What are YOUR Favorite Rules? Let me know and I might showcase them in a video! 🔴 JOIN 🔥 Become a RUclips Member ruclips.net/channel/UCz8xkTADYdRQR7GP-f2PjOAjoin 🐲 Become a Patron 🐉 www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach ▶️ Dungeon Coach Homebrew Playlist 📱 ruclips.net/p/PLMzshUEANAtOovJb_pr27pwLOTR3nn19g Time Stamps for Each House Rule: #1 Bonus Action Potions 0:33 #2 Proficient Help 0:45 #3 Healing Potion System 1:12 #4 Roll for Health 2:33 #5 Bonus Lvl Up Perk 4:41 #6 No Passive Perception 5:38 #7 Skill Variant Checks 6:45 #8 No Evil Players 7:47 #9 “I Know a Guy” 8:48 #10 Thematic Progression 10:40 Hope this helps!
I have a couple rules for potions and healing. Drinking a potion during combat takes 5 rounds, and triggers attacks of opportunity, for all five rounds. Don't think it should be, grab your favorite soda, I'll grab a stick, and we'll see how many times I can hit ya, while your opening the bottle. So, basically no potions during combat. This is grittier and must be adjusted for. Also slow healing. Healing takes minutes instead of rounds. With the possibility of creating high level healing spells, that can be used in combat, but reduce potency. Slow healing isn't really a house rule though. Got that from Unearthed Arcana 3.5. I also like the vitality and wound point system, especially because it makes rules about being on the ground and dying, more comprehensible, because it's not a separate mechanic, but one that's always in play. No vitality points, but you still have wound points = unconscious. All attacks deal wp damage. No wound points, but you still have vp = incapacitated. Conscious but unable to move. Actions require constitution checks, and can result in large losses of vp. VP&WP already handles subdual damage without creating a separate mechanic. With a house rule that foregoing the possibility of causing wp damage, can grant a bonus to vp damage. Also love generic characters from UA. It makes basic classes more flexible, and the base classes as prestige classes method, can still reward focus. Generic classes also make it easier to qualify for a specific prestige class, since it makes class features available as feats. But if you have a Buy the Numbers guide from DTRPG, and can do some number crunching, the class feature of any class could become available. I'd say more but I'm thinking about publishing on DTRPG someday. The first titles would be free, but still want them to have new stuff in them.
i guess im asking the wrong place but does anybody know of a way to get back into an Instagram account?? I stupidly forgot the password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me!
@Merrick Christian Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm in the hacking process atm. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
The Variant: Skills with Different Abilities is in the PHB p175. The example they give is swimming for long periods of time or trying to get to shore during a storm. The DM asks for a Constitution Athletics check. It even mentions the Strength Intimidation check specifically.
Nice! Yea the healing potions were so annoying when players never knew how much they were (or myself lol) So this made it simple! I could also easily choose the "strength" of the potions they found in their loot/ potion shops (or crafting)
"Evil" characters don't always think of themselves as evil, and evil doesn't always lead to backstabbing. LE and NE can be just as loyal to party as "good" characters.
Michael Robinson O for sure! Totally agree! I mainly would have the conversation with the player to make sure they doing ruin the time at the table/ plan to Murder everything lol. I’ve always loved the concept that villains are heroes in their own mind.
Drashna Jael're Haha I know right! I am going to make an entire video on this 😆 I just don’t like things being an “auto succeed” because the players have an expectation for it to. But then again I could always raise the DC... but that feels bad to have to dance around this mechanic is all. Because there is nothing like “Passive Athletics” as an official stat lol
I actually look at your "No Passive Perception" rule as my "all passive checks" rule. If you are proficient at something, trivial stuff is automatic, regardless of what it is. Also, passives replace literal passive uses of skills. You either know that it's a skeleton or you don't. You can research quickly (roll), but that requires an active use of the skill. Another example of how this is implemented in game is stealth versus perception... Most guards are not *actively* searching. They are just doing their job and aren't alerted such that they are actively looking at every crevice. Due to this, they use "passive perception." If they are alerted, they can switch to active perception, but stealth is the same way... Staying hidden in a room or reacting to hide quickly is a passive action compared to the guard possibly actively searching because they "heard a noise." This is particularly important as you move through a large building because that is more of a reactive situation. Unless you notice the guard in that specific location (with your own perception or by mapping out guard routes), you are only sort of ready to duck for cover at a guard. If you do notice the guard, however, you can rush to a suitable hiding spot. I combine this with your "Proficient Help" rule in a way. I don't like the scenarios when the Warrior crit fails to lift the gate and the Wizard crit succeeds, so it makes that wizard look like a hero and the specialist look like a fool. I give group rolls to a group and the person with the highest bonus rolls it if success is a group effort. If a single failure can complicate the entire group, the worst person in the group makes the roll. Help actions still apply, of course. The last thing that I have been toying with but haven't actively implemented yet in my games is "success at a cost" for failed checks. If the check matters for progression of the story/plot (it's important for what's going on) and they do not roll a success on the associated check, I can deem them to have succeeded, but they do so at a cost. Yes, you get that item you were pickpocketing, but a guard notices. You decipher the clue, but your nemesis managed to do so more quickly and you are now at a disadvantage, time-wise. Keep the story moving, but add interesting complications. This is obviously loosely used based on circumstances. The final confrontation could never bee a "success at a cost" option, obviously, unless it is a huge cost (like the death of your character, and you are willing to allow that for the success). Minor stuff that's unrelated to the plot progression likely doesn't use this system either.
Robert Masengale I love your description of stealth and perception! Well said! The group roll success focused on the “main” person is something I’ve done too. Describe a group effort but centered around one character to “let them shine” Success at a cost.... ooooooooo I love it! Give that to the players as an option for certain moments and then come up on the spot with what “punishment” they have. That could be sweet!
I love this rule bc it just allows feats to be more accessible without having the same race across the party. I wish feats were more accessible/impactful since you are giving up abilty score increases for one
I do the same thing! I should have mentioned that with my #5 Bonus Level Up Perk. I do the same thing. They make their character and after they describe what they are/ what they want to be then I make them a custom feat! Maybe that’s what we Collab on!? 😆
That’s where the bonus level up system came from! I give my players cool things here and there so they feel free to do whatever they want with those “Ability Score Improvements”. I put that in my “character creation” homebrew rules section 👍🏼
We just started to do the same in our table, but we decided that the feat you can choose at 1st level cannot be a """combat""" feat: no great weapon master, no sharpshooter, no dual wielder, for example. It has to be a feat that is related more with the roleplaying and the character background (actor, athlete, dungeon delver...): racial feats are ok as well. In this way, all the feats that nobody ever takes (i.e.: keen mind, lightly armored, linguist...), are introduced back into the game.
Luca Bellarosa Oooo I love that restriction! That even makes the player stop and think about what their character is like outside of combat and how they’d want to play them.
That’s what I was going for! Thank you! The video was originally 2 and 1/2 hours haha but that’s just from me sucking at filming. Gotta keep things efficient!
I actually did the thematic progression part for the backstory of my one shot character. She was a Storm Herald Barbarian/Horizon Walker Ranger, with her combat ability and connection to lightning being explained via her being a warrior connected to the Plane of Water, also part of why she was a pirate, the explanation for the Ranger portion of her kit (Captain and navigator)
Ive watched,what feels like, most of the 5e houerule/homebrew compilation videos on youtube. This series is really good! I would love to see more! Im partial to combat rules myself, but I would love to hear your take on death mechanics as well. Keep em coming! This channel is really shaping into something good :)
That means more than you know Miles, thank you, really! I fell in love with D&D mainly to the endless creativity of it! So I’m glad to hear people are getting inspired by hearing new ideas! SOOOO much on death, that was some of my first homebrews since I felt the current 5e death system is... not threatening enough. BUT I don’t necessarily want to run a full blown gritty death game lol. So I think I found a good balance.
About the " I know a guy " the check you would roll is charisma, but I'm thinking, the guy that they do know, their relationship doesn't have to be based around friendship. I can easily imagine a scenario, where the group Barbarian once had an armwrestling competition in town and beat the local blacksmith, and so I would make him roll a Strength check (plus prof?) to see if he won that armwrestling competition, and won it well enough (beat the DC with 5 or more) to warantee this blacksmith's respect. Same for Librarians and Intellectual debates, or a common street thief steals from the party's rogue who, amused, follows the street thief and steals his bag back - contested sleight of hand roll, etc. (Sorry I'm commenting on an old video like this, but I've watched all your videos so all I can do now is rewatch them to absorb Maximum Knowledge for my sessions haha)
201 likes, so now you have to do another homebrew house rules video ;). Also id like you to know that my group and i love your content. cheers from Spain!
Pau YEA!!! You actually have no idea how much comments like that help me know when that happens lol I have so many videos now, it’s hard to keep track! Thank you for the support to FROM SPAIN!! 👍🏼 You’ll like this weeks video on my Homebrew Rules for Long rests! Stay tuned 😆
I still feel like you really just said that you don't use passive perception but then just described passive perception. Except I guess it's more on DMs judgment so if my Cleric has high perception because it's a WIS based class but the DM doesn't think being perceptive is a part of my character but the only the Inquisitive Rogue, then it's the rogue that notices things. Not to say that it's what you meant, it''s just that it has been my experience that similar justification is used by DMs to downplay characters who - perhaps due to optimization - have above-average number of strong points. I know it is not the topic of this video but here is how I use PP: 1) Only the first character in marching order in dungeons uses their PP for traps. This puts them in more danger. 2) When creatures try to ambush the party, roll their Stealth against character PPs. 3) Just have it so players don't feel like they have to constantly actively look for things - unless there is an actual reason. More on topic - I do something similar to skill variant checks but I just ask for several checks similar to how skill challenges work. I find that just replacing the attribute leads to scenarios where players believe their barbarian should always intimidate with STR. A lot of people like that and I can understand where they are coming from (even though I more disagree than not) - but if I did something like that I would simply set a house rule for that at the start of the game. I don't find it leads to creativity, only justification for decisions you've already made.
I love comments like this! On the last point on skill checks, yea if players are abusing the system/ using it not as intended then I’ll shut it down, but it’s also for DMs to come up with appropriate skill checks to set your players up for success or how to address those weird rolls We pretty much agree on passive perception, and your cleric example was perfect (I should have put that in the video!) because their high WIS from being a cleric might not be the “perceptive” type I agree with all your points about it except how I’d run it for traps Whoever is leading the group is who makes a roll, it feels bad for them to know it’s a “19 perception group leader” I like the instability of what that roll could be super good or bad. I’m also playing with the idea of that being a secret roll made (that’s a whole ‘nother conversation lol) But I see the value of both! I basically just like to have higher stakes always be rolls and not passive scores. But I definitely set the stealth check DC based on what the monsters general awareness ability would be, which is totally the same thing as a passive perception, I just don’t calculate it as such
@@TheDungeonCoach Just to be clear - my Cleric example was not supposed to be a good thing (I think you might have taken it as such? unclear). If two characters have the same perception they are equally perceptive. I was making a point over shoe-horning characters into single stereotypes and pushing their actual skills and abilities into the background. In a complete hyperbole example, if a player can somehow manage to make their character a combat god, intelligent and perceptive - then all of those are their strengths even if it overlaps with other characters. Additionally, it's nice if people RP their character strengths well, but it shouldn't be the case where a skill works worse (in this case - perception) because the player doesn't constantly RP attention to detail. On the topic of "19 PP group leader" - I suppose I am pretty flexible with DCs so round numbers don't mean much in my games. Also, I do understand the idea of more chaos from failures - although I find that I prefer that traps are among the things that should more reliable and character strengths (proficiencies) mitigate their chance to fail. It's the old debate over whether any character no matter how good they are at something should have a 5% chance to fail.
