If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

The challenge with granted powers is that I don’t want them to just be free spells. Let’s look at the granted powers in the “design a faith” section of the Complete Priest’s Handbook. Some are intended to replace Turn Undead as a major power, and some are useful but mainly flavourful minor powers. Everyone should get one of each, but two minor powers might replace the major if it suits your deity.

Major powers are in the text are: An automatic success on a specific saving throw each day (charm, paralysis, energy drain); Inspire fear (4th) twice per day; Suggestion (3rd) three times per day; Water breathing twice per day; Call lightning once per day; Shapechange three times per day, healing 10-60% health each time, taking clothing and one item in each hand but nothing else; Soothing words (dispel fear, rage, strong emotion, just against animals); Turn undead; Inspire rage providing a bonus to threatened damage and attack, but cannot flee; and must fight until no enemies stand; Infravision or ultravision.

There’s a lot of complexity around gating powerful spell-like abilities that I’ve breezed over, that needs to be simplified to scale similarly to Turn Undead and Shapechange. Advanced Fantasy Dungeons. Turn Undead is: Roll d20 minus level.Once per encounter. Target is 10 minus HD. Kills on a crit undead less than HD (or, 1/20 chance of cause 6 HP damage at 2nd level, increasing by 6HP per level).

Which means that major granted powers should have a strong and weak effect, the strong effect occurring on critical and affecting only those lower than your level, the weak effect occur all that “fail their save”. Let’s try major granted powers again, all on the model of Turn Undead. Once per encounter, dramatically call upon the power of your deity to:

• Call lightning. On a success, they are paralysed for a round. On a critical, threaten 1d6 damage per level. On a battle, they attempt to turn your lightning back against you.
• Call lightning. On a success, they are paralysed for a round. On a critical, threaten 1d6 damage per level. On a battle, they attempt to turn your lightning back against you.
• Inspire fear. Not effective against undead, and no additional effect on a critical.
• Suggest a reasonable action. On a success, they undertake your action for a time up to your level un hours. On a critical, they continue until the task is done. On a battle, they suggest to you.
• Inspire Rage. On a success, they rage until the battle is done with 1 bonus to threat and attack. On a critical, the bonus is equal to your level.
• Soothing Words, against a specific group. On a success, strong emotions are soothed and reactions are now neutral. On a critical, magically affected emotions are soothed.

This leaves us with a shapechanger category of powers. These are considered equivalent to Turn Undead but are self-facing. Shapechange looks like this in the text: At 7th level, Shapechange into any animal, Three times per day, Healing 10-60% health each time, Take only clothing and one item in each hand. One preselected non-combat shape (a bird) is considered 3rd level in the Complete Priests Handbook, which helps.

So perhaps our model is: Shapechange, once per sunrise. At first level, choose a single animal incapable of threatening damage. At fifth level, change into any animal. At ninth level and every four levels thereafter, change shape an additional time per sunrise. Take only clothing and one item in each hand. No. Too complex. Let’s frame the other inwards-facing powers around this better version:

• Shapechange, once per sunrise, taking only your clothing and one item in each hand. Choose a single animal incapable of threatening damage. At eighth level, choose two of: change into any animal, change three times per sunrise, or heal d6 times your level whenever you change.
• Waterbreathing, once per sunrise, affecting only yourself, for one turn. At eighth level, choose two: yourself and one other person, three times per sunrise, effect a bubble ten feet in diameter, for one hour.
• Infravision, once per sunrise, affecting only yourself, for one round. At eighth level, choose two: simultaneous normal vision and infravision, for one turn, or yourself and one other person.
• Walk on water, once per sunrise, affecting yourself only, for one turn. At eighth level, choose two: for one hour, yourself and one other, three times in a sunrise.
• Automatically succeed on a specific saving throw, once per sunrise. At eighth level, choose two: Succeed on a fortune check against target 10 every time but at all times, three times per sunrise, aura ten feet in diameter centred on you. Examples include charm effects, paralysis, energy drain, ranged weapons.

Minor powers are usually at will, with the exception of laying on of hands or harm. A bunch of flavourful minor powers that should totally be here aren’t here, things like make flowers bloom and booming voice, so let’s add them in.

