The FIVE best house rules for D&D (Rules Lawyer)

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

Is this cheeky? YES! NOTE that this was conceived of and recorded in spring and summer of 2022. And a lot has changed in the TTRPG world since then... Enjoy! =D EDIT: One person at my Discord shared their houserules for 5e that they used while they were getting into PF2e. This documents one 5e DM's herculean efforts before the inevitable happened! drive.google.com/file/d/13HPJI4lfYhI08SSXEaDgGF-xS43OI4bu/view?usp=sharing

[@blueThumbnail]

Yeah we hate the dragon game more now

[@JollerMcAwesome]

chaotic good video

[@einkar4219]

this is Frankenstein's monster of a system, and I don't think it should ba called dnd5e

[@afterhours8463]

The 4 hour short rest and damage cap removal make it not my cup of tea. Why would you remove the damage cap on one of the hardest hitting abilities in the game?

[@SwordsmanOrion]

Wait a minute... this is just a hidden psy-op to trick 5e players into play Pathfinder without them realizing it.

[@StanNotSoSaint]

Shhhh, don't spook them

[@yaldabaoth2]

More like, just use 3rd edition rules.

[@DavMat007]

Most 5e house rules push the game closer to 3.5/Pathfinder 1e. It really makes you question why so many tables bother holding onto 5e with such a death grip

[@yaldabaoth2]

@@DavMat007 5e is the entry edition for most D&D players. It's extremely light on mechanics as you probably know. I hate to say it, but it's for "casuals". And there's nothing wrong with that. But as soon as you want to interact more with the game, 5e becomes boring, cumbersome or simply doesn't let you. 3.5e was a lot more focused on numbers and mechanics, pathfinder 1e was as well, pathfinder 2e toned it down a bit and added playability. It's just the current best (at least in the fantasy game market).

[@lucamonticelli267]

​@@yaldabaoth2 the problem I have with that statement is that 5e is still above average in level of complexity than most other TTRPGs, but despite those system being more "casual friendly" struggle more than crunchier systems due to the fact that since DnD is considered the "best game to introduce someone to the hobby" means that for those system someone has to came off DnD wile not liking the difficulty and still be willing to try other systems. If someone bounces off a system that is defined as "incredibly easy" for being too complicated it is very difficult that they actually are willing to go out of their way and try to play something like dungeon world or blade in the dark.n

[@gratisgoud4473]

As someone who only recently discovered PF2e, I am still shocked by how many of my homebrew fixes/ideas for 5e was already implemented and properly playtested in Pathfinder. Scaling conditions on bosses, more options for martial characters and rebalanced spells! If only I knew that there was a publically available and well balanced set of rules that I could use for "inspiration".

[@SinCitysOnly]

And, wait for this crazy idea....things from 4e get brought into 5e as homebrew rules too, because they were fun and made the game better!

[@ecothunderbolt257]

The Weapon Traits thing was the thing that ultimately caught me. I spent a really long time making 5e Weapon Traits from scratch so that Martials would be more fun, only to learn almost everything I'd done and more was represented in PF2e, just implemented a little different.

[@cameronkirby9479]

I know what you mean. Every time the OneDnd playtest has a new thing I really like I discover a similar thing already exists in Pf2e. 🤣

[@valasafantastic1055]

This is really great. But also as someone who consumes content for many TTRPG and plays both 5e and pathfinder 2e I see what you did there with these ‘house rules’ lol!

[@NorroTaku]

Same Kingmaker and wotr for life baby

[@nathanstruble2177]

Wait... Is that the joke? That he's tricking his DnD group into playing Pathfinder 2E

[@jwarner1469]

It's more like he's subverting the reputation some critics of PF2e spout by slowly introducing PF2e mechanics and showing his players by actually playing with the rules that the reputation is as least misleading.

[@Walthanar]

Making dnd5e a gateway drug to pf2e ❤

[@jerrybaldwin8567]

This video had me cracking up. All the house rules you were implementing were so aligned with Pathfinder that they didn’t even realize what was going on. They basically have been playing the game that they are trying to avoid and having more fun with it in the game they started with. Like the slide said near the end, they never need to know.

[@yuven437]

Dungeonfinders & Pathdragons 5.2

[@camazettz]

Final Remix

[@iamspotpanda]

Also contains Dungeonpathes & Dragonfinders 2.5 - a fragmentary passage -

[@oz_jones]

DnD 3.75 2e

[@spectrum3448]

I didn't know I needed animated Ronald until I saw animated Ronald.

