D&D 5E Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

[xoth.publishing]

Regarding the Artificer class, I gather it’s from a supplemental book, Tasha’s Cauldron of everything? Not sure but should reference to where it’s found be put into the text somewhere?

Yes, it's assumed you will use the class from Tasha's. But I'm not sure the Open Gaming License (OGL) allows me to mention the book by name, so leaving it out just in case.

 

[xoth.publishing]

have players choose culture before nationality. Whether you're Civilized or Nomadic is the most defining aspect of a character, while your race or nationality is almost a footnote. Also, being given a list of which races support Civilized (or Nomadic etc) characters is much more natural, in my opinion, than trying to remember which exact cultures are supported by each nationality

This makes sense. I've been considering it for a while, but so far resisted to avoid having to redo the layout of the book.

offer a "men are mighty, women are voluptuous" optional rule that says that the starting Charisma of male characters is limited to 13 (instead of 15) before racial cultural modifiers. In the same way, the starting Strength of female characters is limited to 13 (instead of 15) before cultural modifiers.

Oh dear, that would get me into all kinds of trouble! No, despite its roots, Xoth is an equal opportunities world! Those who have different/strong opinions on this can always house rule it in.

simplify Deadly Criticals to simply say a critical hit kills any lower-leveled enemy encountered en masse (aka "mooks")

This could also be done by giving such mooks only 1 hit point, a la the Minion rule from 4E. (Personally I prefer to run masses of mooks as mobs/swarms, to speed up play and avoid micromanaging each individual opponent.)

 

[Paid a bod yn dwp]

This makes sense. I've been considering it for a while, but so far resisted to avoid having to redo the layout of the book.


Oh dear, that would get me into all kinds of trouble! No, despite it's roots, Xoth is an equal opportunities world! Those who have different/strong opinions on this can always house rule it in.


This could also be done by giving such mooks only 1 hit point, a la the Minion rule from 4E. (Personally I prefer to run masses of mooks as mobs/swarms, to speed up play and avoid micromanaging each individual opponent.)

Iirc AD&D did this with extra attacks on 1hd and 2hd opponents if you were a fighter. But the 4e approach is probably the most straightforward way to make a real “mook”

 

[xoth.publishing]

Iirc AD&D did this with extra attacks on 1hd and 2hd opponents if you were a fighter. But the 4e approach is probably the most straightforward way to make a real “mook”

The Minion rule is straightforward. But if you want to jazz up Fighters a little bit (they can use some extra jazz), you could say that Fighters (and only Fighters) who kill a Minion with a hit, immediately get another attack against a Minion within (melee) range, up to a maximum number of extra attacks equal to their Fighter level, and no moving allowed between these attacks. So, for example, a 5th-level Fighter could possibly kill up to 6 Minions in one round. That's some serious carnage!

 

[Paid a bod yn dwp]

So, for

That’s very cool.

 

[CapnZapp]

How much play time for you is at capstone level? I have 5e campaigns that run dozens of sessions at 20th, so I didn't really think about it being only a couple sessions at 10th.

I think general consensus is that the capstone level is only at the very end of a campaign, so some gonzo imbalance can't hurt...

 

[CapnZapp]

Those who have different/strong opinions on this can always house rule it in.

I hope you appreciate how I intentionally did not phrase my post as "official" suggestions for your product.

Edit: I have been meaning to add an expanded idea to that post (post #304, posted at Mar 15, 2021 at 8:55 PM), but so far a slight medical condition has largely kept me away from keyboard.

 

[Delazar]

@xoth.publishing pardon my lazyness, but would it be possible to have a list of the ALLOWED spells, instead of mentioning those that should be removed? Or did I miss it?

Awesome work btw, I'm really considering running a S&S campaign with 5e rules now. Getting a bit burned out on Eberron, and this is probably what I need.

 

[xoth.publishing]

@xoth.publishing pardon my lazyness, but would it be possible to have a list of the ALLOWED spells, instead of mentioning those that should be removed? Or did I miss it?

