EXPANDED MIN-MAX OPTIONS 📊

B.F. Griffith personally prefers the “point-buy” system detailed on the 2014 Player’s Handbook page 13 (rather than rolling) for Ability-Score generation (before applying traditional racial-modifiers or otherwise customizing your Ability-Score increases or creating a “Custom Lineage” per Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything pages 7→8)… This preference is mostly for reasons of both fairness and balance／consistency according to the central 5ₑ D＆D philosophy of “bounded-accuracy” as well as empowering experienced players who do enjoy optimization with more predictable control over their character builds…

However, the usual point-buy options could easily be expanded to allow selections beyond Ability Scores of 15 (such as the following rules which go beyond the “standard array” option or alternative point-buy system presented in the Player’s Handbook), by spending (out of the usual 27 starting points for ability-score buying):

• 12 points for an ability-score of 16
• 15 points for an ability-score of 17
• 19 points for an ability-score of 18
• 24 points for an ability-score of 19
• or (though I don’t know why this would ever be a better option than aligning a favored score with racial-modifiers) all 27 points for an ability-score of 20 (leaving the rest at 8)

This house-rule is designed to be fully consistent with point-buy of Ability Scores using the standard 27 starting points being accomplished before applying racial-modifiers, as usual, and assuming that no scores lower than 8 are allowed unless players really want to min-max with some semi-disabled characters in some aspects, in which case a DM amenable to this might consider the following extension table below, which could grant players more than 27 starting points IF they choose to take some Ability Scores even lower than 8 as a trade-off.

An additional advantage of point-buy is that, without any need for secure digital rolling, it allows players to more easily discuss and plan their characters in advance of session-zero／one rather than having to entirely “roll-up” characters “on the spot” at the table (ideally, this should allow more valuable uses of time in-person／session-zero for planning party bonds, more detailed backstories, tweaking party “balance” or particular areas of PC expertise to spotlight, discussing“hard” or “soft” limits regarding content featured in detail or only included to a more limited or “veiled” (i.e. “off camera” rather than described or dwelled on in detail) degree throughout the campaign, preferred house-rules, thematic subgenre specifics or content-focus expectations, preferred “pillars of play” to emphasize most, tone or setting milieu, etc.). If you enjoy rolling ability-scores, you do you, but point-buy is just as easy a mechanic as well as much more balanced, and anyone who doesn’t want to bother with it can even more easily take the standard-array.

The term “min-max” regrettably has acquired a bit of a “bad name” these days among people who understandably don’t enjoy some of the more toxic expressions of “powergaming” behaviors or obnoxious “rules lawyers” looking for overpowered loopholes or cheesy gimmicks to exploit rather than optimizing more thematically in ways much more friendly to playing with story focused roleplayers… As these expanded point-buy house rules emphasize, however, “min-max” optimization can often be just as much about interesting and fun to roleplay weaknesses requiring party collaboration to compensate for as it is about maximizing narrowly overpowered ability specializations which actually leave plenty of narrative “spotlight” for other allied characters to shine because serious weaknesses naturally discourage “Mary Sue” or “main character” syndrome in a ttRPG that is meant to be collaborative. If you’ve never played a character with any worse than a -1 penalty to any ability or you rarely roleplay characters with any serious flaws at all, then perhaps you might consider trying it sometime? (and you don’t necessarily need to randomly happen to roll poorly without dropping lowest in order to more deliberately use the following augmented point-buy mechanics to facilitate these sorts of ttRPG experiences…) 🙃

• Regardless, the following are some “extreme” alternatives for “min-max” Ability Scores suitable for those willing to allow some essentially “disabled” and heavily-penalized abilities (below 8) as a tradeoff to add some extra points beyond 27 to point-buy as a mechanism to both reward as well as encourage building＆roleplaying with serious, impactful weaknesses:

“With Durendal I’ll lay on thick and stout,
In blood the blade, to its golden hilt, I’ll drown.”🩸🗡

A Critical-Hit scores double the damage-dice, plus any usual modifiers applied once, as per usual 5eRAW, but one of the additional damage-dice rolled is automatically treated as the maximum result of that die-type; however, this also applies to enemies and monsters when they score a critical-hit on PCs, of course! For example, if you critical-hit with a weapon or ranged-attack spell that normally does 2d6 points of damage, a critical-hit under this house-rule would do: 3d6＋6＋any-usual-mods points of damage (whereas a critical-hit with a 1d8 damage weapon would do 8＋1d8＋any-usual-mods damage).

