Class House Rules

[Theodoxus]

I'm considering using the following House Rules for classes, trying to streamline as well as bring some old school feel back to classes. I'm curious if these thoughts go too far, or not far enough or are too weird... It kinda ties back to PhoenixPhyre's thread about killing 6+ level spells, but I've had this thought for a while now...

So, in alphabetical order, here are my proposed house rules:

Artificer: No changes.

Barbarian: Rages = Proficiency Bonus. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Rages. Berserker is rolled up into other subclasses of Barbarian.

Bard: is now a half caster. Has choice from all Bard and Sorcerer cantrips, add 1 Cantrip to known.
Spell slots per level is same as Artificer. Lore is rolled up into other subclasses of Bard.

Cleric: is now a half caster. Uses D&Done Holy Order at 1st level instead of standard proficiencies for Domains. Spell slots per level is same as book standard Cleric. They just don’t have access to 6+ level spells. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Channel Divinity. Life Domain is rolled up into other Domains.

Druid: is now a half caster. Moon Druid is rolled up into other subclasses of Druid. Spell slots per level is the same as Artificer. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Wildshapes.

Fighter: Battlemaster is rolled up into other subclasses of Fighter.

Monk: Gains “martial arts” dice on the same scale as Rogue Sneak Attack dice. Whenever a Monk makes an attack with Flurry of Blows. Instead of adding a static two attacks, they can make one additional attack for each martial arts die they have. In compensation, their martial arts die starts and remains at a d6.

Paladin: No changes.

Ranger: Beastmaster is rolled up into other subclasses of Ranger.

Rogue: Thief is rolled up into other subclasses of Rogue.

Sorcerer: is now a half caster. Spell slots per level is the same as book standard Sorcerer. They just don’t have access to 6+ level spells. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition.

Warlock: Loses Mystic Arcanum. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition. Has option, but not mandatory, to use Spell Points instead of Spell Slots.

Wizard: Removed as an option.

Casters can choose to be Arcane (Int based), Divine (Cha based) or Primal (Wis based). If Arcane, they use a spellbook and the same spells known method as the book standard Wizard, otherwise they use the standard spells known/spells prepared as their standard class.

[Kane0]

Interested to see how it goes if you get a chance to test it, though maybe roll Hunter into Ranger instead of Beastmaster?

Edit: and i would propose spell points being made available to sorcerers instead of warlocks.

[Leon]

Seems reasonable, Barbarian reminds me of a idea I was working on before I abandoned 5e as the system to run a game I have planned ~ renaming HD to Reserve dice and using them to let any class with a "resource" to regain a small amount of that per Reserve dice spent.

Another other change was to remove Battlemaster and let all non spellcasters (Rangers and Paladins could replace their spells with them as well) choose to have a small selection of manuvers and Dice based on PB or a Fighting Style if they didn't already have one.

[DarknessEternal]

No reason to make 2 level dip into Barbarian even more powerful than it is now. Barbarian needs incentive to take more than 2 levels, not fewer.

[KyleG]

I'm considering using the following House Rules for classes, trying to streamline as well as bring some old school feel back to classes. I'm curious if these thoughts go too far, or not far enough or are too weird... It kinda ties back to PhoenixPhyre's thread about killing 6+ level spells, but I've had this thought for a while now...

So, in alphabetical order, here are my proposed house rules:

Artificer: No changes.

Barbarian: Rages = Proficiency Bonus. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Rages. Berserker is rolled up into other subclasses of Barbarian.

Bard: is now a half caster. Has choice from all Bard and Sorcerer cantrips, add 1 Cantrip to known.
Spell slots per level is same as Artificer. Lore is rolled up into other subclasses of Bard.

Cleric: is now a half caster. Uses D&Done Holy Order at 1st level instead of standard proficiencies for Domains. Spell slots per level is same as book standard Cleric. They just don’t have access to 6+ level spells. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Channel Divinity. Life Domain is rolled up into other Domains.

Druid: is now a half caster. Moon Druid is rolled up into other subclasses of Druid. Spell slots per level is the same as Artificer. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Wildshapes.

Fighter: Battlemaster is rolled up into other subclasses of Fighter.

Monk: Gains “martial arts” dice on the same scale as Rogue Sneak Attack dice. Whenever a Monk makes an attack with Flurry of Blows. Instead of adding a static two attacks, they can make one additional attack for each martial arts die they have. In compensation, their martial arts die starts and remains at a d6.

