Rule Changes I
Quoting myself ...
mythusmage said:
PHB: The PC's role in the game; the core mechanic; characteristics; races; family, friends, and society; classes; organizations; traits and background; skills, knacks, and tricks; combat; magic.
We'll be taking a closer look at each section in this post.
The PC's Role in the Game (aka The Introduction)
What
Dungeons & Dragons is about and the role of the player character in it. Covers in basic terms adventuring, encounters, non-player characters, and the role of the DM where the PCs are concerned.
Contains nothing about what roleplaying games are because new players can figure it out as they play.
The Core Mechanic
Roll a 20 sided die (1d20). Add any bonuses and subtract any minuses. If the modified roll is equal to or higher than a target number (the difficulty) the attempt succeeds. If the modified roll is less than the target number, the attempt fails.
The roll is either unopposed or opposed. In the case of unopposed rolls the target number is determined by the DM; the lower the number the easier the task is to perform. In the case of opposed rolls the target number is determined by a second party (often, but not always, the DM) rolling a d20 and modifying it as above. Obviously, the worse the other guy rolls the better for you.
Examples of unopposed rolls include bashing down doors and walls, dashing across a muddy street in a heavy rain, cooking for a small army, and crafting. Examples of opposed rolls include most combat (see
Combat for details) and contests. Something like picking locks can be either opposed or unopposed, depending on how the DM feels at the time.
Characteristics
No changes here.
Races
Each race gets two pages for information and description, with a half page illustration of typical members of the race. Information to include basics on families, society and culture, and interaction with other races.
Family, Friends, and Society
The PC's family, his friends, and how he fits into society. The DM is encouraged to use this information to make PCs' lives difficult.
Classes
2 to 4 page description (full pages) with a half page illustration of typical members of the class. Information on class abilities, and guidelines for adjusting abilities to create a variant on the class (a knight or samurai starting with a Fighter base for example).
Organizations (Note, this takes the place of prestige classes)
Clubs, bands, fraternal orders, and the like a PC can join so long as he meets the qualifications. Organizations provide special training and equipment which will often give a PC member an advantage over non-members of the same Character Class.
However, membership in an organization also entails extra obligations and can mean less free time to go adventuring. Thus less experience resulting in a lower level than a non-member. For example, an 8th level Knight of the Lesser Moon (not a real organization) will be better than a regular 8th level fighter, but by the time the PC in question has reached 8th his compatriots may have reached 10th.
(And I'm ending this here. In my next post I'll finish up my version of the D&D 4e PHB.)