Recommended houserules

[Secret Wizard]

I've ran PF and 3.5 games for ages and I'm looking to make the switch to 5E.

I was looking for some recommended houserules to games to improve upon the system. Some ones I've heard:

- Free feat at level 1 to allow for more build versatility

- Going below 0 HP grants an exhaustion level to make going down more dangerous

Any other ideas? Ranger tweaks etc.?

[Grod_The_Giant]

- Free feat at level 1 to allow for more build versatility

For the free feat, I like "level 2 or 3, whichever you do not gain your subclass at"-- it keeps the "in-training" nature of the early game and means that you get a big choice every time for the first three levels. You'll probably want to ban Variant Human, though.

[Buurg]

Make moving through melee-threatened area difficult terrain, unless the creature takes the disengage action. This makes it more difficult to move around/through groups of enemies!
Add 5 feet of movement per enemy within reach (Basically, stack this effect).

[Secret Wizard]

For the free feat, I like "level 2 or 3, whichever you do not gain your subclass at"-- it keeps the "in-training" nature of the early game and means that you get a big choice every time for the first three levels. You'll probably want to ban Variant Human, though.

If Variant Human is banned, is there any benefit to going Human at all?

Make moving through melee-threatened area difficult terrain, unless the creature takes the disengage action. This makes it more difficult to move around/through groups of enemies!
Add 5 feet of movement per enemy within reach (Basically, stack this effect).

Aren't attacks of opportunity enough penalty?

[R.Shackleford]

I've ran PF and 3.5 games for ages and I'm looking to make the switch to 5E.

I was looking for some recommended houserules to games to improve upon the system. Some ones I've heard:

- Free feat at level 1 to allow for more build versatility

- Going below 0 HP grants an exhaustion level to make going down more dangerous

Any other ideas? Ranger tweaks etc.?

Note: You can't go below 0 HP in 5e. Also, exhaustion levels are horrible for martials and not so bad for casters. Don't give exhaustion for going to 0, that is messed up.

Some basic stuff...


Expertise = advantage on skill roll. No doubling the prof bonus.

Thief is given to all rogues.

Frenzy doesn't exhaust you. Or. The exhaustion from frenzy disappears after the end of a short or long rest.

Beast Master Ranger doesn't exist.

[TurboGhast]

If Variant Human is banned, is there any benefit to going Human at all?



Aren't attacks of opportunity enough penalty?

First question: Normal human gets +1 to every stat, MAD builds could use that quite effectively. If you wanted, the extra skill proficiency variant human has could be transferred to normal humans in order to shore up their lack of features.

Second Question: You can avoid opportunity attacks by running around the foe threatening you, and never leaving the area that they threaten. I think this interaction makes combat more interesting, since it's easier to move around with this rule in effect.

[Secret Wizard]

Here's a question:

If I wanted to increase feat availability, what's the best way to do that? Free feats at level 2, 6, 10? One free feat at level 1?

[R.Shackleford]

Here's a question:

If I wanted to increase feat availability, what's the best way to do that? Free feats at level 2, 6, 10? One free feat at level 1?

Another houserule is that each racial bonus is gotten rid of and each race gains a +2/+1 that the player may allocate where ever they want.

But anyways....

So I made a set of houserules/setting whatever where there was only martial classes and the monk. You could buy or find gems that cast spells tho.

The following are feats that you may take at first level, you do not gain any ability scores increases from any feats.

Alert
Athlete
Actor
Dungeon Delver
Durable
Healer
Inspiring Leader
Keen Mind
Linguist
Observant
Tough

[Zman]

Here you go! Zman's Tweaks

Yes, a shameless self plug, but the tweaks are solid and your listed ones are there.

[R.Shackleford]

Here you go! Zman's Tweaks

Yes, a shameless self plug, but the tweaks are solid and your listed ones are there.

Yours is less of houserules are more of a 5.5 or 5.75 :p

(Not saying that is a bad thing, my classes in the signature is in the same kind of boat. 5e based but too different to be considered houserules and stuff)

[Zman]

Yours is less of houserules are more of a 5.5 or 5.75 :p

(Not saying that is a bad thing, my classes in the signature is in the same kind of boat. 5e based but too different to be considered houserules and stuff)

I wouldn't say that,mother only thing Hong that could be considered a change like that would be the change to ability checks. Either way it's a large list of most relatively small tweaks that patch the game for the OP to look through.


