My Version of 5e

My friend Saterade said something interesting the other day: that every DM running 5e really needs to take the game as a template and turn it into their own system. Just like every Forgotten Realms or Eberron out there is its own distinct version of a universe, our house or table rules, our homebrews, the way we approach rulings and when we use rolls, the elements we include in our worlds and the stories we tell all make each table’s version of 5e into a distinct dialect of the game.

So in the spirit of other DMs, here’s some stuff I stole (those Dael Kingsmill videos and their comments are great sources of ideas). Generally, I err on the side of PCs are cool badasses and I want the mechanics to reflect that. I also like taking stuff from other game systems sometimes. Good ideas are good ideas!

Some house rules I use

These are rules that I’ve used in campaigns where I’m either DM or player, and I would incorporate into a new campaign.

Tasha’s class options and origin customization rules

Yes, please. Make an half-orc who was raised by her human family and speaks no Orcish. Make an elf fighter who was always a little stronger than delicate. For one thing, as an adventurer, you’re already special at level 1, so why be typical?

For another, let’s start getting rid of that racial essentialism that’s been baked into RPGs for forever. There have been a lot of interesting approaches to this from the community, like Gabe James‘ Class Modifier Module, or Arcanist Press‘s Ancestry & Culture—which is more like Pathfinder 2e’s route. In Tasha’s, WOTC went with the most open version and just said put that +1 and +2 wherever you want, but I’d absolutely recommend either of those other modules as alternatives or inspiration.

(As an aside, I don’t think optimized and RP-able are mutually exclusive. D&D is a game where numbers very much are story, so if you’re supposed to be good at being sneaky or lying to people, your abilities and proficiencies should probably reflect that. Building for the biggest damage rolls isn’t where the fun is for me, but I get it—I very much want to cast Meteor Swarm just once.)

I’m a fan of the class options, too. The reined in some of the spellcasting versatility features from the Unearthed Arcana and selfishly I like how it landed. (Yeah Wizard cantrips! It makes sense that Wizards keep so much flexibility, but I’d consider extending that to Clerics and Druids, given the source of their spells and how they manage them.)

Keep things moving

Drinking a potion is a bonus action. Let people do things.

The 5-foot step I have previously written about.

I allow Flanking when two allies are a knight’s move apart. Why not? I figure it sufficiently splits the attention of the target.

Of course, monsters and NPCs get all of these, too.

Unearthed Arcana and homebrew are great

I homebrew monster stat blocks pretty much constantly (and usually on purpose! I totally meant for those hobgoblins to have hide armor instead of chain mail, that’s why their AC was 16! I definitely didn’t read the wrong stat block 😬) so why not PCs?

I have one PC who traded a Rogue skill for proficiency in Intelligence (Trade) checks, because it makes sense for him to have some familiarity with the buying and the selling of things. Another is a Twilight Domain Cleric, and neither of us thought Vigilant Blessing was super thematic, so we replaced it. For the Drunken Master Monk, I’ve offered that we can change some stuff around and bring back a version of the 3.5e prestige class’s Noxious Breath because it’s cool—he’ll probably gain this instead of Tipsy Sway or Drunkard’s Luck. The Bard… look there’s a lot going on there but it’s backstory and the players know about this blog.

One easy source for this, and I stole this idea from my friend Noam, is opening up other subclass features: at any level where you get a subclass feature, you can take a feature from a different subclass that’s available at the same or lower level. For example when your Assassin Rogue hits level 9, maybe they’re more of a Bond-style Assassin, and the Thief’s Second Story Work fits that better than Infiltration Expertise. You’d probably want to put some restrictions, maybe around flavor, or maybe limiting the number of different subclasses you can pull from. But it’s a nice way to offer some more customization, kind of like PF2e’s Class Feats.

Another straightforward source is reskinning spells. Fireball can be Ball Lightning or Shatteraga with the stroke of a pencil. Swapping damage types within a tier (elemental: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder; mental: necrotic, psychic, radiant; force is probably most equivalent to magical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing) is a no-brainer. (Changing the damage type on the fly is a whole other can of worms.)

And I just enjoy making my own magic items. I am still proud of the Lionheart Blade, a +1 Rapier, pommel studded with… is that costume jewelry? It lets you cast Heroism on yourself once per day using Charisma. (I expected this to lead to more of a discussion but they just gave it to the Bard, which feels thematic.)

Make Intelligence matter

In most settings, when you dump Strength, you do so knowing that a bunch of aspects of adventuring—running, jumping, climbing trees—will be harder. (This is why my scrawny Wizard learned to Fly.) But Intelligence checks are typically less common, and it’s awfully easy to make it a dump stat. Sometimes, if you’re willing to lean into the RP, that can be hilarious. But often it just kind of doesn’t matter.

