HephaistosFnord
Explorer
So, after two years of trying to do it "my way", I've instead finally built a particular ruleset around OSE, It's roughly equivalent to Shadowdark in terms of divergence from "classic" OSE, but is a little simpler.
The rundown:
You can download a (hopefully) evergreen copy here:
The rundown:
- There are six saving throws, one for each Ability score. (Morale checks have been folded into the saving throw mechanic).
- Each save is always (15 - [level + ability mod]), hard-capped between 17+ and 5+. You always match or beat this number on a d20 to make a save.
- Attack throws are identical to saving throws -- always (15 - [level + ability mod]).
- You need to match this number if your opponent's Dex is +0 or worse, or beat it if your opponent's Dex is +1 or better.
- Skills use OSE's "alternate d6 thief skill" rules, but with the skills re-grouped around your abilities.
- Each Ability has 3 skills; if your ability modifier is +0, each of those 3 skills starts at 6+.
- Otherwise, your modifier determines the number of skills that start at 7+ (inept) or 5+.
- "Inept" skills always fail.
- Skills are:
- Acrobatics, Finesse, Stealth (Dex),
- Arcana, Medicine, Lore (Int),
- Animal Ken, Perception, Survival (Wis),
- Charm, Leadership, Wit (Cha)
- Each class either has class skills or it doesn't
- if it doesn't, you train one skill at level 1, and one skill each level thereafter (to a minimum of 2+).
- if it does, you train 4 different class skills at level 1, and two class skills or one non-class skill each level thereafter (again, minimum 2+).
- Circumstances will never, ever, evermodify the success threshold for your saving throws, attack throws, or skills before you roll them.
- Instead, rolls can be easier (roll two dice and take the higher) or harder (roll two dice and take the lower).
- Circumstances that make things easier and harder cancel out on a one-to-one basis, but don't ever push things past "roll two dice and choose one"
- If enough circumstances all stack to make things absurdly easy or absurdly hard, the referee might just say that the roll is impossible.
- You roll a d6 for your race first, then pick from a list of classes for your race
- Humans classes are Warrior, Scout, Wizard, and Priest
- Dwarf classes are Stalwart, Delver, and Warsmith
- Fey and Barbarian classes are Champion, Hunter, and Druid
- All classes use d6 hit dice, and cap at level 9.
- Some classes get a +1 or +2 bonus to their hit die.
- First-level hit points are always maximized.
- "Fighter" classes (Warrior, Stalwart, Champion) don't get class skills
- "Expert" classes (Scout, Delver, Hunter) get all or most skills as class skills
- "Magic-User" classes (Wizard, Priest, Warsmith, Druid) get 3-4 skills as class skills.
- Experience is vastly simplified: you gain one experience per adventure, or two if you solve the adventure's main challenge in a really clever way
- Once your experience is > your level, you reset to 0 XP and gain a level.
- If your prime requisite is 13 or better, you reset to 1 XP instead.
- If your prime requisite is 7 or worse, you need one more XP per level to gain that level.
- Past level 9, whenever you gain 10 XP you train a skill, but gain no new hit points or save/attack throw modifiers.
- Spellcasting is still Vancian, but has far fewer "spell slots"
- a "full caster" gets a maximum of 5 slots at level 9 (two "first-circle" slots, two "second-circle" slots, and one "third-circle" slot)
- a "half caster" gets a maximum of 3 slots at level 3 (usually two "first-circle" slots and one "second-circle" slot)
- "full casters" can re-prepare spell slots during exploration, this takes a number of saving throws or skill checks equal to its circle (one per 10 minutes).
- Combat uses a vastly simplified version of 5e.
- six second combat rounds, individual d20 initiative scores
- all weapons come in 4 sizes (small, light, medium, heavy), weapon damage is based on size (d6-1, d6, d6+Str, 2d6+Str).
- Armor reduces damage per-weapon; light armor reduces by 1 point, medium armor by 2 points, heavy armor by 3 points.
- piercing weapons ignore half armor, hardened armor ignores piercing
- stunning weapons inflict damage to your hit points and your initiative, if your initiative drops to zero you're surprised/stunned.
- A critical hit always halves your remaining hit points (round up, it'll never kill you) and then you roll to save vs. death or drop to zero hit points (this might kill you).
- If your initiative is >0 (not surprised or stunned or unconscious), you get one action + move on your turn and one reaction during the round
- Action can be attack, evade (focus on dodging), guard (focus on opportunity attacks)
- Reaction can be dodge, parry, or opportunity attack.
- dodging rolls d6+Dex and subtracts it from the attack throw that just tried to hit you. If you Evaded and the attack misses, you get your reaction back.
- parrying rolls d6+(weapon or shield's Parry bonus) and subtracts it from the attack throw that just tried to hit you. If you Guarded and the attack misses, you get your reaction back.
- opportunity attacks use your reaction to attack someone that provoked; if you Guarded and the opportunity attack hits, you get your reaction back.
- If you drop to 0 HP for any reason, you're dyinguntil something restores you to positive HP.
- dying means you roll a save vs. death every turn instead of doing something else, until you stabilize (nat 20) or die (any failure).
- If you stabilize, you're still unconscious until you make a Con saving throw to wake up.
- All healing effects use your hit die and level to determine how much is healed, so they're always scaled to your maximum HP.
You can download a (hopefully) evergreen copy here:
