Shadowdark Unless I am wrong

[Fenris-77]

Yeah, there are fun classes to use for the more hapless types, although not everyone finds those fun.

You could use a standard array, or let people roll a couple of sets of stats, or even swap stat sets during char gen. Nothing breaks. I like playing what I roll for the most part, but I also sympathize with the frustration of having a great idea for a character and not getting to use it.

I have no time for purity tests when it comes to this sort of topic. People should do what seems like fun.

 

[Mannahnin]

Yeah, there are fun classes to use for the more hapless types, although not everyone finds those fun.

I remember seeing a really cool Goblin class for B/X on a blog at one point that was designed for this- the other race/classes in B/X all have one or more ability minimums; the Goblin's requirement was no scores above 9. But it had neat abilities. I lost it somewhere, alas. Haven't been able to find it in the blogs the last couple of times I've gone looking.

But it's a great idea, gating a cool class or two behind LOW ability requirements.

 

[TwoSix]

That actually sounds pretty cool. Does that mean, technically, that no one could really ever roll a really bad character?

It means you don't ever have a character where the sum of their stats is below 63 (the average sum of stats for 3d6 down the line) if you don't want to.

Doesn't mean you won't have some weird outliers; as an example, if you rolled 18/8/8/8/8/8, that only adds up to 58. You could flip that to have 68 total points, with an array of 3/13/13/13/13/13, but that's not an easy choice (to me) to forgo that 18 and accept a 3.

 

[morrangor]

I hear you…I think starting max hp is a fine idea for your preferences…or at least half or something.

I may look at swords and wizardry too…though did really like the quick start rules a lot. I really liked the talents and spell failure rules along with the equipment slots.

I still like 5e but crave a little more grit. I can easily be a two system dude for fantasy play

My advice is adjusting the dials of the game to your preference. I use a house rule suggested by Sly Flourish for magic. If you fail a spell casting roll, you do not lose your spell for the day until you have cast it at least once. Starting with max hp at level might be your preference and that is fine. Ultimately it is your game and your groups to play.

 

[Scribe]

With Shadowdark, it just basically copies stuff from Hasbro-era D&D without really caring how it fits with an OSR design ethos.

This is really not accurate. You admittedly don't like OSR, you want to run more high powered, low risk, and heroic. All of which is fine, but Shadowdark absolutely fits OSR, and is fantastically designed.

 

[Retreater]

This is really not accurate. You admittedly don't like OSR, you want to run more high powered, low risk, and heroic. All of which is fine, but Shadowdark absolutely fits OSR, and is fantastically designed.

I made my point earlier. But the basic is OSE is balanced with OSE. Swords and Wizardry is balanced with itself. TSR-era D&D is balanced with itself. All of those can be interchanged because the ability scores are generated the same way and have the same meaning.
Shadowdark is based off 5E. It's from the Hasbro/d20 lineage.

 

[Scribe]

I made my point earlier. But the basic is OSE is balanced with OSE. Swords and Wizardry is balanced with itself. TSR-era D&D is balanced with itself. All of those can be interchanged because the ability scores are generated the same way and have the same meaning.
Shadowdark is based off 5E. It's from the Hasbro/d20 lineage.

So you think Shadowdark is...balanced against 5e?? Thats wildly inaccurate if thats the case.