This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

[5e] My table rules as they currently stand. Criticize mercilessly, show me yours

Started by Shipyard Locked, September 29, 2016, 01:41:36 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Omega

Quote from: cranebump;922858Main thing I've heard about is complaints about Druid Wildshape being OP. Used to be some complaints about Dwarven wizards?


The basic Druid is fine. Its the Moon druid thats strong. But not as OP as too many claim it is. See other thread for discussion on that. The elemental forms are a potential nuisance. But if you keep in mind their limitations then its more or less managable.

The dwarven wizard (Mountain Dwarf subset) as a DM I had no problems with. I was a little dubious. But one of my players is playing one. With access to medium armour you can hit up to an AC of 17. Mage Armour can hit up to AC 18 with a high DEX so in the end having a dwarf wizard was nothing special.

Omega

Quote from: cranebump;922829Not running 5E, but just wondering--is anyone else having to house rule it as much as the OP? More? Less?

More like re-introducing some things dropped between playtest and publication and some tweaks  or just offering more thematic options without changing things. Spell focus use is in discussion and theres a few other points that are annoying but not sure if warrant as they are not common enough to waste time fretting over.

The Beast Master Ranger is one that once again it was Jan who brought up ideas on even though she didnt play one. Overall her opinion was the Ranger was lacking in oomph. This though based on her idea of what a Ranger does.

Everyone so far ignores inspiration. Or just forgets its there.

Shipyard Locked

Quote from: Omega;922869The basic Druid is fine. Its the Moon druid thats strong. But not as OP as too many claim it is. See other thread for discussion on that. The elemental forms are a potential nuisance. But if you keep in mind their limitations then its more or less managable.

Yes, after much consideration I decided to go with a lighter fix. They shouldn't get a solid multi-attack three levels before everyone else and should be more inconvenienced by the loss of shape (note that it gives monsters time to damage the REAL druid, costing real resources for the player instead of the recharge-after-short-rest wildshapes). The utility functions are still amazing.

I'm holding off on further nerfing the elementals forms for now. I'm tempted to remove the non-magic weapon resistance until level 15, as most settings are ill-prepared to deal with an intelligent elemental that can laugh off their weapons and escape through earth and air at 90ft a round.

Necrozius

My house rules (which evolved through actual play over a year-long campaign):

- critical hits are max damage die + roll one more. Example: with a shortsword, you would deal 6+d6 damage, not 2d6. Rationale: I felt that critical hits were frequently lackluster. People would cheer as they rolled a 20 only to get less than avarage damage (even without a crit). I said oh hell naw. Of course, the same applied to monsters. Players loved it, and were disappointed that our new DM isn't using this rule herself (even though when she was a player, she loved it).

- incapacitated means that the character is still conscious but can only crawl around and talk. Can automatically fail a death save to make an attack or other physically exerting action (can cast a spell without somatic components but won't stabilize). Rationale: i hate it when my players can't do anything. I know that's an unpopular view around these parts, but I want everyone to be able to play all the time (even handing over NPCs monsters for them to control if their character isn't present during a scene).

- the Fighter's exceptional athlete ability is boosted to give the Fighter double their expertise bonus to Athletics checks. Also, three times per long rest, the Fighter can make a "Heroic Leap", crossing crazy distances and/or landing in a difficult spot. Rationale: I felt that the Fighter was still lackluster and underperforming. I wanted to give him a boost.

Opaopajr

fuck all y'all! i'm bookkeeping actual life bullshit like my life depends on it AND scrambling scribbling out handmade scrawl Changeling the Dreaming cards... and you bastards get to talk about D&D 5e houserules (ehr mehgerd, meh frevrit)! i have backlog account statements from when WaMu was still in business! ("were you even born in 90s? i probably have tax forms older than you..." /bitter scene-ster voice)

booo! have you no decency?!

PS: Ban Leomund's Tiny Hut spell. It fucks with Short/Long Rest economy.
PPS: Srsly, that paper shredder game, tho... :mad:
Just make your fuckin\' guy and roll the dice, you pricks. Focus on what\'s interesting, not what gives you the biggest randomly generated virtual penis.  -- J Arcane
 
You know, people keep comparing non-TSR D&D to deck-building in Magic: the Gathering. But maybe it\'s more like Katamari Damacy. You keep sticking shit on your characters until they are big enough to be a star.
-- talysman

Doom

Quote from: cranebump;922829Not running 5E, but just wondering--is anyone else having to house rule it as much as the OP? More? Less?

I don't know if it's so much house-ruling, as ruling on the fly. 5e doesn't really have alot of rules for, well, most things. For instance, the Stealth/Hiding rules are basically nonexistent. So you're going to go with "roll for it" and hope that's good enough.

But you definitely want to approach 5e the way you approached AD&D: these are hastily assembled rules with minimal playtesting with much that was not well thought out. It would take hundreds of pages to formally address all the little issues, it just makes more sense to deal with things as they come up.

