The other day I was browsing around EN World as I so often love to do and I noted an interesting bit on the news page. It seemed that OSRIC 2.0 had recently been released. For those not in the know, the OSRIC (Old School Reference & Index Compilation) is essentially a re-publishing of 1st edition AD&D mechanics (not considered under copyright) without the fluffy bits of artistic design (which are considered under copyright). Being the huge 1st edition fan that I am, this fan-supported project had interested me from the beginning. It promised to clean up and organize information better than the original AD&D manuals on which it is based as well as simplifying the rules in some places. On all levels, this sounded intriguing to me.

Up until recently, the OSRIC had only been a curiosity however. I had read it cover to cover, and while I admitted it was cleaner and tighter than 1st edition, it felt somehow lacking. Well, no longer do I feel that way. Perhaps it is the old school art. Maybe it is the improved editing. Either way, version 2.0 is a stellar achievement, especially for a fan-based project. And I felt compelled to run it. So it was with great excitement that I brought along a full print copy of the rules with me to last night's game along with a copy of the Temple of Elemental Evil (being mostly compatible with the OSRIC) to run for my group.

As I pulled out the huge binder and extra character sheets for OSRIC, there was so much trepidation in the air, I could have cut it with a knife. We were already knee deep into the Expedition to Castle Greyhawk and most of my players were fairly happy playing 8th-level characters. To go back to playing 1st-level with a system unfamiliar to some of them was not exactly welcome. However, I convinced them that this was merely an experiment that I wanted them to try out. I wanted them to do it for me if nothing else. Thankfully, they agreed.

So what were the results? Well for starters, we usually end our game around 1:00 am; last night I didn't pack up until 3:00 am so apparently we were enjoying ourselves. We managed to fit in seven combat encounters whereas under 3.5 we normally fit in two to four. We also managed to do some roleplaying and they learned a little bit about the history of Hommlet and the Temple of Elemental Evil, classic fixtures in the Greyhawk setting. By the end of the night the players had a fairly good grasp of the combat rules, which were much simpler than 3.5 (and didn't require a battlemap!). Most importantly, it seemed like everyone was having a very good time. No one ever asked me "Can we get back to the Castle Greyhawk campaign already?" which I consider a good sign.

So will I be running OSRIC for my group again? I hope so. I've told them next session we will be going back to Castle Greyhawk, but I'll be bringing along the Temple of Elemental Evil and OSRIC in case anyone wants to do a little old school dungeon exploration while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.

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This week we have a mish-mash of enchantment spells that need tweaking. I'm gonna give them the see-saw treatment, pumping a couple up (just a smidgen) and knocking the other down just a tad (you'll get that pun when you see it). Let's get straight to it.

Tasha's Hideous Laughter
Great spell. Awesome spell. Incredible spell. Too great, too awesome, and too incredible. Compare it to other enchantments of similar level and you see why. Not only does it incapacitate the target, it knocks them prone. That's a -4 penalty to AC and there is nothing the creature can do about it. And when the spell is up the creature has to endure attacks of opportunity to get up. On top of that, it can be used on a variety of creatures, while spells like charm person must target a humanoid. The spell is like lesser hold monster more than anything. Let's just get rid of that falling prone part and make it like an improved daze spell. Here is the new text.

This spell afflicts the subject with uncontrollable laughter. It erupts into gales of manic laughter, unable to take any action but laughing. The subject is not considered helpless. After the spell ends, it can act normally.

A creature with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower is not affected. A creature whose type is different from the caster's receives a +4 bonus on its saving throw, because humor doesn't "translate" well.

Sleep
Another great spell, it's coolness mitigated by the fact that it really just makes the bad guys waste a round waking their companions up. But it really outlives its usefulness pretty quickly. Then you are stuck with a dead page in your spellbook or a worthless spell slot in your repertoire. To extend the usefulness of sleep beyond 1st-3rd level, change the the first line of text to the following:

A sleep spell causes a magical slumber to come upon 4 Hit Dice of creatures plus 1 Hit Die per two caster levels (to a maximum of 9 Hit Dice at 10th-level).

Deep Slumber
Same problem as above, except change the text to the following since this is a higher-level spell:

This spell functions like sleep, except that it affects 5 HD of creatures plus 1 HD per caster level (to a maximum of 20 HD at 15th-level).

Well, there you have it. I think we've corralled enough spells for one entry. This next one's gonna take a different turn. I've already addressed a lot of the "little" changes to the game that I thought would make it better without affecting backwards compatibility. In two weeks, I will go a bit beyond that with Have a Little Class.

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At this point, I should hope you have already figured out that this is a campaign blog about a published adventure. As such, it contains spoilers about the adventure. You have been warned.

When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had rescued Ricard Damaris, famed swordsman and proprietor of the Green Dragon Inn, a locale haunt in the City of Greyhawk for all manner of folk, especially the adventuring kind. Ricard had been ambushed while traveling with a trade caravan from Dyvers by orcs who were led by a fearsome half-orc who was "almost as good a swordsmen" as he. Ricard claimed he would have bested the half-orc had his wyvern-riding lieutenant not swooped in, stinging him with the tail of the wyvern. Wyvern poison coursing through his veins, he collapsed.