[@MachineWraith]

How to improve D&D 5e: Make it Pathfinder 2E Yeah, that tracks.

[@BestgirlJordanfish]

I adore this presentation style so much and I hope to see it more in future videos! So cute and clean and adds a new concise edit energy!

[@DeadlyD8]

Why thank you. ❤ - the editor

[@Keovar]

And it doesn't require thumbnails of Ronald making goofy 'clickbait face' expressions. 😝

[@keplermine]

This looks more like a guide - "How to get your groupe to play Pathfinder even if they're against it and they won't realize it". I liked that :D

[@bazs7722]

If you are a player and reached the point when these rules look appealing to implement in 5e: have mercy on your DM and go play Pathfinder 2e instead. Save your DM the work so they can focus on writing the adventure instead of patching out a half-finished system. Really great video btw!

[@ollywright]

Entirely realistic, other than how the wizard accepted the nerf with only a few groans, rather than spending the next 6 months making 'buff casters' megathreads on reddit and threatening to write their own game.

[@jwarner1469]

To those used to privilege, fairness feels like oppression.

[@rylprd]

lol yeah. My party’s wizard can’t even stand when stat blocks get altered. He’d never stand for any spells being nerfed…though he will tell the DM that it’s improper for monsters to ever use Forcecage (his favorite spell)

[@Zakon673]

@@jwarner1469 Man come on, you act like people who play wizards have never played a fighter and vice versa. People who complain about how casters work in PF2e rarely (if ever) complain about how fun martials are to play. They just complain because casting in PF2e is really boring and frustrating for most of the first 10 levels of the game, which is where most campaigns take place.

[@billskinner7670]

Short version: The best house rule for D&D 5E is to play P2 instead.

[@the_BunnyBox]

Im sending this to my old 5e group who refused to try pathfinder I knew something was fishy when I saw a 5e video on Rules Lawyer, but I was taking the bait. The Ability score improvements had me suspicious, but the real smoking gun for me was "Combat Grab" which has the PATHFINDER ACTION ICON AND IS RIPPED STRAIGHT FROM ARCHIVES OF NETHYS 😂😂😂

[@justjunk3803]

YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPAGANDA

[@sazaat7]

Cute artwork

[@yuven437]

Yeh, i like it a lot

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

We can thank Deadly D8 and Nimenos for that!

[@gmscott9319]

Deadly d8 once again flexing on everyone. Great video Ronald!

[@DeadlyD8]

❤

[@nathanstruble2177]

My brother in christ you have just reinvented Pathfinder 2E for the 5th time this week!!

[@KalaamNozalys]

Now I wonder, genuinly, what things of 5e could be good/fun houserules for pf2e. I've always found the motivations/ideals/flaws stuff pretty nice and system agnostic, it encourages RP pretty well and with more guidance and nuance than alignement.

[@kylevanpelt2654]

Funny you should say that, the PF2e Remaster is removing alignment and adding in a system of Edicts and Anathema. It should give a similar effect, depending on how the final draft of the rules shake out.

[@KalaamNozalys]

@@kylevanpelt2654 Yeah I saw that. I wonder if there will be anathemas tied to your background and classes as well, at least a bit. What I like about the 5e system is the bullet point nature of it, that isn't necessaraly shared by *all* of your ancestry. (Also i just like rolling for those traits lol)

[@Synetik]

If only this concept was a real game.

[@SilverDragonAcademy]

How to change 5e into Pathfinder 2e 😂 If I was FORCED to run 5e again, I'd try to use some of these.

[@einkar4219]

I cannot stop laughing edit: I didn't even finish, ending is just brilliant

[@user-wr8sr9fe4m]

Yes, blocking legendary actions instead of legendary resistance is awesome.

[@Cube_Banana96]

I needed this video a year ago but somehow I managed to convince my players and now we play pf2e, without regrets!

[@BrunoHenrique-gi1wd]

You thought it was "5 best dnd house rules" but it was mee, PF2e. Ha, got you.

[@thenewbaka]

Me at the start: Sounds like you just want to play PF2. At the end: Oh...

[@dentescare]

Hey, you tricked me there. But i had a proficiency bonus for that.

[@qchtohere8636]

B E A U T I F U L ! Now give everyone 1 move action, 1 swift action and 1 action... or just 3 actions to round it up! 😅

[@ChadHensley]

They never need to know! I love it!

