Sidetracked

In response to Keith Davies Looting Hoards by the Cards, I came up with an alternate system using a normal deck of cards. I use this for treasure hoards and chests. (if rolling is too big a hassle, just assign a value for each suite)

TREASURE HORDES

When characters find a horde of treasure, they can spend one turn collecting loot. Have players draw 5 cards from a normal deck of playing cards and keep or discard as many as they wish. Cards can be traded or given away to other players, and larger hoards allow players to draw more cards. Suites stand for the quantity of gold or bits, or how much jewels or treasure cards are worth:

Hearts- 1d3 x10

Clubs- 1d4 x10

Diamonds- 1d6 x10

Spades- 1d8 x 10

Cards represent the following:

1- ___ Silver pieces

2- ___ Silver pieces

3- ___ Silver pieces

4- ___ Silver pieces

5- ___ Gold pieces

6- ___ Gold pieces

7- ___ Gold pieces

8- Pouch of jewels worth ___

9- Jewel worth ___ +20 gold

10- Gem worth ___ x2 gold

J- Piece of art worth ___ x3 gold

Q- Finery worth ___ x4 gold

K- Scepter or Crown worth ___ x5 gold

A- Magic item roll

Joker- Wild card, draw 3 cards

TREASURE CHESTS

Treasure chests (or other receptacles) can be handled with the same rules as looting a hoard, with the exception that there is only a limited amount of treasure cards in each chest. Small chests carry 1 card, medium 2 cards, and large 3 cards. Chests can be pre-filled with whatever the GM desires, including items not on the treasure horde list such as scrolls, books, arms and armor, or mundane items.

Rules: Saving Throws

SAVING THROWS

When subjected to dangerous situations, one often receives a saving throw to mitigate incoming damage or effects. There are three types of saving throws: Body, Reflex, and Mind, notated as BS, RS, and MS.

BODY SAVES

Body saves are used when one comes in contact with bodily dangers like disease, poison or paralysis. Diseases can be contracted through contaminated food or water and diseased or poisonous enemies. For these enemies, a Body Save is made upon a successful hit at 12 + 3 per 2 HD of the carrier. Diseases can be lifted if 3 saves are made during the course of the disease or by waiting out the symptoms.

Minor Illness – BS12 Common, Causes -2 to all rolls for 2d6 days

Disease – BS15 Concerning, Causes -1d6 ability score damage for 2d6 days, -1 permanently on a roll of 6

Serious Disease- BS18 Death in 1d12 days unless treated -2 to all rolls

Plagues- BS21 Most serious, Death in 1d12 days and -4 to all rolls unless treated

Infection- BS15 Open wounds roll 1d6 daily. Infected on 1 and 2d6 dmg/day until treated

POISON (THANKS TO JEFF RIENTS)

Poison is fairly common in Swords & Sorcery settings. The severity of a poison ranges from I to V and stands for both the damage done by the poison, and the number of rounds it stays in effect, dealing (severity)d6 damage per round. Poisons have an initial save and a save for each round if the first fails. Severity is also added to a range of 1 in 6 on a d6 of whether or not a character is stunned from pain. When employing a poison with a weapon, a critical fumble results in the character poisoning themselves, and forcing a Body save vs. the poison. Alchemists do not run this risk, but they are not immune to poisons from enemies. Poisons can be treated during their duration with spells, antidotes, and first aid.

REFLEX SAVES

Reflex saves are used to avoid effects to an area including; trap effects, dragon breath attacks, and spells like fireball. Area of effect spells have Reflex save equal to their Mind save, and halve damage from effects. RS for Dragon breath attacks are 10 + Dragon HD. Traps have a RS 15^+/- modified by the complexity of the trap. Damage from traps is always equal to 1d6 + complexity mod. (min 1 damage). The RS for traps is also their tinker DC. Complexity modifiers:

Type of Trap	Complexity Mod
Simple Pin Trap	-5
Trap Doors	-3
Snares	-1
Arrow/ Dart traps	+0
Bear traps	+1
Jet Traps	+3
Swinging Blades	+5
Advanced Traps	+10
Tomb of Horrors	+15

MIND SAVES

Mind saves represent a characters resistance to mind bending effects from magic, supernatural horrors, or curses. Mind saves vs. spells are equal to 10 + ½ Magician Level + INT Mod. Curses have their own specific MS and horrors are determined ad hoc based on a MS15^+/- standard. Common curses:  

Evil-eye - MS12 -1 to all rolls

Un-luck - MS14 Roll twice, taking the lower result

Mind Fire– MS15 casters can only remember their INT mod. spells

Weakness - MS16 Exhausted until curse removed

Fumblers Curse - MS18 -3 to all skill and ability rolls

Curse of Ages- MS18 character begins rapidly aging at a year each day until they die in 1d20+10 days

Lycanthropy - MS21 Lycanthropy

Cursed items have the opposite effect of the original item.

Rules: Skills 2

Characters choose three starting skills at character creation from this list, but skills outside this list could also be chosen to aid with a characters theme. The skills Animal Handling and Swindle are used in conjunction with the Labyrinth Lord reaction tables, and saves (more tomorrow) are categorized into three types Mind (mind altering effects), Body (poison, paralysis, etc.), and Reflex (area of effect, traps, etc.) saves. Shorthand MS, BS, and RS. I use the Table of Bloody Dismemberment for wounds, which is what first aid is supposed to help. Encumbrance is worked differently in my campaign, so more on that later.

Acrobatics- (DEX) DC 15^+/- Feats of balance and precision, modified by distance and difficulty. Slow fall to avoid damage at +5 DC per 10’. +2 DC per encumbrance point

Animal Handling - (WIS) DC 10 + HD to better reaction of animal. Lower on failure. +3 DC per attempt. Modified by food.

