Silverblade The Ench
First Post
since I got Star Wars Saga book, I've been tinkering makign a conversion for D&D, then now with 4th and with reaidng bits n' bobs....I sat down and made up character sheets, using mix of the rules and 3.5, I'll give it a whiel in me next game (where my pal's characters are currently delaing wiht a world gone made, think Derro + Cthulu + S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, muhaha! 
)
http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/adnd/steves_dnd_c_sheet.doc
Sorry, it's .doc format I don't have a .pdf maker.
1) From Star Wars Saga, Races who have a + bonus to a skill no longer get a bonus, instead they get to re-roll that type of skill check if they chose, but must take the 2nd roll if they opt for a re-roll. For example, elves get +2 Spot, instead, they get to re-roll Perception checks. That's quite neat, IMHO.
2) My own idea: Turn Undead as folk know, is currently broken and too much of a pain. By converting it to an opposed roll, with a -4 for non-intelligent undead like zombies/skeletons, it fixes much of this. Also, no more rolling to see how many hit dice. It just works in 20’ radius, or versus one target out to 60’ at the cleric’s choice, the 60' burst at present is too big!
Also, the cleric should have the option to target one specific foe, like a vampire lord behind his minions, rather than always as a burst.
Having undead with a CR = ½ the cleric’s Turning level, who fail their check, destroyed, I think is a reasonable way to allow destruction of undead by Turning. DMs should still be usign low lvl mindless undead as typical trap/summoned/simple beasties & minions, rather than worrying over the hassles of them, etc. High lvl undead should not be being destroyed by turning, as that's too "cheap" a way to kill 'em.
3) From Star Wars Saga and my own tweak: Each class has a set amount of skills they can choose (plus a bonus from Int modifier if they have any but no penalty), rather than set skill lists, which never made sense. Thus characters can be far more campaign and player specific. Star Wars Saga still limits class skills to certain groups, which is just plain wrong for D&D. Soldiers (fighters) in one millieu/nation, may be totally different than another. For example, Roman legionaries (Perception for sentry duty, Athletics for swimming) vs Cormyr Cavalry (Acrobatics for riding horse, Knowledge Nobility and Royalty to know various standards/forces perhaps)
4) My own tweak to Saga skills: D&D is *not* Star Wars or 21st century Earth. Knowledge and Craft skills are hard to come by, they must be learned the hard way, there is no Internet and very few libraries! Thus most of the knowledge skills remain. I merged some of the craft ones. Note that by intelligence or wisdom, a person can understand Nature, hence Survival and Knowledge Nature both give knowledge of nature.
-I think I should add Craft - Jewellry Making, which includes gem cutting.
5) My own tweak: Knowledge of Monsters should be a specific thing in it’s own right! While Knowledge - The Planes would obviously give knowledge of planar monsters because they are so intrinsic to many planes (fiends ot the Abyss etc), linking Knowledge - Religion to undead, Knowledge - Dungeoneering to aberrations etc, doesn’t make much sense. They may give some info of relevance, but in general, folk should use Knowledge – Monster Lore for typical info on beasties.
6) From 4th ed snippets: *anyone* can use Disable Device on traps etc, provided they have it as a trained skill, i.e. non-rogues can disable hard traps now. That and the "second Wind" idea reduces the bad dependency on having to have a healer/trap picker that was a problem in D&D up till now.
7) From 4th Ed snippets/SGA system and my own tweak: As a Standard action, anyone can use "Second Wind" to heal themselves for (1/4 of their hit points, or = their Con modifier, which ever is greater, once per day. I don't agree with 2nd wind being used as a Swift action in Star Wars Saga, that doesn't make sense! It's obviously taking time ot have a breather, sort yourself out, bandage or whatever, so, it must be a Standard Action, you can't just isnta-heal yourself (unless syour a cleric with Quicken SPell of course)
8) I put “Forgery” into “Disable Device”, because it’s really a intelligence based skill, requiring a lot of finicky skills, it’s more like making a trap etc. It’s not Deception, nor is it Dexterity based.
9) Bards get too many skills even with my system! Most of the truncated skill list is based off SAGA, and then I worked out how many skills each class gets normally that still apply , totalled them up (and said some get extra knowledge skills rather than any choice) Bards get too many skills, IMHO, I don't know how to sort this, or if indeed, it is a problem?