Paladin: No changes.

Ranger: Beastmaster is rolled up into other subclasses of Ranger.

Rogue: Thief is rolled up into other subclasses of Rogue.

Sorcerer: is now a half caster. Spell slots per level is the same as book standard Sorcerer. They just don’t have access to 6+ level spells. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition.

Warlock: Loses Mystic Arcanum. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition. Has option, but not mandatory, to use Spell Points instead of Spell Slots.

Wizard: Removed as an option.

Casters can choose to be Arcane (Int based), Divine (Cha based) or Primal (Wis based). If Arcane, they use a spellbook and the same spells known method as the book standard Wizard, otherwise they use the standard spells known/spells prepared as their standard class.

So sorcerer and warlock gets an origin/patron still and then at level 2 gets an arcane tradition and the level 2 features from that. Does it get the 6, 10 and 14?

[Zhorn]

Like I said in PhoenixPhyre's thread; a big component of what houserules you want to bring to the table is the reasoning and justification for them.
What is the intended goal of the houserule, and how does the houserule achieve that goal?

Let's take DarknessEternal's comment as an example;
The houserule of giving the Barbarian a number of rages per day equal to their proficiency bonus AND the ability to all uses through the expenditure of a hit dice disincentivizes long term investment in the class since you get most of the class identity (Rage) along with the staying-power for full adventuring days with just a small dip and then focus of a different class for other features.

The 'Proficiency Times Per Day' mechanic is good for feats, background, and racial cultural/specieal features since it provides a means of scaling to a system that otherwise doesn't have one built in.
For class features though, all it does it divorce the scaling from further investment with the class it is gotten from, and is overall a flawed design direction.
Breakpoint levels, or a scaling formula based of the levels taken in that class for uses and/or power of a feature encourages further investment into that class progression.

[KorvinStarmast]

Artificer: No changes.
No artificers.
Barbarian
Rage damage bonus = proficiency bonus. Lesser Restoration removes one Exhaustion level, Greater removes 3.
Bard Currently, no changes, but no swords bard. If you want swords go Valor.
Cleric No Twilight. No Death (DMG) for PCs.
Druid No Restrictions.
Fighter Champion gets 4th attack at 17, gets to choose an Epic Boon (DMG) at 20, remarkable athlete has a few tweaks.
Monk No changes, but I am toying with an additional ASI at 10.
Paladin: No changes.
Ranger: Beastmaster is the same, but use a BA not an action to command it, like the freaking artificer pet.
RogueNo changes.
Sorcerer A few more spells known, 1 "domain/origin" spell (I create the list) for each spell level 1 through 5, additional meta magic at 7
Warlock No changes, but also no Hexblades. still mulling over boosts to Mystic Arcanum (as in pick a different one each day, or, if a tome lock, pick some from another class. None of my players has gotten that high as a warlock yet, though).
Wizard: No changes. Restrictions: No Tasha's. Bladesinger is SCAG version.

[KyleG]

No artificers.
Barbarian
Rage damage bonus = proficiency bonus. Lesser Restoration removes one Exhaustion level, Greater removes 3.
Bard Currently, no changes, but no swords bard. If you want swords go Valor.
Cleric No Twilight. No Death (DMG) for PCs.
Druid No Restrictions.
Fighter Champion gets 4th attack at 17, gets to choose an Epic Boon (DMG) at 20, remarkable athlete has a few tweaks.
Monk No changes, but I am toying with an additional ASI at 10.
Paladin: No changes.
Ranger: Beastmaster is the same, but use a BA not an action to command it, like the freaking artificer pet.
RogueNo changes.
Sorcerer A few more spells known, 1 "domain/origin" spell (I create the list) for each spell level 1 through 5, additional meta magic at 7
Warlock No changes, but also no Hexblades. still mulling over boosts to Mystic Arcanum (as in pick a different one each day, or, if a tome lock, pick some from another class. None of my players has gotten that high as a warlock yet, though).
Wizard: No changes. Restrictions: No Tasha's. Bladesinger is SCAG version.

I think that change to barbarian is better than changing rage uses. I am curious why no swords bard?

In toying with the below
Fighter: battlemaster or champion as base class
Socerer: no focus needed and spell point variant. Im actually really curious about the original posts combined wizard/sorcerer.

