Combat House Rules Held Turns

Homebrew rules in Dungeons and Dragons are all about After initiative is rolled, you may hold your turn until
customizing the mechanics of D&D to get the feel that you after a specific combatant’s turn (enemy or ally). This
are looking for in your game. Do your players want to play method is less restrictive than taking the ready action and
in hard mode? Do they want to feel epic? Are they trying does not use your reaction.
to make complicated battle plans and coordinated, dynamic This would be you waiting for the right time to act in
movements? The 5e rules as written (RAW) will sometimes combat. This can be handled in two ways:
need adjustments to get the perfect playstyle at your table, and
I’m here to help you do that! • You now permanently act at your lowered initiative position

I’ve made a few videos now about these house rules to perk or:

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up the combat at your table. Go and check them all out! • You keep your original spot in the initiative order at the
• Combat House Rules Part 1 start of the next round as normal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDfiw1SyQMk EXAMPLE
• Combat House Rules Part 2 As the battle begins, your fighter’s honed abilities and catlike

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1jsqs_kvlo reflexes allow her to go first, but she sees an opportunity to get
• Killer Combat Combos a better angle on her attack if she waits until after the paladin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nn-8HmsWvQ swings his battle axe. She finds the perfect moment and then
• Combat House Rules Part 3 attacks twice with her longsword, landing both blows while
https://youtu.be/gzFHwKWzCow the enemy was reeling from the paladin’s attack.

Campaign Group Perks Improved Advantage And Disadvantage

This is less of a rule and more of a method to implement new Mechanics
house rules into your game.

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After your characters reach a certain level or story moment,
give them new abilities or unlock new rules for your game.
This could be giving your players an attack or ability that
has additional bonuses when they work together, or an artifact
Gaining advantage on a roll normally allows you to roll
an additional d20, taking the highest value rolled. Instead
of ignoring extra advantage like RAW does, advantage
accumulates. For each advantage instance beyond the
first, you gain an additional +2 to the roll.
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that takes two or more players to activate.

TIME OUT! EXAMPLE

This is a great way to implement house rules mid-campaign.
Gaining advantage on a stealth check from a Cloak of
Talk to your players beforehand and make sure they
understand the rule and how it will be implemented. You can
Elvenkind as well as the Wood Elf’s Mask of the Wild feature
also just send your group the video of mine where I talk about would allow you to roll 2d20 for the cloak’s advantage, and
it and let me be the one to break the ice for you! add +2 for the mask before adding your stealth modifier.
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EXAMPLE
Your players have just helped defend a town from invading
Modified Help Action
hordes of barbarians. As a reward, the Army Commander When taking the Help action, roll 1d6 and add your
offers to train your party in effective group techniques, giving proficiency modifier. The person you are helping can add
them additional battle maneuvers for extra damage to attacks this number to their roll. If the roll is an attack, they can add
when the players work together to use those maneuvers on this number to both the attack and damage rolls. You can rule
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their turn. that the Helper must be proficient in order to Help.

Let your players be the creative force behind how this
interaction works; they will come up with some amazing Easier Movement
combinations!
Movement in any direction costs only 5 feet of
movement per square. This reduces the time tracking
Tandem Turns diagonals during combat.
Players with the same initiative roll can choose to take their
turns at the same time, interacting with each other.
*This is particularly effective when combined with the
previous rule.

HOMEBREW COMBAT HOUSE RULES | THE DUNGEON COACH 3

 The Interaction Action Targeted Attacks
During a player’s turn, they can use the Interaction to Players can aim for a specific area on their target for
perform one skill check for free. This promotes player a bonus effect upon success. Targeted attacks are made at
interaction with the environment during combat, without the disadvantage. The bonus effect is in addition to the regular
fear of potentially wasting a turn. damage of the attack.
POTENTIAL TARGETED ATTACK EFFECTS
Modified Flanking Rules Area Effect
TIME OUT! Eye Blinded
Using this rule makes the direction a creature is facing Wing Flying speed reduced to 0

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important, so be prepared to track that if you are Leg Movement speed is halved
going to use it.
Arm / Hand Drop items being carried
When a creature is engaged with a single opponent and a
second opponent positions themselves directly behind,

