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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Orius" data-source="post: 4670457" data-attributes="member: 8863">If I'm not mistaken, I believe that is how the rules for 3.x were always supposed to work.  In fact, 3.x went beyond the traditional "no more than 2 rings" and codified equipment slots as a way of limiting magic item use.You could add in some old-school rules like drinking more than one potion at once can have unpredictable and dangerous results, or that merely looking at the text on a cursed scroll triggers the curse (I always use the latter).Magic items in treasure should be totally random.  Stick with the minor/medium/major categories, since they give a general idea of how powerful an item is supposed to be, and will help to prevent the PC from getting something too overpowered (naturally, you can just override this if you want).  Also, include the occasional cursed item to keep them on their toes, don't just go with the DMG cursed list, but use the cursed stuff from the older books.  Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the insta-kill curses, that's in poor taste IMO, but that's your call.  Also, run cursed items like they were in the old days, the items will identify as something beneficial, but the curse takes effect when the item is activated (I do this in my campaigns as well).  There's no reason to totally dump lots of abilities on weapons.  If you don't like that it feels video-gamey or some such, just make every item that has more than 1 or 2 special abilities a unique item with a history.  Or maybe such weapons are intelligent.  Don't mix the abilities nilly-willy either, put them together so they feel logical with the weapon's history.  This is the balance I prefer in my campaigns; basic +1, +2, maybe +3 weapons and armor are relatively ordinary and common, as are the weapons with a single ability, like say flaming swords.  +4 and greater, as well as powerful weapons are rare and often unique.  Of course you could always throw the occasional oddball in there and chalk it up to another bat<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> crazy wizard -- there's always lots of those in the backgrounds of old-school settings.For magic item creation, substitute the rules for power components for spells instead of XP cost, and make the PCs gather the components they'll need.  You could look at the 2e books Spells and Magic and High Level Campaigns as well, since they had some very good guidelines for item creation.  I'd say stay lenient with one-shot stuff like potions and scrolls or limited stuff like wands (though maybe have fewer charge on wands, maybe 20).  That's how I handle magic item shops.  Random selection, max weapon/armor bonus +2 or +1 with a single ability.  Scrolls usually not higher than 3rd or 4th level.  No medium or major maigc items for sale.  PCs likely won't always find what they're looking for, but might find something unusual and interesting.  If you're feeling very generous, you could even slip in an item or two they might find useful on the adventure, but don't know that.  And haggle the prices, by the book pricing isn't goingg to happen often.If you use Prestige Classes, my suggestion would be to use stuff that definitely harkens back to 1e stuff.  Go through the DMG and Complete books, see which ones are like that and use them, or come up with your own classes.  Remember that PrCs are supposed to be at the DM's discretion, and the DM decides which ones are available, and the DM is also encouraged to create PrCs which fit the setting.2e?  I know cat's grace first appeared in Spells and Magic, but I thought (bull's) strength went all the way back to 1e?  If not, you could handle the spells like 2e did, that is classes benefit differently from the spells, i.e, a fighter gets a much bigger boost from bull's strength than a wizard does.  I agree that sticking close to core is probably best.  Avoid 3.x core classes like Warlock and such that don't feel like classic D&D.  In fat, I'd say stick with just the PHB classes except the Sorcerer, which should be dropped as well.  Any optional core class that has a strong sword & sorcery feel to it that wouldn't feel out of place as an optional 1e class could stay if the DM wishes it.Assuming the group likes psionics to begin with; it was always optional and somewhat controversial.  Go with the 3e rules if you want psionics because of the balance.I agree with this.  Get rid of the really strange 3.x gear, especially if it's twinky.  Maybe keep some of the racial weapons for flavor, or at least design ones that fit better with a classic game.  I've always liked the idea of orc shotputs myself, though this is really a matter of taste.I don't agree with adding lots of obscure polearms.  Just because Gary liked 'em doesn't mean they'll actually add anything to the campaign.  In my experience, few people really do much with polearms on their PCs except for stuff like halberds or pikes, and it's probably because they have crappy damage, slow weapon speeds, and lacked the "cool" factor of stuff likes swords and axes.  Personally, I like how 3e cleaned up equipemnt lists by simplifying weapon selection and paring out a lot of redundant stuff that wasn't statistically different; downside was that they went with a lot of dumb-ass double weapons or inane stuff like mercurial weapons.That's always been my view on the issue.  It's not so much the rules themselves, it's how the game is run.  Also rein in some of the 3.x specific stuff that's cheesy.  For one is the 15-minute workday.  I definitely don't like players pulling that.  Agree with your players before hand which elements of 3.x gameplay isn't going to be used, and abide by it.  I don't see anything wrong with using monster templates myself, but I agree with not having tons of weird ass half-hybrids of everything.  Monsters shouldn't be a big deal for the DM, just use what you want to use.</blockquote>

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