• Identify a category of persons, places, or things in melee range. (Beast, script, monster, spell)
• Detect a category of persons, places, or things in melee range (graves, cheating, matching or opposing ethos, secret, depth underwater, treasure, passage of time)
• Analyse a category of persons, places, or things in melee range for additional information (plants, fields, quality of goods)
• Immunity to something minor (spoiled food, intoxication, feeling cold)
• Defy obstacle (ice isn’t slippery, climb doesn’t slow, underbrush can be ignored, pass through fire)
• Speak a specific unusual language (birds, wolves, brownies)
• Lay on hands or lay on harm once per day as per paladin
• Cause a specific small sensory or physical effect (booming voice, a candle flame, glowing eyes, cold snap, a flower blooms, birds sing)
• Weapon mastery (bows, hammers)

Yipes, that was a big one. The key here is that they’re specific to your deity. So, like heritage, you create your god, and you pick your powers and your ethos from the list, and you’re sorted.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on granted powers for priests!

Idle Cartulary

13th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I’m not sure exactly how to present the fighter’s Elite Followers. I wonder if, it’s presented as, fighters just get a lieutenant and an army. They don’t have to ask for it. They come. Their followers are, then, two free standing battalions on top of the 9th or above level option most classes have to attract followers.

After 9th level, some classes have the option to attract followers of a special nature if they have a stronghold in which to house them. All classes can hire followers if they wish, regardless of whether they attract them after 9th level.

Fighters attract a general (5th level fighter), two standing battalions, and a bodyguard of:

3-12 1st to 2nd level fighters

2-5 1st to 2nd level wardens (rangers)

2-6 1st to 2nd level archers (fighters with sharpshooter mastery)

2-6 1st to 2nd level berserkers (fighters with berserk mastery)

2-6 1st to 2nd level mounted knights (fighters with warhorses and lance mastery)

1-3 2nd to 3rd level flying knights (fighters with eagles or hippogriffs and crossbow mastery)

Rangers attract an animal follower: Black bear, brown bear, dog, wolf, falcon, raven, tiger, lion, awakened 1-6, hippogriff, pixie, treant, brownie, werebear, weretiger.

Thieves attract 1-4 thieves of 1st to 3rd level, to start a crew.

Wizards attract 1-3 1st to 2nd level apprentices.

Priests attract 1-3 1st to 2nd level acolytes, as well as the 0-level members of their institution.

I’ll revise the class rules to include this. I need to revise to weapon mastery to include some of these style masteries, make sure generals are included in downtime a as bd war. Revise war to have these special standing battalions.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! I keep finding new things to add and revise – I thought i’d be done by now! Let me know your thoughts on followers!

Idle Cartulary

13th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Ok, so my problem with favoured enemies is that it’s pretty racist, but there is a mechanical reason for the generality of it: If I say “I hate all goblinoids”, my ranger is more useful that if they specifically hate orcs. In a game without races, but with heritage, this sits poorly. But goblins are not are not the grey-maned goblins of Mount Folly, let along orcs.

But on the other hand, giant slayers and warg hunters are iconic. What I want to do is turn favoured enemies into a story about our relationship with our enemy, instead of a mechanic about hatred, but that cycle causes a problem:

Why does the ranger favour their enemy? I can’t really think of many of these: An orc clan destroyed the rangers village, a dragon burnt the rangers husband and children, the ranger was indoctrinated against the giants by their mentor, theelf folk of Grazz have a long-standing feud with the dwarf folk of Bezimir. Basically, something happens to make the ranger believe that that enemy must be prevented from doing great harm. So, we have two potential stories that can be told: They both begin the same way: The ranger suffers a defeat, the ranger believes their enemy will do harm again, the ranger devotes themselves to fighting them. And then either: The rangers hate decreases through positive interactions, and realises that not all members of that people are, in fact, their enemy, and they generalise their learning to a groupThe rangers hate increases through negative interactions, and they generales their learning to a group

Even in trying to narrativise this mechanic, regardless of the dramatic potential, it still bakes racism into the game, so it’s a no from me. I got a little stuck, until Erasmus made an interesting suggestion: Bake the “favoured enemy” mechanic into an anachronistic “favoured terrain” mechanic. Let’s try it:

Gain a favoured terrain. You can prepare for a a single encounter in that terrain with a creature native to that terrain. Declare the creature you are preparing for during a rest watch. You gain +1d6 on reaction rolls against the creature, threaten +1d6 damage when attacking during that encounter, and gain mastery +1d6 when tracking the creature.

I don’t know how balanced this is, but it requires anticipation and planning, and varies wildly in terms of effect. It’s not racist though, and it feels iconic. But, maybe we can make this into favoured enemy without hatred, instead making it about experience?

