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 HOMEBREW COMBAT
HOUSE RULES
BY THE DUNGEON COACH
Contents

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Combat House Rules 3
The Dungeon Coach
Medium Humanoid
Campaign Group Perks .........................................................3
Contact

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Tandem Turns........................................................................3
Held Turns..............................................................................3 Email thedungeoncoach@gmail.com
Improved Advantage And Disadvantage Mechanics..........3 Discord https://discord.gg/NpU932E
Modified Help Action............................................................3 Facebook https://facebook.com/thedungeoncoach
Easier Movement....................................................................3
The Interaction Action..........................................................4 Resources for dungeon masters
Modified Flanking Rules........................................................4 YouTube. The Dungeon Coach YouTube Channel
Targeted Attacks.....................................................................4 I create weekly videos every Sunday to help make your
games more creative and more fun!
Modified Opportunity Attacks..............................................4 https://www.youtube.com/thedungeoncoach
New Prone Condition............................................................4

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Modified Standing Up From Prone......................................4
Throwing Creatures..............................................................5
If The Creature Is Friendly To You:.....................................5
If The Creature Is An Enemy:...............................................5
If The Creature Is The Same Size As You:...........................5
DM’s Guild –Check out the other content I’ve published. I
will keep making more and more of my documents available
online from my large list of homebrew content!
https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=The%20
Dungeon%20Coach
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If Two Creatures Are Throwing Together:........................5
Support my work
Bloodied Conditions...............................................................5
Patreon. If you like the stuff I have here as digital resources
Feat Fix For Great Weapon Master And Sharpshooter ����5 and want ALL of those and MORE, think about supporting
Sentinel Feat Fix.....................................................................5 me over on Patreon!
Convert Movement To Action.............................................5
Improved Critical Damage....................................................6 I have many resources and you can get involved with what
Optional Variants for Spells:.................................................6 I do over on my YouTube Channel too! Including Multiple
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Reward Tiers and a GREAT community!

Improved 2 Handed Weapon Damage.................................6
https://www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach
Glancing Blows.......................................................................6
Massive Hits............................................................................6
Expanded Restraint and Grapple Effects..............................6
Weakening Critical.................................................................7
Critical Failure and Success with Spells...............................7
Credits
Hail Mary.................................................................................7 Creator: The Dungeon Coach – Alan Bjorkgren
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All-in Attack............................................................................7
Varied Initiative System.........................................................7 Editing, Interior Design and Layout
Critical Success and Failure +10 / -10..................................7 Mark MacPherson (IntrepidAdventuring.blog)
New D&D Status Conditions................................................7 Graphics
AvalonInk (www.avalonink.com )
Resistance X: Rule..................................................................8
Active Shields..........................................................................8

Copyright 2020, The Dungeon Coach, The Dungeon Coach, LLC

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, LLC.
System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R.
Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are
trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.
This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.
All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by The Dungeon Coach and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

2 HOMEBREW COMBAT HOUSE RULES | THE DUNGEON COACH

 Combat House Rules
Homebrew rules in Dungeons and Dragons are all about
customizing the mechanics of D&D to get the feel that you
are looking for in your game. Do your players want to play
in hard mode? Do they want to feel epic? Are they trying
to make complicated battle plans and coordinated, dynamic
movements? The 5e rules as written (RAW) will sometimes
need adjustments to get the perfect playstyle at your table, and
I’m here to help you do that!
I’ve made a few videos now about these house rules to perk
up the combat at your table. Go and check them all out!
• Combat House Rules Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDfiw1SyQMk
• Combat House Rules Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1jsqs_kvlo
• Killer Combat Combos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nn-8HmsWvQ
• Combat House Rules Part 3
https://youtu.be/gzFHwKWzCow
Campaign Group Perks
This is less of a rule and more of a method to implement new
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
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that takes two or more players to activate.
TIME OUT!
This is a great way to implement house rules mid-campaign.
Talk to your players beforehand and make sure they
understand the rule and how it will be implemented. You can
also just send your group the video of mine where I talk about
it and let me be the one to break the ice for you!
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EXAMPLE
Your players have just helped defend a town from invading
hordes of barbarians. As a reward, the Army Commander
offers to train your party in effective group techniques, giving
them additional battle maneuvers for extra damage to attacks
when the players work together to use those maneuvers on
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their turn.
Let your players be the creative force behind how this
interaction works; they will come up with some amazing
combinations!
Tandem Turns
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
Held Turns
After initiative is rolled, you may hold your turn until
after a specific combatant’s turn (enemy or ally). This
method is less restrictive than taking the ready action and
does not use your reaction.
This would be you waiting for the right time to act in
combat. This can be handled in two ways:
• You now permanently act at your lowered initiative position
or:
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• You keep your original spot in the initiative order at the
start of the next round as normal.
EXAMPLE
As the battle begins, your fighter’s honed abilities and catlike
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reflexes allow her to go first, but she sees an opportunity to get
a better angle on her attack if she waits until after the paladin
swings his battle axe. She finds the perfect moment and then
attacks twice with her longsword, landing both blows while
the enemy was reeling from the paladin’s attack.
Improved Advantage And Disadvantage
Mechanics
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.
EXAMPLE
Gaining advantage on a stealth check from a Cloak of
Elvenkind as well as the Wood Elf’s Mask of the Wild feature
would allow you to roll 2d20 for the cloak’s advantage, and
add +2 for the mask before adding your stealth modifier.
Modified Help Action
When taking the Help action, roll 1d6 and add your
proficiency modifier. The person you are helping can add
this number to their roll. If the roll is an attack, they can add
this number to both the attack and damage rolls. You can rule
that the Helper must be proficient in order to Help.
Easier Movement
Movement in any direction costs only 5 feet of
movement per square. This reduces the time tracking
diagonals during combat.
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 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,