This way, critical-hits almost always satisfyingly result in greater than normal max-roll damage instead of rolling snake-eyes🎲🎲 (though, of course, the danger is that enemies also gain this benefit to their critical-hits — so it makes critical-hits guaranteed to be more eventful, whether dishing out or receiving, but still less extreme and less “swingy” than either maximizing or doubling the entirety of the damage would be). ⚖️

Alternatively, while it is even less “swingy” and even more reliably deadly, many tables seeking higher than average critical-hits may prefer the simplicity of simply rolling as with a normal hit but then adding the maximum dice result of a normal hit along with any usual modifiers. For example, if you critical-hit with a weapon or ranged-attack spell that normally does 2d6 points of damage, a critical-hit under this simplified version of the house-rule would do: 12＋2d6＋any-usual-mods points of damage. 🩸

“It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead.”

• 💀💀 revised death-saving-throws: death-saving-throw successes do reset when a character regains consciousness, but death-saving-throw failures do not reset when a character regains consciousness; however, after each successfully completed short-rest, one failed death-save is removed — or, after a successfully completed long-rest, all failed-death-saves are reset; additionally, most DMs using this rule may decide to somewhat “balance it out” by allowing that one casting of Lesser-Restoration can optionally be used to remove one accumulated death-save — or one casting of Greater-Restoration can optionally be used to remove all accumulated failed-death-saves
• 🤕 PCs can optionally choose to creatively use the “Help” action to make a check that, if successful, will grant one dying PC advantage on one death-saving-throw made before the next turn of the player taking this special “Help action” (using a Medicine-check or something more creative: e.g. Strength to apply firm pressure on and bind the wound or apply a tourniquet, Dexterity to carefully remove fragments or insert a staunching item or quickly strap on a sling or brace, an Arcana-check to call out to a dying player’s spirit, a Persuasion or Religion check screaming into the void dramatically for the ally to hold fast to life or praying for divine intercession, etc.); however, the DM should set an appropriate (and often quite high) DC for such checks based on the difficulty or exigency of the circumstances in order to keep death-saving-throws suitably dramatic and harrowing. This rule also pares very well with the “secret” death saving-throws option detailed below!
• ❤️‍🩹 Heroic-Recovery: a character that successfully saves on all three death-saving-throws immediately comes back ready to fight at one-hit-point (for more epic moments); death-saving-throws occur at the beginning of a character’s turn (so characters don’t ever achieve a third success on their turn but do nothing; however, this also applies to important NPCs or monsters／enemies!)
• 💀💀💀 OPTIONAL deadlier “wound” mechanic: this house-rule provides a Pathfinder style “wounded” condition (to provide an ultimate fix for “whack-a-mole” or “yo-yo” dynamics in any party with extensive healing-potions or magical-healing capabilities): if a character is healed from unconsciousness or all three successful death-saves are achieved such that a character returns to consciousness (including magically), the character gains the “Wounded 1” condition (starts with one failed-death-saving-throw if knocked unconscious again) — then, if dropped unconscious again but healed or returned to consciousness, the character gains the “Wounded 2” condition (two failed-death-saving-throws) — then, if healed or makes all three successful-saves again with no failures, the character gains the “Wounded 3” condition (a “pending” three failed death-saving-throws) such that the character would immediately die if dropped unconscious again! (see above for removing failed death-saving-throws accumulated due to “Wounded” condition by resting or perhaps by Restorative magic)
• 🩸🗡️ OPTIONAL increased “coup de grâce” lethality: if a character gets hit by anything while unconscious, 1→25damage = add one automatic death-save failure, 26→50damage = add two automatic death-save failures, 50+damage = three death-save failures and instant death
• 🙈㊙️ OPTIONALLY: conduct death-saving-throws as somewhat “secret” rolls seen only by the DM and the unconscious＆dying PC who can still make the rolls but hides them from all except the DM and hopefully either puts on a good poker face or otherwise hides their face from the group, physically turns around away from the table to hide their face for additional drama but still hearing all the action as if slipping away into potential death like their character, or briefly goes aside to another room or off camera, such that the whole party does NOT know how many successes or failures have been achieved? (in order to greatly increase drama regarding whether to stabilize or heal a potentially dying PC or fight on to vanquish a deadly enemy with less metagaming)
  • If using the “Help acton” rules as suggested for death saving-throws above, at the DM’s discretion it may also make sense for a successful check on that Help action to reveal to the PC providing aid what the status is of the dying PC’s total of failed 🆚 successful saving-throws (whether in general terms such as “spirit dimming＆fading away as they bleed out” or “thus far still clinging to life” or simply revealing the actual totals fully to that other PC instead of just the dying PC＆DM), which the consciously aiding PC could then choose to dramatically communicate to the party.