Gain a favoured terrain. You can prepare for a a single encounter in that terrain with a creature native to that terrain.

Both your terrain and the creature are specific: Not forest, but “the forests of the Far Reach”; not orc, but “Icewatch Orcs”; not dragon, but “White dragon” or “Ice drake”). If you are in a similar terrain to your favoured terrain, gain half the bonus, rounded down.

Declare the creature you are preparing to encounter during a rest watch. You gain +1 on reaction rolls against the creature, threaten +1 damage when attacking during that encounter, and gain +1 when tracking the creature.

Mark each time you prepare and encounter a specific creature. For every five marks against a creature, your bonus to reaction rolls, damage and tracking increases by 1.

It’s a bit rulesy for my liking, but it’s good rules. It’s no more complicated than turn undead for paladins, and there’ll be less load than weapon mastery for fighters or spells for clerics or wizards. Ironically, thieves and bards are the most straightforward classes right now.

There are other options here as well, especially given my burgeoning desire to expand weapon mastery to beyond weapons to fighting styles, to have a few specific weapon styles around iconic ranger abilities: Collossus-climbing might give mastery on attempting to climb massive creatures, horde-breaker threatens damage to all within melee range, giant-killer might an advantage on saves against creatures of giant stature. I like these expanded options, so long as they’re a subselection of fighter capabilities. We’ll see what comes of them.

Finally, I can pull out the favoured enemy power as natures nemesis, perhaps: You can declare a specific beast or threat to the natural order (“the one-eyed warg of grey moor, who slew the innkeepers’ son”, that has done great harm as your nemesis, and threaten 1d8 additional damage on attacks against them and gain 1d8 bonus to tracking them until they are slain.

Here are a few neat options to adding flavour to the ranger class by expanding the concept of favoured enemy and trying to remove this concept of evil or hatred from it. I don’t see why you can’t have them all?

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on favoured enemies!

Idle Cartulary

12th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

After removing concepts of desperate or controlled position from various rolls by reducing the presence of disadvantage, I feel I need to revise the basic procedure and GM moves to reflect the GMs communication and enactment of fictional positioning.

The basic procedure of Advanced Fantasy Dungeons is:

1. The GM describes the situation and what the PCs see, hear, feel, smell and recognise.

2. The players ask clarifying questions and the GM answers until the situation is clear to them.

3. If a clarifying question would require a PC to take action, the GM clarifies the level of risk that action entails, and confirms that they want to take action.

4. If the players state an action they want to take in response to the situation, the GM clarifies the level of risk that action entails, and confirms that they want to take action.

5. If the PCs maintain their intent to act, their actions are resolved, the situation changes, and the procedure starts again.

If the actions result in a change of procedure (to combat, dungeon, wilderness or town procedures) transition to those procedures as appropriate. The basic procedure always applies.

Now we need to know what “clarifies the level of risk” means, what “PC actions are resolved” means, and how they’re related (the answer to that is GM actions).

When clarifying the level of risk involved in an action, the GM considers the situation the PCs are in, and the action they are proposing. If there is no risk, the action happens. If there is risk, an ability check (or other roll) is required.

On a success, it happens. On a partial success, it happens and the GM takes an action that does not negate the success. On a failure, it does not happen and the GM takes an action.

The action the GM takes on a failure or partial success depends on the level of risk. For a low risk action, the GM action taken in response should be to foreshadow danger, to increase the level of risk, or to escalate the stakes. For a risky action, the GM can take any action to threaten the PCs or their agenda. For a high risk action, the GM should take an action that will cause harm to the PCs or their agenda.

We have an excellent list of GM actions, but in action resolution, we focus on these ten;

Foreshadow danger

Increase the level of risk

Escalate the stakes

Separate them to face temptation alone

Threaten damage

Threaten something dear to them

Limit the impact of their actions

Lose an opportunity

Introduce a complication

An NPC does something impactful

The GM can, of course take any action at any time,:

Offer an opportunity at a cost

Give what they earnt

Tell a secret

Show the impact of their actions

Follow their lead

Cut to the action

Something happens off-screen

I feel like we can name these two sets of actions, but weak and strong don’t feel right, and neither do soft and hard. I’m not sure. Please, recommendations!

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on this approach to the basic procedure, or if you’ve a better way to categorise the GM actions.