Until 4th ed comes out, this is what I plan to use in my own games, and test, as it seems quite a fun, cleaner system. What ya think?
)http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/adnd/steves_dnd_c_sheet.doc
Sorry, it's .doc format I don't have a .pdf maker.
1) From Star Wars Saga, Races who have a + bonus to a skill no longer get a bonus, instead they get to re-roll that type of skill check if they chose, but must take the 2nd roll if they opt for a re-roll. For example, elves get +2 Spot, instead, they get to re-roll Perception checks. That's quite neat, IMHO.
2) My own idea: Turn Undead as folk know, is currently broken and too much of a pain. By converting it to an opposed roll, with a -4 for non-intelligent undead like zombies/skeletons, it fixes much of this. Also, no more rolling to see how many hit dice. It just works in 20’ radius, or versus one target out to 60’ at the cleric’s choice, the 60' burst at present is too big!
Also, the cleric should have the option to target one specific foe, like a vampire lord behind his minions, rather than always as a burst.
Having undead with a CR = ½ the cleric’s Turning level, who fail their check, destroyed, I think is a reasonable way to allow destruction of undead by Turning. DMs should still be usign low lvl mindless undead as typical trap/summoned/simple beasties & minions, rather than worrying over the hassles of them, etc. High lvl undead should not be being destroyed by turning, as that's too "cheap" a way to kill 'em.
3) From Star Wars Saga and my own tweak: Each class has a set amount of skills they can choose (plus a bonus from Int modifier if they have any but no penalty), rather than set skill lists, which never made sense. Thus characters can be far more campaign and player specific. Star Wars Saga still limits class skills to certain groups, which is just plain wrong for D&D. Soldiers (fighters) in one millieu/nation, may be totally different than another. For example, Roman legionaries (Perception for sentry duty, Athletics for swimming) vs Cormyr Cavalry (Acrobatics for riding horse, Knowledge Nobility and Royalty to know various standards/forces perhaps)
4) My own tweak to Saga skills: D&D is *not* Star Wars or 21st century Earth. Knowledge and Craft skills are hard to come by, they must be learned the hard way, there is no Internet and very few libraries! Thus most of the knowledge skills remain. I merged some of the craft ones. Note that by intelligence or wisdom, a person can understand Nature, hence Survival and Knowledge Nature both give knowledge of nature.
-I think I should add Craft - Jewellry Making, which includes gem cutting.
5) My own tweak: Knowledge of Monsters should be a specific thing in it’s own right! While Knowledge - The Planes would obviously give knowledge of planar monsters because they are so intrinsic to many planes (fiends ot the Abyss etc), linking Knowledge - Religion to undead, Knowledge - Dungeoneering to aberrations etc, doesn’t make much sense. They may give some info of relevance, but in general, folk should use Knowledge – Monster Lore for typical info on beasties.
6) From 4th ed snippets: *anyone* can use Disable Device on traps etc, provided they have it as a trained skill, i.e. non-rogues can disable hard traps now. That and the "second Wind" idea reduces the bad dependency on having to have a healer/trap picker that was a problem in D&D up till now.
7) From 4th Ed snippets/SGA system and my own tweak: As a Standard action, anyone can use "Second Wind" to heal themselves for (1/4 of their hit points, or = their Con modifier, which ever is greater, once per day. I don't agree with 2nd wind being used as a Swift action in Star Wars Saga, that doesn't make sense! It's obviously taking time ot have a breather, sort yourself out, bandage or whatever, so, it must be a Standard Action, you can't just isnta-heal yourself (unless syour a cleric with Quicken SPell of course
)8) I put “Forgery” into “Disable Device”, because it’s really a intelligence based skill, requiring a lot of finicky skills, it’s more like making a trap etc. It’s not Deception, nor is it Dexterity based.
9) Bards get too many skills even with my system! Most of the truncated skill list is based off SAGA, and then I worked out how many skills each class gets normally that still apply , totalled them up (and said some get extra knowledge skills rather than any choice) Bards get too many skills, IMHO, I don't know how to sort this, or if indeed, it is a problem?
Until 4th ed comes out, this is what I plan to use in my own games, and test, as it seems quite a fun, cleaner system. What ya think?
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