The story is a huge part of Dungeons & Dragons, whether the DM has written it themselves or is using a pre-built campaign. The epic highs of defeating a monster, and the epic lows of losing a beloved NPC, are brought to life and animated around a larger world and story.

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If you're an avid D&D player, you may be familiar with the concept of "house rules." These are rules that aren't established in the official guidebooks for D&D - and may go so far as contradicting them - but are used by parties to change the game more to their liking. This article covers a few house rules that can help your story live up to its full potential.

5 Players' Characters Must Have An Established Bond In The World

Dungeons And Dragons - A giant Snake about to attack a party as a character creates an illusion
Essentials Kit Creating A Character By Suzanne Helmigh

When designing characters, players can get really caught up in their own imagination. That's a good thing, of course! It means they'll roleplay that character with dedication and love. However, it also might mean that, when it comes to starting a campaign, they don't really have anything linking themselves to the world other than the fact that they exist in it. Whether the DM writes their own setting or is running a pre-made campaign, the players are usually just dropped into it. The player might have decided that they have a whole gnome family at home, but hadn't considered where they were or what they were up to while the campaign was happening.

This rule establishes that each player must have one bond that tangibly exists in the game's setting. It could be a sibling who lives above a shop in the city, or an old friend who works at the docks, but they have to be around. This will give your story an extra kick in the pants because, once you have those bonds from each player, you can incorporate them into the side quests or main missions. Maybe a player's friend at the docks has been smuggling an illicit substance, or maybe the big bad of the campaign finds out where a player's sibling lives and kidnaps them!

4 Combat Conditions

Dungeons And Dragons Artificer Constructs
via Tasha's Cauldron of Everything by Wizards RPG Team

Combat Conditions are the physical consequences of combat on the players' characters. Keeping track of this will help remind you that NPCs shouldn't just see a traveler covered in blood and act like that's totally normal - and you'll find it plays into your story more than you think! How does an assassin kill their target while undercover if they have to avoid getting blood or dirt on their clothes?

The levels of Combat Conditions as defined in the Homebrew Rules Compendium are:

Name

Percentage Of Max HP Remaining

Physical Appearance

Consequences

Bruised

75%

  • Character's body and/or face has visible scratches
  • Character is in minor pain
  • Disadvantage on really intense physical tasks after combat
  • Any NPC or PC can see damage on the character with a DC 10 Perception check
    • If the player uses makeup to hide the wounds, DC 15 or 20 Perception check (DM's discretion)

Bloodied

50%

  • Character has open wounds and/or major blood clots
  • Character is in significant pain
  • Disadvantage on any Dexterity or Strength check after combat ends
  • Any NPC or PC can see damage on the character with a DC 10 Perception check
    • The damage cannot be hidden by makeup or in any other way

Beaten

25%

  • Character has multiple open wounds and/or broken bones (if not worse)
  • Character is in severe pain
  • Add 1 level of Exhaustion after combat ends
  • Disadvantage on any Dexterity or Strength check after combat ends
  • Any NPC or PC can see damage on the character without a Perception check

3 Keep Death Saving Throws Secret

Duchess Dhonaire at a masquerade ball dissolving a man
Duchess Dhonaire, by Zoltan Boros

When players reach zero HP, they start rolling saving throws to see if they'll wake up or not! There's nothing saying they should be kept hidden, but lots of parties agree to hide them to increase the tension of combat and potential deaths! After all, if your party healer knows you've already failed two death throws, they're more motivated to help you out.

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When they're hidden, no one knows what condition you're in, and choices about whether to aid you or fight enemies must be made in the dark! Some DMs go so far as to roll the saving throws themselves and keep them from the player who might be dying, so they feel the tension too and can't give anything away by mistake (or on purpose). However, it might not be the house rule for players who don't like combat in the first place.

2 Let Players Award Inspiration At The End Of Sessions

A Gnome, a Drow Elf, a Dragonborn, and a Dwarf, from Dungeons and Dragons (D&D)

This house rule means that, each time you finish a session, your players chat and talk about who did really well in the game! Who roleplayed their way out of a tricky situation? Who saved everyone in the last battle? Who had a genius idea that revealed a big part of the mystery? Once everyone is done reminiscing, they can vote on who they felt was the V.I.P of that session! The winning player will get a point of inspiration in the next session to be applied at their leisure.

Following this rule has lots of benefits, but the help to your story is that players will be extra inclined to shine bright in their next session! It'll undoubtedly lead to more engagement in the plot you've so dedicatedly built. Of course, it might not be for everyone; you may not want to follow this rule if picking a "winner" is spoiling the fun by making the players too competitive.

1 Automatic Successes

Kefnet the Mindful by Chase Stone from MTG
Kefnet the Mindful by Chase Stone

Automatic Successes are just what they sound like: instead of making a player roll to pass a check, you just decide that they succeed! How and when exactly you decide to award them as a DM is up to you, but the idea is that they're awarded for really impressive roleplaying or really creative solutions to problems.

Let's say the players are fighting the final boss of your campaign. If a Fighter, with very little health left and an impassioned determination, decides to risk it all and charge down their opponent, it's a little disappointing for them to fail. As Brennan Lee Mulligan once pointed out, it would have been disappointing if Samwise Gamgee had told Frodo he could carry him to the top of Mount Doom, but then failed his strength check. Your story will have a much more satisfying ending if you just let Sam pick up his buddy!

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