s level or lower. You regain all of your spent arcana when you finish a long rest.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of your arcana spells with another spell of the same level from the warlock spell list.
The official Mystic Arcanum is so needlessly restrictive in relation to full casters. I give twice as many spells known, the chance to trade out spells, and allow warlocks to spend higher level arcana to cast lower level spells. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to cast a 6th-level spell using your 7th-level arcanum.
Eldritch Master
At 20th level, you can supplicate your patron for renewed power in your time of greatest need. As an action, you can regain all your expended spell slots from your Pact Magic feature. You may also choose to spend one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points, as if you had just finished a short rest. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
I buff this significantly to feel like a true capstone. You can basically take a short rest as an action once per long rest.
Invocations
Armor of Shadows
You can cast mage armor on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components. Until the spell ends, you can use Charisma instead of Dexterity for Stealth checks.
The official Armor of Shadows gives very little, but is almost mandatory for a non-blade pact warlock. I give it a nice little boost.
Beast Speech
You can comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts. Most beasts lack the intelligence to convey or understand sophisticated concepts, but a beast can relay information about nearby locations and creatures, including whatever it has perceived within the past day. This feature doesn't grant you friendship with beasts, though you might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion.
I just make this into a passive effect.
Devil’s Sight
You can see normally in dim light and darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
A minor correction to what was probably an oversight.
Eyes of the Rune Keeper
You can magically read all writing and can cast detect magic at will, without expending a spell slot.
I just staple this with Eldritch Sight, because they have so much thematic overlap that I don't want to punish people for wanting to take both.
Gaze of Two Minds
You can use your action to touch a willing humanoid and create a mystical connection between your minds. Until the end of your next turn, you can telepathically communicate with the creature and perceive through its senses. As long as the creature is on the same plane of existence as you, you can use your action on subsequent turns to maintain this connection, extending the duration until the end of your next turn. While perceiving through the other creature’s senses, you benefit from any special senses possessed by that creature, and you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.
I don't quite understand what the intention of the original feature was. When are you supposed to care about seeing through a different creature's eyes if you can't communicate with them? My change allows you to effectively use a headset to guide another creature through situations without needing to be there (like in a spy movie).
Otherworldly Leap
You can cast jump on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.
I will never understand why this was gated until 9th level. How is this in anyway comparable to self levitate at will?
Agonizing Blast
Prerequisite: 5th level, eldritch blast cantrip
When you hit a creature with an eldritch blast, you deal extra force damage equal to your Charisma modifier. A creature can only take this extra damage once per turn.
Now, this is the change that will probably get me in trouble. The level gate is to make this comparable to other cantrip boosters which all come online in Tier 2. I must reiterate the point of my changes here is to shift the playstyle of a warlock away from martials and towards full casters. The second change is to remove exploits like a sorcerer/warlock twinning eldritch blast on a single target to deal more damage than disintegrate at high levels. I want to shift this invocation into being useful against mobs of enemies as opposed to a default on all warlocks.
Beguiling Influence
Prerequisite: 5th level
You gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion skills if you don't already have it. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of those proficiencies.
Proficiency in two skills is not worth an invocation. Expertise in two skills... now that's pretty good. Too good for 2nd level.
One with Shadows
Prerequisite: 5th level
When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible until you move into an area of bright light or take an action or a reaction other than the Hide action.
I feel like this invocation suffered from being released so early in the game's life. Heck, the fact that you can't hide using it should be proof that the designers still weren't very familiar with the system. I don't think a limited invisibility is too much at this point.
Master of Myriad Forms
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast alter self at will, without expending a spell slot or maintaining concentration (you can still end the effect at any time, no action required).
Treantmonk has argued that the concentration requirement on this makes it worse than Master of Many Forms. While I think it's arguable which is better, I also think it shouldn't be arguable considering this one is gated behind a higher level.
Witch Sight
Prerequisite: 15th level
You have truesight to a range of 30 feet.
Simpler and more relevant for Tier 3.
Chains of Carceri
Prerequisite: 12th level, Pact of the Chain feature
As an action, you can cause a tangle of spectral chains to appear around one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your warlock spell save DC, or be restrained by the chains. It can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, freeing itself on a success.
The chains disappear after 1 minute, after you use this feature again, or if the creature frees itself.
Shamelessly stolen from Treantmonk, and made a 12th level feature.
Extra Attack (Replaces Thirsting Blade)
Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
This just cleans up any fiddly problems with things like multiclassing or my changes to two-weapon fighting. Has the added benefit of making the gish pact more martial.