Our heroes had come upon this grim scene by Zagig's Bridge shortly after these unfortunate events had occured. A few orcs remained behind to pillage the homesteads built up around the bridge. The illustrious adventurers knew injustice when they saw it, and they strode forth hastily to aid the commoners being accosted by orcs. The half-orc lieutenant had remained behind to oversee the pillaging and began to cast defensive spells on himself and his wyvern. In the end, the heroes saved the day. The orcs were slain one by one and the lieutenant brought down by a fireball spell from the warmage Sephanie over the Selintan River. Though they never recovered his corspe, it seemed clear there was no way he could have survived the plummet. As the adventurers surveyed the wreckage, the elf known as Jan noted that it was unusual that these orcs appeared to be not from the nearby Pomarj, but of the Jebli tribe, which would mean they would have to have traveled from far to the north through a number of civilized lands, a proposition that made little sense at all.

Ricard was found amid some wreckage of a wagon belonging to the Able Carter Coaching Company, a trading firm based in Greyhawk. He was slowly dying from the wyvern wound, but the Rhenee priest of the Wanderer, Timogen, staunched the flow of blood and removed enough of the poison that he the wound would no longer be fatal. After rescuing Ricard and hearing his story, they spoke with another survivor, a priest of Boccob, the Archmage of the Gods, a man named Abner. Like Ricard, Abner had been traveling to Greyhawk, but for a different reason. Abner was a pilgrim coming to Greyhawk to celebrate a hero of the faith, Patriarch Riggby, renowned for his opposition to the evil demigod Iuz. Many years past, Riggby and others had attempted to destroy the Old One after releasing him from the archmage Zagig's god-trap. They were unsuccessful, however, and the Old One swore vengeance upon those who sought to obliterate him. That Riggby had escaped his revenge through a natural death from old age was seen as a cause for celebration, not only within the Boccobite faith, but also among those who followed the way of the Cudgel and St. Cuthbert.

The heroes escorted Ricard and Abner to the Free City where Ricard was generous enough to offer the party of adventurers a free place to stay for the next month in exchange for saving his life. It was at the Lord's Table (as Ricard called it) the next night that Ricard told the heroes the story of the ruins of Castle Greyhawk. Once the abode of mad archmage and former mayor of Greyhawk, Zagig, the castle sported three towers, one to house Zagig's army, another to house his apprentices, and a third for his own private arcane experiments. It was said that all kinds of wondrous things were to be found in all three towers, but a couple centuries ago, Zagig simply disappeared with no sign. The occassional edict still surfaced from the Tower of Zagig regarding the governance of Greyhawk, but eventually, the city moved on and elected a new Lord Mayor. Zagig was not heard from again. It was not long before the castle began to fall into disrepair and many began to wonder what had happened to the mad archmage and what sort of things might lie beneath the towers in the numerous dungeon levels that were rumored to exist. There was only one way to find out.

A few explorers began to delve below the ruins to seek their fortunes. Many never returned, but those who did often came back with unfathomable wealth and incredible magic. Such successes spurred a generation of expeditions, the most famous of which were done by the archmage Mordenkainen and the Citadel of Eight. The Citadel was an adventuring company Mordenkainen had organized, including such famous personas as Bigby the archmage, Robilar the fighter, and his orcish cohort Quij, and their exploits in the dungeons of Greyhawk were still talked of today with much enthusiasm in the Green Dragon, Ricard explained. Beneath the ruins they discovered portals to demiplanes, artifacts of immense magical power, and magic the likes of which does not exist anywhere else on Oerth.

Ricard spoke of perhaps their most famous adventure, in which they attempted to kill a demigod. Several members of the Citadel of the Eight are said to have breached the lowest levels beneath the Tower of Zagig and discovered a magical artifact crafted by the archmage Zagig known as the god-trap, a strange device Zagig used to imprison nine demigods that he might ascend to godhood himself. Within the god-trap they discovered Iuz the Old, and, seeking glory, released him that they might defeat him in battle permanently. However, they underestimated the demigod's power. Even having been trapped for so long and in a weakened state, he managed to escape their grasp. Soon, the Lord of Pain made to rebuild his evil empire in the north and the Citadel quickly regretted their decision. Still, the deed was done and there was no going back. The Citadel disbanded soon after, but many of the former members remained influential to this day, Ricard stated.

To make matters more interesting, Ricard noted that he had done a little poking around and learned that the orcs who attacked him and the caravan he had traveled with had been seen coming from north of Zagig's Bridge. The interesting part about that information was that the road north of Zagig's Bridge was a dead end that led only one place: the ruins of Castle Greyhawk.

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I just got out of the hospital, so this will be a short installment. However, I will make it up to you by providing you an additional installment next week, free of charge!

Last time we broached the topic of spells, we discussed powering down a few spells. Next I'd like to turn to a couple spells that could use some powering up.

