Our Best Combat House Rules | 5e Dungeons and Dragons | Web DM

Today we're talking about the house rules we like to use in combat! We love playing D&D rules as written, but if you're looking for ways to make combat go faster, make it more dynamic, or do things that just plain make more sense to us. What are some of your favorite combat house rules?
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[@WebDM]

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[@kain50144]

My only issue is with the Initiative "Pc's go, then bad guys go" is that math is incredibly dangerous and will likely kill PCs with a regularity that is not fun.

[@TangooseCarmike8205]

I've been experimenting with pre-rolling initiative checks. Everyone rolls at the beginning of the session. That roll is used for the first encounter they come to. So as things escalate into combat I just turn to the top of the pre-rolled initiative order ask them "What do you do?". Sometimes they leap into combat, sometimes they try to stall or talk. When that encounter is over, I have them roll up a new order. Its definitely good at preserving the "narrative" and makes a pretty smooth transition from description of an encounter to players making decisions and talking.

[@thundersheild926]

I do this for enemies, with initiative tents for players. I would write down my rolled initiative for the enemies prior to the session, and then have all my players roll initiative, write it on the tent, and hand it over. Made it so that it took only about 3 or so minutes. Or at least, that's what I used to do before switching to virtual from Covid.

[@Ubrfnd]

This has been my default for a few years now. I find it REALLY improves narative flow at the table.

[@Ubrfnd]

@Insignatious No reason you can't add these modifiers after the fact. You already have the rolls + mod. I use +/-5 for advantage/disadvantage if called for. Not perfect equivalence, but definitely good enough for my table.

[@SlyFlourish]

Great stuff! I put together a table of contents to help me reference this stuff in the future. Hope it helps! 03:15 Initiative Variants (Fast and Slow Turns from Shadow of the Demon Lord) 06:10 Side-based Initiative 08:46 Varying Monster HP and Damage 14:00 Running Mobs 18:15 Morale 21:42 Death Saves

[@WebDM]

Thank you so much, Sly!

[@davidotoole2853]

I kinda like the team initiative. It sounds kinda fun tbh

[@laurelhill3505]

Jim sounding like he is the late night DJ of a soft rock station today!

[@stevesmith4600]

I was thinking more NPR host

[@WeShallLoveOn]

"Hey everyone thanks for listening to 105.9 WDFM we got some great new house rules to play for ya. Here's a new single from the Web Demons. Roll on 🤘"

[@DMXXCorps]

I listen to these guys on my night shift all the time. They do have that vibe.

[@nonah60]

I LOVE his voice on this mic. Please this only forever

[@bl00dywelld0ne]

Totes rockin' that vibe

[@emophobe]

A houserule I've implemented in regards to rolling too many death saves in a single combat is that the fails stick until a long rest. So far nobody has died but the whack a mole situation stopped.

[@O4C209]

I like this with short rest.

[@BassGr00ve]

I want to try 2 things. Roll them myself behind the screen. And, raising the DC until they get greater restoration'd.

[@mrmaat]

If you want to make things even scarier, add a level of exhaustion to anyone knocked unconscious and brought back up.

[@mrmaat]

@@O4C209 I like the short rest idea too - players might actually use that mechanic.

[@mosthvaathe547]

@@mrmaat I do this in my current game and it’s worked out well. My players tend to disengage and retreat behind the more healthy players and switch to ranged attacks. Anything to avoid that exhaustion. I’ll let them buy an exhaustion point back with short rest once per day but it costs them half their hit die on that short rest and they gain 0HP from those die.

[@lelandwhitehead56]

Easy solution to the "initiative hump" from narriative to combat if you're on a VTT- Just make a macro to roll all the initiatives at once, and the DM hits it when combat starts, and then announces the first turn order. Only takes a few seconds.

[@TheMrVengeance]

I actually like the "initiative hump" when playing at the table in real life. DM is revealing/setting up the battle map, putting down minis, meanwhile players roll initiative. Everyone has a brief moment to collect there thoughts, get ready for combat. Sometimes you need a moment to coordinate with the party who was walking/standing where. And then you go down the list of turn orders and fight your combat. EDIT: It's why I like to play TTRPG style video games like Pillars of Eternity in turn-based mode. It pauses when combat initiates. And you don't already have like 5 spells hurled at you before you even realize combat is happening.

[@Spooksmagoo]

I love Foundry VTT for the fast initiative rolling. Putting every player into combat everytime, and then just selecting the enemy combatants makes it so much easier and you can 'surprise' your players when you hit begin combat and show them it's time to go.

[@everythingknife8763]

Paladins can alter the party's initiative roll by proximity. Anyone within 10ft of the Paladin gets a +5 to initiative.

