Old Guy Gaming » Feats http://oldguygaming.com Unsolicited ramblings of a veteran DM. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:54:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 My House Rules – Feats http://oldguygaming.com/my-house-rules-feats http://oldguygaming.com/my-house-rules-feats#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:20 +0000 Mike Summers http://oldguygaming.com/?p=633 Each character starts with four feats (five if Human). Every odd level a character gains one additional feat. Some feats have minimum requirements or restrictions based on: race, class, abilities, or skills.

Feats are very different than those presented anywhere else. I selected feats from both 3rd and 4th editions and rounded them out with a great many that I designed myself.

Current Feats

Here is a list of my current Feats. This is very much a work in progress and will certainly change. I will try to remember to come back here and update it whenever that happens.

Enhanced Strength

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Strength

Enhanced Constitution

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Constitution

Enhanced Dexterity

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Dexterity

Enhanced Intelligence

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Intelligence

Enhanced Wisdom

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Wisdom

Enhanced Charisma

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Charisma

Increased Fortitude

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Fortitude

Faster Reflexes

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Reflex

Naked Fighting

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Armor Class and Reflex when not wearing armor

Armor Specialization: Leather

Requirements: Armor Proficiency: Leather

Description: +1 Armor Class with Leather armor

Armor Specialization: Chain

Requirements: Armor Proficiency: Chain

Description: +1 Armor Class with Chainmail armor

Armor Specialization: Plate

Requirements: Armor Proficiency: Plate

Description: +1 Armor Class with Plate armor

Determination

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Will Power

Toughness

Requirements: None

Description: +5 Hit Points

Skilled Acrobat

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Acrobatics skill

Skilled Alchemist

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Alchemy skill

Skilled Arcanist

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Arcana skill

Skilled Athlete

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Athletics skill

Skilled Deceiver

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Bluff skill

Skilled Diplomat

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Diplomacy skill

Skilled Dungeoneer

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Dungeoneering skill

Skilled Survivor

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Endurance skill

Skilled Medic

Requirements: None

Description: +2 First Aid skill

Skilled Historian

Requirements: None

Description: +2 History skill

Skilled Interrogator

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Insight skill

Skilled Bully

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Intimidate skill

Skilled Naturalist

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Nature skill

Skilled Observer

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Perception skill

Skilled Theologian

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Religion skill

Skilled Prowler

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Stealth skill

Skilled Investigator

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Streetwise Skill

Skilled Thief

Requirements: None

Description: +2 Thievery skill

Improved Initiative

Requirements: None

Description: +4 Initiative

Speed Demon

Requirements: None

Description: +1 Movement

Darkvision

Requirements: None

Description: Gain Darkvision

Infravision

Requirements: Darkvision

Description: Gain Infravision

Halfling Fury

Requirements: Halfling

Description: +1 to Hit and Damage when Bloodied

Dwarven Healing

Requirements: Dwarf

Description: Add Constitution bonus to all healing you receive

Swift Armor

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore one point of Armor Penalty to movement

Trollskin

Requirements: None

Description: Regenerate 1 HP per round when bloodied

Master of Acid

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Acid keyword

Master of Cold

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Cold keyword

Master of Fire

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Fire keyword

Master of Force Energy

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Force keyword

Master of Lightning

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Lightning keyword

Giver of Death

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Necrotic keyword

Master of Venom

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Poison keyword

Master Psychic

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Psychic keyword

Master of Radiant Energy

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Radiant keyword

God of Thunder

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and damage with spells and powers containing the Thunder keyword

Stand Your Ground

Requirements: None

Description: Reduce Push, Pull, and Slide effects by one (when desired)

Unfettered Stride

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore the effects of difficult terrain on your movement

Fearless

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves vs. Fear

Skeptic

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves vs. Illusion

Sleepless

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves vs. Sleep

Proof Against Poison

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves vs. Poison

Charm School Dropout

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves vs. Charm

Scary Bastard

Requirements: None

Description: +3 to non-damaging attacks containing the Fear keyword

Illusionist

Requirements: None

Description: +3 to non-damaging attacks containing the Illusion keyword

Sandman

Requirements: None

Description: +3 to non-damaging attacks containing the Sleep keyword

Venom Expert

Requirements: None

Description: +3 to non-damaging attacks containing the Poison keyword

Prince Charming

Requirements: None

Description: +3 to non-damaging attacks containing the Charm keyword

Go In For The Kill

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to Hit and Damage against a bloodied foe.

