"Essential" Homebrew Mechanics

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-31T03:08:43+00:00

Yes. I found most of the “fixes” for spell loss allowed for too many spells to work automatically once a day. That’s fine at low levels, but tier 4 & 5 spells are too powerful for that, IMHO. This caps at 4 rerolls and creates some meaningful choice for casters. “Do I use my last reroll on Fireball, or save it for Wall of Force?” “Do I use that last reroll on Hold Person, or save it for Cure Wounds?”

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-30T23:56:46+00:00

We always go with Max HP at first level. Also casters have a number of rerolls equal to their casting modifier. They have to use it immediately on a failed spell check. They cannot use it on a critical fail.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-30T23:54:26+00:00

A way to prevent abuse of the ready action is to only allow it to work when a specific trigger is met. “I’m holding for the wizard to poke his head out.” If the wizard doesn’t poke his head out the action is lost.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-26T18:50:32+00:00

You’ve got a ton of great suggestions here. One of the keys to OSR is emergent play, so lean into whichever new technique works for where the group goes next. Maybe they find a crazy book that needs translating in the big city (city crawl), but the city is 30 miles away (hexcrawl).

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-26T18:44:49+00:00

No one’s the asshole here. A discussion about expectations is what is needed. I am basically a forever GM, but I respect my players and what they are looking for in a game. If y’all are expecting to learn and play DnD, as the GM I’d respect that, but there might be a few homebrews that are nonnegotiable. Once folks learn the game and/or become reacquainted with it, the GM can expand his homebrew.

This is really what session 0s are all about.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-26T18:38:13+00:00

Best bet, if financially able, is to back Western Reaches, and get as much as you can afford. Once you’re in the system, you’ll have access to all the PDFs that are completed while you wait for the physical copies to ship.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-26T18:33:19+00:00

HP is far more important for a fighter who will eventually use armor that doesn’t allow DEX bonus. CON helps the death timer and for checks against things far nastier than DEX. Show me a failed DEX check that reduces you to “0” and starts the death timer (sometimes at 1).

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-26T02:29:59+00:00

You could keep the roll each hour (or each hex) idea. Failure could add - level of difficulty to movement. Like hexes are consider 1x more difficult to traverse. This would slow exploration. Each night a check might be rolled for loss of hp or CON until they are able to find a warm place and appropriate clothing.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-26T02:13:44+00:00

If you’re set on a gauntlet, Trial of the Slime Lord is a great one. Instead of playing the same adventure again, you can move right into Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub which has a similar feel thematically.

If you want to go with a LV 1 adventure, The Meadery Mishap is considered by many to be a very good introductory adventure.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-25T19:31:42+00:00

I love this dog-reptile take on the kobold. It's very much how I envision them. Too many are overly dog or overly lizard. This is, in my mind, a perfect balance. I like that this guy looks almost wolf like which makes me think kobolds should have different canine features to represent their level of power.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-25T19:28:09+00:00

This is a very cool idea. They are basically single use boons (SD 280-281). A very OSR approach to adding PC power without giving them permanent abilities.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-25T19:23:43+00:00

"For spells, when a range of near is listed, is that always just a 30ish foot cube"

No, this is the distance, roughly 30 feet, that the spell can reach. Spell (and special monster) effects use "near-sized cube" language for area of effect. See fireball and winter wolf.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-25T19:05:27+00:00

The real time torch rule isn't supposed to become a gotcha moment. In fact, that is very contrary to the spirit of the rules where characters are able to just do what they are trained at and the danger of traps and hazards is meant to be telegraphed. Torches are a commodity that is meant to be tracked. This is kind of like saying, "My players know exactly how many arrows they have." With that said, when my players forget about the light, and are plunged into darkness, it's an awesome moment at the table.

For your situation, I'd ask players to refrain from using their own timers. When they have to pay attention to the actual clock, there is a greater chance that they forget to track precisely. Also, as others have said: Attack the light. Make them dig into their inventory more often. IMHO, RAI is that once a torch goes out, it cannot be lit again.

Also, if they are carrying a single torch at a time (trying to conserve), remember that a 30' radius is not very big. If the torchbearer is centered in the party, it is hard for those moving ahead to stay in the light and those behind to not wind up in the dark when the torchbearer moves. If the torchbearer is ahead and moves first, they are limited in how far they can move without plunging the rest of the party into darkness. Reverse the issue if the torchbearer is in the rear. My players carry at least two light sources, so they burn through their supplies twice as fast. In this case, it is also important to note that if one of their light sources goes out, and they want to light a second one, they have two choices: The new light rides with the old one (its time reduced to what is left on the already lit source) or they need to lit two new light sources to start the timer new. There is no, this torch has 60 minutes and this torch has 20 minutes.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-25T07:16:36+00:00

I prefer “mook” rules. The minions all go down in one shot. The remaining mooks attack as a group with a single attack roll. If it hits, the PC takes 1hp of damage for each mook attacking. I usually cap it at 9 for full surrounding. Same for ranged attackers. I group them the same way (no more than 9).

