Comparing D&D 5e to Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top role playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition as A5E. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In A5E the Dungeon Master is called the Narrator.
Summary of the game system
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition is the name of a game by EN Publishing, a UK-based tabletop roleplaying game company. A5E is an ‘advanced’ version of 5E with an extra layer of crunch and depth. It’s fully stand-alone with no need for the original 5E core rulebooks. This review is based on my reading of A5E’s Adventurers Guide, a 656 page replacement for 5E’s Player’s Handbook. It is what you would get if you started with 5E’s SRD, then added everything else that is in the Player’s Handbook, re-writing everything and changing everything that is copyrighted. And then you added a whole lot more of almost everything. If you know how to play 5E, you pretty much know how to play A5E, the rules have only been added to or modified in a few places.
Primary differences between A5E and 5E
Character Creation
Hit Points, Abilities, Ability Modifiers, Proficiency Bonus
All the same as in 5E.
Origins
Heritage: Who were your parents? (Race in 5E)
Your heritage determines your age, size, and speed. Some heritages include multiple gifts for you to choose from to further diversify your character. At a higher level, each heritage grants an additional paragon feature (called a paragon gift).
Select Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Human, Orc, Planetouched (Tiefiing and Aasimar in 5E), or Mixed Heritage (with parents of two different heritages)
Cluture: Where did you grow up? (Subclass in 5E)
Your culture contains a range of traits and the languages you know.
Your destiny provides your character with motivation, roleplaying hooks, and special features, including a bonus feature when your character eventually fulfills their destiny.
Select Chaos, Coming of Age, Devotion, Dominion, Excellence, Knowledge, Metamorphosis, Revenge, Underdog, or Wealth.
Class
Choose Adept (Monk in 5E), Bard, Berserker (Barbarian in 5E), Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Herald (Paladin in 5E), Marshal, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard.
Weapon Properties: In addition to its specific features, each weapon type may have one or more of these properties: Breaker, Compounding, Defensive, Dual-Wielding, Finesse, Hand-Mounted, Heavy, Loading, Mounted, Parrying, Parrying Immunity, Range, Reach, Simple, Thrown, Trip, Two-Handed, Versatile, Vicious
Shields
There are 4 shield types: Light, Medium, Heavy, and Tower
Heavy Armor: Hauberk (steel), Splint (steel), Full Plate (steel), Elven Plate mithral, Dwarven plate (stone)
Helms: Helm, Visored Helm
Materials:
Your gear may be made from these materials, each with different price, weight and other properties: Adamantine, Bone, Bronze, Cloth, Cold iron, Hide, Iron, Leather, Mithral, Silver, Steel, Stone, Wood
Material Properties: the material your armor or weapon is made of may have one or more of these properties: Comfortable, Feybane, Flaw, Fortified, Hardy, High-Quality, Lightweight, Low-Maintenance, Rust, Silvered, Underarmor, Weighty
Adventuring Gear
There are a lot of things listed with their cost, weight and descriptions. I’ll not list them all here. I’ll just indicate the number of items of each type.
Multiclassing: Basically the same as in 5E, but the Prerequisites are an optional rule.
Feats: They are not listed as an optional rule. Getting them instead of an ability score increase is the same as 5E. The list of feats has been expanded and modified.
The available feats are: Ace Driver, Athletic, Attentive, Battle Caster, Bladechanter (Whirling Incantor, Eldritch Whirlwind Master) Brutal Attack, Bull Rush, Combat Thievery, Covert Training, Crafting Expert, Crossbow Expertise, Deadeye, Deflector, Destiny’s Call, Dual-Wielding Expert, Dungeoneer, Eldritch Archer (Arrow Enchanter, Eldritch Volley Master), Empathic, Fear Breaker, Fortunate, Grappler, Guarded Warrior, Hardy Adventurer, Heavily Outfitted, Heavy Armor Expertise, Heraldic Training, Idealistic Leader, Intuitive, Keen Intellect, Lightly Outfitted, Linguistics Expert, Martial Scholar, Medium Armor Expert, Moderately Outfitted, Monster Hunter, Mounted Warrior, Mystical Talent, Mystic Arcanist (Pure Arcanist, Arcanum Master), Natural Warrior, Newblood (Vampire Spawn, Vampire Lord), Nightstalker (Subtly Skilled, Night Master), Physician, Polearm Savant, Power Caster, Powerful Attacker, Proclaimer (Divine Orator, Harbinger of Things to Come), Primordial Caster, Rallying Speaker, Resonant Bond, Rite Master, Shadowdancer (Shadowmancer, Shadow Assassin), Shield Focus, Skillful, Skirmisher, Spellbreaker, Stalwart, Stealth Expert, Street Fighter, Surgical Combatant, Survivor, Swift Combatant, Tactical Support, Tenacious, Thespian, Untamed (Living Stampede, Wild Rioter), Vendetta (Revenant, True Revenant), Vengeful Protector, Vigilante (Equipped for Justice, A Symbol That Strikes Fear), Weapons Specialist, Well-Heeled, Woodcraft Training
Skills: the same as 5E with the addition of Culture and Engineering.
Advantage, Disadvantage, and Expertise
Advantage and Disadvantage are the same as in 5E.
Some class features of the game may grant you an expertise die on a d20 roll. In that case you add another die (usually a d4) to the roll. If you get another expertise die that applies to the same roll, the size of the largest expertise die increases by one step for that check, from 1d4 to 1d6, or 1d6 to 1d8.
Combat
Initiative: Same as in 5E – except you roll a Dexterity check to set the order (sometimes a WIS, STR or CHA check depending on the situation).
Flanking: When you and an ally are on direct opposite sides of a target, you gain an expertise die on your actions against that target.
Actions in Combat
On your turn in combat you perform actions exactly as in 5E, with a few additional actions available to choose from. They are:
Press the Attack (bonus action): Before you attack, designate one creature within your reach. Your melee attacks against that creature gain an expertise die this round unless they are made with disadvantage, and attacks against you have advantage.
Fall Back (reaction): Whenever a creature takes the Press the Attack action against you, you can use your reaction to move backwards 5 feet, and your attacker does not gain an expertise die against you. As part of its action, your attacker can move 5 feet towards you. This doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
Sprint (action): You can move in a straight line up to quadrupled your speed, or triple your speed if you are encumbered or wearing heavy armor. You may not take any other actions, bonus actions, or reactions this turn. You may Sprint for a number of turns equal to your CON mod. Attacks against you are made with advantage.
Tumble (action or bonus action): Make a DEX save vs. creatures combat maneuver DC, on a success, you can move through the hostile creature’s space.
Use a Basic Maneuver (action): Disarm, Grapple, Knock-down, Overrun, or Shove.