Before the assault, I still maintain "the big picture" of 5e is pretty good, and, bottom line, there is no RPG system that is going to model everything that goes on in reality in perfect detail.

And, yea, Leomund's Tiny Hut is a bit of an issue. Like many other spells, the power just seems to go up and up with every edition. Best you can do with it is realize the monsters might well find it, and prepare an ambush...of course, the party can just Hut again if they don't get TPKed, so yeah, issues...
(taken during hurricane winds)

A nice education blog.

Omega

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;922940I'm holding off on further nerfing the elementals forms for now. I'm tempted to remove the non-magic weapon resistance until level 15, as most settings are ill-prepared to deal with an intelligent elemental that can laugh off their weapons and escape through earth and air at 90ft a round.

Definitely consider even totally dropping the non-magic weapon resistance since in 5e magic weapons are somewhat more rare and if you are running the game with that sort of rarity then immunities and resistances become a severe problem.
Some thoughts there. Monks can ignore resistances and even immunities at level 6. Blade Pact Warlocks weapon counts as magical and they get that at level 3. 3rd level is also when the Wizard can pick up Magic Weapon. (And hilariously a Battle Master Fighter can trip an elemental to knock it down.) The other thing to keep in mind is that the Druid doesnt get the elemental forms till level 10.

As for extra attack some forms get. Two thoughts. 1. disallow the 2nd attack till level 5. 2: have it use the Druids bonus action. Monks get that at level 1.

Omega

Something else we've seriously considered is beefing up the Restrained status. As is its just a slightly more effective Grappled status. Make it so it prevents somatic spellcasting.

Speaking of Grappled. One suggestion was to beef that up as well with the following. If you get a successfull grapple then on a following turn you can make another check vs the opponent to upgrade the hold from grappled to restrained.

Omega

Quote from: Doom;922964I don't know if it's so much house-ruling, as ruling on the fly. 5e doesn't really have alot of rules for, well, most things. For instance, the Stealth/Hiding rules are basically nonexistent. So you're going to go with "roll for it" and hope that's good enough.

PHB page 177. Pretty straightforward. DEX(Stealth) check to initiate. After that someone actively looking gets a WIS (Perception) check to spot them and everyone else has a passive perception check to notice them. Cant attempt stealth/hiding if being observed. Invisible creatures can try to hide/stealth at any time. They arent automatically stealthy.

Doom

Quote from: Omega;922983PHB page 177. Pretty straightforward. DEX(Stealth) check to initiate. After that someone actively looking gets a WIS (Perception) check to spot them and everyone else has a passive perception check to notice them. Cant attempt stealth/hiding if being observed. Invisible creatures can try to hide/stealth at any time. They arent automatically stealthy.

Correct, PHB 177 does exist. You roll for it.

Looking from light into darkness? You'll have to make something up.
Relative size difference?  You'll have to make something up
Darkvision? You'll have to make something up
Cover? You'll have to make something up
Distraction? You'll have to make something up
Invisible but noisy? You'll have to make something up
Multiple Mooks looking? You'll have to make something up

Or...just roll for it and not care about the lack of rules.
(taken during hurricane winds)

A nice education blog.

rawma

Quote from: cranebump;922829Not running 5E, but just wondering--is anyone else having to house rule it as much as the OP? More? Less?

I have a lot less house rules than the OP, but some of them looked like rulings I might make if someone wanted to do the relevant thing (like Crafting, Overrun, Tumble, maybe Disarm) and a lot looked kind of fiddly (adjusting ranges and damage of spells - why were the original rules that bad?). None of them would put me off playing in a game with these house rules.

Shipyard Locked

Quote from: rawma;923011... and a lot looked kind of fiddly (adjusting ranges and damage of spells - why were the original rules that bad?)

A lot of those small adjustments are direct reactions to smart players effectively saying, "Why would I ever take this given the other options?" and then us crunching the math together and determining it to be so.

For me personally there is an additional motivating question: "Why buy splatbooks or otherwise add bundles of new features until you've fixed the existing subpar options so that they are worth exploring?"

I hate dead material in core books.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Doom;9229645e doesn't really have alot of rules for, well, most things.

You're welcome.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

Doom

Quote from: RPGPundit;923413You're welcome.

Thank you in advance? Seriously, it's not a criticism, it's folly to even attempt to model all aspects of reality within a few hundred pages of text. "Go with what feels right" has the huge advantage of not having much in the way of loopholes.
(taken during hurricane winds)

A nice education blog.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Doom;923693Thank you in advance? Seriously, it's not a criticism, it's folly to even attempt to model all aspects of reality within a few hundred pages of text. "Go with what feels right" has the huge advantage of not having much in the way of loopholes.

I didn't take it as a criticism. I was taking credit for it.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.