All posts by Angelo

About Angelo

I'm cool, smart, funny, and most of all modest.

Character Class Variations

Character Classes, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This is based on the idea that players and the DM will build characters for a story line, not just to suit their gaming needs. In other words, characters should have some panache or style of their own. This means the items below are not rules but rather suggestions on how one might play his own character. The player should be able to freely choose to do this, these are not rule changes. The DM may want to offer “rewards” (some are described below, if you look closely). These rewards are not experience rewards, etc. but instead take the form of some sort of reward in the story, or “good luck.” For example, one reward for being an elf and not using your power to the fullest potential (as a ranger) is that you always seem to find food in the wilderness, you are able to befriend animals more easily (not attacked by bears), and you have a faithful pet (such as a dire wolf). And such rewards can increase as you go up level, because it’s one thing to start out as a “ranger” and then not keep up with it, but someone who has been a ranger for 9 levels should at least have a dire wolf to help him. Again, this is not a rule change.

Palidin/Avenger: war-like cleric who goes on missions and uses weapons/armor to full potential. Note: paladins and avengers can go both for very war-like clerics, or very holy fighters. (war hammer, plate, shield)

Clerics: most don’t care to wear armor since they don’t really use it. (mace, holy symbol, holy water, sling; bandaging)

Druid: cleric who is very neutral and uses natural weapon and armor, and can use druid spells. (usually has pet; herbs, plant, and animal knowledge, poisons, animal frienship)

Ranger: rural elf, often vigilante who takes care of the forest. (leather armor, thief weapons, moderate spells, may have a pet; hunting, navigation)

Bard: one who is adept at playing music, esp. thief

Barbarian: fighter with good STR, CON, and HP, who doesn’t wear armor much (or a lot of clothes for that matter). (big weapons, sometimes shield/chain mail)

Knight: special dubbed fighter loyal to a king, expected to maintain code of his knighthood, and given special priviledges (and honor) in the kingdom.

Monk: fighter with good DEX, wears traditional equipment to his particular monastery, and keeps attuned to honor. Multiple attacks can be multiple moves. (traditional weapons, robes)

Elves: most common elves don’t use spell books. Those of the fighting persuasion utilize armor and weapons to potiential and may know a few misc spells. Those of the magic persuasion travel light and utilize spells and spell books. (plate mail, shield, any weapon, poor spells) vs (little or no armor, 1 or 2 weapons–no large, good spells)

Magic Item Tables

Equipment, , , , , , , , , ,

Swords

[easytable]
1d100,Sword
01-13,”sword+1, +3 vs dragons”
14-26,”sword+1, +3 vs lycantheropes”
27-39,”sword+1, +3 vs undead”
40-49,”sword+1, +3 vs spellcasters”
50-59,”sword+1, +3 vs regeneration”
60-65,”sword+1, cure lt wounds 1/day”
66-71,”sword+1, light 1/day”
72-77,”sword+1, darkness 1/day”
78-82,”sword+1, locate object 1/day”
83-86,”sword+2, flames on command”
87-90,”sword+2, charm person on hit”
95-97,”sword+1, haste user 1/day”
98-99,”sword+1, drain life energy (1d4+4)”
100,”sword+1, wishes (1d4)”
[/easytable]
For type, roll 1d20:
1-3 two-handed
4-6 short
7-10 bastard
11-20 normal

Weapons

[easytable]
1d100,Weapon
01-07,”dagger+1, +3 vs kobolds, goblins, orcs”
08-20,”dagger+1, +3 vs elementals”
15-21,”dagger+1, +3 vs enchanted”
22-27,”mace+1, +4 vs undead”
28-33,”war hammer+1, +4 vs dragons”
34-39,”war hammer+1, +4 vs regeneration”
40-45,”battle axe+1, +4 vs dragons”
46-51,”battle axe+1, +4 vs giants”
52-57,”battle axe+1, +4 vs kobolds, goblins, orcs”
58-63,”polearm+1, +4 vs dragons”
64-69,”polearm+1, +4 vs giants”
70-73,”staff+1, read magic (unlimited)”
74-77,”staff+1, detect magic (unlimited)”
78-81,”mace+1, locate object 1/day”
82-85,”mace+1, cure lt wounds 1/day”
86-88,”whip+1, hold person on hit”
89-91,”spear+2, light 1/day”
92-94,”hand axe+2, double range”
95-97,”war hammer+2, striking 1/day”
98-99,”dagger+1, invisibility 1/day”
100,”war hammer+3, boomerang”
[/easytable]