Use a Combat Maneuver (action or reaction):
Exertion Pool: To use a combat maneuver, you must expend exertion points. You have a maximum number of exertion points equal to double your proficiency bonus. You regain any spent exertion points at the end of a short or long rest.
How many Combat Maneuvers do you get? You know a number of combat maneuvers determined by your class and class level. Your known combat maneuvers are chosen from the combat traditions you are proficient with.
There are 165 combat maneuvers. Here is an example:
Hear the Wind: (3 points)5th degree Biting Zephyr bonus action “You can literally hear the sound of incoming missiles and react to them easily. Until the end of your next turn, you gain blindsight to a range of 20 feet. When you are hit by a ranged attack, you make a Perception check against a DC equal to the attack roll. On a success the attack misses you, and on a critical success you redirect it back at the attacker.”
Spellcasting
Everything regarding Knowing and Preparing Spells, Casting Spells, Spell Slots, Casting Spells With a Higher Slot, Cantrips, Rituals and Casting Spells in Armor is the same as in 5E and the spell descriptions have the same basic formatting and components as in 5E. The spell descriptions have been re-written and more spells have been added.
Example 5E spell description:
ACID SPLASHConjuration cantripCasting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous Description: “You hurl a bubble of acid. Choose one or two creatures you can see within range. If you choose two, they must be within 5 feet of each other. A target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take ld6 acid damage. This spell’s damage increases by ld6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Example A5E spell description:
Acid SplashCantrip (conjuration; acid, arcane)Classes: Sorcerer, wizard Casting Time: 1 action Range: Medium (60 feet) Target: Up to two creatures within 5 feet of each other Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: Dexterity negates Description: “A stinking bubble of acid is conjured out of thin air to fly at the targets, dealing 1d6 acid damage. This spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).”
Conditions: The same as in 5E, but A5E has added Confused, Doomed, Encumbered, Rattled, and Slowed.
What you need to get started
5E’s Player’s Handbook,Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual can be replaced with A5E’s Adventurers Guide, Trials & Treasures, and Monstrous Menagerie. You have free access the rules on-line HERE: You can buy hardcover and PDF versions of their books at the EN Publishing web site “https://enpublishingrpg.com/“, or “https://www.levelup5e.com/“.
Final Thoughts
If you are thinking (like I was at first) that, “A5E is just like 5E so I can skip over reading what it says about ____ (fill in the blank with a class, race, feat, spell, or anything else you know by heart in 5E),” that would be a mistake. The Adventurer’s Guide is a big book, with 656 pages compared to D&D’s Player’s Handbook with 320 pages. You don’t have to read everything, for instance, there is no need to read all of the equipment, feat or spell descriptions. But Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition is notDungeons and Dragons. It is a stand-alone complete role playing game that is based on Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Even where the topic or rule is basically the same as the one in 5E, A5E has re-written it and often made small changes. They would call these improvements or clarifications and, for the most part, I would agree.
Even if you never play A5E, there are a lot things here that could easily be used in your 5E game. For instance the entire section of weapons and armor could be lifted from this book and used with only minor changes in any 5E game. There are a lot of other things that a DM could find handy, such as costs for buying magic items or crafting them. Or if you need to look up the cost of an iron pot and how much does it hold? And there is a whole section on building a stronghold.
In general, I prefer lower crunch games to higher crunch games. A5E definently has more crunch than 5E. However, the reason I have for preferring lower crunch games are largely avoided in A5E. The reasons I don’t normally care for games with a lot of crunch are: 1) They are overly complicated and bogged down with too many rules. This makes them harder to learn and to teach new players. 2) The game is slowed because it is too complicated. 3) Combat in particular is too slow because you have too many decisions to make and/or you must always be looking things up in the book.
1) Because Level Up is looking at this game as an enhancement to 5E, if you already know 5E you will only need to learn the few things that are different, and that makes it no harder than learning a DMs house rules.
2) The large majority of what has been added to the game only effects characters during character creation and advancement. Yes, this takes time, but it isn’t time spent “adventuring”. Also, there are a lot of additional feats, but these too are only selected during character level advancement.
3) The main difference in combat – that could make it take longer – is the addition of special attack actions they call “Maneuvers.” There are only 4 Basic Maneuvers that everybody can use, which isn’t too bad. There are, however, a large number of Combat Maneuvers. Only 7 of the 13 classes have access to Combat Maneuvers. The Fighter gets 3 at first level and the others start at second level with 2, and they each add one more every couple of levels on average. What slows down combat is having to look up the rule. With this slow progression and the few number of new Combat Maneuvers introduced on advancing to higher levels, I don’t see this as having a big effect on the speed of play during combat.
The bottom line is, I like it! It would be easy to switch a group of 5E players over to this. You could even start out a group of players new to role playing with this game. It would be no harder to learn or teach than 5E. And you could easily play any published 5E adventure using these rules.
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
It has been pointed out to me that I didn’t give Pathfinder Second Edition a fair review in my post on March 8, 2023. Looking back, I must agree that I was a little harsh. This is my attempt to rectify that. I will be basing this review on the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Pathfinder Second Edition as PF2. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In PF2 the Dungeon Master is called the Game Master.
Summary of the game system
Dungeons & Dragons has the largest market share in table top role playing games by far. Pathfinder is D&D’s closest competitor. In 2008 Wizards of the Coast published the 4th edition of D&D. Many (including myself) didn’t like care for the new version. Paizo Publishing came to the rescue in 2009 by publishing Pathfinder. This was basically a revised D&D 3.5 rule set with changes that proved popular with many fans. They published the Second Edition in 2019 which further improved the game’s reputation.
Primary differences between PF2 and 5E
Character Creation (the 10 steps as per the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook)
Step 1: Create a Concept
Step 2: Start Building Ability Scores: (The 6 abilities are the same as 5E)
Each ability score starts at 10.
Step 3: Select an Ancestry (Race in 5E):
Select from: Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, and Human
Assign any free ability boosts and decide if you are taking any voluntary flaws.
Select aHeritage (Subrace in 5E)
Each Ancestry has 5 Heritages to pick from.
Half-Elf and Half-Orc are human Heritages.
Choose an Ancestry Feat.
You gain one ancestry feat at first level and another one at levels 5, 9, and 13.
The feats that you can select from varies with your Ancestry.
Step 4: Pick a Background
Choose one from these backgrounds: Acolyte, Acrobat, Animal Whisperer, Artisan, Artist, Barkeep, Barrister, Bounty Hunter, Charlatan, Criminal, Detective, Emissary, Entertainer, Farmhand, Field Medic, Fortune Teller, Gambler, Gladiator, Guard, Herbalist, Hermit, Hunter, Laborer, Martial Disciple, Merchant, Miner, Noble, Nomad, Prisoner, Sailor, Scholar, Scout, Street Urchin, Tinker, Warrior
Your background gives you two ability boosts.
