Shields & combat hack rules

If you let your shield get sundered you get hurled 10 feet and land on your ass, dazed. It doesn't just fall to matchsticks harmlessly at your feet while you reach for another one. Also in my games stopping combat to dig around in your backpack leaves you open to free attacks from everybody within reach, and they get a +2 bonus.

Here's some fun combat houserules for you straight from my hacked OD&D campaign:

• Make unarmored AC 8, so plate+shield is AC15. That'll speed up combat.
• Make all 1-3s different degrees of utter failure and 18-20 degrees of critical success. Very high/low rolls should dramatically affect combat. No whiffs--every combat turn there's some kind of fictional repositioning.
• You can't move & reload a crossbow at the same time, also you lose a turn.
• Getting flanked means -2 AC, and maybe higher damage.
• Use d6 for single-handed weapons, d8 for 2-h. All HD are d6.
• Fighters can chain extra attacks when they land a killing blow. At 4th level fighters can make 2 attacks. At 8th level they can fight two enemies simultaneously (they can't be flanked)
• Flavor your weapons by changing what they do on good hits: Maces shatter armor, crush bone, inflict mangling trauma. Axes can grapple shields and easily sever limbs. Daggers are quick, can be thrown if they're in hand as a free action,and slice arteries. Swords parry and flash quickly and often get extra attacks. Polearms are long, get first strike, and can be swung in a wide arc to hit multiple dudes but leave you wide open.
• Close ranged attacks get a +2 bonus instead of long-distance ranged getting a penalty.
• Double damage for crits and sneak attacks. (Alternative; crits are dCarcosa). Chaining crits or especially risky successes add extra dice.
• All dice explode. All of them.
• Getting exactly 0 HP means you survive but get some kind of horrific trauma.
• Characters with 13+ Dex can dual wield; roll with advantage on attacks or make two attacks at -2.
• Anybody can attempt to cast a spell from a scroll but they have a high risk of botching it which means you get to roll on your most fiendish magical mishap tables.
• If you have never, try using miniatures. It's fun.