Excerpts from the 5 Stones House Rules/Retro-Clone Traps

Another excerpt for your enjoyment. As in the other post woodcraft abilities will be explained later

Trap Finding.

Most traps in D&D are found in roleplay,that is “I tap the wall with my 10 foot pole or I examine the keyhole with a magnifying lens” and this doesn't change. However the “find/set/remove” traps ability allows several special actions.

1St, its functions as a trap sense. The DM should roll upon even simple examination , I.e. bend down to the chest” to detect any traps. Failure means the trap is found through roleplay only.

In addition traps can be disarmed with a simple roll without any RP. Unlike opening a lock, failing a trap removal roll will trigger the trap.

As per locks, some traps may be harder or easier than others and inflict corresponding bonuses or penalties. In addition thieves tools or a trap set works as in lockpicking.

Woodcraft proficiency can be used to set outdoor traps such as snares or pits ,

Trap Ability however can be used to set any traps including small ones and to reset defused traps. This is not especially dangerous however and such traps are only triggered on a critical failure if the Rogue didn't originate them.

Lastly magic traps and glyphs can be defused at skill-100

Excerpts from the 5 Stones House Rules/Retro-Clone Lock Picking

These are a couple of bits from my Version 1 of 5 Stones Rules.

This is pertaining to Rogue (and yes I use Rogue not thief,) class abilities Lock Picking and how they work, the additional "critical" rules will be explained in another post.


The rules below are inspired by Philotomy's Musings , Delta's D&D and Real Life, more or less.

Lock Picking:

D&D Locks are not true medieval locks which served mainly to stop crimes of opportunity. They more closely resemble later 17-18th century locks which require a bit of skill to pick.

However lock picking is not that hard of you have the time. A regular Joe can open many inexpensive modern locks such as a bicycle lock with improvised tools and a bit of luck and these would be harder to open that D&D locks.

To make lock picking more useful in game , more fun and more realistic I do the following.

To pick a lock open a character needs Thieves or Locksmiths Tools and the Open Locks Class Ability.

A single attempt takes 1 minute (this rule taken from GURPS for lack of better data and the fact it fits neatly being either 1, 6 or 10 rounds)

If it is a critical success the lock is opened as if a key is used. On a critical failure roll 1d6, 1-2 nothing 3-4 lock jammed 5-6 picks damaged. Damaged picks or tools are at -10 to all rolls as are improvised ones and being damaged again ruins them.

Superior Picks or Tools may be available and add a +10 to all rolls. Picks damaged results render the picks "normal" . Magic versions of these may exist with different effects however in general they can ignore picks damaged results

If a roll to pick locks is an ordinary failure, the player may roll again with one round per attempt until they either succeed or critically fail.

Note that some locks are easier to open gaining a bonus to rolls and others more difficult than normal and may inflict a penalty on attempts.

If the net chance is zero or less, its beyond the ability of the character. This will be known with one attempt, roll normally than inform the player the lock cannot be picked at that skill level. Also some locks are designed to trigger if picking attempts are made. Such locks open as per normal but any failed attempt renders the lock unpickable. These can stack with each other. If the net chance is 100% or greater, roll as normal but any result other than a critical success opens the lock.

Any rogue with over 100 in open locks may make one attempt to open a magical locks at skill-100.

Lets Play 20 Questions

Like a fair number of other OSR bloggers I tend to eschew the latest memes.

However Brendan's 20 Questions are quite good so here are my answers and good show Brendan.



Ability scores generation method?

Two Methods

#1 4d6 drop low with option for rerolling lousy characters

#2 Set stats to class minimums than roll 4d6 drop lowest in order, use roll only if higher.


How are death and dying handled?

KO's at 0, dead at -con


What about raising the dead?

Banned usually.

How are replacement PCs handled?

Worked in as appropriate

Initiative: individual, group, or something else?

Players Choice

Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?

Nope. However a 1 always misses and a 20 always hits.

Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?

Under construction.

Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?

Only if you miss in which case compare your to hit roll -4 vs friends AC to see if you hit.

Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?

Run. Run. Run Away or sneak when you can.

Level-draining monsters: yes or no?

Nope. I prefer 3e methods

Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?

Not sure.

How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?

Somewhat Strictly in D&D . Its part of the fun. In other games, not much at all.

What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?

Happens automatically during downtime. This includes automatic spells as well.

What do I get experience for?

Facing Challenges and Spending Loot.

How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?

Combo

Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?

Up to the players. Usually BtB.

How do I identify magic items?

Wizards get this as a class ability as do Clerical types for "holy" items

Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?

This depends on the game. Usually in Auld Skool I make them work for it . Potions and one use items can be bought however.

Can I create magic items? When and how?

Spellcasters can create items in downtime. What they can create will depend on their level.

What about splitting the party?

Sure. I am pretty good at managing this if I do say so myself.

Its all been done before

I was thinking about some of the changes that have come about in 3x and 4e D&D and while they may seem monumental, in retrospect many of them are not that different than the house rules we used to play with back in the 2e days.

The examples that most stuck out for me were

#1 Weapon Finesse.

We allowed dexterity modifiers to be used in melee to hit (but not damage) way back in the early part if 2e. This house rule was developed buy a gaming group I was briefly in(apologies to them if they are reading this as I cannot remember which one) to give rogues a little combat boost as the DM and players thought they were a bit underpowered. Everyone seemed to like the rule and given the big TAHC0 differences between rogues and warriors, even the warrior players were fine with it since it didn't hurt their niche any.


#2 3e Critical Hits

A version of this rule was in use apparently back in 1e by a So-Cal DM. we all called D. Balrog. Basically crits (counting as double damage) happened if a natural 20 was rolled and followed with a successful to hit roll "backed" in their parlance. It was not quite as sophisticated as the D20 version but it very similar and when I started on 3e I had zero learning curve

This group was rather interesting in many ways as they had gamed since the 70's and had a heavily hacked D&D variant that included this rule along with a ton of other materials that were shared only DM to DM. Given I played and DM for some of these guys I got a peak. And yes that restriction was kind of Hackmasterish . The group did have a cloistered, gamist and adversarial play style and if you had met them they were very much like the Knight of the Dinner Table.

#3 At Wills

This late 3e and 4e development showed up in 2e as well, in Dragon 221 as The Little Wish. Amusingly we played briefly with a variant that allowed Read Magic and Detect Magic to be used as At Will. It didn't prove to show any balance issues but I'd probably nix the Detect at will for the annoyance factor.

I am sure that if I looked hard enough I'd find others but as the old saying goes, nothing new under the sun.

Some Random GURPS house rules

I've been running GURPS for some time now and have not been focused much on old school, fantasy or to tell you the truth this blog.

However in honor of all the GURPS I have been messing about with here are my general house rules.

These rules will be used in most every game regardless of setting however they do not include whats in a setting or anything genre specific.


#1 Disadvantages and Quirks are worth no points. You don't need to worry about the points, their figured in to the starting point numbers instead you take whats appropriate and play what you like.

#2 Since I am not using a map or minis I am winging things like distance for ranged weapons for simplicity. I tend to fudge in players favor though.

#3 If your opponent makes his attack by the exact number needed you take only half damage, If you fail your defense by one, you also take half damage. If both these are true take quarter damage.

#4 If any given skill roll including bonuses is 16+, you do not need to roll unless its a combat roll or other opposed roll.

#5 In most games I am not tracking money. You have your wealth level and may spend that as appropriate.

#6 Techniques are not in use for simplicity though I may use a few minor bits from martial arts or other expansion books.

#7 The skill “Erotic Art” may appear on a character sheet as a placeholder for “boinking” skill but it is never rolled in game as my games are PG or PG13.

#8 The Contacts Advantage now represents local contacts with a field of expertise like a Contact Group in core. Costs remain the same. The Contact Group Advantage is now global. Cost also remain the same.