Idle Cartulary

11th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I realise I haven’t listed or talked about proficiencies exactly. Let’s give it a go. Here is the ability check rule:

When you attempt a task, consider whether it requires training, or whether anyone can do it. If it requires training, you need proficiency to attempt it. If it anyone can do it or you have proficiency, and it is a simple task or the consequences of failure are negligible, you succeed. If it is complex or the consequences of failure are significant, perform an ability check.

To perform an ability check, roll 1d20. If the result is less than your ability score, you succeed but face a consequence. If it is not less than your ability score or the result is 20, you do not succeed and face a consequence. The game master chooses the consequence.

If you have proficiency, roll 2d20. If both dice are a success, you succeed without consequence. If you have a disadvantage, roll 2d20 and only take the lowest score.

If an item, ability or mastery grants you a numerical bonus, it is subtracted from the result of the roll. If your result is less than zero, you get greater effect than intended. You can always trade advantage for special effect or greater effect, by negotiation with the game master.

If your party is asked to make a group ability check, choose a leader. Each member of the party rolls an ability check, and for each failure, the leader spends 1d6 HP.

Now, let’s talk about proficiencies.

At first level or as an advancement, a PC can choose to gain a proficiency slot. During downtime, a PC can use that proficiency slot to gain a proficiency by taking the training downtime action. Proficiency slots are, by default, empty, and you need to train with a teacher to gain proficiency.

Proficiency is required to use most equipment: Armour, shields, weapons, lock picks, musical instruments or games of chance. You cannot use something to perform an ability check without proficiency. Proficiencies always include the use of relevant equipment, for example a lock picking proficiency includes use of lock picks, and a blacksmithing proficiency includes use of a forge.

If you spend a second or more proficiency slots on the same proficiency during training, you gain mastery. For each level of mastery, gain 1 bonus to your ability checks using that proficiency.

Only fighters can have mastery in weapons, however aside from that restriction, any PC can take any proficiency and have mastery in any proficiency.

Some downtime actions require a proficiency to perform. These downtime proficiencies are only available through unique class advancements, and are hence restricted to those classes. Examples include inscribe scroll and charge wand for a wizards.

Easy. This has all been discussed and alluded to before, just not clarified. I just need to write a proficiency list, which I’ll likely just pull from the wider line of second edition books.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on proficiencies and if I’ve missed anything! I’m certainly at the nit-picking and revising stage, and am entering the home run!

Idle Cartulary

10th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Second edition’s Turn Undead isn’t simple:

• Takes one turn
• Once per encounter per character
• Paladins are priests, but two levels lower
• You can attempt to do it at the same time, but not together
• Hands free and able to speak – “a touch of drama is required”
• Not interrupted by an attack
• Across reference HD or type of undead with character level, and roll higher
• One roll is for all undead targeted
• There is no range or limit on how many undead are targeted

I like the potential infinite power here, I like one dice roll, I like once per encounter (but there is no concept of encounter anywhere else I recall). I don’t like the paladin complexity, or the fact that you can’t team up for more turning power, or the fact that’s it is the only roll over d20 check in the game.

There is a 50% chance of turning a 1HD skeleton at 1st level. The skeleton is 100% at 4th and dies at 6th. The pattern holds: Over any given ten levels, xHD goes from 5% to Death.

Surely this can translate to a roll against HD, then? We have HD ranging from 1-11, where 1 is 50% at first level, and 11 is 50% at 10th. At first level, You have a 10/20 vs 1HD, 4/20 vs 2HD, 2/20 vs 3 HD, 1/20 vs 5HD. So, we can replicate the nice, exponential curve by saying that the target number is 10 + (3*Level – 3*HD), but that is so mathsy. Let’s see if we can simplify.

To turn undead, roll 1d20 – your level, or half your level if you are a paladin. You must roll under the undead creatures’ saving throw against turning.

Turning affects all undead in reach rank. If you roll a natural 1, any undead equal that have HD equal to or less than your level are destroyed instantly.

The GM calculates the saving throw against turning for each undead target as ten minus their HD.

If the targets saving throw against turning is less than 1, if you succeed, you are locked in battle with them until a second turn undead is completed. The powerful undead is staggered, and only uses half their HD (round down) in the second round.

For example, Gareth, second level priest, turns a 1HD skeleton, a 3HD ghoul, and a 11HD lich. Gareth rolls 1d20 and subtracts 2, for a result of 8. The skeleton (saving throw against turning of 10–1) flees. The ghoul and lich (saving throw against turning of 10–3 and 10–11) are unaffected.

