D&D General Ready for playtest: a "5E-lite" retroclone

[HephaistosFnord]

But even they didn’t use paces.

yeah they did, they called them "spaces" tho bc they were trying to be deliberately tabletop-wargamey.

 

[HephaistosFnord]

I saw that but it’s not clear what the prof. die is unless I’m just blind. Is it the attack die? If it is, how would I know to equate that to prof. die?

Sorry, "proficiency die" is going to change depending on what proficiency you're using; this is explained in several places.

- If you're a Wizard, and you're casting a Wizard spell, then you're using your Arcana die.

- If you're an Artificer, and you're activating a magic item you created, then you're using your Crafting die.

- If you're a Druid, and you're casting a Druid spell, then you're using your Nature die.

- If you're a Cleric, and you're performing a Cleric miracle, then you're using a Willpower die.

All of these are explained in the specific class feature descriptions.

 

[TiQuinn]

yeah they did, they called them "spaces" tho bc they were trying to be deliberately tabletop-wargamey.

Yes but that had a purpose. Spaces corresponded directly to something in front of the player. A Chessex battle map. Paces are more abstract.

 

[HephaistosFnord]

This shouldn't be confusing in practice, because if you're a Wizard then you're a Wizard, so you're always using your Arcana die even if the Druid over there is using his Nature die. You'll know that your Arcana die is a d10 (or whatever) bc it's the same d10 that you used the last time you cast a spell, and the time before that, and the time before that...

If you go up a level and decide to increase your Arcana die to a d12, then all your spells will start using a d12 instead of a d10.

 

[HephaistosFnord]

Yes but that had a purpose. Spaces corresponded directly to something in front of the player. A Chessex battle map. Paces are more abstract.

I am very confused.

 

[HephaistosFnord]

Anyway! Of all the things I'm looking for feedback on, I think tightening up the explanation of dice stuff is the most relevant right now; I'm definitely not interested in abandoning the "paces" and "leagues" terminology.

But it's definitely important that spells point at a proficiency die that might be a different proficiency for one character than for another, esp. for Wizard spells, bc a Wizard spell might wind up getting cast in one of 3 circumstances:

• a Wizard might be casting a spell directly, using their Arcana proficiency
• Someone might be casting a spell from a magic item an Artisan created, using the Artisan's Crafting proficiency
• an Artifice Domain Cleric might be casting as Wizard spell as if it were a Cleric miracle, using their Willpower proficiency

in any of those cases, the actual proficiency being used to cast the spell will determine the die size for that spell.

 

[TiQuinn]

I am very confused.

What’s confusing? 4e referred to spaces the same as a vinyl battle map. Paces vary. It’s based on someone’s stride.

 

[HephaistosFnord]

What’s confusing? 4e referred to spaces the same as a vinyl battle map. Paces vary. It’s based on someone’s stride.

Actually, a "pace" is a standard unit of measure, equal to 5 feet. (It comes from Roman times, when they drilled everyone to have the same stride length, bc keeping in formation matters)

 

[TiQuinn]

Of all the things I'm looking for feedback on, I think tightening up the explanation of dice stuff is the most relevant right now;

So I think you’re sacrificing clarity for compactness. You’ve got multiple terminology referring to same mechanic but it changes depending on context, but that’s not readily apparent! I think work on removing some of the extra terms and add in several examples of real world play the same as you’ve done in this thread, and it’ll read so much easier. It may mean that it’s not as short a document, but IMO, the clarity is the more important factor.

Actually, a "pace" is a standard unit of measure, equal to 5 feet. (It comes from Roman times, when they drilled everyone to have the same stride length, bc keeping in formation matters)

Do you think someone’s going to know that just reading these rules? Probably not.

 

[Autumnal]

I just wanted to note that there alternatives besides 5e and OSR. From early days, game design has shared the motto of gonzo world music band 3 Mustaphas 3: “Forward in all directions!” Take 13th Age and Pathfinder: neither is evolving to parallel D&D development, and neither is evolving to be more like older games. [1] they’re diversifying, going in directions their particular creators find interesting. That, I think, is your space: neither forward nor backward along a line some other games are on.

[1]: You in the back, saying something about Space Opera and PF2. Yes, you. Shut up with that.