#9 Edge protection and Low Tech armor weights are in use,

#10 Fate Points may be used on a campaign by campaign basis. How many are granted will vary . One point can be spent to gain one success on any roll, 2 points for a critical success. The effects of fate points cannot be used adversely on anyone else who has them and such points and those blocked by GM Fiat will be refunded.

My simple GURPS Chase and Sneak Rules

During my 7 Misfits GURPS game I ran across some situations that I felt needed to be handled a bit differently than the rules I had access to supported.

I suppose I could have bought GURPS Action but I felt at the time it was simpler to role my own, plus of course its the old school way ;)

Anyway those rules worked very well for me, mathematically gave essentially the same results as more complex rules and were fast in play. I'd use them again any time.

Stealth

To sneak past sentries or patrols, roll stealth. In addition to modifiers for light, cover and terrain use the opponents vision roll modifier.
The opponents vision roll modifier is calculated as if the opponent rolled a vision roll of 10 plus modifiers.
For example
Two decent sentries with a +2 on vision rolls have a base roll of 12. This is "making the opposed roll by two" in GURPS terms to therefore the player must make a Stealth roll with a minus two penalty.

Chases

Chases rolls are made the same way with the caveat that the core used for chases is average of Health and Dexterity or Running Skill minus encumbrance, and other penalties. If the total "chase" calculation is less than 10, the difference is given as a bonus. How long the chase last is based on how many "bands" that is successes are needed.

For example

A moderately (-2) encumbered guard with a DX and HT of 11 has a chase roll of 9. This becomes a +1 bonus so our nimble (DX+HT average 12) thief needs to roll at 13- to get ahead. If he can do this 4 times , he escapes. Otherwise the guard catches up to him.

In Urban environments, the number of tries can be limited and if desired, new tries can be created with an area knowledge roll (hey another alley!) or acrobatics for more Parkour style action.

10 Things I learned from my Old School GURPS Game in No Particular Order

Running an old school -dungeon fantasy style GURPS game has been a learning experience for me and much to my surprise has changed some of my long held preconceptions about games in general.

#1 I love dungeons.

In the past I thought they were just dumb but these days, I like them a lot, a heck of a lot more than a I did as a young grog. Not only do they make my job as GM easier by keeping everyone on the plot but they help concentrate the groups fun and keep them focused, something essential with a group as big as mine.

#2 I don't really like GURPS rules system for this kind of game.

Its a good system but it doesn't support my wahoo, old school, rules not rulings gaming style the way I want . It simply isn't as much fun as I expected and given the limitations of my group I have to cut it in ways that take away GURPS strengths . I might be willing to give it a try with a more experienced group or on different subject matter but mainline GURPS is too complex and my version of GURPS Medium-Rare is just not doing it.

#3 I dislike GURPS magic.

This really isn't new . I have had a mild distaste for it since Fantasy 1.0 (about 1988 or so) . The system is fine and there is nothing wrong with Evil Stevie's rules but its bland and balanced in ways I dislike. Too meh in combat, too strong in its world building implications.

#4 Fate Points are fun in any system.

I grafted a fate point system based loosely off various GURPS rules and it worked as follows
Basically 1 point makes any roll a success, 1 point saves you from certain death and 2 points allows certain death to become a flesh wound. Players start with 2 and gain 1 per session and 1 for a really cool moment. This worked great as it encouraged player involvement, allowed anyone a chance to shine and let me save key NPC's for later. Mwah Hah Ha Hah...

#5 My world is too weird.

Its a sandbox designed to allow pretty much anything with an emphasis on creative chaos and a world that responds on a semi realistic fashion to actions. It works fine but the mix of Earth stuff, Cthulhu, Space Aliens, Faeries, and standard D&D tropes was a a bit nauseating, kind of the game world equivalent the suicide special drinks we mixed as a kid (a little of everything in one glass) . Its not as good a combo as I'd hope.

