How would YOU change Shadowdark?

[darjr]

Under Terrain on page 89.

“Attacking or casting a spell on a creature that is hiding at least half its body behind interposing terrain has disadvantage. If you can't see a creature at all due to terrain, you can't target it.”

You lose a spell if the roll fails. Targeting someone behind partial cover gives disadvantage. Hence losing your spell for the day because of cover. Like I said, it’s an edge case and one reason for separating casting and resistance rolls. But it just doesn’t make sense as it stands.

I get your point, funny though I didn't see it that way, though I have explained rolling to cast as a simplification without saving throws or to hit rolls.

I saw it as making it harder to cast the spell on a target you can't make out completely, not that your trying to hit them like with an arrow or a thrown dagger. Magic is dangerous, think of the wish spell, so you need to get it right, and if you only have partial information it's easier to get it wrong.

Now the simplification, removing saving throws and to hits, is great. I do like that. But from now on I'm going to make a point in my explanations that the spell roll doesn't "replace" them. It just gives us a reason we don't need them.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Good call. I had overlooked that rule.

Yeah...it's a little weird.

 

[darjr]

Oh, speaking of spells, I'm considering allowing "spellburn" to regain a spell. If a PC spellburns enough stat points to make up the difference between what they rolled and success they can keep the spell.

@SlyFlourish Might be less generous then letting them cast it that one last time they failed.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Oh, speaking of spells, I'm considering allowing "spellburn" to regain a spell. If a PC spellburns enough stat points to make up the difference between what they rolled and success they can keep the spell.

@SlyFlourish Might be less generous then letting them cast it that one last time they failed.

So, if you miss the roll by two, you burn two points of a stat? And it heals as normal stat damage?

Any restrictions to which stats?

 

[darjr]

So, if you miss the roll by two, you burn two points of a stat? And it heals as normal stat damage?

Any restrictions to which stats?

I'd go with physical. Considering most spellcasters would have lower physical stats anyway. Might tie it to specific classes though just i case some kind of str caster happens.

 

[overgeeked]

Oh, speaking of spells, I'm considering allowing "spellburn" to regain a spell. If a PC spellburns enough stat points to make up the difference between what they rolled and success they can keep the spell.

@SlyFlourish Might be less generous then letting them cast it that one last time they failed.

Yeah, pulling in spellburn is a great idea. There’s a lot I’d like to pull in from DCC. But you very quickly run into the “why not just play DCC” problem. I’ve described Shadowdark as DCC RPG as filtered through 5E. I think it’s accurate, but it’s also why I’ve held off on diving too much into Shadowdark. I already have DCC RPG. Might run into the same problem with Shadowdark as 5E. That’s where all the players are, so…

 

[darjr]

Yeah, pulling in spellburn is a great idea. There’s a lot I’d like to pull in from DCC. But you very quickly run into the “why not just play DCC” problem. I’ve described Shadowdark as DCC RPG as filtered through 5E. I think it’s accurate, but it’s also why I’ve held off on diving too much into Shadowdark. I already have DCC RPG. Might run into the same problem with Shadowdark as 5E. That’s where all the players are, so…

Good point. Still I think DCC makes for a great souce of house rules for all kinds of games anyway. Think of it the same way a lot of folks think of MCC or XCC, sort of supplements to DCC.

 

[overgeeked]

Good point. Still I think DCC makes for a great souce of house rules for all kinds of games anyway. Think of it the same way a lot of folks think of MCC or XCC, sort of supplements to DCC.

Absolutely. Spell scrolls in Shadowdark with DCC spells. Including the charts. Yum.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Absolutely. Spell scrolls in Shadowdark with DCC spells. Including the charts. Yum.

That's a great way to do it, since it means you only roll on those tables for magic items, not every time the wizard wants to spam magic missile.

 

[overgeeked]

That's a great way to do it, since it means you only roll on those tables for magic items, not every time the wizard wants to spam magic missile.

I thought so too, that’s why I stole it. No idea where I saw it, but it was too good to forget.