MORE “REASONABLY BALANCED” NATURAL-HEALING MECHANICS:

(tougher and at least slightly more “realistic” healing rules than 5eRAW default, but arguably still plenty “heroic” for fast-paced fantastical adventures — especially in settings retaining ample 5ₑ D＆D magical-healing options／features and generally not deviating too far from RAW “bounded-accuracy” mechanics…)

• Whenever you’re forced unconscious, you also gain one point of exhaustion, in addition to the normal effects. However, the first level of exhaustion could be revised／softened to only subtract 10 from Speed, while disadvantage on Ability-Checks is moved to the second level of exhaustion along with halved-Speed.
• During a Long-Rest (amending Player’s Handbook page 186), rather than automatically regaining all hit-points up to maximum, a character’s remaining hit-dice (if any) can be “spent” (rolled＋Constitution-modifier for each) as usual to regain hit-points after at least one-hour spent resting rather than engaged in “light activity” on watch (similarly to DMG page 267 “Slow Natural Healing” rules option), which is essentially like taking a short-rest within the first hour of an attempt at a long-rest, and then ½ total hit-dice are regained at the end of any successfully completed long-rest not interrupted by any “strenuous” adventuring activity or combat or spellcasting (per the usual rules).
  • Furthermore, these just regained ½ of total hit-dice can also optionally be spent immediately to regain hit-points after a successful long-rest during which no more than one-hour out of the eight hour total was spent by that character at “light activity” such as keeping watch, or these hit-dice can be spent after an immediately subsequent short-rest if time allows (i.e. nine hours total rest including up to two hours of light-activity or time “on watch” as with a typical long-rest immediately followed by a short-rest). As usual, a character can only benefit mechanically from one long-rest per 24 hour period — so spending hit-dice immediately after a successful long-rest that could be more urgently needed later in the impending adventuring day before another long-rest can be completed is a calculated risk!
    