Entropic shield is my first example. This little-used spell is often neglected because it just doesn't do much. It is like blur, but only for ranged attacks. A 1 in 5 chance of missing a character against ranged attacks only isn't going to do them much good unless they are fighting arrow demons, and at that point, why not just cast blur? Let's bump this up to a 50% miss chance for ranged weapons and let it see a bit more action.

Gaseous form is often touted as the ultimate getaway spell. Maybe in a dungeon tightly packed with nothing but doors, but certainly not most places. Moving at a speed of 10 (and a fly speed no less, meaning no running) means even a heavily armed cleric can follow you wherever you go and beat down any door in his way before you get too far. Sure it has it's uses for surprising enemies and sneaking around, but those are often ancillary thoughts when it comes to this classic. Players want to vanish into a puff of smoke when they cast this spell. This is not to mention the indignant ease with which PCs can follow a vampire back to its coffin. I say give the gaseous form a fly speed equal to its base land speed and now things are a bit more interesting.

Well, that's all I have time for today. Next week, This Spells Trouble, Part IV.

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So it turns out Big Brent has some family issues that have to be taken care of. Illness in the family and he is needed. We will miss him for the time being, but that left us at an impasse next week. The fact that Jarrett so easily stepped aside told me that he wasn't that married to his Mystara campaign. However, Big Brent had opened a can of worms by allowing everyone to create super-ultra-mega characters (the idea of triple gestalt characters was bandied about for a while--no seriously, it was actually considered) at a much higher level than our group is usually used to playing.

Now let me explain a few things about our group before getting too far into this. David and Tenar (a married couple) have only recently started playing 3rd edition so they really don't know the rules too well. Tenar at least has played nothing but rogues so far so she is starting to get the hang of the rogue shtick. However, David likes trying something new all the time, and he doesn't seem to take much time outside the game to read up on the rules, meaning he spends all his time during the game looking things up. Travis and Donna (another married couple) have more experience with 3rd edition, but they aren't exactly good at optimizing their characters. Little Brent is just happy to be playing. Then there is Jarrett, who is quite knowledgeable of the rules and capable of building well-optimized characters. There is a huge disparity in skill level.

One of the biggest challenges a DM can face is making sure everyone in the group feels like they are contributing something. When you have a group like this, that challenge becomes even greater. For that reason, I strongly prefer beginning all new characters at 1st level. It gives new players a chance to learn their powers from the ground up while reducing the advantage veteran players have in character building. By the time they reach 5th-level, the novice players at least know how to play their character and the veterans have already learned much of what the novices now know.

But as I said, the cat was out of the bag and there was no getting that feisty feline back inside. Having seen the glory of "high-level" characters, the players in my group (not all of them, but enough to cause concern) were salivating at the thoughts of casting 3rd level spells more than once per day and having hit points nearing triple digits. To make matters worse, both Jarrett and Big Brent had been allowing us to use ability score arrays that were worth somewhere in the area of a 45-60 point buy.

I had asked Jarrett if he would mind if, instead of continuing Mystara, he let me take the DM chair again. He wasn't opposed. So at that we began discussing what it would take to make everyone happy. At this point I realized I was going to have to compromise. My preference would have been to have them start at 1st level with a new campaign (or pick up the Shackled City campaign again, which received lukewarm reception at best) but let them have slightly higher ability scores and some nifty equipment while using some house rules (like soft critical hits) to ease the difficulty. Our group has been vocal about the fact that they don't like games that are too challenging; they want to feel like heroes with awesome power who always win. I can accept that. Jarrett managed to convince me that in order to actually feel powerful however, the PCs would need to be killing more than bugbears and orcs. They want to slay dragons and powerful wizards and reap the rewards of great treasures.

So I decided to let the PCs pick the campaign. Since I don't have time to write a campaign myself right now, I grabbed several of my published adventures and allowed my players to pick one. I have some 10+ level adventures, but I left those at home, because as much as my players would probably like being that high level, they just aren't ready for it. I selected Eyes of the Lich Queen, The Red Hand of Doom, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and Expedition to Castle Greyhawk. I gave my players each a small description of what kinds of encounters each would entail as well as the relative difficulty of the campaigns (having read them all already). I put Castle Greyhawk in the middle difficulty-wise and told them it was a mix of urban adventuring and dungeon-crawling. It was a split decision between that and Eyes of the Lich Queen, but eventually Jarrett decided to vote instead of staying neutral and Greyhawk it was.

So they created characters. I let them have any masterwork equipment they wanted and choose magic items for them (otherwise we would have been there all night). I also restricted feat and spell selection to the core rules, although I allowed them to select base classes from other books if they desired. In addition, they will be able to research new spells later if they wish, and they can take advantage of retraining rules from the PH2 if they gain the ability to learn new feats (which I plan to allow them to do if they join certain affiliations).And so it is that the adventure has begun. Tonight we kick out the first session after the prelude and my PCs get to explore the Free City of Greyhawk, many of them for the first time. It shall be interesting to see what adventures they have in the weeks to come. And just to give you a heads up, future updates on my campaign will contain spoilers for the adventure, so you might want to turn a blind eye if you are playing in the campaign.