Resist Acid

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Acid damage per attack

Resist Cold

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Cold damage per attack

Resist Fire

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Fire damage per attack

Resist Force Damage

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Force damage per attack

Resist Lightning

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Lightning damage per attack

Resist Necrosis

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Necrotic damage per attack

Resist Poison

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Poison damage per attack

Resist Psychic Energy

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Psychic damage per attack

Resist Radiant Energy

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Radiant damage per attack

Resist Thunder

Requirements: None

Description: Ignore 5 points of Thunder damage per attack

Health & Fitness

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves vs. Disease

Ultimate Defender

Requirements: None

Description: +2 to AC and Reflex when Defending

Protection From Fire

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Fire damage

Protection From Cold

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Cold damage

Protection From Acid

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Acid damage

Protection From Force Damage

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Force damage

Protection From Lightning

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Lightning damage

Protection From Necrosis

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Necrotic damage

Protection From Psychic Energy

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Psychic damage

Protection From Radiant Energy

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Radiant damage

Protection From Thunder

Requirements: None

Description: +5 to saves against attacks that do Thunder damage

Field Medic

Requirements: Cleric

Description: +5 to First Aid skill

Master Alchemist

Requirements: Wizard

Description: +5 to Alchemy skill

Master Thief

Requirements: Rogue

Description: +5 to Thievery skill

Supreme Athlete

Requirements: Fighter

Description: +5 to Athletics skill

Elven Perception

Requirements: Elf

Description: +5 to Perception skill

Gnomish Stealth

Requirements: Gnome

Description: +5 to Stealth skill

Bow Mastery

Requirements: Elf

Description: +2 to Hit and Damage with all Bows

Axe Mastery

Requirements: Dwarf

Description: +2 to Hit and Damage with all Axes

Hammer Mastery

Requirements: Dwarf

Description: +2 to Hit and Damage with all Hammers

Sword Mastery

Requirements: Fighter

Description: +2 to Hit and Damage with all Swords

Dagger Mastery

Requirements: Rogue

Description: +2 to Hit and Damage with all Light Blades

Armor Proficiency: Leather

Requirements: None

Description: Gain the ability to use Leather armor

Armor Proficiency: Chain

Requirements: Armor Proficiency: Leather

Description: Gain the ability to use Chainmail

Armor Proficiency: Plate

Requirements: Armor Proficiency: Chain

Description: Gain the ability to use Plate armor

Shield Proficiency

Requirements: Fighter

Description: Gain the ability to use a Shield

Dual-Wielding

Requirements: Rogue

Description: Learn to fight with two weapons

Always Under Foot

Requirements: Gnome or Hobbit

Description: +1 to AC and Reflex against Large or larger foes

Far Shot

Requirements: Weapon Proficiency

Description: Increase normal range and long range of all Bows and Crossbows by five squares.

Far Throw

Requirements: Weapon Proficiency

Description: Increase normal range and long range of all Thrown Weapons by two squares.

