Personal D&D nerfs, buffs, options, and philosophy
This is a reference document detailing house rules, expanded options, and how I approach different aspects of games that I run. The goal being that the content in here should make the game more compelling, more rewarding, but most of all more fun! If anything in here is found to be hindering one of these goals it will be addressed or changed as needed. And if you have an idea or found a resource that you think would be awesome to add, talk to me about it! This is an evolving document and feedback is always welcome.
Everybody has their own opinion on the many different editions and variants of Dungeons and Dragons. My first introduction to D&D was watching the original Rollplay series, a campaign run using a modified version of second edition D&D, so it’s fair to say I have fond memories of old school role playing game elements – death always being a possibility, semi permanent effects, meaningful consequences, and the game rules feeling grounded. In some ways, Fifth Edition (5e) can be seen as a departure from that style of play – some abilities break any sense of realism, many spells require addendums for special cases, and simply resting for a bit can heal wounds from swords or spells. 5e sacrifices many of these old core designs to make the game more easily digestible for its players, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For this part of the game’s design, Wizards of the Coast spectacularly succeeded and has given D&D a resurgence of popularity in the last few years.
That said, even the lead designer behind 5e wishes they had done some things differently – like removing the bonus action. Another great thing about 5e is that it was also written with the idea in mind for variant rules and system modifications, which is great because the mechanics are easy to change when something doesn’t quite work like I’d like. So, in these two areas I really enjoy 5e as a system because it easily allows a group of players to play the game the way they want.
There all kinds of different ways of following rules, here are some general ideas behind a few different interpretations.
All this is to say that there will be times when we follow the rules as written, there will be times when we follow the rules as intended, and there will be times when we purposely ignore rules to have a good time.
Some thoughts I’ve written down on why I expect you to be a rules lawyer sometimes.
Ancestry/race can be a sticky subject in D&D. I think the best way to read the following choices are “typical dwarves have and behave like the following”. They are intended to give you a broad idea of choice without stereotyping or to pigeonhole creative ideas.
Some things can be changed depending on your desired upbringing. An elf that was raised by dwarves might speak dwarven or have different skills than others. But a human living with dragonborn wouldn’t have the ability to breathe fire. The attribute bonuses (+2 to Strength, +1 to Charisma, etc) are again suggestions based on the typical member of an ancestry.
All of the options from the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon’s Master Guide.
The following options from Volo’s Guide to Monsters:
The following options from the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion supplement:
The following options from these pieces of Unearthed Arcana:
All of the class options from the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Xanthar’s Guide to Everything. I’ve written some descriptions for the base classes from the PHB if you’re wondering which to pick.
?The Blood Hunter class option written by Matthew Mercer?WM
I typically do not allow multiclassing for 5e. I think even by PHB content alone, the race, class, subclass, and feat options allow for amazing play variation. Multiclassing tends to get messy with spells (which modifier for this spell vs that spell?) but also tends to shift the focus of a character’s progression into a min/max problem to solve. My hopeful intention here is to prod my players more towards teamwork and creative solutions rather than building a paladin(2)/warlock(1)/rogue(3). Somewhere along the different editions of D&D there came this idea of an optimized character. I want the games I run to be more about playing together as a party rather than figuring out how to just powergame your own.
If you find yourself in a position where you would like to multiclass and you think it flows with the story, talk to me about about it.
Good examples
Bad examples
All background options from any officially published WotC books (Player’s Handbook, Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide, Curse of Strahd, etc).WM
Backgrounds are the simpliest to customize if for whatever reason the stock options don’t appeal to you.
Having a backstory in addition to your character’s background isn’t required, but I always think it is a good idea to have a sense of who your character is beyond game mechanics. How old are they? Did they recieve formal training for their skills? What kinds of relationships to they have with others? What was your childhood like? Knowing all this before playing session 1, purposely leaving gaps to discover as you play, or a mix of the two are all fine options.
In games I run, I’d always prefer you to play your character as they would behave rather than worry about strictly following an alignment. If that means you adhere to a single alignment, great! If that means your actions jump around depending on the circumstances, great! Your character’s alignment is not the actions they take, but the motivation for their actions.