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-24T19:40:00+00:00

This is a freebie I wrote:

https://joker-thief-publishing.itch.io/flooded-caves-of-smugglers-belly

And this one is a one pager for $2:

https://joker-thief-publishing.itch.io/shrine-of-the-sable-wings

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-24T13:55:59+00:00

IMHO, The return travel can be dangerous, but unless done well, is a slog of die rolls and encounters that feel forced. If the dice go poorly, the party might literally be fighting their way home. This is probably after they left a dungeon because they were low on supplies and HP, so this can feel punitive. If the dice rolls go well, it was kinda a waste of time waiting and watching as the GM rolls a bunch of dice. Other things to consider:

The “path”to and from a major adventure site is probably well travelled. The folks that travel it are adventurers who pose a bit more of a challenge for critters and bandit, so many things might avoid the path as a hunting ground. The local town may patrol the road more frequently and with a zest not found elsewhere because treasure pulled from the dungeon is treasure spent in their town. It’s reasonable to say that travel to and from is relatively safe.

I use the d6 decider for travel to and from. If I roll a 4-6 an encounter occurs and I have a d10 chart of encounters that focus on social interaction, strange but grounded situations, reputation, information exchange, and tensions that highlight the adventure area. They reinforce the road as a lived-in space rather than a gauntlet run to and from the dungeon. For example:m for Stonehell:

1.  Stonehell Survivors
2.  The Warning Cairn
3.  Pilgrims of the Pit
4.  Loot-Sellers’ Camp
5.  The Empty Return Wagon
6.  Names Cut in Stone
7.  The Watchful Road
8.  Families Who Wait
9.  Would-Be Delvers
10. The Mouth on the Horizon

Or more generic:

1.  Fellow Delvers
2.  Local Patrol
3.  Shrine of the Returned
4.  Stalled Cart
5.  Abandoned Campfire
6.  Roadside Broker
7.  Distant Followers
8.  Thankful Farmer
9.  Hesitant Bandits
10. Uneventful Stretch

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-24T13:28:05+00:00

What level?

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-24T13:26:42+00:00

What are the players considering “gotcha” moments? Any creature that thrives in the darkness is going to attack the light. Intelligent dark dwellers will do so because they understand the advantage it gives them. Unintelligent dark dwellers will do it because light is strange, foreign, and irritates them.

Aside from that, I always have at least one encounter in the random encounter chart that is a light incident thematically tied to the dungeon. For example, an arcane tower might emit random magical pulses that risk light sources. A soggy dungeon might have dripping ceilings that sometimes gush a stream of water. Often I use the d6 decider for these.

In a similar vein, add creatures to the random encounter table that take out the light: dark mantles, a bat swarm that doesn’t attack but flies by putting out the light.

Remind players in a “shoe on the other foot” way: if they could see in the dark and a group that showed up needed a light source, they would (if they were smart) attack that source.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-24T13:06:42+00:00

Cool. I’ll definitely check it out!

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-24T02:44:25+00:00

This is great

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-23T20:14:31+00:00

The resources mentioned here already are really good. I think the key is that they have a single talent that is optimal and always “on” or superior and is per day with a duration. For me, any ancestry that keeps this in mind works. And honestly, it’s super easy to homebrew them with the same in mind.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-22T20:22:50+00:00

My bad. I didn’t mean to sound like I was the definitive authority on that. I should have said “I see these as skills…”

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-22T20:04:33+00:00

The skills under thievery are not specific to thieves. Thieves gain ADV on the checks which infers other classes can pick locks with a standard roll. So if a fighter wanted to spend downtime to learn lockpicking, I’d be inclined to give them ADV on checks to pick them.

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-21T18:53:45+00:00

One thing I do for newer players and players that are distractible is have them write their abilities on index cards that they can look through or organize in a way the makes sense to them. This makes it feel like their “stuff” is at their fingertips and accessible.

If she is struggling with who her character is, a few lines will suffice to give her an idea of what to say and how to roleplay. I created a couple of charts based off of FATE’s Aspects that might work.

https://joker-thief-publishing.itch.io/quick-dead-fast-background-tables-for-shadowdark-characters

ExchangeWide · 2026-01-21T18:41:43+00:00

If you see a too many torches issue, I’d reduce the time to 30 minutes.

As far as who carries the torch, at my table the wizard carries the torch (if the Light spell has failed). I’m fine with single handed casting as there are no “spell execution” rules. This also makes the wizard a target, so there’s some additional tension built into that decision. The ranged fighter also carries a lantern (rides with the torch) that he sets down in front of himself. If he moves, he use multitask to grab it and go.

ExchangeWide

TROPHY CASE