How to Convert a Classic D&D Module for 5E Play

Yesterday I did a post regarding various D&D modules that are considered to be "the best", and I included The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar as an example of a module that I feel should be in the top 10.

What I didn't mention is that I have run THHoE three separate times, once in AD&D 1st Edition, and twice in 5th Edition.

 

But the module is obviously AD&D... So how do you convert an old module to 5E???

Well, I shall tell you. And it is surprisingly easy. 

Especially since adventures in older editions are significantly harder than modern editions and the PCs were weaker and more squishy back then, and PCs in modern editions are considerably over-powered in comparison. As a result it is pretty easy to convert modules and the only complaint to the DM should be "This is too easy!", but in order to challenge players I recommend that raise the hardness in some circumstances.

Also, in some cases when it comes to treasure I recommend nerfing some of the loot. Older modules sometimes gave out "Swords of Wishes" and similar overpowered objects.

But let's pretend that you are new to the whole idea of converting modules, so here's some DMing tips when doing so:

 

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1. Start With Story, Not Stats

The soul of any adventure lies in its story, not the math behind the monsters. Before you open your Monster Manual, read the old module like a novel.
Ask yourself:

• What’s the adventure really about?

• What are the main themes or moral choices?

• Who are the key villains and what drives them?

By understanding the story first, you’ll avoid getting lost in the technical weeds. A well-told tale transcends edition mechanics.

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2. Identify the Core Encounters

Every module has a few “signature” moments — the boss fight, the puzzle, the trap that everyone remembers. Circle or highlight these.

When converting, make sure these iconic encounters survive translation. You can tweak numbers or monsters later, but those tentpole moments are what give the module its flavor.

Example: In Ravenloft (I6), Strahd’s tragic duel in his castle is essential. Even if you change the spell list or stats, the scene must stay.

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3. Match Challenge Ratings to Modern Balance

Classic modules were often deadlier (and less forgiving) than 5e adventures.
To avoid total-party-wipe frustration:

• Use Challenge Ratings (CRs) to approximate new monster stats.

• Adjust hit points or numbers rather than replacing every creature.

• Remember that 5e characters are generally tougher — healing, cantrips, and short rests change pacing dramatically.

A good rule of thumb:

For every 2E/Basic “hard encounter,” make it a “moderate” one in 5e. Players will still sweat, but it’ll feel fair.

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4. Replace Obsolete Mechanics Gracefully

Old modules love saving throws vs. poison, THAC0, and weird initiative systems.
Instead of translating each one literally, interpret their intent.

• THAC0 → Attack bonus: Use the 5e equivalent for similar challenge levels.

• Save vs. Death/Poison → CON save: 5e’s Constitution saving throw covers most of these.

• Morale checks → Roleplay moments: Use NPC personality traits or Wisdom saves.

It’s better to reinterpret than to replicate. You’re adapting the spirit, not running a museum exhibit.

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5. Rebalance Treasure and Magic

Classic loot tables can break modern games.
In early D&D, magic items were everywhere — +2 swords in goblin chests, potions on every corpse. 5e assumes scarcity, so too much gear can overpower your players fast.

Solution:

• Cut total treasure by 25–50%.

• Replace weaker magical items with flavorful story rewards (favor from a god, land deed, ancient secret).

• Keep iconic items (like the Sunsword or Blackrazor) but use modern mechanics.

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6. Modernize the Flow

Old modules often assume the DM is adversarial and players are cautious dungeon crawlers. Modern groups tend to favor story and momentum.
Consider trimming endless empty corridors or repetitive fights, and focus on:

• Meaningful choices.

• Strong NPC motivations.

• Consequences that ripple through the adventure.

Add a few roleplaying scenes where classic modules are purely mechanical — it’ll feel fresh without losing the old-school charm.

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7. Update Maps and Handouts

You don’t need to redraw every map, but modernizing them helps immersion.
Try:

• Using online map tools or grid overlays for virtual play.

• Scanning and cleaning old blue maps for print.

• Adding a few descriptive notes or dynamic lighting effects if you use platforms like Roll20 or Foundry.

Old dungeons can look stunning when upgraded visually.

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8. Keep the Tone — That’s the Real Magic

Every classic module has a mood.
Keep on the Borderlands is frontier adventure.
Tomb of Horrors is a deadly puzzle box (and most of the traps can be solved with an abundance of chickens or a 10 foot pole).
The Lost City is strange and dreamlike.

Preserve that mood above all else. 

Your players may be rolling 5e dice, but if the atmosphere feels authentically old-school, you’ve succeeded.

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9. Add Hooks and Motivation

Earlier adventures sometimes dropped players in with little context: “You arrive at the dungeon entrance.”

Give modern players a reason to care:

• A personal connection to an NPC.

• A mystery to solve.

• A prophecy or relic tied to their backstories.

A few sentences of motivation can turn a random dungeon crawl into an epic quest.

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10. Document and Share Your Conversion

Once you’ve successfully run your version, write it up!
DMs love seeing how others modernized old adventures.
Include:

• What you changed.

• What worked.

• What nearly killed everyone (in the best way).

It keeps the spirit of the classics alive — and helps other DMs keep the torches burning.

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Character Deaths and TPKs in Dungeons and Dragons

During my recent Friday 2nd Edition D&D game one of the PCs died through no fault of his own.

He died because a different party member went off on their own to explore the dungeon solo. This is an inherently deadly problem. What if you run into something that you cannot handle on your own?

The kind of monster that can potentially kill a character with only 2 or 3 hits, and is pretty good at hitting.

This is what happened on Friday.

1. While one PC was changing into new plate mail armour (which takes about 10 rounds to do) the party cleric went off to explore on their own in a haunted keep.
2. They encountered a ghost, one of the biggest monsters within the keep, which ages a target 10 to 40 years per successful hit. (A character hit multiple times can potentially die from old age.)
3. After they heard screaming, the party rushed to help the cleric... but one of their best fighters was still changing into his new armour.
4. The disorganized party isn't able to work effectively because they were not prepared for this fight. They are split even when they do leap into action.
5. The cleric cast Sanctuary, effectively protecting themselves from the ghost.
6. The ghost proceeded to attack one of the bigger fighters in the party who was closest. They scored two hits, aging the fighter for 40 years each time.
7. The biggest fighter died at the age of 105 years old, going from age 25 to 105 in mere minutes.
8. The party later defeated the ghost, but they have suffered a horrific and unnecessary loss.
   

The ghost encounter is meant to be a hard battle, but if the entire party is present and prepared they should suffer minimal damage / aging.

But when you add splitting the party to the mix, suddenly that encounter becomes deadly.

Hence the saying (and the song):

"Never split the party."

The same player unfortunately bore the brunt of a similar incident a month ago when the party failed to navigate a lava fissure. They were using a safety rope, with someone with an 18 Strength holding the rope... But they character jumping over the lava fissure failed their jump check, and the PC holding the safety rope failed their Strength check to hold the rope. The chances of them both failing was one in 200, so highly unlikely (0.5%), but when it comes to deadly hazards people should be far more cautious.

Ask yourself, would YOU get on an airplane that has a 0.5% chance of crashing and killing you? Of course not. It is an unnecessary risk. But in Dungeons and Dragons players often assume they will be just fine and that the odds are in their favour, which it was, but eventually your luck can run out.

Now there are other ways the party could have have solved this particular terrain hazard.

1. Tie the rope to a door handle. A solid door would bear the weight of the person jumping no problem.
2. Build a bridge over the lava fissure. (I ran this dungeon once before and this is what the other party did. They used wood from broken wine barrels to build a bridge.)
3. Solve the problem using magic. Possibly by using a spell like Stone Shape or something similar to build a bridge.
4. Any number of other methods.
   

But these things happen sometimes when adventuring parties take unnecessary risks.

I am reminded of a different game from about a decade ago when the party was climbing an icy mountain, and they split the party and tried climbing it using different routes up the mountain occupied by baddies. So not only were they dealing with dangerous icy falls, there were enemies attacking them, and they split the party. Three characters died that day because they didn't take precautions (using ropes/etc) and they split the party. It was nearly a party wipe.

What I have learned however is that when you run a deadly campaign it brings out the problem solving in the group where every hazard and obstacle is dealt with more finesse, and splitting the party eventually becomes a rarity. Sometimes there are hiccups when the party makes a mistake...

Like failing to rest before running into a boss fight, and that can lead to PCs dying or even a TPK (the failing to rest example I am thinking of did lead to a TPK). When a party gets a chance to rest, and they're not in a hurry, they should always rest - even within a dungeon. Especially before a boss fight.

The failing to rest before a boss fight thing could always happen again too. All it takes is for the majority of the party to say "Yeah, let's keep going. We don't need to rest right now."