    In most settings, this house-rule could be somewhat balanced by the possibility in many cases of attempting to flee or tactically-retreat by vehicle, mounts, or other magical means to temporarily escape danger if necessary (though this isn’t always an option in particularly perilous settings or relentless dire stakes battles that need to be won at any cost), as well as by encouraging increased “fast-forwarded” and summarized “downtime” compared to an overland campaign under constant threat in a “megadungeon” or dangerous wilderness, though there is no doubt this rule will sometimes require PCs to be more strategic compared to a traditional “heroic” high-fantasy campaign with routine “miraculously complete” recovery after each night’s long-rest. This house-rule is also intended as a counterbalance to the “single encounter day” dynamics common in many homebrew or sandbox campaigns wherein short-rests are often significantly more infrequent than 5ₑ D＆D guidelines anticipate, presume, and expect for ideal PC “resource-depletion” mechanics via multiple attrition combat encounters per adventuring day.
• To compensate somewhat for the increased “grittiness” of these stricter healing and recovery mechanics, a sensible complementary house-rule could be to roll the hit-die for the increase to maximum hit-points upon each level-up, but let any roll below the average number ⟦i.e. the “(or ?)” listed next to the hit-die type designated in each class description⟧ default to that average number as a “floor” (plus Constitution-modifier as usual).
• ❤️‍🩹 Healer feat (PHB page 167): When you use a healer’s kit to stabilize a dying creature as an action, that creature also regains 1 hit-point and typically regains consciousness. During a short-rest (NOT as an action), you can spend one use of a healer’s kit per hour to tend extensively to one creature and at the successful uninterrupted conclusion of the short-rest restore 1d6＋4 hit-points to it plus additional hit-points equal to your proficiency-bonus. The creature cannot regain hit-points from this feat again until it finishes another uninterrupted short-rest (and the healer does not gain the benefits of any short-rest if working on healing someone during that short-rest, but using the kit in this way during a long-rest can be done as part of time “on watch” and still allow the healer to gain the benefits of a long-rest as long as no more than two creatures are healed in this way, in place of the normal two hours of “light activity” or “on-watch” time allowed during any successful long-rest; additionally, a PC focusing on healing an ally during an hour on watch during a rest would have disadvantage on any perception checks to perceive potential threats during that hour).

“Memento Mori” Critical Role style RESURRECTION RULES 😇

Character death should arguably be much a more harrowing＆dramatic prospect in Tabletop-RPGs than the mere “minor inconvenience” of relatively affordable spell components that it can too often become when many adventuring parties with access to healing magic reach a certain level…

• Only the strongest spells or magical effects, such as the “True Resurrection” or “Wish” spells if these are permitted in your setting, could possibly bypass the following resurrection challenges, or restore a character to life whose soul was lost due to a failed ritualized resurrection attempt…
• 🤕 ➙ 😌 Rapid-Revitalization: When “resurrection” is attempted on a dead character using a spell or other similar magical effect with a duration as short as one action, such as the “Revivify” spell (which must be attempted no more than one minute after the character’s death), no contribution skill checks or help actions are allowed to influence this special fateful roll… Instead, the character casting the spell makes a “Rapid-Revitalization” check: which is a d20 plus their spellcasting ability-score-modifier. The base difficulty is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the dead character has undergone. If the check is failed, the characters’s soul is not necessarily permanently lost, but the rapid-revitalization attempt fails and increases the difficulty of any future rapid or slower ritualized attempts by 1, and no further attempts can be made to restore the dead character to life until a resurrection spell or magical effect with a casting duration longer than one action is attempted…