[@TheodoreMinick]

@@everythingknife8763 while interesting, I don't see the relevance to this particular discussion. If you could elaborate, I'd appreciate it.

[@GethRenmawe]

@@everythingknife8763 Not sure that's true Robert. Paladin's base aura only affects saving throws, not ability checks.

[@mr7shesha001]

I love the idea of moral works differently depending on the type of monster.

[@mikemartin8605]

“I play D&D for the swinginess” Dungeon Crawl Classics: “Hold my beer”

[@alexanderlaplante5477]

I love Jim's idea of not being concerned with mob hit points until their hit points are affected. I really like the 4th edition minion rule for things like that, sometimes I even beefed-up the minions 2 two or three hit death, especially if there's only a few and they serve a purpose other than direct combat, such as activating traps, completing rituals or using spells and abilities that are triggered.

[@Gogking1414]

We use a d4 for a flanking bonus, instead of advantage. More dice, more fun, same amount of time, and it stacks with other advantage sources!

[@jh-ne4sy]

My group has been doing the exact same thing!

[@badger2575]

On the last subject of Death Saves, I've been using an Injury houserule. Basically, when a character is dying they aren't necessarily unconscious, so they can still perform limited actions while under an Injured condition. They are still "bleeding out" though, so they continue making Death Saves, but they are allowed to do something about it. The injured condition isn't removed upon healing, so even if the character isn't at risk of dying anymore, they are still pretty useless in the fight.

[@TheMrVengeance]

If I remember correctly there is actually a 'permanent injury' optional rule in the DMG. I think related to/in the same section as the 'massive damage' optional rule.

[@merlintym1928]

In my game, I've always given each class and monster very fast, fast, slow, or very slow, instead of an initiative score. It's cool to see other people with a similar idea 😀

[@Punintelligent]

Where'd that nice beard go Pruitt? Cool house rules. I like that Jim's method for determining monster HP as they get hit. I haven't tried that... yet. I use something similar to morale that I call "foregone conclusions." When one side is clearly winning a fight, the battle is resolved through a more narrative form outside of Ordered actions. It allows the awkward end of fights to become more cinematic and flavorful. If you want to see the rules for it let me know.

[@xp1446]

Sounds cool, I ‘d like to see it

[@Punintelligent]

@@xp1446 Sure. Let me format it so it works as a standalone doc real quick. Quick note, since these were written for Convergent, some terms are slightly different for 5e: "Ordered Action" ~= Initiative, and "Intuition" ~= Insight. I'll post a link to a doc in a couple minutes.

[@Thatonedude227]

My favorite combat house has gotta the one from the movie Monster House

[@jameshwren]

That Initiative Hump always reminds me of the swirl in transition seen from Final Fantasy RPGs, love it.

[@VegasVenomX]

A death saving throw house rule I have is your DC for saves starts at 5. And every time you go down, your DC goes up by one. So a whack-a-mole situation can quickly spiral out of control. It really makes every point of damage dramatic and matter.

[@mrmaat]

Does it ever reset? Or can the DC go up past 20?

[@VegasVenomX]

@@mrmaat it never resets. Usually by the time it gets to DC 12, the PCs get super resourceful and it doesn't become an issue. It also comes down to DM experience. Knowing that you no longer should make only deadly encounters to challenge your party.

[@mrmaat]

@@VegasVenomX interesting.

[@VegasVenomX]

@@mrmaat the goal isn't to grind the players down into eventual death. The goal is to make combat more impactful and to build tension into every swing of the sword

[@jf649]

Hey guys. Just wanted to thank you. Loved this advice. Actually would have loved some details on the initiative systematic. I am following the channel for some years now and hadn’t got into the content so much recently. Loved your classes series, möögä dungeäön and those videos back in the days. Hope to see more of these kind of videos in the future again: i.e shared memories, fun stories and practical tweaks and tricks basically. Still a big thanks for your inspiration and dedication you put into the game and us as your community! Can’t wait for the Wastelands to arrive!

[@jordanbarber6376]

Jim and Pruit's sweet pipes are just becoming like ASMR to me... Had to watch this one twice!

[@mrROAR104]

Fast and slow turns as you described them, with casters getting to be a fast turn just casting a single spell, unfairly punishes melee characters who often times need to move to get in range. Ranged rogues would also very often get to be fast turns, but that one at least makes sense

[@TheMrVengeance]

Also some melee characters are balanced around the fact that they have multiple attacks, so either they'd have to always go last or suffer in their effectiveness.

[@mrROAR104]

@@TheMrVengeance and like someone said in a different comment here, until the end of the targets next turn/your next turn stuff gets fucked with in terms of effectiveness as well.

[@dracoargentum9783]

"when you piss off ALL of them, and they ALL are coming after you..." Jacque, turn on the plane!! JACQUE!!!

