What Homebrew Combat Rules do YOU use at your table?
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The List:
1. Advantage & Disadvantage Stacking @ 1:48
2. Flanking Variant @ 3:53
3. Targeted Attacks (Called Shots) @ 5:07
4. Opportunity Attacks @ 6:55
5. Prone Variant @ 8:13
6. Help Action Variant @ 9:50
7. "Inter-Action" @ 10:59
8.  Massive Criticals @ 12:26
9. Simple Movement @ 14:21
10. Bloodied Condition @ 15:03
Bonus Tip: Greater Weapon Master & Sharp Shooter

Cleric: "How are you feeling?"
Barbarian: "On a scale of 1 to 88, I'd say I'm about a 13."

13:58 "poor casters being overshadowed by the martial classes" said no one

It feels like a real conversation with a friend about D&D, loved your attitude! Instantly subscribed.

Doctor "on a scale of 1 to 10 how does it feel?"
Me "well bloodied."

The reason I like the base rules prone condition is because it’s really good to willingly drop prone against long-ranged enemies, to make yourself a smaller target. Sometimes being prone is purposeful, so I don’t think it would take your reaction to stand up

as for the crit thing, for rogues and paladins, it's simple. I allow for the max damage for only the "Weapon's" dice, and you roll the other bonus dice as normal, they still get twice as many, but those dice aren't maxed.

Holey moley, there's a lot here.  I've had to watch 3 times already with a LOT of pausing.  Great ideas.

Instead of flanking i used "overwhelming", basically it works like this: each enemy engaging in melee past first grants +1 on attack rolls capped at +5. So 2 guys engaging same emeny each get +1 to attack rolls and 8 guys fully surrounding 1 enemy all get +5. This makes players extra wary about being surrounded and forces to play more tactical with chokepoints and avoid encirlement. I also give ranger with horde fighting combat style immunity to this effect. Also giant enemies are more resistant to this aswell, being overwhelmed only if there is 4 or more enemies engaged in melee.

The help alternative moves into bard territory making one of their signature abilities no longer unique. But good ideas overall :)

I really like that help action mechanic. Off the top of my head, you could make it more customisable based on who the helper is and what they're doing.
Rather than adding a d10, you add a d8 PLUS their ability modifier depending on what they are helping with

Great content dude, but I'd recommend not describing skeletons as 'well-boned!' XD

Number 10 is genius! The game has a perfect scaling mechanic with proficiency that goes wildly underused.
I also love your thoughts of how to stack advantage.
I personally would keep Help as advantage on the attack roll (with your stacking rules applied, if necessary), but maybe add a damage die or the helping creature's proficiency to the damage roll.

What do you think about this CRIT variation? What changes would you make to it?  I call it the “Weakening CRIT”: 1) roll the damage dice TWICE (as normal),  2) DO NOT add the damage modifier, BUT [and here's the cool part] 3) the critted target has disadvantage to its next attack roll or saving throw, whichever comes first.

The reason I like this is the flavor it brings to the crit, whether they roll snake eyes or not. Maybe it's not so much the amount of damage they dealt that caused it to be "critical" but "where" they were able to strike. For example, they only did 4 damage, but hit the target right above the eye, causing it to bleed onto their eye, thereby causing disadvantage. What are your thoughts?

The rules for movement in dnd 5 are the same as your house rules. Dnd 5e diagonal is only 5 feet for every diagonal. The 5-then-10-then-5 was from dnd 3.5 I think.

Edit: Yeah, I just checked it, and the 5-10-5 it's also an optional rule on the current DMG (but I'm pretty sure it was the way we played 3.5 too) as an alternative to the non-euclidean 5 foot diagonals of the PHB.

A good fix for the help action could be a static bonus to what they’re doing either based on the description of how they help, or their proficiency. You could use the +2 +5 rule depending on if a wizard, for example, is trying to help a barbarian swing his axe or if he distracts the enemy with a minor illusion flourish or something interesting.

I feel like the help action could benefit from your free form rule for Targeted attacks. The help action gives the next attack a bonus effect, but it also grants advantage. This makes it an actual strategy, instead of your friend giving you help with one attack.

Great suggestions!


#2 - instead of flanking, I use a multiple attacker bonus - +1 for each attacker after the first in melee. I tend to run TotM as opposed to minis, so this is easier to adjudicate.
#4 - how about an Acrobatics check to avoid the opp attacks for standing up? Something like DC 10 + 1 per threatening creature.
#6 - Giving a d10 to hit and damage feels like stepping on the battlemaster. When my players gang up on a target, they also get the multi bonus from above. Against a hard to hit foe, they may Help the character with the best to-hit chance, or all attack hoping for the Menzia Effect(sp?) to pay off.
#8 - I use this for weapon attacks. Natural and spell attacks still roll double dice. Also, anything that adds to the damage rolls the doubled dice as well, so a paladin with a longsword, 2d8 smite, and +2 damage bonus would do 5d8+10. I also require paladins to declare smite up front.
#10 - I use the bloodied condition as a descriptive - and for a skeleton I saw cracked (it can be fun coming up for descriptors for unusual foes). I don't use the other levels to described, but now I might.

Dude, looking good! 👊

First video I watch, I subscribed.