I am also looking into ways that fighter could be the base for ranger and possibly paladin.

[ChaosStar]

Snip

I'm not fine with changing Cleric, Druid, or Sorcerer into Half casters, removing Wizard as an option, the change to Monk, letting Warlock and Sorcerer use Wizard Traditions, and the spend a HD to recover all Rages. I'm also not fine with choosing the type of caster they are.

I will say if you really want the spend HD to recover rages, make it a higher level ability and make it 1-1, not 1 for all.

[CTurbo]

I think Champion is the Fighter subclass that should become the base, not Battlemaster, and I've seen this used in play.

One Sorcerer houserule that both of my groups have used for years is that they do not require material components for spells. If the power is supposed to come from within, it doesn't make sense for them to need anything else.

I think the Monk absolutely needs at the very least 1, if not 2, additional ASIs

[Amnestic]

Warlock: Loses Mystic Arcanum. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition. Has option, but not mandatory, to use Spell Points instead of Spell Slots.


Just a note on this - though I'm assuming you are also making them half-casters, it's not listed, meaning that they'd be the only class which gets 5th level spell slots at full-caster rate (i.e by level 10).

On Barbarians, unless you disallow multiclassing I'd make their rag uses scale equivalent to prof bonus so long as you're taking barbarian levels. I'd also only let you spend barbarian HD to refresh your rages.

Just to counter it from being super dippable.

[KorvinStarmast]

I think that change to barbarian is better than changing rage uses. I am curious why no swords bard?
Because it is pointless. Valor bard handles the warrior bard fine.

I am also looking into ways that fighter could be the base for ranger and possibly paladin. AD&D did that, it worked fine. Making a Paladin a half caster Fighter (or a Ranger a half caster Fighter?) is an interesting idea, and maybe you pick up "ranger" or "Paladin" at level 3.

[Oramac]

Bard: is now a half caster.
Cleric: is now a half caster.
Druid: is now a half caster.
Sorcerer: is now a half caster.

So effectively half-casters become full casters, and 1/4 casters become half-casters. It certainly makes paladins and rangers much more compelling. Sounds interesting.


Barbarian: Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Rages.

Interesting. Does this (and the other similar effects) require an action? Bonus Action? Nothing? I'd definitely specify that. Otherwise, I like it.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I see why you might not want 6+ level spells in your game, but I think turning full casters into half-casters will leave them too weak when compared to others--Moon Druid might work as a half-caster, at least at earlier levels, but what's a Bard going to do all day?

And that's to say nothing of the fact that having fewer spells/day encourages you to stick to the most powerful options available. Why not keep them the way they are, but just ban them from gaining 6+ level spells? That preserves the balance a lot more, as well as keeping them from running dry any sooner than normal. At the very least, I'd suggest allowing full casters to add their casting stat to spell damage so that cantrips feel like a solid combat option and leveled damaging-dealing spells don't fall quite so far behind the curve.

[MrStabby]

So, in alphabetical order, here are my proposed house rules:

Artificer: No changes.
Fine...



Barbarian: Rages = Proficiency Bonus. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Rages. Berserker is rolled up into other subclasses of Barbarian.
Adding berzerker... fine, I guess. Using proficiency bonus seems to make everything too front loaded for dips.



Bard: is now a half caster. Has choice from all Bard and Sorcerer cantrips, add 1 Cantrip to known.
Spell slots per level is same as Artificer. Lore is rolled up into other subclasses of Bard.
Lore being the one rolled up seems odd. You get the spells but not the spell slots to cast them? Making valor or swords the default "free" class would help he bard pace thier much more limited resources. The bard isn't like the cleric with good weapon proficiencies and channel divinities to fall back on when having run out of spells, nor are they like the druid with wildshapes or the wizard with arcane recovery. For the bard to work at all you would need them to function beter wihtout spell slots. I guess you could homebrew other solutions like letting bardic inspration twin a cantrip or something... anything to make them not suck without spellslots.




Cleric: is now a half caster. Uses D&Done Holy Order at 1st level instead of standard proficiencies for Domains. Spell slots per level is same as book standard Cleric. They just don’t have access to 6+ level spells. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Channel Divinity. Life Domain is rolled up into other Domains.
Mostly OK (wihin the broader context of changes) but a few big concerns. 1 HD to recover all CD is a huge balance issue. Something like the twilight cleric gets a big boost but the nature cleric gets almost nothing?
And rolling up the life domain is also an issue - this time thematic. This kind of forces clerics away from the evil cultist go of ruin and plagues and into the fluffy bunnies and healing type of cleric, and if you resist the pressure you miss out on class features. Maybe pick one of Life, Tempest or War to get for free?




