Optional-1999-03-31
OPTIONAL
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. Some examples below.
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 wizsrd 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.
MAGIC ITEMS
You might want to throw out magic items that make no sense or are stupid. Potions of Bug Repellant, Climbing, and Speech come to mind. Plus, make your own items to put on the chart by adjusting existing items (to make sure you are keeping game balance) and throw out a lot of the typical magic items because most players already know what they do. Make existing items more sensible or easier to handle. Instead of Boots of Speed giving horse movement, jut have it double movement. Also I suggest if you make your own treasure charts to give a better chance to get wands, staves, or rods. They are so rare.
TREASURE
If you make your own treasure charts, try to base it on a different system than what is in the book. I don't even know how those things came about. Make different treasures based on how much gp value you get and what types of items you get. Plus, include personal, normal items that creatures might be carrying. Just random little items that give the game much more context. Also, throw in a few normal items in a treasure horde, so that players don't automatically assume that finding a helmet in a dragon's den means it's a magical helmet.
SPELLS
Spell variations are some of the best rules I've ever heard of. I think this is the best way to handle spell variations: Spellcasters make their own descriptions of spells and can cantrip any time. The way to make a spell variation is to take an exsisting spell and just change its description. Gandalf's Electromagnetic Barrier is really just a Wall of Ice spell but made of an electrical curtain of force. The players will never know it's the same spell, it'll just look cooler because they've never heard of that spell before. Cantrips are important too, because it allows a wizard to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. For example a magic-user who likes to use a lot of fire variations, can just light his pipe with a snap of his fingers instead of having to use a tinder box like normal people. And when the villagers see that, they know he's got power.
EXPERIENCE
An optional way of calculating xp is to forget xp from treasure and multiply all the xpv for monsters by 5 or 10. Multiplying by 5 will make up for the treasure according to the rulebook, but I found that 10 actually makes more sense in game play. Alternatively, instead of multiplying by 10, you can just divide all the xp requirements by 10 (fighters need 200 xp to get to level 2). Result: defeating the monsters will be more rewarding than finding treasure.
WANDERING MONSTERS
By all means, don't rely on the rulebook for good wandering monsters. The easiest way is to just thumb through and choose something you like. Otherwise, make your own charts and you can include your own monster variations. You might also want to roll for encounters weekly instead of daily depending on how long it takes your characters to get from place to place.
ADVENTURERS
One of the things I've always hated was the concept of "adventurers." Just bunches of adventurers running around towns, killing monsters? I suggest making adventurers rare, and socially unacceptable in town. Most people think they're kind of weird, because normal people wouldn't want to go around risking their life, and in fact most adventurers only do it because there is something important to be accomplished. There is nothing fun about harsh travel, weather conditions, and monsters who could surprise you and kill you at any moment.
LEVELS
One of the hardest things for me is having adventures for level 1 characters, and getting them past level 1. One solution is to just let players start on level 2 or 3, but make a reason why they are on that level and still start them out at xp 0 instead of what they are at their current level. By far, my favorite time for gaming is when players are on levels 4 through 8.
ATTACKS
I allow everyone to move 5' and attack on the same round. However fighters also have the combat option to charge. This allows a fighter to use a lance on a horse and do double damage. You can also say that fighters can run up and attack by charging with any weapon, but they don't get double damage, and they will be prone to set spear vs charge. I would say the weapon must be used two-handed in this case. If you do this, you should also allow certain monsters to charge. You might not want to let monsters use every attack every round. Like dragons get 3 attacks: 2 claws and a bite, however you might want to say they can either claw or bite, or maybe even claw just once. In addition, two other requirements for fighter combat options that I would suggest is requiring smash to be performed two-handed, and getting rid of the requirement of a hit roll of 2 for multiple attacks.
INITIATIVE
One of the things I liked from AD&D is the 1d10 initiative where the number rolled represents the second of the round that you go on. This also makes it easier for the DM to determine special situations where strange actions are taken that might give some kind of penalty to your initiative. I still like to roll surprise on a 1d6 though.
EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of things mentioned.
CLASSES
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. (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.(traditional weapons, robes) [Optional: Multiple
attacks can be multiple moves.]
Elves: most have never seen a spell book. Those of the
fighting persuasion utilize armor and weapons to
potiential and may know a few misc spells. Those of the
magic persuation travel light and utilize spells and
spell books. (plate mail, shield, any weapon, poor
spells) vs (no or little armor, 1 or 2 weapons--no
large, good spells)
MONSTERS
Griffon (minotaur stats): head and wings of an eagle,
body of a lion. Favorite prey is horses and can carry
off a horse at half it's flying rate. Wild griffons may
be tamed if captured young, becoming loyal mounts.
