Towards old-school-izing two new school classes... but not the usual two!

I (And a lot of others) have fiddled around since 4e's release with bringing the Warlock and the Warlord into an old-school paradigm. That's been done enough, and successfully enough, that it's not what I'm here to talk about.

I think I want to go after two other newer classes: the 3.x/4e/PF Sorcerer, and the PF Oracle. I've always liked the idea behind the sorcerer, the natural aptitude for magic is an interesting variation... especially with the magical bloodline fluff that both Paizo and WOTC went on to implement in it. I don't yet know how I'm gonna work it, especially if I want to keep things simple, but I'm going to do a little researching, and maybe discuss it around the usual places, and see what ideas there are to see.

The Oracle I know less intimately, but it seems to me to stand as a take on the Cleric concept that is less fraught with the implicit assumptions that have so frustrated me on this blog (even if I've learned to live with them... it would still simplify my life to not have to. So I want to see where I can take that.)

OSR Christmas List Item #3: A Houserule (And my first bit of followup on 3e-isms)

My most excellent commenter ProfessorOats has asked for

Ooh, I know! I love reading other people's house rules (despite it being a cause of so much frustration), so maybe a list of some you've used in the past. I'd be especially interested to know how you modded 3E "back in the day"

Well, Professor, the fact is I didn't all that much. In those days I was just a dumb teenager scared to screw too much with the program. I first thought this post would instead deal with how I'd houserule 3.x to make it into something I'd willingly play, but the muse is a funny and fickle creature, so instead you're getting a little piece of the d20 (And 4e, and pathfinder, and surprisingly even 5e-- I'm nothing if not promiscuous with my blasphemy!) generation brought back to the OSR-- and my latest awful modern heresy.

Here's some skill rules I'd like to use in the future:

Every character begins with a number of trained skills equal to the number of skillpoints the corresponding 3.5 class receives per level or 4, whichever is higher, plus their Intelligence modifier. Humans are trained in one additional skill. They may choose from the skills available to their class in Pathfinder (which streamlines things somewhat and removes from its skill list the horrible evil that is Concentration), except for Craft and Profession, which are covered by the normal Secondary Skills chart (the one in the LL Advanced Edition Companion, for example). An untrained character may attempt to use a skill by rolling 1d20+the relevant modifier, a trained character adds half their level (rounded up) to the roll.

A character may train in additional skills, languages, secondary skills, weapons, or types of armor not otherwise available to them. To do so, they require 1d6+3 months time studying under a trained teacher, and they must devote at least four hours per day and five days per week to studying. Most teachers will expect a reasonable compensation, on the order of 2d6x10 GP per month. The maximum number of such extra proficiencies they are able to retain can be no more than the amount of skills they started with plus their Intelligence modifier.

All thieves (and other rogues, such as Bards and Assassins) must be either very lucky or very talented to progress in their chosen career. Choose two skills, plus a number of skills equal to your Intelligence modifier. When using those skills, you may roll twice and choose the better value. This is intended to replace the special advantage provided by the percentile thief skills (and Hear Noise), which are otherwise redundant in this system.

I think this is an interesting rule, so if you ever want to use skills in your old-school game in the future because you're crazy like me, and you elect not to use the LOTFP ones (which are also pretty nice, even if I think LOTFP itself relies too much on shock value), I hope you'll give this a try.

Edit: And here I am the very next day rethinking this rule... It's not that I'm fickle, you know, I just overthink things. One day I need to write a big post about designing like a Taoist.

Nostalgia for 3.5

...Dang, never thought that's something I'd have.

I dunno if it was just my age, or the fact that D&D was new to me in those days, or they just had a particularly engaging style, or what, but D&D 3.5 and its sourcebooks were just a great pleasure for me to read, once upon a time. Sometimes 4e reached those heights too. As strange as it may sound, 1e and 2e were never quite as enjoyable to me, nor even my beloved retroclones. B/X is okay reading, I guess, but a little light. If you haven't noticed I don't really care that much about other games besides D&D and its variants these days, though I am nominally in a Shadowrun game with my brother.

Differentiating humanoids

Okay, so, as those of you who know me are aware once upon a time your Auntie Rachel was a 4e player with the best of them. There are plenty of fine reasons I left it behind, but there were definitely elements of it that I like. One of the things I liked best from 4e (Heresy!) is that different humanoid monsters had traits or powers that helped to mechanically differentiate the tactics they used in a fight. I've never been the most tactical of minds so having these was useful to me because it gave me a clearly understandable reason to change up how I had groups of humanoids fight. To that end, I've tried to do something similar for each of them. They aren't strict conversions, but they mostly take inspiration from the ones in 4e 'cause I was satisfied with those. These are, of course, completely unplaytested. Bugbear Bugbears love nothing more than isolating their enemies to increase their fear. A bugbear gets a +4 bonus to attack rolls against an opponent that cannot see any allies or is separated from them by more than 10 feet. Giant A giant can grab a horse-sized or smaller opponent and squeeze or throw it. Squeezing works identically to a python's constriction. The giant can throw an opponent as far as he could a rock, dealing damage equal to the rock throw if he hits a hard surface, or half damage if he hits a soft surface. The giant can even throw an opponent at another opponent, dealing half damage to both. If you use a save for reducing falling damage, it applies to being thrown as well. Gnoll Gnolls are vicious pack fighters. Should a gnoll hit with a melee attack, it deals extra damage equal to the number of other gnolls within melee range of its target, to a maximum of +5. Goblin Goblins are cowards with only the barest concept of loyalty. A goblin can make a fighting withdrawal at full speed as long as its opponent is within melee range of at least one other hostile creature. Hobgoblins Hobgoblins are as disciplined as Goblins are cowardly. A hobgoblin gains a +1 bonus to AC for every hobgoblin that stands within 5 feet of it, to a maximum of +4. Kobold Kobolds always know when they're outmatched. If a melee attack misses a kobold, it can safely retreat at full speed. Lizardfolk and Troglodyte At least in BFRPG (I'd have to check others to be sure), there's already mechanical support for Lizardfolk and Troglodytes as ambush predators, because they surprise on 1-4 in 1d6 if they can hide in water or underground, respectively. I might expand that to sand as well in the case of lizardfolk, because I've had desert lizardfolk from time to time. Ogre An ogre's strength is such that it can sacrifice its +3 damage bonus in order to push a man-sized or smaller opponent 10 feet away or knock it prone. If the force of the blow results in an opponent being dashed against a hard surface (but not the floor), it deals 1d2 additional damage and the opponent must save vs. paralysis or be dazed and unable to act for one round. Orc Orcs are ferocious to the last. Upon being reduced to 0 HP, an orc can make one last attack before falling. These are just sort of me rolling ideas around in my head, I don't know if they're quite perfect yet.