Dungeon Master Assistance

Where anyone over 18 can share thoughts and ideas on RPGs.

D&D – Gems

44 Comments Posted by on June 10, 2012

Here is some information regarding D&D gems. I started with the official D&D information and expanded on it. I use this information in my games.

Gems1

Standard gems carried by adventurers are 1/4″ in diameter. They are carried in small leather or cloth bags tied securely with a string or leather strap. Unless your character is carrying an extremely large number of gems, their weight is insignificant and you do not have to keep track of it. The information listed here is provided for those rare occasions when your character may need to  carry an exceptionally large gem or a very large number of gems.

In the real world, gem sizes do not determine weight. The density of gems varies from very light stones like opal to especially heavy stones like sphalerite or zircon. To keep it simple for D&D I am keeping the weight of all gems the same and only vary the value depending on gemstone type and size. The price per carat does not increase smoothly with increasing size. (One 4 carat gem is more valuable than four 1 carat gems.) To allow for larger stones in my game they don’t increase quite as fast as they do in the real world. I justify this by saying that larger stones are not as rare in my world.

Note regarding uncut gems.
When a piece is uncut it is called “rough”. The process of cutting and polishing it results in size and weight loss. In order to overcome the weight loss in addition to the cost of cutting, a cut gemstone is more valuable than rough. The yield from even well-shaped rough material is typically only about 25%.
To make it easy, figure a rough gem is the same value as shown below but it is at least 4 times as heavy and its size is at least 1.25 larger than indicated. It is also irregular in shape and not as “pretty”.

All gems listed here are round faceted and have the same depth as their diameter making them roughly spherical (think 20 sided dice).

Size Weight Value Number of gems this size that will fit in one cubic foot of space
6″ Dia. (size of small human skull) 31,000 carats 14 lbs. Base value x 50,000 8
3″ Dia.(large fist size) 4,856 carats 2 lbs. Base value x 5,000 64
2″ Dia. (que ball size) 1,133 carats 1/2 lb. Base value x 1,000 216
1″ Dia. (Very Large – fits snugly into an empty eye-socket) 145 carats 0.064 lbs. (16 = 1 lb.) Base value x 100 1,728
1/2″ Dia. (Large – marble size) 18 carats 0.008 lbs (125 = 1 lb.) Base value x 10 13,824
1/4″ Dia. (Medium – standard size) 2 carats 0.001 lbs.(1,000 = 1 lb.) base value 110,592
1/8″ Dia. (Small) 0.3 carats 0.000125 lbs. (8,000 = 1 lb.) base value / 10 884,736

All gems weigh 110 lbs. per cubic foot (should you be so fortunate as to need to know this).

Gem Base Value
agateagate (banded, eye, or moss ) 10 gp
azuriteazurite
quartz - bluequartz (blue)
hematitehematite
lapis lazulilapis lazuli
malachitemalachite
obsidianobsidian
rhodochrositerhodochrosite
tiger eyetiger eye
turquoiseturquoise
pearl freshwaterfreshwater (irregular) pearl
bloodstonebloodstone 50 gp
carneliancarnelian
chalcedonychalcedony
chrysoprasechrysoprase
citrinecitrine
ioliteiolite
jasperjasper
moonstonemoonstone
onyxonyx
peridotperidot
rock crystalrock crystal (clear quartz)
sardsard
sardonyxsardonyx
quartz rosequartz (rose, smoky, or star rose)
zirconzircon
amberamber 100 gp
amethystamethyst
chrysoberylchrysoberyl
coralcoral
garnet redgarnet (red or brown-green )
jadejade
pearlpearl (white, golden, pink, or silver )
spinel redspinel (red, red-brown or deep green)
tourmalinetourmaline
alexandritealexandrite 500 gp
aquamarineaquamarine
garnet violetgarnet (violet )
pearl blackpearl (black)
spinel deep bluespinel (deep blue)
topaz golden yellowtopaz (golden yellow )
emeraldemerald 1,000 gp
opalopal (white, black, or fire )
sapphire bluesapphire (blue)
corundumcorundum (fiery yellow or rich purple)
sapphire black starsapphire (blue or black star )
ruby starruby (star)
emerald bright greenemerald (clearest bright green) 5,000 gp
diamond blue-whitediamond (blue-white, canary, pink, brown, or blue)
diamond blue-whiteruby (clear red)
jacinthjacinth