(claws 1d6 ea, bite 1d8; mv 120, fly 360)
Unicorn (horse stats): slender horse with a horn growing
from its forehead. Always very beautiful animals, no one
has ever seen an ugly one. Horn can do 1d8, 2d8 for a
charge. Usually shy but fierce when cornered. Only a
pure maiden can talk to or ride one. Live in deep
forests, far away from sentient creatures.
Pegasus (horse stats): flying horses, wild and shy.
Cannot be tamed, but will server lawful characters
(only) if captured and trained while young.
Merman (fighter stats): water-breathing humanoids with
the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish.
Armed with spears, tridents, or daggers.
Nereid (wraith stats): a female water haunt who can lure
men like harpies lure a meal (225 xpv). Nereids live in
and around water and have brought many sailors and
fishermen to their fate.
Black Pudding (gray ooze stats): non-intelligent black
blob, always hungry, attack any creature. They can
travel on ceilings and walls, and can pass through small
openings. Dissolve wood and corrode metal but cannot
harm stone (as green slime). Unlike green slime, they
can only be killed by fire (not cold). Weapons and
spells merely break it up into smaller puddings, 1 HD
each, inflicting 1d8 damage per blow. A flaming sword
will do full normal damage. Many black puddings can
combine to form a bigger one (add HD).
Cyclops (hill giant stats): rare type of giant with one
eye in center of forehead. About 16' tall, fights with
wooden club at -2 to hit rolls. Live alone, raising
sheep and grapes; known for stupidity and fall to
trickery.
Forest Giant (hill giant stats): these giants are kin to
hill giants, but are more intelligent, and usually good
natured. They are usually woodsmen and do not attack
human settlements. They have long black beards, wear
clothes, and weild huge axes. They speak common well.
Forest Baboon (rock baboon stats): these black,
long-haired monkeys are kin to rock baboons. They have a
similar disposition and may attack for food or out of
anger, however they are also more cautious and may spy
on characters for some time from the treetops before
attacking.
Orc Clans
Orcs of the Yellow Eye: professional assassins, each
carries 5 daggers, 2 flasks of oil, and a flask of
poison
Orcs of the Crooked Tooth: treacherous, carry 2
spears each
Orcs of the White Mountain: noble, always keep word,
no penalty in daylight, carry short bows and use
black fletched arrows.
Orcs of the Red Hand: war-like clan of orcs. They
forge their own plate mail (AC 3) and weapons
(polearms, two-handed swords, battle axes) from a
redish colored metal which tends to be somewhat more
brittle. Being a little stronger, they gain +1 to
damage rolls.
Shadow Elf: these elves live in deep caverns in the
underworld. They have pale skin. They have a hatred for
surface dwellers and desire to gain control of Alfheim.
They fear and distrust outside races. They speak shadow,
dwarf, elf, bugbear, and orc. Rarely do they speak
common. Shadow elves have a -2 penalty to hit in
daylight, and have a +2 save vs magic. Some have been
known to be anywhere from level 2 to 5, and some even
weild spells (1 in 4), however none seem to have spell
books. They usually wear scale mail (AC 6), and their
weapons include katanas, barbed whips, broadswords,
spears, and shields. Rarely (1 in 10) they might be
carrying a falchon, chain net, or composite long bow.
Natokan Monks: these 2nd level fighters wear darkish red
robes. They do not speak at all. They have at least a 16
in DEX and weild staves, chain nets, shurikens, and
katars.
MAGIC ITEMS
Ring of Magic Protection: creates an anti-magic shell an
invisible barrier that stops all spells and spell
effects, including the user's
Wands (as spells at lv 3--magic-user use only)
Fear (cleric Cause Fear)
Illusion (magic-user Phantasmal Force)
Magic Missiles (magic-user Magic Missile)
(You could make wands based on any spell you like.)
Boots of Speed: double movement rate
Boots of Levitation: wearer may levitate as the
magic-user spell
SPELLS
These are taken from Dragon Magazine #200
Shield (Chitin): skin turns into tough, articlated
chitin for the duration of the spell, giving a
spider-like appearance.
Sleep (Spiderbite): Range: Nil. Duration: Special. can
inject sleep-inducing poison by biting. This requires a
hit roll in combat. Can put 2d8 HD worth of creatures to
sleep for 4-16 turns (determine the duration secretly
when the spell is cast). Any creature bitten that has
over 4+1 HD or more HD than worth poison left, is
unaffected (and the magic-user still loses the relevant
HD worth of poison). Any unused poison disappears when
the magic-user falls asleep or loses consciousness. The
bite does no physical damage.