That is one of those mistakes players will make when they're low on hit points, low on spells, but they are not taking the danger seriously. Possibly because they've never had a TPK before.

For those who don't know a TPK stands for Total Party Kill. Everyone dies.

TPKs are very rare.

In order for a TPK to happen the DM needs to be running a deadly campaign (not pulling any punches or bending the rules to make sure the PCs survive) and the party needs to collectively make a huge mistake. Eg. Not resting to recuperate, rushing into a den of vampires unprepared, attacking something they know is too big for them to handle, etc.

So I think the party needs to have a chat about this issue. Everyone knows I run a deadly campaign, but now that they know that and have seen 2 character deaths in one month they need to start planning out their actions more carefully.

That doesn't mean they cannot take unnecessary risks, but there are such a thing as mitigating those risks. Eg. If the cleric hadn't wandered off, that would have been a much better solution. Alternatively, if the cleric really wanted to go off on their own they should have cast Sanctuary first... But even then that would be putting themselves at risk for traps or other hazards, and was not a guaranteed protection against monsters.

2nd Edition AD&D Exorcist Class

Okay, so let me start by saying I have a rather unusual problem that necessitated me making an Exorcist class for 2nd Edition AD&D. I am writing a novel titled "The Exorcist's Dagger" in which one of the main characters is an exorcist, and I realized that I need to define exactly what her powers are as an exorcist.

Furthermore in my world exorcists are not priests. They're not wizards either. So this is not a wizard class or a priest class, but something different. As different as druid is to cleric, except more so. They're just something "different", just like the Taltos class is different from bards or druids. (You can find the Taltos class in Dragon Magazine 247.)

Thus I realized that I needed to create an Exorcist character class for AD&D just so I knew what the abilities and limitations of the character would be in my book. Thus the character class listed below is NOT meant for gaming. It is meant for a book.

So to create this character class I am going to go through the steps outlined in pages 22 and 23 of the 2nd Edition DMG (more or less in order) and see what abilities make sense for my version of the Exorcist class.

#1. What races can be an Exorcist?

Well, I can't really imagine dwarves, gnomes or Habbels (my version of halflings) being exorcists - and the class can do a sort of "spirit magic", so I don't see them doing this. I also don't see elves or minotaurs doing this either. To me the elves and minotaurs would just use clerics if they're having a problem with evil spirits or demons.

So just humans. That gives a class modifier of 0.

#2. What combat value should the Exorcist have?

I imagine they should suck at combat, but not as badly as wizards. So rogue Thac0 works for me. That gives a class modifier of -1.

#3. Saving Throw Table?

I think the Exorcist should be good at saving throws versus possession, so their save versus spell should be fairly good. But they should suck against things like Poison. So the Wizard saving throws is the only one that truly makes sense. Class modifier is 0.

#4. Hit Dice per Level?

I think d6 makes sense. I see an exorcist as being tougher than a wizard, but not as awesome as a priest. Class modifier of 0.75.

#5. Hit Points Beyond 9th Level?

 Not as squishy as wizards, but not as robust as fighters. So 2 hp per level. Class modifier of 1.

#6. Armour allowed?

With their spirit magic in mind I think Exorcists should be able to wear some armour, but not a lot. So the limited AC of 5 or worse makes sense. Class modifier is -0.5

#7. Weapons allowed?

Hmm. Limited sounds good. 4 weapons of my choice that do d6 damage or less. So dagger should be one of them obviously (my book is called "The Exorcist's Dagger" for a reason). I think crossbows also makes sense for an Exorcist, who is a bit of an undead hunter. Quarterstaff, sure, why not... and war hammer (becomes relevant later for the Spiritual Hammer spell). So dagger, quarterstaff, crossbow, war hammer. None of them do more than d6 damage (thanks to crossbows sucking in 2nd Edition... See my custom rules for Crossbows in 5th Edition to see what I mean) and the Exorcist is very limited in their choices. Class modifier is -1.5.

#8. Optional Abilities?

Okay, now we get to the fun part... What abilities should the Exorcist in Korovia have???

Let's make a bucket list of abilities...

• 3 skill proficiencies (cleric or wizard)
  
• 1 weapon proficiency
• Priest spells (a limited spell list)
• Wizard spells (a VERY limited spell list)
• Turn Undead
• Can use magical items allowed to clerics.
• No other abilities. No thief skills. Nothing especially useful in combat.

The total class modifiers for this bucket list is... 10.

#9. Restrictions?

Must be lawful, must destroy undead/exorcise demons (even if not being paid for it), cannot own more than 10 magical items (because otherwise it interferes with the spirit magic). Class modifiers is -2.5.

#10 Adding Time...

Adding up all of the class modifiers we get a total of 6.25. So the Exorcist goes up levels at the same speed as a Rogue.

Their primary abilities is that they can use spells and Turn Undead, which means that because Rogues level up faster than Priests that the Exorcist's ability to Turn Undead goes up at a faster rate than clerics, and their spells also go up at a faster rate... But they are very limited in their choice of spells.

So what spells can my Korovian Exorcist actually do?

• 1st Level: Bless (to create Holy Water), Detect Undead, Exorcism*, Invisibility to Undead, Magical Stone (for destroying undead), Protection from Evil/Good.
• 2nd Level: Detect Evil, Detect Possession*, Spiritual Hammer.
  
• 3rd Level: Hold Undead, Remove Curse, Speak with Dead, Speak with Demon*.
  
• 4th Level: Abjure, Protection from Evil/Good 10' Radius.
  
• 5th Level: Dismissal, Dispel Evil/Good, Magic Jar, Reverse Magic Jar*.
  
• 6th Level: Banishment, Control Undead, Trap the Soul.
  
• 7th Level: Astral Spell, Holy Word.
  

* New spells! See below.

NEW SPELLS

Exorcism - Upon casting this short ritual the Exorcist gains the ability to Turn Demons using their Turn Undead ability for the next 24 hours.

Detect Possession (similar to the 2nd level spell Detect Charm).

Speak with Demon (similar to Speak with Dead).

Reverse Magic Jar (exactly what it sounds like. Automatically reverses the spell when cast. No save.)

NOTES

You may have noticed that the Exorcist has very few wizard spells in their repertoire, but that doesn't mean that the DM/player (or me, the writer) cannot create new spells which are Exorcist specific.

This class isn't very good in combat, as you have probably noticed. This is deliberate. It has some useful spells that are handy at low levels (Magic Stone, Spiritual Hammer, etc), but many of the spells are really only good for dealing with curses, undead or demons.

Exorcists don't actually need a holy symbol to do their magic, nor do they need a spellbook. Instead they learn their knowledge of Exorcism Magic/Spirit Magic from other exorcists (often people who instructed them in the profession), books, conversing with priests and wizards, and building their knowledge gradually over time.

For descriptive purposes in my book the exorcist will be using Ard symbols instead of holy symbols, which they can sketch in the air in front of them using their fingers (similar to Doctor Strange and wizards in the Marvel franchise).

Is the Exorcist's magical abilities divine or arcane? A bit of both. They're spirit magic. The exorcist believes in the existence of various gods, but their power primarily comes from the spirit world, much like how a druid's magic comes from nature instead of from a specific god.

Thus there are different kinds of magic in Korovia.

Arcane Magic (usually used by wizards etc)

Divine Magic (usually used by clerics or priests or the gods themselves)

Nature Magic (usually used by druids, unicorns, fairies, etc)

Spirit Magic (usually used by exorcists, ghosts, etc)

But there are other kinds too like Eldar magic (used by the Eldar Noramir, the entities who created the universe and the world of Aoerth). Eldar magic is so powerful that even the gods have limited ability to use such magic. Only the Eldar Noramir can use it to the fullest extent.

And Ard Magic, which is magic based on symbols, pentagrams, hex markings, evil eye wards, lucky charms, etc. This is a very simplistic form of magic that in theory almost anyone can use if they have the materials needed for making such symbols. However Ard magic is very basic and weak.

Exorcist Class Creation Notes

0    Human Only
-1    Rogue Thac0
0    Wizard Saves
0.75    D6 HD
1    2 hp per level after 9th
-0.5    Limited AC of 5 or worse
-1.5    Limited to 4 weapons of d6 or less
10    Optional Abilities (see list)
-2.5    Restrictions

6.25    Total

Advantage Vs Disadvantage in 5E: Part Deux!

Before reading this you should read my previous post at:

Advantage vs Disadvantage in 5th Edition Dungeon and Dragons

Ahem...

And to continue that previous post let us first look at the following Probability Charts for Advantage and Disadvantage. As you can see having Advantage multiples your chances of rolling a Natural 20 from 1 in 20 to... 39 in 400. So it is a 9.75% chance of getting a critical hit.

