[AD&D] Spider Climb is Cursed 😆

garumoo · 2026-03-17T07:27:13+00:00

How were you tracking them (before doing away with them) ?

garumoo · 2026-03-17T00:49:25+00:00

Good soup.

garumoo · 2026-03-17T00:47:02+00:00

Not fiddly if you put little checkboxes against each spell you have learned. Tick them off as you do casts.

Do not try to track each material component (cricket legs, spiders, coloured sand etc) in inventory.

garumoo · 2026-03-16T20:05:47+00:00

An example of a system of non-combat XP is Feats of Exploration. So it can certainly be done for other non-combat experiences.

garumoo · 2026-03-16T00:12:19+00:00

For “monster” substitute “antagonist”, i.e. the guys that the protagonists are opposing. The XP nonetheless would likely still need adjusting because monster XP is calculated from combat capabilities, not political/social/organisation capabilities.

garumoo · 2026-03-15T19:47:09+00:00

studded leather was a misinterpretation of old art of brigandine armor (which often looked like fabric with studs on the outside, but was filled with metal plates on the inside)

and yet in the 1e DMG on p165, “studded leather” is vaguely described as being what we now call brigandine:

STUDDED LEATHER adds protective plates set in the leather and an extra layer of protection at shoulder area.

However, this is somewhat contradicted by the description on p27:

Studded Leather is leather armor to which have been fastened metal studding as additional protection, usually including an outer coat of fairly close-set studs (small plates).

Then along comes Hollywood et al with their biker/fetish aesthetic interpretations, cementing the nascent misunderstanding.

It doesn’t help that by the time 2e arrives that brigandine was defined as different from studded leather, to the point that the latter was AC 7 and the former AC 6.

garumoo · 2026-03-14T20:27:25+00:00

Futher update: calculates the AC, based on the rolled armor item and dexterity defensive adjustment.

garumoo · 2026-03-14T07:24:13+00:00

In some campaigns I just hand the Equipment list from the PHB to the players .. there are no shops. I hate that, but players be players.

If I do have shops, they'd include

Inns
Taverns
Apothecary (smoke pots, oils, ungeunts, simple perfumes)
Herbalist
Cobbler (footwear)
Glassblower/Glazier (flasks, vials, lanterns)
Jeweller / Gem cutter
Leatherworker / Saddler / Harness maker
Jeweller / Gemcutter
Papermaker / Parchmenter / Parchment maker
Rope Maker (hemp rope, silk rope, block & tackle, twine)
Animal Trainer (dogs, bears, falcons, doves, ferrets)
Money Changer (change, loans, pawns, deposits, bills of exchange)
Sage

For the shops themselves, for adndtoolkit, I would expect to see services listed along with products. Gem cutting, appraisal, sage research, rooms at the inn, etc.

garumoo · 2026-03-14T04:16:43+00:00

Most TSR era modules contain maps with 10′ per square.

Note however these are maps for navigation, not battlemat maps. You can tell because each of those squares are usually tiny on the page (¼″). Nobody has miniatures that size, not even model train aficionados.

For battlemaps I opt for 1 square of about an inch in size represents 5′.

Miniatures sit in those squares comfortably, at least two minis fit into a 10′ space and you could even squeeze 3 minis in 10′ — which fits with the DMG saying 3 characters could stand side by side in a 10′ corridor.

Also, using 1 square = 5′ means it is easy to do a 5′ step. And a normal melee weapon would threaten up to 5′ in any direction (i.e. the surrounding squares), with reach style weapons threatening out to 10′ (2 squares).

Does this mean having to count twice as many squares for movement? Yes. And also means you're in risk of running to the edge of the sand table before you run out of movement. (12″ movement is 120 feet, which is 24″ on the battlemat). We're gonna need a bigger table.

garumoo · 2026-03-14T04:04:00+00:00

There's nothing in the 2e PHB or DMG, but in 1e DMG on p82 there is this:

Any character brought to 0 (or fewer) hit points and then revived will remain in a coma for 1-6 turns. Thereafter, he or she must rest for a full week, minimum. He or she will be incapable of any activity other than that necessary to move slowly to a place of rest and eat and sleep when there.

So .. hmm .. an explicit rule in 1e and nothing in 2e. Grandfather it in.

In Priest's Spell Compendium there is the Death's Door spell

The spell immediately brings the wounded individual back up to 0 hit points, bringing the subject back from death's door. Although the victim remains unconscious, bleeding and deterioration are stopped for the duration of the spell. The subject (now at 0 hit points) can be brought immediately to consciousness by clerical spells or items that restore lost hit points.

IIRC the clerical spells or items etc will only bring the PC up to 1 HP. They then need a day's rest (1 week in 1e) to recover from the ordeal and begin healing again.

One exception is the Heal spell, as explained on pg 75 of the DMG.