Druid: is now a half caster. Moon Druid is rolled up into other subclasses of Druid. Spell slots per level is the same as Artificer. Can spend 1 HD to recover all spent Wildshapes.
WTF?! Moon druid has uneven power curve. At some levels its game ruiningly powerful. Making more games have terible balance is probably not a great move. Level 5+ its better though, in this regard anyway. I personally don't like it because I feel that wildshape isn't central to the idea of a druid and personally if I create a character, I would quite like to play that character not a bear or a crocodile or whatever. Again, it feels like you are giving away a really specific realisation of the druid with which not everyone will agree. On the other hand it does fix the power scaling a bit...
I think land druid would be much better for a free bonus. Natural recovery helps your caster play like a caster and the extra spells known softens the blow from being a half caster. It is still on the low-power side though.




Fighter: Battlemaster is rolled up into other subclasses of Fighter.
Fine. Might not have been my firs choice for this - but no big deal.




Monk: Gains “martial arts” dice on the same scale as Rogue Sneak Attack dice. Whenever a Monk makes an attack with Flurry of Blows. Instead of adding a static two attacks, they can make one additional attack for each martial arts die they have. In compensation, their martial arts die starts and remains at a d6.

I don't think this works for me. This seems to really push people towards using flurry of blows and makes the monk more of a damage output machine at the expense of other abilities (given that ki going to this cannot be spent elsewhere and given that your damage will be abysmal if you dont use your Ki to flurry). I think from a perspective of differentiating classes I would look elsewhere.




Paladin: No changes.
Really? With what has happened to the casters, a Paladin is now basically a full caster but with extra attacks, armour proficiencies, defensive auras... can swap is spells, knows plenty of them also. The paladin now also arguably has the best spell list.




Ranger: Beastmaster is rolled up into other subclasses of Ranger.
I kind of feel like the druid. You are giving for free something that I don't feel is a core part of the class and pushing people towards something they might not want. The only ranger that feels generic and I gould see any ranger really wantingis actually the gloomstalker... though that is going to be powerful. If I had to pick a subclass, I might suggest the battlemaster again - I think the manuvres are a nice martial bonus and the way they could then assess an enemy would seem very rangery.




Rogue: Thief is rolled up into other subclasses of Rogue.
Fine. Good.




Sorcerer: is now a half caster. Spell slots per level is the same as book standard Sorcerer. They just don’t have access to 6+ level spells. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition.
Is this supposed to give the level 2 abiliy or all abilities in the tradition at the corresponding level?



Warlock: Loses Mystic Arcanum. At 2nd level, picks a Wizard Arcane Tradition. Has option, but not mandatory, to use Spell Points instead of Spell Slots.
Interesting... probably looking very strong. Armor of Agathys and arcane ward now naturally can come together.



Wizard: Removed as an option.
Fine.


Casters can choose to be Arcane (Int based), Divine (Cha based) or Primal (Wis based). If Arcane, they use a spellbook and the same spells known method as the book standard Wizard, otherwise they use the standard spells known/spells prepared as their standard class.
I quite like this. For the Int casting, I presume this also includes ritual casting and rituals from the spellbook? Otherwise it seems a rough shift from say wisdom as a casting stat with the way it aigns with common saves and skills... getting better access to rituals in turn would seem to be some kind of compensation.

[Skrum]

I'm really not getting the barb one....berserker is kind of unplayable? 2 rages and you're looking at disadvantage on all attacks. That's more or less the end of you being a helpful character for the day. Not raging isn't really an option for barb; they flatly don't function if they can't rage.

[Leon]

Berzerker is a option to take a extra attack in rage at a escalating cost, its not stopping you from raging. This means you be a Ultra Durable Bear Totem and get a extra attack if you want etc

[Skrum]

Berzerker is a option to take a extra attack in rage at a escalating cost, its not stopping you from raging. This means you be a Ultra Durable Bear Totem and get a extra attack if you want etc

You gain a level of exhaustion after each rage.