And training in two skills.
And a skill feat.
NOTES Regarding Skills and Proficiency Bonus
Skill checks are like in 5E, but your Proficiency Bonus is not a static number that increases with your character’s level.
Your Proficiency Bonus in any skill is broken into five different ranks depending on the level of expertise you have in the use of that particular skill: Untrained +0, Trained +2, Expert +4, Master +6, Legendary +8.
Select from Alchemist (somewhat like the Artificer in 5E), Barbarian, Bard, Champion (Paladin in 5E), Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, or Wizard. (No Warlock class in the PF2 core rulebook.)
Feats
Class Feats are abilities granted to you by your class.
Class feats are special feats that only members of that class can access.
You receive one at levels 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20.
Skill Feats are tied directly to your skills.
Your character must be trained in the corresponding skill to take a skill feat.
You receive one at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20
General Feats improve your statistics or give you new actions.
You select any general feat (including skill feats) if your character qualifies for it.
You receive one at levels 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19
Bonus Feats could be any of the above feat types
Certain features of your class may grant these.
NOTES Regarding Feats
PF2 has 17 General Non-Skill Feats, 9 General Skill Feats, and 91 Skill Feats.
The feats have a level and often have one or more prerequisites. As an example:
Titan Wrestler is a level 1 “General Skill” Feat with the prerequisite of being trained in Athletics. It reads, “You can attempt to Disarm, Grapple, Shove, or Trip creatures up to two sizes larger than you, or up to three sizes larger than you if you’re legendary in Athletics.”
By contrast, Feats in 5E is an optional rule. 5E has 42 feats, some that have a prerequisite. In 5E, at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19 (Also at levels 6 and 14 for Fighters) you can increase 1 ability score by 2, or 2 scores by 1, or take a feat.
Skill increases
At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, most classes grant a skill increase, though rogues gain them earlier and more often.
You can use a skill increase to either become trained in a skill or become an expert in one in which you’re already trained.
Ability Boosts
At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, your character boosts four different ability scores.
Boosting an ability score increases it by 1 if it’s already 18 or above, or by 2 if it starts out below 18.
Step 6: Determine Ability Scores
Your Ancestry, Background, and Class will each increase a score by 2, and may decrease a score by 2.
Apply 2 more points to 4 abilities of your choice.
You should have no ability score lower than 8 or higher than 18.
Determine your ability modifiers (same as 5E)
Step 7: Record Class Details
Record all the benefits and class features that you get from your class.
Step 8: Buy Equipment
At 1st level, your character has 15 gold pieces to spend on armor, weapons, and other basic equipment. All equipment has the following properties.
Item Level: Each item has an item level. Characters can use items of any level but GMs are cautioned against allowing items that are far above the PCs current level.
Bulk: Items can have a number to indicate their Bulk value. For instance, full plate armor is 4 Bulk, a longsword is 1 Bulk.
Hands: This lists how many hands it takes to use the item effectively.
HP: The number of hit points it can lose before being destroyed.
Hardness value: Reduce any damage a item takes by its Hardness before applying the rest of the damage to reduce its Hit Points.
Armor
Light Armor is: Padded armor, Leather, Studded leather, Chain shirt
Medium Armor is: Hide, Scale mail, Chain mail, Breastplate
Heavy Armor is: Splint mail (level 1), Half plate (level 1), Full plate (level 2)
Each type of armor is listed with the following.
Price: (similar to 5E)
AC Bonus: added to your Armor Class
Dex Cap: the max. amount of your DEX modifier that can apply to your AC.
Check Penalty: penalty to STR and DEX based skill checks, except for those that have the attack trait.
Speed Penalty: penalty to your Speed, to a minimum Speed of 5 feet.
Strength: If your Strength is equal to or greater than this, you don’t take the armor’s Check Penalty, and you decrease the Speed Penalty by 5 feet.
Bulk: A suit of armor that’s carried or worn has 1 more Bulk than what’s listed. An armor’s Bulk is increased or decreased if it’s sized for creatures that aren’t Small or Medium in size.
Group: Some abilities reference armor groups.
Armor Traits: Armor can have the following traits.
Bulwark: add +3 instead of your DEX modifier to Reflex saves.
Comfort: can rest normally while wearing it.
Flexible: no penalty to Acrobatics or Athletics checks.
Noisy: likely to alert others to your presence.
Shields
PF2 has 4 shield types: Buckler, Wooden shield, Steel shield, and Tower shield
Each type of shield is listed with the following.
Price: (as in 5E)
HP (BT): the shields Hit Points and Broken Threshold. These measure how much damage the shield can take before it’s destroyed and how much it can take before being broken and unusable (its BT).
Attacks that damage you don’t normally damage your armor unless you use the “Shield Block” reaction.
Shield Block [reaction]: (Trigger: While you have your shield raised, you take damage from a physical attack.) You place your shield to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield.
Hardness: Whenever a shield takes damage, the amount of damage it takes is reduced by this amount. This number is particularly relevant for shields because of the Shield Block feat.
Range: A single number of feet (short range in 5E). Attacks beyond this take a –2 penalty for each additional multiple of that increment up to a maximum penalty of -12.
Reload: how many actions it takes to reload the weapon.
Bulk: A weapon’s Bulk is increased or decreased if it’s sized for creatures that aren’t Small or Medium size.
Hands: the number of hands required to wield. Some one-handed weapons deal a different size of weapon damage die when used in two hands. Some abilities require you to wield a weapon in two hands.
Group: affects some abilities and what the weapon does on a critical hit if you have access to that weapon’s critical specialization effects.
Weapon Traits: Most weapons have one or more of the following traits: Agile, Attached, Backstabber, Backswing, Deadly, Disarm, Dwarf, Elf, Fatal, Finesse, Forceful, Free-Hand, Gnome, Goblin, Grapple, Halfling, Jousting, Monk, Nonlethal, Orc, Parry, Propulsive, Reach, Shove, Sweep, Thrown, Trip, Twin, Two-Hand, Unarmed, Versatile, Volley.
Step 9: Calculate Modifiers
Perception: This is equal to your proficiency bonus in Perception plus your WIS modifier.
Saving Throws: PF2 uses Fortitude, Reflex and Will saving throws.
Fortitude saving throw bonus = Fortitude proficiency bonus + CON modifier + any bonuses or penalties from abilities, feats, or items.
Reflex saving throw bonus = Reflex proficiency bonus + DEX modifier + any bonuses or penalties from abilities, feats, or items.
Will saving throw bonus = Will proficiency bonus + WIS modifier + any bonuses or penalties from abilities, feats, or items.
Melee Strikes and Ranged Strikes: Calculate the modifier to Strike with each of your weapons weapon and how much damage that Strike deals.