Advantage Roll of 2d20

Disadvantage Roll of 2d20

However that same benefit is inverted for Disadvantage. That chances of rolling a Natural 1 are now 9.75%.

Having Advantage or Disadvantage on a roll basically equates to having a plus or minus 6.333 on the roll. It is a sizable mathematical bonus for improving a person's odds.

Also when you consider when compared to stat bonuses, in which you need a +2 to a Stat just to get a +1 to hit, that means you need +12 to a stat just to get a +6 to hit. Obviously getting a +12 to a single stat just doesn't happen either. Within the rules and not using any magical items it would be very difficult to get +12 to a stat.

What it makes you realize is that any feats in 5th Edition that give you more Advantages (or "Super Advantage" in the case of the "Lucky" feat being used to counteract Disadvantage rolls) are worth far more than having higher stats.

Likewise any feat that negates Disadvantage is also very useful.

Take the Sharpshooter Feat for example... It allows an archer to shoot at opponents (or objects) from vast distances away - even with 90% cover, with no Disadvantage. But there is a flaw in the rules that says if a target is prone that they get Disadvantage, even if the target is prone a mere 10 feet away.

However if the PC takes both the Sharpshooter and the Lucky feats then it solves this problem. Any time they encounter a prone target they can use a Luck point to give themselves Super-Advantage.

At which point prone targets are basically like shootings ducks in a barrel. The Natural 20 chance rises to a 14.3% chance of getting a Critical Hit too.

Why are Critical Hit Chances only 9.7% and 14.3% on Advantage and Super Advantage?

The problem is that there is a chance you roll two Natural 20s during the roll. (Or 2 or 3 in the case of Super Advantage.)

You would think the base chance should be 10% and 15%, but that isn't actually the case when it comes to probability math. The chance of getting two or more 20s at once means there is actually slightly less than 10% and 15%.

It is the reason why in the above charts that there are only thirty-nine 20s and thirty-nine 1s in each of the respective charts.

The Lucky Feat Times Two!

You may have noticed that the Lucky feat can be taken multiple times. In theory character could take it many times, making it the only feat they ever take. Being able to turn every Disadvantage roll into a Super Advantage roll would be a huge benefit, far outweighing the benefits of higher stats.

However depending upon how much combat is actually happening during each game session it might not be necessary to take the feat more than twice. Other feats might actually make more sense in such scenarios so that a character is more flexible and able to do other things.

Eg. If I was running an archer character I would be very tempted to take Lucky twice and then the Sharpshooter feat.

Depending upon my needs at higher levels it might make sense to either take Lucky again, or to take other feats instead. Really depends upon what my goals are for the character.

If my goal was to make a Legolas (almost always hits) kind of character then certain feats or abilities that improve his archery skills, chances to hit, increases damage/etc would make sense. Including perhaps taking a level in Rogue to get extra damage etc.

A Case In Point...

Back in 2017 I was playing a human ranger during a number of Adventurers League games. At the time I took Sharpshooter and several other options, and I eventually ceased playing that character and going to AL games because my wife and I welcomed the birth of my son. I took a break from playing afterwards. But if I had continued playing I was planning to take Lucky to offset the times when I got Disadvantage to my attack rolls... And because I was running out of feats to potentially take that made sense for the character.

Due to the range of choices, spells and magical items my human ranger (with a splash of rogue) had gained over time he had the ability to sneak during a move action and roll a Stealth check with Advantage and a large number of bonuses. A certain spell allowed him to roll Stealth checks in plain sight, which meant he go into sneak mode every round when he moved, and could basically attack with Advantage every round.

Furthermore because he was in sneak mode so often it meant that enemies had to first see him before they could potentially attack him, and in order to see him they needed super high rolls because he was walking around with massive bonuses to his stealth rolls. So he was practically invisible 90% of the time.

Those abilities PLUS the Lucky feat... Wow. He would have been unstoppable.

He could potentially shoot, immediately sneak after shooting (effectively becoming invisible) and then wait until the next round to repeat those actions. All while having Advantage against any opponents who cannot see him.

Combo Abilities, Feats and Super Advantage!

Imagine using an action or an ability that unfortunately gives you Disadvantage, but then you use a Luck point to give the character Super Advantage.

DMs might even be avoiding giving a PC Disadvantage because they know that whenever they do so the PC just spends a Luck point and gets Super Advantage. They could just try to give disadvantages as often as possible so the PC runs out of Luck points constantly, but that would get boring quickly.

Plus if you're playing a module you can't really do that. Eg. AL games for example.

Consequently a player in AL games could just use the Lucky feat and various other combos to give themselves Super Advantage on a regular basis and there isn't much a DM can do about it except sit back and enjoy the show.

For the DMs...

Giving your monsters Advantage in various ways makes a lot of sense. Any reasonably intelligent creatures will often want to use ambushes, attack from higher ground, using 90% cover, fog or smoke or steam, and other options which will either give themselves Advantage and their enemies Disadvantage.

The good news is that most players don't actually see the usefulness of the Lucky feat and thus don't take it that often. This is shortsighted on their part because being able to turn Disadvantages into Super Advantages is a very useful ability.

As a DM myself I am very liberal with how often I give out Advantage and Disadvantage. Just being horseback or higher ground is enough for a PC or NPC to get Advantage in my opinion.

Likewise trying to shoot a fast moving target on a horseback is grounds for Disadvantage. Or if the enemy is on higher ground.

This works out largely to benefit of the players because they quickly realize how they can gain Advantage more often by making use of my liberal use of Advantage/Disadvantage.

DMing Alternative: A House Rule

One thing I have seen other DMs do is to go back to the older system you see in 2nd and 3rd editions of D&D, by applying pluses and negatives to rolls instead of just rolling multiple d20s.

Both systems have their pros and cons. Having a +/- 2 or 4 or 8 to a roll is certainly more predictable but also flexible than rolling 2d20 which is effectively like having a +/- 6.333 to the roll.

Not allowing Advantage/Disadvantage and replacing it with pluses and minuses is certainly an old school way of doing things. (Also makes sense if you only have one d20 die in the first place.)

There are other ways to make 5th Edition D&D feel more like an old school game too, but that is a topic for another day.

The Common Tongue / Writing & Dungeon Mastery Tip

For fantasy writers and D&D dungeon masters alike having a "common tongue" language is a bit of lazy storytelling just so the person telling the story doesn't have to worry about different languages regularly.

However you may have noticed that when reading books by professional writers they put more thought into how they present languages, possibly even having characters speaking in different languages in order to relay secrets.

For example Tolkien used a common tongue in his works, but he also created multiple languages to fulfill his needs. He also understood that languages evolve and change over time. He created 15 different dialects of elvish, as well as languages for the orcs, ents, hobbits, and more, and his creation of the languages influenced place names, the names of characters, and how he presented languages.

In the real world English is currently the equivalent of the common tongue on the global scale. Depending upon what part of the world a person lived in, and at what point in history, the common tongue would have been something different however. Eg. French, German, or Latin at varying points would have been considered a common tongue in Europe. In the future it is conceivable that English will fade in popularity and a language like Chinese (specifically Putonghua, aka Mandarin) will become popular in the future.

However as you've probably guessed not everyone in Europe spoke Latin, despite the Romans doing their utmost to conquer everyone. If someone was educated or a merchant there was a good chance they also spoke Latin, but the craftsmen or the peasantry would barely speak a word of the language beyond ita vero et minime (yes and no).

Granted, if you're writing fantasy then some readers won't particularly care if you skip such realisms, but if you're writing historical fiction then you're going to want to be as accurate as possible.

It really depends on how much realism you want in your story.

Here's a few questions to think about to improve realism:

1. What is the common tongue called?

Eg. In Korovia then Korovian is the common tongue in that part of my world. But if a person travels to Al-Kazar or the Azagolian Empire then Al-Kazarian or Azageul is the common tongue in those regions.

2. Are there regional languages or older languages which are spoken more often in certain areas?

Eg. In Korovia the region is Slavic themed, but some people still speak Middle Korovian, Old Korovian or even Ancient Korovian. Thus I like to borrow bits from languages like Romanian and Russian.

3. Are the towns or villages based on words from the language, or are they based on words from a different language?

Eg. When naming a number of the towns and villages of Korovia I opened a map of Romania many years ago and then I browsed the names of villages, creating new names which sounded similar to existing places.

4. Does magic use a specific language?

Eg. In Korovia, yes. This is where I like to borrow words from Esperanto. Esperanto is a made up language created by a Polish academic in 1887. It is mostly spoken by language scholars, but for my purposes it makes for a good "language of magic".

Note - J. K. Rowling did something similar for magic in her Harry Potter series. She used Latin for all of the magical words.

5. Do you have a map showing where different languages are spoken?

Something to consider doing. Very useful.

