The moment you decide to start homebrewing rules for your D&D campaign, you stop being just a player and start being a designer. If you homebrew your own campaigns and one-shots, you’ve already dipped your toe in the pool of design. Even if you don’t realize it. The question of “how to make this combat more interesting,” or “this scene more scary,” or “this NPC more distinct," are design questions.
But adding or subtracting from the mechanics of the game is a new level, it changes the way it's played.
The fact is, just about any homebrew rule can be a good homebrew rule if it’s put in context and enhances the kind of story you want to tell. If you want to run a horror campaign, no good will come from adding rules which make the game easier for the players and removes the tension. Whereas, if you’re running a high-power heroic fantasy campaign, adding some rules to make the characters stronger might be a good idea.
Here are three principles to keep in mind when adding homebrew rules:
First, you should err on the side of making the game more fun with your rules. As in, giving your players more options. Most D&D tables are made up of a group of friends who are working stiffs, and just want to have a good time. But if you’ve discussed telling a more niche story with your players, then making or finding some appropriate homebrew rules to fit are a good idea. Even if those homebrew rules add more restrictions. It’s all about the context.
The second principle is simplicity. The homebrew rules should draw from the mechanics already present in the game. With coaching, you can teach players - even new players - wacky additions to the system. But if you can keep it simple, you should, otherwise your work will likely go underutilized.
Finally, it’s important to explain your homebrew rules, and the reasons why you’re implementing them before the start of the campaign. I would advise you to put it up for discussion. Preferably in a handout given to players, and explained during a session 0.
Without further ado, here are fifteen of the best homebrew rules you can add to your campaigns, with a little bit of context for each.
15. Large Player Characters
Ever wanted to be a truly beefy minotaur?
Starting off with an unusual and controversial one, large player character options. On a grid, instead of your character taking up one five foot square, they take up four five foot squares. This is race dependent. Any race with the “powerful build” trait can choose to be large in size, or any construct race like warforged or autognome.
By nature of being large, a player character is able to block up doorways, reach higher places, their area-of-effect abilities that are centered on themselves are larger, and they can hit more squares with their melee attacks than other characters.
This all might seem overpowered or unbalanced. My response is twofold. First, it’s easy to find offsets for this power that can be very interesting in their own right. A large player character has a difficult time moving through spaces built for medium creatures. This doesn’t just count for combat, but also for inns, taverns and shops. Their weapons and equipment, unless scavenged from a large creature, have to be custom made in most settlements dominated by medium sized NPCs. Not only is it more balanced than one might think, but the storytelling and hijinks potential are off the charts.
Second, it’s no more unbalanced than being able to play a race with a fly speed, or a bear totem barbarian. Balance, at the end of the day, is at the whim of the dungeon master. And as long as it doesn’t feel punishing, balance is a good thing to consider.
The major downside to this rule is that it works best in homebrew settings. Official adventures just aren’t designed for large player characters. But if you make your own world, with your own battlemaps and dungeons, then it might work fantastically.
Some players get a real kick out of being large. You could optionally allow them to be even stronger, adding 1d4 to the damage of melee attacks or strength checks. Maybe you’ll allow or encourage your players to get silly by using “enlarge” on the already gargantuan, rune knight minotaur. Maybe you won't. Either way, you should discuss that with your players before the game starts.
How it works
- All players who choose to play a race with the “powerful build” trait, or who are warforged or autognome, can choose to play as large instead of medium or small at character creation.
- When moving a large player character through a 5ft wide space, each foot you movecosts you 4 feet of your movement speed. .
- Armor, weapons and clothing made for large player characters costs %10 more, unless otherwise specified. E.G. if the settlement is made up mostly of large creatures and making larger weapons and armor is the norm.
- Large player characters cannot wear armor made for medium or small creatures.
- (Optional) large player characters cannot benefit from effects that would increase their size.
- (Optional) Large player characters deal an additional 1d4 damage with melee attacks that use strength for their modifier.
