You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8246102" data-attributes="member: 70468">Cool. [USER=2209]@Voadam[/USER] covered the different retroclones. We’re coming to OSE from newer editions of D&D, so some our house rules reflect that experience.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Separate classes and races. OSE has an optional rule in its advanced fantasy genre rules that separates race from class. I use a homebrew setting with none of the traditional races, so this was table stakes. I’ve converted my <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/q83s8jmgvyrhgs1/Races%20of%20Entira.pdf" target="_blank">homebrew races</a> over to OSE. I like the power level of basic. There are differences between the races, but they aren’t extremely.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">No racial level limitations or class restrictions. Given the way my setting works, it doesn’t make sense to have restrictions. I’m also too lazy to figure those out even if it did.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ascending armor class. Everyone’s used to ascending armor class from playing 3e and newer editions, but I’ve also coupled it with the combat matrix (e.g., see my <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/px8spkz36n7vvp0/OSE%20Character%20Sheet.pdf" target="_blank">custom character sheet</a>). The math is slightly different in certain edge cases with AAC (and THAC0) compared to the combat matrix, but this hybrid approach fixes that.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Variable weapon damage. We’re used to this, so it was a given. There have been some house rules I’ve seen with using d6s depending on fighting style (two-handed weapons = highest of 2d6, etc), but variable weapon damage is already in the book, and we’re used to it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Other advanced options. We’re also using a few of the other advanced options OSE ported over from AD&D: combat options, wizards can use staves, multiclassing, extra classes. As a rule of thumb, I avoided anything (other than the raise dead restrictions) that added restrictions to classes (like the magic-user spellbook stuff or the changes to turning).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character creation. We ported over a method we used in Pathfinder. Instead of rolling dice, we draw cards. We shuffle a deck of cards (334455677899) and deal out two cards for each ability score in order. My players like this approach because it feels fair compared to rolling. Characters come out somewhere between 3d6 and 4d6 drop lowest in terms of power. We’re also using a modified version of <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/45636/roleplaying-games/character-creation-in-5-sentences-dd-1974" target="_blank">this approach</a> to pick out gear because people spend way too much time trying to figure out what they want (and miss out on things they should have).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rolling hit points. Characters get max hit points at 1st level. When they level up, they can choose between taking the average (rounded down) or rolling for hit points. This is another house rule I ported over from Pathfinder 1e. Surprisingly, more people than not choose to roll for hit points.</li> </ul>For the most part, I want to keep things as close to the original game as possible (while diverging in a few places I feel are important). We’re new to the game and still learning, but I also don’t want a lot of additional complexity. For me (as the referee), that’s the appeal. Too much extra stuff just creates problems.</blockquote>

Verification