6. Are there any hybrid languages?

Hybrid languages are usually spoken near the borders between major countries, but they can also happen when two cultures are mixed over a long period.

Eg. Yiddish is a hybrid of German and Hebrew. Similarly Alsatian is a language spoken mostly in eastern France that is a mixture of French, German and even Yiddish. Likewise in modern times Denglisch is a mixture of Deutsch and English, the result of so many English speakers living in Germany these days.

Note - If you watch the film Waterworld you will note that the characters refer to one language they encounter as Portugreek, which is apparently a hybrid of Greek and Portuguese.

7. What are the languages actually called in their native tongue?

Eg. Germans don't actually speak "German", they speak Deutsch. Russians speak Russkiy. The Chinese actually speak over 300 languages native to China, Putonghua (Mandarin) is just the official state language, but depending upon the region a person is in there are different dominant languages.

8. Does each language have a traditional greeting or way of saying goodbye?

Useful to use these.

Eg. In Forgotten Realms the common greeting is "Well met", but that wouldn't necessarily be the only way of saying hello and other greetings might be more popular in specific regions.

9. Is there more than one common tongue in your world?

When cultures collide it might make sense to just call the two languages by their names, as opposed to calling both of them "common".

10. Do you have a separate alphabet for one or more languages?

Below... the Dwarven alphabet created by Tolkien.

Final Thoughts

Not all writers (or Dungeon Masters for playing Dungeons & Dragons) are into this level of realism within their writing, but for those that are the extra details and realism helps to immerse the reader (and players) within the fantasy world. Or in the case of historical fiction, within a time and place.

For example if you're writing a book set in the Holy Roman Empire the people there don't speak English obviously, and they don't speak Latin either. They're speaking German (Deutsch). Thus they wouldn't use words like "Hello!" they would say things like "Good day!" instead because "Guten Tag!" is the standard greeting in German. In France you could get away with Hello because the French "Allo" is very similar, but honestly you could just use Allo instead of Hello anyway and the readers will quickly guess the meaning based on context even with zero knowledge of French.

Treasure Distribution, The Ranked Picking System

One possible way to do Treasure Distribution for Dungeons and Dragons (or Advanced Dungeons and Dragons)...

The Ranked Picking System

Each time we gain treasure the players should rank in order of significance how much they want certain items.

For example let's say we find the following:

• 1 wand of Burning Hands
• 1 staff of Light (cleric or druid only)
  
• 1 large shield +1
• 1 potion of Extra Healing
  
• 1 suit of plate mail (non magical, dwarven sized)
• 1 suit of elvish chainmail +1 (human sized)
  
• 1 riding horse, complete with saddle and saddlebags/etc
• evil looking dagger +1, possibly cursed (detects of evil)
• treasure chest containing over 2000 gold

Each player would then rank how much they want the item: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc... Any time there is an item your PC cannot use you should automatically put NOT INTERESTED when ranking their interest in an item. Ranking an item your character cannot use disqualifies you from getting the item. Everyone is automatically listed for a share of the treasure chest (unless you have a vow of poverty), but this will always be the last thing divided up and is always ranked at the bottom.

So for example Charles (Beldin) would rank the items like so:

• shield - 1
• dwarf sized plate mail - 2
• potion - 3
• horse - 4
  
• human sized elvish chainmail - NOT INTERESTED
  
• wand - NOT INTERESTED
• staff - NOT INTERESTED
• evil looking dagger, possibly cursed - NOT INTERESTED
• share of treasure chest - AUTOMATIC
  

Everyone would rank the items in a similar manner, and starting with the items which have the least number of 1s we then divide up the treasure.

If only 1 person wants the item, they get it automatically. If 2 or more eligible people want it, the players vote to decide who receives it (often with people voting based upon usability).

Before voting each player wanting an item can make a brief argument (30 seconds or less ideally) for why they are deserving of the item.

[Note - Characters do not get a vote. Players do. Effectively each player is in this on behalf of 1 main character.]

Once all the items with ranks of 1 have been divided up then we repeat the process for ranks 2 for any items that have not yet been distributed. Often most of the items will disappear during the distribution of Rank 1 items. However the difference now is that anyone who already received a Rank 1 item is exempted from getting a Rank 2 item - UNLESS there was nobody else interested in the item in the Ranks 2, 3, 4, etc. Thus it is possible for 1 player to receive two items, but only if nobody else actually wants it in the lower rankings. We continue down the ranks, voting and dividing up each item based upon desirability and usability.

The "Share of Treasure Chest" is divided last, but it is also unevenly based upon how many people received a higher ranked item. Anyone who received a Rank 1 item only gets 1/2 share, and anyone who received 2 or more items gets zero share of the treasure chest. Someone who received 0 items during the distribution of other items gets double the share of gold/etc.

Thus:

If someone received an item, they would only receive a 1/2 share of the gold.

If someone received no items, they would receive a double share of the gold (effectively 4 times what someone would receive if they already received an item).

Ranking Strategically - Someone might look at the value of the gold and decide they're not interested in things like the riding horse and then decide to rank strategically, saying NOT INTERESTED in the horse or similar items, just so they can get a double share of the chest full of gold. Others might look at the horse as being useful and decide it is worth not getting a larger share of the gold.

Cursed Items - If nobody actually wants an item believed to be cursed the party should make an effort to either give it away, use it to bribe someone, deliberately lose it somewhere unlikely to be found, or attempt to destroy it.

Party Funds (Optional)

In order to pay taxes, tolls, food, stays at inns, bribes, repairs, Identifying magical items, etc it is recommended setting aside 1 share of party gold for Party Funds, which can be used to pay miscellaneous things that the party needs. Usually this sum would then be carried by various trustworthy members of the party.

 

 

 

 

While we're at it, let's quickly discuss a few extra topics that will inevitably come up during games...

MATTERS OF OWNERSHIP

Once a person owns an item it is considered theirs and theirs alone, unless they sell the item, trade it, give it away, throw it away, or destroy it. Items cannot be redistributed later if a second treasure is later found.

However if two players agree to trade an item, or one player agrees to sell an item to another for an agreed upon sum of gold and/or items, then this can be done privately (preferably outside of game time).

Players could also decide that they don't need two swords, for example, and then give away an item to another player (or give it to an ally, or henchman/hireling, or even as a bribe to a NPC). What they do with it is their choice and theirs alone.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

PCs should be encouraged to write a last will and testament stating who gets their various items if their character should die. It should never be a situation where the party just automatically loots the dead character. The items could end up going to PCs, to NPCs, to be donated to an orphanage, or they might even insist the items are buried with them.

THIEVERY

Thievery is certainly a real possibility, but would spell consequences for the thief when eventually caught. PCs who discover a thief might decide to attack them, might choose to punish them in some manner, or might simply refuse to aid the thief thence onwards (eg. leaving them to die). Items stolen once discovered would be returned to the proper owner. A severe and non-violent penalty however would be to take all magical items (or anything else considered valuable) from the thief and give them to the person who had been robbed, who can then use them, or sell/give away items at their leisure.

Missing potions and scrolls. Another problem. Harder to prove who took them and used them. Again, consequences should be swift and severe.

Players should make an effort to record where on their persons (or their horses) they are storing various items of value. Eg. Hiding a potion in their boot. Thus if someone is attempting to rob them they must declare where they are looking and the DM can check with the character sheet to determine where a particular item is hidden.

How to Roll Stats the Old School Way, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

 Over a decade ago I joined a 1st Edition AD&D game. The game has had its highs and lows, including players moving to other countries, players getting married and having kids (myself included in that category), and we don't play as often as we once did.

The trick about playing 1st Edition AD&D is that it is gritty. It is "Old School". Your characters die frequently. Kind of like watching Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, or similar shows. Characters die. It is just part of the game.

So one workaround for the inevitable character deaths is that DMs will often have players create multiple characters so that in the event that one character dies then they can just immediately play a different one because they have a whole roster of characters to choose from.

In the game I am in what we will do is roll stats for 12 characters all at once.

Like so...

Note - I had some difficulties making the following videos. My camera was running low on hard drive space, so I ended with 4 videos instead of 1 big long video. Also I forgot about the rerolls, so the 4th video is just the rerolls.

So there you go. That is how you roll 12 sets of stats, in order, plus the rerolls.

I admit it takes awhile to do all of those rolls, but you aren't necessarily going to play all 12 characters. You are probably only going to play the characters who can potentially make the characters you WANT to play.

For example, if you're not really into making wizards, then don't play a wizard. Just make all your characters fighters, thieves, clerics, etc, and thus you use the stats which are appropriate for making those characters.

Our DM also allows players to "trade stats" to other players so that they can get stats that make the character they want to play. So even if you failed to roll the necessary stats to play a ranger, maybe you can trade a set of your stats to someone who wants them in exchange for suitable ranger stats.