I tend to look at alignment in terms of how or why they would kill another person
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Lawful Good
I’ll kill you because you are evil
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Neutral Good
I’ll kill you because you did something evil
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Chaotic Good
I’ll kill you because you look evil to me
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Lawful Neutral
I’ll kill you because you broke the law
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Neutral
I’ll kill you because you just tried to kill me
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Chaotic Neutral
I’ll kill you because its Tuesday
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Lawful Evil
I’ll kill you because you’re interfering with my plans of conquest
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Neutral Evil
I’ll kill you because I want that nice sword you have
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Chaotic Evil
I’ll kill you because I’ll get this tingly sensation in the back of my spine
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If you want to play an evil character, be sure you can do so in a way that still allows them to work cooperatively with the party.
Feats are amazing! You should get one whenever you can!
All of the feat options from the Player’s Handbook
All of the racial feat options from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
I am allowing these feat options from the following Unearthed Arcana:
I will never force your character to role-play a certain way. Other characters may have an idea of how your character would behave in certain situations, but that is only for you to decide.
Some thoughts I’ve written down on why role playing a character is awesome.
All spells from the Player’s Handbook
All spells from Xanthar’s Guide to Everything(this includes spells from the Elemental Evil supplement with some updates to the wording)
Magic specific house rules:
I am allowing these spell options from the following Unearthed Arcana:
I’ve compiled some helpful notes and ideas for differentiating the schools of magic.
Normally when a spell is cast its name, effects, and target are announced to the table by the caster and players can use this knowledge to respond or react appropriately. But there are situations when this information can be withheld; spell level, creatures with innate spellcasting, or magical obfuscation.
Spells do not always affect every creature the same. Spells do not always affect situations exactly like you think it will. Spells do not always solve your current predicament perfectly. Charm Person might be resisted at advantage if you have verbally attacked the target, your planned use of Wish might not result in what you envisioned, and Thunderclap’s push effect might not be enough for creatures with sufficient mass.
Crafting items yourselves require resources, time, and knowledge; you need enough of all three to even attempt it. Simple items like a bundle of arrows or mace may take a day or two and a few coins, while crafting a magical potion can take weeks to finish. More powerful items may require an exotic resource in order to craft, and these typically have to be secured by means other than dropping some gold in a trade store.
When attempting to craft, roll a skill check associated with the toolset you are using. The DM will determine the DC for this check by how powerful, rare, difficult, etc this item is. In most cases you will be told the DC prior to attempting to craft the item.
On a fail, you will have consumed half of the resources.
You must be proficient with shields to properly wield any shield in combat
You can attempt to brew potions if you have the required ingredients. Typically, you can purchase the necessary ingredients, but more powerful potions can require more exotic components.
Mixing potions is possible, but your mileage may vary. You should try it!
You can attempt to harvest poisons from animals per RAW.
You can attempt to brew poisons if you have the required ingredients. Typically, you can purchase the necessary ingredients, but more powerful poisons can require more exotic components.
You cannot mix poisons to get a combined effect, they are carefully crafted to work nonmagically and mixing will only seriously dilute or ruin them both
I try to make magic items slightly rarer but more interesting.
You can identify basic magic effects during a short rest (like a +1 attack bonus) per RAW, but you will need to get an item properly identified for more information about activation words, spells, charges, and other special effects if they exist.
I find tools slightly lacking use in 5e. They aren’t very well defined in the PHB, it kind of just states that they exist. XGtE expands on the uses of tools which is a step in the right direction, but rather than defining what you can do with a certain toolset I like hearing from my players what they want to use tools for. Using tools might grant characters a skill check bonus, additional abilities or other ways to help the party; cartographer’s tools can be used to help map areas, cook’s utensils can be used to make meals or rations, and making good use of a forgery kit can always be of use.
Inspiration is a way I can reward my players for following their character’s personality traits, ideals, bonds, or flaws. By using inspiration, you can draw on your personality trait of compassion for the poor and downtrodden to give you an edge with the Beggar Prince. Or inspiration can let you use your flaw to seek knowledge at your own peril to push past the effects of a trap protecting ancient ruins. There are two different ways you can use inspiration in game.
Full rules and description can be found here
You can invoke advantage for your character on rolls when your character’s personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw is relevant in the story and your character is not incapacitated. Once one of characteristics have been invoked to give yourself advantage, it is marked and cannot be used until it gets unmarked. When one of your characteristics is invoked to grant yourself disadvantage, you can choose to unmark any single characteristic of your choice. At the start of a new session, all characteristics get unmarked.
Typically, I try to award inspiration when you portray your character in a compelling way or go the extra mile when role-playing. On any d20 roll, including death saves, you may spend your inspiration to give you advantage. Optionally you may give you inspiration to another player. You either have inspiration or you don’t – you can’t stockpile multiple “inspirations” for later use.