Sir Chard, a third level paladin, faces the same three undead. Sir Chard rolls a natural 1 on the d20, both the skeleton is destroyed, the ghoul flees, and Gareth is locked in battle with the lich. Gareth rolls 1d20 the second attempt and subtracts 1 (half the modifier of a priest), for a result of of 8. The lich (saving throw against turning of 10–5 now) licks its lips and begins to chant arcane vocalisations.

I like this. It’s simple, it’s dramatic, you don’t need to cross reference. I don’t love the lack of exponential curves, but it’s also a bit swingier and overpowered in a way that I like for divine power. Paladins are a little stronger than the source for simplicity’s sake.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on Turning Undead!

Idle Cartulary

9th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I felt after developing out the classes, I needed to clarify the downtime activity Training. The text I wrote:

You may train with a sage, master or expert, if you have a relationship with one. The downtime clock is equal to the number of proficiency slots you will have when you complete your training.

And the new version:

You may train with a sage, master or expert, if you have a relationship with one. To do so, you must have a spare proficiency slot available. The downtime clock is equal to two ticks for each proficiency slot that will be dedicated to the proficiency when you complete your training, for example, to train from Mastery +2 to Mastery +3, you’ll require eight ticks on the downtime clock.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on on training, if you have any. This has been a brief one!

Idle Cartulary

8th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of this series, there’s an index here.

So, I’ll start sketching out classes. I decided that for each class, a picklist consisting proficiency slots, ability, spells, HD size increase, and HD number increase. Take two at first level and pick a third, and then take one additional at each level.

Fighter

Gain proficiency in a weapon of your choice and proficiency in an armour of your choice at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against steel.

Add a new proficiency slot

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Increase the size of your hit dice before 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 3 HP to your HP total from 9th level

Can take elite followers from 9th level

Add a second attack per round once from 7th level

Add a third attack per round once from 13th level

A fighter gains no abilities in second edition, but can get elite followers, and is the only class to be able to specialise in weapons, as well as gets a unique strength bonus. All warriors can multi-attack. I’m happy to revise proficiency to give fighters the unique specialisation. That way, weapon specialisation rules can be a fighter subsystem, and allow things like their being able to fire into melee. Multi-attack should be a fighter only option, given then evening out of benefits and drawbacks across classes.

Paladin

Gain proficiency in a weapon of your choice and proficiency in an armour of your choice at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against steel or domination (your choice).

Add a new proficiency slot

Gain the spiritual mission downtime proficiency

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Turn undead (once per turn and once per creature)

Divine smite (spend 1d6 HP to inflict 1d8 additional radiant damage on a successful attack, or other patron-appropriate damage at GM’s discretion)

Detect magic in ranged rank (devilry)

Lay on hands (2 HP per level, touch rank, once per day)

Cure disease (touch rank, once per week)

Aura of protection (+1 saving throws to allies in same melee range)

Increase the size of your hit dice from 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 3 HP to your HP total from 9th level

Learn a priest spell from 9th level, as per a priest of 8 levels lower.

We need to write rules for turning undead, and added divine smite because it’s a pretty iconic power from subsequent editions. I removed the less iconic “whistle for horse”, and I like how I can add a bunch of powers to paladin from the get go because advancements are self-limiting.

Ranger

Gain proficiency in a weapon of your choice and proficiency in one of tracking or calm animal at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against steel or wands (your choice).

Add a new proficiency slot

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Gain a favoured enemy (favoured enemies are always threatened with an additional 1d8 damage when attacked by the ranger)

Gain advantage on reaction rolls with beasts

Increase the size of your hit dice before 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 3 HP to your HP total from 9th level

Learn a priest spell from 9th level, as per a priest of 8 levels lower.

Gain animal followers from 9th level.

Writing this, I realised that followers aren’t included on any lists aside from the ranger, because they’re a feature of building a stronghold for everyone else. This means I need to add follower rules into strongholds, or add them here. My inclination is strongholds, so that’ll need a thorough revision. Need a list of animal followers, and favoured enemies that are very specific.

Thief

Gain proficiency in a light weapon of your choice and proficiency in one of pick pockets, open locks, detect noise, sneak, climb walls, decipher script at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against wands.

Add a new proficiency slot

Gain a new proficiency in pick pockets, open locks, detect noise, sneak, climb walls, or decipher script.

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Increase the size of your hit dice before 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 2 HP to your HP total from 9th level

If you are hidden from your opponent, you can backstab them to threaten an additional 1d6 damage. This can be taken again from 7th and 13th level to increase damage threatened by an additional 1d6 HP each time.