Strike bonus = proficiency bonus with the weapon + (STR mod for melee or DEX mod for ranged weapons) + any item bonus from the weapon and any other permanent bonuses or penalties.
Melee weapon damage = Weapons damage + STR mod
Ranged weapon damage = Weapons damage + some or all of your STR mod, depending on the weapon’s traits.
Skills: Modifier for each skill = ability mod for that skill + your proficiency bonus for that skill + any other applicable bonuses and penalties.
Step 10: Finishing Details
Alignment: Select your character’s alignment (same as 5E)
Deity: Select the deity your character worships, if any.
Age: Decide your character’s age.
Gender and Pronouns: Record your character’s gender and pronouns.
Class DC: A class DC sets the difficulty for certain abilities granted by your character’s class.
Class DC = 10 + proficiency bonus for your class + the class’s key ability score modifier
Hero Points: Your character usually begins each game session with 1 Hero Point, and your GM can give you additional Hero Points during sessions. Your character can use Hero Points to gain certain benefits, such as staving off death or rerolling a d20. (Similar to Inspiration in 5E)
Armor Class: AC = 10 + DEX mod + proficiency bonus with your armor + your armor’s bonus to AC + any other permanent bonuses and penalties.
Bulk: Bulk = sum bulk of all of your items. (10 light items make up 1 Bulk)
If you’re carrying a total amount of Bulk that exceeds 5 plus your STR mod, you are encumbered. You can’t carry a total amount of Bulk that exceeds 10 plus your STR modifier.
Spells
Spells in PF2 are handled very much the same as in 5E. There are cantrips, spell focus, spell lists, spell slots, spell attacks, spell saving throws, etc.
Spell Lists: There are Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal spell lists. (Different than in 5E.)
Ritual Spells: Rituals do not require spell slots to cast.
5E has 14 In addition to the 11 highlighted above, 5E also has Charmed, Incapacitated, and Poisoned.
Here an example of how they are defined.
Prone (5E definition): “A prone creature’s only movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition. The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls. An attack roll against the creature has advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature. Otherwise, the attack roll has disadvantage.”
Prone (PF2 definition): “You’re lying on the ground. You are flat-footed and take a -2 circumstance penalty to attack rolls. The only move actions you can use while you’re prone are Crawl and Stand. Standing up ends the prone condition. You can Take Cover while prone to hunker down and gain cover against ranged attacks, even if you don’t have an object to get behind, gaining a +4 circumstance bonus to AC against ranged attacks (but you remain flat-footed). If you would be knocked prone while you’re Climbing or Flying, you fall (see pages 463–464 for the rules on falling). You can’t be knocked prone when Swimming.”
Encounter Mode (Combat in 5E)
Initiative
Roll a Perception check to determine your initiative. Or a Stealth or Deception or Diplomacy check depending on the situation.
Your Turn
In PF2 your turn is divided into three steps, each step takes an action.
Everything you can do is either a free action, a reaction, or it takes one, two, or three actions to perform.
Movement is an action, like Crawl, Leap, Step or Stride. Unlike 5E, you cannot interrupt a move action to do something else, but you can take multiple (a maximum of three) move actions on your turn.
You have to complete one action or activity before beginning another.
If you begin a 2-action or 3-action activity on your turn, you must be able to complete it on your turn.
Multiple Attacks: Most attacks take 1 action, so there is nothing preventing you from making up to three attacks a round. However, you get a penalty to your attack roll of -5 on the second attack and -10 on the third.
Actions
Every action is defined as being a free action, a reaction, or taking 1, 2, or 3 actions.
Most actions have a type, such as move, attack, concentrate, or manipulate.
Some actions have requirements.
Reactions must have a trigger.
Critical Success/Failure
In 5E, when making an attack, rolling a natural 20 always hits and you roll double the damage dice. Rolling a natural 1 is always a miss.
In PF2, when making an attack, rolling a natural 20, or rolling 10 over your opponents AC, hits and does double damage. Rolling a natural 1 is always a miss.
Basic Actions
Aid [reaction] (Help in 5E)
Crawl [1 action] You crawl 5 ft.
Delay [reaction] Change your initiative to a later position in the initiative order.
Drop Prone [1 action]
Escape [1 action] Attempt to escape from being grabbed, immobilized, or restrained.
Interact [1 action] Manipulate an object or the terrain.
Leap [1 action] You can Leap horizontally 10 feet if your Speed is at least 15 feet, or 15 feet if your Speed is at least 30 feet.
Ready [2 actions] (like the ready action in 5E)
Release [free action] Let go of something.
Seek [1 action] Look for something
Sense Motive [1 action]
Stand [1 action]
Step [1 action] Move 5 feet, if your speed is at least 10 feet.
Stride [1 action] Move up to your speed
Strike [1 action] Attack
Take Cover [1 action]
Spell Actions
Cast a spell: Cast a 1 action, 2 action, 3 action, reaction, or free action spell.
Sustain a Spell [1 action] A sustained spell continues until the end of your next turn.
Dismiss a Spell [1 action] End one spell effect or magic item effect.
Magic Item Actions
Activate an Item [1 action] Call forth the effect of an item by properly activating it.
Sustain an Activation [1 action] A magic item effect continues until the end of your next turn.
Dismiss an Activation [1 action] End one spell effect or magic item effect.
Specialty Basic Actions
Arrest A Fall [reaction] Attempt an Acrobatics check to slow your fall.
Avert Gaze [1 action]
Burrow [1 action] Move up to your burrow Speed.
Fly [1 action] Move up to your fly Speed.
Grab An Edge [reaction] Try to grab the edge when you fall.
Mount [1 action] Move onto a creature and ride it.
Point Out [1 action] Indicate a creature that you can see to one or more allies.
Raise A Shield [1 action] You position your shield to protect yourself.
Attack of Opportunity [reaction] (basically the same as in 5E)
Attack of Opportunity is a specific skill, and not everyone has it.
Movement in Encounters
Basically the same as in 5E with a few exceptions.
Flanking:
A creature has –2 to their AC to creatures that are flanking it. (PF2 calls that “flat footed”.)
To flank a foe, you and your ally must be on opposite sides or corners of the creature.
Cover: there are 3 types of cover:
Lesser cover gives you +1 to AC and you can’t hide.
Standard cover gives you +2 to AC, Reflex saves, and Stealth checks, and you can attempt to hide.
Greater cover gives you +4 to AC, Reflex saves, and Stealth checks, and you can attempt to hide.
Special Battles: PF2 has additional rules for Mounted Combat, Aerial Combat, and Aquatic Combat
Death and Dying
When you reach 0 Hit Points:
Your initiative position moves to directly before the creature or effect that reduced you to 0 HP.
You gain the Dying 1 Condition (see below).
If the effect that knocked you out was a critical success from the attacker or the result of your critical failure, you gain the Dying 2 Condition
If you have the Wounded Condition (see below), increase your dying value by an amount equal to your wounded value.