- (Optional) Large player characters add 1d4 to any strength check or saving throw they make while conscious.
14. Bonus Action Consumables
Sometimes a quick draw potion of firebreathing is what it takes to turn an encounter in your favour.
This simple homebrew rule has been popular for a very long time at many D&D tables. A consumable object that normally takes an action to use, now takes a bonus action. This is most useful with health potions. Players now no longer have to choose between doing something useful with their action, or getting in some healing. And in 5e, where it is very hard to out-heal incoming damage, using your action to try and stay standing by consuming a health potion can feel a lot like skipping your turn. Having less options, especially at tense moments, rarely makes the game feel more fun.
Players are also more likely to utilise other kinds of consumables if they’re easier to use, especially other kinds of potions. This adds more creative potential to each combat.
How it works
- Items which normally take an action to consume, like health potions, now only require a bonus action.
- It still takes an action to administer a consumable magic item to a different creature.
13. Roll Status effect Saving Throws Early
At most tables, if your character looks like this, you'll be spending the next half an hour playing on your phone instead of playing D&D.
Having your player character become stunned or paralyzed has to be one of the least fun things that can happen in a game of D&D. Not because it puts the party on the back foot strategically, but because you stop playing. Even if you pass the saving throw at the end of your next turn, you still have to wait an entire round to play again. And if you fail, you know you’re gonna spend at least two rounds doing nothing. That could be ten to twenty minutes of game time you just don’t get to be involved with.
A dungeon master having their monster get stunned or paralyzed isn’t nearly as bad, because normally the DM has multiple monsters they get to play with. Or, if it’s a high level encounter, strong saving throws and legendary resistances. But for a player? They literally do not get to play anymore.
That’s why this homebrew rule exists. You get to roll saving throws to end the stunned and paralyzed effects at the start of your turn instead of the end. Monsters don’t need to have this benefit, and you can choose to expand it to other status effects if you want your player characters to be even stronger.
How it works
- Player characters roll saving throws to end the stunned or paralyzed condition at the start of their turns.
- (Optional) Hostile creatures continue to roll their saving throws to end the stunned or paralyzed effect at the end of their turn.
- (Optional) Other status effects can be added to this list, like frightened or charmed.
12. Brutal Criticals
The half-orcs "savage attacks" ability makes their crits hit even harder.
Aha! You’ve rolled a natural 20 with your greatsword! Time to double the amount of dice you would normally roll for damage. Oh, look, you rolled four ones. Plus your strength modifier, and you have dealt a total of eight damage with your critical hit.
Sucks right? Maybe on your next turn, you roll high and deal 14 damage without a critical hit.
Now, critical hits are always exciting, but if you want to guarantee that critical hits land like a truck, brutal critical hits are the way to go.
How it works
- When you land a critical hit, instead of rolling double the amount of damage dice, you deal the maximum amount of damage you could roll, plus all your usual modifiers, plus a roll of the dice.
11. Level 1 feats
Feats at first level add a lot of diversity and power to low level characters.
Playing a high powered, epic fantasy campaign, or just want your player characters to feel more distinct at low levels? Let your player character’s take a feat at first level. This will make for some very powerful characters. This can be a lot of fun, especially for the players, but challenging them will be much more difficult.
How it works
- At first level, player characters can also take a feat of their choice.
10. Hidden Death Saves
And what do we say to the God of Death?
This is a simple rule that can really heighten the tension, particularly in darker or horror themed campaigns. When a player character drops to 0hp, the dungeon master rolls the death saves in secret, not the player.
While this does remove the drama of watching another player roll their death saves, you replace it with tension. Player’s don’t know how far from death that character is. Which means you can’t strategise around the fact that maybe they’ve passed two death saves already. You have to get to them as soon as you can. Short of a character taking damage or rolling a natural 20 and coming back to 1hp, the players have no way of knowing how far from a permanent death that character is. This changes the way the game is played.