Divine Healing

Requirements: Paladin

Description: Add Charisma bonus to all healing that you perform

Expert Healing

Requirements: Cleric

Description: Add Wisdom bonus to all healing that you perform

Jack of All Trades

Requirements: None

Description: +2 to all Untrained Skills

Long Jumper

Requirements: Athletics 5

Description: Make Standing Jumps as if you had a running start

Mounted Combat

Requirements: Acrobatics 5

Description: Gain access to the special abilities of your mount

Ritual Casting

Requirements: Wizard or Cleric

Description: Learn to Cast Ritual Spells

Distant Shot

Requirements: Weapon Proficiency

Description: Ignore -2 Penalty for long range

Shadow Movement

Requirements: Rogue

Description: Ignore movement penalty while Stealthed

Shield Specialization

Requirements: Shield Proficiency

Description: +1 to AC and Reflex while using a shield

Motivated Movement

Requirements: None

Description: +1 to movement when bloodied

Safe Fall

Requirements: Rogue

Description: Take half damage from falling

Fast Healing

Requirements: Cleric

Description: Heal as if you were one level higher

Power Boost

Requirements: Wizard

Description: Calculate Mana as if you were one level higher

Beast of Burden

Requirements: None

Description: Increase normal, heavy, and maximum load by 50%

Power Regenerator

Requirements: Wizard

Description: Regen Mana as if you were one level higher

Seasoned Climber

Requirements: Rogue

Description: +5 to skill checks for Climbing

]]> http://oldguygaming.com/my-house-rules-feats/feed 0 My First Test Run http://oldguygaming.com/my-first-test-run http://oldguygaming.com/my-first-test-run#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:20:00 +0000 Mike Summers http://oldguygaming.com/?p=267 A friend of mine rolled up a couple of characters and ran through a few test encounters with me yesterday to try out some of the changes I've been making.

Previously, I've always run a v2 game with substantial changes and house rules. We've always rolled initiative per side instead of individually. In the past I'd finish my attacks and say "it's your turns", and be bombarded with information from various players at once. Our other DMs have always used the same system so it just seemed normal to do it that way. Having seen individual initiative described, I thought it just sounded unnecessarily complicated and really couldn't see that it gained you anything.

Boy was I wrong! I had seen individual initiative in action once a few weeks ago and was really impressed at how smoothly it ran. Testing it out, even with just one player running two characters, I could see that I was going to love it. First off, it should significantly reduce the chaos. Second, I think it will bring out more tactical thinking. Each player is "in the spotlight" on their turn instead of just anonymously going through the motions which should lead to more thought going into what they are doing. Lastly, no one can do anything during someone else's turn so instead of everyone focusing on their own actions they can assist the player whose turn it is with suggestions and help. For new or shy players, this should be a tremendous boon.

The process of creating characters went very well. There are a few things that I don't have finished up and those were the main hurdles. No surprise there. A couple of omissions on the character sheet became apparent so I'll have to make some modifications to account for them. Again, this was pretty much expected.

During play, I tried to pay particular attention to attacks of opportunity, combat advantage, and second wind. None of my group has ever formally used these things in our games. We've developed some common sense combat rules that we loosely use to cover the first two.

It was interesting to try out some hard and fast rules on opportunity attacks and combat advantage. I have to say though that I didn't care for either one. Our games have always tried to focus on the story and hurry through the combat. These rules, although adding realism, look to me to put more emphasis on the combat, and stretch out battles while not adding anything significant to the experience.

Second Wind also didn't impress me. Healing is the Cleric's domain. Supplementing that with potions and other magical items is one thing but giving each character the ability to simply heal themselves just doesn't fit into my view of the game. Beyond that, I can't rationalize giving characters an ability like that without also giving it to the monsters. Monsters being able to use a Second Wind would just be annoying and unnecessarily prolong combat.

All in all, I was very unimpressed with these three rules. I'm going to dump all three and try to formalize the rules I've used in the past to replace them.

Powers, feats, and skills, on the other hand, worked out nicely. Once we become more familiar with powers, I think they will become a favorite addition. Feats worked nicely but many aren't appropriate with some of the changes that I've made. I've been hesitant to alter them too much but I've changed my stance on that. I'm going to start with a clean slate. I'll add my own and then review what's in the books and add some of them as need be.