1st level of exhaustion, disadvantage on all ability checks

2nd level of exhaustion, disadvantage on all attack rolls

Exhaustion is notoriously hard to get rid of too, only shedding one level per long rest. Rage twice in one day and not only do you have disadvantage on all ability checks and attacks, but it takes 2 days to recovery from. Having all barbs get this ability is *crippling* for barbarians. Rage is simply not an ability that barbarians can afford to only use sometimes; most of their class features, especially the subclass ones, are only usable while raging. A non-raging barbarian is approximately a fighter with no action surge, no heavy armor proficiency, and no subclass. That's, frankly, hot garbage.

Unless there is a quite strict 1 meaningful encounter per long rest dynamic, I would never recommend or consider playing a barbarian at that table.

[JNAProductions]

You gain a level of exhaustion after each rage.

1st level of exhaustion, disadvantage on all ability checks

2nd level of exhaustion, disadvantage on all attack rolls

Exhaustion is notoriously hard to get rid of too, only shedding one level per long rest. Rage twice in one day and not only do you have disadvantage on all ability checks and attacks, but it takes 2 days to recovery from. Having all barbs get this ability is *crippling* for barbarians. Rage is simply not an ability that barbarians can afford to only use sometimes; most of their class features, especially the subclass ones, are only usable while raging. A non-raging barbarian is approximately a fighter with no action surge, no heavy armor proficiency, and no subclass. That's, frankly, hot garbage.

Unless there is a quite strict 1 meaningful encounter per long rest dynamic, I would never recommend or consider playing a barbarian at that table.

Frenzy is an ADDITION to Rage, but isn't mandatory. You can Rage without Frenzy.

Also, in regards to the Monk changes, the OP posted about it in another thread. So just quoting myself here.


Er...

Even accounting for TWF, the best case scenario is a 50% hit rate.

Rogue has two attacks, one for 1d6+Dex, one for 1d6 (assuming Shortswords and no TWF Style) and if either hit they deal 10d6 extra damage.
.5*(3.5+5)+.5*3.5+(1-.5*.5)*(10*3.5)=32.25 damage in a round, on average.

A Monk with 12 attacks, hitting 50% of the time for 1d6+5 each.
12*(.5*(3.5+5))=51 damage in a round, on average.

51/32.25=1.58, or more than 50% better.

At the more normal 65% hit rate, the numbers change to 38.51 on Rogue, 66.3 on Monk. Literally more than 70% more damage.

The ONLY advantage I can see from the Rogue is provoking harder Concentration saves (11d6 is 38.5, so depending on whether you hit with the off hand or main hand you're looking at DC 19-22 save). But even then, six hits provokes six saves. Unless they have +9 or better to Constitution saves, they're looking at a 25% failure rate minimum. Assuming they're rocking a +8 to the saves, so only fail on a 1.

[Leon]

You gain a level of exhaustion after each rage.

1st level of exhaustion, disadvantage on all ability checks

2nd level of exhaustion, disadvantage on all attack rolls

Exhaustion is notoriously hard to get rid of too, only shedding one level per long rest. Rage twice in one day and not only do you have disadvantage on all ability checks and attacks, but it takes 2 days to recovery from. Having all barbs get this ability is *crippling* for barbarians. Rage is simply not an ability that barbarians can afford to only use sometimes; most of their class features, especially the subclass ones, are only usable while raging. A non-raging barbarian is approximately a fighter with no action surge, no heavy armor proficiency, and no subclass. That's, frankly, hot garbage.

Unless there is a quite strict 1 meaningful encounter per long rest dynamic, I would never recommend or consider playing a barbarian at that table.


Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you CAN go into a frenzy when you rage. If you do so, for the duration of your rage you can make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action on each of your turns after this one. When your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion.

See the Bolded word. Its a choice to make a extra attack. You could if you wanted to play a Berzerker and never Frenzy because you didn't feel the cost of the bonus attack was worth it. This change unshackles what is a mediocre Subclass and makes it a option for any Barbarian to use if they feel like.

[Skrum]

See the Bolded word. Its a choice to make a extra attack. You could if you wanted to play a Berzerker and never Frenzy because you didn't feel the cost of the bonus attack was worth it. This change unshackles what is a mediocre Subclass and makes it a option for any Barbarian to use if they feel like.

Ahhh that's what you're getting at. I see. I didn't realize that was possible...tyvm