If the damage was dealt by a nonlethal attack or nonlethal effect, you don’t gain the dying condition; you are instead unconscious with 0 Hit Points.
The Dying Conditions:
Dying 1: You are unconscious and must make a recovery check each round.
Dying 2: You are unconscious and must make a recovery check each round.
Dying 3: You are unconscious and must make a recovery check each round.
Dying 4: You are dead (unless you have the Diehard feet)
Dying 5: Even if you have the Diehard feet, you are dead
Your dying condition increases by 1 (or by 2 if from a critical hit) if you take damage while dying.
You lose the dying condition automatically and wake up if you ever have 1 Hit Point or more.
When the dying condition ends, you gain the Wounded 1 Condition (see below), or increase your Wounded Condition value by 1 if you already have that condition.
Recovery Check:
When you’re dying, at the start of each of your turns, you must attempt a flat check with a DC equal to 10 + your current dying value
The effects of this check are as follows.
Critical Success: Your dying value is reduced by 2.
Success: Your dying value is reduced by 1.
Failure: Your dying value increases by 1.
Critical Failure: Your dying value increases by 2.
The Wounded Conditions:
Wounded 1: When you drop to 0HP you get the Dying 2 Condition
Wounded 2: When you drop to 0HP you get the Dying 3 Condition
Wounded 3: When you drop to 0HP you get the Dying 4 Condition (and die unless you have the Diehard feet)
Wounded 4: When you drop to 0HP you get the Dying 5 Condition (and die even if you have the Diehard feet)
You may gain the Wounded 1 Condition when you have been seriously injured in a fight, or increase your Wounded Condition value by 1 if you already have that condition.
The wounded condition ends if someone successfully restores Hit Points to you with Treat Wounds, or if you are restored to full Hit Points and rest for 10 minutes.
Other information in the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook: There are chapters on Exploration, Downtime, Game Mastering, and Crafting & Treasure.
What you need to get started
All you need to play the game is the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook. The Advanced Player’s Guide will give you some more options. The GM may also want The Gamemastery Guide, and The Pathfinder Bestiary.
Final Thoughts
This is definitely an improvement over Pathfinder’s original edition.
I like that it includes plenty of rules for activities other than combat, such as exploration and down time.
You get everything you need in the 640-page Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook, eliminating the need for a GM Guide, however I haven’t read the Pathfinder Second Edition Gamemastery Guide. I am sure it is also excellent.
Paizo is great company and their books are top quality.
Now here is why I still don’t think I will be playing this game:
Too much crunch: In my opinion, it is too complicated, too many rules, too much crunch. Of course, this is only because I prefer a game with less crunch. Less crunch makes a game easier to learn, easier to teach new players, and faster to play. You spend less time at the table looking up rules, spells, conditions, feats and features. Too little crunch and you don’t have enough rules to cover the most common situations. I feel 5E hits a happy medium (although 5E could be improved.)
As an example: It took me quite a while to find and understand the PF2 Death and Dying rules. In 5E, whether or not you like the rules regarding death saving throws, everything you need to know is all on the same page and relatively straight forward. In PF2, I was trying to find what happens when you reach 0 HP. First I looked in the “Encounters” section, it wasn’t there. I found “Death and Dying” in the index, so I went to pages 459–461. There I found under “Knocked Out and Dying” what happens when you reach 0 HP. A quick summery is: you’re knocked out, your initiative position changes, and you gain the Dying 1 Condition. It goes on to explain how you might get the Dying 2, or higher, Condition depending on if you have the Wounded Condition. I had no idea at that point what the Dying 1 Condition, Dying 2 Condition, or the Wounded Conditions were. Then it tells you about what happens when you take damage while you have the dying condition. So before I read about “Recovery Checks”, I had to read the section on the “Dying” condition and the “Unconscious” condition, and the “Wounded” condition. Maybe that I am just a little slow, but it took me a few Google searches to read some discussions regarding it all before I was comfortable enough with how it all worked to I write that part of my review. I did read a couple of places that you die if you have the Wounded 4 Condition when you drop to 0 HP, but that isn’t how I read it. Please let me know if I got anything wrong. It was almost like the old joke, “You have to read everything before you read anything.”
Another problem with having so many rules: On your turn in combat, you can take 3 actions. There are a lot of actions to choose from (slowing combat) but it leaves the players with the feeling that you can only do something if it is on the list. The essence of role playing games should be that your character can attempt to do anything he can think of, and the rules are there to help the DM determine whether or not you succeed.
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
Tails of the Valiant is scheduled to release early in 2024. I am basing this comparison on the Tails of the ValiantPreview (that they have labeled final) that I downloaded from their site on July 7, 2023. I may update this when the final version is released. When the 2024 version of Dungeons and Dragons is available I will post a comparison of that with 5E.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Tales of the Valiant as ToV. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In ToV the Dungeon Master is called the Game Master.
Summary of the game system
Kobold Press is creating Tales of the Valiant to be compatible with 5E. From their Kickstarter page: “It combines the Creative Commons foundation of 5th Edition with new elements to create a powerful Kobold-style 5E with teeth.” If you know how to play 5E you know how to play ToV, with only a few differences – most of which I will try to summarize here.
Primary differences between Tails of the Valiant and D&D 5e
Character Creation
Choose a Class
Note your Hit Die size
If you have spellcasting, mark your available spell slots and spells known (if applicable)
Any skills you are proficient in
Any equipment and tools you are proficient with
Saves you are proficient with
Your Proficiency Bonus (PB)
Your starting equipment [you may also get additional equipment based on your background]
Determine Ability Scores and use them to calculate the following:
Your hit-point total
Your spell save DC and your spellcasting attack modifier (if applicable)
Choose your lineage and heritage, including:
Your size
Your senses
Your base movement speed (or speeds, if applicable)
Any additional proficiencies
Select or create a background, including:
Any skill or tool proficiencies
Your languages
Your talent
Any additional starting equipment
Your adventuring motivation
Set your Luck points to 0
Come up with a name and basic description
Classes
The rules preview includes the iconic Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard. When released, ToV should include the 12 core 5e classes plus the Mechanist. It will also include more subclasses and all classes get their subclass at 3rd level. The preview only includes the class progression through 5th level. As an example, here are the major differences in the Rogue Class between ToV and 5E. These are still in beta testing and may change before the final version is published.
Rogue
Hit Points: Same as 5E, except 1d8 (or 4) + your CON modifier per fighter level after 1st [in 5E it is 1d8(or 5).]