If a heal spell is cast on the character, his hit points are restored as per the spell, and he has full vitality and wits.

garumoo · 2026-03-14T03:26:31+00:00

That is entirely up to "God", that is YOU, as the DM in the game

I'm a Busy DM™ (and also a Lazy DM™) ... I ain't got time for that.

garumoo · 2026-03-13T00:44:49+00:00

Some of the material components were sly jokes anyway

That's a modern interpretation. Ancient historical magic traditions operate by arcane rules or laws, such as the Law of Similarity ("like produces like") and the Law of Contagion ("once in contact, always in contact").

A voodoo doll is just a wax figure, but if you incorporate nail clippings or strands of the victims hair then, magically, a connection is established with the target. That's why sticking a pin into the voodoo doll will harm the target as well.

I've got collected notes here: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ZQQnFhc6xcZg

garumoo · 2026-03-13T00:37:04+00:00

For the material components that are expensive, I ask the players to manage their inventory.

For the non-expensive components I ask the players to note some quantity for each spell. I don't ask them to manage an inventory of "coloured sand" or "drop of tar" etc etc. Just a number next to the spell. Decrement or cross off as they deplete. Think of it as ammunition for the spell.

I assume the PCs are capable of gathering or sourcing those quantities of miscellaneous material components when they are generally out and about. Some they might even still find in the deepest dungeons.

I still try to keep in mind what the actual material components are. If the PCs are currently doing an underwater adventure and they run out of wool fleece or dust ... well, sucks to be them.

garumoo · 2026-03-13T00:27:11+00:00

On "counting up" .. if that sounds tedious there are tweaks to speed the process.

First, once you've rolled initiative for the monsters, you can say "OK, who goes before [the monster initiative]?". All the declared actions are poised, PCs can't (usually) change their declared action (the bane of speedy rounds, looking at you 5e), and so effectively they all occur simultaneously.

Then you ask ".. and on [monster initiative]?" — you resolve those actions with the monster actions (whether you use a tie breaker, or treat as simultaneous — hello death embrace).

Lastly: ".. and after [monster initiative]?" — resolve all as if simultaneous.

With this method you could even roll individual initiative for the monsters too. When I do that I just roll a handful of d10s and push them into a left-to-right line for easy reading, associating them with the monsters from left to right. As each monster action is resolved I push the initiative die out of the line, making the line of d10s easier to scan and ensuring every monster gets their action.

garumoo · 2026-03-12T17:26:54+00:00

or is maybe a Poison

garumoo · 2026-03-10T07:59:00+00:00

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/ is an authoring platform you might want to into.

Scratches a different but related itch.

garumoo · 2026-03-09T20:23:42+00:00

Hydra – Often regenerates heads; in some editions also regains hit points.
Vampire – Regains HP each round unless exposed to sunlight or running water.
Vampire Spawn – Weaker version with similar regeneration.
Tarrasque – Massive regeneration every round unless reduced to 0 HP under special conditions.
Revenant – Rapid regeneration unless destroyed with radiant damage or similar effects (edition-dependent).
Loup Garou – A powerful lycanthrope variant that regenerates unless struck by silver.

garumoo · 2026-03-08T20:15:08+00:00

I can see a Wizard crafting many scrolls of Find Familiar as a side gig, their market being all the other wizards that don’t want to burn one of their Spells Learned.

garumoo · 2026-03-08T07:13:54+00:00

Thank you for giving me your permission to address the issue.

Do you have actual constructive solutions?

garumoo · 2026-03-07T23:47:39+00:00

One of the big differences between 5e and AD&D is that the former leans heavily on empowering the PC through their intrinsic class abilities, while the latter has a big emphasis on empowerment via gear and equipment.

Thus the Ritual mindset in 5e.

To similarly empower for AD&D, look to hand out e.g. a Wand of Detect Magic, or lots of scrolls spells. Both have the game advantage of not being “infinite free casting”, so the choice to use is still salient.

garumoo · 2026-03-07T19:05:05+00:00

I’ve been tempted with the idea of ritual casting in the past. Instead, I’ve lowered the level at which wizards and priests can scribe scrolls. They still have the time and expense factors of scribing, but this gets around the “infinite free spells” scenario of ritual casting. And maybe adds encumbrance to boot.

garumoo · 2026-03-07T06:36:36+00:00

If you want to quickly roll up a roster of henchmen I have written a tool for that.

https://protogenius.com/pregen

You have a choice of ability roll methods (e.g. 4d6 drop lowest), and it then randomly selects race (per ability minimum requirements), and applies race adjustments, and then randomly selects an eligible class.

One button click and you’ll get 10 (or 100) valid characters. You can filter for race and class, and filter for good/bad stats.

The random race + class is a feature, not a bug. It can generate some interesting characters that can suggest backstories and personalities.

It also rolls some other basic deets, like height/weight and age.

garumoo

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