Here is very nice Gemstone Generator that gives you a random selection of gems based on the starting GP value selected. This is good for those times that the characters find a bag of gems:
http://www.pbegames.com/gemstone/

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D&D – Coins

7 Comments Posted by on June 9, 2012

Here is some information regarding D&D coins. I started with the official D&D information and expanded on it. I use this information in my games.


10 Copper pieces (cp) = 1 Silver piece
10 Silver pieces (sp) = 1 Gold piece
2 Electrun pieces (ep) = 1 Gold piece
10 Gold pieces (gp) = 1 Platinum piece (pp)
All coins are the same size and the same weight regardless of the type.

1 Coin

  • 1 1/4″ Dia.
  • 1/10″ Thk.
  • 1/3 oz. (50 to a pound)

10 Coins

  • 1 foot long when placed in a line
  • 1″ tall when stacked

50 Coins

  • 1 pound

100 Coins

  • 1 square foot when placed in a 10 coins long x 10 coins wide grid

120 Coins

  • 1 foot tall when stacked

12,000 Coins

  • 1 cubic foot stacked 10 coins long x 10 coins wide x 120 coins tall
  • weighs 240 pounds

Trade Bars

  • Size: about 5″ x 2″ x 1/2″
  • Weight:
    • Silver 2 lb
    • Gold 5 lb
  • Value:
    • Silver 10 gp
    • Gold 250 gp
  • 288 bars per cubic foot
Dragon Bed of Coins
Dragon Size Minimum Number of Coins
S 12,000
M 12,000
L 50,000
G 100,000
Piles of coins (cone shaped)
Diameter Light Pile Heavy Pile
Hight in center Number of Coins Hight in center Number of Coins
5 ft 1″ 5,000 3″ 18,000
10 ft 3″ 40,000 6″ 156,000
15 ft 4″ 135,000 9″ 528,000
20 ft 5″ 320,000 1 ft 1,260,000

Less that 100 coins per square foot is a scattering of coins.
From 100 coins per square foot to a light pile is a covering of coins.
A pile can range anywhere between a light and a heavy pile.
Adding more coins to a heavy pile increases it’s height and diameter.
In an enclosed area, if there are enough coins they will spread out over the the floor to the walls and fill the available area to 12,000 coins per cubic foot.

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D&D 3.5 – Dungeons and Dragons – Lite

5 Comments Posted by on June 8, 2012
D&D Lite Cover

Cover page for D&D Lite

The following is a document of House Rules. In this document are alternatives to the normal Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 d20 rules.

I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons since it came out in the late 1970’s. I eagerly awaited each new release of the game and embraced all of the new rules. With each new release it got better. When 3.0 was released I saw it as a re-visioning of the original game with more logical and consistent rules. It was soon followed by 3.5 which corrected some of 3.0s failings. I had great expectations for the 4.0 release, but I was greatly disappointed. Instead of streamlining and simplifying the rules, it was a whole new game. I’m not saying that it is a bad game, it simply isn’t one that I choose to play. Others felt the way that I do and other companies have tried to “fix” D&D v3.5. The Pathfinder RPG is an attempt to improve on 3.5. While Pathfinder is an improvement over 3.5 they didn’t go far enough, in my opinion, to simplify the 3.5 rules. There are also some rules-light game systems based on the d20 SRD v3.5 such as Basic Fantasy and others but after reviewing them  I found most of them to be too light on the rules for my taste.  So, instead of throwing it all out and starting over, I decided to simply make the changes that I felt v3.5 needed to make it easier and faster to play.

