House Rules - Upcoming

Work in progress! Please ignore until final version is complete!

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.

Classes

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

Skills

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. I've created a new page and moved the new skills to there: House Rules - Skills.

Feats

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

Spells

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

Sending

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

Zone of Truth

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