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A number of objects in Chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook irk me because they don't fit or just have problems mechanically. Let's start with the basics.

Armor is where we find some of the worst equipment failures. For one thing, several types of armor are redundant unless you are creating a very poor 1st-level character. Why purchase a set of scale mail when you could have a chain shirt? The same goes for chain mail and breastplate, as well as banded mail and splint mail respectively. Splint mail, for example, isn't really historically accurate. Many people have doubts if armor of this type ever really existed, and if it did, it is not very practical. A breastplate is effectively hastily donned plate. Why do we need an addendum for something that already exists. And the chain shirt? Well, that's just power creep for lightly armored characters. I say ditch all three types (splint mail, breastplate, and chain shirt) from the game. If any come up in a published adventure you are running, don't worry about making adjustments to the statistics as they are negligible for the most part, but substitute the nearest thing when the PCs loot the body. Chain shirt becomes studded leather. Breastplate becomes chain mail. Splint mail becomes banded mail.

Next we have weapons that aren't realistic. Spiked chain, I'm looking at you. Now I can swallow the idea of someone using a chain as a weapon, but the benefits it confers are simply beyond the pale of reason. Not only does it have an impressive critical threat range, it also grants the ability to strike both opponents adjacent to you and 10 feet away. Further, it lets you take attacks of opportunity as if it were a polearm. And you can use it to trip and disarm. Yikes! Now it is an exotic weapon, so it ought to be cooler than a typical weapon in at least one way, but I think the benefit of allowing you to strike as both a reach weapon and a normal melee weapon is enough without also letting you threaten opponents at reach. So just make this change; allow wielders of spiked chains to strike opponents 10 feet away, but nix the whole idea of threatening opponents that far away. You only threaten adjacent opponents while wielding a spiked chain.

Now let's address the scythe. A x4 critical threat modifier? Really? All I have to do is throw a handful of orcs wielding scythes against 1st and 2nd-level PCs and I am just asking for instant death. A x3 modifier is scary enough, so let's tone it down. Some say just use DM judgment, but on this issue, what if the DM wants to use scythes because the bad guys are followers of a cult of death?

One final issue I want to bring up is the price of masterwork weapons and armor. While the +300/+150 gp rule is nice and simple, here is an optional rule in case you find that a bit unrealistic. Masterwork light weapons cost 150 gp extra, one-handed weapons cost 300 gp extra, and two-handed weapons cost 600 gp extra. Masterwork light armor and light shields (including bucklers) cost 75 gp extra, medium armor and heavy shields cost 150 gp extra, and heavy armor and tower shields cost 300 gp extra.

A similar formula can be extended to the pricing of magic weapons and armor if you like. The base multiplier for light weapons becomes 1,000 gp, for one-handed weapons it's 2,000 gp, and for two-handed weapons it's 4,000 gp. The base multiplier for light armor and light shields is 500 gp, for medium armor and heavy shields is 1,000 gp, and for heavy armor and tower shields is 2,000 gp.

One warning if you decide to muck with pricing. Because the power level of 3rd edition D&D characters is highly dependent upon their wealth in magical items, be careful on the pricing issue so that you don't award too much or too little treasure. Make sure you periodically check to ensure your PCs are at the appropriate wealth for their level.

That wraps it up for this week. Until my health improves, this will likely remain a bi-weekly blog. Two weeks from now, This Spells Trouble Part III.

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I moved to San Antonio a little over a year ago and I didn't know a soul. My wife and I had never lived here, nor did we know anyone in the city. We didn't even have family nearby, as most members of our family live in North Texas. So when we moved here, that also meant I was without a gaming group, a situation I have not been in since I was 15. I'll admit it; I was a little panicky.

For a few weeks, things seemed ok. I had just finished running a two-year long Age of Worms campaign in College Station before moving here so I was actually looking forward to a short break. But I had no idea how long I would be content without at least one weekly roleplaying session. Nor did I have any idea how to find gamers in San Antonio. In high school, my buddies and I had sort of accidentally discovered roleplaying games and when I went away to Texas A&M University, there was already a huge community of gamers that were connected by the student gaming club. This was a completely new challenge.

I began rather simply by keeping my eyes peeled for gaming stores as I drove around town. I discovered one fairly close to my house, but was disheartened to learn it had closed. Later I would learn they had only moved to a different location, but was only after I expanded by search to the world wide web. It was on the internet that I found a Meetup group that had some interested players. Around this time, I also tracked down the location of the new gaming store and agreed to meet there with some people I had never met in real life before to see if we could get a campaign going.

