Next or BX?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

i was looking to streamline a couple pieces of BX (E.g.Thief skills and saves) with a target 20 type system. I already convert BX to ascending AC and BAB. So it is not that I am missing anything with BX, it's just that I prefer the more recent d20 type mechanic. Also Next has some pretty good ideas (such as advantage and healing HD) that I could port to BX but before I start porting stuff over I thought I would see if I just do a switch instead.

If that's what you want, pull down Mages & Monsters (free download from here at EN World). It gives you the rules you want, and is more or less compatible with B/X with some minor tweaking.

 

[Mistwell]

"So far excellent?"

There's one really great reason to switch to Next: you want to buy a bunch of new books. Otherwise, buy one of many excellent games that are already on shelves and available as used books, or some even-better games that are actually free.

Next adventure: Reclaiming Blingdenstone
All I remember is orcs that would fight beyond their own hit points, readily destroying any PCs that would reasonably wander through the caves.

Next adventure: the Mines of Madness
[sblock]A magical rune, at the beginning of the adventure, that seeks to collapse the dungeon entrance on the PCs. What a great way to bring the entire remainder of the adventure to a stand-still. And the outhouse - at the beginning of the adventure - threatens to flat-out kill a PC - before anything else has happened.[/sblock]
Just...short of excellent.

Fairness: these are criticisms of the adventure-writers, not the Next system. But it's quite possible that these are part of an omen...

You named zero of the actual published modules for Next. Those are all thrown together free playtest adventures done before they had worked on the math, not the actual published ones. And I am saying the full adventures published so far for Next (for sale) are excellent. You don't need to take my word for it, go read the reviews. I recommended Scourge for a reason.

 

[Gundark]

If you want to 5e switch do it! Why not?

 

[GMMichael]

And I am saying the full adventures published so far for Next (for sale) are excellent.

Wait a minute. There are full adventures published for a game that hasn't been released yet? That'll make them kind of hard to play, won't it? I'm looking into this enigma...

 

[Morrus]

Wait a minute. There are full adventures published for a game that hasn't been released yet? That'll make them kind of hard to play, won't it? I'm looking into this enigma...

14 of them so far!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/iframer4.php?page=ddn_adventure_search

 

[GMMichael]

14 of them so far!

You know, there are a couple adventures out for 7th edition already. I think I'll just skip to those.

I checked out a few Scourge free pages. What I saw was a non-system-specific adventure, with a few skill checks thrown in for good measure. I'm not deciding to buy into 5e based on that.

But at least I know Mistwell has 12 (14?) other reasons to call 5e adventures excellent.

 

[fjw70]

I think I will keep with BX for now but pull in some things from Next. Particularly the proficiency system. Here is how I will modify BX.


Attacks, saves, and skills all use the same system. In this system you are non-proficient, proficient, or expert. If you are non-proficient then you get no bonuses for the task. If you are proficient then you get a bonus that starts at +2 and increases by 1 every 3 levels gained (i.e. +3 at 4th, +4 at 7th, +5 at 10th, and +6 at 13th). If you are an expert then you double the proficiency bonus.


All these activities are attribute checks that apply the proficiency or expert bonus when applicable. For example, melee attacks are strength or dexterity checks depending on the weapon used, save vs. poison is a constitution check, and picking locks is a dexterity check.


The typical DC target numbers are 10 for easy tasks, 15 for moderate, and 20 for hard. You can go up in increments of 5 for really difficult tasks. Attacks use the ascending AC for the target number. Saves use 15 for the typical target number. Easier saves (e.g. weak poison) can use 10 and harder saves (e.g. really potent poison) can use 20. Thief skills typically use 20 as the DC.


All other classes are proficient with the weapons they can normally use. Fighters are experts with either melee or ranged weapons, but not both.


All classes are proficient with saves, and Dwarves and Halflings are experts at saves.


Thieves are experts at the typical thief’s skills.


Other proficiencies and expertise can be decided on a case-by-case basis.