How it works
- When a player character drops to 0hp, the dungeon master rolls the death saves for that character in secret.
9. Retained Death Saves
A rule for the overzealous paladin, who keeps running headlong into crowds of undead.
A quirk of 5th editions design is that it’s nearly impossible to out heal damage. A second quirk of 5th edition is that there are no consequences for dropping to 0hp and coming back again. So a lot of players throw caution to the wind. Why fight to stay standing, break contact and maneuver, or use a consumable item, when a first level healing word can bring me back, just as capable as I was before?
And this is fine. But if you want a more tactical game, then add this rule. Death saving throws are retained until your next long rest. This means that if you drop to 0hp and fail two death saves before coming back, you still have two failed death saves. If you go down again, the next death save could be fatal.
You retain your saves until you roll three successes, die, or have a long rest. If you want to make it slightly less hard-core, then death saves can reset on a short or long rest.
How it works
- Death saves are retained until the player character takes a long rest, dies, or has three successful death saving throws.
- (Optional) the death saves reset on a long or short rest.
8. Exhaustion on Dropping to 0hp
For players who want to plan around getting maimed.
This homebrew rule solves the same potential problem as the last rule, but can be surprisingly more brutal. If you feel the need to be especially cruel, you could combine them.
With this rule, when a player character drops to 0hp, they also gain a level of exhaustion. This means players don’t just have to think tactically, but strategically. What does it mean for the rest of the dungeon if I have disadvantage on all my skill checks? How will the next fight go if my speed is halved? Do we know of anywhere safe where we could rest for three days? Remember, one long rest only removes one level of exhaustion.
This rule will go great for tables full of players who love to wargame and strategise. Or campaigns themed around survival. Otherwise, it may be a little harsh.
How it works
- When a player character drops to 0hp, they also gain a level of exhaustion.
7. Reaction Chess
With this rule, a world of combat hijinks opens up to you and your players.
Critical fumble tables are quite maligned, and rightly so in my opinion. My veteran, level 11 fighter, has three times the chance of dropping his sword or injuring himself than he did at level 1?
But maybe you still want something to add a little drama to rolling a natural 1. I present “reaction chess.” If someone rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll in melee, then they provoke an opportunity attack from their target. This is balanced because creatures only ever get one reaction per round, and it goes both ways! If a hostile creature rolls a natural 1, then they provoke an opportunity attack from their target. This can provide great moments of chaos and decision making that can make a combat feel alive. The fighter rolls a critical fail and provokes an opportunity attack from the goblin. So the sentinel barbarian uses their reaction to make an attack on the goblin. Or maybe you have to choose. The goblin rolls a natural 1, and you could use your reaction to get in some extra damage, but what if you need that reaction later to cast the “shield” spell?
Run this one by your players, see if they like the idea. Because, unlike fumble tables or randomly dropping your weapon, it provides opportunities and it’s limited. It also reads much less like a character buffooning their way around a weapon they should be familiar with, and more like they overcommitted to a strike.
How it works
- Critical fails on attack rolls against targets in melee range may provoke an opportunity attack from that target using their reaction.
- (Optional) Conditional rules that affect other kinds of opportunity attacks also apply here. E.G. a creature with the “war caster” feat can cast a spell, or a creature with “sentinel” drops that target’s speed to 0 with the opportunity attack.
6. Intelligence based skill proficiencies
Short of being a wizard or an artificer, intelligence doesn't get much use in D&D 5e without some tweaks.
Another character creation homebrew rule. “Intelligence based skill proficiencies” gets more mileage out of high intelligence characters. Essentially, you gain additional skill or tool proficiencies, or languages, equal to your intelligence modifier. So if you have a +4 to your intelligence, you can gain four additional languages, tools or skills, any combination.
Alternatively, you can “spend” a +3 to gain expertise in a skill. This helps balance things out if you have a high intelligence party. Some characters are likely to specialize, while others might spread their proficiencies out.