I've gone back and forth on the whole heroic/paragon/epic tier thing. It's felt wrong to me since the beginning and now I've made the decision to dump them. All feats will become just feats, no longer separated by tier. Some will have requirements that make them difficult to get until higher level. Instead of having feats that offer different benefits based on your tier, there will be two feats. One will have the initial benefits, the other will have the advanced benefits. The advanced one may have a level requirement, an ability requirement (that you shouldn't be able to meet till higher levels), or require the first feat as a prerequisite. In this last case, requiring two feats to gain the advanced benefits either means waiting till higher levels (when you have feats to spare) or to sacrifice another feat to make room for it. All in all, I'm much happier with feats now and confident in their role.

Similarly, some of the powers don't fit in with some of the changes that I'm making so I will need to go through and revamp some of them. Over all though, they look wonderful. As I said earlier, we just need to get more familiar with them.

I'm loving skills and the whole DC thing. We've been using a similar system since long before it was introduced but never on this scale. I never warmed to how skills were laid out in 3.0 but the new setup seems very well thought out. I did rename Heal to First Aid but that's pretty minor.

I added a new skill called Alchemy. Before I go into that perhaps I should digress a moment and discuss some of the reasoning that led to it.

I don't like the idea that when you find a magical item you immediately know what it is. Neither do my players. However, the alternative is that you have to expend time, money, and effort to determine what it is. Furthermore, and more importantly, unidentified items tend to get shoved into a bag and dealt with back in town at the end of the night when everyone's tired and busy wrapping things up.

So let's say that a character with a high Arcana skill is "in tune" with magic to the point that she can simply hold a magical item and sense its particular magical properties via an Arcana skill roll. Okay, I can accept that. Special items would then have a high DC which would lead to a need for identify, legend lore, or consultation with a sage.

But I have trouble extending that process to potions. First off, I've determined that magical items give off a subtle static charge when touched (in order to save time in detecting magic) but potion bottles do not since it is the potion, not the bottle, that is magic.

Following that reasoning, touching the bottle can't be enough to divine the properties of the potion. Tasting the potion has never seemed like a reasonable approach to me and what wizard would be willing to taste every vial you come across? Some will contain poison after all.

All this led me around to the Alchemy skill. By observing the color, density, opacity, reflectivity and consistency of a potion, a skilled alchemist can determine with some certainty what type of potion it is. I can buy that.

Further, a skilled alchemist will be familiar with what components are useful in the art of alchemy. When your party has killed a Bulette, an Alchemy roll may offer knowledge on whether or not any parts (such as the scales) may be desirable as well as particulars on removing them without damaging them.

I haven't decided yet if I want to expand this to the point where characters can actually produce alchemical potions and products but that is certainly a possibility.

Although we only ran through a few encounters, it was enough to show that, for the most part, the changes I have been making are all working together. More importantly, the time we spent forced me to look at things from a new perspective and finally make some decisions about rules that I've been on the fence about.

I'm anxious to finalize all the rules, print it all up and move on to database creation, writing some utilities, drawing maps and dungeons, and preparing a story.

]]> http://oldguygaming.com/my-first-test-run/feed 0 New Character Sheet http://oldguygaming.com/new-character-sheet http://oldguygaming.com/new-character-sheet#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:21:35 +0000 Mike Summers http://oldguygaming.com/?p=245 I mentioned in my previous post that I had created a new custom Character Sheet so I thought I'd give you a peek. Keep in mind that this is specific to my game and probably won't work as is for anyone else's needs. However, it may give you some ideas for creating your own and/or give you a place to start.

Note the 'Old Guy' in the site name

Being an 'Old Guy', I have a real problem with most of the character sheets that I've seen. They want to cram everything in the world onto one page and to do so the text gets very tiny. One of my main goals was to make it readable. I think I managed that fairly nicely. :)

It doesn't have any place to record feats or powers. Nor does it have anything about combat hit or damage. I figure that feats and anything else left off the first page can easily be listed without a special form. We will be using cards for powers so listing the names of powers is all that's really needed. As far as combat, our group has always used large index cards to track HPs, mana, etc with a combat chart taped to the bottom and we will probably continue to do that.

So I think I've covered everything on the character sheet that our group will need. I may have left something out and have to go back for a re-design but I suspect that this is very close.