Edit: I'd also point to what you lost as "Houserules" in your signature....

[treecko]

Here you go! Zman's Tweaks

Yes, a shameless self plug, but the tweaks are solid and your listed ones are there.

I'll second zman's stuff, as someone who in general is opposed to messing too much with the game, I feel the tweaks are reasonable. My one caveat is I don't like his additional feats, but hey, change the fixes around to your liking.

[Buurg]

Aren't attacks of opportunity enough penalty?

I've implemented this just because my players were literally *always* flanking their enemies. It felt kind of cheaty, and this rule seems to fix it. I wanted to make flanking a bit harder to get, and this mostly does it. It doesn't intersect with leaving combat, just moving around during combat.

[Oramac]

I've implemented this just because my players were literally *always* flanking their enemies. It felt kind of cheaty, and this rule seems to fix it. I wanted to make flanking a bit harder to get, and this mostly does it. It doesn't intersect with leaving combat, just moving around during combat.

Flanking is an optional rule in the first place. Just don't use it if it's that big a deal.

[hymer]

Aren't attacks of opportunity enough penalty?

in 5e, you don't provoke one until you leave the area threatened by the one making the Opportunity Attack. So you can run in circles around people without provoking, as long as you stay within their reach. That's the effect Buurg is trying to reduce with that suggested house rule.

Link to my current campaign/house rules if you want more suggestions.

[Kryx]

Flanking giving +1 to hit is a nice bonus, but doesn't negate many class features.

[R.Shackleford]

Flanking giving +1 to hit is a nice bonus, but doesn't negate many class features.

I've heard of groups allowing people to use a help action as a bonus action if you are flanking the target... But you must stay flanking the target.

[fishyfishyfishy]

5e is designed to be flexible to the table playing it. My recommendation is to try it as is and make house rules to adjust the game to your preferences as you play. It's a bad idea to go into it changing things up without fully understanding how it works in actual play.

[Goober4473]

I have my own set of house rules that can be found here. I've included notes on a number of them that explain which ones are due to my own DMing style, and in some cases why I decided to go with a given rule.

Take a gander for some inspiration.

[Grod_The_Giant]

If Variant Human is banned, is there any benefit to going Human at all?

Humans are torn in 5e. Vanilla humans are almost never a good choice (not to mention incredibly boring), while vHumans are just about always the best option. I'd give the Vanilla human your choice of a skill, weapon, armor, or cantrip-- something along those lines, to represent broad interest and training.

Note: You can't go below 0 HP in 5e. Also, exhaustion levels are horrible for martials and not so bad for casters. Don't give exhaustion for going to 0, that is messed up.

That's exaggeration-- they're pretty bad for both. Adjust 3 to include "enemies have Advantage on saves against your abilities" and everyone's equally hosed. You might make it easier to cure than the default, but I'll agree that 5e makes dropped-to-zero far less of a big deal than it could be.

[JumboWheat01]

The biggest one I can think of that my table uses that isn't very... dedicated to my table is making it so nets do not suffer disadvantage in melee. Seriously, it's kind of stupid to have a RANGED WEAPON have a range of 5 as their normal range and not make it so they don't suffer from disadvantage, especially if they're stuck with disadvantage for trying to use it OUTSIDE of that range.

[Jamesps]

The biggest one I can think of that my table uses that isn't very... dedicated to my table is making it so nets do not suffer disadvantage in melee. Seriously, it's kind of stupid to have a RANGED WEAPON have a range of 5 as their normal range and not make it so they don't suffer from disadvantage, especially if they're stuck with disadvantage for trying to use it OUTSIDE of that range.

As a GM trying to balance encounters to allow 2 short rests between every long rest is really obnoxious with the current rules, and having characters sit around in an active dungeon for an hour can mess with immersion pretty badly. As such I changed short rests to 5 minutes, and allowed any given character to take only two per day.