#6 The Earth stuff helps the game as I hoped.

The fact humans are from Earth helped get the players into it as I hoped.

#7 I need to tone down the silly.

My flaw really, I think my game might benefit from a bit less chaos arrows, funny voices, talking animals, pet zombies and a bit more taking seriously. This silly doesn't impair the fun factor but I have the feeling its wearing on the me and players.

#8 Borrowing from other systems is good

I came up with a a couple of quick house rules for chases and stealth based off 3e and 4e D&D take 10 and they worked great in GURPS. They kept the drama up, were faster to play and still were basically the same as GURPS 4e core rules math wise. I'll post these later but suffice it say, don't let purism deter you from fixing the rules as needed.

#9 GURPS is incoherently laid out for Fantasy games

This is a not a system issue exactly but one of layout. GURPS really needs a good critter book not a book of mostly real world animals like its Bestiary (though that would be a useful book) or a book of folkloric critters like the quirky Fantasy Bestiary but a straight forward "Monster Manual" with things to encounter and kill. This should include people (bandits, soldiers, cultists, enemy mages) as well. Open book, grab stat block, play. As it is while the rules are all there (mainly in Dungeon Fantasy) the stuff I need especially the monster stats are too spread out for ease of use. I understand and respect the business case (its a sound publishing decision based on well thought out and researched sales metrics) but that doesn't help my game .

#10 I need to do more world building and mapping

I have a smart group who "gets" whats going on but I think my world building needs a boost, Now Midrea was intentionally designed in a haphazard way, what I need than, make it, use, it . This is fine but it needs to jell together better. I need to make a map somehow, put the nations in place and make a world book for people to see if they wish. This would I think improve the game a bit and help take away the "silliness" more than a little.

Well thats that ..

Later I'll include those house rules I promised and an article on why I am not a member of the SCA.

Old School House Rule #4 Dex as to hit bonus

Again another house rule from my 2e days, basically the dexterity bonus could be used as a to hit bonus with any weapon the character was proficient with. Basically it was proto-finesse.

The party thieves and illusionists loved this and the rest of the players didn't mind either. Again as always YMMV

Old School House Rule #3 Detect Magic and Read Magic are class abilities not spells

This is not one of my regular house rules but back in the 2e says we did this fairly often. It gave magic users a "has the gift" flavor and never proved to be unbalanced.

Old School House Rule #2 Magic Users can make any kind of potions

This one is a bit odd but I like to allow magic users and alchemists who are of an appropriate level to make potions to make any kind of potion.

This eschews the Rolemaster'y idea of potions as embedded spells (and yes Rolemaster did it first) adds a bit of flavor and makes potions a product of alchemy rather than a spell storage device.

And if it means that magic users can have a little healing, so be it. Its not like clerics have no blasting after all.

Old School House Rule #1 Unlimited Spells Known

Some older editions and retro-clones limit the number of spells a magic user or other class can put in their spell book.

To my way of thinking this is unnecessary and does nothing to actually balance the class. The real balances on a MU's powers are what spells I as DM allow them, slots per day, and what magic items they some arbitrary limit.

So I simply drop that rule.

Another way to do this if you want less sharing spells or looting books is to keep the limits but exempt spells the magic user personally researches from the limit. This has the salutary effect of increasing research efforts and customization which can be fun.

Confession: I don't think Feats are all that great

This is an odd confession considering I just finished the 1st draft of a great big book of Combat feats for 3x but there we go.

1st, some feats are just plain boring and are utterly mechanics driven. Skill focus is a pretty uninteresting feat and while say Combat Casting is mechanically useful, it too adds little fun to actual play.. Its more of a resource tax that adds little zing to the table.

Many other feats, combat meta-magic and such in my opinion feats serve more as breaks on what character can do and mostly to doll out the awesome rather than encourage it in abundance.

Let me give you a few examples.

Feat Chain #1

Cleave

In 3x , roughly this feat lets you take another attack if you drop a creature in a given round. Once. That is if you have the prerequisite buy in.