[@valkyriebait136]

As far as death goes, I've always been the opposite - "Did my character die? Uh . . . okay. Maybe I'll be back in a session or two. Or maybe I won't come back at all." I'm one of those people that if my character's story ends because of dice rolls - that's ruined my fun. I was interested in that character's story, and losing it in an unsatisfactory way is not fun. All that having been said - yeah, Death Saves aren't the best way to handle things. I'm running things with a "You're down, one save, if you fail you're out of combat and we're going to see what grave consequence you suffer for this damage once combat is done!"

[@alexanderlaplante5477]

Loving the content guys, so proud!

[@Calebgoblin]

Yo I'm so excited for you guys' take on this because I've been looking into so many others lately

[@R2-DPOO]

Great stuff as always guy!

[@AndICanTalk2]

Interesting perspective. Many things to consider. Ty

[@n.kirkevans6256]

Advice on the former DM/new player question was very on point. I'm a very high concept DM with two different on-going campaigns that are weird and non-linear. OTOH, I also play in a very linear bash-the-monster campaign and enjoy that as well. I'd be bored to tears DM'ing the latter, but thakfully I have a DM who enjoys DMing it. There is probably some asymmetry here: you probably wouldn't enjoy DMing a campaign you didn't enjoy playing, but you can definitely enjoy playing a campaign you wouldn't want to DM.

[@macfine]

I really don't like the Fast/slow turn initiative system. It takes as long to get the information as it does to roll a number.

[@mrROAR104]

And you've got to do it EVERY turn, not just once at the start.

[@OrbitalBliss]

Yeah, that's one of the worst "Initiative" Homebrews I've ever heard of. Also, it breaks everything that last "until the end of blah's next turn" effects. My monk stuns you as a Fast turn this round, then you're stunned until the END of my next turn... which I'm gonna make sure is a Slow one.

[@komicczz3211]

@@mrROAR104I usually let my party each roll, 15,7,13 but each member can trade. And trade each turn. It’s cool Bc sometimes you can stack. You rolled 1 you attack do good he’s low. The guy with the 20 trades for that round. Then you attack again and kill something my monsters also do it

[@t20sgrunt36]

We normally do a single Init roll, but our new house rules allow us to up our init dice. Start with a d6, but our DM created a faction system that allows progress, and one of the options is to up your init rolls. Start at d6 and can work up to d12. We also roll damage with the attack roll to help speed up combat. With up to 8 players, watching people count dice can really slow it up. I'm also a huge fan of speed systems- eg. a dagger should attack faster than a great axe.

[@ashenwalls3558]

I've definitely run games where we all got so caught up in the story that we forgot about initiative, and just went around the table. Idk that I'll do that all the time, but I'm definitely keeping it in my back pocket for one-shots!

[@JesperAndersen]

Great show - great house rules - am going to use most of them (but with AD&D) ;-)

[@papertalesfantasyroleplayi3102]

One house rule I have implemented (though it isn't always combat related) is that the players have 10 minutes to plan, discuss, interact, etc in any scene that occurs - once the ten minutes are up, I start to tap into bank of 30 minutes that refreshes at the beginning of every session. We only use this because we have to play short sessions and don't want to waste all our time sitting around making no progress at all, and I'm very willing to bend this rule when the party is really engaged with the scene and the conversation is exciting and interesting. It's usually used to minimize pointless discussion that is going in circles or lacking conviction. If they ever use the entire 30 minutes in the bank, I begin to allow the "off-screen" events to unravel so it feels like their time had consequences in the game world. I'd suggest being lenient, it's not meant to be a punishing rule.

[@madocmayhem]

Ohhh thank you, the rolling hit points for low level, low hp critters is smart. I think I'm gonna join that swing party xD

[@Dennis-vh8tz]

Simplified initiative rules are a great match for OSR games, but in 5e they invalidate feats and class abilities that give a bonus to initiative, and may be problematic for class abilities that require going first. A fixed initiative order based on based on the initiative score without any rolling might be a good compromise here. Side based initiative would probably have to have the character with highest initiative roll. The mob rules pretty much treat the monsters as a swarm. Interesting alternative to the 1HP minions from, I believe it was 4e? I like the idea of downed characters staying down until the end of combat, and rolling death saves then. Maybe characters who pass wake up with a level of exhaustion, those who fail die.

[@benjaminfrost2780]

Going around the table saying Fast Turn or Slow Turn, takes the same time as rolling initiative IF the PC's know what they want to do. If they don't it is even slow Jim Davis. I like the fast turn / slow turn for dynamic purposes but it isn't faster at most tables. To be clear, not knocking what Jim does at his table. I personally believe both of these gentleman are amazing DMs and each table has a different "best way to play".

