Recent content by fuindordm

Being more lenient with thieves comes with age... I was harsher when I was young and my friends would try to convince me that their character could climb a wall, move silently, and backstab Tiamat simultaneously. Today I just think that if the rules discourage a player from using their...

I just had a conversation with one of my players about the feel of combat in 1st-2nd edition vs 3rd & 5th edition. For context, the party is playing Village of Hommelet and just finished the boss battle in the moathouse. He was struck by two differences: First, there is a lot more missing but...

Druids are one of the most unique classes in the game. What other class gets 3rd level spells so early? They level up lightning fast until the duels start... The implementation is not perfect, same as for every other D&D class, but it is a noble effort to create an option that feels very...

Hmm... Pure 1e (without Unearthed Arcana or later books) is still a petty tight system for short adventures and long-term campaigns. Without adding anything from 2e, it holds together well--but you need to take it for what it is, and not try to make it what it isn't. For example: What about...

In theory a player can certainly role-play a pure fighter as a leader and strategist, sure. In practice, in my 40+ years of gaming, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a player lean into that archetype. Why? 1. Survivability trumps role-play -- players would rather...

Add to those unsafe spells: In AD&D when the fly spell ends you fall, it doesn't change into feather fall. Haste is very powerful but can age the target and force a system shock roll. Contact other plane can drive you insane. Most spells are safe but enough of them aren't that magic feels like...

I think one of the big mood shifts, that happened sometime between 3rd and 4th, is the stripping away of consequences from player choices and actions. You can be any race, any class, put your ability scores anywhere you want, specialize in any type of magic, and still be competent at everything...

Regarding cantrips, I saw a nice suggestion here on ENworld a while back: to give wizards access to cantrip-like at will abilities linked to their prepared spells. So if you have flaming sphere or fireball memorized, maybe you can cast fire bolt (d4 ranged fire damage) at will. But after you...

True, I forgot that one. It doesn't quite fit into an 1e/2e style game but introducing healing surges (and later hit dice) as a player-controlled, mundane resource was brilliant. 5e could have run with the concept and done something really interesting with hit dice, by making them a balancing...

A few people have mentioned kits. I actually never used them much while I was playing 2E but I get the appeal. I think 5e subclasses try to fill the same niche. You can easily have 10-20 subclasses per base class. In an alternate universe, 3E could have carried over kits while expanding their...

I'm currently running an AD&D campaign but sneaking in some houserules inspired by later editions. This got me thinking: If you had to pick just one rule innovation from each edition of D&D to add as a house rule to your current campaign (of any edition), then what would it be? What evolutions...

A friemd of mine at Uni ran a Fantasy HERO campaign in the Eshthar universe. He modeled all seven or eight types of magic pretty easily with those rules.

Watt-Evans is one of my favorite authors to this day, and his first major series The Lords of Dūs is a worthy successor to Appendix N swords & sorcery.

Good point from @GnomeWorks . If other classes have common access to abilities that are part of the psion's core identity, it kind of de-justifies the class. Of course this is a problem with later editions of D&D generally, where the different spellcasting classes and spell lists bleed into each...

I just started a 1e game but I houseruled in some key concepts from 2e like specialized wizards, specialized priests, and a simpler bard. I feel in love with 3e back in the day because it was new and shiny, but as I get older I am less and less enamored with the "one mechanic to rule them all"...