It worked out nicely that there was just enough room to add the chart for calculating Ability Score Bonuses. It isn't needed on a Character Sheet but it sure looks to me like it could be convenient to have it there.

]]> http://oldguygaming.com/new-character-sheet/feed 0 Brainstorming Over AD&D v2.0 Rules http://oldguygaming.com/brainstorming-over-add-v2-0-rules http://oldguygaming.com/brainstorming-over-add-v2-0-rules#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:58:16 +0000 Mike Summers http://oldguygaming.com/?p=239 This is another "gem" that I discovered recently while going through old files on my computer. I wrote this shortly after v2.0 came out. There were some things I liked and other things I didn't about 2.0. I think this was the first time I was prompted to take a comprehensive look at the D&D rules with an eye toward making some sweeping changes opposed to the small rules modifications that I had made in the past.

Some of the wholesale changes I use today owe their existance to this brainstorming session.

I haven't changed anything other than to add some formatting. A lot of it is pretty cryptic and some of it won't make any sense to anyone but me. I thought that it was better to post it in its original form though, instead of coloring it with my current opinions.

It isn't intended to be anything other than entertaining. A lot of it deals with game mechanics that don't even exist anymore (THAC0, etc) and some of the ideas are downright silly.

It is, however, a good example of how to brainstorm. Don't worry about whether an idea is good or bad, just throw down on paper whatever comes to mind and go through it later to see if it produced anything useful.

For good or bad, here it is… Enjoy!

