All Questions
Tagged with balance house-rules
174
questions
5
votes
3
answers
984
views
How would this extra spellcasting rule affect game balance?
I once heard of a D&D 5th edition group who played using various house rules. One such rule was as follows:
As a bonus action, a spellcaster may cast any cantrip, 1st level spell, or 2nd level ...
- 83.1k
6
votes
1
answer
1k
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How unbalanced would it be to change the duration of the Expeditious Retreat spell to "Concentration, until the end of a long rest"?
I have been playing Baldur's Gate 3, and the rules in the computer game are slightly different than the ones in paper 5e.
One that I found surprisingly OK in the game was that the duration of several ...
- 129k
5
votes
1
answer
211
views
What effects would allowing to flank with reach have on game balance?
One of my players asked me recently if I would allow their character, who has 10ft. reach, gain advantage from flanking while still using their reach.
I am aware that RAW this would not work since you ...
- 11.3k
20
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Will anything break if prone crossbow-wielders get advantage instead of disadvantage?
Being prone imposes disadvantage on attacks, which makes sense for melee weapons and traditional bows. However, for things like crossbows and firearms, laying prone seems like it should have the ...
- 515
4
votes
1
answer
304
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Gestalt caster balance: what price should allow multiple casting classes to share a spellbook?
I'm planning on running a P6 (tl,dr: stop leveling at 6, keep getting feats every 5k XP) campaign wherein the PCs are all gestalt characters, one "side" of which needs to be a full caster. ...
- 18.9k
11
votes
2
answers
650
views
Would it be unbalanced to allow Extra Attack on a ready action?
The rules for D&D 5e clearly state that Extra Attack can only be used on the character's turn:
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action ...
- 2,904
9
votes
2
answers
1k
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Is Heightened(4th) Silence spell balanced?
The second level spell Silence can be heightened to 4th level, when its description is as follows:
Heightened (4th) The spell effect emanates from the touched creature, silencing all sound in or ...
- 470
9
votes
3
answers
1k
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How will this static Initiative houserule affect game balance?
In my current D&D group all the PCs have a static Initiative (8 + Proficiency + Dex + any other bonuses) while enemies and NPCs keep rolling the original way (d20 dice roll + Dex). This enables us ...
- 91
8
votes
5
answers
3k
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What would be the impact if I allowed Barbarian's Unarmored Defense to stack with Lizardfolk's Natural Armor?
I am going to preface this question with the fact that yes, I am well aware they are separate AC calculations that you choose between. I am simply posing a theoretical question that warrants deeper ...
- 487
11
votes
3
answers
2k
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What would be the impact if I let Hand of Harm be used more than once, like Hand of Healing?
In Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the Way of Mercy Monastic Tradition grants both Hand of Healing and Hand of Harm at 3rd level. Hand of Healing/Harm describe their effects as using 1 ki point to ...
- 487
1
vote
1
answer
889
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How can I allow my player to be a Doppelganger without excessive HD/LA?
A player character who is a Doppelganger has four levels of Monstrous Humanoid and LA +4:
Racial Hit Dice: A doppelganger begins with four levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a ...
- 8,061
6
votes
1
answer
1k
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Can a Doppelganger buy Changeling racial feats?
The Changeling race in D&D 3.5 has a history defined as
They evolved through the union of doppelgangers and humans, eventually becoming a separate race distinct from either ancestral tree.
In D&...
- 8,061
1
vote
2
answers
1k
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Is it balanced with other races to give Dragonborn short-range blindsight as an additional racial trait?
I use this homebrew rule for darkvision and add a new racial trait called low-light vision in my games:
Darkvision: The following player races have darkvision to a range of 60ft; Drow, Half-Drow, ...
- 328
13
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Is making all Opportunity Attacks have disadvantage game breaking in any way?
To try and promote more movement in my game I'm considering a ruling where all Opportunity Attacks have disadvantage. Are there any ways this would significantly change the game? Party consists of two ...
- 535
29
votes
6
answers
6k
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Would allowing barbarians to maintain rage as an action be unbalanced or permit shenanigans?
A barbarian's Rage ends early
if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then.
Players of barbarians, including those in my own play ...
- 54.6k
20
votes
6
answers
5k
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How does class balance change when I remove spellcasting?