[@RyuuKageDesu]

I recently added a die-roll for initiative, every round, with die sizes for for different actions (dagger stab = D4, while spell = D10). It helps the combat feel more dynamic, and I use it to help determine if some attacks interrupt others. It sounds like an extra step, but it makes combat faster, in practice.

[@Nildread]

For some reason when I saw this I thought it was going to be about fighting an animated house.

[@WebDM]

Yeah we had a bit of fun with the thumbnail!

[@O4C209]

I get what you're saying about not enjoying the death saves, but I feel that's the point. I want an uncomfortable situation when your PC is possibly meeting their end. I want to cry when a Character that I care for dies in any story format.

[@RTukka]

Yeah, and I've never been at a table where someone was making their next character while making death saving throws, or tried to make a character during any session other than a session zero. In my experience you usually either have a backup character ready to go (or maybe the DM lets you play an NPC for the remainder of a session) or the character gets brought back from the dead, or the session ends not long after the death and you bring a new character next time. Also, Pruitt's house rule doesn't really seem to address the tubthumping effect. It would seem that the optimal strategy is still typically to wait until someone goes down to bring them back up with a heal.

[@TheSwamper]

@@RTukka Yeah, that really struck me as weird. Your PC dies and you just immediately shrug it off and start creating another within a minute? I've never heard of that before.

[@colemcmullen3904]

Another way to do initiative is just to assign a flat DC to the enemy's initiative depending on how fast the enemy is: Slow = DC 5, Average = DC 10, Fast = DC 15, Exceptionally Fast = DC 20. Players roll their initiative and add their bonus. If they exceed the enemy's DC, they go first. If they roll lower, the enemy acts first. The benefit of this system is that it requires less effort on the DM's part and sets a narrative tone about the threat the enemy poses.

[@johncross5339]

This was really good!

[@WebDM]

Thank you!

[@ryanb5127]

I personally like prerolled initiative. You roll at the start of session and the end of a combat. That way when combat breaks out you jump right into it. There's normally a slow down after combat so it's a good chance to get the numbers for the next combat and is much less intrusive

[@lornebixby9231]

I love a rolling initiative. no keeping track, everyone re-rolls at the bottom of a round and I simply count down. more rolling for the players, which they like. It keeps the order fresh every round and gives a chance to those that rolled poorly to move up the chain. The best part is none of the players can play the "you don't need healing cause the cleric goes after me but before you game. gets real interesting when you couple this with DM rolled hidden death saves (*i always snap photos of these rolls so the players know this is fair and square).

[@lornebixby9231]

i may start implementing a level of exhaustion for every fail until long rest as well.

[@NegatveSpace]

I've always wanted to make special conditions depending on how the character went down and they would each have certain actions the character could take. For example there could be getting hit on the head would make them go unconscious and couldn't do anything. Maybe a grievous wound the character could be automatically prone or crouching but could choose to press on their wound to stop the bleeding or continue to fight but would make death saves until they could treat their wound.

[@EndyHawk]

I strongly recommend "Beyond Damage Dice" by Kobold Press. It goes a LONG way to making weapon choice matter; I limit it to CONmod+PROF/day, but that's still enough for common usage AND gives an incentive for "CON builds" that can use those special abilities more often. Even the casters can benefit from having an ace in the hole with their one or two weapons!

[@vesperschake6241]

Love it when you mention other systems or stealing from other systems.

[@WebDM]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@C0untersignal]

I use popcorn initiative on a vtt. It does make the player who goes first and the player who goes last very powerful but it keeps the delays to a minimum.

[@gabrielwalton4097]

I'm going not have to note those death save rules, they sound pretty fun!

[@mathemagicianTA]

Our table is really enjoying our house rule for initiative that we call "Miss-based initiative." Basically, players go, then DM goes. However, if a PC misses with a single-target attack, or an enemy passes a single-target saving throw, then that single enemy takes its turn immediately after the PC, instead of waiting for all PCs to finish. It's been a nice blend of allowing the players to combo up, and do things like "one character holds the torch, but they move together," and speed of side based initiative (as soon as I know what I'm doing, I take my turn!) but with an unpredictable change in plans when an attack misses. With the exception of strategic enemies, the missed-enemy usually takes its turn to attack the PC that missed it -- narratively seizing the moment. We actually open with a d6 initiative, if DM wins, then the enemies get to move into place, but they don't take an "action" until PCs do. It's been really fast, dynamic, and narratively satisfying so far! One oddity: things that last until the end of the next PC turn, can be artificially delayed by the PC acting first to cause the effect, and then acting last next round... but my players have been very good sports about it wearing off in the middle.

