D&D General From Another Edition

[John Quixote]

What are some old edition things you brought into your game (or for that matter, for those playing older editions, what are some new edition things you brought into your older edition game)? How did it go?

My edition of choice is BECMI/Cyclopedia, but with a few major house rules pulled from earlier editions (or their retro clones) and two important bits that are at least partially borrowed from later editions (2nd and 3rd).

From various LBB/Oe clones like Swords & Wizardry and White Box FMAG, I borrow the ability score modifier table that only goes up to ±1 (rather than the BXcetera standard that goes to ±3). Because I prefer to cut down on the power creep.

From 1st Edition, I borrow a scaled-down version of the all-important rules for training to level up, which are very necessary to an old-school campaign if you want players developing whole stables of player characters over time. This, in conjunction with the 1:1 time rules outlined in both Oe and 1e.

From 2nd Edition, I take the idea behind my version of the monk class, which is a divine caster. Monks were fully a sub-class of clerics in Oe, but they're always this weird thiefy martial artist weird power-user class in their every incarnation (Oe Blackmoor, 1e PHB and OA and Dragon Magazine, 2e Scarlet Brotherhood, everything 3e and later except for 4e where they're kinda psionic) — except for the 2e priest kit and the priest-type monk from Players Option Spells & Magic. I like that priestly spellcaster monk vibe, so I use it.

From 3rd Edition (or rather, 3e-based games like Pulp Heroes and d20 Past), I get the mechanics for my tinker/engineer class.

 

[Xenolith234]

I do wonder what all I can port from previous editions into 5e - monster abilities, rules, etc. I think the internet commenters would rebel, but I feel it’s not entirely unlikely that people are already doing such things and just don’t post/debate about them online.

 

[cbwjm]

One thing I pulled into 5e was things triggering when someone is bloodied, technically already in 5e, high level champions regenerated when bloodied, I think life cleric's domain abilities could heal up people who were bloodied and restore them to no more than half health.

I also brought in the idea of elites from 4e, I'm not sure if it fully followed the elites of 4e but it made them more of a threat by giving them advantage on certain saves so that they couldn't as easily be taken out and also granted additional bonuses depending on their tier. I wonder if I still have my notes...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

One thing I pulled into 5e was things triggering when someone is bloodied, technically already in 5e, high level champions regenerated when bloodied, I think life cleric's domain abilities could heal up people who were bloodied and restore them to no more than half health.

I also brought in the idea of elites from 4e, I'm not sure if it fully followed the elites of 4e but it made them more of a threat by giving them advantage on certain saves so that they couldn't as easily be taken out and also granted additional bonuses depending on their tier. I wonder if I still have my notes...

Bloodied is such a great status to hang things off of.

I use that, too, as well as sometimes grabbing monsters from late 4e, amd magic thrown weapons returning, other odds and ends. I have considered using 4e weapon properties but i want more time with weapon mastery before i mess with weapons again.

And of course skill challenges!

 

[Gorg]

I do this all the time, including using adventures written for past editions.

Some of my most recent pulls:

Minotaur Lizards. (1E)

I also had to pull stats for Elite and chieftain Troglodytes out of my butt, because nobody at WOTC bothered, nor did Troll Lord games (my favorite non WOTC monster books)

Giant Bombardier Beetles. AD&D- I statted them out, then remembered to check teh Googles, lol. Sure enough, someone already had, lol.

Magic items, such as the AD&D Wand of Fire- which has several spells it can cast. It fits with the new 7 charge system nicely- you just have to consider carefully, when you use it to cast a spell that uses multiple charges. And, frankly, the spam fireball schtick is long played out...

I also semi-created a monster to fill the shoes of a made just for this module! monster that's the "capstone" of the first level. It is a variant Drake. The OG was part dragon, part huge snake, with formiddable offensive capability. Nothing I found even came close...