Sure. This should probably be included in the Player's Guide itself (like the spell list for the Cultist), but here's a list for your convenience for the other spellcasting classes (Druids and Warlocks). Note the list only includes spells from the SRD, or the Xoth Player's Guide (XPG). There are a few more spells in the PHB (and not in the SRD) that you'd probably want to allow as well.

Druid Spells

Cantrips (0 level)
Druidcraft
Guidance
Mending
Poison Spray
Produce Flame
Resistance
Shillelagh

1st Level
Animal Friendship
Charm Person
Detect Poison and Disease
Entangle
Faerie Fire
Fertility Charm (XPG)
Fog Cloud
Goodberry (healing only, not sustenance)
Jump
Longstrider
Purify Food and Drink
Speak with Animals
Thunderwave

2nd level
Animal Messenger
Barkskin
Darkvision
Enhance Ability
Find Traps
Flame Blade
Flaming Sphere
Gust of Wind
Heat Metal
Hold Person
Lesser Restoration
Locate Animals or Plants
Locate Object
Moonbeam
Pass without Trace
Protection from Poison
Spike Growth

3rd level
Call Lightning
Conjure Animals
Daylight
Dispel Magic
Meld into Stone
Plant Growth
Protection from Energy
Sleet Storm
Speak with Plants
Wind Wall

4th level
Blight
Confusion
Conjure Minor Elementals
Conjure Woodland Beings
Control Water
Dominate Beast
Drums of Panic (XPG)
Freedom of Movement
Giant Insect
Hallucinatory Terrain
Ice Storm
Locate Creature
Stone Shape
Stoneskin
Wall of Fire

5th level
Antilife Shell
Awaken
Commune with Nature
Conjure Elemental
Contagion
Geas
Greater Restoration
Insect Plague
Planar Binding
Scrying
Snake Staff (XPG)
Tree Stride
Wall of Stone

6th level
Conjure Fey
Find the Path
Heroes' Feast
Move Earth
Sunbeam
Sticks to Serpents (XPG)
Transport via Plants
Wall of Thorns

7th level
Fire Storm
Mirage Arcane
Raise the Ancient Lizard-Gods (XPG)
Regenerate
Reverse Gravity
Sorcery of the Skull (XPG)

8th level
Antipathy/Sympathy
Control Weather
Earthquake
Feeblemind
Sunburst

9th level
Foresight
Storm of Vengeance


Warlock Spells

Cantrips (0 level)
Chill Touch
Eldritch Blast
Mage Hand
Minor Illusion
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
True Strike

1st Level
Charm Person
Expeditious Retreat
Hellish Rebuke
Illusory Script
Protection from Evil and Good (aka the Sign of Xoth)
Unseen Servant

2nd level
Darkness
Enthrall
Hold Person
Incantation of the Broken Limb (XPG)
Mirror Image
Misty Step
Ray of Enfeeblement
Shatter
Spider Climb
Suggestion

3rd level
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Fear
Gaseous Form (movement along ground only, not in air)
Hypnotic Pattern
Magic Circle
Major Image
Remove Curse
Tongues
Vampiric Touch

4th level
Banishment (native target gets save every round)
Blight
Curse of Green Decay (XPG)
Hallucinatory Terrain

5th level
Contact Other Plane
Curse of Double Death (XPG)
Dream
Hold Monster
Lifeleech (XPG)
Lover's Curse (XPG)
Scrying

6th level
Circle of Death
Conjure Fey
Create Undead
Eyebite
Flesh to Stone
Mass Suggestion
True Seeing

7th level
Etherealness
Finger of Death
Forcecage
Soul Vulture (XPG)

8th level
Demiplane
Dominate Monster
Feeblemind
Glibness
Power Word Stun

9th level
Astral Projection
Foresight
Imprisonment
Power Word Kill

 

[Delazar]

awesome, thanks!