You can always try to use wizardly scrolls – although the GM will roll 1d6 and on a 1, the magic will backfire and likely be dangerously overpowered in its effect or do the precise opposite of what you intended.

So, writing the thief list reveals the challenge in making proficiencies open to all: I can’t say “this class only gets this”. I think the solution is free specialisation for this class. Then, on revision, I realised that you get proficiency slots on advancement, but you need to train in downtime to assign them. I’ll clarify that in the downtime rules, but it opens a decent level up simplifications and makes for a neat “delayed investment” in proficiencies which I like. And, it makes the “get a proficiency” ability so much more powerful for thieves and bards!

Bard

Gain proficiency in a light weapon of your choice and proficiency in one musical instrument at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against wands.

Add a new proficiency slot

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Gain a new proficiency in disguise, acrobatics, juggling, forge documents, climb walls, ventriloquism, or any game

Increase the size of your hit dice before 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 2 HP to your HP total after 9th level

Learn a random wizard spell after 3rd level, as per a wizard of one third the level, rounded down

You gain advantage on reaction rolls with non-beasts

You learn to give a performance for one turn that grants all allies who hear it advantage on their next morale check, next saving throw or next attack roll, their choice.

You learn to how to counter any magic associated with music by performing against it.

You always know a legend or rumour about a hero or magical item, although the GM will roll 1d6 and on a 1, that rumour or legend will not be entirely true.

You can always try to use written magic – scrolls, books, glyphs – although the GM will roll 1d6 and on a 1, the magic will backfire and likely be dangerously overpowered in its effect or do the precise opposite of what you intended.

I pulled some of the proficiencies from the rogue list in second edition, but otherwise this is identical. I need to double check that advantage works for the bardic inspiration ability, but while it’s a little rule-breaking, we can break rules as a treat.

Priest

Gain a granted power appropriate to your deity (see the granted power list for examples), and proficiency in religion at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against domination.

Learn a priest spell of a level equal to half of your level rounded down.

Add a new proficiency slot

Gain the spiritual mission downtime proficiency

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Turn undead (once per turn and once per creature)

Increase the size of your hit dice before 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 2 HP to your HP total after 9th level

I need to write a granted powers list, but aside from that, both priests and wizards are quite straightforward, as a lot of their content is offloaded to their spell list.

Wizard

Gain one spell at first level and proficiency in arcane at first level. Take one advancement from the following list at first level and an additional one at each level. You have advantage on saving throws against transformation.

Learn a wizard spell of a level equal to half of your level rounded down.

Add a new proficiency slot

Gain the inscribe scroll, study spell book, charge wand, or create spell book downtime proficiency

Decrease a saving throw by 1

Gain proficiency in magical research.

Increase the size of your hit dice before 9th level

Increase your number of hit dice before 9th level

Add 1 HP to your HP total after 9th level

Wizards are more simple again, and reminded me to incorporate the paladin and priest downtime proficiencies.

This leaves me with a lot of revisions:

• Armour proficiency
• Weapon mastery is for fighters only
• Proficiency slots being “spent” at downtime training
• Animal followers
• When followers can arrive
• Elite followers for fight
• Favoured enemies
• Advantage on morale, attacks, saving throws
• Granted powers
• Turn undead

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on this approach, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

7th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of this series, there’s an index here.

To build our heritage, I need four lists: Heritable traits, heritable foibles, ethos and rituals. I’ll refer to the ethos section for a list of ethos.

For your heritage, pick:

Two minor heritable traits or one major heritable trait

One heritable foible

One ethos

Create a small action or daily ritual your heritage performs

Name your heritage

For the lists, I want nice even randomisable numbers if I can. Minor heritable traits are typically limited or low-level:

1. Magic resistance (sleep)
2. Magic resistance (charm)
3. Magic resistance (fear)
4. Proficiency (weapon)
5. Proficiency (language)
6. Proficiency (favoured enemy)
7. Proficiency (speak to animals)
8. Proficiency (hide in foliage)
9. Proficiency (hold breath)
10. Proficiency (mimic sound)
11. Proficiency (track by scent)
12. Proficiency (sense slope, direction or depth)
13. Proficiency (sense tunnel safety)
14. Proficiency (sense secret doors)
15. Daily Affect Normal Fires or other spell cast at 1st level at hp cost of 1d6
16. Natural armour against fire (2d6)
17. Natural armour against cold (2d6)
18. Powerful leap (unencumbered only)
19. Prehensile appendage (tail, tentacle, etc.)
20. Natural attack (1d4 melee)

Major heritable traits are more specific but powerful and all spell-like abilities last until sunrise and can only be used on self.