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the creature is considered flanked. Attacks against a Optionally, apply a damage threshold to each effect. The
flanked creature receive a +2 modifier to their attack. If an effect will only take place if a certain threshold is reached.
additional opponent positions themselves behind the creature, The threshold value will vary widely depending on the type
the modifier increases by another +2. The modifier increases of creature and the desired effect.
by an additional +2 for every additional flanking opponent.
On their turn, the flanked creature can reposition themselves Modified Opportunity Attacks
by moving or changing the direction they are facing to negate
Any action or interaction that leaves you vulnerable
this condition.
to be attacked triggers an opportunity attack from
enemies within melee range.
EXAMPLE

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Actions that would provoke an opportunity
attack:
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1. Standing up from prone
2. Drinking a potion
3. Loading a crossbow
4. Opening a door
5. Picking a lock
6. Using a complicated mechanism or puzzle
7. Casting a spell that has both somatic and material
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components. *
* This could be very taxing on some players, use with caution!

New Prone Condition

If an individual is knocked prone, they receive the prone
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condition. Standing up from prone provokes opportunity

attacks from combatants within melee range.

Modified Standing Up From Prone

Standing up from the prone position costs 15 feet of
movement, regardless of your total movement speed.
This just makes sense to me; why should it cost 25 of the
Monk’s 50 feet of movement but only 15 of the Paladin’s 30
feet, who is in Heavy Armor?

4 HOMEBREW COMBAT HOUSE RULES | THE DUNGEON COACH

 Throwing Creatures Feat Fix For Great Weapon Master
As an action you can throw a creature that is one size And Sharpshooter
smaller than yourself.
Instead of the -5/+10 mechanic, use the following:

If The Creature Is Friendly To You:

The thrower makes an athletics check and the creature being Before you make an attack that you are proficient with,
thrown makes an acrobatics check. Add the two results you can choose to subtract your proficiency bonus for
together to get the maximum number of feet they can be the weapon from the attack roll. If the attack hits, you
thrown. You may throw the creature any number of feet, up add twice your proficiency bonus to the attack’s damage.
to this maximum.

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If the thrower rolled higher than 10, you can round up the Sentinel Feat Fix
total to the nearest 5 (7 becomes 10, 13 becomes 15 etc.). If the
You have mastered techniques to defeat a creature’s attempt to
creature being thrown rolls higher than 10, they land safely
escape you, gaining the following benefits:
on their feet and don’t take any damage from losing balance.
• Whenever you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, its

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They take 1d4 bludgeoning damage for every 5ft they were
thrown otherwise. speed is reduced by 15ft until the end of that creature’s next
turn. This stops any movement they may have been taking.
• Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you when
If The Creature Is An Enemy: attempting to leave your reach; even if they have an ability
Before you can attempt to throw an enemy, you must have that would normally allow them to ignore opportunity
them grappled. The thrower makes an athletics check to attacks
determine how far you can throw them. If you throw them • When a creature within your reach makes an attack against
into a solid object, the thrown creature takes 1d4 bludgeoning a target other than you (and that target doesn’t have this
damage for every 5ft they would have been thrown. If you feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon

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throw this creature into another creature, the damage is split
evenly between them. The thrown creature can make a DC10
acrobatics check, taking half the damage on a success.

If The Creature Is The Same Size As You:

attack against the attacking creature.

Convert Movement To Action

On your turn, you can spend 15ft of your available
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You can follow the rules as above, but halve all of the results. movement to complete a task. This could include tasks that
would normally take a Bonus Action or Action.
If Two Creatures Are Throwing
Together: Actions that cost 15ft of movement
If two creatures are both throwing a single creature, they Draw or sheathe a sword
both need to be grappling that creature. Both throwers
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Open or close a door

make athletics checks and the results are added together to
Withdraw a potion from your backpack
determine how far it can be thrown. If the creature being
thrown is friendly, it can also make an acrobatics check (as per Pick up a dropped weapon
the rule above). Pull a lever or a activate a switch
Pull a torch from a sconce
Turn a key in a lock
Bloodied Conditions
Tap the floor with a 10-foot pole
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Players and the DM cannot reveal exact hit points Hand an item to another character
during combat. Instead, describe how wounded they
are with three levels of the Bloodied condition.

Bloodied Level Conditions

Level Description
Bloodied Character or creature is at 50% of max hit
points
Well Bloodied Character or creature is at 25% of max hit
points
At Death’s Door Character or creature is at 10% of max hit
points

HOMEBREW COMBAT HOUSE RULES | THE DUNGEON COACH 5