[@drachenmagus1604]

One idea I had was to eliminate becoming unconscious when reduced to zero HP. Instead the character takes a level of exhaustion and is wounded while their hit points is at zero. While wounded they can take a single action. That's it. This allows the player to cast a spell to heal themselves, drink a potion, or maybe run away to safety so the cleric can heal them. It also means that constantly being knocked down takes a toll on the character and they might need to spend a few days reducing their exhaustion. You can also combine this with whenever they are critically hit they have to make a DC 10 Con saving throw or take a level of exhaustion. This makes the level of exhaustion represent the characters actual health and the HP more akin to their ability to take a beating.

[@renatovieira5103]

one and done death saves sounds dramatic and cool

[@kaip122]

I really enjoy death saves. I have my players whisper the roll to me, and I whisper to my DM, so the other party members are involved in the situation. I am always invested in what my players are doing and I feel more engaged in what the other players are doing. Death saves aren’t for the character, I think it’s for the table.

[@DanSolo41]

I really liked the Initiative and Death Save mechanics here. I might be implementing both in my games, soon. Both have very clear advantages for big groups, like the one I played in today at Adventure League (in a noisy store FILLED with bloody kids at the other table, and we were all wearing Covid masks, and we were cramming 8 players at a table).

[@TheFleahost]

I have characters suffer a level of exhaustion every time they hit zero hit points. I use the one-hit minion rules too. Minions do average damage.

[@QuincyPostman]

I give a level for each failed death save too

[@defaultvt]

on the death saves i like to rollover death save fails until a long rest. prevents the whackamole moments because you're on a timer even if someone picks you up

[@Grizzlox]

One of my campaigns, I only allowed in-combat stabilization with Spare the Dying, and then only once per character per long rest. Cure spells would restore hp but you remain unconscious until roused by the players after combat

[@zero11010]

For monster damage I run static average damage unless there is a critical hit or unless someone is getting close to unconscious. It speeds up the turn because you’re typically not rolling as much. But, when it counts you have that chance of variation.

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

One that I use that my players like is "glancing blows" If the attack roll equals AC, it does half damage. Goes both for PCs and enemies. And if your saving throw roll equals the save DC for damage, you take half if you'd take none on a success and you take 3/4 if you'd take half on a success. Gives a bit of damage scaling for a low hit, while being balanced.

[@Necrothian]

Kinda curious how that fast turn/slow turn thing works when it comes up against features like advantage or bonus on initiative. Something I’m thinking of implementing to death/unconsciousness is that you get to keep fighting even when you go down. Death saves at the start of the turn as normal. Single action turn only and you can spend it on one attack, one cantrip (non leveled), half your movement speed, a charisma check (play dead, plead, etc), use item action, maybe others. Keeps PC’s from just sitting there, and makes them be a continuous threat until they are slain, so enemies might keep coming at them until they stop moving (or play dead).

[@pokemonmasterbj9784]

Some good tips

[@TheLyricalCleric]

One initiative method I’ve been wanting to try out is passive initiative-not rolling the initiative for combat, but just going off of who is generally fastest. For sneak attack, this makes it easier to see who gets the jump on who. I can see it pigeonholing players into patterns though, so maybe side-on initiative, go with each of the fastest to determine who goes first and then get to fighting. Passive initiative also makes fights organic to the moment like traps-“you open the door and see a goblin, what’s your initiative score?” “16.” “Goblin’s is 14, you go first.” “I close the door and jam my knife in it to keep it closed.” “Goblin yells out for reinforcements, you all have a turn to act while they deal with the door.” Stuff like that.

[@cybersaur7394]

The absolute best variant rule to use at a physical table with new players, in my experience, is the proficiency dice. Often times, one of the most cumbersome thing to teach new players to 5e is the difference between attack rolls and damage rolls, and part of that equation is that they often have a hard time knowing the difference between their ability modifier and their proficiency modifier. Proficiency dice helps teach the players which rolls use proficiency and which ones only use an ability score modifier by physically replacing the modifier with a dice. This not only makes their difference to new players more apparent, but also it helps them remember the difference because most new players get a ton of enjoyment out of simply rolling the dice.

[@thetimebinder]

Just write down your bonus to hit and damage roll on your sheet. Looking up you stat mod and proficiency die over and over is a pain. It also leaves players wondering why they 1d20 + proficiency + stat to hit, but only 1d8 + stat for damage.

[@nLinggod]

RE: death saves. I add options for the player to use during their death saves. They can "exert" themselves and gain a bonus on the roll at the cost of a penalty for the next roll, they can "push beyond" where they can force themselves to wake up and take one physical action at the cost of losing one death save, etc

[@justinmoore5692]

Talk about some D&D ASMR!

