Criticise my Grognard d20

Im trying to capture 1E aesthetics with 3E/ d20 rules. Any constructive criticism appreciated.


Setting:
A three way mix of Middle Earth, Medieaval Europe, and Greyhawkesque D&D.
"Low-Mid" Magic: a relatively small selection of naturally occuring humanoids and monsters: generally a low-mid power level game. The planned campaign should take characters to about level 6-8 at which point they will be locally renowned heros.

Reason for not just playing 1E

xp for treasure difficult in 'quasi-mediaeval' setting
initiative etc. bit wooly
d20 looks easier to tweak
felt like a change
the old-school adventure to be used (Starstone) is a sort of drift away from normal 1E AD&D anyway.
dont like C&C

Races:
Human, Elf, half-Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Hobbit

Classes:
Fighters, Rangers, Paladins, Clerics, Druids, Wizards, Rogues

Allowable Race/class combinations

Human and half-elf: any
Elf: Fighter, Ranger, Wizard, Druid, Cleric*
Dwarf: Fighter, Rogue, Cleric*
Gnome: Fighter, Rogue, Cleric*, Wizard* (illusionist)
Hobbit: Rogue

" * " - This combination must be multiclassed and cannot go above a higher level than the other classes.


Other rules mods:

Silver standard - all costs divided by 10: treasure rare
Item creation - back in the DMs hands
xp: For challenges as per 3E with extras for challenges avoided/deflected etc. and other goals achieved. Formula will be tinkered with once play underway. Earlier levels (3-6) should be achieved in 2-4 sessions per level. Later levels to take longer.

Players will start at 2nd level, but poor.


Any comments?

In particular, are there some d20-isms untouched that will 'spoil' my old school / Low-mid magic / low-mid power level aesthetic?

Seems like this will accomplish what I think you are looking for.

Just clarifying, Gnomes are limited as Wizards, but not as Illusionists?

I would allow "Hobbits" something more than just Rogue. They're not Kender after all

I would allow demi-human single class Clerics; perhaps they are only limited if they multi-class?

What about NPC classes?

Regarding item creation, you don't have to have a heavy hand. I believe you can limit item creation just through the cost (e.g. magic item prices are still in gold) or via special components. I would not disallow scroll or potion creation.

You might consider any of a variety of masterwork item systems available to provide nifty types of masterwork items in lieu of magic items.

One challenge in a low magic campaign where multi-classing is an option, you may find every PC is a multi-class spell caster. Not necessarily a bad thing -- I would just make sure they have a good background story and enforce those material component requirements.

Have fun!

My meaning of "low-mid magic" is that although there are spellcasters around, they dont dominate the setting - castles and armies and mundane economics and politics still matter. In a way, multiclassed spellcasters are more in keeping than single classed.

As for demihuman clerics, my thinking is: I want the "party cleric" to be human. However, if the dwarven or elven fighter has a level or two of cleric,
occasionally invoking their ancestors for assistance, thats cool.
Similarly id like gnomes to be capable of a little arcane magic. But not a lot.

Also, FYI:
there should be 6 of us.
im not interested in competitive character creation.

Are there any non-obvious surprises in the 3E rules? (Eg: "wizards turn into headaches at 5th level if they get feats X and Y and spell Z)

NN said:

Races:
Human, Elf, half-Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Hobbit

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Weren't half-orcs also present in 1E?

Hobbit: Rogue

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Why are halflings more liimted in options than even gnomes? In BECMI and other early systems, they were actually closer to rangers or fighters than rogues.

What about prestige classes? Are they available?

I have found that the XP tables for 3E let the players advance too fast. I would suggest changing the XP progression. I tend to give my 3E players between 75% and 50% XP for encounters and with the current progression scale they still level every other session, some have leveled twice in one session. The problem is that there is a linear progression instead of an exponential scale like in 1E.

Also, let the hobbits be fighters as well, they have a great deal of courage.

Actually, AD&D was exponential until you got to "name level" and then it was linear. And d20 is not linear by definition since every level would have to increase by a set amount, its closer to the progression of a Fibonacci sequence though it grows less slowly and is governed by Guass's formula of sums.

The only comments I can think of are that any monster with more than 5 DR should get +1 CR (since treasure is rare) as well as any monster with a major HD-based DC attack (like dragon dreath); both can apply. I don't know how you feel about special materials; if you are not crazy about them, it's not a bad idea to let magical weapons overcome DR x/cold iron or x/silver.

Since magic items are going to hard to come by, and so is wealth, I think the costs for potions and scrolls are going to be vastly inflated. In AD&D, magic items were hard to make and involved DM cooperation but potions and scrolls could be produced with little fuss from basic ingredients. I would strongly consider leaving potions and scrolls as available feats for PCs, and changing the cost to 10 (adjusted) sp x spell level, with no xp cost, but requiring a day to produce per spell level. Or something like that. Definitely, scrolls and oils of magic weapon should not be a rarity if you want the PCs to have some weapon choices.

For old school humanoids, definitely use more warrior and adept levels than PC classes.

NN said:

the old-school adventure to be used (Starstone)

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That is an oldie but goodie. Are you using the "Trouble at Embertrees" as an intro/sidetrek?


Edit: You might look into letting Hobbits take the "Expert" NPC class from UA, maybe to model a "Merchant".
You might also think of allowing the Bard class as a Prestige Class for that 1e Old School feel.
Also, watch the access to "Buffs" and "Summonings".

Fate Lawson said:

Edit: You might look into letting Hobbits take the "Expert" NPC class from UA, maybe to model a "Merchant".
You might also think of allowing the Bard class as a Prestige Class for that 1e Old School feel.
Also, watch the access to "Buffs" and "Summonings".

Click to expand...

I'm feeling all helpful and stuff, so: Generic Classes (including the PC Expert; Prestige Bard.

There are lots of interesting things there (i.e., from Unearthed Arcana, the 3rd edition version). Among them, you'll also find some possibly useful (Gnome-specific?) Illusionist Variants, for instance.

If I was looking at these rules as a potential player (or DM) there are things I would certainly prefer to be changed: Gnome limits on Illusionist levels - muh? Isn't that their 'thing'?; Non-human - er, except for half-elves - limits on Cleric levels - muh? The gods hate them all, or something? Or humans are just special little twinkies? Er, and half-elves. . .

I like the rest. There are also a number of things I'd add, for different flavour and such, but that's just down to taste. But still, the rest looks pretty solid. I agree though, Hobbits could do with at least one or two more options, for classes. Even just variants - again, look to UA (or d20srd.org) for some ideas here, perhaps.

Hard level limits and restrictions have always been kind of weird. Is there some reason a dwarf absolutely couldn't devote himself to studying to be a cleric?

Hobbits are tricky... strictly from a flavor standpoint, an old school halfling would be something like a rogue/warrior. The Thug variant in Unearthed Arcane (3e) is probably a good fit, a fighter in light armor with more skills. Perhaps if that were allowed for them and fighter wasn't?