• 💀 ➙ 😇 Ritualized-Resurrection: When resurrection is attempted on a dead character using a spell or other similar magical effect (such as perhaps from a powerful magical item or a specially imbued place of power) with a duration LONGER than one six-second action, this initiates a “Ritualized-Resurrection-Challenge” which up to three characters could contribute to with a maximum of one skill-check each:
• • Up to three characters participating in aiding the “Ritualized-Resurrection-Challenge” may each make one appropriate skill-check (between the start＆end of the required duration of the spell or magical effect) based on how well they describe their contribution to the ritual, with the GM appropriately adjusting the difficulty of the check based on how helpful or “impactful” the contribution seems under the circumstances… This could be as straightforward as an Intelligence (Religion) check for a dramatic prayer entreating intercession by the fallen character’s specific god, or it could be a much more difficult Charisma (Intimidation) check to vehemently demand the soul of the fallen to endure by shear force of will, or any number of other such creative contributions which could perhaps even be granted either advantage or disadvantage if the contribution seems especially dramatically “perfect” or “fitting” versus seeming somehow contrary or opposed to the character in question…
  • • Creative roleplaying should arguably be rewarded with either lower difficulty or advantage on these ritual contributions checks, but preferably without undue favoritism or undermining the fundamental purpose of the added challenge of the ritual. After all, tragic failure of even the most impassioned and expertly roleplayed of these checks can also be fun, is easy to imply using dramatic narration that builds high-stakes tension by appropriately interpreting or contextualizing that failure, and does not necessarily doom the overall ritual’s outcome… That said, successful contributions can be extremely poignant roleplaying moments regardless of the overall outcome of the ritual, and should arguably sometimes be even more clearly telegraphed with suitably dramatic narration; if one of the PCs is able to sense they have successfully “gotten through to” the dead character’s soul, don’t be afraid to affirm that! (even though that single contribution provides no guarantee in terms of the overall final outcome of the ritual…)
  • Once all contributions (maximum of three) are completed within the duration of the potentially “resurrecting” spell or magical effect, the Game Master rolls one final decisive “Ritualized-Resurrection-Challenge” d20 check with no modifier. Alternatively, some tables may prefer the PC conducting or casting the ritual or even the player of the dead PC to roll that final d20 instead, either openly or secretly so that only the Game Master can see. Regardless, the base difficulty for this check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone which has diminished the soul’s connection to the body. However, for each successful contribution skill check during the ritual, the difficulty is decreased by 2, whereas each failed contribution increases the difficulty by 1. Notably, this is somewhat harsher than the Critical Role reduction by 3 for each successful contribution (which could much more easily counteract failures or previous death penalties), so of course feel free to adjust that to your taste, keeping in mind that in this circumstance a difficulty difference of 5 is roughly statistically equivalent to “advantage” or “disadvantage” taking the best or worst of two d20 rolls, so consider carefully how far you want to push things away from a ≥10 coin-flip in “tuning” the risk of deadly outcomes you prefer at your table or to match the thematic degree of deadliness in a particular campaign setting.
  • If that final “Ritualized-Resurrection-Challenge” d20 check is successful, the dead character’s soul, should it be willing, can return to the character’s body, but on a failed check the soul does not return and the character’s life is lost. 💀