[@messsymessiah4170]

Initiative I use a D12. It makes initiative bonuses more impactful. For death saves. I just have them carry over until the PC finishes a long rest.

[@Broken_valley]

Brutal critical is one of my personal favourites making crits more crunchy

[@wuzillah]

I'm curious how sub classes or spells that alter initiative interact with Jim's initiative houserule.

[@theosophicalwatermelons8181]

I recently started using morale checks, and wow, have they sped up combat. A fight that might have before taken half an hour now takes only five or ten.

[@TheodoreMinick]

Now, undead fights are scary, not just because they are evil necromantic creations, but because they don't break. They will fight until destroyed.

[@changesforthebetter7172]

I kind of miss the longer videos but I understand and I like the shorter videos as well if it's easier to produce shorter ones I think it's okay to keep doing them because their dresses higher quality and get the point across but I do like it when you guys just get to meander around on a topic

[@Seruvius]

I am curious how you handle features from classes, items or feats that boost initiative in your simplified initiative system, for example war mage or the alert feat. Are they just less valuable?

[@BuddaOnDaRoll]

Dungeon coach has an interesting exhaustion system and in my next game to combat whack-a-mole healing I'm thinking of using those exhaustion rules and letting them stack every time a pc pops up. I feel like it's enough to make going down feel consequential without being overly punishing. I totally would want to try both your suggestion of 'X' rounds and then you get one death save PLUS this stacking exhaustion, but that might be TOO punishing and i don't think it would be received well.

[@BobGrimminger]

there are a fair number of character features that affect initiative, and alternate initiative systems often step on those. Maybe the best way to do initiative is to just take the bonus (with some static bonus for advantage) as your initiative.

[@Blueballon]

A document for all this would be nice.

[@theovernight1915]

Speaking to the bit about hp for weaker monsters and dealing with metagaming: homebrew monsters that are just reskinned monsters from the books. If you're new to DMing or just too busy or want to make monsters but have trouble doing it yourself, the best bet is to just use the state blocs of existing monsters. The main advantage I've found for doing this is that metagaming is impossible when the players have never seen what they're fighting. From a non-combat perspective, it also lets you add more detail and depth to your world. For example, I borrowed from the Underdark concept in my world, where instead of a massive underground cavern, there is an enormous subterranean ocean beneath the land and water on the surface world. So I've got a lot of aquatic-themed (and yes, Lovecraft inspired) enemies in my world, including a species of humanoid shrimp creatures that will swarm onto shorelines or raid ships in shallow waters that are basically just goblins. Then when you add other themes like mutation or magical growth to your world, you can make the same species vary in HP or difficulty in a way the players understand. It's not that this shrimp-guy just magically is harder to kill than the next, it's that it's a mutant with a tougher shell and more deadly pincers. I know this was mostly about increasing combat speed, but I can assure you, there are few better ways to speed up combat than by building a method of designing monster encounters which eliminates irritating questions and arguing about "well last time we fought these things they died when we did 11.23257 damage to it so why not this time?!" LOL... Last bit on that: generally in don't send them against the same kinds of monsters more than one or two times. By making level ups a roughly once per month activity (assuming weekly games), I can usually avoid repeats by advancing them at a decent pace while also continuing to use new homebrew enemies to keep them on their toes!

[@RayPoreon]

Usually, when doing hp, bosses have max hp while everything else has average. I think from now on, if there is an otherwise normal enemy that manages to pulls out some good rolls(eg a mud mephit once survived two rounds of focusing from the fighter and punched straight through his armour. The enraged fighter then hit is so hard to open a portal to the plane of earth) then I'll probably give hit max hp as well. I've also allowed for some mooks to get one-shot even if they had enough hp to survive just to speed up combat.

[@vincent-antoinesoucy1872]

Initiative we go highest ini goes first then it's clockwise around the table, goes super fast, people can sit accordingly to strategize. So far so good.

[@illslim2100]

I have been watching their videos for a while now. This si the first one I only agreed with one of their points. The moral, I use it myself in my games. But for the rest of their points, I have tried or been in games the other DMs tried and it was not for me. But it's still a well-done video... trying to finish positive.

[@davidscott4919]

Woooow, shots fired at Chubba Wumba!

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

I believe in keeping combat streamlined, but I also like the less heroic, more gritty world. Initiative is not rolled, it’s just based on the situation and each character’s dexterity modified by armor. Combatants get bonuses and penalties based on their success or otherwise (“momentum”) and being outnumbered means severe penalties, so I don’t do huge fights. (The outnumbered rule is to make angry mobs of townspeople and guards dangerous, so that the players can’t steamroll the world. ). None of this is particularly complicated, it’s just the old 3rd edition +2 bonus or -2 penalty rule of thumb. As mentioned in the video, I roll hit points and some other modifiers as we go. My players are aware that even I don’t know how difficult the combat will be, which keeps them on their toes and they like that.