Proficiencies, Weapons, Tools, Skills, Saves, and Starting Equipment: Same as 5E
1st Level Features
Expertise: Same as 5E
Sneak Attack: Same as 5E
Thieves’ Cant: Same as 5E
2nd Level Feature
Cunning Action: Same as 5E
3rd Level Feature
Roguish Specialty: called “Roguish Archetype” in 5E – select one form the following:
Enforcer: You get the following features if you choose “Enforcer”:
Ambush: During the first round of combat, you have advantage on the first attack roll you make against any creature involved in the combat. Additionally, whenever you make a successful attack roll against a creature with the surprised condition, that attack is automatically considered a critical hit.
Cold-Blooded: Once per turn when you reduce a creature to 0 hp with a weapon attack, you can use the same weapon to immediately make a weapon attack against a different creature you can see within your weapon’s range. You can’t add Sneak Attack damage to this additional attack.
Expanded Talent List: When you gain a new talent, you can select that talent from the Martial or Technical Talent list. (Refer to Talents)
Thief: You get the following features if you choose “Thief::
Fast Hands: You can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to do any of the following:
Make a DEX (Sleight of Hand) check
Use thieves’ tools to attempt to disarm a trap or open a lock
Take the Use an Object action
Second-Story Work: gives you the following features
You gain a climb speed equal to your base movement speed. If you already have a climb speed when you gain this feature, it increases by 10 feet.
When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet equal to your walking speed if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap half your walking speed. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.
In the event a STR (Athletics) check is required to clear or extend a jump, you can choose to make a DEX (Acrobatics) check instead.
4th Level Feature
Improvement: Add 1 point to any ability and get a Talent. (Refer to Talents)
5th Level Feature
Uncanny Dodge: Same as 5E
Talents (Called Feats in 5E)
Talents are not an optional rule in ToV.
Talent Categories: Talents are divided into three categories: magic, martial, and technical.
At Level 1: Your background gives you one Talent.
At Class Ability Score Improvement: When your class level gives you an Ability Score Improvement you improve an ability by one point and choose a talent from a specified list.
Ability Scores
Abilities and Modifiers
Same 6 abilities, and the modifiers are the same as 5E.
Player Characters can’t have an ability score higher than 20.
Ability Scores start out slightly higher in ToV
The standard array numbers are 16, 15, 13, 12, 10, and 8. (They are 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 in 5E)
Point buy works the same as 5E but you start with 32 points rather than 27 and you can purchase a score of 16, 17, or 18 at the cost of 11, 13, or 16 points respectively.
Roll 4 d6’s and discard the lowest, is just like in 5E but when you have finished, add 2 to one score of your choice that is 16 or below and add 1 to one score of your choice that is 17 or below.
Lineage and Heritage (Race in 5E)
ToV splits what would be your Race in 5E into the traits you get from your biological parents (your Lineage) and those you get from upbringing (your Heritage). You select both your Lineage and your Heritage separately. You could have a dwarf who was raised by elves, for instance.
Lineage
Among other traits, your Lineage affects your age, size and speed.
The Lineages in the preview packet are Beastkin (like a half man/half beast of some kind), Dwarf, Elf, and Human. We know there will be all of the races that are in 5E plus Kobold and perhaps more.
If you want a character that reflects common fantasy archetypes, each Lineage has a couple of recommended Heritages.
Heritage
The languages you know are determined by your Heritage, not your Race as in 5E.
Many of the traits and features you get from your background in 5E – you get from your Heritage in ToV.
Your Heritage affects your cultural elements, such as folklore, traditions, and natural environment.
Background
Different from your Background in 5E, this is a backstory explaining why your character has chosen to become an adventurer.
They have omitted personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.
You can select one of the provided Backgrounds, with advice on customizing it to better fit your character or campaign.
Each Background includes an Adventuring Motivation. You are encouraged to modify it, or create your own. Your Adventuring Motivation provides you with the following:
Proficiency in two skills
Proficiency with one or more tools or additional languages.
Starting equipment
One talent.
Luck (replaces 5E’s Inspiration)
You receive one luck point when you fail an attack roll or save and the GM can give you a luck point whenever he chooses.
You can have a maximum of 5 Luck points.
If you have 5 Luck points and would gain a sixth, you roll a d4 and reset your Luck points to that number.
Unless you have rolled a natural 1, you can spend one of more of your Luck points to add to any d20 roll you make. Or you can spend 3 Luck points to re-roll a d20.
Luck can’t create a natural 20.
Spells
Spell Circles: There is not a separate list of spells for each class. Instead the spells are divided into Circles (arcane, divine, primordial and wyrd). A few spells are included in two or more circles. Your classes will get spells from a specific circle.
Spell Rings: This is just a name change. ToV calls spell levels spell rings instead. [I can see where this will be less confusing to new players.]
Ritual Spells: In 5E certain spells can be cast as a ritual if your class allows you to cast rituals. In Tov they have been moved into a separate type of spell, a Ritual Spell.
For each spell circle, rituals are listed separately from the other spells.
Ritual spells take 1 minute or longer to cast.
Ritual spells don’t use spell slots and can’t be cast at higher rings.
When applicable, your class progression table will have columns for: cantrips known, spells known, rituals known, 1st ring spell slots, 2nd ring spells slots, etc.
Monsters
The Preview includes a few monsters that will be in the ToV Monster’s Vault. I am showing the ToV and 5E stat block for the Goblin side by side for you to see how they differ.
Challenge Rating and XP: ToV shows these at the top – to the right of the monster’s name.
Alignment: The Tov preview doesn’t mention alignment. It appears that they will not be using it for monsters or PCs.
Hit Points: ToV lists the monster’s hit points. 5E shows this as the average number and also shows the die expression used to generate a range of hit points.
Stealth: Tov lists a stealth number for all monsters (15 for the Goblin). Your character must make a Perception check of this or higher to notice the monster if it is trying to hide. 5E lists this as one of the monster’s skills (+6 for the Goblin).
Perception: Tov lists this for every monster (9 for the Goblin). Your character must make a Stealth check of this or higher to sneak past it. 5E lists this as passive Perception for one of the monster’s Senses. [Notice that this changes from the monster doing a perception check to the PC making a Stealth check. In my 5E games I have the player make a stealth check when his PC can hide and later have the monster make a perception check when it might possibly notice him. Doing it the ToV way simplifies and should speed up play.]
Proficiency Bonus: This is not included in the monster stat block in the 5E Monster Manual. [Wizards has started including this in their more recent publications.]
Ability Modifiers: ToV only lists the ability modifier and does not also include the ability score. [This may take a little getting used to but I understand simplifying the stat block. Also, ToV is using the stat modifier to do more.]
For any save or ability check, roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier.
Bonus Actions: ToV moves anything the Monster can do with a bonus action to this section. (Nimble Escape in the case of a Goblin.)
Reactions: ToV moves anything the Monster can do with a reaction to this section. (ToV has added Frantic Reflexes to their version of the Goblin.)