It was slow at first. I had two players, David and Tenar, a married couple who, like myself, had just moved to town and knew no one. Over the next few weeks we slowly expanded our group to add Jarrett and a couple of others who didn't hang around for long. After several months of running the War of the Burning Sky campaign, which unfortunately was not going well, I decided to switch gears. Jarrett, who had lived in San Antonio all his life, knew of some other people who were wanting to get back into gaming and would be willing to join the group. David also knew a guy from his job who would be interested in joining. Eventually we added Donna, Travis, and George to the mix which usually meant we would have enough people for a decent game each weekend even if one or two people couldn't make it. With this group, I began running Paizo's Shackled City campaign.

After running this campaign for four or five months, my life started getting busy. In addition to my job, I had gone back to school and was finding less time to keep a game going. Jarrett, who had been feeling the DM itch volunteered to take my place; many of the players, it turns out, were having a difficult time with the Shackled City campaign anyway. And so Jarrett's Mystara campaign began, though he limited us to using the core rulebooks only. I was actually quite happy with this, although other players lamented the relative lack of options.

As Jarrett took the helm as DM, he invited a couple of other friends to join the game, Little Brent and Big Brent; suffice it to say the names are descriptive. Little Brent's casual attitude towards gaming meant he was rarely there, but as it turns out Big Brent had been bitten by the DM bug as well. So it was that last night I showed up at our game to learn that we would not be pursuing the evil undead army that was amassing north of Penhaligon, but that we would instead be venturing into the City of Waterdeep with Big Brent as our stately Dungeon Master, the pages of splatbooks once again wide open for our use.

So it is that in the span of a year, I have been involved in four D&D campaigns. This is not the first time I have seen so many campaigns in one year. But I was hoping for a little more stability soon. Last Saturday we did little more than talk about characters. Next week we shall begin our adventures in the Realms in earnest. Here's to hoping it lasts longer than the last three!

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I apologize for missing last week's entry. I've been having a lot of health problems lately and I haven't had a lot of free time. But without further ado, here are a few spells that my group and I have found troublesome. We tried to come up with simple solutions that didn't affect the overall functionality or nature of the spell. I hope you enjoy them.

Glitterdust
Here the problem is that a spell that was originally designed primarily as a means of highlighting invisible creatures became a highly potent offensive tool as soon as the rules regarding blindness were clarified. Imposing a 50% miss chance, -2 penalty to AC, halving movement, and denying your opponent his Dexterity modifier for the entire duration of the spell is rather prohibitive. A displacement spell only grants 50% concealment to one ally, and that is a higher-level spell. Yet, with initiative and a single 2nd-level spell, you can blind up to a dozen enemies for 1 round/level. To fix this spell, change the blindness effect to dazzled. Additionally, I allow the blindness effect but only on the first round. So the first paragraph of the description now reads:

A cloud of golden particles covers everyone and everything in the area, visibly outlining invisible things for the duration of the spell. In addition, creatures within the area who fail their save are blinded for one round and dazzled for the remaining duration. All within the area are covered by the dust, which cannot be removed and continues to sparkle until it fades.

Greater Magic Weapon/Magic Vestment
Truly, what is so special about magic weapons and armor when a spellcaster can enhance them virtually all day long, and often with a better bonus than any magical weapon you might be able to afford? These spells are also a problem for DMs who want to run low-magic campaigns and don't want players to have 24-hour access to such powers. Fortunately, this is a simple fix. Reduce the durations of these spells to 10 minutes/level. You may find a similar change to mage armor is warranted if you find bracers of armor are always tossed into the "sell" pile.

Heroes' Feast
I have never seen any other spell so commonly burned into my players' spell pages with indelible ink than this offender. With its enticing immunity to poison and fear and it's alluring temporary hit points and bonus to attack rolls that last half a day, it is little wonder that so many adventuring parties choose to begin their day by eating their "Wheaties." That is not to mention the fact that it cures diseases, sickness, and nausea. I've tried various approaches throughout the years, but the one that seems to strike the best balance between a useful spell and a must-prepare-every-day spell is by changing immunity to poison and fear to a +4 morale bonus on saves against poison and fear. It doesn't negate the need to deal with poison and fear altogether, but it also isn't so great that players develop an abnormal attachment to it that causes them to feel they have to rest and recast it anytime it gets dispelled.

Next week, Equipment Failures.

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Magic and spells form one of the largest rules subsets in the entire D&D rules system. Together they take up almost half the Player's Handbook just by themselves. 7 of the game's 11 core classes are capable of spellcasting, and it would be suicide for any adventuring party to not include at least one dedicated caster amongst their ranks. Magic and spells are clearly an important part of the D&D experience. This week, I take a look at the rules regarding spellcasting, with an eye towards streamlining those rules to make perhaps the most unwieldy part of the game a bit simpler to handle.

Spell saving throw DCs is one area of the rules that causes particular trouble for late-game, high-level spellcasters. Whereas a spell like magic missile retains much of its usefulness for a 10th-level wizard, a charm person spell, with its relatively low save DC, often lacks the punch required to deal with the threats a 10th-level wizard must deal with. One could also look at the difference between charm monster and its inferior cousin and realize that the higher-level spell already has the more advantageous benefit of being applicable to any creature type. And why should all spell ranges stay the same when the DCs do not? Nestled elsewhere within the game there is a solution to be borrowed to address this unique phenomenon. A number of special abilities have DCs equal to 10 + 1/2 the level of the creature + some key ability modifier. I say spells should follow the same model. All spell saving throw DCs, regardless of level, should be equal to 10 + 1/2 the character's spellcaster level + the key ability modifier for casting. This also makes book-keeping a bit easier for casters, who have a difficult enough time as it is.