1. Daily Invisibility or other spell cast at 2nd level at hp cost of 2d6
2. Daily Monster Summoning I or other spell cast at 3rd level, at hp cost of 3d6
3. Daily Polymorph Self or other spell cast at 4th level, at hp cost of 4d6
4. Natural armour against non-silvered weapons (2d6)
5. Natural armour against slashing damage (2d6)
6. Natural armour against piercing damage (2d6)
7. Natural armour against bludgeoning damage (2d6)
8. Immunity (charm)
9. Immunity (sleep)
10. Immunity (fear)
11. Advantage on saving throws (poison)
12. Advantage on saving throws (wands)
13. Advantage on saving throws (ill-fortune)
14. Magic resistance (priestly)
15. Magic resistance (wizardly)
16. Magic resistance (devilry)
17. Natural attack (2d4 melee)
18. Natural attack (1d4 reach)
19. Natural attack (1d4 charge)
20. Flight (unencumbered only)

Heritable foibles are typically special consequences or abilities with significant drawbacks

1. Infravision, but no normal vision
2. Ultravision, but no normal vision
3. Too large for common armour and clothing
4. Too small for common armour and clothing
5. Always recognisable as heritage (horns, tentacles, skin colour, eyes, etc.)
6. Vulnerable to magic (charm)
7. Vulnerable to magic (fear)
8. Cause magical items to malfunction when using them as a consequence
9. Disadvantage when exposed to hot weather
10. Disadvantage when exposed to dry weather
11. Disadvantage when exposed to cold weather
12. Threaten damage when exposed to loud noises
13. Vulnerable to fire damage
14. Vulnerable to lightning damage
15. Vulnerable to cold damage
16. Vulnerable to poison damage
17. Vulnerable to silvered weapons
18. Magic (divine) ineffective at random
19. Magic (wizardly) ineffective at random
20. Magic (devilry) ineffective at random

Rituals are often related to a trait or foible, but it’s hard to do a picklist. I wonder if the better approach is a ritual grid:

A ritual or social action is something that happens regularly, and is reflective of your heritage. Usually it consists of a call or external prompt, and a response that you and your folk do Use these prompts to help create your ritual or social action, or roll 1d10 on each table:

Call: 1. Celestial sign; 2. Animal activity; 3. A specific accident; 4. A weather event; 5. A magical sign; 6. A meeting of minds; 7. An injury; 8. A request for assistance; 9. A death or loss; 10. An unexpected change

Response: 1. Celebration; 2. Meditation; 3. Prayer; 4. Utterance; 5. Gesture; 6. Physical Touch; 7. Ward; 8. Garment; 9. Grooming; 10. Mourning

Now, the basic rule is create your own, but I will do in the end is provide common sets of traits to relate to say, high elves, mountain dwarves, or forest gnomes.

Wood elves. Magic resistance (charm), proficiency (hide in foliage), ultravision. Protect the borders of the Forest of Murk from outsiders. We must celebrate drinking honey wine with our family each month when both the Maiden and the Full Moon are in the sky together, taking no rest.

I’ll do a few of those, just to cover the basic races. I think that’s a neat framework.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on the heritage lists, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

6th June 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I realised working on monsters, that I didn’t have a saving throw table for each class or for monsters (which are, in second edition, as warriors). The saving throw rule is:

If you are attacked, make a saving throw by rolling 1d20. If your position is controlled, roll with advantage, and if it is desperate, roll with disadvantage. On a full success, take no damage and no effect. On a partial success, take half damage and temporary or partial effect. On a failure, take full damage and effect.

The save you roll depends on the type of attack: Domination for psychic, enchantment, or death magic, Poison for physical fortitude, Wands for magical attacks, Transformation for anything that changes the nature of your flesh, Steel for physical attacks and Ill-Fortune for all else.

Second edition has this table to calculate your saving throw. Based on this we have for each class, a strong and two weak saves.

Or, focussing on strengths, you could say that warriors are strong against steel and poison, wizards are strong against wands and transformation, rogues are strong against steel and wands, and priests are strong against domination and transformation. Nobody is strong against ill-fortune, and there are plenty spare combinations for the supplementary classes I expect to appear.