Immunities, Resistances, and Vulnerabilities: ToV doesn’t use multiple lines that separate out damage and conditions. For example if a creature is immune to fire damage and the charmed condition, both appear in the Immune line.
Immune
A monster that is immune to a kind of damage takes no damage from it.
A monster that is immune to a condition can’t be affected by it.
Resistant
A monster that is resistant to a kind of damage takes half the damage (rounded down) from it.
A monster that is resistant to a condition has advantage on saves to avoid it.
Vulnerable
A monster that is vulnerable to a kind of damage takes double damage from it.
A monster that is vulnerable to a condition has disadvantage on saves to avoid it.
What you need to get started
All you will need will be the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide. The Game Master may also want to have the Tales of the Valiant Monsters Vault. There will be no required Game Master’s Guide. Their CFR (Core Fantasy Roleplaying) rules will contain all the basic rules and will always be available as a free download.
Final Thoughts
Quoting from their web site: “ToV moves the independent 5th Edition community forward with a system that is open and available to all … Our goal is to keep 5E products vibrant, both in print and on VTT partner platforms, by keeping a set of rules available under an open, perpetual, and irrevocable license.” Where Wizards of the Coast has their SRD (System Reference Document), Kobold Press will have their CFR (Core Fantasy Roleplaying) rules, which will contain the basic ToV rules. They have also indicated that they intend to be publishing their CFR under the ORC (Open RPG Creative) license, rather than Wizards of the Coast’s OGL (Open Game License). The ORC and the OGL are both public copyright license systems. Where the OGL was created by Wizards of the Coast for publishers to use when using elements of their SRD, the ORC is an agnostic, perpetual, irrevocable open gaming license created and made available to all by Paizo. Wizard’s attempt to change their OGL (in a very bad way) earlier this year prompted Kobold Press to create Tales of the Valiant.
I am a big fan of Kobold Press. I have several of their books. I fully expect their Tales of the Valiant to be at least as good, and most likely better, than Wizards of the Coast’s new version of D&D (that they now say they will be calling D&D 2024). For one thing, Kobald Press isn’t hampered by WotC’s need to keep all the rules basically the same as the current version with “enhancements”, where Kobold Press is making a brand new RPG that will be compatible with 5E. This allows them to re-think the way “Races” work and come up with new ones. The same is true with Classes and sub-classes, the spells, and all of the rules. They don’t need to make theirs compatible with all of the sourcebooks that WotC has published. Their goal isn’t to keep all the rules the same, but to make them “better” where they can and try to make everything so that it can still be used with their published adventures and campaign settings. There are no game designers that I think are better up to this task than Kobold Press.
Kobold Press successfully ended their ToV Kickstarter (June 23, 2023) with over $1,000,000.00 pledged. Congratulations! I’m looking forward to receiving my stuff early in 2024.
As I mentioned previously, depending on the Wizard’s of the Coast’s behavior between now and the time the next version of D&D is released in 2024, and my opinion of that version, I will not be buying any Wizard’s of the Coast products.
This is a revised re-post from 2016 with updated links.
In 2004 and 2005 Skip Williams (co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition) put a series of articles on the Wizards website with tips on playing each of the various character types. Wizards of the Coast has removed them from their site but I found these copies thanks to Orbitalflower’s “Wizards.com D&D 3.5 archive”, which has already done all of the work finding the links on the Wayback Machine.
These are an excellent reference. They were written for D&D 3.5 but even if you are running a fifth edition game you will find then a useful reference.
I just updated the Downloads Page (on the “Downloads” tab above). It hasn’t been updated in a while. You may want to see if you missed anything. I no longer link directly to the file but to the page that contains the link and its description.
I didn’t know that there were so many! I realize that there are still more than the ones I have listed here. To be honest, I got tired of searching for them. If you know of any that you think are really good that I missed, or if you find any broken links, please let me know. Here is the criteria that I used for this list: I only included rules that are available as a free PDF file. I didn’t include any “pay what you want” games unless they had a Suggested Price of $0.00. I didn’t include games that were not in English. I didn’t include single player games. I didn’t include some just because I didn’t like them (or they are just too different than D&D). I removed “The” from names that start with that word.These all owe their existence to Dungeons and Dragons. Most of them copy the rules of D&D at least to some extent. Some try to match the older rules as closely as possible without violating copyright laws, and others deviate quite a lot.
Where I say something like “3.5 clone”, that is to indicate that the rules are based on some version of D&D (3.5 in this example). If it doesn’t say which version I guessed. 0.0 – Original Dungeons and Dragons (OD&D) a small box set of three booklets published in 1974 0.5 – Basic Dungeons & Dragons (BD&D) 1977 1.0 – Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) 1978 2.0 – Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition (AD&D2 or 2nd Ed) 1989 3.0 – Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (D&D3 or 3E) 2000 3.5 – Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5 (Revised 3rd Edition or D&D3.5) 2003 4.0 – Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition (D&D4E) 2008 5.0 – Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (D&D5E) 2014 OSR: “Old School Renaissance” or “Old School Revival” draws inspiration from D&D of the 1970s, I use this when the game refers to itself as OSR, or I can’t link it to a specific ruleset.
Dungeons and Dragons (5e Basic Rules): A 100 page, medium crunch, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. The official WOTC D&D page will be shutting down and migrating over to D&D beyond so I don’t know how long this will remain available.