Overview

This is a set of “House Rules” designed to meet the following criteria:

1. Character creation and promotion should be simple, fast and easy.

2. The rule set should be fully compatible with other v3.5 stuff (adventures, sourcebooks, etc).

3. Complicated rules should be simplified to the point where you can play 90% of the time without having to look up a rule.

The intention is to simplify and speed up play, bringing back a lot the feel of the original D&D game while preserving most of the enhancements that the d20 game provides.

To accomplish this we will use the Players Handbook v3.5 (abbreviated here as PHB), with some modifications. The major changes are:

No Multiclass characters. You will be playing iconic D&D characters. These are the 11 core classes, without regard to race or sex, with each class being the “typical” stereotype character for that class.

No Feats. Each character class has its own set of special abilities; additional abilities are added as the character advances in level.

No selection and distribution of Skill Points. You get a set of core skills by class. These increase as you increase in level.

No Proficiencies. You can use the weapons and armor you start with and can quickly learn to use others in-campaign.

No Alignment. Or, more accurately, there are no alignment related game rules and effects. Character alignment is optional.  We will substitute “Unholy” for “Evil” in most Clerical spells and effects.

No separate rules for Bull rush, Disarm, Overrun, Sunder or Trip. These are replaced with one simple “heroic actions” mechanic.

No Attacks of Opportunity. Characters are required to make an ability check (a “heroic action”) to attempt to pass through a threatened square, or perform non-attack actions within a threatened square. This eliminates the need for Attacks of Opportunity.

Rules for Grapple, Turn Undead, nonlethal damage and Counterspells have all been simplified.

This document is not intended to replace the PHB, but to supplement it. Many of the rules from the PHB have been repeated here for convince. Wherever something is mentioned for which I haven’t provided adequate information (Darkvision for instance) refer to the PHB.

You can download a free copy of this PDF file here: Dungeon-n-Dragon-Lite

The above file contains a Character Record Sheet, but here it is as a seperate PDF file: Character Sheet

Here are some Fast-Play Character Sheets.

Hare is an Animal Companion / Familiar Character Sheet.

Corrections and changes are  posted in this addendum.

As always, I would greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions.

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D&D 3.5 – Time Travel

5 Comments Posted by on June 7, 2012

Optional rules for D&D v3.5

Several attempts have been made to travel in time in D&D with more or less success. In a fantasy world where magic is real one would think time travel should be possible. The problem is how do you handle time travel in terms of the game.

 Problems to Overcome

1. The time paradox problem.

What happens if you kill one of your ancestors? You would cease to exist thus undoing your murder which would bring you back into existence where you would travel back in time to kill your ancestor, etc. A paradox.

2. The interacting with your future self problem.

What if you meet your future self and touch? Some writers say there would be an explosion.  Perhaps ending the universe..

3. The changing history problem.

Can you change history? One line of thinking says that you can’t change history, any attempt to do so will be foiled. Another opinion is that the moment you change history, a new branch of history is created. Every moment spawns multiple alternant future time lines, depending on the actions taken.

Solving the problems

In keeping with the principle that the D&D game should first be fun, and second should not unnecessarily limit what a player character can do, I propose the following time traveling rules.

1. There will never be a time paradox.

When you travel in time you can do anything you want and it will never cause a time paradox. This doesn’t mean that time travel is without risks, but you don’t have to work about accidentally killing your grandfather. I’ll explain later.

2. You will never meet your past or future self.

This is simple not possible. If you travel to a time where you have already been, you will occupy the body you had then. If you travel to a time you have never been before, past or future, your body disappears from where it is now and re-appears there.

3. Of course you can changing history.

What fun would it be to time travel if you couldn’t change things?

You can download a free copy of my time travel rules here: Time Travel

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D&D 3.5 – Optional Chase Rules

5 Comments Posted by on June 6, 2012

Optional rules for D&D v3.5

 Why do we need more rules? What is wrong with just using the rules as printed?