“oD&D style” extremely “gritty” NATURAL-HEALING RULES🩸

(an attempt at significantly tougher and relatively much more “realistic” healing rules plus “lingering” injuries that deviate much further from the 5ₑ RAW default, mostly inspired by Starfinder as well as older “classic” editions of D&D mechanics and the “Old School Renaissance” movement revamping and reorganizing them — yet still arguably remaining adequately “heroic” and “playable” within otherwise mostly traditional 5ₑ D＆D mechanics, especially in settings retaining ample “rules as written” magical-healing options／features available to PCs; however, these rules certainly should increase impetus for PCs to more frequently seek extended “downtime” recovery interludes and tactical-retreats, or else they will significantly increase the lethality risks of multiple prolonged combats over time using these rules whenever extended respite is not possible!)

• Whenever you’re forced unconscious, you also gain one point of exhaustion, in addition to the normal effects. However, to somewhat offset this the first level of exhaustion could be revised／softened to only subtract 10 from Speed, while disadvantage on ability-checks is moved to the second level of exhaustion along with halved-Speed.
• Instead of simply a pool of hit-points as per 5ₑ D＆D RAW, player-characters (and some important monsters or NPCs who may follow similar mechanics at the DM’s discretion) have both “hit-points” and “Stamina-points” which increase at each level, with a separate and distinct maximum-total for each maintained as the character gains levels.
• Somewhat similarly to classic 2e-Advanced-D&D mechanics: assuming adequate food+water, characters normally heal naturally at a rate of only ONE-hit-point per “day” of “low activity” up to their hit-point-maximum total at current character-level — with “low” activity traditionally defined as nothing more strenuous throughout the day than “light”／downtime activities as during “rests” when not sleeping (per 5ₑ D＆D RAW), including keeping watch, or perhaps even riding a mount／vehicle at an unhurried steady pace from one place to another in a not too harsh environment such as a flat roadway or wide＆clear comfortable game trail. However, activities at any point throughout the day like fighting, running／galloping or forced-marches, lifting something heavy, subsisting through unsheltered endurance treks through harsh environments full of difficult-terrain, or any other “strenuous” physical activity should prevent naturally healing any hit-points that day since such hardships would strain old or still tender wounds and might even reopen or otherwise aggravate them… A “low activity” day begins after successful completion of a long-rest (at least eight-hours) subsequent to losing hit-points (regardless of whether that long-rest was too soon after the previous one to benefit mechanically from more than one long-rest per 24-hour period) and that low-activity “day” ends after successful completion of the next long-rest (at least eight-hours duration and ending more than 24 hours after the beginning of the previous long-rest that started the “low activity” day).
  • If a character can manage complete “bedrest” (i.e. doing nothing but extremely “light” and nearly effortless activities such as “lounging” [in a relatively smooth-riding vehicle or well-equipped camp with bedroll and blanket／shade／shelter if necessary to provide a comfortable enough climate — or else in an even more restful＆sheltered environment such as an inn or similar lodgings with a friendly faction], conversing, reading, adequate eating＆drinking, napping, moving very little, etc.) for an entire day (between two long-rests more than 24-hours apart as above) — then that character can regain three-hit-points per day of uninterrupted bedrest. Additionally, for each complete week of uninterrupted “bedrest” as defined above, the character can add any positive Constitution-modifier to the base of 21 hit-points of natural healing (three hit-points per day) regained during the entirety of that week.
  • OPTIONALLY: To compensate somewhat for this greatly increased grittiness in healing＆recovery mechanics, a sensible house-rule could be to roll the hit-die for each increase to maximum Stamina-points upon each level-up, but let any roll below the average number “(or ?)” next to the hit-die in the class description default to that average number as a “floor” of the minimum numbers of Stamina-points gained.
  • When using these house-rules, any effects or features in 5ₑ D＆D RAW mechanics that add or grant “temporary-hit-points” should instead add or grant “temporary-Stamina-points” which do not permanently add to the maximum Stamina-point total, and are lost before normal Stamina-points whenever a character takes damage.

• Hit-points could then be the initial level starting-HP only, with all subsequent levels' hit-dice to stamina plus optionally including a 1st level hit-dice to starting stamina, and then the DM would need to decide whether to add Constitution-mod (or minimum one) hit-points per level, or to add that to stamina, or to both; or to add Constitution-mod to stamina each level and increase hit-points by ONE per each level past Level One (or vice versa). Each of these options would strike a somewhat different balance between the more lingering wounds represented by hit-points versus the battle-fatigue＆limited narrow evasions before an enemy can land a deadly blow represented by stamina-points.
  • Another gritty option under this system would be for most magical healing to only affect hit-points and never stamina, while casting some other restorative spells (such as Lesser or Greater Restoration) could be modified to be able to allow players to instantenously spend any remaining hit-die to immediately regain stamina-points outside of rests or perhaps even to replenish hit-die faster than normal‽
  • Indeed, speaking of hit-die, spending them during rests should only replenish stamina-points when using this rule system.

It requires no extensive justification, I hope, to state that there are both more as well as less “crunchy” rule-systems available in various tabletop-RPGs compared to the “medium” complexity of D&D, and that “hit-points” have always been somewhat of an abstraction, with specific or crippling injuries being rare in D&D rules, characters generally fighting with maximal effectiveness right to the brink of unconsciousness and risking death, and thus “hit-points” often largely conceptualized as mounting-exhaustion from desperate parries or dodges or glancing blows wearing a character down a certain number of times before a fatal mistake finally leads to a potentially lethal hit actually fully landing.

These house-rules would thus leave “Stamina-points” to fill that more traditional role remaining more easily recovered between fights by rolling hit-dice ⟦reflavored as “Stamina-dice”⟧, whereas “hit-points” could then instead serve a more realistically simulationist role to somewhat represent lingering injuries or major physical impairments resulting from more desperate combats (as well as ensuring that magic which quickly heals wounds by restoring hit-points would not so easily restore one’s élan, morale, or “endurance” through sustained combat — as represented by “Stamina-points” — or vice versa…). This system also arguably allows for more realistic “rest＆recovery” as well as “natural healing” mechanics by separating these more distinctly, while still allowing traditional magical means of more rapid healing in dire circumstances to occur in a more limited capacity.