I eventually gave up on the constrict ability, and just modded 2 existing monsters, and a 1 for 1 swap with another. So 3 different versions: A modded Young Green Dragon CR9, A modded Drakon (Tome of Beasts), and a young Cave Dragon (also ToB) Then ran encounters against each with a group of characters I had laying around. All have an acid gas cloud breath weapon, all have a poisonous bite, and all have a 4x multi attack. claw/claw/bite/tail. The Drakon also has a gaze attack, while the dragons have spells.

All in all, the modded Drakon was my favorite to run, and got the nod. For best results, get the jump on initiative!!!! No 6th or 7th level party is going to withstand multiple breath weapons... ( the module is for 6-8 level characters. 5-7 of them) This thing is mean, and deadly- like a BBEG should be. AND has a tactical advantage per the module. It has a sweet hoard, for those who can defeat it.

Edit: The Drakon and Cave Dragon are from the Creature Codex, not the Tome of Beasts. Both from Kobold Press. Huge books, with lots of interesting beasties. both for 5e.

 

[Brendan Byrd]

Purchased Acquisitions Inc. as material to backport into 3.x/d20.

 

[GrimCo]

Once, when i finally move my lazy ass, i'll port stance/maneuver system from 3.5 Bo9S into 5e. I have some rough outlines, but i need to finish going trough all of them, see what's plug&play, what needs tweaking and what's worthless.

 

[Silam]

I’ve had a feeling in 3.5 the Bard was meh. Then in 5e the feeling 10X-ed. I didn’t know why. I picked up the 2nd ed PHB and flipped through the Bard entry and thought it felt pretty nice actually. The Bard lost its way. Would be nice to fix it. I know @Steampunkette gave it a stab. Maybe something more dramatic still. Give them back their spellbook!

 

[el-remmen]

A few things mostly from 3e.

• No Reactions before you act for the first time in initiative.
• Delay action
• Readied Action (like Delay above) moves your place in initiative
• Some spells have effects determined by alignment (but only on the Law/Chaos axis)

There are a few other things, but I can’t remember right now since after a while they become old hat and I start to forget which edition things come from.

 

[Gorg]

I've just spent a bunch of time with the lewt sheet from the last module. It, too was from 2e, and there were plenty of discrepancies...

For example, the wand of fire can cast the Pyrotechnics spell- which no longer exists. So I'll just use the 2e version, and made the fx a DC13 Wisdom save. (blindness, or heavy obscurement, forcing a save to avoid a -2 penalty to attack rolls and AC.) The version of burning hands it casts produces a 10' x 15' sheet of flame dealing a flat 6hp dam to any it touches, no save. I left it as is. Fireball and wall of fire, just got swapped for the current version.

They also found a ring of spell storing, with 3 spells in it- one of which was Lesser Globe of Invulnerability. Another spell that no longer exists. It is 4th level, and protects against up to 3rd level spells. That was easy, as GoI DOES exist- working against up to 5th level. it also contains Anti Magic field, and Protection from Normal Missiles- which also got the axe at some point. So, it just has the old spell in it. this provides a conundrum: a long lost spell from a bygone age! Do I use it? or do I try to research it?

The Greater Cloak of The Arachnid, I swapped for a Cloak of Arachnidia. Still a very useful item! The Thief claimed that one.

A unique item we found is Plate mail +1 of Command. I haven't tried to look it up yet. Not sure if I would give it x uses of the Command spell/day, or some sort of leadership ability. The Cleric owns it now, as his scale mail had seen better days...

There is also a breastplate that acts as an amulet of life protection. Still unclaimed, as all martials already have more protective armor. It's special purpose might come in handy someday though!

What they don't know, is that the lower level of this dungeon is chock full of powerful undead- I rewrote it, as the OG has a stupidly powerful RELIC and a bunch of demons- in a module for 6-8 levels... All of them unique to this module- and I did NOT feel like rewriting that many monsters. AND without the relic, they had no reason to be hanging out down there. Since this party includes a Cleric, Paladin, AND an Abjurer, I figured a bunch of interesting undead would be a better fit!