I think we’re on the same page about the cleric. A rogue that defines his character by his dungeon delving should be better than the cleric not proficient at perception and just has +5 Wis. Each player should have something they should “shine” at. I will also throw in traps that the rogue will auto find, to make them feel special or whatever. So I guess there’s another time to use it, but the “real traps” have a roll for em. I always believe in the everyone has a chance to fail... I coach sports so this is the first annalogy that comes to mind. Professional NBA players shooting a free throw... they have usually FAR more than 5% chance to miss. And in general something can always go wrong/ not go right, so combat/ spells/ checks should always have a chance for failure in my mind and that being at the table makes the dice feel more exiting to me too... since it’s not a “sure thing”
@@TheDungeonCoach No, I think we disagree after all. It was very much my issue that a character's mechanical strength is downplayed because the DM doesn't think of it as being part of the class fantasy, or because it overlaps with another player (especially if it is their class fantasy), or the player doesn't actively RP that skill as a core part of their character personality. If two characters have the same perception, they are equally perceptive - if RP reasons trump stats, why have stats to begin with? A rogue should be better at dealing with traps not just because of their perception - but also because they are proficient in DEX saves which are usually going to be what traps ask for, as well as having the skills/tools to disarm them. There is nothing wrong with cleric noticing a trap before a rogue does. Of course, I'm not talking about player-specific hooks like you mentioned in the video (noticing a hooded figure etc.). If you don't like how attributes interact with skills in 5e (e.g. part of dungeon delving rogue fantasy being their perception, when WIS is not their primary attribute) - that is fair but should be framed as significantly hacking the system itself (compared to most of your other house rules) - and I feel like would require a thorough explanation for the players before the game starts. I would seriously change how I make my characters if I knew that I would be seriously hampered in any skill where it's a core part of another character. Specializing is a good thing but under rules like this, I would actively avoid overlapping at all costs because it's effectively like taking a flat -X point penalty to skill checks.
@@Serutans Ok so NOW we are on the same page I see what you're saying now. Stats not mattering which undercuts everything and their entire purpose. But ultimately this lines up with how I handle it too. I dont use Passive Perception in this way, so if that cleric with the high wisdom wants to roll for it then go ahead! They can be as perceptive as they want. But if you go back to how you said you only let them choose one player to do this, then whoever is chosen has their "time to shine". But yes I would never just tell someone they can do something better than someone else for background of flavor reasons, a good example is if this cleric has a higher + to perception than the rogue thats character is "defined by it" I would reflect that CLASS FANTASY with a bonus level up perk. and Grant them ADV on perception, or expertise... something that gives them the MECHANICAL functionality to actually have the stats match the characters like you were saying.
as someone who's played a fair share of evil characters, it's my experience that evil characters can be team players. I have an warlock of the undying patron who made a pact with a lich, My character sees his party as his property, and no one messes with his property *he never leaves the party behind*. He want's only the finest and his property must look it's best *he shares loot and gold to with others.* and he wants to come across as civilized *he doesn't murder people in the street for no reason.* But he is very evil, he riled a gang war to feed souls to his lich, he sold out a friendly spirit on the town guard when they asked him too many questions, he has a book made out of human skin and he lops off the hands of people he defeats in battle *he does this because he's missing his own hand, but it's okay, the lich reanimated it as a crawling claw and that's now his familiar.*
@@TheDungeonCoach it came about because i was thinking, "what's considered the worst warlock" and undying and pact of the chain came up, so i figured, how can i make this work? lol he makes liberal use of the mage hand spell.
Im enjoying this channel . . i watch many DnD you tubers, and something here is different. YOur take is often inspiering. :) AND A QUESTION :) You mention Passive Perception, and i agree,it doesnt fit in. And one of my players have a Familiar, Owl, Passive Perception 18. And he Uses it ALL The time. As a DM i feel the player kind of hands all the play over to me and his familiar. Do you have a take on how to handle Familiars?
Peter Jørgensen thanks man! I try and be efficient and useful! Love hearing that it’s inspiring too! Ok so here’s my 2 cents Any time I feel like a player or item or whatever is “breaking the game” (mechanically/ thematically/ systematically, whatever) I have a talk with that player/ the group about it. It is meta gaming and feels bad that the players owl (which your right is technically YOU) handles all these moments. Especially with the flying AND passive perception So I already would be hesitant to give a player one, but let’s fix it now that that’s already happened :) Talk to the player about it being too strong and changing how “automatic” passive perception is, and give the owl a bonus to rolls like it would, but nothing crazy and just make it roll for stuff. I’ve also changed how easy it is to just summon them back, and even had one die so often when it came back... it wouldn’t listen to its master anymore... like a beaten dog 😢 Another tip, have it cause something bad to happen. If the player ONLY has good things happen to their owl... then of course they would use it! I’d also implement a restriction of distance too LAST THING when you talk to your player come at it from the perspective that they are so strong that it’s limiting opportunity for the others at the table/ becoming repetitive.... AND if you feel like he would resent the nerf... then buff something else cool
I'm currently playing an evil character in a good campaign, but it took a bit of setup out of game, and it's working great. First, I talked to my DM and the player who's character I will eventually betray to make sure there would be no hard feelings or blindsiding out of game. My character will eventually turn on the party, and hurt the one character very badly (possibly kill) before leaving the party and becoming an NPC (and our next BBEG). Only one player knows the plan, and she's the only one who will be in any danger. Second, being evil doesn't make him completely socially unaware. My character may not have sympathy for the orphans in the work camp, but he knows that freeing them will make him look good and earn him the trust of the party. He knows that stealing from the party will piss everyone off, and keeping everyone on his good side (for now) will help him accomplish his goals. It's commonly said that "Lawful Good doesn't mean Lawful Nice." Well, my motto is "Lawful Evil doesn't mean Lawful Rude."
All good ideas, but I particularly love the last two, and I bet you can guess why! I've had loose ideas for PC-NPC contacts and relationships, but wasn't sure how to implement them within the rules set, so far. I like the idea you've presented of working with the players to create/generate new ones when it would be appropriate in the story for their characters to have/meet them. This idea may help me to figure out how to do so with my game rules. You got me thinking! 🤔 I also love the idea of thematic progression, because of course you know I hate level based progression to begin with because it's sudden and nonsensical and doesn't come from what the character is actually doing in the story. So good on you for finding a way to do it in a level based system! My hat off to you!
YES!! I literally did a little fist pump when I read this! I know you as a DM well enough to know you have high standards for your systems and rules. Glad these got ya thinking! ✊🏼
Benjamin Harl there’s a whole thing I want to do about adapting other game systems to D&D, I’m sure that process would speak to what you do all the time!
Thanks man! I just love to share the creativity and spread it around! One of my main things I try and provide is creative thinking, so I really loved your comment, thank you!
I asked my players which potion rule they want from two choices. 1. Potions always heal the full amount. 2. Potions can be used as a bonus action. They chose the first option and it makes sense in my world too. It's a high magic setting so the knowledge on how to make quality potions is available and you don't get those nasty 4 HP potions.
Rampe I also think that a lotion would be able to heal a set amount of health too, would make sense! Love it! And I love how you have it as an option to your players! Pro DM move there
12:21 Why does a Barbarian's Rage need to come from anger? Next, you are going to tell me Warlocks need to make deals, Clerics need to worship gods and Bards need to seduce dragons. The class description in the Player's Handbook is just the beginning of wisdom, not the end. What else can create the Rage-like effect you might ask? Rocky Balboa being determined to win. Son Goku really enjoying a good fight. Montery Jack smelling cheese.
I truly enjoy homebrew games. They feel more open and as you state "Alive" compared to pre-written modules. I run a 2e campaign that was created back in the late 80's, yes, I'm that old, and I've be running it off and on for 30+ years. I have many homebrew rules, magic item, spells, creatures, etc. and they add to the flavor and fun of the game as my players will attest. You're basing your rules on the 5e system which I absolutely despise however some of your rules cross over to 2e. I have variations on most of the ones you mentioned. Others aren't applicable. I do applaud you on your creativity though. Keep up the good work.
3. Do negative con mod PC have that negative to the healing potion? I would do a minimum of +1 for level 1, +2 for level 2, etc. 6. Ehhh feels like you should just expand how many passive skills you take into account. Sometimes a player wants to use their high ability, expertise, feat, etc to get a crazy passive perception so their PC’s strength is their senses (while they are not so powerful elsewhere). Sounds like you’re saying that you’ll help that be realized until you want to hit them with a trap/ambush you don’t want to give away. If they forget to say they check for traps in a dungeon, do you ignore their crazy high perception?
Bonus action potions are my 2nd least favorite homebrew. Many classes don't even have a useful way to use them in the first place, so drinking the potion is automatic. Instead give it an effect that makes it feel more worthwhile. I'm not talking about more health. Bake in super True Strike to make it feel better. You feel revitalized, gain xdy+z HP, if all of this restores health, you gain advantage on ALL actions next round. (that middle section is to prevent chugging a cheap potion at full health for the effect) Variant skills are fine, but STR for Intimidation has always bugged the hell out of me. STR is your ability to lift, break, and overpower things. It has nothing to do with Intimidation. Take this scenario: two chieftains. Chief A has 20 STR and 8 CHA. Chief B has 20 STR and 20 CHA. They are each intimidating the same target by bending a steel bar in front of them for information. According to that rule, they are both rolling the exact same (@ +5). That doesn't make sense, Chief B should be way more effective. The STR is a tool to make the Intimidation more successful. Instead use Advantage! Intimidation is always CHA. If you are stronger than the target AND make a demonstration of it, then you get advantage.
One of my fav simple/universal tweaks: Basically every roll has a threshold for "soft" success or "soft" failure. Instead of a static "all or nothing" pass/fail, success is tiered based on what they are trying to accomplish. For example, if someone was picking a lock with a DC 20, I'll have a "soft success" threshold at 15, and a "soft failure" threshold at, say, 5. If they roll a 17, they don't fully succeed, but they got a soft advancement towards what they were trying to accomplish (Door stays locked, but as they juggle the tumblers, they realize... the door is actually trapped, or a guard walks pass the other side and they hear it just in time to stop). Basically I'll create a "natural" reason why the character would stop, but still make them look good in the process. On the flip side, if they roll a 4 something a little bad happens (lock pick breaks and is now jammed in the lock, increasing the DC of picking it). Depending on the circumstance I may drop the soft-failure (if there's really no risk to the action) threshold, etc. but it's a fun mechanic I use on the back end to make things feel more dynamic.