So far I ended up making a dwarf fighter for the game, but going over the stats I also have ideas for another fighter, a cleric, a wizard and a thief. So I should at least have some backup characters in case my dwarf bites the dust.

I am hoping he doesn't die, obviously, but let's say he falls down and hurts himself (and needs to heal for awhile) then I might need a replacement character while my dwarf rests up.

The Frugal DM's Magical Item Tables for 2nd Edition

I created this chart for 2nd Edition AD&D as an alternative the Appendix 2: Magical Item Tables found in the Dungeon Master Guide.

Why create an alternative chart?

This chart allows me to hand out more potions, scrolls, and a new category of items "Temporary Magical Items" which eventually stop working. Permanent Magical Items become a problem with power creep in long campaigns and monty haul style campaigns, and since I tend to run very long campaigns that last 3 years or more I have endeavoured to combat power creep so that the PCs don't become invincible monster-eating machines.

By creating an alternative chart which puts more emphasis on one time use items and temporary magical items this allows players to still gain magical items as they progress, still using the random charts, but the DM maintains more control over what they get.

Alternative Table 88: Roll a D100

01 to 40 - Potions and Oils
41 to 70 - Scrolls
71 to 90 - Temporary Magical Items (see Table 88B)
91 - Rings (DM's Choice)
92 - Rods, Staffs, Wands (DM's Choice)
93 - Books, Tomes, Jewels and Jewelry (DM's Choice)
94 - Clothing - Cloaks, Robes, Boots, Gloves, Girdles and Helmets (DM's Choice)
95 - Bags, Bottles, Dusts, Stones (DM's Choice)
96 - Household Items, Tools and Weird Stuff (DM's Choice)
97-98 - Armour and Shields (DM's Choice)
99-100 - Weapons (DM's Choice)

Note - Whenever presented with DM's Choice the DM should endeavour to choose a magical item with a power level that makes sense with the current campaign. Eg. If running a low level game you probably should not be giving out Spheres of Annihilation and similar items.  Such items really should never be random and should always appear with a backstory and/or be part of a plot. Finding a random +5 Holy Avenger in a troll's hoard of loot seems awfully overpowered.

Table 88B: Roll a D20 (or Subtract 70 from the previous D100 roll)

1 - Apple of Cure/Poison (50/50 Either Cures Poisons or is a Random Ingested Poison. See Table 51.)
2 - Dust of Disappearance
3 - Keoghtom's Ointment
4 - Necklace of Missiles
5 - Quaal's Feather Token
6 - Smoke Powder
7 - Sovereign Glue
8 - Universal Solvent
9 - Wind Fan (Eventually it breaks if used too often)
10 - Arrows, 2d6 (Roll Table 109 to determine bonuses)
11 - Bolts, 2d6 (Roll Table 109 to determine bonuses)
12 - Sling Bullets, 2d6 (Roll Table 109 to determine bonuses)
13 - Darts, 2d6 (Roll Table 109 to determine bonuses)
14 - Javelins, 1d3 (Roll Table 109 to determine bonuses)
15 - Special Ammo (DM's Choice)
16 - Temporary Magical Armour (Enchantment wears off within a random amount of time)
17 - Temporary Magical Weapon (Enchantment wears off within a random amount of time)
18 - Wand of Five Charges (Typically a Low Level Spell, and only usable by a specific class)
19 - Staff of Ten Charges (Typically a Mid Level Spell and only usable by a specific class)
20 - DM's Choice*

* The DM is encouraged to invent a new type of temporary magical item, possibly an unique one.

Conclusions

Pretend for a moment the PCs find a Frost Brand +3/+6 vs Fire Using/Dwelling Creatures. That is an awfully powerful weapon to be just laying around. It should have a story behind it. It should be where it is for a reason. It should have a name like "Blizzard" or something.

When the PCs first find the Frost Brand it should be a dramatic moment, like finding the Holy Grail or some powerful artifact. It is after all the one and only +6 weapon that can be found in 2nd Edition. You could base an entire campaign around this particular weapon. PCs during the past 40+ years of playing D&D have probably killed fire gods with it. It thus falls into a rare category of weapons of "Godslayers".

You don't leave such rare items just laying around. There should be stories and myths around them. PCs should instantly recognize the sword when they see it because they've all heard the stories, fables and songs of what the Frost Brand looks like and all the great deeds it was involved with.

Reserving the permanent magical items for moments like this makes the item feel more special. Players will recognize this and realize the magical item is important, even if it is just a +1 longsword called "Reaper". The Reaper +1 longsword might not be as famous as Blizzard, but if the DM makes the effort to build it up then the boring sword suddenly becomes an item of value in the minds of the players.

Eugene "Boggy" Bogdanski - 1st/2nd AD&D Edition Sample Henchman

Notes:

I made the following elf for my current Roll20 game "Dark Ages of Korovia". And elf named Eugene? Yep, hence why he goes by his nickname "Boggy".

Constitution Dump Stat? Yep. Honestly in 2nd Edition have a Con of 7 to 14 makes basically no different in stats. The only things it changes is System Shock and Resurrection Survival... and for a henchman, these things are less important. If a henchman dies... we can always introduce a new henchman. Easy peasy henchman got squeezeed...

Check out my previous post on the topic of The Rarely Used Henchman and why DMs should be using them more often. Eg. Their best usage is arguably for whenever a character is knocked unconscious/captured/etc and the player can play the henchman until their own character is back up and running.

Eugene "Boggy" Bogdanski

3rd Level Elf Thief, Chaotic Good

Str 13
Dex 19
Con 7
Int 13
Wis 11
Chr 17
Com 16

HP 16
AC 14
Thac0 19 / Bonus-To-Hit +1

Belongings

Shortbow + quiver of 12 sheaf arrows.
Clothing/Rags
2 cp

Shortbow +5 to hit, 1d8 damage.
2/1

Potentially...
Longsword +2 to hit, 1d8/1d12.
Longbow +2 to hit, 1d8 damage. (Not proficient in longbow so he gets +5 -3 to his To Hit chance.)

WP: Short Bow/Horsebow, Longsword.

NWP*: Riding/Horse 14, Animal Training/Falconry 11, Disguise 16, Gaming 17, Local History/Weyvin 17, Singing/Polyphonic 17.

* I allow PCs to swap bonus languages to get extra NWP slots.

Languages: Korovian, Elvish.

Sylvan Elf Abilities: +1 with bows, 90% resistance to charm/sleep spells, elf stealth surprise bonus, infravision 60', chance to detect secret doors.

Thief Skills with No Armour*+**: PP 40, OL 25, FART 30, MS 90, HS 90, DN 20, CW 70, RL 0.

* He is currently benefiting from wearing no armour, but if he gains armour his thief skills will go down the appropriate amount.

** Since he boosted his MS/HS so much during the first 3 levels, at levels 4 to 10 the plan is to raise his other 6 thief skills by 5% each per level.

Background Notes:

Raised in Weyvin (which is known for having lots of half-elves) Boggy is actually 1/8th human, dating back to his great-grandfather who married an elf. Likewise his grandfather married an elf, and his father married an elf, and yet Boggy is quite proud of both his human and elf heritage, and will sometimes call himself "part elf" and if anyone asks he will proceed to bore them with his family's ancestry... which goes all the way back to the legendary Bogdan the Battle Behemoth, a hero from the Stone Age (Korovia's equivalent of Hercules).

Boggy is skilled at disguising himself and cheating at gambling, which he sometimes does while disguised as someone else. That way if he gets caught cheating and escapes, somebody else gets blamed. He calls it the "Doppelganger Effect".

Boggy aspires to be able to shoot his shortbow/horsebow from horseback, but to do that he needs to buy a horse first. Or steal one. It is his dream to become a mounted archer, and perhaps someday even get a giant eagle or a similar mount.

Wealth / Lack Thereof:

Boggy is looking to join a party or find a liege he can serve as he has unfortunately gambled most of his money away. He is quite poor. Any new liege will be responsible for giving him armour and weapons, etc.

Having a henchman come with almost no equipment is basically a mostly blank slate for the player(s) to add things to by giving the henchmen things they think the henchman can use. Thieves tools for example could be useful, although Boggy's FART (Find And Remove Traps) check is really low presently.

2nd Edition AD&D Bogatyr Warrior Class

Bogatyr, Warrior Class

Ability Requirements: Strength 15, Constitution 15, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 13
Prime Requisites: Strength and Wisdom
Races Allowed: Human Only

The Bogatyr is a Slavic warrior-hero similar to a knight who rarely uses magic. Magic for the Bogatyr is a bit of a double-edged sword. It has its uses, for sure, but they try to avoid using magic if they can. Instead the Bogatyr are focused on pursuits that improve their skills as warriors, and while they do sometimes use magic to bolster their abilities, they prefer to be reliant on their strength, intellect and wisdom.

