Summary
Dungeons & Dragonshas a lot of different combat rules that can either be cumbersome, difficult to explain, or just ruin the experience altogether. Some of these rules are worse for beginner players, while others can prove annoying to more seasoned veteran players. Or, some of these rules just aren’t very fun to run as a Dungeon Master.
So, are there solutions? And, which rules should we do away with in fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons? If you’re asking yourself these questions, look no further than this list. Here are some combat rules for Dungeons & Dragons that we should get rid of.
8Initiative
Yes, Really
Okay, hear me out. I’m not suggesting that Dungeon Masters or players should do away with keeping track of turn order. All I’m ultimately suggesting is that maybe we do away with rolling for it every time.
Ultimately, Dungeons & Dragons is a team game that’s meant to instill a sense of cooperation in its players. In some ways, it’d prove more interesting if players could determine their order of operations when in combat. Of course, you’d still have to limit one turn per player per round for balance. But this could prove a unique way to shake up the flow of combat.
7Help Actions
You’re On Your Own
Help Actions, in which one player can give another player advantage on their roll by assisting them, are all well and good out of combat, when the stakes are a lot lower. However, something is frustrating, at least for me as a DM, at watching players give one another an advantage in combat right at critical moments.
Not only can this make combat difficult to balance, but it can also mean that players who have natural disadvantages against certain monsters can turn that disadvantage into an advantage. Sure, it’s a nice strategy, but it can be brutal when it comes to keeping combat feeling fair.
6Partial Cover
Too Tedious
This next rule is really one that needs to be done away with when it comes tocreating battle encounters for beginner players. I’ve never run a game for beginner players where people don’t get confused about cover rules. Ultimately, there’s a really easy way, in my opinion, to streamline this.
Full cover should still be in effect. If a player or an enemy chooses to hide behind a rock or other structure, they cannot be targeted by an attack. But, as long as they’re making attacks, they should be able to be targeted without the need to calculate new Armor Classes by virtue of partial cover. It’s just too much to deal with.
5Surprise
Even Playing Field
Surprise Rounds are another element of Dungeons & Dragons combat that always feels more confusing than it’s worth. This is particularly the case when players try really hard to initiate Surprise Rounds on their end. Sure, it’s a useful tool for DMs, but players can try to take advantage.
Ultimately, this is another rule that’s somewhat hard to litigate on as a Dungeon Master, and can really throw the balance of an encounter out of whack. Unless the surprise is so obviously clear that it has to be done to keep the fiction feeling grounded, DMs should do away with this rule altogether.
4Free Actions
With Some Exceptions
For the most part, some free actions feel fair in DND combat. Talking and communicating with other players is a free action, for example, that doesn’t need to be reined in.
However, frankly, there are a ton of free actions in Dungeons & Dragons that can be technically done in conjunction with your main action that don’t feel realistic. A round of combat is supposed to be six seconds. It’s somewhat hard to believe that a player could aim and fire a bow and potentially quickly interact with an object within six seconds, especially in the heat of battle. Plus, this is another one that players sometimes abuse if you’re not careful.
3Moving Through Allies
No Pushing!
This is another weird rule that has never made sense to me, and one thatI often homebrew against. Technically speaking, in fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons, you may move through an ally’s space without incurring any kind of movement penalty. To me, this makes no sense.
Obviously, on a physical level, the player occupies the space, so how can another player move through it? Second, this calls back to the issue with the cover. Can you move through an ally without incurring a penalty and then gain cover by virtue of standing behind them? Personally, I usually treat this kind of movement as though it were difficult terrain for allies.
2Close-Range Attacks
A Bit Illogical
There’s a rule when it comes to ranged fighting that always felt a bit punitive to me. Though I’m happy to admit this is mostly a personal grievance, as an old DM of mine was pretty tough about enforcing it, and it always penalized me as a ranger.
When you’re within five feet of an enemy, you have disadvantage on ranged attacks. On some level, this makes sense to me. After all, it’s a ranged weapon. Why should it work just as well in melee? However, I would argue that, even at five feet in real life, a ranged weapon would still pack a punch. Again, I’m happy to admit this is a personal vendetta more than anything else, though.
1Attacks On Death Saves
Too Cruel
Lastly, this is one that I think we should do away with for the greater good, as Dungeon Masters tend to abuse this. Technically, peaking, when an attack hits a player while they’re making death saves, it counts as a failed death save, and two if it’s a critical hit. While this makes sense, this rule has always felt unfun and unfair to me.
First, if a player falls unconscious, why would an enemy continue attacking them? Second, death is such a downer consequence for players, andif a DM is attacking themafter they fall unconscious, it can feel like the DM is pushing their thumb on the scale. Ultimately, I think this rule should be done away with so that players have ample opportunity to be revived.