Rolling for health is ... really something you need to be a negotiator about. If your players are cool with it, that's great, but I do hope that if you have a player who flat out tells you no that you just let them take a flat number. I have a friend who loves randomization and I always humor him with it once to see if I like the result, but usually... I hate it, and I make it pretty clear I want to build my character from the ground up to suit the vision I had for them after that. The best alternative rule involving rolling that I've seen for health is you roll once, and anything over average you keep, otherwise you go with average. This lets people feel like they got a bonus, but they'll never be punished. I'm devoting 4 hours of my life to any game I'm in every week for the foreseeable future, if I'm playing something like a Bloodrager or Barbarian I don't want to have to walk on egg shells for three months because I kept rolling under average for health. Redemption Arc Evil is also a little too shonen anime for me, and I gotta tell ya... I fucking hate sitting through shonen anime. Evil characters who are perfectly fine with who they are but who happen to have their goals aligned with the good guys are much more fun to me, both as a player and a DM. I don't think you're on the right track just saying directly how an evil character's story arc MUST end with redemption. The problem is people who want to play evil, but don't really have a plan in mind, resulting in them just becoming the PC Team's personal Team Rocket, constantly tagging along and harassing them. Instead of looking at what best attains their goals, they're looking for opportunities to be terrible and they're generally eying the other players for those opportunities. When that's the player's goal is just to engage in as many episodes of evil as possible, with no real end goal or no awareness of how their constant attempts at petty evil-doing will get in the way of their end goal, that's when you have your issue. They have this cartoonish idea in their head of what bad people are like, as most folks aren't really evil themselves. No realistic frame of reference. Probably a blessing in disguise really. But if you want to diversify your evil characters, try to make sure their players have their eye on the prize and not just the next purse that crosses their vision.
I have always allowed evil characters. However, I also have a homebrew rule that I didn't create, but I liked: no player may screw over another player character. This includes sabotaging player goals and party goals. IMO, where "evil char" are a problem are when the player wants a RP reason to screw with and screw over others saying, "its just my alignment?!" Or when the player wants a RP reason to gross out or disturb other - players - by using their char and the game as a reason to be a jerk or disturb others in real life, and get away with it and/or rationalize it. Sometimes a simple explanation of the above helps people understand that it may be "make believe" but the players are real people and have feelings and stuff. Sometimes, this reveals a person who I would rather not invite to game with others. I don't have a problem with conflict, and have zero problem confronting others. But most people don't like conflict. As a GM, I am also the guardian of making and keeping the table as a safe place to roleplay and socialize with others. I am very protective of others. The things is that most players are intelligent and creative and can figure out a way to play an evil Char without screwing over another PC or the party as a whole. I also never allow PC's to fight each other in-game. Finally, the same also applies to super good char's as well who are looking at being the morality police in real life and are, again, using the RP of their char to effectively get into confrontations with other players. This is the exact opposite of what I want to do in my RP groups. I want everyone to have a good time, as players. The intersection of RP and real life is often a complex one and while I think everyone is responsible for everyone's enjoyment and feeling safe at the table, as the GM, the buck stops with me. .
Wow this is insane. OK first I'm old lol been playing since box sets. But things you have said in this video are literally verbatim to conversations I have had with my players recently and 30 years ago. The biggest example is I don't really play alignments for characters and I will only let an experienced player who can make it work actually do it. Great video I'm glad to know someone is trying to bring creativity to dnd truly.
Potions should not be a bonus action. That's so much healing, people already want to nerf healing word. Not to mention that thief rogues can drink potions as a bonus action, so you'll be nerfing them. Also, the lowest possible healing potion is not 4d4 + 4, it's 2d4 + 2. Which is lower than the potion you were aiming for lol. So yeah, I don't agree with bonus action for potions. If a cure wounds spell is an action, a healing potion should be an action too. But like the creative skill check thingy. One that I use a lot is performance with dexterity. If you're juggling or doing a balancing act, all the sweet talk and charm in the world won't help you.
Quite happy I do some of this naturally as a first time DM. Especially the creative skill check stuff and just letting them not roll for everything. I know as a player sometimes the rules as written actually block that creativity.
Barbarians aren´t "always angry" they channel their inner fortitude and or ferocity to become formidable i never regard it as being angry, my barb/rouge is stealthy and fast and attacks with bestial ferocity like a big cat (yes he is path of the beast) He is quite jovial and perfectly happy to spend his days alone in the woods hunting with not a care in the world. There is no aspect of him that is angry.
These are all so good. Thank you. Let me share one of mine with you. To make intelligence checks more attractive, a player can do an intelligence based skill check at 5 below the DC . If successful, then do the check at 5 below DC too. The odds are a bit better than just doing the check at the normal DC. If the intelligence based skill check fails then the PC has to do the check at 2 over the DC. So it is a gamble to use intelligence skills which can make them attractive. For example, a PC wants to hide in some bushes. The stealth DC is 15. The PC can do a nature intelligence check at DC 10 to read the light, wind and ground cover to determine the best place to hide. If successful, the stealth check is done at DC 10. If fails DC 17. Or the player can just do one stealth check at DC 15. Do the math and you will find this is balanced. Another example is to do an investigation check before picking a pocket at 5 below the DC. If failed, the player can opt out of trying to do the pickpocket realizing it may be too risky. ... This rule gives value back to intelligence based skills and makes them more fun than ever.
You’re crushing it! I appreciate the style and personality you bring to the table (see what I did there). More importantly I appreciate the way you break down mechanics. Other channels do a great job as well, you just make it sound way easier.
DJ Marvin I really do appreciate that man! I am a teacher in real life and I try to do the same thing with Math (Algebra 2) High energy and efficient lol! But it’s way easier here since D&D is the best game ever! Way easier to get hyped 😆
A combat round is _six seconds._ Time yourself pulling a small bottle out of your waistband, uncorking it, drinking the contents, & dropping it. Pretending this can be done during combat is idiotic, let alone that it can be done while also doing something else that round.
I like your healing potion system but it wouldn’t work in my game. I have low level players without a dedicated healer. So instead they do 2d6+2. This works because I love throwing difficult encounters at my players.
Lebo Munjeri oooooo YES! That’s perfect for your system which is literally a 2x version of what I do! Perfect balance for your table though! Good stuff
Technically every every skill has a passive score, but perception and insights are those most used, which is why they appear on the character sheet, are there to quantify the characters ability to do a task they are not attempting to do, like look for an ambush, tell if an npc is lying or remain unseen from an enemy. They are especially useful when you don't want characters to know exactly if they succeeded or not, or even if there was a check to perform. I do feel like they are a touch op though, perhaps 8 + skill modifier would be a better fit, but they can still be modified further. A +5 applies to the score if they would normally get advantage on the check, and a -5 if they would have disadvantage. Admitedly, some skills like deception dont have much use for a passive score, but passive scores can be an incredibly useful mechanic if used well.
Matthew Parker I love the way you described it! I agree! This is definitely the perspective I have when I use / think about those passive scores. The part you said about using it correctly is the best part AND that every score technically has a passive score for it (that I think should be +8 also) great comment!!
Great stuff here. My tables (and most tables that I've played at) use the bonus action potion rule already, as well as the Proficient Help one, but I love the "I Know a Guy" rule and will definitely be pitching it to my table once we're no longer social distancing. RE: Roll for Health: I rule that you cannot roll lower than your Constitution modifier, which people generally like. It's not a perfect solution though, so I like your idea to incorporate a mitigating factor (bonus hp after quest milestone). (I've got my own in-game method of doing so, but none of my players have yet figured it out.)
Benjamin Blackhurst glad to give ya some more tools!! But wow! I love the “cant roll lower than con mod” that just feels good. Idk there are just certain Homebrew that when I hear it... I instantly think... wow that’s good stuff!
I feel the the thematic progression of a character is something you have to handle on a very player by player basis. And something you have to be very careful about. Some people play D&D to explore all the ways various spells and character options interact and see what character "builds" they find fun. Locking a specific spell or multi-class option behind a campaign mini-arc can really kill the fun a player has in game if you are not careful. Or worse, if the player just isn't having fun with the character they've made and you try and trap that characters exit from the campaign and a new characters entry behind role play. It's a great thing to add if the player is for it but not something you should force upon them as a DM. In my mind player fun and player agency drive the game and anything that can compromise those two needs to be handled with care.
Martin Lindell I totally agree, and once I make more of my Homebrew video topics I want to do an entire video on that! Player agency and fun, it’s HUGE and something I think DMs can loose sight of!
Instead of I “I know a guy” i have a more casual, less mechanical approach. I just ask players random loaded questions. This are questions that proved the players an opportunity to flesh out their character. They are often about imply stuff about the characters that the player hasn’t even said or thought about. “You see someone in the tavern who looks familiar, who is he?” “”You see someone in the tavern who looks familiar who is it?” “Tell me about that scar on your shoulder” “Who was your best friend as a kid?” Players are free to answer however they want it deny the question entirely, but why would they turn down the chance of a roleplaying opportunity.
@@TheDungeonCoach central casting heroes of legend is an extensive method for using dice to roll a character it's a ton of fun and it's how I was introduced to character creation. If you look up " the trove - central casting" u can click the link for heroes of legend and follow it for making a character. It's actually a pretty old method so it doesn't line up exactly for the current version of dnd but making adjustments for the differences isn't difficult.
@@TheDungeonCoach I hope you look into it and enjoy it as much as my group and I do. If u do use it i suggest using a 3 rerolls system during the process.
I really like the last 2 points: the other I kinda did in one way or another. My question is: how to implement them in an ongoing campaign? Also a question: you give each PG Xp or just share the total equally? I use the second because I think it encourages team play but would like to hear your thoughts (expecially in case of bonus perks I delle having PG of different level can lead to a snowball effect)
Ps you are doing great, really like the video, quick and informative with just that bit of annedote to ground concepts. Also this iteration of the index is very very good, it makes info retention easier
Lilopolo glad to see that was appreciated haha! Took some time to figure out how to do the graphics on the list, tryin to keep it simple! I appreciate it man! I’m trying, I really am!
Depends on which points you want to implement. Before the session starts I would put it out there on the table and have it be an optional switch you can do. If they players are excited then BOOM y’all now have the system in place. I threw in the “I know a guy” system into a campaign that was 20 sessions in when I first stared it 👍🏼 For XP I have done it both ways! I talk with the group and pitch all the ideas neutrally (devils advocate) and if they are ok with individual xp progression, I do it that way. They still share xp for combat/ big group things they do together, but if they miss a session they don’t get XP, this was chosen by then though, not me. My main campaign I did milestone I want to do a whole video on this! Such a good topic
The Dungeon Coach I do a mix of milestone + shared. I share equally for player in combat but for the non combat part I do the milestone way but divided (each session is organised with various small objectives, each one gives Xp that I add to the total pool of Xp that I then share) + a bonus for cool things expecially if done by the team rather than single PG (it greatly stimulate cooperation).