  1. Abilities
    • 3d6 is not sufficiently restrictive of the extremes.
    • Alternative ability generation methods teach players to expect all 15's or better.
    • 3-18 range does not allow much room for improvement from initial scores.
    • Exceptional Strength scores between 18 STR and 19 STR are annoying.
    • Ability Tables are either linear or nearly exponential. There should be a more gradual rise permitting expansion.
    • Ability Table values seem randomly selected in places. Reevaluate all info.
  2. Hit Points (HP)
    • Hit Points are increased to simulate increased fighting ability.
    • A fighter should not be able to fight indefinitely without tiring.
    • There shouldn't be such a huge difference in Hit Points between classes.
  3. PCs vs. hirelings, henchmen and followers.
    • Consider one character per player (at a time) with numerous hirelings, henchmen and followers.
    • Party members die. It is less painful to have a henchman die forever than to lose a PC.
    • Do players have enough information to run a non-human PC? An Elf is NOT a human with funny ears!
  4. Race
    • Why would non-human PCs live exclusively in human cities?
    • If PCs are allowed to be non-human they should know their centuries-long pre-adventuring history.
  5. Class
    • Shouldn't all PCs have, or be able to learn, at least limited ability in the other classes?
    • Consider making all PCs Fighter/Wizard/Cleric/Thieves and let them assign EP as desired.
  6. Alignment
    • If this is to be meaningful then it should be revamped.
    • Should it be enforced? What are the consequences of deviation?
  7. Armor Class (AC)
    • Heavy armor should slow you down and make you easier to hit not harder.
    • Armor should absorb damage.
  8. Combat
    • Needs a massive overhaul to incorporate changes in HPs, AC, etc.
    • Needs Critical Hit and Fumble Tables
    • Needs a better system of unarmed combat (Wrestling, Overbearing, Subduing)
    • Review Surprise, Initiative, and Weapon Speed
  9. Damage
    • It would be less confusing if all weapons did (1d10 + modifier) of damage.
    • A dagger (1d4 damage) should be able to kill someone.
    • Bows and crossbows should do a lot more damage.
    • If armor absorbs damage, weapons will have to do more damage.
  10. Clerics
    • If a cleric can kill someone, why not with a sword? Selecting a weapon should be a personal choice.
    • Why must the spells be selected in advance?
  11. Wizards
    • Wearing armor should be a personal choice.
    • Selecting a weapon should be a personal choice.
    • A spell energy system would work more smoothly. Energy should be regained nightly.
    • There is no need to relearn (memorize) spells each day. Once learned, spells should not be forgotten.
    • Consider Critical Cast and Fumble Tables for spells.
    • Define where magical energy comes from, how it is accessed and what repercussions this may have.
    • Can more powerful magic be performed by reading from a book, performing a ritual or working in groups?
    • Wizards should be able to attempt higher level spells.
    • Highly intelligent wizards should have a better chance of casting spells.
    • Lower level wizards should be able to create low quality magical items.
  12. Thieves
    • Wearing armor should be a personal choice.
    • Selecting a weapon should be a personal choice.
  13. Fighters
    • If all classes can wear any armor and use any weapon, then what is the benefit of being a fighter?
  14. Experience Points (EP)
    • Why are there different progression tables for each class? If valid, then why not for each race as well?
    • Progression tables are too steep. They make upper levels unattainable.
    • Stress EP is given for resolving situation NOT swinging swords and casting spells.
    • EP is giving 1:1 for each GP of treasure retrieved and secured.
    • Should level progression be automatic or require short training sessions, as per book?
  15. Treasure
    • A shop keeper may earn 100-1000 GP per year. Why would a group of 4 orcs carry this much with them?
    • Many monsters have no use for treasure. They will not stockpile it. They will leave it at the kill site.
    • Not all treasure is limited to GPs. Consider trade goods, information, gratitude of powerful people, etc.
    • Treasure is heavy and bulky, hard to transport, store and sometimes even to exchange.
    • Few people can afford to purchase valuable gems from characters.
  16. Magical Items
    • Magical items DO NOT have a set price. PCs must set the value of each item themselves.
    • Few people can afford to purchase valuable magical items from characters.
    • There should be common magical items for sale, such as Continual Light cast on items.
    • If a sword can be intelligent, why not other objects?
  17. Gems
    • Gem type and value determination is bulky.
  18. Art Objects
    • There is no system to determine type of art object.
    • Value determination is bulky.
  19. Spells
    • Do away with material components except for spells that would be too powerful without a monetary restriction.
    • Many spells require rewording, definition, adjustment, level shift, or deletion.
    • Not all spells are necessarily available to be learned.
  20. Getting Rich
    • Successful adventurers WILL be noticed.
    • Where do you store your treasure where it will be safe? If there are banks, what do they charge?
    • If you search a ruined castle, how will the displaced heirs react to you taking their family heirlooms?
    • A group of powerful adventurers will make the Monarch very nervous.
    • A large enough influx of hard currency into a city will certainly effect the local economy.
  21. Time
    • One minute rounds during combat are ridiculous. Try 10-Second rounds but leave turns as 10 minutes.
  22. Movement
    • Consider 12 movement meaning 120 feet per (10-second) round during combat. (8.2 MPH)
  23. Encumbrance
    • Clothes and/or armor worn, as well as bulky equipment, will restrict movement to a maximum speed.
    • Weight carried will restrict movement as well. The most restrictive of the two will determine movement speed.
    • Encumbrance, due to unwieldy garb or weight, will restrict AC bonuses due to agility.
  24. Light
    • Humans require light to see.
    • Demi-humans with infravision either see without light (would see undead) or see heat sources (would not).
    • High demand for efficient light sources would create a varied supply including Continual Light on objects.
  25. Campfires while sleeping
    • The light and smoke from a campfire will attract the attention of all people and creatures for quite a distance.
    • Once attracted, non-intelligent creatures, afraid of fire, will avoid a campfire unless particularly hungry.
  26. Movement
    • PCs may move 1/3 their movement in MPH at a brisk walk all day (with breaks)
    • PCs may move 1/2 their movement in MPH at a jog for short periods.
    • PCs may move their movement in MPH at a run for brief periods.
    • PCs may move x times their movement in MPH at an extreme run momentarily. Determine x. (1.5 ?)
    • Horses may move the same as PCs
  27. Sleeping
    • PCs must sleep 6+ hours per night to be at normal effectiveness.
  28. Healing
    • Determine natural healing rate.
  29. Spell Energy Recovery
    • Determine Spell Energy recovery rate

Proposed Modifications to AD&D Rules system

Each player may run only one character at a time. However, more than one character may be rolled up in case of an untimely demise. Each character may hire as many hirelings as she desires and may attract henchmen and followers as well.

