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Making 5E Feel Old School
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<blockquote data-quote="toucanbuzz" data-source="post: 8113568" data-attributes="member: 19270"><p>Ah man, I moved states for a job last year and found some new friends, but only 1 has ever played AD&D. From time-to-time I make an old school reference and explain it was a badge of honor to get a character to epic levels given all the instant-kill, drain 2 level, cursed-type events out there. I also believe that what made that edition so nostalgic was that there wasn't a rule for everything, and absent a rule for everything, many DMs went with "whatever makes the game more fun." </p><p></p><p>1. <strong>Slow down leveling.</strong> Not really an old school thing. Just better to enjoy the ride rather than rush past those early levels. Get used to your character. Get to know the world a bit. Roleplay. So totally, do this in any edition.</p><p></p><p>2. <strong>Slow down healing. </strong>Old school healing was an illogical pain in the ass that encouraged bringing along a cleric, or cleric hireling, to mass memorize healing spells. No desire to return to that. Instead, I propose simply adjusting your HP mechanics, aka what it means to you. I've previously posted about a homebrew fix to healing (replacing death saves with "vitality," a limited pool of points that comes into play when you hit 0, like the AD&D -10 rule, representing the actual damage your body can take, and difficult to heal). Because HP are an abstract of avoiding actual damage (I don't care what your HP are or your level...if you have a human body and a giant actually makes contact with its club, you're likely dead), I don't have a problem with treating them like the exhaustion and fatigue of battle. So I'll chalk this one up to what mechanic you use. </p><p></p><p>3. <strong>Keep magic mysterious.</strong> As it should be. The roll idea is interesting, though for old school purposes, there was less rolling and more DM discretion. If it meant more fun, then players should experiment with the item. Identify is for those who don't want to play 20 questions with the DM over the magic bowl.</p><p></p><p>4. <strong>Knowledge checks.</strong> Yeah, it shouldn't be a damn game of idiot savant Jeopardy. My barbarian should have absolutely no reason to know anything about planar portals, but I do today because I rolled a 19? I prefer players justify any knowledge roll with a background tie-in. Why in the world would your character know this is a medusa? Ah, your PC is a wizard whose master made him learn about petrification spells. It's possible he studied the medusa. If you can't, or I feel you're simply trying to naughty word, then no, you don't get to roll.</p><p></p><p>The creative genius of D&D 5E is that probably 50% of the rules I routinely use are actually "optional." If you want that old school feel, then take most of those away and empower your DM to make rulings that make the game more fun. Rather than look up the rules for "tumbling" to get through another's space, ask the player what they're trying. If it makes sense, let it happen. If not, say they fail. As to classes, in AD&D each class generally had something no one else could do: the cleric was your best healer, only the rogue could disarm traps, and only the fighter could equip those super-heavy armors to get that absurd armor class for the day they ran into the illithid vampire with 4 tentacle attacks that drained 2 levels apiece. So, you could remove feats that allow one class to duplicate another, and you could impose little fixes so that each class has something big that only they can do (e.g. non-rogues can't attempt to disarm traps over DC15).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="toucanbuzz, post: 8113568, member: 19270"] Ah man, I moved states for a job last year and found some new friends, but only 1 has ever played AD&D. From time-to-time I make an old school reference and explain it was a badge of honor to get a character to epic levels given all the instant-kill, drain 2 level, cursed-type events out there. I also believe that what made that edition so nostalgic was that there wasn't a rule for everything, and absent a rule for everything, many DMs went with "whatever makes the game more fun." 1. [B]Slow down leveling.[/B] Not really an old school thing. Just better to enjoy the ride rather than rush past those early levels. Get used to your character. Get to know the world a bit. Roleplay. So totally, do this in any edition. 2. [B]Slow down healing. [/B]Old school healing was an illogical pain in the ass that encouraged bringing along a cleric, or cleric hireling, to mass memorize healing spells. No desire to return to that. Instead, I propose simply adjusting your HP mechanics, aka what it means to you. I've previously posted about a homebrew fix to healing (replacing death saves with "vitality," a limited pool of points that comes into play when you hit 0, like the AD&D -10 rule, representing the actual damage your body can take, and difficult to heal). Because HP are an abstract of avoiding actual damage (I don't care what your HP are or your level...if you have a human body and a giant actually makes contact with its club, you're likely dead), I don't have a problem with treating them like the exhaustion and fatigue of battle. So I'll chalk this one up to what mechanic you use. 3. [B]Keep magic mysterious.[/B] As it should be. The roll idea is interesting, though for old school purposes, there was less rolling and more DM discretion. If it meant more fun, then players should experiment with the item. Identify is for those who don't want to play 20 questions with the DM over the magic bowl. 4. [B]Knowledge checks.[/B] Yeah, it shouldn't be a damn game of idiot savant Jeopardy. My barbarian should have absolutely no reason to know anything about planar portals, but I do today because I rolled a 19? I prefer players justify any knowledge roll with a background tie-in. Why in the world would your character know this is a medusa? Ah, your PC is a wizard whose master made him learn about petrification spells. It's possible he studied the medusa. If you can't, or I feel you're simply trying to naughty word, then no, you don't get to roll. The creative genius of D&D 5E is that probably 50% of the rules I routinely use are actually "optional." If you want that old school feel, then take most of those away and empower your DM to make rulings that make the game more fun. Rather than look up the rules for "tumbling" to get through another's space, ask the player what they're trying. If it makes sense, let it happen. If not, say they fail. As to classes, in AD&D each class generally had something no one else could do: the cleric was your best healer, only the rogue could disarm traps, and only the fighter could equip those super-heavy armors to get that absurd armor class for the day they ran into the illithid vampire with 4 tentacle attacks that drained 2 levels apiece. So, you could remove feats that allow one class to duplicate another, and you could impose little fixes so that each class has something big that only they can do (e.g. non-rogues can't attempt to disarm traps over DC15). [/QUOTE]
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