@@lolply54 Thats basically what I did with my main campaign, always rewarding creativity! I am trying out a system right now that I stole and modified from Matt Mercer, Bonus XP for good role play/ cool character created moments. If the player does something awesome they get a "tally mark" usually coming from good role play where they enhance the game of everyone by their own RP. At the end of the session they are awarded bonus XP for each one. equal to (15) x (player level). So at level 5 a "tally point" = 75xp each. (15x5) Been using this is a current game im running and its pretty cool and has been good positive rewards for others to do more RP
I like the idea of throwing CON into the mix for healing potions in #3. I'd balk at having such a granular number of potion tiers even though I understand the rationale (what do your alchemist call a Level 4 healing potion?). I want to incorporate #5 in my new campaign. Regarding #6, instead of using Passive Perception, I assign the opponents/hazards Passive Stealth and have the players roll Perception Checks. I'm a big proponent of #7.
Jon Osborne I love that these speak to you! Yea I just imagine the potions all being called healing potions, some are just kore potent than others. Makes more sense to me than potions across the world being some sort of consistent standard 😆 And I love your #6 thoughts too, that’s basically what I do! Totally agree!
Loving your channel! My group doesn't really have a problem remembering health potion amounts, but we do use a house rule for them. You can use an action or bonus action to consume a health potion. If you use a bonus action you roll for how much health you get like normal. If you use your action you receive the max amount of healing that potion can provide. Narratively it's like quickly trying to gulp down some water while you're running. You're probably going to spill some. But if you stop and take your time, you'll get every last drop. And of course administering a potion to someone else is an action. Have you heard of the "click rule" for traps? When a PC springs a trap the DM tells them they hear a click and then quickly ask them what they do. They have a few seconds to narrate a basic reaction like "I fall prone" "I raise my shield" "I push up against the left wall". Only things they could do in under a second. If there are multiple PC's in the trap's area he quickly asks them all for their reaction. Then the DM describes the trap and depending on what the PC's did they each may be affected differently by the trap. The PC who fell prone may avoid a swinging scythe from the ceiling trap, but would have disadvantage (I'd probably avoid auto fails) on his DEX saving throw from the spikes that poke up from the ground trap. The PC who raised his shield might get advantage on his saving throw from the flamethrower trap in front of them. The PC's get a chance to react, but they don't know what type of trap they're reacting to.
Kyle Maddock I LOVE that health potion idea... fixes those times when you get screwed and roll bad when you chose to take one, rewards the full action and makes logical sense... what a beautiful Homebrew! I have TWO video ideas on traps! One for making them and one for running them. And I use the Click method!! (Not all the time, but players are definitely aware of the rule and ready) Just that rule being a thing adds tension to the threat of traps and I love your description of it too, shoot might even use it as the example if my Patrons ask for that video! Glad to have you in the community man, I like where your heads at!!
Regarding your healing potion chart: the more dice you add of the same type, the more that the result strays towards the average value of those dice. Upgrading the die size, to preserve some of the variance, at regular intervals would help this. Given that you said you don't generally reward more than a lv5 potion, this means their potions have a mean healing value of about 6 less HP than a Superior Potion (a lv6 is only 1 HP less than a Superior). Your potions add an average of 4.5 more health per level, and this seems way too granular to me, and all those potion levels seem wasted. How about this: if your players can remember "d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12", then just make the potions roll die equal to the level, of a size that increments in the above order, and add HP equal to twice the level. Lv1: 1d4+2 Lv2: 2d6+4 Lv3: 3d8+6 Lv4: 4d10+8 Lv5: 5d12+10 If you look at the current healing potions in the game, they basically skip every other level and have you roll d4s equal to the level and add twice the level. What I'm suggesting is more granular than the regular potions and also has a lot more variance.
These are great, especially "I know a guy" and the reasons for leveling is something I always do for character progression in a game of any kind, such as in FATE my character was a cyborg losing their mind to the terminator machinery, so I slowly lowered empathy and stuff whilst raising fight, notice and shoot.
I really like the I know a guy thing, I do it often and didnt even really think about it because we just do it in a lot of the campaigns. Since its not just the DM telling the story its a group effort in bringing your players inside the story.
Awesome !! I do some of these as well. We used a training system to level up imported from AD&D, making it a bit logical to hone your skills with a coach. Kind of a trainer in soccer, he doesn't play as well as the player but knows how to improve your skills. Thematic lvl up is an totally yes for me. We even did it without ruling it. I remember having an evocation wizard Wich had so good relationship with the cleric that I took a cleric lvl but in a different domain, worshipping the same God. Everyone was surprised by that. We usually do tell our DM where will we be going each lvl in our characters to give him time to think and include roleplay for each lvl up too.
@@TheDungeonCoach yeah. Wasn't powerfull at all, but usefull. But the best was the meaning of the multiclass. Because I was a wizard, with a hunger for knowledge, and my mentor was a life priest. Also on another topic, I agree with evil characters. I've played some myself (be the assassin I told you about in another comment one of those) and it is playable. But I agree people tend to make evil characters just to troll the party. That's lame. We had once an evil characters hidden in the party, we thought it was one of the NPC but turned out to be a player. Huge surprise and made sense all along. I don't ban them, but I talk to them and see their motives.
Ernesto Figarella wow that secret evil PC sounds SUPER interesting to play in... wow! I’d love to do a one/ 3 shot of that to play around with the idea’
@@TheDungeonCoach sure thing ! It is fun, although the evil pc should be experienced enought to pull it off along with the DM. If you ever do that, record it and post it on RUclips. I'd like to see that.
I love the narrative multiclass requirement! It just never made sense when characters would finish a quest and spontaneously discover their ancestral draconic sorcerer bloodline.
Rick Lawton Ooooo I love it! What do you do to feed it to another player? Bonus action? I could see myself doing this if the group didn’t have a healer, but make sure health potions were more rare. I like it!
Rick Lawton oooo ok got ya. This could be fun to give your players buff type potions. They might actually use them in combat haha! So many times I find my players holding onto cool potions, but for a free action, LETS GOOO
Constitution (Intimidation) - Idly slide a blade across your hand while you talk, finish the proposed intimidating proposal by offering to shake on it. Charisma (Stealth) - Hold a clipboard and act like you're supposed to be there. Advantage for a previous success on a check with Disguise Kit, using Int, Dex or Wis. Religion is a great one for these. Charisma to lead a sermon or whip a zealot army into a frenzy. Wisdom to provide counsel to the faithful and intuit their issues. Dexterity to perform delicate rituals.
Stephen Harris Ahhhhhh I LOVE these!! This comment came on my phone alert thing and all I saw was (constitution-intimidation) and my mind was wondering during the meeting I was in! And yea that would be great! Or like you let a person take a free swing at you and you’re fine... constitution intimidation for sure!!
Sounds like you run some fun games but unfortunately my (most) players don't want to work for anything. It's the millennial age of D&D. Refreshing attitude to see, you would have loved earlier editions of the game but you are probably to young to have played through them.
"I need to know if you guys want to see that": I WANT, I WANT! PLEEEASEEE, I NEED IT, DESPERATELY!!! (said like a groupie during a concert of a boy band....). This channel is becoming good, very good, and I already stole shamelessly some of your houserules :)
Luca Bellarosa literally lol’d at this! I’m imagining a bunch of screaming D&D players screaming for homebrew rules lol. Thank you so much man! I really am trying to make something here to help people “get creative and think outside the box” so that means a lot! And steal it all bro! I think there’s a phrase that goes something like “there’s no such thing as a new idea” And I take it as a compliment anyway haha
Got a video for your spreadsheet - In a DnD YT series I watch High Rollers, their DM Mark Hulmes (10/10, 5 Star DM) has a injury system wherein if a player is knocked unconscious the player makes a DC10 injury save. No effect on a Success. On a fail, the player has to roll d20 on an injury table - suffering the resulting injury be it broken rib, lost eye or cuts and bruises - what's your take on this?
Sam Novelli personally I have been fascinated by this system! And I will 100% be trying this and I have a homebrew table of mine to try it! My HUGE ISSUE with it... is maiming a players body when they don’t feel comfortable with it can feel extremely violating to the PC. So losing an eye/ arm/ etc... worries me because a players body is a very “personal” thing in a weird way. So permanently disfiguring it (the more extreme side) might be uncomfortable to the player. So I’m keeping this in mind when I make it... I have a hard core table and a “lite” table in the works!
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What are YOUR Favorite Rules? Let me know and I might showcase them in a video!
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Time Stamps for Each House Rule:
#1 Bonus Action Potions 0:33
#2 Proficient Help 0:45
#3 Healing Potion System 1:12
#4 Roll for Health 2:33
#5 Bonus Lvl Up Perk 4:41
#6 No Passive Perception 5:38
#7 Skill Variant Checks 6:45
#8 No Evil Players 7:47
#9 “I Know a Guy” 8:48
#10 Thematic Progression 10:40
Hope this helps!
I have a couple rules for potions and healing. Drinking a potion during combat takes 5 rounds, and triggers attacks of opportunity, for all five rounds. Don't think it should be, grab your favorite soda, I'll grab a stick, and we'll see how many times I can hit ya, while your opening the bottle. So, basically no potions during combat. This is grittier and must be adjusted for. Also slow healing. Healing takes minutes instead of rounds. With the possibility of creating high level healing spells, that can be used in combat, but reduce potency. Slow healing isn't really a house rule though. Got that from Unearthed Arcana 3.5.
I also like the vitality and wound point system, especially because it makes rules about being on the ground and dying, more comprehensible, because it's not a separate mechanic, but one that's always in play. No vitality points, but you still have wound points = unconscious. All attacks deal wp damage. No wound points, but you still have vp = incapacitated. Conscious but unable to move. Actions require constitution checks, and can result in large losses of vp. VP&WP already handles subdual damage without creating a separate mechanic. With a house rule that foregoing the possibility of causing wp damage, can grant a bonus to vp damage.
Also love generic characters from UA. It makes basic classes more flexible, and the base classes as prestige classes method, can still reward focus. Generic classes also make it easier to qualify for a specific prestige class, since it makes class features available as feats. But if you have a Buy the Numbers guide from DTRPG, and can do some number crunching, the class feature of any class could become available.
I'd say more but I'm thinking about publishing on DTRPG someday. The first titles would be free, but still want them to have new stuff in them.
Love #2.
i guess im asking the wrong place but does anybody know of a way to get back into an Instagram account??
I stupidly forgot the password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me!
@Adriel Derek instablaster :)
@Merrick Christian Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm in the hacking process atm.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
The Variant: Skills with Different Abilities is in the PHB p175. The example they give is swimming for long periods of time or trying to get to shore during a storm. The DM asks for a Constitution Athletics check. It even mentions the Strength Intimidation check specifically.
Matt Kraft omg you’re so right! It’s in there! Nice! Yes I have used both of those for sure. And it definitely feels right/ makes sense
Hey, I use some of these! Lol
Love the healing potion change/chart!
Nice! Yea the healing potions were so annoying when players never knew how much they were (or myself lol) So this made it simple! I could also easily choose the "strength" of the potions they found in their loot/ potion shops (or crafting)
The pricing scales well up to about level 6 but then they get way cheaper than the standard 5e potion from there.
"Evil" characters don't always think of themselves as evil, and evil doesn't always lead to backstabbing. LE and NE can be just as loyal to party as "good" characters.
Michael Robinson O for sure! Totally agree!
I mainly would have the conversation with the player to make sure they doing ruin the time at the table/ plan to Murder everything lol.