Astronomy - (INT) DC 13⁺ must be outside at night to predict astronomical phenomena. -5 DC with astrolabe. Navigate gains +2 with Astronomy, able to navigate at night

Climbing – (DEX) DC 15^+/- to climb improbable surfaces with proper gear. +5 DC without gear. +2 DC per encumbrance point

Craft (Armor) – (STR) DC 10 + AC bonus. Takes AC bonus worth of days to complete and 1d6 x AC go for materials

Craft (Object) – (STR) DC 13^+/- for the creation of a specific object. For weapons +3 DC per weapon size. Must have appropriate tools, materials, and workspace

Decipher/Scribe – (INT) DC 15^+/- Use knowledge of language and writing to decipher cryptic or ancient texts and glyphs. Can also be used to make accurate forgeries  

Disguise – (CHA) DC 13^+/- to make the disguise, then roll a disguise rating: d20 + CHA mod. + Skill bonus = DC MS an opponent must make to recognize the character. Requires a disguise kit 

Dowsing – (WIS) DC 15^+/- Using a dowsing rod, one may find water, minerals, herbs, or ley lines. Or not.

First Aid – (WIS) DC 15^+/- to stabilize a major wound. Or, roll vs. disease/ poison DC to allow victim a save reroll with + skill mod. bonus

 

Legerdemain – (DEX) DC 15^+/- a.k.a. sleight of hand. Use to pick pockets (as robbing), palm daggers, etc. Failure twice gets you caught

Lore (???) – (INT) DC varies from basic information of a subject (DC 10) to expert knowledge (DC 30). Must first be trained, receives skill XP from research (+1d10/hour), not success

Navigation – (INT) DC 15^+/- Trained to use maps, compasses, etc. to path-find. Success can find short cuts and prevents getting lost.

Perform – (CHA) DC 13^+/- gain gold equal to degree of success x 1d6. Failure angers patrons. 1 attempt per location, takes full turn

Pick Locks – (DEX) DC range from Simple locks (DC 10) to Master locks (DC 30). 2 attempts per lock and requires proper tools

Stealth – (DEX) DC 13^+/- Used to hide/move silently in natural cover or shadows. Make the stealth check then roll a stealth rating: d20 + DEX mod. + Skill bonus = DC MS

Survival – (CON) DC 13⁺ Skilled at surviving in the wild while sustaining and enduring the elements. Gain +2 to tracking and navigation in the wild

Swindle - (CHA) DC 13^+/- through gambling/trickery gain or lose gold based on degree of success/failure x 1d6. Swindle can also be used on NPCs like animal handling, or for haggling.

Tinkering – (DEX) DC 15^+/- Used to manipulate mechanical devices and create new mechanisms. Often used to sabotage or create small traps. Tools and parts needed and mechanism must be visible to tinker with it. Tinker DC is equal to a traps Reflex Save number.

Tracking – (WIS) DC varies from soft ground (DC 10) to hard ground (DC 25). Used to follow tracks left by enemies and modified -/+3 DC for creature size and weather  

When starting, note that skills that encompass any kind of previous profession or talent, should be cleared with the GM. When in doubt, use DC 15^+/- and be sure it isn’t a craft skill! (E.g. chariot driving, seamanship, underwater basket weaving, etc.)

Rules: Skills

Alright, I'm going to start posting rules for my iteration of DnD Mine. For starters, the rules are based off a combination of things that I've shamelessly taken from other OSR bloggers, my own rules, Some 3x esque themes, and Labyrinth Lord. A special thanks to Gavin Norman for his spell lists for the elementalist and necromancer class, the basis for my Gray and Black Magician classes, as well as the Brute, Archer (Marksmen), Blade, and Leader (Skald) class. 

The First thing I'm going to post, is my take on a skill system. This will make understanding the classes a little easier when I get to it. Tomorrow I will post the starter skills.

SKILLS

The skill system of Dorms and Dragons is a unique feature that allows characters to learn new skills as they adventure, while becoming more proficient at skills they already know through success-based advancement. If a character wants to try a new skill, they must simply succeed at it to put it on their character sheet. Starting skills are what receives a bonus for level advancement. When a skill check is a success, roll a d10 for skill XP. Critical success gives max XP. Skill experience progresses at the rate of the table below, with a maximum bonus of +20 from training, level, or success

Skill Bonus	Skill XP Needed
+1	10
+2	40
+3	90
+4	160
+5	250
+6	360
+7	490
+8	640
+9	810
+10	1000
+11	1210
+12	1440
+13	1690
+14	1960
+15	2250
+16	2560
+17	2890
+18	3240
+19	3610
+20	4000

AVERAGE SKILL DC +/-

To keep the unique skill system somewhat streamlined, most skills use a base DC of 15^+/-. This number may seem high, but it may be scaled up or down depending on difficulty. This DC is further modified by ability scores. The reason behind the high DC is to discourage the reliance on skill rolls, and encourage a style of intelligent, player-skill intensive roleplaying. Modifiers range from -5 to +15. Remember to role play not roll play!

Skill DC Modifiers
Mod.	Ease of Task
-5	Trivial
-3	Easy
-1	Slightly Easier
+0	Average
+1	Slightly Harder
+3	Hard
+5	Very Hard
+10	Expert
+15	Master

CREATING SKILLS

New skills should be discussed with the GM before being written on a character sheet, as some skills are just variations of the existing skills below. Skills have to be actions that require a chance of success or failure that cannot be simply decided ad hoc. Skills must have a quantifiable range of difficulty with a DC of either 13 or 15^+/- depending on ease of the task, usually assuming 15^+/-. After a skill is decided upon by player and GM, determine the applicable Ability score modifier. Be sure to clear new skills with the GM first!