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

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

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

They take 1d4 bludgeoning damage for every 5ft they were
thrown otherwise.
If The Creature Is An Enemy:
Before you can attempt to throw an enemy, you must have
them grappled. The thrower makes an athletics check to
determine how far you can throw them. If you throw them
into a solid object, the thrown creature takes 1d4 bludgeoning
damage for every 5ft they would have been thrown. If you
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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
attempting to leave your reach; even if they have an ability
that would normally allow them to ignore opportunity
attacks
• When a creature within your reach makes an attack against
a target other than you (and that target doesn’t have this
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

 Improved Critical Damage
When you make a critical hit, roll the damage dice for the
attack and add bonuses as normal. Then add the maximum
value of each damage die. This ensures all critical hits deliver
substantial damage.
EXAMPLE
A fighter is attacking a creature with a longsword and
scores a critical hit. The regular damage for their longsword is
1d8+5. To determine the Improved Critical Damage, roll 1d8
and add the +5 bonus as normal. Add 8 to the total (the max
value from the d8). The total damage is 1d8 +5 +8.
Optional Variants for Spells:
Variant 1: When casting a spell, follow the Improved Critical
Damage method as outlined above, which will result in
potentially massive damage
Variant 2: When casting a spell, follow the regular rules for
critical hits, and not the Improved Critical Damage method
mentioned above.
Variant 3: When casting a spell, allow players to re-roll any
one die from their damage roll when they score a critical hit.
Improved 2 Handed Weapon Damage e
This rule addresses the issue of strength as a stat being a
little undervalued and gives some love to those fellow two
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handed weapon wielders! (Represent!) Currently if you use
a battle axe, you deal 1d8 damage when you swing it one
handed. You can also grab it with both hands, increasing the
damage to 1d10. I’m sorry but have you ever swung a baseball
bat with one hand… compared to TWO HANDS? It’s quite
a large difference, more than 1 point of average damage
difference for sure.
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When using a two handed weapon, you add 1.5 x your
strength modifier, rounded down.
EXAMPLE
A character with a +2 strength modifier using a two handed
weapon would get a +3, to their damage roll. A character with
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a +4 strength modifier using a two handed weapon would add
a +6 to their damage roll.
Do you like to homebrew?
We have conversations like this all the time over on our
discord server, so come join and chat with this awesome
community! https://discord.gg/VkuvEHN
6 HOMEBREW COMBAT HOUSE RULES | THE DUNGEON COACH
Glancing Blows
When an attack roll exactly hits the target’s AC, it
is called a glancing blow. A glancing blow deals half
damage to the target.
I like this rule because it gives another type of combat
moment to describe at the table. Additionally, you could
homebrew a monster and tweak this mechanic so that an
entire range of its AC is a glancing blow. This would symbolize
its armored hide or maybe the an extremely quick reaction
speed. A large scaled creature might not be too difficult to hit
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so give it an AC of 15, but between 15 and 19 you would land
a glancing blow for half damage. It would take a 20 or above
to deal FULL damage. This is a great solution because it really
sucks when players fight something with high AC and miss
all the time, this lets em still feel like they are hacking this
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monster down.
If you want more monster tips I have a video on Villain
Actions that you can check out here: https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=Xua9kgK9W1Q&t=5s
Massive Hits
When your attack roll exceeds the target’s AC by more
than 10, roll one additional damage die.
This effect represents something between a regular hit and
a critical hit, where you hit REAL HARD, but not in a critical
soft spot. This gives you a little extra bonus for those times
when a character rolls way over the AC but the damage is just
the same as a normal hit. With this rule, you can prevent that
‘meh’ feeling!
Skill Checks
When you succeed by more than 10 on a skill check, you
could grant ADV to the next person to make a follow up
check of some kind related to that success.
Expanded Restraint and Grapple
Effects
If a target is restrained or grappled they do not add
their dexterity modifier towards their AC or Dexterity
saving throws.
This just makes sense and you could even enforce this
mechanic as part of a monster ability or trap. If you cant move,
or are stuck in one place you aren’t going to be as nimble as
usual. Keep in mind that this works for your players too. If
someone wants to grapple a creature for their ally to then
trigger a Dexterity Saving Throw on it. More Combo moves!
 Weakening Critical
When a target is hit with a critical hit, they
have disadvantage on every action they take for
the next round.
The goal here is to try and get across the devastating blow
that a critical hit would be, without going overboard with
having to roll on a lingering injuries table! They just took
a huge hit and as the DM you can cinematically describe the
staggered feeling of this creature as it tries to recover from
this blow. But don’t worry, it only lasts for one round and
All-in Attack
If you end your turn without using any of your movement,
you can make one melee attack with disadvantage using
your reaction.
Varied Initiative System
You can make any Skill Check that you choose (with DM
approval) in place of a Flat Dexterity check as usual.