I’ve always loved the concept that villains are heroes in their own mind.
"I don't like Passive Perception", proceeds to literally describe how it's supposed to be used ....
Drashna Jael're Haha I know right! I am going to make an entire video on this 😆
I just don’t like things being an “auto succeed” because the players have an expectation for it to. But then again I could always raise the DC... but that feels bad to have to dance around this mechanic is all.
Because there is nothing like “Passive Athletics” as an official stat lol
@@TheDungeonCoach Well, I do use passive Athletics, mostly like your barb example.
Brett Majeske haha nice! Glad to hear someone is on the same page!
I actually look at your "No Passive Perception" rule as my "all passive checks" rule.
If you are proficient at something, trivial stuff is automatic, regardless of what it is. Also, passives replace literal passive uses of skills. You either know that it's a skeleton or you don't. You can research quickly (roll), but that requires an active use of the skill.
Another example of how this is implemented in game is stealth versus perception... Most guards are not *actively* searching. They are just doing their job and aren't alerted such that they are actively looking at every crevice. Due to this, they use "passive perception." If they are alerted, they can switch to active perception, but stealth is the same way... Staying hidden in a room or reacting to hide quickly is a passive action compared to the guard possibly actively searching because they "heard a noise." This is particularly important as you move through a large building because that is more of a reactive situation. Unless you notice the guard in that specific location (with your own perception or by mapping out guard routes), you are only sort of ready to duck for cover at a guard. If you do notice the guard, however, you can rush to a suitable hiding spot.
I combine this with your "Proficient Help" rule in a way. I don't like the scenarios when the Warrior crit fails to lift the gate and the Wizard crit succeeds, so it makes that wizard look like a hero and the specialist look like a fool.
I give group rolls to a group and the person with the highest bonus rolls it if success is a group effort. If a single failure can complicate the entire group, the worst person in the group makes the roll. Help actions still apply, of course.
The last thing that I have been toying with but haven't actively implemented yet in my games is "success at a cost" for failed checks. If the check matters for progression of the story/plot (it's important for what's going on) and they do not roll a success on the associated check, I can deem them to have succeeded, but they do so at a cost. Yes, you get that item you were pickpocketing, but a guard notices. You decipher the clue, but your nemesis managed to do so more quickly and you are now at a disadvantage, time-wise. Keep the story moving, but add interesting complications. This is obviously loosely used based on circumstances. The final confrontation could never bee a "success at a cost" option, obviously, unless it is a huge cost (like the death of your character, and you are willing to allow that for the success). Minor stuff that's unrelated to the plot progression likely doesn't use this system either.
Robert Masengale I love your description of stealth and perception! Well said!
The group roll success focused on the “main” person is something I’ve done too. Describe a group effort but centered around one character to “let them shine”
Success at a cost.... ooooooooo I love it! Give that to the players as an option for certain moments and then come up on the spot with what “punishment” they have. That could be sweet!
I really like "Success at a cost" as well. It sort of turns those skill checks into 1 roll skill challenges.
Kyle Maddock ooooooo that would be a good one to talk about too, I remember hearing that rule and liked it. I just haven’t used it as much
@@kylemaddock9754 The idea of skill challenges from 4e is basically where that concept spawned from... That and the new Star Wars system.
WOAH! I love how your home brew ideas encourage character growth and story development rather than just fixing a clunky 5e rule that is ineffective.
I got a new one coming out this next week!
My favourite house rule is giving a free feat at level 1 and scrapping variant human - lets you see heaps of new character combinations!
I love this rule bc it just allows feats to be more accessible without having the same race across the party. I wish feats were more accessible/impactful since you are giving up abilty score increases for one
I do the same thing! I should have mentioned that with my #5 Bonus Level Up Perk. I do the same thing. They make their character and after they describe what they are/ what they want to be then I make them a custom feat! Maybe that’s what we Collab on!? 😆
That’s where the bonus level up system came from! I give my players cool things here and there so they feel free to do whatever they want with those “Ability Score Improvements”. I put that in my “character creation” homebrew rules section 👍🏼
We just started to do the same in our table, but we decided that the feat you can choose at 1st level cannot be a """combat""" feat: no great weapon master, no sharpshooter, no dual wielder, for example. It has to be a feat that is related more with the roleplaying and the character background (actor, athlete, dungeon delver...): racial feats are ok as well. In this way, all the feats that nobody ever takes (i.e.: keen mind, lightly armored, linguist...), are introduced back into the game.
Luca Bellarosa Oooo I love that restriction! That even makes the player stop and think about what their character is like outside of combat and how they’d want to play them.
I always found that intimidation should not be charisma since an edgy barbarian can just lift a table or swing his axe to scare someone.
Peter Craig I know right! I totally agree, it’s all about the execution (no pun intended lol) verbal or physical 👍🏼
Really great videos and extremely interesting ideas while they remain short and definitely not tiring
That’s what I was going for! Thank you!
The video was originally 2 and 1/2 hours haha but that’s just from me sucking at filming. Gotta keep things efficient!
I actually did the thematic progression part for the backstory of my one shot character. She was a Storm Herald Barbarian/Horizon Walker Ranger, with her combat ability and connection to lightning being explained via her being a warrior connected to the Plane of Water, also part of why she was a pirate, the explanation for the Ranger portion of her kit (Captain and navigator)
TheFableGamer what an awesome combination of the two!! That sounds bad ass!
@@TheDungeonCoach It was actually inspired by one of my earlier players in a campaign, though she went fire for Storm Herald as opposed to lightning.
Ive watched,what feels like, most of the 5e houerule/homebrew compilation videos on youtube. This series is really good! I would love to see more! Im partial to combat rules myself, but I would love to hear your take on death mechanics as well. Keep em coming! This channel is really shaping into something good :)
That means more than you know Miles, thank you, really!
I fell in love with D&D mainly to the endless creativity of it! So I’m glad to hear people are getting inspired by hearing new ideas!
SOOOO much on death, that was some of my first homebrews since I felt the current 5e death system is... not threatening enough. BUT I don’t necessarily want to run a full blown gritty death game lol. So I think I found a good balance.
@@TheDungeonCoach Im excited to here about it!
Miles Main we just had our vote on Patreon and it was chosen but not the top one! So it’s commin lol
@@TheDungeonCoach hey im just excited for whatever comes next :)
About the " I know a guy " the check you would roll is charisma, but I'm thinking, the guy that they do know, their relationship doesn't have to be based around friendship. I can easily imagine a scenario, where the group Barbarian once had an armwrestling competition in town and beat the local blacksmith, and so I would make him roll a Strength check (plus prof?) to see if he won that armwrestling competition, and won it well enough (beat the DC with 5 or more) to warantee this blacksmith's respect.
Same for Librarians and Intellectual debates, or a common street thief steals from the party's rogue who, amused, follows the street thief and steals his bag back - contested sleight of hand roll, etc.
(Sorry I'm commenting on an old video like this, but I've watched all your videos so all I can do now is rewatch them to absorb Maximum Knowledge for my sessions haha)
Emanuel Poche I want you as a player at my table... that... was brilliant
I mean that as a very big compliment! Love it!
This is awesome! One of my favorite of your videos yet--cheers! :D
Haha and it was a Bonus Video too! I didnt know how this was going to go, but its lookin like yall like it! Thanks man!
201 likes, so now you have to do another homebrew house rules video ;). Also id like you to know that my group and i love your content. cheers from Spain!
Pau YEA!!! You actually have no idea how much comments like that help me know when that happens lol
I have so many videos now, it’s hard to keep track! Thank you for the support to FROM SPAIN!! 👍🏼
You’ll like this weeks video on my Homebrew Rules for Long rests! Stay tuned 😆
Dude so funny, i do the potions as a bonus action too. We are like twins hahhaha
Matthew Barker yea! Haha it’s just lame to have someone’s whole turn be drinking a potion!
I still feel like you really just said that you don't use passive perception but then just described passive perception. Except I guess it's more on DMs judgment so if my Cleric has high perception because it's a WIS based class but the DM doesn't think being perceptive is a part of my character but the only the Inquisitive Rogue, then it's the rogue that notices things. Not to say that it's what you meant, it''s just that it has been my experience that similar justification is used by DMs to downplay characters who - perhaps due to optimization - have above-average number of strong points.
I know it is not the topic of this video but here is how I use PP:
1) Only the first character in marching order in dungeons uses their PP for traps. This puts them in more danger.
2) When creatures try to ambush the party, roll their Stealth against character PPs.
3) Just have it so players don't feel like they have to constantly actively look for things - unless there is an actual reason.
More on topic - I do something similar to skill variant checks but I just ask for several checks similar to how skill challenges work. I find that just replacing the attribute leads to scenarios where players believe their barbarian should always intimidate with STR. A lot of people like that and I can understand where they are coming from (even though I more disagree than not) - but if I did something like that I would simply set a house rule for that at the start of the game. I don't find it leads to creativity, only justification for decisions you've already made.
I love comments like this!
On the last point on skill checks, yea if players are abusing the system/ using it not as intended then I’ll shut it down, but it’s also for DMs to come up with appropriate skill checks to set your players up for success or how to address those weird rolls
We pretty much agree on passive perception, and your cleric example was perfect (I should have put that in the video!) because their high WIS from being a cleric might not be the “perceptive” type
I agree with all your points about it except how I’d run it for traps
Whoever is leading the group is who makes a roll, it feels bad for them to know it’s a “19 perception group leader”
I like the instability of what that roll could be super good or bad. I’m also playing with the idea of that being a secret roll made (that’s a whole ‘nother conversation lol) But I see the value of both! I basically just like to have higher stakes always be rolls and not passive scores.
But I definitely set the stealth check DC based on what the monsters general awareness ability would be, which is totally the same thing as a passive perception, I just don’t calculate it as such
@@TheDungeonCoach Just to be clear - my Cleric example was not supposed to be a good thing (I think you might have taken it as such? unclear). If two characters have the same perception they are equally perceptive. I was making a point over shoe-horning characters into single stereotypes and pushing their actual skills and abilities into the background.
In a complete hyperbole example, if a player can somehow manage to make their character a combat god, intelligent and perceptive - then all of those are their strengths even if it overlaps with other characters. Additionally, it's nice if people RP their character strengths well, but it shouldn't be the case where a skill works worse (in this case - perception) because the player doesn't constantly RP attention to detail.
On the topic of "19 PP group leader" - I suppose I am pretty flexible with DCs so round numbers don't mean much in my games. Also, I do understand the idea of more chaos from failures - although I find that I prefer that traps are among the things that should more reliable and character strengths (proficiencies) mitigate their chance to fail. It's the old debate over whether any character no matter how good they are at something should have a 5% chance to fail.
I think we’re on the same page about the cleric. A rogue that defines his character by his dungeon delving should be better than the cleric not proficient at perception and just has +5 Wis. Each player should have something they should “shine” at.
I will also throw in traps that the rogue will auto find, to make them feel special or whatever. So I guess there’s another time to use it, but the “real traps” have a roll for em.
