As a PRO DM here are my 10 favorite house rules for DnD: /u/iamthepaulruss DnD: Roll for Initiative!

1. Let the players describe their spells and abilities. Or the “flavor is free” rule

• Whenever the player casts a spell or uses an ability the first time in a campaign I like to ask them “what does that look like”. Some players really embrace the chance and others might shy away but in both circumstances it promotes communally sculpting the world in which we’re playing and helps the players better imagine their characters.
• Expanding this to a general narrative tool for the players to use to customize characters without trying over hard to accommodate exotic 3rd party sub classes can be useful. For example: Youre player wants to play a cyborg samurai. Great! You can simply “re-skin” pre-existing content! Use the artificer as a class and change a long sword into a Tachi. For new DM’s who don’t want to be overwhelmed by more features and rules or for Veteran DM’s that want to be flexible without tipping game balance this can work well for a lot of thematic changes.

1. The “I know a guy” rule.

• When players are struggling, they can use the phrase “I know a guy,” followed by an explanation of their connection to this person and how they might be helpful. After the player describes the individual, the DM will determine a DC based on their potential usefulness. A Charisma check will then determine whether this person is friendly or hostile. This can create some fun NPC’s and allows the players to flesh out their backstory.

1. Drinking a healing potion as a full action grants you its full benefit. While using it as a bonus action results in a roll

• This one is pretty straight forward. A standard healing potion grants 2d4+2HP if used as a bonus action or 10HP if used as an action.
• This makes the action feel effective and allows characters to revive a downed ally and heal themselves in a single turn. Narratively I describe bonus action healing like pouring alcohol on a wound, It stings, disinfects and stops the bleeding. While the full action knits together the wounds magically from the inside!

1. Death saving throws are made in secret

• This ups the tension and mystery and prevents metagaming

1. The “bloodied” condition

• This is to remove constant “how is everyone looking” type questions for healing, slowing down the game. The rule borrowed from 4e is simply used to communicate when an enemy or ally is below half health.
• Optionally you can use this condition for spell damage increasing (Toll The Dead from 1d8 to 1d12)
• Optionally you can make monsters or bosses more dangerous when they are bloodied to ramp up the battle. For example, A ferocious Orc chieftain who adds an additional damage die when he is bloodied or even gets 1 legendary resistance when bloodied.

1. If stats are rolled, each player gets to roll for 1 (works best with a table of 6) then those rolls are set as the standard array.

• This allows every character to be customized but with the same highs and lows leaving no players weaker or stronger based on stats.

1. Disengage grants you 5ft extra movement

• This allows characters to pull away from a fight without instantly being chased down.

1. Sundered Shields- you can effectively reduce a single attack’s damage to 0 by using your reaction to block it with your shield. This results in your shield being destroyed.

• This allows enemies as well as allies/PC’s a “get out of jail free” card. Shields take an action to equip which reduces possible cheese. I personally allow magic shields to use this 2 times. The first renders the shield temporarily susceptible i.e. temporarily non- magical and the second destroys it just like any other shield. The shield can regain its magic on a short rest with minimal repair if only used 1x.

1. A Free Flavor Feat-

• The intent is to allow for more unique customization and flavor for PC’s characters, not to make them mechanically stronger in any significantly game changing way. Removing ASI from a feat like Actor etc.

1. Skill checks/ Group checks and Help-

• If you fail the check by 10 or more you have critically failed and cannot succeed no matter how much time is taken.
• If you Succeed on the check by 10 or more you have Critically succeeded and only spend half the time it would normally take to complete.
• 1 player can roll with advantage if helped by another player, the player helping must have the requisite skill trained to do so or justify the use of a different trained skill in its place.

Or

• 2 players may attempt a check at the same time separately
• When appropriate a “group check” may be made and success will be determined by a majority of passes or fails. Crit successes and crit fails will count as double when determining the total.
• Passive skills such as insight, perception etc will be used and taken into account for the players not designated to making the roll.