Let's say I want to DM a hypothetical, low-magic, homebrew D&D 5e game, that pits weapon-wielding heroes against supernatural foes and evil sorcerers. Think Conan the Barbarian or Game of Thrones ...
- 1,260
7
votes
1
answer
266
views
What if the rules for corporeal creatures and incorporeal were symmetrical?
I previously asked this question in regards to the asymmetry between corporeals attacking incorporeals (having a miss chance of 50%) and incorporeals attacking corporeals (no miss chance) as per the ...
- 2,243
16
votes
5
answers
7k
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Does this nerf to the Sharpshooter Feat make it too weak or unbalanced?
I'm getting pretty close to wrapping up a campaign where the highest damage dealing character in the party was a Sharpshooting Fighter, who in combination with the Crossbow Expert feat, was regularly ...
- 52.8k
10
votes
2
answers
2k
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Does adding "+1 Str" to the "Medium Armor Master" feat break the balance?
There are 5 "armor" feats in PHB: Lightly/Moderately/Heavily Armored, Medium Armor Master, and Heavy Armor Master. Four of them add +1 Str, of those some allow +1 Dex instead; Medium Armor ...
- 969
20
votes
1
answer
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Would allowing Draconic Sorcerors to be descended from the new dragon types be balanced?
The book Fizban's Treasury of Dragons has been released. While it does contain some player-oriented material (2 new subclasses), something it doesn't do is update the Draconic Sorcerer to have ...
- 14.1k
1
vote
4
answers
678
views
How should I handle giving a certain player a special ability in order to encourage roleplay?
I have a tiefling bard in one of my campaigns. In the campaign's universe, there is a lot of prejudice against tieflings.
I wanted to encourage some roleplay by adding a homebrew rule that, when she ...
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votes
3
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2k
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Is it unbalanced to allow the protection fighting style to modify an attack roll after it's rolled?
I've just learned that the Protection fighting style is supposed to be used before any attack rolls are made, via this question: Can Protection Fighting Style Be Used After The Roll?
In my group, we'...
- 5,667
22
votes
1
answer
3k
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Is it unbalanced to allow a player to move the tiefling's +1 Int bonus to a different ability score?
I'm in the planning phases of a campaign for D&D 5e, but using the Planescape setting. Since this setting is the one which introduced tieflings, I sent the table of potential tiefling traits to my ...
- 9,666
10
votes
3
answers
2k
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Would allowing a character to gain bonuses for two shields be unbalanced?
Would allowing a character to gain bonuses for two shields be unbalanced?
I have a character I've been working on who worships a god of protection. The idea is that he will use two shields, but the ...
- 1,307
8
votes
2
answers
700
views
Would DnD 5e style heightening unbalance the game?
Non-damaging spells like Fear, Slow and Haste increase the target count when heightened. However, not linearly as Hold Person or Blindness does in DnD 5e (+1 target / level) but quite randomly:
Fear ...
- 65k
8
votes
3
answers
3k
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Would allowing Shillelagh to transform your staff into another weapon be unbalanced?
I am planning a (not explicitly optimised) Ranger/Monk character, that uses Druidic Warrior to cast Shillelagh:
Druidic Warrior
You learn two cantrips of your choice from the druid spell list. They ...
- 13.7k
9
votes
3
answers
2k
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What would be the ramifications of allowing a Wild Magic Sorcerer's Bend Luck ability to scale with level?
I was wondering why a Wild Magic Sorcerer's Bend Luck ability is always 2 sorcery points and a reaction to increase or reduce another creature's attack roll, ability check or saving throw by 1d4.
I ...
- 2,347
-4
votes
2
answers
269
views
Impact of Proposed Healing House Rule?
What is the probable impact of the following house rule?
A Wisdom (Medicine) check can be used to restore hit points. This is a DC 0 check; the patient regains 1 HP for each point the result exceeds ...
- 12.4k
11
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Will it break the game if healing in combat heals the max instead of rolling?
In the next week I will start a new campaign where I will be the DM. The players will be totally new to the DnD World. I want to let them to freely choose the class and race which they want to play, ...
- 1,351
4
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Are my weapon damage house rules balanced?
TLDR: In my game, finesse and ranged weapons don't get a stat damage bonus and Dueling gives the damage bonus to 1- and 2- handed weapons. Is this balanced?
Starting running a game for the first time ...
- 5,264