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then they shake it off. Examples
• Rogue hiding in the bushes can have a “stealth check” be
their initiative for combat
Critical Failure and Success with • If you were trying to persuade someone or lie to someone
Spells right before a fight starts you could roll persuasion or

I have always thought it was lame that spell attack rolls can
critically hit, but saving throw spells can not.
If the target rolls a nat 1 on a saving throw vs a spell this
counts as a critical failure. If they roll a natural 20 on
their saving throw, it is a critical success
EXAMPLE
Failing a Dex save vs a fireball means you really could not get
out of the way and you got hit point blank. You can decide
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deception for your initiative score
Critical Success and Failure +10 / -10
Have big things happen on these situations on attack rolls/
skill checks
Example for Attack Rolls: When you hit a target with an
attack that exceeds its AC by 10 or more, you can roll one
additional weapon damage die and add it to the total damage.

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what this means for the character, maybe they take extra
damage or maybe the rogue can’t use their uncanny dodge
ability. You can describe this as the caster being just too
accurate or powerful with their cast, or a mishap in some way
New D&D Status Conditions
Overwhelmed
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by the target. You can also decide what critically succeeding on
a saving throw would give the target. Maybe it is no damage An overwhelmed creature suffers a -2 penalty to their attack
instead of half, or maybe it is 1/4 damage. rolls, saving throws and armor class.

Doomed
Hail Mary A doomed creature dies after failing two death saving throws
When making an attack you can choose to make it a rather than three.
Hail Mary. On a hit of any kind, you score a critical hit.
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DM TIP: You could have these come from failing Constitution

Whether the attack hits or misses, the attacker gains
saving throws for a physical effect or a Wisdom/ Charisma
one level of exhaustion.
saving throw for something related to their soul
You choose to go ALL IN for one huge attack and use all
of your might to deal as much damage as possible. After this
heroic moment of exertion, hit or miss… you automatically Weakened “Attribute”
gain 1 level of exhaustion. Now I really like the idea of this, I A weakened creature suffers a -2 bonus to one or more of
love this option to give players, there is a lot of cool cinematic their ability scores. The effected ability scores are determined
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potential here by the source of the condition.

If this feels like too much of a risk for you, maybe you give
the hail marry attack advantage. If it doesn’t feel like enough
of a risk, maybe it grants 2 levels of exhaustion, instead of just
one!? Maybe instead of a critical hit, it’s just one additional
die of damage?
Spell casters could do the same with potentially and choose
to push themselves to their limits to gain advantage at the cost
of a level of exhaustion, or maybe they can choose to expend a
number of hit dice to grant them this effect.

HOMEBREW COMBAT HOUSE RULES | THE DUNGEON COACH 7