I always believe in the everyone has a chance to fail... I coach sports so this is the first annalogy that comes to mind. Professional NBA players shooting a free throw... they have usually FAR more than 5% chance to miss. And in general something can always go wrong/ not go right, so combat/ spells/ checks should always have a chance for failure in my mind and that being at the table makes the dice feel more exiting to me too... since it’s not a “sure thing”
@@TheDungeonCoach No, I think we disagree after all.
It was very much my issue that a character's mechanical strength is downplayed because the DM doesn't think of it as being part of the class fantasy, or because it overlaps with another player (especially if it is their class fantasy), or the player doesn't actively RP that skill as a core part of their character personality. If two characters have the same perception, they are equally perceptive - if RP reasons trump stats, why have stats to begin with? A rogue should be better at dealing with traps not just because of their perception - but also because they are proficient in DEX saves which are usually going to be what traps ask for, as well as having the skills/tools to disarm them. There is nothing wrong with cleric noticing a trap before a rogue does.
Of course, I'm not talking about player-specific hooks like you mentioned in the video (noticing a hooded figure etc.).
If you don't like how attributes interact with skills in 5e (e.g. part of dungeon delving rogue fantasy being their perception, when WIS is not their primary attribute) - that is fair but should be framed as significantly hacking the system itself (compared to most of your other house rules) - and I feel like would require a thorough explanation for the players before the game starts. I would seriously change how I make my characters if I knew that I would be seriously hampered in any skill where it's a core part of another character. Specializing is a good thing but under rules like this, I would actively avoid overlapping at all costs because it's effectively like taking a flat -X point penalty to skill checks.
@@Serutans Ok so NOW we are on the same page
I see what you're saying now. Stats not mattering which undercuts everything and their entire purpose.
But ultimately this lines up with how I handle it too. I dont use Passive Perception in this way, so if that cleric with the high wisdom wants to roll for it then go ahead! They can be as perceptive as they want. But if you go back to how you said you only let them choose one player to do this, then whoever is chosen has their "time to shine".
But yes I would never just tell someone they can do something better than someone else for background of flavor reasons, a good example is if this cleric has a higher + to perception than the rogue thats character is "defined by it" I would reflect that CLASS FANTASY with a bonus level up perk. and Grant them ADV on perception, or expertise... something that gives them the MECHANICAL functionality to actually have the stats match the characters like you were saying.
as someone who's played a fair share of evil characters, it's my experience that evil characters can be team players. I have an warlock of the undying patron who made a pact with a lich, My character sees his party as his property, and no one messes with his property *he never leaves the party behind*. He want's only the finest and his property must look it's best *he shares loot and gold to with others.* and he wants to come across as civilized *he doesn't murder people in the street for no reason.* But he is very evil, he riled a gang war to feed souls to his lich, he sold out a friendly spirit on the town guard when they asked him too many questions, he has a book made out of human skin and he lops off the hands of people he defeats in battle *he does this because he's missing his own hand, but it's okay, the lich reanimated it as a crawling claw and that's now his familiar.*
my DM has actually joked my character is actually more of a villian than the actual villian of the campaign. lol
That... is one AMAZING character!! Holy hell... that’s so cool! And with a skilled player like yourself, I’d love to have that character at my table!
@@TheDungeonCoach it came about because i was thinking, "what's considered the worst warlock" and undying and pact of the chain came up, so i figured, how can i make this work? lol he makes liberal use of the mage hand spell.
GunnarWahl ooooo fins familiar combined with mage hand in the coolest explanation of how an ability works ever!!
Im enjoying this channel . . i watch many DnD you tubers, and something here is different. YOur take is often inspiering. :)
AND A QUESTION :)
You mention Passive Perception, and i agree,it doesnt fit in. And one of my players have a Familiar, Owl, Passive Perception 18. And he Uses it ALL The time. As a DM i feel the player kind of hands all the play over to me and his familiar.
Do you have a take on how to handle Familiars?
Peter Jørgensen thanks man! I try and be efficient and useful! Love hearing that it’s inspiring too!
Ok so here’s my 2 cents
Any time I feel like a player or item or whatever is “breaking the game” (mechanically/ thematically/ systematically, whatever) I have a talk with that player/ the group about it.
It is meta gaming and feels bad that the players owl (which your right is technically YOU) handles all these moments. Especially with the flying AND passive perception
So I already would be hesitant to give a player one, but let’s fix it now that that’s already happened :)
Talk to the player about it being too strong and changing how “automatic” passive perception is, and give the owl a bonus to rolls like it would, but nothing crazy and just make it roll for stuff.
I’ve also changed how easy it is to just summon them back, and even had one die so often when it came back... it wouldn’t listen to its master anymore... like a beaten dog 😢
Another tip, have it cause something bad to happen. If the player ONLY has good things happen to their owl... then of course they would use it!
I’d also implement a restriction of distance too
LAST THING
when you talk to your player come at it from the perspective that they are so strong that it’s limiting opportunity for the others at the table/ becoming repetitive.... AND if you feel like he would resent the nerf... then buff something else cool
@@TheDungeonCoach Great .. thanks :)
I'm currently playing an evil character in a good campaign, but it took a bit of setup out of game, and it's working great.
First, I talked to my DM and the player who's character I will eventually betray to make sure there would be no hard feelings or blindsiding out of game. My character will eventually turn on the party, and hurt the one character very badly (possibly kill) before leaving the party and becoming an NPC (and our next BBEG). Only one player knows the plan, and she's the only one who will be in any danger.
Second, being evil doesn't make him completely socially unaware. My character may not have sympathy for the orphans in the work camp, but he knows that freeing them will make him look good and earn him the trust of the party. He knows that stealing from the party will piss everyone off, and keeping everyone on his good side (for now) will help him accomplish his goals.
It's commonly said that "Lawful Good doesn't mean Lawful Nice." Well, my motto is "Lawful Evil doesn't mean Lawful Rude."
CrownRock1 MAN I would love to have you at my table! Your exactly the type of person that can pull off these types of characters!!
@@TheDungeonCoach Ha, thanks! It's my first evil character, and he has been so much fun to play!
All good ideas, but I particularly love the last two, and I bet you can guess why!
I've had loose ideas for PC-NPC contacts and relationships, but wasn't sure how to implement them within the rules set, so far.
I like the idea you've presented of working with the players to create/generate new ones when it would be appropriate in the story for their characters to have/meet them. This idea may help me to figure out how to do so with my game rules. You got me thinking! 🤔
I also love the idea of thematic progression, because of course you know I hate level based progression to begin with because it's sudden and nonsensical and doesn't come from what the character is actually doing in the story. So good on you for finding a way to do it in a level based system! My hat off to you!
YES!! I literally did a little fist pump when I read this!
I know you as a DM well enough to know you have high standards for your systems and rules. Glad these got ya thinking! ✊🏼
@@TheDungeonCoach heck yeah man! Most of them are very d&d specific, but from that perspective I really like them as alterations for the base system!
Benjamin Harl there’s a whole thing I want to do about adapting other game systems to D&D, I’m sure that process would speak to what you do all the time!
@@TheDungeonCoach absolutely it would!
A lot of these had never crossed my mind! This is super creative and I'll be sure to use a couple of them!
Thanks man! I just love to share the creativity and spread it around! One of my main things I try and provide is creative thinking, so I really loved your comment, thank you!
I asked my players which potion rule they want from two choices. 1. Potions always heal the full amount. 2. Potions can be used as a bonus action. They chose the first option and it makes sense in my world too. It's a high magic setting so the knowledge on how to make quality potions is available and you don't get those nasty 4 HP potions.
Rampe I also think that a lotion would be able to heal a set amount of health too, would make sense! Love it!
And I love how you have it as an option to your players! Pro DM move there
I do both!! If you use potion as a bonus, you roll the healing. If you use your whole action, you get max.
12:21 Why does a Barbarian's Rage need to come from anger?
Next, you are going to tell me Warlocks need to make deals, Clerics need to worship gods and Bards need to seduce dragons.
The class description in the Player's Handbook is just the beginning of wisdom, not the end.
What else can create the Rage-like effect you might ask?
Rocky Balboa being determined to win. Son Goku really enjoying a good fight. Montery Jack smelling cheese.
I truly enjoy homebrew games. They feel more open and as you state "Alive" compared to pre-written modules. I run a 2e campaign that was created back in the late 80's, yes, I'm that old, and I've be running it off and on for 30+ years. I have many homebrew rules, magic item, spells, creatures, etc. and they add to the flavor and fun of the game as my players will attest. You're basing your rules on the 5e system which I absolutely despise however some of your rules cross over to 2e. I have variations on most of the ones you mentioned. Others aren't applicable. I do applaud you on your creativity though. Keep up the good work.
3. Do negative con mod PC have that negative to the healing potion? I would do a minimum of +1 for level 1, +2 for level 2, etc.
6. Ehhh feels like you should just expand how many passive skills you take into account. Sometimes a player wants to use their high ability, expertise, feat, etc to get a crazy passive perception so their PC’s strength is their senses (while they are not so powerful elsewhere). Sounds like you’re saying that you’ll help that be realized until you want to hit them with a trap/ambush you don’t want to give away. If they forget to say they check for traps in a dungeon, do you ignore their crazy high perception?
Bonus action potions are my 2nd least favorite homebrew. Many classes don't even have a useful way to use them in the first place, so drinking the potion is automatic. Instead give it an effect that makes it feel more worthwhile. I'm not talking about more health. Bake in super True Strike to make it feel better. You feel revitalized, gain xdy+z HP, if all of this restores health, you gain advantage on ALL actions next round. (that middle section is to prevent chugging a cheap potion at full health for the effect)
Variant skills are fine, but STR for Intimidation has always bugged the hell out of me. STR is your ability to lift, break, and overpower things. It has nothing to do with Intimidation. Take this scenario: two chieftains. Chief A has 20 STR and 8 CHA. Chief B has 20 STR and 20 CHA. They are each intimidating the same target by bending a steel bar in front of them for information. According to that rule, they are both rolling the exact same (@ +5). That doesn't make sense, Chief B should be way more effective. The STR is a tool to make the Intimidation more successful. Instead use Advantage! Intimidation is always CHA. If you are stronger than the target AND make a demonstration of it, then you get advantage.
One of my fav simple/universal tweaks:
Basically every roll has a threshold for "soft" success or "soft" failure.
Instead of a static "all or nothing" pass/fail, success is tiered based on what they are trying to accomplish.
For example, if someone was picking a lock with a DC 20, I'll have a "soft success" threshold at 15, and a "soft failure" threshold at, say, 5.
If they roll a 17, they don't fully succeed, but they got a soft advancement towards what they were trying to accomplish (Door stays locked, but as they juggle the tumblers, they realize... the door is actually trapped, or a guard walks pass the other side and they hear it just in time to stop).
Basically I'll create a "natural" reason why the character would stop, but still make them look good in the process.
On the flip side, if they roll a 4 something a little bad happens (lock pick breaks and is now jammed in the lock, increasing the DC of picking it).
Depending on the circumstance I may drop the soft-failure (if there's really no risk to the action) threshold, etc. but it's a fun mechanic I use on the back end to make things feel more dynamic.