There is another aspect of spells that does not always seem to make sense: touch attacks. Melee touch attacks put the spellcaster dangerously close to enemies in the first place, but to make matters worse, they must then rely upon their Strength modifiers to help them hit. For some characters, such as clerics, this is not always horrible news, but one must wonder what a character with a high Strength score is doing casting spells instead of swinging a two-handed weapon. Many casters try to get a good Dexterity score, but not all are always so lucky. It makes sense to me that a spellcaster's key ability modifier should help in all aspects of spellcasting, including the application of touch spells. When calculating a spellcaster's attack bonus for a melee touch spell or ranged touch spell, a spellcaster may use his or her base attack bonus plus the key ability modifier for the spell being cast instead of the spellcaster's Strength or Dexterity modifier respectively.

These changes are not very difficult to make. They also fit neatly on top of existing stat blocks without really causing a fuss. For spell DCs, a simple way to effect the chance is to simply use the highest save DC listed (due to rounding, this may sometimes be off by 1, but it is close enough). Spellcasters rarely have their attack bonus for touch spells listed anyway so the DM is often forced to calculate it himself, and for players the correction is simple.

Next week, I'll address some specific spells that have caused problems for me and my gaming group in the past, as well as our solutions for those problems.

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I've had a pretty terrible run of health this past week and haven't had much time to mull over this week's entry on spells in 3.5. This little project of mine is something I like to take time to think out and do it when my head isn't hurting so much so I am going to have to put it off until next week. See you then!

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Oh you elusive little sub-systems. You pretend like you are easy to ignore because you aren't part of the core d20 mechanics, but it seems like each week we are forced to deal with a new one like some episodic plot device. This week I deal with some of the more troublesome sub-systems within the d20 mechanics. I call them sub-systems because they either aren't tied directly to the idea of rolling a d20 or the d20 is only a small part of their overall nature.

Death and Dying
Perhaps the worst offender of the subsystems is the arbitrary "death at -10 hit points" rule. While it works well at low levels, when damage levels are low enough that a single blow is not enough to put a character well below this threshold, it can spiral out of control at higher levels when damage becomes much greater. I am not opposed to the idea of greater potential for one-hit kills at higher levels (more powerful characters should be taking greater risks), but having the poor luck of being taken down to 1 hp when the monster still has one swing left in its attack routine is vicious.

As always, I have a relatively simple fix in mind. Any time a character falls to 0 or fewer hit points, that character must make a Fortitude save equal to 10 + damage dealt. If the character makes the save, then the character is alive and stable, but unconscious, unless he succeeds by 5 or more, in which case he is disabled and conscious. If the character fails the save, then he is unconscious and begins dying. Each round on his turn he must make another save at the same DC +1 (cumulative) until he succeeds, at which point he is stable. If the character fails the save by 5 or more at any point, then he is dead.

Variant: For a less lethal version of this rule, reduce the save DC by 5 or 10.

Craft
Leave it to Wizards of the Coast to take something that only a few people would even be interested in to begin with and make the process so completely nebulous that no one would even bother to comprehend it, let alone try it. I've never seen a soul use this skill in a 3rd edition game unless it was part of fulfilling the prerequisites of a prestige class.

So let's take a crack at this shall we? What is really at the crux of this is that WotC didn't want PCs making tons of money easily without adventuring for it, nor did they want them crafting better weapons and armor than they could afford. That's all well and good but I believe barriers of time and prescient Dungeon Masters are a better protection against such things. We can do without a simulationist system like the 3.5 book provides. So lets categorize items thus: arms/armor and general equipment.

General equipment, including alchemical equipment is fairly simple to make. Anything with a DC 10 or less requires 1 day or less and a successful check. Anything up to a DC 15 requires 2 days. Anything up to a DC 20 requires 3 days. Anything up to a DC 25 requires 4 days. Only one check is made. A failed check means you lose half the time (round up) and must start over. Failing by 5 or more means half the raw materials are also ruined. You can voluntarily add 10 to the DC to reduce the time by half, to a minimum of 1 day.

Arms/armor is a bit trickier, but not much. Simple weapons (excluding crossbows) and bows (excluding composite bows) take 2 days and require a DC 12 check. Crossbows, composite bows, martial weapons, shields, and light armor take 3 days and require a DC 15 check. For composite bows an extra day and +2 to the DC is required for each +1 to the Strength bonus added. Exotic weapons and medium armor take 1 week at a DC of 18. Heavy armor takes 1 month at a DC of 20, and full plate 2 months at the same DC. Again, only one check is made, as the rules for general equipment above.