Missile Weapons

[easytable]
1d100,Missile/Weapon
01-14,”20 arrows+1, +4 vs dragons”
15-22,”20 arrows+1, +4 vs lycantheropes”
23-32,”20 arrows+1, +4 vs regeneration”
33-42,”20 arrows+1, +4 vs spellcasters”
43-52,”20 arrows+1, +4 vs undead”
53-60,”10 arrows+2, charm person on hit”
61-67,”10 stones+2, hold person on hit”
68-74,”10 arrows+2, flame (2d6 dmg)”
75-80,”10 arrows+2, lightning (2d6 dmg)”
81-87,”10 quarrels+3, leech (-1 hp/rnd)”
88-91,”sling+1, +3 vs giants”
92-94,”sling+1, +3 vs spellcasters”
95-96,”crossbow+1, darkness on impact”
97-98,”short bow+1, light on impact”
99-100,”long bow+1, dispel magic on impact”
[/easytable]

Armor

[easytable]
1d100,Armor
01-11,”shield+1, +3 vs breath”
12-22,”shield+1, +3 vs spells”
23-32,”shield+1, +3 vs paralysis/stone”
33-42,”leather armor+1, +4 vs poison/death”
43-52,”leather armor+1, +4 vs paralysis/stone”
53-60,”plate mail+1, +3 vs breath”
61-68,”plate mail+1, +3 vs spells”
69-75,”plate mail+1, +3 vs paralysis/stone”
76-81,”chain mail+1, +4 vs poison/death”
80-83,”chain mail+1, +4 vs spells”
84-87,”chain mail+1, +4 vs paralysis/stone”
88-91,”shield+2, +5 vs breath”
92-93,shield+3
95-97,”chain mail+2, absorb 2 dmg/attack”
98-99,”plate mail+2, absorb 2 dmg/attack”
100,”leather armor+3, absorb 3 dmg/attack”
[/easytable]

Notes:

  • 1 in 20 chance of being cursed
  • Hold Person on hit: operates just like the spell, but there is no -2 penalty to save
  • Flame and lightning arrows turn into a bolt of flame or lightning when fired,doing 2d6 dmg.
  • Leech arrows do 1 hp/round after the initial strike until the arrow is removed or healing is applied.
  • Light/darkness on impact: if a creature is hit, he is the victim of the spell, and must save or be blinded.

Dungeon Master Tips from the Astral Plane

Rules Hints & Tips, , , , , ,

Most of these personal guidelines should be obvious, but maybe we need a reminder from time to time.

  • Concentrate on role-playing monsters, think less of numbers
  • Create characters with different personalities
  • Create strong villains who fight intelligently
  • Don’t let all monsters always fight to the death
  • Don’t tell the players everything
  • Don’t give the players suggestions
  • Don’t let the players be in control, be fair, and don’t go ahead until you’re ready
  • Keep game rythm in mind and have encounters as neccessary
  • Use a monster menu to choose from, not a chart and dice
  • KISMIF (keep it simple, make it fun) – see Dragon Magazine issue no. 175
  • Action is more fun than architecture
  • People are more interesting than buildings
  • Don’t create lengthy battles with unworthy adversaries

Optional Rules for Classic Games

Rules Hints & Tips, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Written by Angelo and Jeff

Here are some optional rules that you may want to adopt in a more basic type campaign (which I find more fun). When deciding on a rule, go for whatever is more fun or will make a better story-line in the game.

Attributes

Even though it may not be fair to my old players, I think I might adopt this system also. Just roll 9d6 for each phsyical (STR, DEX, CON) and mental (INT, WIS, CHA) attributes and then let the players choose where they want to put them. Allow players to trade 2 for 1 between the 2 categories. If you want, you might consider just rolling 10d6 for each category to give a better chance of getting good scores. Also, don’t roll ability checks much, if at all. Too much rolling dice makes the game too random and not enough story. If you can’t base it on a saving throw, you probably shouldn’t roll it. How creatures react to players should be based on how the players have acted, not on a charisma check.

Alignments

Alignments don’t seem very important. Either just ignore them, or rule them out completely. Also, I would rule out alignment languages since they don’t make any sense. You can give a group of thieves a secret code but chances are the thieves in a city 1000 miles away won’t know it.

Classes

I don’t think every little sub-class should have it’s own class and an entire set of rules. I would say just add a little flavor to your campaign by giving guidelines for certain titles. Like a thief can be a ninja-type character, hiding in shadows, using assassin weapons, climbing walls, backstabbing, etc. So that could be his title if he dresses right. So you can make variations on any class. You can even offer/show these variations to players to see if they want to use it. However, I found that most players don’t want to go with something like that unless the rules change for their character and they’re getting extra bonuses. Class variations are a good way to add personality to your NPCs.