[@Hushashabega]

I never even imagined a DM wouldn't roll a monster's damage.

[@Draeckon]

I understand why some people would want to use the average to speed things up, but I never understood it to be the default or expected thing to do.

[@an8strengthkobold360]

I didn't know anyone did the opposite. I only ever used it when planning encounters or attacking npc's.

[@MrJerks93]

I try to reduce rolls as much as possible when I'm DMing live. Using VTT I can automate stuff easily enough that I can 1-click a bunch of rolls. One work-around I have tried is making players roll the damage against themselves. I thought this was a slam dunk, but a few of my players didn't care for it. Something about bad MOJO on their dice.

[@TH3S3V3R]

@@MrJerks93 Maybe try communal dice that they roll monster damage with so they don't "curse" their own?

[@dbmicah6909]

One that I've enjoyed running at my table is giving polearms reach (10ft) when wielded one-handed. I will say though, beware the sentinel.

[@benjaminfrost2780]

The thrill of Death Saves for most is "Do I get the Natural 20 to get 1hp" Because its at the start of your turn so you get your whole turn to do things still. That being said, playing dead like Jim said, totally viable. But as was said, many people do not "enjoy" the rolling dice to see if you get a success or fail...and I don't disagree. For most tables I think the number of rounds not rolling death saves and you just get one would be better. I would simply amend that you give those players a 1d20 roll to simply see if they get the natural 20 at the start of their turn still with no risk until they hit their death save round.

[@AshtonTheMelon]

On the subject of variable HP, a thing I have implemented in my boss fights are easy, normal, and hard modes. The key is to not do it all the time, but this prevents the accursed too hard vs too easy conflict. Essentially, I make a decision in combat to cement which HP and ability block I utilize. So, if the party is getting kicked by bad rolls/needs a win, maybe this boss has 35 less HP and one less charge of his Lightning Bolt. If they are fairing well, just playing poorly or poor management, the boss stays the same as to not cheapen a victory. Lastly, if it is an important boss, and the lucky crit sheds his HP, maybe a homebrew ability appears/maybe they have a second phase. It's really key that you don't over use this though. As it isn't meant to handicap/punish your players, but rather add a level of accessibility to active balancing.

[@ivanbrown1924]

Here is a quick question on your 100 orcs example. If a player cast a fireball at them and rolled 20 for damage, would I do 20 times the number of orcs that could fit in the explosion? Then subtract that from the big heal pool?

[@PKToysoldier]

I've been doing a similar thing with monster health by not knowing their individual HP until they get hit and that info is needed. The only difference is I roll their health before as a list and the first hit gets the first recorded HP and so on down the list.

[@Three_Tiny_Robots]

On the topic of mob rules- I have an idea for a level 15+ game (basically D&D Justice League), and one of the things I'd like to do to drive home just how amazing the PCs are is to have a fighter or paladin take on a battalion of hobgoblins solo. I'm not 100% sure the mob rule do what I want them to do, so I'm still tinkering with those mechanics. 🤔

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

The house rule I use most is the XP system from Cypher. I just use that instead of tracking points or milestones and handing out Inspiration. The players track their XP and trade them in individually when they want to level. If they all want to stay in the same level range I tell them they can trade XP between themselves for other bonuses and they all have to be on the same proficiency bonus number before anyone can raise their level so their PB would go up by one. The CR system is flawed enough that I don't really need to bother changing encounters because the party is on a range of different levels. Once they get out of tier 1 it's more fun to focus on how many bottomless pits, lava flows, acid vats, reverse gravity fields, colossal Animate Object targets, and random creatures like T-Rexes or Pixies ridding on the backs of bobcats wearing saddles will show up in every encounter.

[@Hghartung]

How do legendary actions work with PC fast, Monster fast style initiative?

[@WisdomThumbs]

11:40 or so, Pruitt speaks up about something my players requested. They wanted me to roll damage! I’m glad to. I do all my rolls in the open, and as Pruitt said, wild rolls are a double edged sword that *might* allow PCs to survive. It’s worked out several times, with one PC sacrificing their wooden chestplate to mitigate a Crit, and then that worg rolled 2 damage against his Barbarian resistance. EDIT: ah, and Jim likes the size of encounters that the Four Winds have consistently faced in my campaign. I’ve also rolled morale sooner and sooner in every fight, even against the SuperOMG Werewolf that the Four Winds had to *drown to death in the grappling character’s grip.* Good time to switch up the texture and style of encounters. ;)

[@rickeymariu1]

I use a d6 system for when players go down. 6 is get back up with d3hp and 1 is dead. Each time you go down you roll d6-1 for each time you have gone down that week.