Our Powers Combine 🫱🏽‍🫲🏼

• In most circumstances, unless the DM wants to make a specific contextual exception for some reason or contextually rules that the skill-use in question doesn’t require exceptionally intricate talents or coordination to effectively collaborate on, in order to give someone “help” with a Skill-check by using the “Help” action, the “helper” must almost always be “proficient” with the relevant skill that the creature receiving help is using, otherwise the “helper” would just be more likely to get in the way, impede the use of the skill by the character primarily performing the action, lack some prerequisite training or lore necessary to contribute any meaningful assistance to a highly technical or obscure challenge, or otherwise cause problematic or distracting complications that would somehow interfere with the skill-use.
• The character providing help must usually also be perceptible by the ally receiving any advantageous help action unless the DM rules otherwise for some logical special contextual reason.
• Similarly, the character providing help must usually also be near enough to the ally receiving any advantageous help action to assist verbally or physically unless the DM rules otherwise for some logical special contextual reason.
• Additionally, if seeking more mechanics for characters to help out, especially in unusual or “unskilled” ways with less gatekeeping behind proficiency only while not leaving it all to DM fiat, consider the simple mechanical solution that the helper must succeed against ½ the original difficulty to actually be of help.
  For example, an 8 Intelligence Barbarian might not know much lore but could help fetch back books quickly or scan for specific markings by succeeding on a DC 10 investigation check in order to give the Wizard advantage on a DC 20 check to locate a forgotten tome in a huge library. Similarly, a 3 Strength cat is unlikely to beat a DC 13 check to help a Barbarian move a massive DC 25 boulder, but at least there is still a chance, and an 8 Strength Wizard could be helpful, while a 16 Strength Paladin has good odds of being helpful, especially if trained in Athletics.
• These rules add greater realism to the basic options for the “Help” Action presented on page 192 of the Player’s Handbook while hopefully still encouraging creative collaborations.

PUTTING SOME MYSTIQUE BACK INTO ITEM IDENTIFICATIONS❓

• Ignore 5ₑ DMG page 136 — “Alternatively, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item’s properties, as well as how to use them. Potions are an exception; a little taste is enough to tell the taster what the potion does.” 🤬
  • Instead more strictly, experimentally, and mysteriously prefer rules along the lines of the following in the DMG:
  • «Wearing or experimenting with an item can also offer hints about its properties. For example, if a character puts on a ring of jumping, you could say, “Your steps feel strangely springy.” Perhaps the character then jumps up and down to see what happens. You then say the character jumps unexpectedly high... Sometimes a magic item carries a clue to its properties. The command word to activate a ring might be etched in tiny letters inside it, or a feathered design might suggest that it’s a ring of feather falling.»
  • An Intelligence (Arcana) check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes. This check requires special training or lore and thus normally has disadvantage (or may be impossible in some cases) unless proficient... However, if proficient, time spent studying the item (given resources to conduct sufficient research such as a library) or simply observationally experimenting with it could grant advantage on this check.
  • Moreover, similar rules should apply to identifying poisons or potions: requiring a successful Wisdom (Medicine) check, or alternatively a Wisdom-check with proficiency if using and proficient with an appropriate “kit” depending on the harmful or helpful nature of the substance in question (i.e. poisoner’s or herbalism or alchemist’s).
  • Also, per 5ₑ DMG page 138 — Most methods of identifying items, including the “Identify” spell, will fail to reveal a curse, although lore might hint at it. A curse should be a surprise to the item’s user when the curse’s effects are revealed. Attunement to a cursed item can’t be ended voluntarily unless the curse is broken first, such as with the “remove curse” spell.
• “Identify” Spell ℹ️📜🔍 revised to:
  • 1st-level divination (ritual)
  • Casting Time: 1 minute, Range: Touch, Components: V, S, M (a pearl worth at least 100gp and an owl feather) Duration: Instantaneous
  • Make a spellcasting d20 roll + spellcasting ability modifier + proficiency bonus. You choose one object that you must touch throughout the casting of the spell. If it is a magic item or some other magic-imbued object, your roll (versus the DC of whatever magic/enchantments may be involved) will determine how much you may or may not learn of its magic properties, how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use, any command words or gestures, and how many charges it has (if any), whether any spells are affecting the item and what they are, which spell created or could “recharge” the item (if any), etc. If you instead touch a creature throughout the casting, you learn what spells, if any, are currently affecting it, assuming these are not mysterious enchantment or illusion magics with a higher DC than your roll (in which case you should still at least detect what school of magic is in effect).