Rolling for health is ... really something you need to be a negotiator about. If your players are cool with it, that's great, but I do hope that if you have a player who flat out tells you no that you just let them take a flat number. I have a friend who loves randomization and I always humor him with it once to see if I like the result, but usually... I hate it, and I make it pretty clear I want to build my character from the ground up to suit the vision I had for them after that.
The best alternative rule involving rolling that I've seen for health is you roll once, and anything over average you keep, otherwise you go with average. This lets people feel like they got a bonus, but they'll never be punished. I'm devoting 4 hours of my life to any game I'm in every week for the foreseeable future, if I'm playing something like a Bloodrager or Barbarian I don't want to have to walk on egg shells for three months because I kept rolling under average for health.
Redemption Arc Evil is also a little too shonen anime for me, and I gotta tell ya... I fucking hate sitting through shonen anime. Evil characters who are perfectly fine with who they are but who happen to have their goals aligned with the good guys are much more fun to me, both as a player and a DM. I don't think you're on the right track just saying directly how an evil character's story arc MUST end with redemption. The problem is people who want to play evil, but don't really have a plan in mind, resulting in them just becoming the PC Team's personal Team Rocket, constantly tagging along and harassing them. Instead of looking at what best attains their goals, they're looking for opportunities to be terrible and they're generally eying the other players for those opportunities. When that's the player's goal is just to engage in as many episodes of evil as possible, with no real end goal or no awareness of how their constant attempts at petty evil-doing will get in the way of their end goal, that's when you have your issue. They have this cartoonish idea in their head of what bad people are like, as most folks aren't really evil themselves. No realistic frame of reference. Probably a blessing in disguise really. But if you want to diversify your evil characters, try to make sure their players have their eye on the prize and not just the next purse that crosses their vision.
I have always allowed evil characters. However, I also have a homebrew rule that I didn't create, but I liked: no player may screw over another player character. This includes sabotaging player goals and party goals. IMO, where "evil char" are a problem are when the player wants a RP reason to screw with and screw over others saying, "its just my alignment?!" Or when the player wants a RP reason to gross out or disturb other - players - by using their char and the game as a reason to be a jerk or disturb others in real life, and get away with it and/or rationalize it.
Sometimes a simple explanation of the above helps people understand that it may be "make believe" but the players are real people and have feelings and stuff. Sometimes, this reveals a person who I would rather not invite to game with others. I don't have a problem with conflict, and have zero problem confronting others. But most people don't like conflict. As a GM, I am also the guardian of making and keeping the table as a safe place to roleplay and socialize with others. I am very protective of others.
The things is that most players are intelligent and creative and can figure out a way to play an evil Char without screwing over another PC or the party as a whole. I also never allow PC's to fight each other in-game.
Finally, the same also applies to super good char's as well who are looking at being the morality police in real life and are, again, using the RP of their char to effectively get into confrontations with other players. This is the exact opposite of what I want to do in my RP groups. I want everyone to have a good time, as players. The intersection of RP and real life is often a complex one and while I think everyone is responsible for everyone's enjoyment and feeling safe at the table, as the GM, the buck stops with me.
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Wow this is insane. OK first I'm old lol been playing since box sets. But things you have said in this video are literally verbatim to conversations I have had with my players recently and 30 years ago. The biggest example is I don't really play alignments for characters and I will only let an experienced player who can make it work actually do it. Great video I'm glad to know someone is trying to bring creativity to dnd truly.
Potions should not be a bonus action. That's so much healing, people already want to nerf healing word. Not to mention that thief rogues can drink potions as a bonus action, so you'll be nerfing them. Also, the lowest possible healing potion is not 4d4 + 4, it's 2d4 + 2. Which is lower than the potion you were aiming for lol. So yeah, I don't agree with bonus action for potions. If a cure wounds spell is an action, a healing potion should be an action too. But like the creative skill check thingy. One that I use a lot is performance with dexterity. If you're juggling or doing a balancing act, all the sweet talk and charm in the world won't help you.
I really don't understand why\how you don't have more likes and subscribes, Coach.
Great work, as always.
Quite happy I do some of this naturally as a first time DM. Especially the creative skill check stuff and just letting them not roll for everything. I know as a player sometimes the rules as written actually block that creativity.
Barbarians aren´t "always angry" they channel their inner fortitude and or ferocity to become formidable i never regard it as being angry, my barb/rouge is stealthy and fast and attacks with bestial ferocity like a big cat (yes he is path of the beast) He is quite jovial and perfectly happy to spend his days alone in the woods hunting with not a care in the world. There is no aspect of him that is angry.
These are all so good. Thank you. Let me share one of mine with you. To make intelligence checks more attractive, a player can do an intelligence based skill check at 5 below the DC . If successful, then do the check at 5 below DC too. The odds are a bit better than just doing the check at the normal DC. If the intelligence based skill check fails then the PC has to do the check at 2 over the DC. So it is a gamble to use intelligence skills which can make them attractive. For example, a PC wants to hide in some bushes. The stealth DC is 15. The PC can do a nature intelligence check at DC 10 to read the light, wind and ground cover to determine the best place to hide. If successful, the stealth check is done at DC 10. If fails DC 17. Or the player can just do one stealth check at DC 15. Do the math and you will find this is balanced. Another example is to do an investigation check before picking a pocket at 5 below the DC. If failed, the player can opt out of trying to do the pickpocket realizing it may be too risky. ... This rule gives value back to intelligence based skills and makes them more fun than ever.
You’re crushing it! I appreciate the style and personality you bring to the table (see what I did there). More importantly I appreciate the way you break down mechanics. Other channels do a great job as well, you just make it sound way easier.
DJ Marvin I really do appreciate that man! I am a teacher in real life and I try to do the same thing with Math (Algebra 2)
High energy and efficient lol!
But it’s way easier here since D&D is the best game ever! Way easier to get hyped 😆
DMing again, watching this video. Every video you mention, I need to watch rn rn.
The Potion rule is stupid. You literally halfed the healing power of potions. Might as well drink one as a bonus action and ur action.
A combat round is _six seconds._ Time yourself pulling a small bottle out of your waistband, uncorking it, drinking the contents, & dropping it. Pretending this can be done during combat is idiotic, let alone that it can be done while also doing something else that round.
you sound like an amazing DM. Would love to play in one of your games. Awesome home brew!
Please do the alignment video
Akashambatwa Miller I’ll add it to the list!! 👍🏼
Not that the video isn’t stellar, it is, but the lowest healing potion is not 4d4+4 its 2d4+2 so that diminishes the point very slightly.
👍🏻
The lowest Healing Potion in 5e is 2d4+2.
On passive perception, if they "pass" it gives them the ability to roll.
I like your healing potion system but it wouldn’t work in my game. I have low level players without a dedicated healer. So instead they do 2d6+2. This works because I love throwing difficult encounters at my players.
Lebo Munjeri oooooo YES! That’s perfect for your system which is literally a 2x version of what I do! Perfect balance for your table though! Good stuff
GREAT VIDEO
Hey this is an old one too!! Thanks for that!
12:35 "I killed them all! And not just the men..."
Technically every every skill has a passive score, but perception and insights are those most used, which is why they appear on the character sheet, are there to quantify the characters ability to do a task they are not attempting to do, like look for an ambush, tell if an npc is lying or remain unseen from an enemy.
They are especially useful when you don't want characters to know exactly if they succeeded or not, or even if there was a check to perform.
I do feel like they are a touch op though, perhaps 8 + skill modifier would be a better fit, but they can still be modified further. A +5 applies to the score if they would normally get advantage on the check, and a -5 if they would have disadvantage.
Admitedly, some skills like deception dont have much use for a passive score, but passive scores can be an incredibly useful mechanic if used well.
Matthew Parker I love the way you described it! I agree! This is definitely the perspective I have when I use / think about those passive scores. The part you said about using it correctly is the best part AND that every score technically has a passive score for it (that I think should be +8 also) great comment!!
This channel is perfect for me. Keep it up!!!
Great stuff here. My tables (and most tables that I've played at) use the bonus action potion rule already, as well as the Proficient Help one, but I love the "I Know a Guy" rule and will definitely be pitching it to my table once we're no longer social distancing.
RE: Roll for Health: I rule that you cannot roll lower than your Constitution modifier, which people generally like. It's not a perfect solution though, so I like your idea to incorporate a mitigating factor (bonus hp after quest milestone). (I've got my own in-game method of doing so, but none of my players have yet figured it out.)
Benjamin Blackhurst glad to give ya some more tools!! But wow! I love the “cant roll lower than con mod” that just feels good. Idk there are just certain Homebrew that when I hear it... I instantly think... wow that’s good stuff!
I feel the the thematic progression of a character is something you have to handle on a very player by player basis. And something you have to be very careful about. Some people play D&D to explore all the ways various spells and character options interact and see what character "builds" they find fun. Locking a specific spell or multi-class option behind a campaign mini-arc can really kill the fun a player has in game if you are not careful. Or worse, if the player just isn't having fun with the character they've made and you try and trap that characters exit from the campaign and a new characters entry behind role play. It's a great thing to add if the player is for it but not something you should force upon them as a DM. In my mind player fun and player agency drive the game and anything that can compromise those two needs to be handled with care.
Martin Lindell I totally agree, and once I make more of my Homebrew video topics I want to do an entire video on that! Player agency and fun, it’s HUGE and something I think DMs can loose sight of!
Instead of I “I know a guy” i have a more casual, less mechanical approach.
I just ask players random loaded questions. This are questions that proved the players an opportunity to flesh out their character. They are often about imply stuff about the characters that the player hasn’t even said or thought about.
“You see someone in the tavern who looks familiar, who is he?”
“”You see someone in the tavern who looks familiar who is it?”
“Tell me about that scar on your shoulder”
“Who was your best friend as a kid?”
Players are free to answer however they want it deny the question entirely, but why would they turn down the chance of a roleplaying opportunity.
Lebo Munjeri that is seriously beautiful! I’ve done that, but hearing your approach motivates me to do it!!
Tons of videos about dnd and I've never seen anyone mention central casting for character creation it makes me sad.
Tru3Spart3n what do you mean “central casting”??
@@TheDungeonCoach central casting heroes of legend is an extensive method for using dice to roll a character it's a ton of fun and it's how I was introduced to character creation. If you look up " the trove - central casting" u can click the link for heroes of legend and follow it for making a character. It's actually a pretty old method so it doesn't line up exactly for the current version of dnd but making adjustments for the differences isn't difficult.
Tru3Spart3n that does sound really interesting!
@@TheDungeonCoach I hope you look into it and enjoy it as much as my group and I do. If u do use it i suggest using a 3 rerolls system during the process.
@@TheDungeonCoach If u do end up using it to make a character it would be cool if u could tell me the results and what u think.
I really like the last 2 points: the other I kinda did in one way or another.
My question is: how to implement them in an ongoing campaign?
Also a question: you give each PG Xp or just share the total equally? I use the second because I think it encourages team play but would like to hear your thoughts (expecially in case of bonus perks I delle having PG of different level can lead to a snowball effect)
Ps you are doing great, really like the video, quick and informative with just that bit of annedote to ground concepts.
Also this iteration of the index is very very good, it makes info retention easier
Lilopolo glad to see that was appreciated haha! Took some time to figure out how to do the graphics on the list, tryin to keep it simple!