This helps make characters more distinct. The necromancer wizard who studied anatomy and gained proficiency in acrobatics. The alchemist artificer who learnt as many languages as possible to create potions from foreign cultures. The psi-knight fighter who was a librarian, and has expertise in history. It’s fun, and adds additional benefit to a statistics that is often dumped for its lack of use in game.
How it works
- At character creation, you gain “proficiency points” equal to your intelligence modifier.
- You can spend one proficiency point to gain proficiency in a skill, tool or language of your choice.
- You can spend three proficiency points to gain expertise in a skill.
- (Optional) A negative intelligence modifier means you lose proficiency in a skill, tool or language that you would otherwise get at character creation.
5. Bonus Action Casting
Twice the casting means double the fun. Or double the fireballs. Same thing really.
Rules as written, if a player character casts a leveled spell as a bonus action, then they cannot cast another leveled spell as an action, only a cantrip. This means that, for the most part, even sorcerers can't cast two leveled spells in one turn. Even with the "quickened spell" metamagic.
This homebrew rule simply throws away this original ruling. And it's fantastic if you want some classes to feel even more powerful, or encourage creative spell combinations. Particularly sorcerers, who can now use "quickened spell" in combination with another leveled spell, and clerics who have bonus action spells like "healing word" and "spiritual weapon."
How it works
- If you have the resources or ability to cast two leveled spells in one turn, you may.
4. Shared Initiative
This one can encourage some rule bending.
Ever wanted more flexibility in your D&D combat? With this ruling, players who roll the same initiative can choose to take their turn simultaneously. Meaning they get to interweave their actions, movement and abilities, making for some very creative combinations. Or they simply decide to let one or the other character go first.
Like many of the best homebrew rules, this provides more options for the players.Options they are not obligated to take, but if they’re clever, they can use it to their advantage.
How it works
- Player characters who roll the same initiative can take their turn at the same time.
3. Sanity Points
Great for horror or fear based campaigns.
D&D 5th edition is a very flexible system. It’s like the “Skyrim” of the tabletop world. If you want your dragons to look like “Thomas the Tank Engine,” you can, and easily. Even with the base rules, you can bend the game to tell just about whatever story you want it to. But sometimes, it can use a little forcing in the form of homebrew rules
If you’re running a high tension or horror campaign, consider using “sanity points.” Chapter 9 of the “Dungeon Master’s Guide” provides a variant rule. A new statistic called “sanity,” and provides some basic rules for its use. In this homebrew, we keep the stat, but replace most of the other rulings.
You use the “sanity” statistic to make, what is essentially, a second hit point pool. At level one you have sanity points equal to 12 + your sanity modifier. For every level higher than first, you can choose to take the average (7 + your sanity modifier) or roll 1d12 + your sanity modifier to increase your sanity points, just like hitpoints. When you have a long rest, your sanity returns to full, but on a short rest you have to pick between rolling your hit die to recover hit points, or rolling your sanity die (1d12 for all classes) to recover sanity. If you have five hit dice, then you can expend one to roll either health or sanity, but not both.
Characters lose sanity when they suffer a critical hit, roll a natural one, suffer max damage from an attack or an effect, or when anything particularly horrific happens. There are many options.
Characters can recover sanity with a short or long rest, when they roll a critical success, or gain the maximum possible healing from an effect.
At half sanity, players must roll on the "short term madness" table found in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Masters Guide. If the character's sanity drops to 0, they have to roll on the "long term madness" table found in the same chapter.
If they fall to 0 sanity a number of times equal to their sanity modifier, then they have to roll on the "indefinite madness table" also found in the same chapter.
This works great for cosmic horror campaigns, adding mechanical weight to the themes of dealing with alien, unknowable powers. It's also flexible. If the players react negatively to something you describe, then you can also force a sanity saving throw. You can add or remove ways of gaining or recovering sanity, or create moments where “sanity saving throws” are necessary, with the characters suffering damage to their sanity on a failure. How hardcore do you want to be?