This system approximates the same results, with less complicated math. Now that I look at it, I should probably put the results into a table. I will file that away as an idea for another week.

Next week, This Spells Trouble.

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I have intended to make regular updates every Thursday, but EN World frustrates me to no end with its intermittent stability. When I can't get the site to work with me, I find my motivation to work on the article is lost. Fret not though. I will work on the article for sub-systems apart from EN World and try to post it by next Thursday, assuming the site cooperates.

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We've all smelled it before, the odious scent of feats that leave us feeling a little queasy. Some feats are simply too good, some aren't good enough or in enough situations, and others are just plain cumbersome. Whatever the reason, dealing with some feats just gets downright stinky at times.

Now, I wouldn't dream of trying to address every feat in the game that causes problems. Some of the problems are predicated on a problem with another rule. Others are simply underused, but not necessarily problematic. I will ignore both of these types of feats as dealing with them is either unnecessary or will be addressed in the future. But sometimes the feat itself is the problem. Let's look at a few.

Power Attack and Combat Expertise are two particular pet peeves of mine, not because they are overpowered, but because they add to the math. Now simple addition and subtraction is not hard, but let's be honest, there are a lot of things I would just rather not do, and having the potential for 11 different attack bonuses, each with different damage bonuses, is a needless headache after I've already knocked back a couple of brews and am trying to forget the annoying things that have happened to me at work the past week.

Dodge is a great feat, but it is forgotten oh-so-often. Toughness doesn't really make much sense in the long run. Weapon Finesse not being available to 1st-level rogues does them a great disservice. There may be a few other minor offenders, but these a something of an eyesore that jump out either at the beginning of every campaign, or whenever I crack open my Player's Handbook to Chapter 5.

Fortunately, I believe in redemption. These feats can be scrubbed clean with a little bit of elbow grease. First, let's take Power Attack. While the versatility of being able to choose any number between 0 and your base attack bonus is nice, it can make the math cumbersome. I once had a player of a 12th level fighter carry around an entire page of all his possible attack iterations just so he wouldn't have to worry about it during the game. A single feat shouldn't require you to add an entire page to your character sheet. So here is the fix. You may, as a full-round action, make a single melee attack. Double your Strength bonus for the purpose of dealing damage with this attack. For each iterative attack you receive, increase the multiplier of this feat, such that you triple your Strength modifier if you receive a second attack, quadruple your Strength modifier if you receive a third attack, and so on. You still make only one attack. This makes Power Attack a tactical decision between making a full attack and making one powerful swing. A decision between two options is much simpler than the current system, and the math is easier since it only affects damage.

Combat Expertise has a similar problem, but not quite as drastic since the most of your base attack you can transfer to your AC is 5. It fortunately can be fixed just as easily. Whenever you fight defensively or use the total defense action, you add your Intelligence bonus as a dodge bonus to your AC. On top of being simpler to apply, it also rewards fighters for being smart. Imagine that!

By the time most players realize they forgot to declare the target of their Dodge feat, it is usually an opponent's turn, and thus, too late. My change fixes that problem. From now on, Dodge lets you add a +4 dodge bonus to your AC against a single attack as an immediate action in response to an opponent's attack, but before you know the result of the attack.

Toughness needs to be a bit better, but it also needs to be worthwhile if you take it multiple times. My fix is that Toughness grants 3 hit points the first time you take it plus 2 additional hit points each additional time you take it. So the second time you take Toughness it would grant you 5 hit points, the third time it would grant you 7, and so on.

Fixing Weapon Finesse is easy. There is no prerequisite for the feat, except that you must be proficient with any weapon you use to get the benefit from it.

So there you have it. Some of the most troubling feats have been fixed or made better with a little bit of headwork. Doesn't that leave a much more pleasing aroma?

Next week, Problems in the Sub-Systems.

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Last week, I elaborated on what I view as the problems with grappling and offered some quick fixes to the actions you can take while grappling to make it less futile and a bit more interesting. This week, I want to address some of the less obvious problems with the mechanic, such as omission of rules that I think should be there and the absence of rules for certain situations.

First off, is it really necessary to force a grappler to deal damage to his or her opponent upon successfully initiating a grapple? That should be an option, not a mandate. Sometimes you simply want to hold your opponent, not knock them out.

Regarding firing ranged weapons into a grapple; don't do it! As my friend David can tell you, the consequences can often have unintended, and fatal, results. But when it seems like the only option--and it usually isn't--it would be nice to have more concise rules than "Roll randomly to see which grappling combatant you strike." (Yes, this insightful bit of information does actually appear in the Player's Handbook in a footnote on page 151. If you missed it, don't feel bad. The designers apparently never thought you would find it either.) So how about this? Determine the odds of hitting each target in a grapple based on how many squares they would normally occupy. A human grappling an ogre would have a 1 in 5 chance of being targeted (a human normally occupies 1 square while an ogre occupies 4, for a total of 5 squares; divide individual totals by the total number of squares). In this case a simple % roll would suffice (20% chance of hitting the human). In the case of a dwarf grappling a behir (huge), a d10 would work (1 in 10 hits the dwarf). More complicated situations like the purple worm require more creative dice rolling, but roleplayers are supposed to be creative people. I have confidence you can figure it out.