I appreciate it man! I’m trying, I really am!
Depends on which points you want to implement. Before the session starts I would put it out there on the table and have it be an optional switch you can do. If they players are excited then BOOM y’all now have the system in place. I threw in the “I know a guy” system into a campaign that was 20 sessions in when I first stared it 👍🏼
For XP I have done it both ways! I talk with the group and pitch all the ideas neutrally (devils advocate) and if they are ok with individual xp progression, I do it that way. They still share xp for combat/ big group things they do together, but if they miss a session they don’t get XP, this was chosen by then though, not me. My main campaign I did milestone
I want to do a whole video on this! Such a good topic
The Dungeon Coach I do a mix of milestone + shared.
I share equally for player in combat but for the non combat part I do the milestone way but divided (each session is organised with various small objectives, each one gives Xp that I add to the total pool of Xp that I then share) + a bonus for cool things expecially if done by the team rather than single PG (it greatly stimulate cooperation).
@@lolply54 Thats basically what I did with my main campaign, always rewarding creativity! I am trying out a system right now that I stole and modified from Matt Mercer, Bonus XP for good role play/ cool character created moments. If the player does something awesome they get a "tally mark" usually coming from good role play where they enhance the game of everyone by their own RP. At the end of the session they are awarded bonus XP for each one. equal to (15) x (player level). So at level 5 a "tally point" = 75xp each. (15x5)
Been using this is a current game im running and its pretty cool and has been good positive rewards for others to do more RP
i'd love to see a video on alignment if you're down! i'm not a huge fan of the vanilla and interested in alternatives
nola a. I will put that down on my recommended list of videos to make! Thank you! My patrons vote each month! So we’ll see 👍🏼
I like the idea of throwing CON into the mix for healing potions in #3. I'd balk at having such a granular number of potion tiers even though I understand the rationale (what do your alchemist call a Level 4 healing potion?). I want to incorporate #5 in my new campaign. Regarding #6, instead of using Passive Perception, I assign the opponents/hazards Passive Stealth and have the players roll Perception Checks. I'm a big proponent of #7.
Jon Osborne I love that these speak to you!
Yea I just imagine the potions all being called healing potions, some are just kore potent than others. Makes more sense to me than potions across the world being some sort of consistent standard 😆
And I love your #6 thoughts too, that’s basically what I do! Totally agree!
O and I definitely love the creativity behind #7! So I’m with ya!
Loving your channel!
My group doesn't really have a problem remembering health potion amounts, but we do use a house rule for them. You can use an action or bonus action to consume a health potion. If you use a bonus action you roll for how much health you get like normal. If you use your action you receive the max amount of healing that potion can provide. Narratively it's like quickly trying to gulp down some water while you're running. You're probably going to spill some. But if you stop and take your time, you'll get every last drop. And of course administering a potion to someone else is an action.
Have you heard of the "click rule" for traps? When a PC springs a trap the DM tells them they hear a click and then quickly ask them what they do. They have a few seconds to narrate a basic reaction like "I fall prone" "I raise my shield" "I push up against the left wall". Only things they could do in under a second. If there are multiple PC's in the trap's area he quickly asks them all for their reaction. Then the DM describes the trap and depending on what the PC's did they each may be affected differently by the trap. The PC who fell prone may avoid a swinging scythe from the ceiling trap, but would have disadvantage (I'd probably avoid auto fails) on his DEX saving throw from the spikes that poke up from the ground trap. The PC who raised his shield might get advantage on his saving throw from the flamethrower trap in front of them. The PC's get a chance to react, but they don't know what type of trap they're reacting to.
Kyle Maddock I LOVE that health potion idea... fixes those times when you get screwed and roll bad when you chose to take one, rewards the full action and makes logical sense... what a beautiful Homebrew!
I have TWO video ideas on traps! One for making them and one for running them. And I use the Click method!! (Not all the time, but players are definitely aware of the rule and ready) Just that rule being a thing adds tension to the threat of traps and I love your description of it too, shoot might even use it as the example if my Patrons ask for that video!
Glad to have you in the community man, I like where your heads at!!
@@TheDungeonCoach Thanks man! Glad to be here.
Fuck yes to this homebrew
Honestly one of my favorite discovery on RUclips *
and honestly also convenient with my next campaign coming
Le Gladiateur awesome! Perfect timing eh? Glad to help!!
@@TheDungeonCoach Thanks !
Regarding your healing potion chart: the more dice you add of the same type, the more that the result strays towards the average value of those dice. Upgrading the die size, to preserve some of the variance, at regular intervals would help this.
Given that you said you don't generally reward more than a lv5 potion, this means their potions have a mean healing value of about 6 less HP than a Superior Potion (a lv6 is only 1 HP less than a Superior). Your potions add an average of 4.5 more health per level, and this seems way too granular to me, and all those potion levels seem wasted.
How about this: if your players can remember "d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12", then just make the potions roll die equal to the level, of a size that increments in the above order, and add HP equal to twice the level.
Lv1: 1d4+2
Lv2: 2d6+4
Lv3: 3d8+6
Lv4: 4d10+8
Lv5: 5d12+10
If you look at the current healing potions in the game, they basically skip every other level and have you roll d4s equal to the level and add twice the level. What I'm suggesting is more granular than the regular potions and also has a lot more variance.
These are great, especially "I know a guy" and the reasons for leveling is something I always do for character progression in a game of any kind, such as in FATE my character was a cyborg losing their mind to the terminator machinery, so I slowly lowered empathy and stuff whilst raising fight, notice and shoot.
I really like the I know a guy thing, I do it often and didnt even really think about it because we just do it in a lot of the campaigns. Since its not just the DM telling the story its a group effort in bringing your players inside the story.
Awesome !! I do some of these as well. We used a training system to level up imported from AD&D, making it a bit logical to hone your skills with a coach. Kind of a trainer in soccer, he doesn't play as well as the player but knows how to improve your skills. Thematic lvl up is an totally yes for me. We even did it without ruling it. I remember having an evocation wizard Wich had so good relationship with the cleric that I took a cleric lvl but in a different domain, worshipping the same God. Everyone was surprised by that. We usually do tell our DM where will we be going each lvl in our characters to give him time to think and include roleplay for each lvl up too.
Ernesto Figarella that double cleric domain split sounds AWESOME! Such a cool character arch! Makes me think!
@@TheDungeonCoach yeah. Wasn't powerfull at all, but usefull. But the best was the meaning of the multiclass. Because I was a wizard, with a hunger for knowledge, and my mentor was a life priest. Also on another topic, I agree with evil characters. I've played some myself (be the assassin I told you about in another comment one of those) and it is playable. But I agree people tend to make evil characters just to troll the party. That's lame. We had once an evil characters hidden in the party, we thought it was one of the NPC but turned out to be a player. Huge surprise and made sense all along. I don't ban them, but I talk to them and see their motives.
Ernesto Figarella wow that secret evil PC sounds SUPER interesting to play in... wow! I’d love to do a one/ 3 shot of that to play around with the idea’
@@TheDungeonCoach sure thing ! It is fun, although the evil pc should be experienced enought to pull it off along with the DM. If you ever do that, record it and post it on RUclips. I'd like to see that.
Ernesto Figarella exactly! That would take a bunch of skill (evil PC and DM to pull off)
I love the narrative multiclass requirement! It just never made sense when characters would finish a quest and spontaneously discover their ancestral draconic sorcerer bloodline.
Love it man, keep it up
John Peddle thanks man! Thanks for the support!
I love your energy, and your content!!
My health portion are a free action.
Rick Lawton Ooooo I love it! What do you do to feed it to another player? Bonus action?
I could see myself doing this if the group didn’t have a healer, but make sure health potions were more rare. I like it!
@@TheDungeonCoach no it stays an action.
Rick Lawton oooo ok got ya. This could be fun to give your players buff type potions. They might actually use them in combat haha! So many times I find my players holding onto cool potions, but for a free action, LETS GOOO
Constitution (Intimidation) - Idly slide a blade across your hand while you talk, finish the proposed intimidating proposal by offering to shake on it.
Charisma (Stealth) - Hold a clipboard and act like you're supposed to be there. Advantage for a previous success on a check with Disguise Kit, using Int, Dex or Wis.
Religion is a great one for these. Charisma to lead a sermon or whip a zealot army into a frenzy. Wisdom to provide counsel to the faithful and intuit their issues. Dexterity to perform delicate rituals.
Stephen Harris Ahhhhhh I LOVE these!! This comment came on my phone alert thing and all I saw was (constitution-intimidation) and my mind was wondering during the meeting I was in! And yea that would be great! Or like you let a person take a free swing at you and you’re fine... constitution intimidation for sure!!
Sounds like you run some fun games but unfortunately my (most) players don't want to work for anything. It's the millennial age of D&D. Refreshing attitude to see, you would have loved earlier editions of the game but you are probably to young to have played through them.
All I’ve done is 5e and I love making them EARN IT! but I agree with you so much on this!
I would like to see all the things. All the homebrew things you said.
I got all the things! This is my favorite topic for sure! Thanks!
"I need to know if you guys want to see that": I WANT, I WANT! PLEEEASEEE, I NEED IT, DESPERATELY!!! (said like a groupie during a concert of a boy band....). This channel is becoming good, very good, and I already stole shamelessly some of your houserules :)
Luca Bellarosa literally lol’d at this! I’m imagining a bunch of screaming D&D players screaming for homebrew rules lol.
Thank you so much man! I really am trying to make something here to help people “get creative and think outside the box” so that means a lot!
And steal it all bro! I think there’s a phrase that goes something like “there’s no such thing as a new idea”
And I take it as a compliment anyway haha
@@TheDungeonCoach And it is a compliment, man! Even if many times it is not easy to think out of the box, both as a DM and as a player.
Luca Bellarosa right! Because once something it “SET” in a certain way, we get so used to it we don’t question it.
Can't believe you've only got 608 subscribers, great content, great delivery - only a matter of time before you're up there with the big players
Thanks Sam! That really does motivate me! Been growing fast, but I just keep pushing. Glad to see it’s well received!
Spread the word! Haha 😆
Got a video for your spreadsheet - In a DnD YT series I watch High Rollers, their DM Mark Hulmes (10/10, 5 Star DM) has a injury system wherein if a player is knocked unconscious the player makes a DC10 injury save. No effect on a Success. On a fail, the player has to roll d20 on an injury table - suffering the resulting injury be it broken rib, lost eye or cuts and bruises - what's your take on this?
Sam Novelli personally I have been fascinated by this system! And I will 100% be trying this and I have a homebrew table of mine to try it!
My HUGE ISSUE with it... is maiming a players body when they don’t feel comfortable with it can feel extremely violating to the PC. So losing an eye/ arm/ etc... worries me because a players body is a very “personal” thing in a weird way. So permanently disfiguring it (the more extreme side) might be uncomfortable to the player. So I’m keeping this in mind when I make it... I have a hard core table and a “lite” table in the works!
Lovin' all the homebrew videos! I'll be using these, especially the bonus lvl up perk!
Love it! That’s my favorite one to do, players get so excited when they know they have bonus perks coming at them lol
Thanks for the shout out aainn