Six Ability Scores will each be rolled using 4d6 and generating a range of 4-24. These scores will be assigned by the player, as desired, to the six abilities: Strength (STR), Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), and Charisma (CHR).

Player Characters (PCs) are always Human but hirelings, henchmen, and followers may be Human or Demi-Human: Elf, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Hobbit.

PCs will start out, at 1st level, as either a Fighter, Wizard, Priest, or Rogue and 0-level in the other three categories. As the character gains experience (EP), the player will assign the EP as Fighter EP, Wizard EP, Priest EP, or Rogue EP (Assuming, of course, that the character meets the minimum ability score requirements for that class). When enough EP is gained to take the character to the next level (Initially 2nd level in primary class or 1st level in any of the others), the character must be trained by a higher level character (in that class) before gaining the benefits of the new level.

Training is offered in all cities and some villages at a typical cost of 100 GP per week per level to be attained, with training taking from 1 to 6 weeks. Alternatively, a character one or more levels higher (in the appropriate class) than the level to be attained may perform the training, although the time involved is typically doubled and the fee is up to the individuals involved. Note that training precludes all other activities during this time.

Unarmored characters have an Armor Class (AC) of 10 modified by their agility. Armor will INCREASE AC due to its weight and encumbrance but will absorb some of the potential damage. Shields will decrease AC by one against 1, 2, 3, or 4 attackers depending upon the type of shield. Each plus of magical armor or shield also decreases AC by one. Additionally, AC decreases as the character goes up in level.

Any character may wear leather armor and use any basic weapon. A character must be 1st level as a fighter to use metal armor (excluding plate) and to use advanced weapons, and 2nd level as a fighter to use plate and complex weapons.

All weapons do 1d8 points of damage adjusted by a weapon type modifier. Ability scores and magical enhancements will adjust this as well.

All characters have 15 points to distribute amongst the Rogue abilities. At 1st level and each level thereafter as a Rogue, the character may distribute an additional 15 points. Note that many of the Rogue abilities may not be performed in certain types of armor and/or when encumbered.

No magical abilities from the Wizard class are available until attaining at least 1st level as a Wizard.

No clerical abilities from the Priest class are available until attaining at least 1st level as a Priest. Note that a Priest is giving her powers at the discretion of the particular god that Priest worships and each god may have special requirements of her Priests, restricting armor usage, weapon usage, alignment, sex, etc. This may even preclude certain class ability use (Such as the Paladins of Heronious who must be of Lawful Good alignment, start out as a Priest, and never gain EP as a Rogue or Wizard).

The damage a PC may withstand before losing consciousness is referred to as her Hit Points (HP). These consist of Endurance (the average of STR and CON) and Fatigue (the average of STR and DEX). Endurance represents the actual physical damage the body may withstand while Fatigue represents the character's ability to twist and turn so as to avoid taking actual physical damage. Normally, damage is first deducted from Fatigue and when that is exhausted, from Endurance. A critical hit and certain spells and attack forms will affect Endurance directly. When Endurance falls to zero, regardless of Fatigue, the character falls unconscious and is considered to be "at death's door". Each round thereafter, the character's condition will worsen, losing 1 point of Endurance per round. When Endurance reaches -10 the character dies but may be raised by a high level Priest if done in time. At -50 the character is irretrievably lost.

Endurance is recovered naturally at a rate of 1 point per 6 hours of bedrest. Fatigue is recovered at a rate of 1 point per hour of low activity (sleeping, sitting around, standing guard). Either may be restored through the use of various spells.

