Allow pure Spell Point casting without penalty. PCs simply convert all slots to Spell Points and add the base Sorcery Points for their level.
Expand the Sorcerer spell list using the Warlock & Wizard spell list. I let the PCs ask me about spells from other class's Spell List and make a judgement cal. But you could basically allow them to choose from all Arcane damage spells.
*Healing No "poof it's morning so your arm grew back" 100% healing stuff. GH isn't that kind of setting. Characters will heal a number of HD equal to whatever they have left. So, if a 5th level character hasn't used any HD to heal, he can heal 5 HD "free". If he had used 2, he would heal 3 HD in the morning for "free". Still heals fast, but not 100% guaranteed every morning.
*Material Components If you actually *have* the 'mundane' material component, a spell cast with it causes Disadvantage on saves, or (if no save) has twice the duration or effect (DM decides). Spells with a set cost material do not get this bonus/adjustment; if you spend 10 times that value, then your spell gets it.
*Spell Component Pouch / Focus A caster without one of these (if spell requires Material Components) suffers a -5 to Initiative.
*Druid Wildshape Shifting back into original form may bring with it damage, regardless. The druid makes a death save; failure indicates he brings back all the damage he sustained in animal form. If this takes him to 0, he is knocked unconscious.
*Feats Seriously considered not using them...but they actually don't seem really "game breaking" like they are in 3.x/PF. A PC may only have *3* Feats...period. Also, those Feats must be "acquired" in-game somehow. You can't just wake up one morning after gaining a level and say "I have Savage Attacker now" even though it makes no sense for your character to suddenly get it. Gaining a Feat is not "instantaneous". I haven't worked out the details yet, but I think I may place some kind of "wait time" where the player has to make a bit of effort to role-play how this feat comes about.
*More XP from Treasure/Adventure....less from Monsters I like the in-game effect of this rule. It encourages the players to think about what they are doing and not worry about "not getting enough XP because we didn't wipe out all those kobolds". Players become more focused on being "smart" and less on min/maxing to be "tougher". GP = 1xp. Discovering Plot/Story Points = variable. Monster = 1/2 or less as listed.
*Cantrips Always roll a 1d20 to cast. If you roll a 1, you can't cast the cantrip until you have a Long Rest. Attack cantrips use the Spell Attack roll, others just roll a 1d20 to see if it "short circuits". (reasoning: archers eventually run out of arrows...should be something akin for spellcasters as well...).
All first level wizards/sorcerers/warlocks get Prestidigitation as a free, bonus cantrip, usable at will.
All first level clerics get Thamauturgy as a free, bonus cantrip, usable at will.
All first level druids get Druidcraft as a free, bonus cantrip, usable at will.
Use of each cantrip other than those above is restricted to once between long rests. In addition, spellcasters may cast a number of cantrips equal to their primary ability modifier. For example, a 1st level wizard with 17 intelligence has a modifier of +3. He may cast all of his cantrips once, and then any 3 of his choosing again (including repeats of the same cantrip, if desired) before needing a long rest to replenish them. The wizard may still cast prestidigitation at will.
Use of ‘Spare the Dying’ results in one automatically successful death save rather than an automatic stabilization. (See item#5 below)
2. Computing hit points at level up: Roll one hit die; if it is less than half the value (such as rolling a 4 on a d10), you may take the standard half HD value instead. Example: a fighter using d10 would never gain fewer than 5 HP (before modifiers) when levelling up. A wizard would never gain fewer than 3 HP at level up, etc.
3. Starting Wealth by Class: With DM consultation, a character with the ‘noble’ background may be allowed to use the maximum amount of money for their chosen class without rolling. This will depend heavily on the backstory of the character as worked out by the player and the DM.
4. Knighthood: The accolade shall not be conferred on any PC lower than 3rd level under any circumstances, and in all likelihood not until somewhere between 5th and 7th level, especially when seeking to join an official order. Knighthood in-game is a goal to be strived for, providing its own motivations and adventure hooks. Players with an eye on knighthood may commence play at first level as a current or former squire, if desired.
5. Stabilizing a dying character:
A total of 3 player actions and the presence of a healer's kit (or the standard 3 successful death saves) are needed to stabilize a character with fewer than zero HP. This essentially means that a player action spent rendering aid constitutes an automatically successful death save.
The player rendering aid (other than by casting a ranged spell) must be within 5 FT of the patient.
A successful medicine skill check taken on a players action counts as two of the three necessary actions (the equivalent of 2 successful death saves)
Attacks against players rendering aid to a dying character are made with advantage. Shield and dexterity bonuses do not apply to the defender’s AC when they are rendering aid.
Up to 3 characters can render aid as an action in any given round, provided there is ample space available for them to occupy around a prone patient. Their individual actions are taken in initiative order.
Each action (other than a successful death save, or use of magic) taken to stabilize a patient uses 1 use of the healer’s kit. A successful medicine check that counts as two successful death saves uses only 1 use of the healer's kit.
Any use of the ‘spare the dying’ cantrip counts as one action towards stabilizing the patient. (the equivalent of a successful death save)
Any healing spell or potion use which raises the patient's HP to zero automatically stabilizes the patient with no further action needed. If raised above zero HP, the patient regains consciousness and moves to the bottom of the initiative order, where they may act on their next round subject to circumstances and DM discretion.