Fantasy Note - Okay, so the fables and legends of Bogatyr do not strictly say whether or not Bogatyr had any magical talent. Some did. Some did not. Some had "supernatural strength" or other abilities. The Bogatyr presented here is partially a variant on the concept of the Witcher from Andrzej Sapkowski. I created this more fantasy themed version of the Bogatyr in order to introduce a strongman/Witcher-esque warrior/spellcaster that has a Slavic theme into my existing campaign world. Could players just play a Fighter/Wizard instead? Absolutely. Some do. But for those who want to try something with a specific Slavic flavour, this is something fun to play.

Only humans can become Bogatyrs, as their belief that magic is a double edged sword is a cultural belief unique to humans. Strength is the most important ability for a Bogatyr, but Wisdom is also useful as their magic is partially divine in origin. A Bogatyr with 16 or higher in both Strength and Wisdom gains a 10 percent bonus to the experience points he/she earns.

Bogatyrs prefer to be light and mobile in their armour. As such they are restricted to chainmail (AC 5) or less armour. It is possible for them to wear more armour, but it negates their ability to cast their magic.

Bogatyrs use the Ranger Experience Level chart.

Bogatyrs use Warrior Thac0 progression.

Bogatyrs use the Warrior Saving Throw progression chart.

Base Proficiencies

Weapon Proficiencies: 4
Non-Weapon Proficiencies: 3

Proficiency Progression: As Fighter.

Bogatyr are fond of swords and bows. Common weapons for them to learn are bastard sword, longbow, spear and lance. Unlike Paladins and Rangers who cannot specialize in a particular weapon, the Bogatyr can specialize but are restricted in what weapons they can choose to specialize in. They can only specialize in a sword, a bow, a spear, or a lance.

Bogatyr are skilled in many different things and may choose proficiencies from General, Priest, Rogue, Warrior and Wizard lists.

Common NWP skills for a Bogatyr to learn are: Animal Training/Falconry, Heraldry, Riding/Horse, Musical Instrument/Violin, Read/Write, Singing. If multiple Bogatyr are traveling together often each one will learn a different musical instrument.

Bogatyr Magic

Bogatyrs do not have a lot of magic. Their spell list is very limited and they don't actually learn that many spells over time. Nor is their casting ability that great. They cast spells as if they were half their class level, rounded up. Eg. A 5th level Bogatyr's caster level is 3.

While they do learn magic sooner than paladins or rangers, by the time they reach higher levels paladins, rangers and Bogatyrs have comparable magical skill.

Bogatyr magic is a mixture of both arcane and divine magic, and as such do not gain bonus spells like a cleric does for having a high Wisdom.

Bogatyr do not memorize or pray for spells. They simply know the spells from their spell list and may cast any spell of their choice, of the appropriate spell level, based on the number of spells they can cast due to their level per day. The number of spells they can cast resets after 8 hours of sleep.

Bogatyr Spell List

1 - Bless, Light, Magical Stone, Mount, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear.
2 - Barkskin, Blur, Flame Blade, Spiritual Hammer, Strength.
3 - Feign Death, Prayer, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Protection from Normal Missiles, Remove Curse.
4 - Atonement, Cloak of Bravery, Emotion (Courage, Happiness, Hope only), Enchanted Weapon, Free Action, Quest.

Bogatyr Ethos and Restrictions

Bogatyr must be either Lawful or Good or both. LG, LN, LE, NG or CG are all acceptable alignments. A Bogatyr who ceases to operate within these alignment restrictions loses their spellcasting ability and can no longer go up levels in Bogatyr until they complete an Atonement, a Quest, and return to an acceptable alignment.

The Bogatyr can wear heavy armour, but if they do so it interferes with their magical ability. They cannot cast magic if they are wearing anything heavier than chainmail.

A Bogatyr cannot own more than 6 magical items. If they do so their magical abilities cease to function. The overlapping auras of carrying too many magical items interfere with their weak magical skills.

Bogatyrs devote themselves to a particular deity, nation or royal family. A Bogatyr who fails to properly serve their deity, nation or royal family loses their spellcasting ability and must Atone and complete a Quest before their spellcasting ability will return. The Atonement/Quest process typically takes at least a week.


The Evil Bogatyr

So you may have noticed I allowed the option of a LE (Lawful Evil) Bogatyr. This dark warrior has gone astray and become an anti-hero who lacks conventional heroic attributes, but still behaves honourably and within the law. They still follow the word of the law, they would never betray a friend or comrade or break a promise, but they are nevertheless evil.

Often Bogatyr go evil because they either failed to live up to a promise or an oath, and are now willing to commit acts of evil in order to somehow fix the mistake. Or perhaps they did fulfill the oath, but something happened during the process that twisted their sense of morality.

Not everything is black and white. The evil Bogatyr exists in a morally grey area. Or darker still.


Character Class Creation Notes
(See the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master Guide)

0     Human Only
0     Fighter Saving Throws
0     Any Weapons Allowed
2     Fighter Thac0
4     D12 Hit Die
2     Hp 3 beyond 9th level
1     Fighter Str
1     Fighter Con
1.75 WP x4, NWP x3
3     Special Ability: Bogatyr Magic

-0.5 Limited AC 5 or Less
-1    Must Be Lawful OR Good.
-1    Religious and/or Patriotic Ethos
-1    Cannot own more than 6 magical items

Total 11.25 or Ranger XP Progression

See Also
2nd Edition AD&D Alchemist Rogue Class

The Ultra Gorgon

I wrote the following down back in 2019 as an idea for either a D&D monster or possibly as a monster I could use in my fantasy writing.


The Ultra Gorgon (For Lack of a Better Name)

If I come up with a better name for this entity I will update this post later. I feel "Gorgon" doesn't really suit what this entity actually does.

An immortal entity that can inhabit non-living objects, sometimes staying dormant or hidden for hundreds of years.

The Ultra Gorgon is an unique creature, possessing no physical form of its own, but instead transferring its spiritual essence from one object to the next at will. It cannot possess the body of any living or undead creature and may only inhabit objects. Since some objects cannot move it is limited to whatever motions an object can do. Due to this limitation it could inhabit a magical sword or similar object, thus taking on the appearance of a talking sentient magical sword, but would be unable to walk or otherwise move while inhabiting a sword.

The Ultra Gorgon's favourite things to inhabit is puppets, the bigger the better. When possible it will inhabit the form of a smaller puppet and use it to build a bigger puppet, building larger consecutive bodies until it can build more impressive bodies like that of a dragon or demon. It will stash away old puppets in caves and dungeons and hidden places for future use, in case its main collection of puppets are ever destroyed and it needs a spare.

Being a highly intelligent immortal entity the Ultra Gorgon's motivations are complex. It doesn't require food or creature comforts. Weather means little to it, unless the weather is somehow damaging its collection of puppets. As such it is motivated more by magical or spiritual goals, and has little use for material wealth except as a means of making more puppets.

The Ultra Gorgon is not evil, per se, although it is capable of evil acts. It is a very selfish and fickle creature. Good acts are also possible, but rare as it odd for it to do anything unless it benefits itself somehow. If it recognizes an act as possessing a spiritual side to it then it will sometimes aid someone, just so it can claim to have "done a good deed for the day".

(Despite being unscrupulous the Ultra Gorgon is surprisingly spiritual about its existence.)

Other creatures usually steer clear of the Ultra Gorgon. Being able to possess any object means that if a creature annoys the Ultra Gorgon then its wrath is indeed powerful. It can, at will, possess the ground beneath a person's feet and cause an earthquake. It can topple trees, strangle creatures with rope or chains and similar means.

As a magic user the Ultra Gorgon also has an impressive knowledge of all magic, both clerical and mystical. It can cast almost any spell it wishes, including almost any spell it has knowledge of. Even if limited by its choice of physical forms, it can use magic to accomplish a variety of goals. Eg. Building an army of animated objects.

It can even cast the Wish spell, but rarely does so as it considers it to be cheating and is wary of using the Wish spell because of its ability to change reality. Thus even if it agreed to grant someone a wish, it might refuse to grant any wish that would warp reality and have dire consequences.

It might also believe, on a religious level, that using Wish magic is bad karma and will lead to bad luck in the future.

Its motivations are yet to be determined.

*
**
***

I am not sure I will ever use this for any future stories or for D&D, but it is an interesting concept of a creature which is not wholly evil, but could fulfill a pseudo-villain role. The heroes might think it is a villain type entity, but later discover it is merely selfish.

Clearly if it is to fulfill any role in a future D&D game or story I will need to consider what motivations it has beyond its own survival. If it simply craved privacy it could inhabit a mountain in a region without people, but if it is to interact with people then it needs to have motivations that would cause it to be close to civilization.