If you fail a skill check, circumstances need to change in order to attempt it again. Failing the original skill check means that you were and are unable to succeed in the present situation. If Tim was unable to bend the prison bars with an athletics check of 14, he can’t simply retry until he succeeds. But if Stacy casts guidance on Tim, then he can reattempt.
You can assist someone with a skill check, granting them advantage, if you are proficient with the same skill. You can always help someone with a mundane task, like digging a ditch or pulling a cart.
Having a proficiency with certain tools can help a character out when attempting skill checks. For example, a character proficient with a disguise kit might be able to apply that extra bonus when attempting a deception or stealth check.
Broadly speaking, I always expect the party to work together, but I know there will be times when the characters in the party aren’t going to agree on the best way to do that. Disagreements are not unexpected and ideally, they will be handled in game. Three core rules
Constantly pushing conflicts into the party can hurt the game from moving forward or being fun. But, if you are serious about role-playing your character, sometimes it is unavoidable. Don’t shy away from forcing an important character personality trait that can cause a party conflict; however, I expect it to be resolved without coming to blows.
If a conflict continues to not get resolved to the detriment of the game, the DM will step in and resolve it in the following order:
I track experience points for all sorts of things. The most common are defeating monsters, significant role-playing with NPCs, exploring new locations in the world, and resolving storylines. I typically award experience points once the characters are in a safe place and looming threats have been dealt with.
The default healing rules for 5e don’t allow for a sense of wound retention or encourage smart resource management for health(i.e. potions and spells)WM. I think it makes damage and battle feel not as important, something you can just sleep off. However, the alternative rules offered in the DMG were too much of a drag on time and kept them from finishing time sensitive quests.
The purpose of these healing rules is twofold
You recover your level(or your number of hit dice) in hit points(minimum of 1) each long rest. You can double this if you weren’t in combat since your previous long rest.
You can expend your hit dice on a short or long rest and you regain 1 hit die after finishing a long rest.
When taking a long rest, it is difficult to fully recover your stamina, spells, or health while doing so in armor. A long rest is impossible in heavy armor, you will gain no benefits. A long rest is possible in medium armor, but you will gain one level of exhaustion. A long rest is easier in light armor, make a DC 10 Constitution save or gain one level of exhaustion.
There is a ritual to resurrect a deceased character, most mid-tier divine spellcasters will typically do this for a price or favor. This ritual also follows the magic spell rules for resurrecting a character.
Ritual requirements:
The atmosphere I try to convey during combat is that combat is chaotic and messy. There are times where you will not have a clear idea of what you are fighting, where you are fighting, or how you are faring against an enemy. Always feel free to ask clarifying questions. I want my players to understand and embrace that there is more to combat than your attack bonus, AC, or spellcasting. Creative problem solving, role-playing, and preparation will most certainly help you more in combat than using a +1 sword or bow. During combat, I am not fudging dice or creating unfair/unwinnable scenarios just to kill you. I am simply trying to role-play like you are. Some foes might specifically target your character, some will be stronger than you, some will use unfair tactics to try to best you, and some will have abilities that you do not. These are all parts of the game. It’s okay to feel a little salty, it’s not okay to get a bad attitude.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
I have some guiding principles I think everyone should keep in mind during combat to keep things moving smoothly.
When using theatre of the mind, the downside typically is that you as a player will feel like your character would have more knowledge in this situation than you do outside the game. Using a battle map or grid helps to give a visual aid in conveying this information, which is good but still not perfect. There will always be parts of the environment that don’t get drawn, aren’t understood properly, or honestly forgotten by the players or the DM. I typically enjoy running combat in theatre of the mind when possible. Choosing when to use one or the other can be hard to gauge, but simple terrain, low opponent count, or familiar enemies make it easier.
If you are unsure of something, always feel free to ask questions to clarify something for you. The sooner you ask the better, or we get into a situation where Tim’s 3 turn plan didn’t work and his wizard should have known that 2 turns ago and now he’s getting chewed on be 3 ghouls (don’t be like Tim). If you still feel that not having a battle map in this scenario is impeding the playability or your enjoyment, please let me know and we’ll start drawing.
Distance and movement in 5e is a little weird to me because grid diagonals use the same length as a grid side, 5ft. This tends to break the idea of distance on a combat grid when targeting from diagonals lets you get 40% more range. The DMG offers a suitable alternative rule for diagonals – every other diagonal will cost double the distance; 5, 15, 20, 30, etcWM.