Following up after this is Great Cleave (like Cleave but several times a round) and in various supplements and house rules a whole chain (Supreme Cleave lets you take a 5 foot step and even seen Trail of Blood letting you use your full move)

This is good and fine but why not simply give this all fighters thusly ..

Any time a Fighter (maybe of of L3 and up if you like) drops a foe, he may take a free swing on any foe within his reach up to his move.

This is roughly equal to giving a fighter the entire Cleave feat chain (including the variants) but so what? Unless the character is fighting a horde of minions or something (which in many editions gets him 1 attack per level!) all it does is give him a chance to shine every so many battles which is a fine thing.

Now a fully concede that feats do allow any class (even a Wizard if thats what you want) that has the stats to do this things, and in game where there is some erosion of niche protection this can be a good thing. However its not that hard to do for other games, either with a small XP hit as a custom class (for the Thief , the Ranger or whatever) or with some kind of Gift system.

let me show you another chain,

Feat Chain #2 Spring Attack

This chain requires 2 prerequisites (Dodge and Mobility) and basically allows a person to attack once at any point in their move. Later feats in the 3.5 Players Handbook 2 allow extra attacks to be taken with some penalties.

I have two word for that. Complicated & Boring. As I see it, mobile combat is fun and it makes more sense to allow anyone to moved and attack if they like, especially in older editions where they are unlikely to have a ton of attacks.

The same thing applies to the various feat chains for things like Bull Rush and Disarm and Feint and such which now (as for Ultimate Combat which I saw a peak at while it was under construction and up on the PFSRD) has chains to allow you the privilege of making one of yor attacks a trick or bull rush or something . As I said Boring.

Instead of limiting these things, once you have a good rule you ought to encourage more of them. Rather than static combat or move into combat than attack, why not have mobile swashbuckling battles with thrown cloaks and slams and grapples and shoves and more

If extra attacks by weapon specialists or two weapon fighters are an issue, just jot down a note like.

Weapon Specialists and Two weapon Fighters gain extra attacks with various weapons. Such attacks may only be used to attack

Simple concise, clear.

And yes the same things apply to creating magic items (any caster of the appropriate level should be able to do it) and if fitting Metamagic feats. I mean really, if you want say maximized spells in your game just make them use a slot 3 levels higher. Quickened spells, 4 levels higher and so on.

Doing this will allow a lot more variety and is still resource limited by either ones to hit bonus or spell slots thus preserving balance.

Level based Defense Bonuses in any Edition

One of my loyal readers (JD Jarvis) made this point in the comments

If AC went up along with attack, HP best be kept low or fights are going to last forever.

And you know he is right at least if applied with all the magic items.

The thing is though in any edition of D&D everyone has a magic defense or three just to keep AC at a certain point vs. monsters.Heck early editions had enough magic items to keep the PC leveling up, use some of them up , selling some for training costs and to pass some of them down to henchmen (which is what was supposed to be done with the extras BTW)

This excess of items IMO detracts from the game.

It gets worse with 3x where game balance assumes that you have X amount of 6 categories at Y level and Z amount of disposables. That is flat out yuck. At least the old "hand me down" method felt like an ancient gift economy. The 3x method reminded me of video games and thats not a good thing.

Now later d20 games (the excellent Iron Heroes) had systems to allow for less magic items but this was in no way handled to any careful balanced degree for normal play. Even my own rules are pretty ad-hoc.

By the time 4e was starting to mature its DMG 2 (and later its Dark Sun) had systems were created to allow low magic games and inherent bonuses so that magic items could be cool and not just kit.

What I'd like to see is something like this applied to Old School games.

To do this a person would need to figure out how many pluses a typical PC has a a typical level to AC and to hit, give enough so that AC and To Hit ratios are about the same and than allow magic items to cancel out.

This would put fights on the same scale while allowing items to be special and a bit more magical as vs "just another +1 sword"

Any ideas?