[@mrmaat]

I have a stack of 2 sided tokens. You could use coins and use heads/tails. Minions do average damage on a hit and take either one or two hits. I flip the token over if one of the tougher minions gets hit. If it gets hit twice, it’s dead.

[@iNimgul]

I miss the in person videos with you guys playing around with the minis. :(

[@justinferrante5056]

For the fast/slow initiative system, how do you handle Monks? Normally they are very likely to be the highest initiative roll as a Dex class, but they’re built around having multiple smaller attacks and a bonus action every turn. They feel like they’d be hurt more than most classes with this system?

[@imei2006]

One thing that comes to mind is to give the monk an ability to use a slow turn on a fast turn by spending a ki point (Just 1).

[@GameSpark876]

I do come back guys. Insightful conversation about combat. Combat needs to be faster and more hectic in 5e.

[@sylvaincousineau5073]

That death saving throw idea is interesting . For characters with no con mod , do you give them one round before they make the check ?

[@kaip122]

I’d assume they would just make the check when they are down, or it’s con mod+1 turn.

[@keithfricke6096]

For combat involving PCs at high levels such as 14 and up, players like rolling initiative to leverage good initiative bonuses. What I do though is run 2 full rounds of combat then everyone rolls initiative again, including NPCs. Nothing worse than a high level PC or NPC getting a crappy initiative roll and being stuck at or near the bottom of the turn order. It might seem disruptive to the flow of the game but you’d be surprised how many people like it. Changing up the order of combat really mixes up the strategies both PCs and NPCs come up with

[@Random.Task.Gaming]

For Death Saves I allow my players to burn their inspiration to stabilize for free, giving them a full turn. Otherwise they can take a level of exhaustion and are at half their move speed for the turn with a -2 on everything for that turn. I just removed the rolls and allow them to choose what to do. though I do like the idea of having your Con mod tie into the number of turns the PC can last. might have to add that to it.

[@WeShallLoveOn]

Good point about death saves. For me it's the waiting 5 rounds of doing nothing and then dying. It doesn't matter how heroic it was it FEELS lame by the time it's over. It would be better if you could keep fighting while making death saves I think. It also makes tpks unbearable to sit through, because there's a point where everyone basically knows it's over, but you gotta keep going through the motions so by the time you actually all die nobody even cares. It's hard tho because like "well we could all roll nat 20s and turn it around" gotta ride the line between being optimistic or realistic.

[@TheMrVengeance]

If every single person in the party is KO'd and rolling death saves though... why isn't the enemy finishing them off?

[@WeShallLoveOn]

@@TheMrVengeance it usually takes a few rounds to get everyone KOd. The barbarians holding on with a few HP, the rogue is hiding but won't decide to just run, both are taking forever for their turn etc. Everyone else is making death saves trying not to meta game. All the tpks I've been in took like 30-45 minutes and we basically all knew it was over after the first 15. It is what it is but for everyone making death saves it's not fun at all. After 4 rounds I basically just want it to be over I don't even care if my character dies. And it's easy to go "well the DM should just give everyone a dramatic death" but when you're the DM and this happens it's REALLY difficult to make that call. Because players come back from downward spirals all the time. Plus DMs already have a fuckton to do.

[@crownlexicon5225]

So, my rule for death saves borrows from pathfinder 2e. If you go down and get back up (nat 20, healing, whatever) you now have "dying 1". This means that next time you go down, you automatically have 1 failed save. If this happens again, you're now at dying 2, so if you go down again, you have 2 failed saves. If it happens a 3rd time, you have 3 failed saves, so if you drop unconscious again, you're dead Currently, these reset on a short rest, but I might make it a long rest. My players also agreed to Slow Natural Healing (don't auto regain all hp on a long rest but can still spend hit dice) and Healers Kit Dependency (must use a charge on a healers kit to spend hit dice) and so far its going well. Nearly killed a character first combat lol

[@mishiara5499]

fast and fluid with fast or slow action? Having to ask that every round seems like it would slow down combat a lot then all just starting with rolling initiative once for the whole battle. Maybe a way to make things easyer for the GM not having to keep track of the turn (even if that sounds way more easy then this alternative). Maybe just not explained clear enough as I'm sure it is faster.

[@brianpious3242]

With average damage I typically use the average damage for the first few rounds but then as time goes on, moral and strength goes down and so I then start to roll damage to show some diminishing resources for the enemies.

[@samchafin4623]

I had the wild idea of rewarding players for getting dropped to 0 HP by making it more action movie-esque - so a PC reaches 0 HP, they begin bleeding out, and will die in x number of round, but they also get a rage, or an indomitable will, grim determination, even divine insight. It's been fun!