So another rule I was introduced to by Noam, and another one that’s very similar to PF2e: bonus proficiencies based on your INT modifier. The quick version is:

INT modifier	Bonus
+1	Proficiency in one Language or Tool
+2	Proficiency in one Language, Tool, or Skill
+3	Proficiency in one Language, Tool, or Skill, or Expertise in a Tool or Skill
+4	Proficiency in one Language or Tool

These are cumulative, so if you have +3 INT, you can pick up Elvish, Cartographer’s Tools, and Expertise in Deception—as long as it’s something where you’re already proficient, just like Rogue or Bard Expertise.

(I really wish I knew who the author of this was, but the GDoc doesn’t say. So if you know, please share so I can credit them!)

Rolling good stats

I enjoy rolling stats but don’t love the middling and mediocre results of 4d6-drop-lowest. After discussing a bunch of strategies (including 1d20—let chaos reign!) I ended up making a roll simulator and playing with options. (AnyDice is a fantastic tool but I couldn’t make it do weirder things, like “4d6+1d4, drop the lowest 2”.)

I’ve done “4d6-drop-1, but the total must be at least 70, or you can throw out all 6 and roll again”, which I think is what Matt Mercer does. It works fine, but it takes a while, since around 1/3rd of all sets of 6 will be less than 70.

Lately I’ve been leaning toward 4d6-reroll-1s-once-drop-lowest. Sure it’s still possible to roll a 4, but not especially likely. I think of this as basically a faster way to get to >=70, though I wouldn’t keep the >=70, too. It does move the average up by 1 and the standard deviation down by 0.4, though, and I really do love at least one good low stat.

Rolling hit dice

My favorite version of this is just reroll 1s. It moves the average up a tiny bit—by about 0.5—but getting a 1 is just so frustrating.

One thing I’ve done and don’t recommend is “you can used fixed or roll.” Pick one for the table.

One that my friend Paul has done is that you can’t roll under half, e.g. if you roll a 3 on a d8, you use 4; if you roll a 1 on a d6, you use 3. My only quibble with this is that the bigger your hit die, the more you benefit from it: for a d6, the average goes up 0.5; for a d8, by 0.75; for a d10, by 1; and for a d12, by 1.25. But it’s a nice way to ensure everyone gets some new HPs every level.

Upcasting spells that counteract each other

I’m going to write about rules I’d like to try in another post, since this one got so long. But I’m going to cheat, because it’s my blog and because this one hasn’t come up on stage in a campaign, but it’s in my head. I haven’t run it by the players yet, so feedback pending.

I appreciate the mage vs mage aspects of Dispel Magic and Counterspell. If I cast Beacon of Hope at 5th level, it takes a 5th level Dispel to automatically get rid of it, or the DC 15 spellcasting ability check.

Lots of spells specify that they interact, but as far as I know, only those two say anything about higher levels—and fair play, they are specifically to interfere with other spells! But I want to extend this mechanic (at the same level, one wins, otherwise make an ability check) to at least a couple other pairs.

Arcane Lock vs Knock

I’m most confident about this one. Knock wins at the same level, but a 7th level Arcane Lock should be tougher to break. (I’d also consider raising the DC to pick the lock an additional, oh I dunno, 5? per level above 2nd. A 5th level Arcane Lock would be DC 35, which is just barely pickable with Expertise at level 17.)

Darkness vs (Day)light

Cards on the table, this explicitly disagrees with Sage Advice (page 16), so I’m less certain about it.

Darkness is a 2nd level spell and says: “If any of this spell’s area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, the spell that created the light is dispelled.” Change it to “of equal level or lower”. Similarly, Daylight says “overlaps with an area of darkness created by a spell of 3rd level or lower” so make the same change. (RAW, I think you can upcast Darkness to avoid Daylight dispelling it, because when using a higher level spell slot, “the spell assumes the higher level for that casting.” So 4th level Darkness is a 4th level spell.)

The way these two are worded, I feel like my change would mean either would dispel the other if cast at the same level, most recent one wins—but there are other spells that create light. I’d only apply this to spells that directly create light, like Dawn, not that create flames that shed light or similar.

Others?

These were the ones that I remembered immediately but I think there might be others where this kind of interaction makes sense.

Start at level 2+

I can’t really imagine starting a campaign session 1 at level 1 again. Maybe session 0 or 0.5. If I were to start at level 1, I’d probably do something like I do for low level one-shots, where your starting max HP is CON score + hit die, instead of CON modifier.

Level 1 is just so fragile, y’all. It’s like the only time I’ve ever fudged a roll. (Sorry to break the illusion but someone was gonna straight up die cause I rolled too high too many times. I’m not Colville.)

Rules I want to try

This post got really long so part 2 is going to be homebrew, house rules, and things from other systems that I want to try but haven’t gotten to yet. Like simplified encumbrance a la PF2e, Powered by the Apocalypse’s partial success (similar to something mentioned in the DMG), Rumors, Popcorn and Fast/Slow initiative, “shields shall be splintered,” and some other stuff.

In the meantime, what are your favorites? Stealing^WSharing ideas and learning from each other is one of my favorite parts of this whole tabletop community, so show ’em off in the comments. And be sure to like and smash that subscribble! Sweet dreams.