Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

One of the things I like about 4e is reading the "why"s, why one rule was changed, created, or abandoned. Even though I'm still running a 3.5 game, as a DM, I get a lot of mileage out of knowing the thoughts of the game designers, folks who focus on this game much more than I have the chance to do (case in point, my new Second Wind rule for my game). Recently I've been thinking about the critical hits. In 4e, there is no critical threat/confirm critical for the simple reason that if you threat and fail to confirm, you go from being a hero to a loser in 2 seconds, and that certainly isn't as much fun as being the hero. Now, I'm not ready to adapt the 4e style for crits (especially since the threat range is kept much smaller than it can be min/max'ed in 3.5). But I do think something should be in order. Going forward, I'm going to try the following: On a Nat 20 (not necessarily a crit), if the player fails to confirm the crit, they still get +2 damage. ...

My current D&D campaign uses the 3.5 rules. At the same time, I'm interested in the new 4.0 rules, but don't have a lot of experience playing it (other than a few D&D Encounters sessions at my FLGS). While reading up on the new system thanks to the Rules Compendium for 4.0/Essentials. When I came across the detailed description for Second Wind, I realized that this was something I could easily incorporate into my 3.5 game. One of the things that makes it easy to use a Second Wind-type mechanic is that my game already uses the Reserve Points optional rule (from Unearthed Arcana). I use this option since for most of the campaigns, I didn't have a full party, and even now, the group doesn't have a healing cleric. Since there isn't a steady pool of healing magic available, I think Reserve Points nicely fills that gap (and allows players to play what they want, instead of someone feeling like they must play the walking band-aid). Since players have this Reserve ...

I've used a variation of the following rule for a number of years, almost since I started DMing... aaalllll the way back in 2nd edition (when the game was still called AD&D!) Normal Rule: PCs die when their hit points reach -10 House Rule: PCs die when their hit points reach -10 + CON bonus The upside is that most characters now probably last a round or two longer. Particular weak characters could expire sooner, but at least there's a logical relationship on a PCs heartiness and how long before they die. Back in second edition, my rule was a bit different. A PC would die at -CON value. It probably had a more beneficial effect, since I recall most of the PCs having a con value in the 12-16 range. Interestingly, years later I found this post on Monte Cook's website with his house rules on death and dying . Seems he uses -CON for death in his 3e games, along with a modification to the unconscious below zero rule. Lastly, it'll be interesting to see what D&D 4t...