House Rules - Upcoming

These have now all been copied to the relevant pages, keeping this page for posterity.

Preface

The assumption here is that not everyone will have access to the 2024 rules, whereas everyone has the 2014 rules.

Changes will therefore be limited; any big changes that won't fit on the sheet are out, so no changes that require paragraphs of text.

Rules up for change:

• Things are quite clearly broken, as indicated by the 2024 rules 'nerfing' the 2014 version.
• Existing things that were not fixed but have proven to be problematic.
• Easy updates that make things simply better/easier/etc.

D20 Test

The term D20 Test will come up in a few places. This is the 2024 term for the three different d20 rolls.

D20 Tests encompass the three main d20 rolls of the game: ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. If something in the game affects D20 Tests, it affects all three of these rolls.

Classes

Created a new page: House Rules - Classes, see there.

Skills

I've created a new page and moved the 'new skills' that used to be on the main House Rules page to there: House Rules - Skills.

The only new thing is repeated below.

Tool Skills

The 2024 rules have added a default ability to Tool Skills. I will add these to the sheet as well but keep in mind that you can use a different ability when it makes sense.

Feats

The old Feats Allowed page has been renamed House Rules - Feats, see there for all changes.

Equipment

Acid, Alchemist's Fire, Holy Water (does 2d8 damage now), Net (no longer considered a weapon), and Oil use the 2024 rules. This means replacing one of your normal attacks to throw and imposing a save on the target; Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 plus your Dexterity modifier and Proficiency Bonus).

Spells

Ritual Spells

If you have a spell prepared that has the Ritual tag, you can cast that spell as a Ritual. This means that Paladins, etc. now also can do this.

Spell Changes

Note that I have definitely not compared all spells, so more changes might be coming to this at a later date.

Counterspell

Changed to the 2024 version; now Warlocks won't suddenly lose half of their spell slots when they get counterspelled:

3rd-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of yourself casting a spell with Verbal, Somatic, or Material components	Range: 60 feet
Components: S	Duration: Instantaneous
You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell. The creature makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the spell dissipates with no effect, and the action, Bonus Action, or Reaction used to cast it is wasted. If that spell was cast with a spell slot, the slot isn't expended.

Cure Wounds

Increased healing from 1d8 to 2d8, as the 2024 version. Mass Cure Wounds from 3d8 to 5d8.

Dominate Person

The target has Advantage on the save if you or your allies are fighting it.

Gaseous Form

Changed to the 2024 version. The important changes:

• You can target one additional creature for each spell slot level above 3. [So you can now cast it on multiple people!]
• The spell ends on the target if it drops to 0 Hit Points or if it takes a Magic action to end the spell on itself. [So the other people you cast it on can end it on themselves.]

Healing Word

Increased healing from 1d4 to 2d4, as the 2024 version. Mass Healing Word also from 1d4 to 2d4.

Invisibility

Using this 2024 wording: The spell ends early immediately after the target makes an attack roll, deals damage, or casts a spell. The same goes for other items/abilities/etc. that bestow invisibility.

Phantasmal Killer

Updated to 2024 version.

Sending

Can't contact other planes unless cast using a slot of 5th level or higher, there is no fail chance.

Spiritual Weapon

Now is a Concentration spell like the 2024 version and the damage increases by 1d8 for every slot level above 2.

Vicious Mockery

Damage upped from 1d4 to 1d6.

Zone of Truth

Removed. For details read the entirety of this article. The remix suggested doesn't work either.

Rules Glossary

Exhaustion

Changed to the 2024 version but with an addition of a penalty on spell DC's. So this is what it ends up as:

• When you make a D20 Test the roll is reduced by 2 times your Exhaustion level.
• The Save DC of your spells is reduced by 2 times your Exhaustion level.
• Your Speed is reduced by a number of feet equal to 5 times your Exhaustion level.

Grappling

The new edition is a lot better but would require looking up every time. My strong preference is to just avoid grapple as much as possible; players not taking grapple feats/abilities/spells, and the DM doing the same, and using monsters with grapple sparingly.

Incapacitated

Adding two things from 2024:

• Your Concentration is broken. [This is already true in the 2014 rules but was not referenced there.]
• You can't speak.

Long Rest

2024 added a few things, including these:

• If you rested at least 1 hour before the interruption you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. - Already a house rule.
• During sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.
• You can resume a Long Rest immediately after an interruption. If you do so, the rest requires 1 additional hour per interruption to finish. - Adding this.

DMG

Diagonal Movement

For some reason I thought that this rule was removed from 5E but it turns out it was in the 2014 DMG all the time:

When measuring range or moving diagonally on a grid, the first diagonal square counts as 5 feet, but the second diagonal square counts as 10 feet. This pattern of 5 feet and then 10 feet continues whenever you're counting diagonally, even if you move horizontally or vertically between different bits of diagonal movement.

Respect

This from page 19 of the DMG is certainly a good reminder:

• Rules Aren't Physics The rules of the game are meant to provide a fun game experience, not to describe the laws of physics in the worlds of D&D, let alone the real world. Don't let players argue that a bucket brigade of ordinary people can accelerate a spear to light speed by all using the Ready action to pass the spear to the next person in line. The Ready action facilitates heroic action; it doesn't define the physical limitations of what can happen in a 6-second combat round.
• The Game Is Not an Economy The rules of the game aren't intended to model a realistic economy, and players who look for loopholes that let them generate infinite wealth using combinations of spells are exploiting the rules.
• Combat Is for Enemies Some rules apply only during combat or while a character is acting in Initiative order. Don't let players attack each other or helpless creatures to activate those rules.
• Rules Rely on Good-Faith Interpretation The rules assume that everyone reading and interpreting the rules has the interests of the group's fun at heart and is reading the rules in that light.