But what does strong mean? And what are we rolling against? I like incorporating position here, but really positioning should change consequences, and be GM-facing (more or less). Maybe I need to go back and talk about consequences and positioning as part of the basic procedure – because it really should be. If I do that, I can forget about it here, and different classes can have advantage on different saving throws. Disadvantage, is not mentioned, mirroring ability checks.

If you are attacked, make a saving throw by rolling 1d20. Roll with advantage if your class has advantage on that saving throw. On a full success, take no damage and no effect. On a partial success, take no damage and full effect, or half damage and temporary or partial effect at GMs discretion. On a failure, take full damage and full effect.

The save you roll depends on the type of attack: Domination for psychic, enchantment, or death magic, Poison for physical fortitude, Wands for magical attacks, Transformation for anything that changes the nature of your flesh, Steel for physical attacks and Ill-Fortune for all else.

If I’m mirroring ability checks, we need a unique saving throw score, just like an ability score, between 0 and 20. We should generate saving throws exactly as we generate ability scores or, we should relate them directly like in fifth edition. It adds unnecessary complexity to randomly roll them; but it also gives the potential for interesting contrasts and balancing; I’m inclined to give both as options at character creation.

To generate your saving throws, either roll them as you’d roll for your ability scores, or derive them from your ability scores: Domination is equal to your intelligence score; poison to constitution; wands to dexterity; transformation to charisma; steel to strength and ill-fortune to wisdom.

Warriors have advantage against steel and poison, wizards are strong against wands and transformation, rogues are strong against steel and wands, and priests are strong against domination and transformation.

Looking at this rule, honestly, it feels a bit overpowered: Advantage on one saving throw is enough, because it’ll stack with heritage options like the halflings. In addition, the generation rule seems overly complex.

To generate your saving throws, either roll them as you’d roll for your ability scores, or assign the value of each of your ability scores to a saving throw.

Warriors have advantage against steel, wizards are strong against transformation, rogues are strong against wands, and priests are strong against domination.

But, by divorcing saving throw scores from class, I’ve caused a monster problem; albeit a minor one because only boss monsters use saving throws. Basically, do I scrap saving throws for monsters altogether (and relate them to the success of the PC’s roll), or do we give them a specific array? Or we give certain monsters the ability to inflict disadvantage for a saving throw? Or we just make inflict disadvantage on an ability check or saving throw a hard move? That last one, I think. So, when a monster says “save as”, they can cause disadvantage on those kind of attacks as a move (wands and transformation for example). I’ll have to add the the monster conversion rules:

A monster requires the following statistics:

Number appearing, attacks/damage, save as, armour, hit dice, movement type, morale, treasure type, special notes on attacks and defences.

All numbers are compatible with the basic and second edition versions of the game, except for armour and morale.

It may be beneficial to in addition add information for the GM’s inspiration, on frequency, organisation, intelligence, ethos, diet, sleep cycle, climate and habitat, society and ecology, or tactics.

If using a monster in B/X, if their B/X morale score is <5, their morale rating is 5; if their B/X morale score is 6-9 their morale rating is 10; if their B/X morale score is >10, their morale rating is 15. If the monster is in Second Edition, use their morale rating.

To convert an NPCs armour class in B/X or AD&D 2e to Advanced Fantasy Dungeons, consult the armour table and assign an equivalent armour type.

To convert a monster’s “save as” in BX, simply impose disadvantage on attacks for their equivalent class: Warrior equivalents impose disadvantage against steel, wizard equivalents against transformation, rogue equivalents against wands, and priest equivalents against domination.

Thoughts going forward: Disadvantage needs to be clarified in its role and it’s consistency across systems, I think, and likely this belongs in the GM section as a GM action. Having eliminated positioning entirely (but it still being a useful concept), I think that needs to be incorporated into the basic rules and procedure and GM actions.

I also realise that there’s no way to increase ability scores or saving throws; should increasing scores be possible? Second edition says no for ability scores, but yes for saving throws, which suggests saving throw improvement should be a common class advancement. I haven’t written class advancements yet, so I can add that in easily.

Finally, I need to revise the basic procedure section and the GMing section to include the concepts of desperate and controlled positioning, and how those things affect consequences. This is about consistency between systems, and the inconsistency that’s been baked into the piecemeal way I’ve developed this should be ironed out as I work things together into an alpha document.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on saving throws! I don’t think I’ve missed any glaring things, but on the other hand I missed saving throws until this late stage so anything could happen.

Idle Cartulary

5th June 2022