Attack rolls are made on a 20-sided dice (1d20) based on the normal THAC0. A roll of 1 indicates a potential fumble. Roll again with a miss confirming the fumble. On a confirmed fumbled, the number rolled to confirm the fumble is subtracted from the number needed to avoid the fumble. This number determines the result of the fumble. A roll of 20 indicates a potential critical hit. Roll again with a hit confirming the critical. On a confirmed critical, the number required to hit, plus one, is subtracted from the number rolled to confirm the critical. This number is used to determine the result of the critical hit. Note that this means that a character that doesn't need very much to hit cannot fumble very badly but may get a powerful critical hit. Conversely, a character that needs a lot to hit can get a minor critical hit but has the potential of a nasty fumble.

Wizards and Priests both use spell energy based on their level and Intelligence. When casting a spell, the caster rolls 1d12 and multiplies this by the level of the spell being cast. A 1 indicates a potentially fumbled spell while a 12 indicates a potentially extraordinarily well cast spell. See the appropriate tables for details. If all went well then the spell was cast, if being attempted by a Priest. If attempted by a Wizard then the Percent Chance for Success must be rolled. See appropriate table. Note that this table allows a chance for highly intelligent Wizards to attempt higher level spells and handicaps less intelligent Wizards. Average intelligence Wizards are more or less unaffected.

If the spell energy rolled reduced the caster to zero or less, then the spell fails. Additionally, if reduced to zero energy, the Wizard or Priest falls into a coma, which may last for days (1d100 hours). If the caster was a Wizard and she was reduced to less than zero energy, then for each point below zero, the Wizard loses the memory of one spell (selected at random). The spell(s) forgotten may be relearned at the normal rate (see below) but the Wizard must have access to his books (or another's) in order to do this.

Priest spells are granted directly by the individual god so they need not be learned nor may they be forgotten.

A Wizard, however, must learn each spell that she ever intends to cast (or relearn in the situation described above). This is done by studying the spell instructions. It will take a number of hours equal to (25 minus the Wizard's Intelligence) times the level of the spell. Normally, casting a spell does not cause the Wizard to lose the memory of the spell.

]]> http://oldguygaming.com/brainstorming-over-add-v2-0-rules/feed 0 Familiarize Yourself With The Rules http://oldguygaming.com/familiarize-yourself-with-the-rules http://oldguygaming.com/familiarize-yourself-with-the-rules#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:58:25 +0000 Mike Summers http://oldguygaming.com/?p=75 It should go without saying that as DM you must be familiar with all of the rules. That doesn't mean you should be expected to quote any given rule on demand. Read the books… many times. Make sure you understand everything presented. Make notes and do your best to commit the most important parts to memory. But your players will understand if you forget something. They will usually be quick to remind you. Plus you have the books there to look rules up as need be.

You may find it difficult to read the books from front to back though. Every other paragraph may mention something that you aren't familiar with and want to look up. Go ahead and do that. For this type of material, I think that's probably the best way to learn it. Skip around. Read a section at random and bypass sections that don't sound so interesting right now. Once you have a basic understanding of various aspects of the game, go back and read each section again in order. Hopefully that will help make it all make sense.

When you get to the point where most everything is clear and you have a firm grasp of the combat system and the various options available to players during combat, go back and reread the powers and feats. When players are in dire straits and looking for a loophole, they will come up with some interesting interpretations of the rules. You don't want to be caught off guard by a feat or power you don't understand.

Another section to pay particular attention to is the Magic Items descriptions in the PHB. A powerful magic item in the wrong hands can unbalance the whole game. Once you give it out, there is no way to take it back without causing some hurt feelings.

The Monster Manual is basically a book of stats on each of the monsters. Nobody is going to be able to memorize that! What I think might help though is knowing which monsters have special powers that could be particularly dangerous in certain situations.

Imagine if all the members of the party have favorite magic items or spells that each do fire damage and they run into a group of monsters that are extremely fire resistant. What should have been a balanced fight could easily become a party wipe. You could argue that the party should be more careful to balance their damage types. Then again, being right is small consolation when the players get mad and don't want to play anymore.

Lastly, look carefully at new rules, or alternate rules, before adding them to your game. There is a ton of source material out there from various books, magazines, websites, etc. Just because someone says it's a good idea doesn't mean that it is. evaluate for yourself how it will impact your game.

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