6. Long rest: Rather than recovering all HP automatically, the player can roll their character's remaining HD (what's left after those used on short rests) and add their CON modifier per hit die. Example: a third level fighter with 16 CON used 1 HD during a short rest (d10+3). During the subsequent long rest, they have 2 hit die left to use. This means the player has the option of rolling either d10+3 or 2d10+6. After a long rest, the hit dice reset as per the PHB rules. Unused HD after a long rest do not carry over to the next short or long rest.
7. Knockouts: On attempting a knockout with OTHER THAN AN UNARMED attack, roll a DC12 INT or WIS check (whichever is more favorable). On a failed check the character accidentally kills their opponent. This rule does not apply to martial artists (monks).
I like the idea of Spare the Dying being only one successful stabilize roll. the three strikes is one of the most excitingly tense parts of the edition and its cheapened by an easy spell.
Healing has been done a few different ways by our DM. I'll bring these ideas here to his attention. Good stuff all around.
Bonus XP. Players can earn experience points for their characters by detailing the campaign world or their characters’ exploits.
Journal. A journal entry is worth XP equal to an easy encounter of the character’s level (DMG 82).
Downtime. Characters paying lifestyle expenses during downtime receive (easy encounter of the character’s level x 0.5) XP per week for their exploits during that period.
Food and Water. Not keeping track of it.
Random Wilderness Encounters. Roll a d20 once per day. 17-18 = day encounter, 19-20 = night encounter.
Random Urban Encounters. Roll a d20 once per day. 16-18 = day encounter, 19-20 = night encounter.
Healing. Healing from a temple costs (spell level x 50) GP.
For our group house rules are not about changing the rules. Part of the challenge of D&D has always been to play the game as presented. One of the best things about 5e is that it gives you a number of optional rules to choose from. Here is the list of optional or variant rules we use in our Greyhawk campaign.
Player's Handbook
Yes-
Variant human traits
Retainers
Bad reputation
Mulitclassing
Feats
Encumbrance
Playing on a grid
No-
Customizing ability scores
Dragonborn race
Equipment sizes
Skills with different abilities
No-
Training to gain levels
More difficult identification
Wands that don’t recharge
Automatic success
Only players award inspiration
Flanking
Diagonals
Facing
Level advancement without XP
Ability options
Adventuring options
Initiative options
Mark
Overrun
Tumble
Cleaving thru creatures
Massive damage
Skills
1. I am disappointed that one cannot acquire additional skills through level advancement. The Feat: Skilled allows you to select 3 additional skills or tools but the feat may be taken only once. I was thinking about allowing it to be taken multiple times in order for the character to learn new skills after 1st level.
2. Also noted that there is no skill regarding Geography. One could say that this falls under History or Nature (which seems the more likely of the two).
3. Considering that skills are more overall encompassing and less defined in 5th edition I was thinking about when a character selects a skill they could specialize in one aspect of that skill.
For example: Nature includes: Recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.
By specializing, the character would not have knowledge of all of these topics but rather select only one of them they are familiar with. The character would double their proficiency bonus in that one area. The other areas they would be clueless about as if they did not have the skill.
Your thoughts? Do you do something different or have a better suggestion? _________________ Eileen of Greyhawk, Prophet of Istus, Messenger of the Gods
Well I knew I would be getting to this....Healing.
A short rest (1 hour) enables you to roll 1 hit die plus your con modifier and regain that many points back. If you have more than one level you can keep rolling a new hit die plus con modifier until you roll them all.
So a 1st level fighter has 10 hp, plus a Con mod. of +2, for a total of 12 hit points. They take a short rest and the player rolls 1d10 and if the result were a 10 they would add 10+2 (Con bonus) and be at maximum Hit points again.
A long rest (8 hours) the character automatically is returned to full hit points (all injuries are healed). If they had taken any short rests earlier that day they regain half their level in available HD for additional short rests later that day (24 hours).
A character at level 10 has ten HD. During the day they take 4 shorts rest and use up 6 HD to regain hp. At the end of the day they take a long rest, regain all their hp and also get 5 more HD remaining for short rests to use later in that 24 hour period.
Did I understand that correctly?
Do the same rules apply to the Monsters? If so I imagine it would be very frustrating for characters who severely injure that dragon but must retreat before defeating it. The next day they return at full HP only to find the dragon once again at full HP too. Granted it wouldn't be fair if the PCs got all their HP back from a long rest and the dragon was still injured, but there goes all of their hard work trying to slay the thing.
I like the concept of a short and long rest but not the rules they utilize. I'm going to sit on it and think for awhile what will work best for me. Meanwhile I'll read up on what others are doing who find conflict with the over-abundance of healing. _________________ Eileen of Greyhawk, Prophet of Istus, Messenger of the Gods
There are alternate healing rules in the DMG, some are far more strict, some are far more loose.
I think you might be more happy with short rest shifting to a day and a long rest shifting to a week. This would mean picking your fight would have a lot more consequence. It would also slow down the pace of adventuring.
I am sure you will come up with something that hits the sweet spot for you and your players.
For example: Nature includes: Recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.
By specializing, the character would not have knowledge of all of these topics but rather select only one of them they are familiar with. The character would double their proficiency bonus in that one area. The other areas they would be clueless about as if they did not have the skill.
Your thoughts? Do you do something different or have a better suggestion?
Perhaps you could allow a PC to specialize by gaining Advantage when rolling for a certain aspect of a skill, instead of changing the proficiency bonus they enjoy. This could be something they gain at later levels, or you could allow them to have this ability at 1st level, but suffer Disadvantage when checking against other aspects of the skill.
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