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 […]

HOUSE RULES: Rangers and Favoured Enemies

House rules for favoured enemies

Boons & Banes

I like the advantage system but I don’t really track it very well. So I am going to keep that system as is and dish out the reward as needed, but since I am inattentive to it, I am reintroducing Fate Points from my previous campaigns (stolen from WFRP back in 1987) as I feel that suits […]