Category Archives: Rules Hints & Tips

Critique of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition

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With 4th edition just around the corner, I thought I’d give my impression of 3rd Edition and the d20 system.

Good Ideas

The d20 system has several good ideas that make it easier to understand and more easy to play.

  • Positive AC. A larger AC being better than a smaller AC makes more sense.
  • Magic. I like the idea of the effectiveness of saving throws being based on spell level. This makes more powerful magic inherently harder to avoid than less powerful magic, and it makes a lot of sense. I never liked the way a sixth level spell like Death could be simply shrugged off by a Save vs Death Ray, the easiest saving throw to make.
  • Saving Throws. Having saving throws based on “reflex” or other descriptions of how a character may actually avoid a situation is clearer.

Bad Ideas

Unfortunately, the d20 system sometimes made things “too logical” and went a little overboard on the complexity of certain areas.

  • Every class can be mixed with every race. I don’t like this idea, however it is easy enough for a DM to decide in his game world to restrict certain race/class combinations.
  • Sorcerers. It’s not a bad idea as far as game mechanics go (which is why I think they used it) but a “sorcerer” isn’t conceptually different enough from a “wizard” which I think makes it confusing. I think they should have come up with a more unique name/panache for this class. Kind of reminds me of how they used to make a big deal out of “Illusionists” in AD&D 1st edition.
  • Combat. Where should I start? Combat in the d20 system is basically a mess. It’s overly complicated with game mechanics that detract from enjoyment. Complicated combat rules are good for video games sometimes because you don’t see them and a computer can make calculations way faster than you can, but they aren’t good for tabletop games. Combat in the game should be fun but quick.  A drawn-out combat sequence might be good once in an adventure against a particularly important enemy, but who really wants to spend 30 minutes dispatching a group of goblins?
  • Spell Feats. I think this just makes the game more complex. I asked a friend if you could just rule out spell feats as a DM, but he said that it would unbalance the classes.

Poisons

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Typically poisons range from instant death (as found in the Dungeons and Dragons game) and the simple 1 point of damage per round (as found in video games like the Ultima series). These are both very simple, but don’t provide a wide range of possible outcomes. Some games have cumbersome charts that still have their limitations. And there is the matter of whether or not you want to randomly roll what a poison does. Instead we might be able to come up with some concepts that allow a DM to create a poison that’s appropriate on-the-fly.

Properties of Poison

Poisons have 4 or 5 properties in terms of game mechanics.

  1. Saving Throw: Adjustment to saving throw is generally an indicator of the poison’s strength. (Suggested range: +4 to -4.)
  2. Incubation Period: The time before poison takes effect can also be determined by how powerful you think the poison should be, or how fast it reaches the bloodstream (breathing, ingestion, injection, etc.) (Typical ranges: 1 day to instantaneous)
  3. Duration: This is the time the poison takes to run its course, after the incubation period.
  4. Effect: The effect of the poison can be damage, penalties to rolls, and any other quantifiable modification to game play. Effects should be used with the next optional category “appearance” for the best game play.
  5. Appearance: This is how the poison affects the non-quantifiable modification to game play. This is somewhat optional, but can include things like sores, vomiting, or anything else which can be part of the story, but doesn’t really affect the numbers of game play.

Poison Creation

DM:      You step on a block that depresses; a dart shoots out of a crack in
         the wall and hits you.  Make a saving throw vs poison.

Player:  I rolled a 10.

DM:      You can't feel any effects.

game hours later...

DM:      The ogre misses you.  Suddenly your arms feel strange and are becoming
         numb.  All your muscles are getting slower.

Player:  Hide in the shadows around the corner in the hallway.

DM:      You try to get out as quickly as possible, leaving to the protection of
         the corridor.  You become paralyzed.  You hear the ogre coming towards
         you and hope that you hid well...

As you can see from this example, the player wasn’t sure he had been poisoned, and the effects did not occur until later. This kind of situation could be very interesting and fun with other players to help out, but care must be taken not to let it ruin the game. This gives characters a chance to be cautious and makes antidotes and spells like neutralize poison more important.

The DM in this situation can easily create a poison ahead of time, or on the spot. The DM may want to make some charts for quick reference such as the ones below:

Simple Chart

This chart is a simple chart that contains weak, moderate, and strong poisons that do damage. This is particularly good for a DM who wants to give the players a chance to use their antidotes once the poison sets in.

             Save Bonus     Incubation        Duration         Damage
             -----------    ---------------   -------------    -------------
Weak:        +1d4           1d6 hours         1d8 hours        1d4 per turn
Moderate:    0              1d4 turns         1d6 turns        1d2 per round
Strong:      -1d4           instant           1d10 turns       1d20 per round

Effects Chart

This is a chart for the kind of DM who wants to give poison more “flavor.” Yum. You can use the chart above to supplement the results, or determine the missing pieces on your own.

1d6  Incubation         1d12   Effect                Appearance
---  -------------      ----  --------------------  ---------------
 1    instantaneous      1     -1 to combat rolls    pain
 2    1d8 rounds         2     -1 to hit, +2 to AC   numbness
 3    1d6 turns          3     partial paralysis     paralysis
 4    1d4 hours          4     -1 to hit, 1/2 CHA    sores
 5    2d12 hours         5     1/2 STR, +2 AC        weakness
 6    1d6 days           6     -1 hit rolls, saves   mild sickness
                         7     1/2 move, no actions  violent sickness
                         8     comatose sleep        sleep
                         9     1 dmg per round       poisoned
                        10     1d4 dmg per turn      poisoned/sick
                        11     1d10 dmg per hour     mildly sick
                        12     5d6 dmg per round     death

Dungeon Master Tips from the Astral Plane

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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

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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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