This is definitely a rule you should discuss with your players before the game starts. If they're expecting a campaign in the style of a Disney story, and you start giving their fairy bard serious mental health issues, then it's going to get awkward. Some players might also be just uncomfortable with this rule. It could be triggering or upsetting. So discuss it first. But if everyone is on board, it's a great addition. It mimics hit points, a system native to fifth edition that is easy to understand.
How it works
- At character creation, players generate an additional statistic for their character’s called “sanity.”
- “Sanity” is used to create “sanity points,” similar to hit points. At first level, a character has a number of “sanity points” equal to 12 + their sanity modifier.
- At higher levels, players can either roll 1d12 + their sanity modifier to increase their sanity points, or take the average (7 + their sanity modifier.)
- You recover your sanity points on a long rest.
- On a short rest, you can expend your hit die to recover either sanity (always a d12) or hit points (class dependent.)
- If a character falls to half sanity, they must roll on the "short term madness" table found in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Masters Guide.
- If a character falls to 0 sanity, they must roll on the “long term madness” table found in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Masters Guide.
- If a character falls to 0 sanity a number of times equal to their sanity modifier, then they must roll on the “indefinite madness table” found in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
- When a character suffers the following effects, they lose sanity: Suffering a critical hit (lose sanity equal to half the damage taken.) Falling to 0 hit points (lose sanity equal to half the damage that caused the character to drop to 0 hp.) Rolling a critical failure (lose 2d4 sanity.) Watching a fellow player character drop to 0hp (lose 2d4 sanity.) Suffering the maximum possible damage from an attack roll or effect (lose 1d4 sanity for every damage die rolled.)
- When the following occurs, characters recover stressRolling a critical hit (recover 2d4 sanity.) Receive the maximum possible healing from a spell or effect (recover 1d4 sanity for every healing die rolled.) Receiving temporary hit points (recover 1d4 sanity for every 8 temporary hit points.)
2. Skill Challenges
A great way to encourage your players to think creatively about their skills long term.
For most D&D campaigns, there are only ever three types of encounters. Combat, which is the most common. A social encounter, like a tense negotiation. Finally, puzzles, like you might find in a dungeon.
So how about one more encounter type? A high stakes chase through city streets, running after an escaping foe, or fleeing a burning building?
This adds a little variety to a campaign, gives the players a chance to get creative with their skills, and is relatively simple to explain and run.
It also fits neatly into just about any kind of campaign.
How it works
- The DM declares a skill challenge, describes the situation and sets a DC.
- The player characters roll initiative .
- Over the course of two rounds, the player characters must make a skill check of their choice against the skill challenge DC.
- The party succeeds if they pass 50% of their skill checks. The party loses if they fail %50 of their skill checks. The DM decides what the fail state is.
- The same character cannot use the same skill twice in the same skill challenge.
- (Optional) at the DM’s discretion, a party member can expend a limited resource to gain advantage on a skill check, like expending a rage, a spell slot, or a battle master maneuver.
1. Rule of Cool
If the dungeon master permits it.
The “rule of cool” is simple. If a player wants their character to do something that’s cool, but outside of the normal rules and conditions of the game, the DM may allow it to happen anyway. Maybe they allow it with some caveats; you have to pass a skill check or make a special roll, or bribe the DM, or give something up. Maybe you just say “yes,” and describe whatever awesome and unusual moment is about to happen. Maybe you say “yes, but,” and add an additional caveat, or weaken the awesomeness of the moment to keep tension going. Maybe you say “no,” that this moment cannot be easily cheated.
In a high power campaign, maybe you encourage the rule of cool. In a horror game, maybe you reward it less often, or add a sacrifice every time. Either way, letting players know you’re open to new ways of responding to the game invites them to be more creative. In good faith, this is almost always a good thing. It adds something to the table that only your friends could bring to it.
How it works
- If a player wants their character to do something that is outside of the usual rules of the game, they can suggest it to their DM, who may accept it, deny it, or accept it with caveats.