It could even be something simple like "Where did I come from?" and thus it could be looking for ancient lore in an effort to find out where it originated.

If it is casting clerical magic then it should also have a particular faith. Or it could be druidic magic. To be determined.

Alternative Spell Progression Chart for a High Magic Campaign

If you play 1st or 2nd Edition AD&D chances are likely you are already happy with the spells and the spell progression. But WHAT IF you wanted to play a game that allows wizards and other spellcasters to be more "High Magic"?

Note - The concepts below can easily be applied to other editions too, as House Rules.

Wizards and other spellcasters are already pretty OP (overpowered). So what is the benefit of making them even more high powered?

Well, it depends on how you do it.

If you give the PCs lots of magical items then eventually everyone in the party becomes OP. So by then it doesn't really matter.

But if you keep a firm lid on the availability of magical items (eg. they cannot be purchased and are very rare) then the only magic the party encounters is the magic of spellcasters and magical critters. But if you keep a tight lid on magical critters and spellcasters are rare, then you also can make that aspect of the game also rare.

So why do this? What is the benefit?

Flavour. It gives the world a very different feel if magic is both very rare, but also very powerful.

Imagine feeling like you are in a low magic game. You are fighting orcs, ogres, giants, and similar non-magical critters. Supernatural critters, undead and magical critters are all rare. Then you run into an ogre magi, but this ogre magi has magic that is more powerful and the DM plays the ogre magi as being very intelligent and battle savvy. The "Die Hard/Bruce Willis" version of an ogre magi.

Which makes the PCs the equivalent of Hans Gruber and his goons. And you are losing. And every time the ogre magi kills one of the PCs he shouts yippy kai yeah m***** f*****!

If the DM is like myself, they are running a deadly campaign. PCs will die. We will roleplay their funerals and the players will eventually take their revenge on the ogre magi.

Suddenly magic is so much mysterious and dangerous.

It sets a very different tone.

And to make it clear to the players that this increase in magical deadliness goes both ways - the monsters and foes are deadlier, but so are the spellcasting PCs you need a way to make the PC spellcasters more powerful.

Thus I present:

So what is the Fs for? Favourite Spells.

For each spell level category the wizard gets to choose 1 Favourite spell. That spell will be their favourite forever and it cannot be changed. It is essentially a bonus spell that they always memorize every day and they do not need a spellbook to memorize it. It is automatic. In the case of Specialist Wizards (illusionists, evokers, etc) their Favourite spell must be chosen from their specialist school. This essentially replaces and supersedes the bonus spells specialists usually receives.

You will therefore notice that level one wizards start play with one 2nd level spell, their favourite spell. However even though 2nd level spells are more powerful, this is tempered by the fact that their casting level is still only 1.

Likewise when the wizard reaches 3rd level they now could potentially choose Fireball as their favourite spell, but because their casting level is only 3 their fireballs only do 3d6.

So yes, wizards now gain access to higher level magic at lower levels, and yes they get more spells overall. This makes them more powerful, yes, but again everything is a balancing act. Enemy spellcasters are now more powerful too.

Magical monsters should have at least 1 of the following adjustments:

1. Raise their casting level by 4.
2. Magical poisons have a -4 on the saving throw. Or alternatively a creature that did not have magical poison, now has it and it is quite deadly.
3. The DM can sometimes give negatives on savings throws (-1 to -4) for magical effects from monsters because the particular critter is deadlier.
4. Magical critters may have access to higher level spells or abilities.
5. The DM might even invent new magical powers that make sense for the critter. Such as Air Elementals being able to cast Control Wind or other wind spells.

So yes, you make the spellcasters more OP, but you also make the monsters deadlier. Then, like all DMing, it is just a balancing act between deadly monsters and powerful heroes.

Some groups might only have the 1 OP spellcaster while other groups might be all or mostly spellcasters so how much the DM needs to balance will vary.

Now you might think "Why not just use bigger monsters?" Why not use the equivalent of a giant magi instead of an ogre magi? Yes, you could do that. But strategically this is about smart play vs DM laziness. An ogre magi should be played as being intelligent, and a DM wanting it to be even more awesome needs to take that up to the proverbial 11th degree of hardness. Adjusting the standard monsters to make them more unique is important to increasing the challenge.

Take for example the issue of magical weapons found in loot.

The skeletons guarding the treasure are using horrible rusty spears, but if they are in the actual treasure vault why not have them use the actual treasure. A skeleton wielding a +2 sword suddenly becomes a bigger threat. Especially if the skeleton is somehow smarter and hides above the doorway and has levels in Thief... Skeletons with Backstab and a +2 sword. There you go. A challenge that your players will not be expecting.

Another alternative to this...

Take the normal spell progression charts for all spellcasters and cut the number of spells in half, rounded up. Spellcasters suddenly becomes way more squishy because they have so few spells and have to choose between defensive spells and attack spells. The smart ones who are powerful enough will definitely want Teleport or Dimension Door for a quick exit.

A world where magic is both rare and magic users don't get that many spells... Sounds much more dire. And valuable. Suddenly people are murdering other people just to get a +1 dagger.

The point is that DMs have the power to make these house rules and subtly change the flavour of their world.

Storytelling

Story wise a DM could work this kind of rules change into their storytelling, and they could make this power upgrade only effect a particular type of magic. eg. Only arcane magic, as used by wizards and bards. The sudden shift in magical power could even be a "World Event" caused by some strange mystical event that causes all arcane magic users to become more powerful.

eg. All of the party, NPCs, everyone suddenly hears a thunderclap from the sky and a shockwave knocks them off their feet. By the time they get back to their feet the wizards can all feel it... their magical power has been increased. They don't know what happened, but suddenly their magical energies have increased... There could even be an atmospheric effect of the boost in magic, with Northern Lights appearing over much of the planet and lasting for X hours.

Afterwards the PCs have to figure out what caused this sudden shift in their magical abilities.

(Such a shift could also be used to explain what happens when PCs suddenly switch editions. Imagine you are playing 2nd Edition and suddenly a thunderclap happens, everyone falls down, and then it is now 3rd Edition. Tada! Not that I would do this, I would rather just start a new campaign. But in theory a group of players + DM could hypothetically do this if they want to keep the same characters and switch editions.)

Prospector Henkins, Dwarf Alchemist - 2nd Edition Ally

Earlier this month I did a post about my 2nd Edition AD&D Alchemist Rogue Class , but I didn't show an example of a character designed using the special rogue class. Until now.

In the case below, the character is actually designed to be a NPC ally in my Friday game. He is a member of the local adventurers guild, which the party all recently joined, and as such can be used as a recurring ally. I am also a fan of using henchmen and hirelings in my games, but allies are different as they can team up with PCs temporarily and then leave later on when their goals no longer coincide.

In the case of Prospector Henkins, he has arrived at the same dungeon the party is currently at, following the same wanted poster from the Adventurers Guild - and being members of the same guild at the same dungeon, it makes sense they would team up.

In the past I have used henchmen regularly for when a PC gets knocked unconscious, severely injured, killed, etc - and then you hand the player the henchman's character sheet and say "Here you go! Play this until your character wakes up." And if your player still is hesitant remind them that any XP gained while playing the henchman goes to their regular character.

With henchmen however there is a tendency for players to try and use the henchmen to cast curing spells, detect magic and other things. This can be abused unfortunately, and thus having ally characters who can come and go, and not be abused by the "They are there, why can't they cast this for me?" argument.

Abusing a henchmen in that way just encourages the DM to eventually retire the henchman, have the henchman become a villain instead, kill off the henchman, etc. But with an ally who can come and go, the DM has more power to simply say no. The ally isn't available today. Gone fishing.


Prospector Henkins, level 6 Dwarf Alchemist CG
Greedy loudmouth, smokes pipe, strokes beard, dwarven quotes.

Str 11
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 15
Wis 10
Chr 12
Com 11 (Yes, I do use Comeliness in my game. It is worth it for the laughs alone.)

Windlass Heavy Crossbow, Spd 10, 1d12+1 dmg, Rate of Fire, 1 every 2 rounds!

• Ammo 10 regular crossbow bolts
• 10 ceramic crossbow bolts with poison powder

Note - I use house rules for different kinds of crossbows. See my 5th Edition Crossbow House Rules. For 1st/2nd Edition I use different damage values because the editions scale damage differently, but the concept is the same.

Grenade Type Weapons, Spd 6, Damage Varies (see items further below).

Chainmail/Shield/Helmet

Skills

• Alchemy 15
• Appraising 15
• Brewing 15
• Mining 7 (Yes, I find it ironic that he is a prospector who actually sucks at mining.)
• Pottery 13
• Set Snares 14
• Swimming 11

Thief Skills

OL 45, FRT 50 (Only when not wearing armour. If wearing armour negatives apply.)