[@SofaKingDead]

I had to t double take i was on the right channel. But then I heard you "house rules and died laughing.

[@kadmii]

I see what you're doing

[@IngloriousPirandello]

Jessy, You basically reinvented pathfinder

[@FirstLast-wk3kc]

That indeed was the joke here

[@blankiecat9302]

This feels like something a school guidance conclude put on and it terrifies me

[@SinCitysOnly]

I'm going to start sneaking these in, and I **know** there will be one person on a table that recognizes it, but will say nothing.

[@Sol-ph4xc]

The slow way to convert your players to YOUR new system :D

[@blueThumbnail]

Can't wait for all the angry comments from people who only read the thumbnail

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

Meanwhile I'm expecting more angry comments from people who WATCH the video! =D

[@ZordakZero]

Great video. I actually used to pull from both PF 1E and 2E for my house rules in D&D 5th Edition, before moving on to DM pretty much only PF 1E, although I have been playing and learning 2E for the past few months.

[@queenannsrevenge100]

To quote Seinfeld, “You Magnificent Bastards. you did it!” 😂

[@kyledoran1671]

I can't express how much I love this video, totally caught me out of the blue. So well done

[@bvelhacob]

Best house rule for D&D: play PF2

[@mazz9487]

Good thing P2e has considerably less math than 1e. I might have to revisit those rules again, but I've also been using some of these "new house rules" myself.

[@ThatVia]

This is fucking devious lmao

[@luisandrea3221]

Another banger by the rules lawyer

[@Hyrael25]

So, you turn 5E into PF2E? (not a bad thing, I love PF2E, but at this point you're better off just switching systems) edit: nvm I just saw the end, lmao

[@loconius]

I laughed when you said “great, his numbers go down by two” then later some player mentions mathfinder lol!

[@hikingpete]

Very nice! Now you need to teach them to move around the battlefield by taking away their ability to split movement. Maybe you turn the bonus action into a flexible action that can be used for other things like a second movement (or maybe even another attack!).

[@hi123452008]

Took me way too long to realize all of this is just PF2 rules lol

[@jasminebryant4238]

Ok...the pathfinder plug at the end was funny as hell 🤣

[@Stormer13]

That was really wholesome. Great job on this one Rules Lawyer and assorted cast!

[@danrimo826]

Hahahahaha "they never need to know" brilliant! 😂

[@jacobbrown9894]

Took me too long to actually switch from “Hey this sounds familiar” to “Oh I get the joke”

[@asdfjoe123]

Is it me or do a lot of these improvements to 5e make it more like Pathfinder?

[@paperwatt]

As soon as I saw those action pips I was wondering if the joke would be made. I was all ready to give a- "Y'know, maybe we can make the alchemist artificer able to make more consumables on the fly" comment. XD

[@TheRewyn]

This is hillarious

[@someguyino]

This video has me giddy. It's gold.

[@nathanstruble2177]

Can't wait to hear how many times they just do Pathfinder 2 in these!

[@Nosidda]

I do like the idea of giving the player ways to still improve their ASI while still taking cool feats. I recently made a character based on the new Valiant rulebook, and one thing Valiant does that I really like is when you get an ASI, you still have to choose taking 2 ASI points or a feat, but if you take a feat, you still get 1 ASI point that you can pout into whatever you want along with your feat. This does mean you get fewer ASI points in the long run if you focus on taking feats, but you can still get your primary ability score to 20 before level 15 by taking feats. Also, the feats in Valiant (they're called Talents in this book actually) are really stinkin good, they blow the 5e feats away without being broken. One of my personal favorites is Hard Target, which lets you choose a new saving throw to become proficient in, and when you need to make that save and fail, you can roll one of your hit dice and add the roll to your result to try and turn the failure into a success. Best part about this talent is you can take it multiple times and choose a different saving throw each time, so you can theoretically become proficient in all saving throws if you want to focus on being untouchable, but this is balanced out by the fact that this means you miss out on taking other feats that can help you do more to enemies.

[@SheppiTSRodriguez]

The art in this video is so amazing. Alaznist looking great at the end! xD

[@warrenjoyer9422]

Very creative and interesting ideas. Something to think about and thank you for the content.