Problems with using standard Dungeons and Dragons rules for a chase:

1)     The move rules are written for use in combat, and are excellent for that, but chases are resolved as if they were races. As anyone knows who has ever watched an action movie with an exciting chase scene, a chase is not a race. Being quick, clever and daring (along with a good portion of luck) can result in a slower person getting away form a faster pursuer, or a slower pursuer catching someone faster.

2)    On page 20 of the DMG “Evasion and Pursuit” says in round-by-round movement it is imposable for a slower character to catch a faster character. If they have the same speed, let them make an opposed Dexterity check to see who wins. And for long chases, have everybody make Dexterity checks to see who can keep up the pace the longest. This is workable but it replaces what could be an exciting chase into a single role of the dice. If combat was handled like this, everyone would roil one d20, add any ability or circumstance modifiers, and the fight would be over.  This would “work” but wouldn’t be much fun.

3)    Each character moves during his or her turn during a combat round. Even though this works just fine for combat, for a chase it can result in awkward situations. For example, your character could be chasing another with the same speed, each round on your turn you would move up close to him and then on his turn your opponent would pull away from you. If you are chasing someone and you are both running at the same speed, shouldn’t you stay the same distance apart for the whole round?

4)    Actions and moves are handled separately. There are very few actions that can be performed while moving. As we all know, during a chase, you don’t normally stop to do other things. Practically everything you do is done while you are running.

What these new rules attempt to do:

Only one thing. Make chases fun! To do this:

1)     It must be simple. The new rules are kept to a minimum.

2)    It must still be D&D.  A chase is basically a special combat situation. All standard combat rules still function normally during a chase except where specifically noted otherwise. Most importantly, your character isn’t limited to what he can attempt to do.

3)    It must work for any number of characters chasing any number of other characters. The PCs can be chasing others or be chased by others and each PC determines his own actions.

4)    It must work equally well for characters on foot, mounted, fling or driving a vehicle. Everyone on a vehicle is involved in the chase, but there will typically only be one character driving or controlling the vehicle. The mode of travel can even change during the chase. For example, someone might jump onto or off or his horse, or he might swim across a lake or climb a wall.

5)    There must be a way for the slower person to win. The distance you move each round can’t be just a static distance based on your characters speed rate. There will be a roil of a 20 sided die that each character involved in the chase makes that will modify his distance traveled. And it will be adjusted by various factors such as terrain, obstacles, abilities and actions taken during the round.

Download a free copy of these chase rules here: Chase Rules

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D&D 3.5 – Ship to Ship Combat

6 Comments Posted by on June 4, 2012

Optional rules for D&D v3.5

I was not happy with the ship combat rules in D&D v3.5 so I came up with a system that allows multiple ships to combat each other and, at the same time, allow for each PC to contribute in his own way each round. I simply (or not so simply as it turns out) extended the D&D combat rules to work with ships as well. What I came up with is in a PDF file you can download here: Ship to Ship Combat

There is also a fast start version here: Ship to Ship Combat (fast start rules)

You can use this to keep track of your ships: Ship Record Sheet

I would really appreciate any comments, especially if you use them in play (they have not yet been play-tested).

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I’m a fan of Dungeons and Dragons

Leave a comment Posted by on June 3, 2012

I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons since it first cane out in the late 1970’s. 90% of the time when I have played, I have been the Dungeon Master. My favorite version of the game is v3.5. I don’t care much for 4.0

For the last few years I haven’t been able to play as much as I would have liked, but I have spent a lot of time working on various additions, expansions and, yes, improvements to the game.  That is why I am starting this blog. I want a place where I can share my thoughts and pass on my ideas. I would be very happy if anyone would care to comment on any of my posts.

The first thing I am going to do is upload a few PDF files that I have created. There is one with a set of CHASE rules, another with rules for TIME TRAVEL, one with rules for SHIP to SHIP COMBAT and one big one with a set of simplified rules that I call DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS LITE.

Please feel free to use anything you fine here in any way you choose, so long as you aren’t trying to make money with it.

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