What Game Mechanics Have You "Borrowed" From 2E?

[diaglo]

You use the coup de grace mechanics, or just require the vampire to be helpless, period, which are IMHO much more balanced approaches than being able to land an instant kill on a vampire just by taking a -4 penalty to the attack roll.

Aging is probably my least favorite part of 1e/2e mechanics.

undead are immune to critical hits and fort save thingies like after the CdG.

that's how i'd do it too. but by RAW it don't work.

 

[el-remmen]

that's how i'd do it too. but by RAW it don't work.

Screw the RAW - if it makes more sense to do it that way, do it that way. .

For example, in my game undead are only partially immune to crits. They don't take extra damage, but since I use a variation of the old "Good Hits, Bad Misses" optional rules from Dragon - they can still have their arms or legs chopped off, be disemboweled, or even have their head cut off - it just doesn't necessarily destroy them. . .

Little is cooler than having the decapitated zombies press on in his attack. . .

 

[Torm]

THAC0 and 10 to -10 AC.

You had me sincerely worried with this, until the bottom of your post!

 

[DeBracy]

I've never played 2E and the idea of trying to roll under something seems ridiculously unfit to 3.5. A fortitude save, I could understand, but this con check thing? Bleh.

/ali

Bah! Rolling under is the natural state of RPG mechanics. So say all of us brought up on BRP at least... But yeah... It's not in line with any mechanic from 3.5. I defenitly see a point in not making it a fort. save though... saves climb at a much much higher rate than your Con after all.


Anyways, I haven't ran a lot of d20 games (2 games in Modern, wow) and a single AD&D2E game which left me utterly confused about my ability to do basic math (THAC0 is a unmerciful enemy!) so I haven't hade much reason to plunder anything. I do however like a lot of things about 2E, first and foremost the general feel of the text I think.

Were I to start a long running fantasy campaign in a homebrew world it'd be highly likely that I'd meld a lot of 2E, some 3.5 and a touch of Pendragon into a system to be used. From 2E comes some ideas about the skill system, from 3.5 the 3 saves and from Pendragon the die roll - d20 UNDER skill but as high as possible. Great thing for opposed rolls. And no, it wouldn't be a d20 system anymore...

I'll probably stick with playing Conan, d20M and some other stuff before I get around to seriously thinking about doing all that work though...

 

[Psion]

Para- and quasi- inner planes.

I also want to ditch the 3.5 rules on outsiders returning, but am not sure how to do this right. 3.5 is more self consistent on this score, but less satisfying. I want to have you worry that the pit fiend will come back without handwaving in an 18th level caster to miracle him back to life.

Less fundamental mechanics, but I still use the World Builder's Guide almost as-is, and use a twist on 2e demographics formulae.

Other than planar/planescape things, I still dig some of the Von Richten's stuff. I have an elder vampire template that simulates vampires gaining power as they age, and I use lots of stuff from VRG liches. Demiliches having rituals that empower them to manifest their psyche in up to 100 undead with the full powers of a lich... frightening!

 

[ruleslawyer]

undead are immune to critical hits and fort save thingies like after the CdG.

that's how i'd do it too. but by RAW it don't work.

Well, that's my point about the CdG mechanics. The designers dropped the ball by failing to catch this entire issue, period, but I think it'd be fair to use the CdG mechanics (target must be helpless, full-round action unless you take a feat, auto-hit and crit and target must save or die) without actually calling the staking a CdG, per se. But sure, they should have been more specific on this. Called shot just isn't the way I'd, er, call it...

Psion: checked out the S&S Ravenloft books? They do a nice 3e update of the VRG advanced undead rules.

This does bring up something odd, though. In many ways, I like the 2e (ravenloft) mummy and vampire better than I do the 3e versions, simply because the 3e version is tied so closely in power to the base creature and that makes it hard to effectively distinguish in power between a 1000-year-old vampire and a newbie, especially if the newbie is an 18th-level wizard.

 

[Belen]

Vampires: You should check out the Va,pire lord Template for elder vamps. It rocks.

Rules in general: 3.5 really nerfed a lot of the consequences that used to exist beside the benfits in older editions. It takes away some of the fun by getting rid of sacrifices. In stead of consequences, we have only options these days.

 

[Barak]

You had me sincerely worried with this, until the bottom of your post!

That always make me snicker. Lots of people claim to hate the old 2nd edition thac0/AC thing, but, really, other than the AC capping at -10, it's.. Pretty much the same mechanic as in 3rd edition. Lesse. Assuming you use the STR modifier of 3rd edition, for simplicity's sake.

A fighter level 1, with 14 strenght and a "normal weapon" attacking a monster with an AC improved by 10 would need to roll an 18 in both systems to hit.

same fighter, at level 10, (with same strenght and weapon, for simplicity's sake, but changing them would change nothing) would need an 8.

It's the same thing at every level. All the time. Sure, some classes have a modified BAB from their Thac0 in 2nd edition, but that's more of a balancing thing, I imagine. The actual mechanic is the exact same. So technically, I guess we all borrowed the Thac0/AC mechanic, and just removed the -10 cap.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Once in a while, I think about doing something with the kits, but I fear that would be a lot of work.

I do plan on making a serious attempt to convert the 2e Psionics rules into C&C.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Once in a while, I think about doing something with the kits, but I fear that would be a lot of work.

I do plan on making a serious attempt to convert the 2e Psionics rules into C&C.

I think kits would make great subsitute levels in 3.5 now that Champions of Valor has shown some examples using various organizations to highlight the application of substiitution levels for race and organization. Beats doing them up as a whole PrC.