[@demonazgrael]

Love this style! And devious messaging1, hehe. 👊👊👊

[@grinningbuck]

Checking out the in-game credits, and had to laugh at your character names. The Wizard is Willard, the Cleric is Claire, the Fighter is Fletcher, and the Rogue is Rose... still gets a chuckle from me 😅

[@totalvoid6234]

I always wanted my Fighter to have Battlemaster manoeuvres but I don’t tske Battlemaster because Im an idiot.

[@AndreGustavo-yf9hn]

7:25 No, I'm with Willard here, it's not. Considering they had to burn 3 Legendary Resistances in order to use it and that there's about a 50% chance of the monster passing the saves (which mind you, it's usually higher), it would have taken the party around four to FUCKING *EIGHT* SPELL SLOTS in order to get the effect of ONE spell (and that's if they got lucky). AND POLYMORPH DOESN'T EVEN GIVE THEM THE WIN! If a full minute passes or the new form gets to 0 hp, IT REVERTS TO ITS ORIGINAL FORM! They didn't win the battle! *WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE??*

[@erickteixeira7251]

LMAO, perfect just perfect Ronald, excelent video.

[@zetram01]

So I was about 5 mins into this before I realized what you were doing.... well played

[@TheDimir]

Oh, great house rules! We also made that at our table we have 3 actions, but almost everything costs action or two now.

[@ravenknight7198]

Why did the fight end with polymorph....? That lich would've been back up in a few rounds 😆 🤣

[@user-ll2ig8rv8t]

The polymorph lets you land a different control spell that ends the fight.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

Hey how about if polymorph still fully turned someone into a frog, but if they were especially powerful to start with, now you have a tiny super powered frog you're dealing with.

[@jm.519]

You don't use ploymorph on the enemy, you turn the fighter into a giant ape and let him whack the bbeg, lol.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

@@jm.519 There you go! "Polymorph: Bahamut"

[@SweetPeteInTheBackSeat]

I learned a lot. That was comedically strawmanny. Wish I was back in high school, had so much time to read rulebooks in class lol

[@thetworoos]

I see what you did there. 🙂

[@afterhours8463]

I love this video, I always felt like DnD characters didn’t have enough feats

[@scottmcgee3121]

LOVE IT! 🤣

[@user-hd1ul6od2x]

My favourite 5e house rule is where everyone follows the rules as they're written and actually plays the damn game. Novel concept, I know.

[@steves1584]

I honest to goodness thought at the end of the video you were going to introduce rule 6... which is where the group calls this set of new house rules Pathfinder 2.0.

[@Artemisthemp]

That's sorta what I did for 5e game, except I actually manage to get the players to try Pathfinder 2e beginner box.

[@Arbiter55555]

As a pathfinder 1e player (and really 3.5 guy starting out) I always wished 5e had just a bit more to it for character building. Seems like I gotta check out 2e now.

[@aetherkid]

Ive had similar house rules in 5e for nearly a decade now haha

[@evendur7162]

Honestly this is a very fun video and I'd love to watch more videos in this style! Also I do lowkey wonder how PF2e Magic Item system would be like in 5e, since I run a 5e server but lowkey want to make a swap to PF2e (cant really do that for the server sadly) so best thing I can do is adapt some PF2e ideas for 5e I guess lol

[@shawnkarter8867]

where are these lists of battle maneuvers and bonus actions?

[@user-ll2ig8rv8t]

On archives of nethys.

[@stuh42l]

I was super confused until the very end. True they never need to know

[@gergosoos4652]

Okay, I want the complete bar fight mod sett for DND. I want some guys to end up under tables, chairs be flying, tables used as fortifications, some NPC using another as a weapon etc. And I want those options to be more viable than hacking with sword. Any idea?

[@chrisbroskett9520]

Great video 👍

[@Extradecentskeleton]

I feel like there really isnt a solutions to spells like polymorph, it's either game breaking strong or only useful on lower level enemies where you are better off using crowd control or an AoE. I also don't think a lot if the 5e audience want a harder game as much as they want a cool game where they can spam cool abilities at a monster without much tactics.

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

True point, tho I think there's a happy medium for some tables where the GM can just run Trivial/Low/Moderate encounters and players still get their kewl PF2 powers too

[@Extradecentskeleton]

@@TheRulesLawyerRPG that's true, while the more Tactical narrow of pf2e isn't for everyone, the system does allow for more casual level of play because of the tight encounter balance

[@Zakon673]

@@TheRulesLawyerRPG There's the psychological effect of that, though. It's more satisfying to stomp an encounter which the game system said was supposed to be a "deadly encounter" than one that the system said was supposed to be a "trivial or moderate encounter" It's harder to obfuscate that you're making easier encounters intentionally, too, because the experience budget is a thing and remains the same regardless of level. If you have any awareness at all of how PF2e encounter building works, you'll know what kind of encounter you just defeated once the GM gives out exp rewards.

