Alternate Help Rules

Proficient Help Action

A creature that lacks proficiency in a skill cannot take the Help Action to aid another creature with an Ability Check using that skill. HOWEVER, if another skill can justifiably be explained, it may be allowed.

Note that this doesn’t prevent a party member from taking the Help Action to grant an ally ADV on their attack, since anyone can be a sufficient distraction to the enemy (as long as the distraction is explained.)

Help Checks

In order to take the Help Action, a creature must make a Help Check, before it can aid another creature on an Ability Check. The Help Check DC equals 10, or 5 less than the DC of the Ability Check the target creature is attempting to make.

Example: If Creature A is attempting to climb up a cliff, Creature B could take the Help Action to attempt to aid Creature A. Creature B could use its knowledge in Nature, deductions made with Investigation, or observations made with Perception to provide advice on how to get up. If the DC to climb the rocks is 18, then the DC to provide aid is 13 (5 less than 18).

This rule allows anyone to help an ally perform a task, but also ensures that the help granted is sufficient enough to provide actual aid to the ally.

Help Dice

When you successfully take the Help Action, you roll a d10 and add the result to the aided creature’s next Ability Check or Attack Roll. The creature must make this Check or Attack before the start of your next turn.

This rule helps you feel like you are providing actual help to an ally because YOU are the one actually rolling the dice. You roll the d10, and your ally adds it to their roll, instead of you granting them ADV to let THEM roll an additional d20. This is still a very quick and intuitive way for PCs to help each other, and the dice can actually represent how WELL they helped. If they roll a 1, it could be described as something humorous that didn't even help, but if they roll a 10, it could be described that THEY were the reason the Check or Attack succeeded. This also increases the cap of what’s possible to be rolled. Even with ADV, a 20 is still the highest, but by adding a d10, the maximum result possible before adding modifiers becomes 30.

Option: 

The player could roll a different die based on how well their Help Check went, or how much sense it makes for them to help in this way. Maybe a weak character helping to lift something would be only a d4… but the Strong one would be a d12.