This is just an experiment and it probably won’t go anywhere but here it goes. It might even get further than my aborted Pathfinder project which I have now deleted, but I’m not going to put money on that. I have recently bought the new Player’s Handbook, and although it has no official name, I’m going to refer to this edition as 5.5E, and I’m curious as to how it feels. However, I am not going to create a whole new blog, and although this blog “Tales of Kaelaross” is mainly focused on B/X & BECMI D&D, it is my blog and if I want to diverge into later editions I will, such as now.
I’m already involved in an ongoing 5E game and some of us are buying the new books, so this is kind of seeing whether this is good for actual play, as well as whether I could do blog posts about it.
Creating a Character
So let’s start with a new character and see what character creation is like.
On p33 we have the steps for creating a character. Unlike older editions, here you select class and species/race and then assign ability scores as you see fit. I’m going to go for options that are simply not available in BECMI, just to keep things interesting.
1) Choose a class: I’m going with warlock. As we are starting at 1st level I don’t worry about subclass now (although Archfey patron is interesting and I would choose that if this character reached 3rd level). Starting abilities are: 1 Eldritch Invocation (I’m going with Armour of Shadows which allows casting of Mage Armour) and Pact Magic, giving me 2 cantrips and 2 prepared spells: cantrips are Eldritch Blast and Minor Illusion, prepared spells are Charm Person and Witch Bolt.
2) Determine Origin: Dragonborn (copper) as species. He’s male. For background I’ll say he’s been a hermit, out on the edges of the forest. Being a copper dragonborn he gets acid breath weapon, damage resistance to acid and 60ft darkvision. Being a hermit gives him the Healer feat, Medicine & Religion skills and some equipment. As a hermit he also gets +1 to Con, Wis & Cha.
3) Determine ability scores: I’m going with the standard array, partly because I’m lazy, partly because it is relatively new to me and I want to experiment. These are 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. I’ll arrange them as Str 8 (-1), Dex 12 (+1), Con 10 (0), Int 13 (+1), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 15 (+2). However, the bonus from hermit background means he is now Str 8 (-1), Dex 12 (+1), Con 11 (0), Int 13 (+1). Wis 15 (+2), Cha 16 (+3). This used to be from race/species but now it's from background.
4) Alignment: Chaotic Good. Partly inherited from his copper dragon heritage, partly from being friends with some of the fey on the edge of the forest. He enjoys freedom and takes a relaxed view of authority.
5) Fill in the details. Quite a broad step covering a range of details, but here are the salient points:
- Proficiency bonus and saving throws: As he's 1st level my warlock gets a proficiency bonus of +2, and warlocks get this bonus to Wisdom and Charisma saving throws
- Skills: As a hermit he already gets Medicine and Religion, and as a warlock I'm also going to give him Arcana and Investigation. The +2 proficiency bonus applies here as well.
- Passive Perception is 10 + Wis modifier = 12
- Hit Points: Warlocks are beefier than I remember, and now have d8 hit dice, so my warlock starts with 8hp.
- Equipment: As a warlock he's going for the default package of leather armour, sickle, 2 daggers, arcane focus (orb), Book of occult lore, scholar's pack (Backpack, book, ink, ink pen, lamp, 10 flasks of oil, 10 sheets of parchment + tinderbox) + 15gp. As a hermit he also gets a quarterstaff, herbalism kit, book of philosophy, bedroll, lamp, 3 flasks of oil, travellers clothes and 16gp . As my warlock has feeble strength but okay dexterity I'm going to rely more on the daggers than the sickle or quarterstaff as daggers are finesse weapons and therefore can use dexterity bonus even in melee. Mind you, the 1d8 damage of using a quarterstaff in 2 hands makes it almost worth it, even if his low strength makes it 1d8-1.
- Name: Balthion
The implied setting
I've got various campaign world settings on my bookshelf, but none really exactly match the range of races and classes seen in the new PHB. When you introduce new races/species, such as dragonborn, it raises the question of where do they live, whether they have suddenly appeared in the world or if they were always there but only just now being noticed. Shoehorning dragonborn and goliaths into an established setting like Greyhawk just feels wrong to me.
Similarly with classes, particularly where they are distinct enough from each other that it would be awkward to say they had previously been treated as this other class. Paladins and Barbarians in 5.5E have their own sets of abilities that set them apart from fighters, and similarly warlocks and sorcerers are distinct from wizards. Even if an inhabitant of the setting does not understand the game mechanics that separate classes, they would understand that a bard is not a rogue. So I'm not going to use Mystara - that stays B/X & BECMI.
Another aspect of 5.5E is that even 1st level characters start off with a range of abilities that your medieval peasant would be in awe and fear of - just look at my boy Balthion with his invocation and prepared spells that would put a B/X 3rd level magic user to shame. People have said that in later editions the heroes are more like superheroes. Is this a form of inflation, or power creep to keep min-maxing players interested?
My solution? Create a new setting. Embrace the newness. And have some leeway to introduce new species, classes, subclasses, backgrounds and the like.
In fact I might go as far as to say the best way to approach this is the idea that 5.5E is a separate game. Yes there are some similarities inherited through the lineage of various D&D editions, but I should accept that a lot of the time a 1:1 conversion between this and B/X either will not work or will require a lot of fudging. The two systems can borrow ideas from each other, not as compatible editions but in the same way I might borrow ideas from WHFRP, Earthdawn or Stormbringer RPGs. I know that some DMs would argue they are more compatible than the completely separate systems I’ve mentioned but it is easier for me to assume they are different systems and then be happily surprised when conversion is simple than assume they are compatible and then get slowed down and frustrated when the relevant mechanics are quite different.
For the sake of simplicity let's call this new world Xerros. In Xerros about 1% of the population across a range of species have a special gift, a spark of potential. They are known as the Spirit Touched. The other 99% are often referred to as Mundanes. The Spirit Touched are able to gain levels as PC classes, while the mundanes do not; all player characters are assumed to be Spirit Touched.
Many NPCs, such as merchants, footsoldiers, bar tenders and beggars, will be mundane (and have accordingly weaker game stats, similar to the standard stat blocks for NPCs at the back of the 2014 Monster Manual), but a few will be spirit-touched - these will often be the peers, superiors, tutors, rivals and enemies of PCs and are just as capable as the PCs of rising to power and glory or notoriety. As such NPCs of significance are more likely to be spirit-touched and have levels in character classes. In fact, rather than using Monster Manual style standard stat blocks, I would like as many spirit-touched NPCs as feasible to be constructed in the same way as player characters, using the rules in the PHB.
I'm not committing myself to anything major here but it could be interesting to see where this goes.
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