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

@@Zakon673I think a discerning player would find it not that different though, from the system calling encounters "Deadly" that the players are stomping over. Both systems would be giving the players "easy" encounters; only difference is that PF2 is honest about it and aids the GM in providing that experience

[@clanpsi]

My favourite house rule is no 5e in my house.

[@MemphiStig]

I get knocked down, then I get up again. Then I get knocked down, then I get up again. Then I get knocked down, then I get up again. Then I need some serious healing. And a buff. Also, a copy of Pathfinder, I guess...

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

I like feats and ability score increases at the same time Kinda like 3.5 More bonus actions are cool too This is a lot like 3.5 I think?

[@aligacrystenia]

I saw that coming 😄

[@zahyexthehunter593]

Maybe I didn't understand well but, about the battle maneuvers... when do you gain more dices? Every two levels too?

[@user-ll2ig8rv8t]

You can find this answer in the pathfinder 2e core rulebook.

[@gustavotriqui]

biggest click bait in history

[@rynowatcher]

Rule 1: play Savage Worlds Pathfinder.

[@MattSH06]

#1 house rule to fix D&D is to play Pathfinder.

[@thejoester]

These sound dangerously a lot like 3.5 or PF2E rules...

[@theodorehunter4765]

I like not having to choose between feats and ASIs, and I would LOVE if both were tied to character level, and not class level. Multiclass characters already have issues with needing multiple attributes to work. Giving all martials Battle Master maneuvers is a cool idea, but that kinda steps on the Battle Master's toes. I do wish 5e had a Skill Tier system. I am not a fan of only having 3 levels of proficiency, with one being tied behind certain class abilities. I have toyed with the idea of homebrewing the proficiency system to something like: +0, + 1/2 Proficiency, +Proficiency, +1.5x Proficiency. I don't mind casters having super strong spell effects. Such effects should be VERY limited use, however, and a caster probably shouldn't have 6 different boss-ending spells to choose from in any given situation. Polymorph doesn't kill the creature, and if you try to kill the creature, it reverts back to it's original form (taking any excess damage.) The frog lich also retains it's personality and alignment, so it will probably try to flee. The spell also lasts for only one hour, so they STILL have to deal with the lich eventually. I liked negative HP from PF1e. I feel like you could probably buff it out a bit more, like CON score + Character Level, just to avoid instances where monsters overkill you before you had a chance to do anything about it. "Yo-yo-ing" wouldn't happen as much if 1d4 healing wasn't guaranteed to bring you back into the fight. That all being said, there is just too much I dislike about PF2e to swap to it. For one, while the 3 action system sounds cool at the surface, the "cool" actions either cost multiple actions, or have deteriorating effects if you try to use them multiple times in a turn. There is also a lot of what I like to call "action wasters" in PF2e. Unfun things you have to burn actions on, just to do the cool stuff you want to do, or even benefit from the gear you are wearing (Raise a Shield action). I also don't like the "multiclass" system in PF2e. You have to grab an archetype feat, which takes up a class feat, which grants you a few "ribbon" abilities thematic to your secondary class. Then you can start taking class feats from the other class you want, but only at half your level. I also find the "add your level to everything" mechanic pretty distasteful. It bloats numbers and puts everything on a treadmill.

[@ladyofpain]

House Rule #1: Gary Gygax was an out of work insurance salesman. Rule #2: Cynthia Williams is not your D&D mom.

[@ladyofpain]

this video is talking down to the listener.... very condescending

[@PsyrenXY]

You polymorphed the lich! We won! ...for an hour. Yay?

[@johndelong2014]

Getting feats and asi seems busted

[@user-ll2ig8rv8t]

It's pathfinder. The meme is it's pathfinder 2e.

[@darkgub]

I knew it

[@typoko]

Why things like this work in PF2e is due to the fact that both sides enjoy the benefits. Effectively giving free feats for player characters will make the difficulty of the game even more of a joke than it already is. Battle maneuvers? More like class features from other classes. It is rare for a monster to have a bonus action, can't wait to see every monster using a skill ability in combat. Save or suck effects feel bad? Characters are too hard to kill? Good luck having people agree with nerf changes.