Old School XP Progression for D&D 5e

For my PCs reference. Archetype Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Martial – Thief Rogue 0 1,200 2,400 4,800 9,600 19,200 38,400 76,800 153,600 230,400 345,600 483,840 677,376 948,326 1,043,159 1,147,475 1,262,222 1,388,445 1,527,289 1,680,018 Martial – Fighter Fighter, Ranger, […]

Identify (House Rule)

5e identify makes identifying magic items too easy, 1e/2e is too hard and I feel its onerus for both me, as the DM, and the PCs. So my goal with this to not have it as onerous as 1e, etc, but not so easy as 5e and, as the DM, not track anything: Automatically know […]

BECMI Warmachine

So I have tried various systems for mass combat over the years with D&D and most recently used the system from Strongholds and Followers which is innovative but we found it too slow and disjointed from the PCs actions. My PCs actually preferred to be directly in command of the units or fight on the […]

Interaction Skill Check

One thing I miss from older editions of D&D is a table that gives some guidance to a DM on how a random NPC (or mob of NPCs) react to PCs when roleplaying isn’t applicable (for example the players are not in the mood, or its a very minor thing like interaction with a guard). I […]

Advantage and Disadvantage in 5e

So I have an issue with Advantage and Disadvantage in 5e. I like the idea but I find it to binary and at high-level play you can have multiple advantage and disadvantages making them mostly useless after the first one of each. I am going to test out an option that actually changes it to […]

Old School XP in 5e

Here is a simple rule I am going to try next campaign. Monsters are worth 1/10th their listed XP value and a gold piece is worth 1 XP. I expect it will promote a bit more exploration and creative thinking in how to extract as much treasure as possible from a dungeon. Reminiscent of D&D […]

HOUSE RULE: MORALE

I quite liked the old 1e morale system for monsters. It works quite well for pack/mob type creatures like kobolds. Here is a quick rule you can use to simulate that old rule in 5e. Once at least one of a groups of monsters number is defeated, the adventurers can compel them to submit with a […]

Gamifying Stealth in D&D

It occurred to me last night at a D&D game that stealth gameplay is uninteresting for everyone who isn’t involved. It is nearly always a solo activity. I was thinking of ways around this and plan on using this for my game. Get a deck of cards. Have two matching monsters in the deck. In […]

HOUSE RULE: ARACANE PRECISION

I love abstract combat in 5e its improved the games pace immensely. With only a few exceptions I use it for all my combats. However it is a little problematic when it comes to AOE spells and hitting allies. The sorceress in the party was specifically avoiding picking or casting AOE spells if she couldn’t […]

HOUSE RULES: Initiative

I have been experimenting with different rules for initiative over the past six months to move away from the role once everyone acts setup. I wanted something that was faster and more engaging. I initially used speed-factor initiative. This worked well but though it was faster it added too much ambguity to the combat system […]