[2D8HP]

Only allow the players access to the free online Players Basic Rules not the PHB!
Use the "Slow Natural Healing", and "Gritty Realism" variants from page 267 of the DMG.
Remember Warlocks, Dragonborn and Tieflings are NPC's only!
If they whine make them roll 3d6 in order for their stats. No takebacks!
All the PC's "backgrounds" are: "Loot hungry murder-hobo"...
PC "Trait", "Ideal", "Bond", and "Flaw" all should be "meets like minded individuals at tavern, to go on noble quest to steal loot from Dungeon dwellers".
That should suffice.
Please PM when you need a player for that campaign.
Thanks

[Markoff Chainey]

see my signature.. quite extensive houserules for a more balanced and fun game..

[the secret fire]

I personally like 5e quite a lot, and feel like less-is-more when it comes to house rules. I do, however, have a few to fix what I feel are some minor flaws in the system. It's not long, so I'll just post the complete set of house rules at my table:

FEATS:

Pole Arm Master's extra attack only usable when wielding a pole arm with two hands. Sorry, shield-and-quarterstaff carrying munchkins.

-------------------------

SKILLS:

All PCs have the Rogue ability Reliable Talent for all skills in which they are proficient.

At 11th level, in place of Reliable Talent, Rogues automatically gain advantage on all skills in which they have Expertise, including those gained from other classes.

Checks on non-proficient skills which are on a class' available proficiency skill list are attempted as normal.

Checks on non-proficient skills which are not on a class' available proficiency skill list are attempted at disadvantage.

-------------------------

BANNED CLASSES:

Druid, Moon Circle: stupidly overpowered at low levels

-------------------------

CHANGED CLASSES:

Sorcerer: class has access to all spells and cantrips in the game, but loses all "secondary" class abilities (ie. subclasses). It retains metamagic, and all associated abilities. A Sorcerer's power can be derived from any source, and is not restricted to dragonic, wild, tempest...punt. Fluff it however you please.

Ranger: class has access to the full Druid spell list + 1 Land Druid circle, as well as the normal Ranger spell list. At 6th level, Rangers gain Fast Movement, per Barbarian.

[Cybren]

Only allow the players access to the free online Players Basic Rules not the PHB!
Use the "Slow Natural Healing", and "Gritty Realism" variants from page 267 of the DMG.
Remember Warlocks, Dragonborn and Tieflings are NPC's only!
If they whine make them roll 3d6 in order for their stats. No takebacks!
All the PC's "backgrounds" are: "Loot hungry murder-hobo"...
PC "Trait", "Ideal", "Bond", and "Flaw" all should be "meets like minded individuals at tavern, to go on noble quest to steal loot from Dungeon dwellers".
That should suffice.
Please PM when you need a player for that campaign.
Thanks

I like the cut of your jib.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I personally like 5e quite a lot, and feel like less-is-more when it comes to house rules. I do, however, have a few to fix what I feel are some minor flaws in the system. It's not long, so I'll just post the complete set of house rules at my table:

I feel like your class houserules are misguided. Moon Druid can be fixed by setting the scaling to 1/3 class level throughout, reducing low-level power without giving up the entire class; Ranger suffers more from a small spell list than a bad spell list; Sorcerer loses power in exchange for... not even more versatility, really, since they still have very limited spells known.

[manny2510]

don't allow feats unless you buff the monsters, they were not designed to handle GWM, Arcane Adept, Polearm Master, Sharpshooter damage. The players can routinely tear through regen 100, 300 health.

[Zman]

I personally like 5e quite a lot, and feel like less-is-more when it comes to house rules. I do, however, have a few to fix what I feel are some minor flaws in the system. It's not long, so I'll just post the complete set of house rules at my table:

Honestly almost all of those houserules make me cringe and are akin to needing a screwdriver and instead using dynamite. I feel much of those create more problems than they solve and miss far more elegant and simple solutions.

[Zman]

don't allow feats unless you buff the monsters, they were not designed to handle GWM, Arcane Adept, Polearm Master, Sharpshooter damage. The players can routinely tear through regen 100, 300 health.

Or just tone town those unbalanced feats i.e. Only one -5/+10 attack per turn, and changing the PAM's attack to just a d6, not d4+Str.