Armor Confusion

This is kind of a continuation of the Shield Article in the last post.

A big part of the confusion comes from the ahistorical mix of armors in the pseudo Europe and the understandably mediocre research. Let me be clear none of this is not the authors fault. Back then they were short research material and what they did have was old inaccurate Victorian stuff. Given what little they had, they did a pretty good job and most importantly its playable.

The armor issues as I see them are

1st the existing armor types in B/X are Elizabethan not medieval (Buff Coat, Mail, Plate)

2nd Leather was in fact was rarely used in Europe as armor early on because of the expense and the inability to easily repair it . This category should be layered textile defenses, probably using the same stats as leather.

3rd Happily the mail rules are fine though there should be two or three lengths of it (the most common short hauberk, what D&D calls a mail shirt, longer hauberks and full mail) with different stats.

Now it helps to that mail was really effective (it can't be cut or trusted through with anything but a heavy longbow or specialized weapons) but it was horribly expensive. Defeating it was done not with a sword slash or cut but either with specialized thrusting weapons, going around the armor or by beating the wearer to death with a mace (the #1 weapon) . Not very heroic.

Shields were used in the mail period because they were cheap and effective especially for warriors who could not afford armor and they could protect weak spots (the legs typically) and prevent a solid blow. Still very useful.

4thThat leaves Plate Mail. What D&D calls plate mail is probably a coat of plates over mail!

A coat of plates was a common armor used later than mail . It looked rather like a modern ballistic vest with inserts within budget and comfort for many soldiers but as Widby showed, it too was mostly impervious. Most wounds were on unarmored legs.

Shields were still used at that period and and even later but by skirmishers and in personal combat.

What we think of as plate was what Gygax called Field Plate and Full Plate in AD&D. It was unbelievably expensive but it was Plate was basically immune to most weapons save very strong crossbows at close range and highly specialized weapons and joint attack techniques that were almost all two handed.

A really good set of white harness, 2mm or so Italian steel was essentially impervious to everything other than sustained bludgeoning attacks and specialized weapons (the Poleaxe was the #1 choice)

As I mentioned this was was pretty expensive stuff (as in price of a house or more) but even so its later cheaper cousins (and note munitions grade armor was cheaper and less labor intensive than mail) provided good protection.

By this time less well off troops mostly dropped the shield because it was tactically no longer needed , polearms were needed for battle field work and they were all two handed.

How we work that into D&D without big changes is tricky.

5th and last comes all the oddballs...

Studded which is a misinterpretation of brigandine (a common European leather and scale sandwich armor) and didn't exist in Europe although I suppose could be used for boiled leather scale if desired.

Scale which was dark ages stuff in Europe (though scale sandwich as above was common enough )

Banded which was Roman Lorica Segmenta and not used after Rome fell .

and "Splint" which was not clearly defined and was apparently mail with greaves if it existed at all.

Ugh, its little wonder there is some much confusion.

As for fixes well, thats another post for another day..

In which I way in on the Great Shield Controversy

There has been a lot of debate on the shield rules in older editions, whether they are good, whether they need changing and so on.

For me this is somewhat a matter of system. In OD&D and SW. I think the rules stand up just fine bonuses are few and far between and even a meager +1 (or more with magic) can make the difference between life and death. Were I using this rules set or Lament of the Flame Princess I'd probably use the rules as written with maybe the addition of the excellent Trollsmyth Shields Shall be Splintered rule.

However if use a more B/X, Labyrinth Lord or AD&D 1 or 2 flavored game I'd use a different set.

However before I go over that a not so brief bit of history.


D&D is basically a plug in for a wargame written by people with no combat experience.

Its understandable, European Martial Arts were hibernating, Asian Martial Arts were hard to find trainers for and fraught with bad training, and the sword and shield sport of the SCA was in its infancy. Certainly none of these things were available in Lake Geneva at the time.