While I’m not changing anything mechanically from RAW when a character drops to 0 hit points, I like to think your character retains some semblance of awareness of what is happening around them. This is more to drive the narrative that if your character gains some hit points to return to the battle you aren’t clueless as to what happened or if they end up dying we can give them a final scene, some last words, etc.
These extra options apply to NPCs and PCs equally. Remember, there is no set list of possible actions for what your character to do. If you’d like to do something that isn’t quite this or isn’t quite that, tell me what you’d like to do!
When attempting to grapple a creature, size can play an important roll. An elf will have a harder time trying to grapple a large ogre compared to a halfing, but a tiny rabbit can also deftly dodge a human trying to grab it.
| Size Comparison | Skill Check |
|---|---|
| More than one size larger | - |
| One size larger | Disadvantage |
| Same size | Regular |
| One size smaller | Advantage |
| More than one size smaller | Disadvantage |
Once you have succesfully grappled a target, you can move/drag that creature as normal OR try one of the following grappled creature options:
Pinning a Grappled Creature
When grappling a target your size or smaller, you can use your action to attempt pin them. Make an athletics check contested by their choice of athletics or acrobatics. On a success, both of you are knocked prone and your target is rendered restrained. These conditions end if you stop grappling the target or stand up.
Throwing a Grappled Creature
When grappling a target your size or smaller, as an action you can attempt to throw them in a specific direction. Make an athletics check with a -7 modifier to see how many feet feet you throw them, knocking them prone when they land. On a result of 0 or lower they are not moved or knocked prone but the grapple condition ends.
As an action, you can pick up and carry an ally if they are your size or smaller; if they are your size, you can only move at half speed while carrying them. You automatically drop your ally if you become incapacitated or prone. If you are moved against your will, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or drop your ally.
Alternatively, as a free object interaction, you can drag an ally if they are your size or smaller; you can only move at half speed while dragging them.
While carrying or dragging an ally, enemies have advantage on attacks against you.
As an action, you can use a melee weapon that deals bludgeoning damage with damage dice of d6 or greater to try to knock away a foe’s shield. Declare your intention to use this special attack before rolling. If you successfully hit your target, their AC will be considered to have no shield bonus until their next turn.
When you ready your action for an attack, you can take all the attacks you’re normally entitled to for a normal attack action. If you would like to split your attacks up, you must specify targets when readying the action. If they are no longer available to attack or out of your range you lose those attacks.
When a grenade-type weapon is used the attack is made against the square the target is in (not the target themselves), the square has an AC of 7. The attack is made using the Dexterity modifier of the character and is considered an improvised weapon (no proficiency bonus, range 20/60). Advantage or disadvantage from things like sight, being hidden, dodge action, etc are not applied to this attack. If the attack hits, the grenade activates at the feet of the character and all effects are applied as usual. If the attack misses roll a d8 to determine which direction the grenade lands, it will land the difference between the AC and the attack roll (7 minus attack roll) squares away in that direction(1 being “map north” traveling clockwise) having its usual effect in that square and any adjacent squares as appropriate.
When rolling for an attack and you land a critical hit, you get to choose:
| 2d10 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Maim; You put your opponent off balance, they can only move at half their current speed on their next turn |
| 4-5 | Feint; You hit then redirect your swing to feint and gain advantage on your next attack |
| 6-7 | Flurry; Your attack connects and you create an opening for another, roll to hit for an extra second attack |
| 8-9 | Disarm; You disarm your opponent and fling the weapon 2d4 ft; see ‘Distract’ if opponent wields natural weapons |
| 10-12 | Distract; You distract an opponent and provide an ally of choice with advantage on their next attack |
| 14-15 | Sweep the Leg; You swiftly kick as you strike and knock your opponent prone; see ‘Distract’ if the opponent is flying |
| 16 | Fury; Your swift strike connects flawlessly, roll double damage dice as usual; additionally, you chain together an additional attack, roll to hit for an extra second attack |
| 17 | Intimidate; You know exactly how to play your opponent and exploit his weaknesses, show him your bloody armor, cut off your ear, etc to cause him to flee 30 ft on his next turn unless they pass a Wisdom Saving Throw, DC 10+your Charisma |
| 18 | Stun; You tower above(literally or figuratively) as the superior fighter and cause your opponent to lose his next turn in shame unless they pass a Wisdom Saving Throw, DC 10+your Charisma |
| 19 | Break; With a bludgeoning or slashing weapon, you swing hard enough to break a piece of your opponent’s equipment; see ‘Disarm’ if non-bludgeoning(magic weapons are allowed a death save with its bonus) |