Equipment

Unlike just about any other game, D&D makes it easy to buy the best (normal) armor and weapons at the very beginning and makes no reason to buy the cheaper, crappy items (like a club). One way to get around this is to make your own treasure chart, plus don’t have every city and town sell everything on the equipment lists. Small towns and villages (perhaps where the characters come from) may have few items. Also, you might want to give players less gold to start with, maybe only 1d6 x 10 gp.

Food

I treat food very losely in my game and don’t count time spent very carefully. How much food you consume ends up being a DM discretion. However other people just throw the whole requirement out of the game.

Saving Throws

One thing that I like is making saving throw modifiers based on other abilities. This makes it a little more important to have good abilities, and makes certain classes generally more resistant to certain attacks.

  • STR – paralysis/stone
  • INT – mind attacks (charm, confusion, fear, sleep, etc.)
  • WIS – spells
  • DEX – wands and breath
  • CON – poison/death
  • CHA – none

Also, one optional rule is to make players request saving throws (say they are going to do something besides just stand there and take what’s coming). Ex: a dragon breathes on a fighter and a wizard. The wizard’s player says, “Jump out of the way.” The fighter’s player says, “Hold my shield up over my body.” The fighter makes his saving throw and lines his shield up. The wizard misses and jumps half-way out of the cone of fire and is blown back a few steps. This makes it a little more realistic… if you want a saving throw, you need to try and move out of the way or resist it somehow. Players get too used to automatically getting saving throws.

Monsters

Monsters can be really boring if all they do is attack and have nothing unique about them. One way I solved this problem was by creating monster variations. This is REALLY good if you have a basic game and not a lot of monsters to choose from in the book. One of the things I saw was how they had 10 types of giants when all they had to do was have 1 kind of giant and just make variations off of that. It makes the game a lot simpler. All you need to do is change the description a little bit.

A goblin attacks, an orc attacks, a gnoll attacks, only a few hit points seperates the monsters and all they are is a threat to the character’s life. An interesting way of changing that is to give each monster class a personality, such as making bugbears act like Klingons, having honor above life but still acting evil. Kobolds can usually have a lot of jewelry but never, ever fight, always running and finding a way to escape. Lizard men can be the rudest creatures in the campaign, flicking the characters off or waving their private parts in their general direction or something.

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Prudence Decor

Myths & Legends, , , , , , , , ,

Prudence found herself in darkness and silence. A splinter of light split the abyss with a radiating warmth. What had been moist, dark, and cold was dispelled by an awesome power, giving a dry and warm light. Prudence drew her sword, the Luckblade, in preparation for what might come. Though she was in fear, she could sense that there was no danger here.

A misty cloud formed. At its center, a clear pool. Prudence gazed into its still waters, a forever deep baptismal font. She seached forward with her fingers. Their dance formed rings upon the water, disturbing the stillness. Within the waters she witnessed a cave amidst a grassy plain with but one tree directly in front of her. The tree was dry and withered with moss and fungi feeding off of it. Yet it stood. Entwined about it was a serpent who had sucked the life from it and from the man who now lay at the base of the tree.

Prudence could not see the face of this man, but felt he must be familiar. The serpent’s tail gripped his feet and it was obvious that he had tried to escape. Instead he had fallen when the poison reached his heart. The dead man’s arm was stretched out against the grass and a few feet away lay a strange fruit that Prudence had never seen before. At first it was glowing with a radiant light, but then it grew dark and brown maggots left it.

At the sight of this Prudence rose and turned away. But the Luckblade vibrated with fury and guided her back to watch the waters. Reluctantly, she returned to finish the vision because she knew it was the only way–she could stop along the road, but could not change paths.

Prudence saw the serpent return to a hole in the ground as the man and fruit became lost in the grass. Prudence waited. She could faintly hear a light melodical voice in the wind. Nothing was left save the withered tree and the cave.

A golden-haired girl, a young child, entered the picture. Prudence judged her to be seven or eight years old. The child was innocent, pure, and unaware of the danger that lay beneath her. The child looked upon the broken tree with naive eyes. And then she reached forward and touched the tree. Prudence recalled the sensation of touching the pool with tingling in her fingertips.

With the child’s touch, the tree became revived. It’s decaying roots and trunk were filled with renewed strength as it stood taller than before. It’s barren branches were filled with green. The moss and fungi disintegrated to nothingness.

A breeze blew through the child’s golden hair as she climbed into the tree’s strong, sheltering arms. Prudence saw the serpent exit its hole and begin to make its way up the tree. The child wasn’t paying attention and when she turned to look the serpent had reared its head, about to strike. The child had no fear in her eyes. The serpent struck, flying downward onto the child’s face.

Prudence’s heart screamed and she awakened. She found herself in darkness and silence.

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