However the shield itself is one of the most useful battlefield instruments known and is criminally underestimated in D&D . Even today we see shield walls and shields in use (the Vancouver sports riot FREX) on a semi regular basis.

Historically there were roughly 3 kinds of shields

Bucklers, a fist load shield the size of a pie pan most commonly carried for personal defense, were in use from around from the 13th century or earlier to the early 17th and possibly later in other areas (the Okinawan Timba and the Filipino Tameng ) Giving them a +1 AC and +1 to Hit or whatever bonus a second weapon gets (as they are an excellent off hand weapon) is about right. These weight about 2lbs (a shade under a kilo) and are not disposable as they are all metal.

Bigger shields are amazingly useful both on offense and defense and are a combination of mobile cover and weapon . They were also cheap enough for any man to own.

Downsides , they were heavy (8-12 lbs) awkaward to carry (save the buckler) and disposable. They stopped being used at a point when armor grew strong enough that they were no longer as useful and only the buckler which was carried for personal defense and was socially acceptable almost anywhere persisted.

Amusingly 3rd edition has a pretty good nomenclature for the bigger ones.

1st up are light Shields. These were in use from the dawn of history well into the 18th century in some areas (by Highlanders) They were decently protective and somewhat offensive.

They probably should get +2 to AC (or be used +1/+1 as above) with possible extra bonuses for a fighter or shield wall tactics. However are disposable and as such can use the splintered shields rules as if desired and will wear out . The easiest way I do it is to make all non magic shields gone after one adventure. These weight about 7-8 lbs (a shade under 4 kilos)

2nd were large shields which are still in use (as riot shields) they weigh up to 15lbs (7 kilos or so) and provide good coverage (+3 to AC) but being so large probably should not be treated as an off hand weapon. What opportunities they provide are negated by the limits they put on action. As above they are disposable and fighters and shield walls should probably get extra bonuses

Magic shields should probably work as whatever size they were and with whatever bonus but not wear out for ease of use.

However if verisimilitude is a goal D&D AC rules need a bit of work all around. In most editions, its no possible to accentuate offense or defense, basic stuff like skilled voiding is mostly ignored and magic gear is grossly over accentuated.

Its not really feasible to rewrite the rules but if I did well shields would be more useful, it would be possible to fight defensively or offensively and AC would scale with level rather than just gear.

That would not rule out magic gear, only make it a cherry on top rather than an expected part of kit.

What makes things confusing is that Plate, Sword and Shield was a generally an ahistorical combination save early on when a coat of plates (which looks much like a modern ballistic vest with inserts) might be worn over mail and the sword used vs lightly armored targets or as art.

The problem was that a sword cut cannot penetrate armor,even mail . Thrusts will not penetrate mail either although they could be used vs. joints in later plate (what Gygax calls Field Plate and Full Plate in AD&D)

Normally opponents were battered to with blunt weapons (all those maces on the Bayeux Tapestry) or hit on unarmored spots. This is covered very well by the To Hit Rules although some bonus blunt vs mail or plate might be worthy.

I'd probably give blunt weapons +1 to hit vs plate or chain and edged weapons +1 damage vs leather or unarmored if I cared.


Over time I have come to like armor class, seeing it as "roll to find an unarmored spot or weak point" and seeing damage rolls as quality of a hit. It works well and is fast and decently accurate at least at low levels.

The problem however comes in scaling AC with level. I am not in the HP are your skill crowd and I find the rules unsatisfactory

Let me explainn

A L1 Fighter say will only hit a plate armored (AC3) guy 15% of the time. This is about right as it represents a stab to a joint or smash to an opportune location.

Obviously modifiers can be used as needed and in those circumstance the rules as written work fine.

The problem is that to hit goes up much faster than AC, after about 3rd level or so. In 1e using the optional 1 per level rule a 6th level fighter has a 40% chance or scoring a hit (sans mods) which is a too much. Add in mods and it gets even worse.

If AC (sans magic) rose at a reasonable rate along with attack , most of these issues would vanish.