So now we have improved upon your available options. You don't always half to succeed on a grapple check to do something while grappled, and such actions might prove useful. And best of all, you don't have to put sticky-notes by all the grapple entries in the Monster Manual! We've also addressed some of the other pesky little issues that always seem to leave my group (and perhaps yours) scratching their heads.

This brings us to my final issue with grappling. There really is no way to stick a dagger at someone's throat while you insist your demands be heard. The rules don't really support it, but it is a hallmark of dramatic tension. So I am going to take a stab (pun intended) at a relatively simple rule to accomplish this. First, let's say you must have your opponent pinned. Second, you must also have a light piercing or slashing weapon drawn--ever seen anyone hold a club to your throat? Third, you must succeed on a second grapple check as a standard action on your next turn without the opponent escaping the pin. If this second grapple check succeeds, you may, as an immediate action anytime before your next turn, deal a coup de grace to the opponent. To continue maintaining this death hold, you must continue to succeed on a grapple check each round and your opponent must not escape the pin, though you may take the immediate action to coup de grace your opponent if the latter attempt occurs. As a final stipulation, you may only use this maneuver on a creature within one size category of your character.

Whoa now! I can already hear the murmurs of "heresy" and "utter poppycock." Let's be realistic though. This tactic is not going to be
very practical to use against PCs, though it may be used against their weaker allies when the DM sees it necessary to drive a plot hook. Only humanoids and giants regularly carry weapons, few of them light weapons, and even fewer favor grapple attacks. A mean DM could easily concoct a monster of his own design that specialized in this tactic, but a DM can also abuse the assassin class. This way, when the brigand goes for the damsel on the cart, the PCs know they have at least two rounds to rescue her.

So that's my take on grappling. Take it for what it's worth. Some of these are just ideas. Others may someday worm their way into my game, or yours.

Next week, Stinky Feats.

airwalkrr

As Jarrett has taken the helm of our semi-weekly D&D session, I have stepped again into the role of a paladin in our new party. Now let me take a moment to explain the way I see roleplaying. The way I see it, there are three approaches. The first is simple. Your only speech is out of character and the only guiding principles for character development are those that are convenient. The second is more complex. You play what you know. If you have a knack for behaving like a scoundrel and speaking in thieves' cant you usually play rogues and seldom deviate from the path. Or if you have a penchant for grandiose language and eclectic eccentricities you play wizards. The final type of roleplaying is perhaps the most challenging of them all, selecting a character personality at random or on a whim and attempting to portray the character as well as possible. While this third attempt may not be a stimulating exercise in creativity since the ideas are rarely your own (unless of course you like to devise your own Table of Personality Traits), it is an extraordinary exercise in versatility, one that I enjoy very much. Hence, I have played back-talking barbarians, wise-cracking wizards, ruthless rogues, conscientious clerics, bombastic bards, and yes, pious paladins.

My last true effort at playing a paladin was cut short as he died an heroic death that was probably unnecessary. The only way my DM at the time offered to allow him to be raised was by an avatar of Loki; I smelled a terrible plot hook coming on and I didn't bite, choosing to roll up a new character instead. I have been itching to take a crack at the task again ever since and this changing of the DM chairs has allowed me to do so. One of the reasons I wanted to try the paladin again is because I was such a miserable one last time. I didn't fall from grace or anything like that (although every good paladin experience should come with at least an impending threat of such once in a while). But my character was not very commanding. I had a very difficult time taking charge of the role and playing him like the leader he should have been. If I had been Michael Keaton and roleplaying had been acting, it would have been the Multiplicity of my career; a terrible part and a jarring performance all in one.

Well now I am playing a paladin again and it feels good to be the beacon of light in a dungeon of darkness. (I used that line during the session too and no one noticed. How dare they!) Things have gone well so far. I feel like I am doing a pretty good job of living up to the paladin's code while still being a bit realistic. My character isn't necessarily a paragon of virtue; he has his flaws. But rather than your garden variety holier-than-thou persona, I have chosen a slightly different route. He is prideful to be sure, and has his share of vaingloriousness, but his true weakness is inability to accept anything less than full leadership of the party. So far, he has asserted himself as the de facto commander, pushing the party on and directing them in combat. But he has already made some unpopular decisions, such as deciding to return a magical sword we discovered to the family of its previous owner (privileged information he possessed by virtue of his impressive Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check). If the party should turn against him for any reason, it will be a great challenge indeed for him to remain with them as anything but their leader. If they insist on him stepping down, or something as abhorrent as democratic processes, which we all know are very unLawful things, then it could turn ugly.

I am looking forward to how this works out. However, I do look to be off on a good foot. For now, the party is at least listening to my paladin, even if they do roll their eyes at every other word.

I would like to move that "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s be designated the most annoying song in the world to have stuck in your head while blogging and that it should be stricken from the collective consciousness. All in favor?

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