I gotta admit that I really enjoy playing and running OSE. While AD&D 2e is my favorite D&D, I can’t say the same for my players. But we can all agree on OSE for some reason. The “new” 2026 OSE even more so as it’s ‘integrated’ AD&D more with B/X.
But because I’m old and grew up with B/X and 1e AD&D, I’ve teethed on houserules, ignoring rules that didn’t suit us, etc.
In that vein, I thought I’d share some of my so-called houserules for OSE.
First, let’s start with the optional/variant rules from the OSE books, starting with the
Player’s Book:
Right from page 13, many of these options mirror my previous houserules that I might as well go with the Options:
Separate Race & Class,
Advanced Hit Dice and
Multiple Classes.
More ‘radically’, I’ve found over my years of running games that Level Restrictions for Demihumans seldom had much real impact because my campaigns were usually either over or winding up with they would make a meaningful impact. So right there on page 30, I’ll be grabbing the
Lift Class and Level Restrictions with the slight change that it’ll only apply to levels and not class. I like the flavor of Class Restrictions, but, as previously stated, never liked the Level Restrictions.
This brings in the
Human Racial Abilities on page 38, which I’ve never used before or thought about. But I really like it, so I’m gonna try it out.
While I think it will probably never come up in play as I seldom run a campaign long enough, I’ll tack on the
High-Level Play option just in case on page 93. Never know, right?
I hate tracking encumbrance. I know others really like it, but I’m not into that. So chances are I’ll ignore it completely and/or use
Basic Encumbrance from page 221.
When it comes to combat, I like it when a character goes down and the others have to make tactical decisions to assist the character before they croak. As such, I’ve never used the death at 0 hp since probably the first month of playing back in 1980. My typical houserule has been that the character can go to negative Constitution score.
Hovering at Death’s Door on page 224 is close enough, so I’ll be using that one! Plus it’s got the after being revived bit that I’ve never thought of before. Like it better than my 5e houserule of the characters picking up a level of Fatigue everytime they pop back up.
Limits on Magical Resurrection on page 225 looks cool, so why not?!
When it comes to combat, I like lots of options without getting too bogged down. I find the many, many powers and options in 5e not to my liking, though I understand their appeal. Options I’ll pull from the Player’s book are
Monster Morale (Yay! Parley, baby!) pages 238 & 242,
Charging into Melee and
Invulnerability which are both on page 240. On the next page, I’ll use
Subduing and
Splash Weapons.
House Rules:
Now we get into my first House Rule. I like the
Parrying optional rule, but I don’t care for how it just uses STR. I mean, I think I know why. DEX is already impacting AC. But, I mean, the character is giving up a precious attack for this. It’s a trade off. I don’t mind if DEX counts twice in that moment. So here’s the new Parry rule (change in Italics):
Characters with a STR of 13 or above
OR a DEX of 13 or above can opt to act purely defensively in melee, forfeiting their attack that round. When parrying, the character’s STR bonus
or their double their AC DEX bonus to melee attacks is applied as an Armour Class bonus that round.
Characters must choose either STR or DEX, not both.
From the
Referee’s Book, l’ll pull the
Armour Size option on page 160,
So far, I’ve just pulled Options/Variants from the books because I mostly like to run games close to the rules with only small tweaks. So now that we’ve established the ‘baseline’ game using the ‘official’ rules, let’s move on to the House Rule.
Rolling and Advancing Attributes:
I’m not a fan of Rolling 3d6 down the line. Never have been. More times than not I’ve entered a game with a concept in mind and couldn’t play it effectively because of my rolls or had to roll up several characters to get it. This isn’t about making sure that I have an 18 in all stats. Just that I have adequate stats to pull off my character concepts. Usually for 5e I and my players like to go with Standard Array. Simple, quick and makes it so we can make what we want. In 1e, there were tons of ways to make characters.
And I reeeeally dislike characters with very low Ability Scores. Like… a lot. I honestly don’t know why.
What we used to do was simple:
All Attributes start at 6. Roll 18d6, drop the lowest 6 dice and then “spend” the remaining dice by placing two of each attribute.
Yes, this tended to make fairly competent characters. Yes, there were definitely be some 18s in there. It’s what we liked. However, there was little to very little chance of a character having an attribute below 9. Such things can usually only be achieved through Ancestry Attribute adjustments.
Also remember, back when, there was no in game scheduled Attribute increases. What you rolled was what you got for just about the entire game.
When Attribute advances got introduced in 3e, I was gobsmacked. It was perfect! Why did I never think of it?!
So my current house rule is to roll 4d6dL
OR select the following Heroic Array: 17, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10. If the decision is to roll, well, ya get what ya get.
As the character advances in Levels, every 3rd level (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, etc.) they may add +1 to one attribute. The same Attribute may not be selected twice in a row. Since most of my games/campaigns end before 10th level, that only 3 attribute advances.
Maybe 4 times if we go particularly long and hit 12th level.
Hit Point Generation:
Characters gain MAX hit points the first 3 levels of their career. After that, they roll, rerolling 1s and 2s.
Escalation Die:
I played 13th Age for a very short time. I didn’t care for it. But I did love the Escalation Die. Like… a LOT. So I use the Escalation die in my OSE and 2e games. Love it. IMHO, it gives the characters a boost, makes them feel more heroic, etc. Plus I use it as a clock/timer bunches and bunches.
Spells per day:
Let’s dive into spells for the characters. In OSE, it’s pretty much a Level X character gets this many spells regardless of their Prime Stat. I like how in 1e, a high wisdom Cleric got more spells per day. It felt ‘right’ to me. Heh.
I’ve ported that over to OSE with one small change: It applies to Magic-users as well.
So, because charts are a pain, here goes. Bonus spells listed are not cumulative. You get what is listed for that Prime Ability Score:
- 13 gain 1 first level daily spell,
- 14 gain 2 first level daily spells,
- 15 gain 2 first level daily spells & 1 second level daily spell
- 16 gain 2 first level daily spells & 2 second level daily spells
- 17 gain 2 first level daily spells, 2 second level daily spells & 1 third level daily spell
- 18 gain 2 first level daily spells, 2 second level daily spells & 2 third level daily spells
Of course, the character has to be of sufficient level to cast the bonus level spell. So, for example, a Magic-User with an INT of 17 would immediately gain 2 bonus first level daily spells, but would still have to wait until he’s level 3 to gain access to the 2 bonus second level daily spells and level 5 to access the bonus third level daily spell.
The Zap Cantrip:
And lastly, Magic-Users and Illusionists tend to be fairly worthless after they’ve blown their one 1st level spell for the day. Back in 1e, they could at least hurl Darts though, I admit, to my young brain I sort of equated those to Pub/Bar Darts. Yeah, I know. Sheesh! I was young! To mitigate this, I give them all the Zap cantrip.
Zap
Duration: 1 turn
Range: 60 feet
Caster MUST have a wand or staff in hand though the wand or staff need not be inherently magical. They can then shoot a bolt of energy from the end of his staff or wand. This bolt of energy is ‘tiring’ and, as such, can only be cast a number of times per day equal to twice the caster’s Constitution Attribute score. The bolt inflicts 1d6 damage but, unlike a magic missile, does not hit unerringly. It requires the caster to make a Ranged to-hit roll.
Keep in mind that this bolt of energy produces a flash of light and can be seen streaking from the end of the staff or wand to its target. This is NOT a stealth weapon!