Exemplars Two

My original version of this concept was a bit more complex and gritty but I thought y'all might like to see it.

Mortals and Heroic Mortals work as before with the caveat that they use the mechanics from a Game of Thrones for combat and do not have access to spell casting classes other than a modified adept.

Exemplars are made the same way as above with the following changes.

Use the Best 6 of 8 ability matrix and start at L10 Gestalt
Exemplars heal as per standard D20
Exemplars are immune to aging and cannot be turned into undead.
Unlike mortals who stun on 1/2 Con plus feats Exemplars use their who Con score.

Magic items are as per normal however as every class gets a defense bonus and armor is DR, the easiest solution is to split the GP allotment, half should become innate bonuses bought as slot-less items (but at normal cost) and the other half cool items.

Not also that magic weapons work as Valayrian Steel weapons in the AGOT ruels against no magic armor.

After re-flavor feats and such to taste.

And there you have it, Exemplars 2.0 ..

Comments?

Examplars, Exalted using D20

It might surprise folks house easy this is. You don't even need to change the rules.

Simply do the following

All Normal Humans use Epic 6 Rules and at most 20 point buy. They do not get +2 to an attribute

All Heroic Mortals use Epic 8 Rules and at most 25 point buy

All PC Exemplars are Gestalt, start at 10th level and use the following ability matrix.

Roll 8d6, Arrange the best 6 as desired and add 12 to each roll.

Exemplars heal as per standard D20

Exemplars are immune to aging and cannot be turned into undead.

Season with flavor text, fancy names for feats and such to taste

These small changes will create a game that in play feels as epic as Exalted without any real learning curve.

Armor and Heat in 3x/Pathfinder

The biggest drawback to armor is surprisingly not the weight, mind you its not pleasant to carry 70lbs all day long but armor weight is generally well distributed.

No what makes armor unpleasant is the heat.

Mail is marginally tolerable, even with the weight mostly hanging on the shoulders as its breaths a bit but Plate, well its like wearing a boiler all day.

If you want to simulate this effect in your 3x and Pathfinder games its really easy.

Simply subtract the armor check penalty from armor from any rolls vs heat and fatigue. As with the helmet rules, all reductions to this check (class, masterwork and magic) count as usual. If the helmet is removed (reducing AC vs critical conformation by 4, to a minimum of 10) reduce the penalty by half, round up.

In addition, if desired, a shields armor check penalty can be applied as well though this should only be applied to fatigue, not heat.

One warning though, this does weaken heavy armor for non fighters a bit, so be warned.

Helmets in Pathfinder/3x

I was stewing on the issue of helmets a while back and came up with a set of rules that add verisimilitude to the existing helmet rules without too much complexity.

All armor is assumed to come with an appropriate helmet. However as helmets make it much harder to see and hear, subtract all armor check penalties from perception rolls,

All abilities that reduce armor check penalties (class abilities, masterwork, magic etc) also reduce this penalty.

If a character chooses not to wear a helmet, perception penalties may be ignored however reduce armor class vs confirmation of critical hits by four to a minimum of 10.

Magic helmets work normally as per armor.

So what do ya think?

3 Short New House Rules for Old School

#1 Armor Class and To Hit are positive in the manner of 3x as vs more traditional tables. Though heretical, its faster in play and more flexible.

#2
I may have posted the next two before so bear with if thats the case.

Improved Shields
A buckler (a small hand held shield) adds a +1 to AC
A small shield (such as a target or a viking shield) adds +2 to AC
a large shield (like a kite, a knights shield or a Hoplite shield) adds +3 to AC

These bonus do correspond with the bonus given in skills and powers however in 2e games an extra proficiency slot is not required to get them. Instead a slot grants an extra +1 and up to 2 may be taken.


#3 Shield Block

Anyone carrying a shield may subtract its base bonus (exclusive of any enhancements or feats) from his to hit and add it to AC on a one for one basis.

#4
Shields Shall Be Splintered is in use.