And that’s it! That’s the list. Feel free to post your own, tell me any I missed or how you might change the ones I have for your table!

1. Let the players describe their spells and abilities. Or the “flavor is free” rule

• Whenever the player casts a spell or uses an ability the first time in a campaign I like to ask them “what does that look like”. Some players really embrace the chance and others might shy away but in both circumstances it promotes communally sculpting the world in which we’re playing and helps the players better imagine their characters.
• Expanding this to a general narrative tool for the players to use to customize characters without trying over hard to accommodate exotic 3rd party sub classes can be useful. For example: Youre player wants to play a cyborg samurai. Great! You can simply “re-skin” pre-existing content! Use the artificer as a class and change a long sword into a Tachi. For new DM’s who don’t want to be overwhelmed by more features and rules or for Veteran DM’s that want to be flexible without tipping game balance this can work well for a lot of thematic changes.

1. The “I know a guy” rule.

• When players are struggling, they can use the phrase “I know a guy,” followed by an explanation of their connection to this person and how they might be helpful. After the player describes the individual, the DM will determine a DC based on their potential usefulness. A Charisma check will then determine whether this person is friendly or hostile. This can create some fun NPC’s and allows the players to flesh out their backstory.

1. Drinking a healing potion as a full action grants you its full benefit. While using it as a bonus action results in a roll

• This one is pretty straight forward. A standard healing potion grants 2d4+2HP if used as a bonus action or 10HP if used as an action.
• This makes the action feel effective and allows characters to revive a downed ally and heal themselves in a single turn. Narratively I describe bonus action healing like pouring alcohol on a wound, It stings, disinfects and stops the bleeding. While the full action knits together the wounds magically from the inside!

1. Death saving throws are made in secret

• This ups the tension and mystery and prevents metagaming

1. The “bloodied” condition

• This is to remove constant “how is everyone looking” type questions for healing, slowing down the game. The rule borrowed from 4e is simply used to communicate when an enemy or ally is below half health.
• Optionally you can use this condition for spell damage increasing (Toll The Dead from 1d8 to 1d12)
• Optionally you can make monsters or bosses more dangerous when they are bloodied to ramp up the battle. For example, A ferocious Orc chieftain who adds an additional damage die when he is bloodied or even gets 1 legendary resistance when bloodied.

1. If stats are rolled, each player gets to roll for 1 (works best with a table of 6) then those rolls are set as the standard array.

• This allows every character to be customized but with the same highs and lows leaving no players weaker or stronger based on stats.

1. Disengage grants you 5ft extra movement

• This allows characters to pull away from a fight without instantly being chased down.

1. Sundered Shields- you can effectively reduce a single attack’s damage to 0 by using your reaction to block it with your shield. This results in your shield being destroyed.

• This allows enemies as well as allies/PC’s a “get out of jail free” card. Shields take an action to equip which reduces possible cheese. I personally allow magic shields to use this 2 times. The first renders the shield temporarily susceptible i.e. temporarily non- magical and the second destroys it just like any other shield. The shield can regain its magic on a short rest with minimal repair if only used 1x.

1. A Free Flavor Feat-

• The intent is to allow for more unique customization and flavor for PC’s characters, not to make them mechanically stronger in any significantly game changing way. Removing ASI from a feat like Actor etc.

1. Skill checks/ Group checks and Help-

• If you fail the check by 10 or more you have critically failed and cannot succeed no matter how much time is taken.
• If you Succeed on the check by 10 or more you have Critically succeeded and only spend half the time it would normally take to complete.
• 1 player can roll with advantage if helped by another player, the player helping must have the requisite skill trained to do so or justify the use of a different trained skill in its place.

Or

• 2 players may attempt a check at the same time separately
• When appropriate a “group check” may be made and success will be determined by a majority of passes or fails. Crit successes and crit fails will count as double when determining the total.
• Passive skills such as insight, perception etc will be used and taken into account for the players not designated to making the roll.

And that’s it! That’s the list. Feel free to post your own, tell me any I missed or how you might change the ones I have for your table!