| 20 | Roll Twice; You roll twice on this table for TWO effects! |
When rolling for an attack and you roll a natural 1, roll a Death Save. On a result of 7 or below, something happens…
| d20 | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Weapon Breaks; sword snaps, spear splinters, bow body breaks, etc. –Magic weapons are allowed a DC 10 death save with its magic bonus –If natural weapon, deal [level/2]d6 damage to self and cannot use this weapon until the next short/long rest –If spell attack, component pouch spills out below where you stand, unable to cast spells requiring material components. Can gather within combat but requires 1d4 actions. Same penalty for spellcasting focus, it needs to be “reignited”. |
| 2 | Hit Ally; random ally within range in 90 degree arc is hit for half normal damage, normal miss if none available |
| 3 | Sprained Wrist; you are at disadvantage for all attacks involving your main hand until the next short/long rest – this does affects somatic spells |
| 4 | Weapon Temporarily Unusable; bowstring breaks, crossbow jams, wraps loosen on spear/sword, etc. Can fix within combat but requires an action to do so. –If natural weapon or spell attack, use “Sprained Ankle” |
| 5 | Sprained Ankle; You are at 1/2 movement speed until your next short/long rest |
| 6 | Loose Weapon; weapon flies 2d8 feet in a random direction, this also applies to component pouch or spellcasting focus. –If natural weapon, use “Out of Position” |
| 7 | Out of Position; you are at disadvantage for all attacks until the end of your next turn |
| 8+ | How Embarrassing; you miss really bad, tell the party what happened |
In addition to DMing standard Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, I’ve also been running a West Marches game. In a West Marches style game there is no set player roster, there are many players, each player can have multiple characters, each session is designed to be self contained, and all sessions take place in a singular shared world. This makes it easy for players to join the game on an at will basis without needing to worry about keeping to a certain schedule. The game runs slightly different, so I use slightly different rules and tends to focus more on exploration and combat.
West Marches Reference Document
When the DM’s HP runs out they lose the will to run the game! Good players don’t let that happen.
Some examples of things that can cause a DM to take damage:
Some examples of things that can help restore their HP:
I use a lot of these resources when DMing, playing, and even writing this document. Hopefully you find some of these useful.
From time to time, WotC will put out official-unofficial material to gauge player interest and playtest experiences. A lot of this content is off the cuff and not ready for actual play while some of it can be pretty clean and reasonable (noted in relevant sections of this document), so mileage may vary. If you’re interested, I’ve written some thoughts on some of what they have released.
WotC releases fixes for mistakes or clarifications to published content as needed. The document is cumulative, so the most recent posting usually has everything they have fixed. You might be surprised to read an official ruling that changes mechanics you use.
WotC has always been lacking on good digital tool support for D&D, which kind of sucks. In a world where everyone has mobile devices I really can’t grasp why I don’t have a phone app that makes it easy to view, filter, and choose spells. Or track my class features and HP during combat. D&D Beyond is the closest thing we have and while it is officially supported by WotC, it isn’t quite what it could be due to it being a 2nd party product and no native app support. That said, it’s been getting better and better over the months so I’m excited to see how it progresses. As a character sheet tracker, it works great!
By no means an official source of information, and sometimes a terrible source of information, but I really enjoy the weekly questions thread submitted every Monday(usually pinned near the top). Inside you’ll find both new and experienced, players and DMs all asking questions about interactions, role-playing ideas, and rule clarifications.
Neal Erickson is an incredible DM who does enjoy playing 2nd edition D&D more so than newer systems, but his wealth of information and years of experience in the game is still invaluable whether you agree with his interpretation of the grease spell or not. From time to time he records little talks about different aspects of playing D&D, from why character death is cool to how to get the DM “on your side”.
While this video series is primarily about running the game as a DM, there are some great tidbits and entire videos that players can learn from as well!
Each of these are great options to browse the SRD in an easy to navigate website.
https://www.5thsrd.org/
https://open5e.com/
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/BookIndex
In a perfect world, we would have a perfect system to handle looking up spell details.
https://www.dnd-spells.com/spells
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/BookIndex (scroll down for spells by classes)
http://hardcodex.ru/ (pdf of spell cards to download or print)
A collection of random generators for all kinds of things! Also has some 5e specific tools.
https://donjon.bin.sh/
A generator specifically for all kinds of different names.
https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
Looking for character inspiration? Start here.
http://www.whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/