The rules of D&D are meant to function for many different groups and individuals. They give a Dungeon Master guidance in adjudicating questions in case of unexpected circumstances. But sometimes, what’s written doesn’t quite work the way it should, or the way we feel like it should.

Of course, DMs have the freedom to alter the rules of the game as it suits their table. The Dungeon Master’s Guide has a whole chapter dedicated to optional rules variants and creating your own items/spells/monsters. So, if something’s not working, you can feel free to tinker with it until it does.

For example, let’s look at the Lucky feat.

I like the idea of Lucky—that a character has this strange, unexplained luck that gets them out of trouble right when they need it. But in practice, there’s not a lot that separates using a Luck point from using a point of Inspiration. I like Inspiration because it’s something given by the DM (or other players) for something the player did. With Lucky, all you have to do is take the feat, and you have 3 Luck points every day. That gives you three free rerolls without really doing much.

On top of all that, the Lucky feat has no prerequisites. This makes sense, since the luck is supposed to be “inexplicable,” but it doesn’t help that somewhat bland feeling the feat has.

Removing the feat entirely by just banning it from the table is a solution. But, I’m not convinced the problem is with the actual mechanics of the feat. This would also create a sticky situation if there are characters in an ongoing campaign who have the Lucky feat.

I mean, I took the Lucky feat as my bard, Finnith, in SBotLL. I took the feat pretty early on, in fact. As I said before, I like the idea of Lucky. I had already made choices in character creation that, in my mind, aligned Finnith with a sense of haphazardness and unpredictability. He’s chaotic (good) and uses Proficiency Dice instead of a flat bonus—instead of a +4 proficiency bonus, he rolls a d8. The Lucky feat seemed to contribute to this theme in my character, so I picked it up.

The flavor aspect of Lucky is what sets it apart from other parts of the rules that give you advantage or allow you to reroll. So, if we lean into that, the flavor of the feat, then maybe we can make it feel better to use.

After a few conversations about it, our DM introduced a slight change to how the Lucky feat works:

“Whenever a player uses a luck point to affect a roll you or someone else makes or a Halfling rerolls a 1 on the D20, I want them to narrate what stroke of luck befalls the character that allows them to reroll the check. This should be framed as something external to your character that affects the situation. It should be something that one would look at and say ‘Wow, that was lucky!’”

For example, let’s say your character is negotiating with someone in a city marketplace. They flub a Charisma (Persuasion) check and roll a 2. You want to expend a Luck point and reroll the check. You tell the DM you want to use a Luck point, and the DM asks you how luck influences the situation. You then use a few sentences to narrate this stroke of luck: “someone’s wayward horse runs past us, almost knocking over a neighboring market stall. The chaos is quickly resolved but gives me enough of a pause to come up with something better to say.” You reroll, and all is well.

This change lets players determine what external factor plays into their character’s luck. It’s a fun way for the player to stick their hand into the world and ruffle it up a tad. And, on top of that, it prompts the player with Lucky to pay attention to details about their environment that they might want to use should they want to expend a Luck point.

This also makes fortune feel like more of a force the characters themselves encounter, rather than just the players when the dice are out. D&D is a world of chance and coincidence! With this tweak to the Lucky feat, the players can create their own manifestations of that chance.

 

What do you think of Lucky? Have you made any changes like this to your game? Let me know in the comments!