AC 2
HP 36

Thrown Grenade Type Weapons (2 of each)

2x Acid, 1d6 dmg + 1 splash, 5' radius.
2x Burning Oil, 1d4+1d4, no splash damage
2x Drowsy Dust, poison save vs Exhaustion.
2x Explosive Black Ball, 6d6 damage, 10' radius - takes a round just to light it and for the fuse to burn partially.
2x Poison Powder, save vs poison, 10 dmg.
2x Stink Bomb, save vs poison, nausea.
2x Sleep Smoke, save vs poison, only effects 5 HD or smaller creature.

Tools (2 of each)

2x Oil of Acid Resistance
2x Oil of Fire Resistance

Dwarf Quotes:
"I bet my beard..."
"Two broken hammers don't make a sword!"
"More than one way to break an anvil."
"If there is gold in there, I want some!"
"Don't count your gold before you find the goldmine!"
"I am Prospector Henkins, Grim Servant of Death... and Explosions!"
"Only a gnome would be that foolish!"
"Its a saying! Shutupaboutit!"

Motivations

Looking for a nice mine to settle down with and retire.
Looking for mercurial weapon designs.
Looking for ancient alchemical recipes.


Special Note

Yes, Prospector Henkins is totally ripped off from Prospector Jenkins of Puffin Forest. I just made him a dwarf, gave him the Alchemist rogue class and suddenly explosives made sense.

2nd Edition AD&D Alchemist Rogue Class

Alchemist, Rogue Class

Ability Requirements: Dexterity 12, Constitution 9, Intelligence 15
Prime Requisite: Intelligence
Races Allowed: All

The alchemist is a craftsman whose primary goal is to study the nature of substances, learn the properties, and combine them to make useful tools / weapons. Some alchemists even delve into the study of trying to turn lead into gold - which is believed to be possible by creating a Philosopher's Stone. While other classes can learn Alchemy as a skill, the Alchemist takes the craft more seriously as their primary profession.

Any race can learn the intricacies of alchemy, and there is no limit / max level to what they can achieve. They are only limited by their Intelligence, and thus Intelligence is the prime requisites of all Alchemists. An Alchemist with a 16 Intelligence or more gains a 10 percent bonus to the experience points he/she earns.

All Alchemists gain one six-sided Hit Die per level for levels 1 to 10. After 10th level they gain 2 hit points per level and no longer receive additional hit point bonuses for high Constitution scores.

Alchemists use the Rogue Experience Level chart, the same as Thief and Bard.

Alchemists use Rogue Thac0 progression, the same as Thief and Bard.

Alchemists use the Rogue Saving Throw progression chart.

Thief Skills

Alchemists dabble in Opening Locks and Finding/Removing Traps. They start play with a base 10% chance in each of these two thief skills, and they gain an additional 5% to both skills every time they reach a new level. Racial, Dexterity and Armor modifiers also apply.

When finding and removing an Alchemical Trap the Alchemist gains a 5% bonus to their FRT roll. If trying to open a lock which uses some kind of alchemical substance as part of the locking mechanism, they also gain a 5% bonus to their roll.

Like Thieves, the Alchemist can also Backstab opponents using a well-placed attack or grenade-style weapon. When backstabbing with a grenade-style weapon the Alchemist still needs to take their opponent unawares, but since they lack Move Silently / Hide in Shadows this will rarely be used. Rather their efforts are often more successful due to trickery rather than stealth.

Furthermore, the Alchemist's Backstab bonus only applies to their primary target, and only if they score a successful hit. Normal rules for grenade style attacks apply. eg. If attacking with Holy Water or Acid, the target successfully hit takes double, triple, quadruple or quintuple damage based on the Alchemist's level. Creatures that take splash damage are not effected by the Backstab effect.

Proficiencies

Weapon Proficiencies: 2
Non-Weapon Proficiencies: 6

Alchemists can learn any kind of weapon, but start play with only 2 Weapon Proficiencies and one of them must be "Grenade Style Weapon", which is useful for throwing Acid, Glue Bombs and similar alchemical concoctions at enemies.

Note - Alchemists are thus proficient at throwing Holy Water, even though they cannot make holy water. Only clerics or paladins can make Holy Water.

Alchemists are also fond of using other types of weapons to deliver their alchemical attacks. eg. Smoke Bomb Arrows.

The Alchemist starts with 6 NWP / Skill slots, but two of them are automatically used to gain the Alchemy Skill*. Learning to Read/Write is also recommended, but not mandatory. Various skills like Appraising, Brewing, Engineering, Herbalism, Pottery, and Set Snares are also useful.

eg. Pottery is very handy for creating containers just to store alchemical items within, and is suitably breakable when they need to be.

The Alchemist can choose NWP skills from the General, Priest and Rogue NWP lists.

Alchemists gain additional WP and NWP based on their level, at the same rate as other Rogue classes Thief and Bard.

Belongings

The Alchemist starts play with an Alchemy Tool Kit, which contains everything they need to create acid, alchemist's fire and other items. If they ever lose this tool kit and supplies and need to replace it, a new kit costs 100 gp.

* Alchemy Skill *
Slots Required: 2
Relevant Ability: Intelligence
Base Check Modifier: 0

The Alchemist is accomplished and well versed in alchemical recipes to create a variety of alchemical substances. They are also adept at recognizing alchemical substances, alchemical traps, and recognizing alchemical formulae.

Like a wizard who is memorizing spells daily, the Alchemist will likewise be making new alchemical items daily. At 1st level they should be able to make 3 small jugs of acid (or similar item) every morning while the wizard is memorizing his/her spells. The number they can make each morning improves at levels 3, 5, 7, 9 and every 2 levels thereafter.

The Alchemist also pays a materials upkeep based upon what they are making. The upkeep is their level multipled by their level in gold pieces. eg. A level 4 Alchemist pays 16 gp per day for materials to make their items. If they run out of materials, they cannot make any more items that day.

** The DM should give the alchemist some leeway (but not complete leeway) seeing as alchemy is their primary weapon. They should not however let the PC go hogwild with their creations. Alchemy items should never replicate magical effects. It should also never replicate Herbalism and both the DM / PC should be vigilant about making sure they are never making any alchemical substances that replicate something that a Herbalist could do instead.

The Alchemist starts play at 1st level knowing a number of Alchemical Recipes based on their Intelligence, equal to the number of Bonus Languages. eg. An Alchemist with a 15 Intelligence knows 4 recipes. An Alchemist with a 18 Intelligence knows 7 recipes.

Each time an Alchemist gains a level they learn 1 new recipe. They can also learn extra recipes by trading recipes with other alchemists, and by finding new recipes in books/scrolls/tablets/libraries/etc. If they are willing to spend gold, they can also research a new recipe in a similar manner that a wizard researches a new spell.

Not all alchemical recipes are available to a low level Alchemist. The DM should adjudicate which recipes are available to the Alchemist based on their level. Some of the items below are listed in the DMG as magical items, but for our purposes these items are actually non-magical. A few items are creations of my own.

So for example a 1st level Alchemist might start play with 4 recipes: Acid, Alchemist Fire, Smoke Bomb and Sleep Smoke.

Alchemist Recipes

• Acid
• Alchemist Fire
• Drowsy Dust (causes exhaustion)
• Dust of Sneezing / Choking
• Explosives (something similar to dynamite perhaps, but the DM should adjudicate just how explosive this substance is)
• Freezing Bellows (compressed CO2)
• Glue Bomb
• Laughing Gas
• Mercurial Weapon (+1 weapon damage - Requires the Alchemist to partner with someone with the Weaponsmithing skill.)
• Oil of Acid Resistance
• Oil of Fiery Burning
• Oil of Fire Resistance
• Oil of Slipperiness
• Philosopher's Stone * (The DM should allow this to 18th level Alchemists only)
• Poison Liquid / Gas / Powder
• Sleep Smoke (1 target must save vs poison or fall asleep)
• Smoke Bomb (oil + sugar)
• Smoke Powder** (Arquebus item - The DM may not allow this recipe.)
• Soap of Massive Bubbles
• Sovereign Glue
• Universal Solvent

Character Class Creation Notes
(See the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master Guide)

1.0 Race, Any.
-1 Rogue Thac0.
0 Rogue Saving Throws.
0.75 Hit Dice 1d6.
-0.5 AC 5 Limited (Chainmail or worse).
0 All weapon types allowed.
1 Hit Points beyond level 9 = 2 per level.
1.5 Skill / NWP Proficiencies x6.
0.5 Weapon Proficiencies x2.
1 Backstab
1 FRT
1 OL

Total 6.25

6.25 = Rogue XP Progression Chart.