Scientia Potestas Est 💬📖🛠

If you have a positive Intelligence-modifier of at least +2, you can take ½ of your Intelligence-modifier (rounded-down) of extra Languages that you can speak, read, and write — or tool-proficiencies (i.e. up to two extra languages or tools with the maximum 20 Intelligence-score and a +5 Intelligence-modifier). This house-rule is an attempt to somewhat better balance Intelligence against the more commonly useful benefits of other primary Ability Scores such as Dexterity or Wisdom or Charisma.

Consider allowing Warlocks with Intelligence as their casting stat in cases where the DM and player agree this can be appropriately flavored with the Warlock’s Patron of choice. If this house-rule is allowed, the class description and functionalities should work as written with any Warlock related mention of Charisma in class mechanics substituting Intelligence and Intelligence modifier instead.

VISCE BEATHA 🗣🌡

A character can drink a potion as a bonus-action or as an action, however, it still requires an action to feed a potion to another creature — and, in either case, requires at least one free hand in addition to consuming the one free “interact with object” action typically available per turn (PHB page 190), which is required to draw the potion forth from where it was accessibly carried and get it ready to drink or feed to someone (with a couple fingers of a second hand or one’s teeth or thumb assumed to be sufficient to unstopper a potion in most cases). Also remember: for the purposes of gaining a free-hand if necessary to use the one free “interaction with object” per turn plus either an action or bonus-action for potion use, dropping anything that a character may be holding in one or both hands in order to free one up is a “free” action, and most “two-handed” weapons can arguably be temporarily held in one hand while not in use for active wielding which requires both hands.

However, in order to add a bit more dramatic risk to this common house-rule (which both speeds up combat and enhances everyone’s fun by preventing players from having to so often “waste” entire turns drinking potions), it could be ruled that drinking a potion as a bonus-action or feeding one to someone as an action, in addition to any other similar object interaction that the DM deems may put a character momentarily “off-guard” during combat (such as loading a weapon with that property, interacting with any relatively complex mechanism beyond operating a mere single switch／lever, handle, or knob, etc.), might provoke a reaction “attack-of-opportunity” from any adjacent hostile creatures within mêlée-attack-range in addition to perhaps granting advantage on attacks against that character until the start of their next turn, at the DM’s discretion!

SPELLS-KNOWN UPGRADE✨

Warlocks should arguably automatically get all the “Patron Spells” listed for their selected Patron as spells known when they reach the indicated Warlock levels, and this house-rule would further specify that these “Patron spells” do not compete with or count against the normal numbers of Warlock “spells known” that must be selected from the Warlock list. Thus, they don’t have to choose between either Patron Spells or learning more typical／generic Warlock spells, they just get their “Patron spells” at each designated level (similarly to Paladin or Cleric Oath／Domain spells). Warlocks have few enough spells they can cast in a day that this is arguably harmless enough to game balance unless your games tend to have far more short rests and daily combats than usual. Anyway, Warlocks would become arguably become significantly more fun and versatile spellcasters with this house-rule, plus it ensures that PCs can connect a lot more easily with the flavor of their “patron” when granted this boon to augment their magical options.