Age of Ambition (quickstart): A 65 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, poker cards, Black powder RPG. Age of Shadow (v1.01): A 79 page, medium crunch, 3.5 clone, d%, Sci-Fi RPG. Alternity: A 37 page, heavy crunch, roll d20 and add or subtract a second die, Fantasy RPG Aspect Prime: A 107 page, heavy crunch, d6 dice pool, Fantasy RPG. Azamar: A 193 page, heavy crunch, d6, Fantasy RPG. Basic Fantasy (3rd ed.): A 170 page, super light crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Beta Red: A 34 page, light crunch, d6 dice pool, Cyberpunk RPG. Big Brown Book (1st ed.): A 214 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Blood & Treasure: A 382 page, medium crunch, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. BlueHolme Prentice: A 64 page, heavy crunch, 0.5 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. BOLT RPG (v0.9): A 112page, heavy crunch, 0.5 clone, d10+d4, Setting-AgnosticFantasy RPG. Bx Advanced (v1.04): A 262 page, medium crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Cairn: A 24 page, superlow crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-under, Fantasy RPG. Carbon Grey (quickstart): A 80 page, medium crunch, d6 system, HistoricalFantasy RPG. Coriolis (quickstart): A 74page, heavy crunch, d6 dice pool, Arabian-themed Sci-Fi RPG. Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 (revised): A 15 page, super light crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Sci-Fi RPG. Crown (v1.1): A 31 page, light crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. D6 Fantasy (v1.3): A 146 page, heavy crunch, d6, Fantasy RPG. d6 Pool (v2): A 49page, low crunch, d6, Modern RPG. Dagger (revised ed. 2017): A 6 page, super light crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Dark Dungeons: A 345 page, heavy crunch, 2.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Dark Eye (quickstart): A 24 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Delving Deeper (v2): A 42 page, heavy crunch, 0.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Dragon Age (quickstart): A 35page, medium crunch, OSR clone, 3d6, Dark Fantasy RPG. Dragonbane (quickstart): A 46 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-under, Fantasy RPG. Dungeon Crawl Classics: A 44 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Dungeon Delvers: A 2 page, super light crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Dungeon Raiders: A 10 page, super light crunch, 0.0 clone, d4/d6/or d8 (by class), Fantasy RPG. Dungeons the Dragoning 40,000 (7th ed.): A 394page, high crunch, d10, Heroic FutureFantasy RPG. EABA Lite: A 15page, light crunch, d6, Fantasy RPG. Eclipse Phase (2nd ed. V1.3): A 435 page, high crunch, d100, Sci-FiFantasy RPG. Electric Bastionland (free ed.): A 42 page, low crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-under, Low magicFantasy RPG. ELEMENTAL Discovery Guide (v1.2): A 59 page, low crunch, d6, Fantasy RPG. Fantastic Heroes & Witchery (v2.0): A 425 page, medium crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. For Gold & Glory (2nd ed.): A 384 page, heavy crunch, 2.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Forbidden Lands (quickstart): A 153 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Forge Engine (v1.1): A 143 page, heavy crunch, d10 dice pool, Universal RPG. Four Color (4C) System: A 34page, low crunch, d%, Superhero RPG. Freeform Roleplaying: A 22page, super low crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. GIST (v1.5): A 12 page, super low crunch, OSR clone, 2d6, Fantasy RPG. GORE (v1.4 ): A 58 page, high crunch, 1.0 clone, d%, Fantasy RPG. Grey Six (Build 28, 2013): A 161 page, medium crunch, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. HackMaster (basic): A 232 page, heavy crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Heroes of Adventure: A 64 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. House of Blue Men (quickstart for Sorcery and Super science): A 48 page, medium crunch, step dice, Sci-Fi RPG. Index Card RPG (2nd ed.): A 81page, super low crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Iron Falcon (1st ed.): A 143 page, heavy crunch, 0.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Iron Kingdoms Unleashed (Rulebook): A 33 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, 2d6 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. JAGS (Just Another Gaming System – Revised): A 270 page, heavy crunch, 4d6, Any Genre RPG. Jovian Despair: A 3 page, super low crunch, d6 reverse die pool, Sci-Fi RPG. Kaer Tarduim (Introduction to Earthdawn): A 37page, medium crunch, OSR clone, step dice, Fantasy RPG. Knights of the Black Lily (v0.9.0.1 Open Beta): A 48page, medium crunch, d100, Fantasy RPG. Labyrinth Lord (revised ed.): A 140 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Lamentations of the Flame Princess: A 176 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Lancer: A 259page, high crunch, d20 roll-high, Sci-Fi RPG. Lavender Hack (v 0.35): A 192 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Lex Arcana (quickstart v2): A 50 page, medium crunch, dice pool, Rome Historical-Fantasy RPG. Liminal (quickstart): A 51 page, low crunch, d6 roll-over, Urban-Fantasy RPG. Low Fantasy Gaming RPG: A 184 page, light crunch, d20 roll-over, Low Fantasy RPG. Majestic Fantasy: A 48 page, light crunch, 0.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Mazes & Minotaurs: A 51 page, medium crunch, 0.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Ancient Grecian Fantasy RPG. Mistborn (v3): A 17 page, super light crunch, d6 dice pool, Fantasy RPG. Modern-ORC: A 78 page, heavy crunch, d20 roll-over, Modern Fantasy RPG. Myth & Magic (player’s starter guide): A 149 page, heavy crunch, 2.0 clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Old School Hack: A 26 page, light crunch, 0.5 clone, d%, Medieval Fantasy RPG. Old-School Essentials (basic rules): A 60 page, light crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Openquest (quickstart 6th ed.): A 75 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d100, Fantasy RPG. OSRIC (2nd ed.): A 412 page, heavy crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Peasants & Pitchforks (v1.0.0): A 64 page, light crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Pendragon (quick start): A 28 page, light crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-under, Fantasy RPG. Petal Hack (v1.1): A 68 page, super light crunch, d20 roll-under, Roman Empire Fantasy RPG. Renaissance (v1.1): A 139 page, heavy crunch, d%, Age of Black Powder RPG. Risus the Anything RPG: A 4 page, super low crunch, d6, Anything RPG. SAGA: A 78 page, heavy crunch, dice pool, Generic Universal RPG. Savage Worlds (test drive): A 14 page, light crunch, OSR clone, trait die, Wild WestFantasy RPG. Searchers of the Unknown (2012 ed.): A 56 page, super light crunch, d20 roll-under, Fantasy RPG. ShadowDark (quickstart): A 68 page, low crunch, 5.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Shinobi & Samurai (v1.0b): A 84 page, light crunch, 3.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Oriental Fantasy RPG. Silver Wheels: A 23 page, low crunch, d10, Car Racing RPG. Simple Game System (2nd ed.): A 6 page, super low crunch, d6, Fantasy RPG. Spellcraft & Swordplay Basic Game: A 50 page, medium crunch, 2d6 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Star Squad (Untitled Sci-Fi Game v0.4): A 58 page, high crunch, d6 dice pool, Sci-Fi RPG. Stars without Number: A 210 page, high crunch, OSR clone, d6 dice pool, Sci-Fi RPG. Sufficiently Advanced: A 186 page, high crunch, d10, Far FutureSci-Fi RPG. Swords & Six-Siders: A 60 page, super light crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Swords & Wizardry Light: A 2 page, super light crunch, 1.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Symbaroum (quickstart): A 119 page, medium crunch, d20 roll-under, Medieval Fantasy RPG. System DL (freeware ed.): A 14 page, low crunch, diceless, Fantasy RPG. Talislanta (1e): A 90 page, light crunch, d20 roll-high, Fantasy RPG. There Once Were Dragons (Starter ed.): A 214 page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Fantasy RPG. Totem: A 38 page, super low crunch, colored tokens, Ice Age HuntersFantasy RPG. TriStat dX (v 1.0): A 106page, high crunch, step dice, Any Genre RPG. Tunnels and Trolls (free rulebook): A 16 page, low crunch, OSR clone, d6, Fantasy RPG. Turbo Dice: A 22page, low crunch, OSR clone, step dice, Fantasy RPG. White Box: A 143 page, medium crunch, 0.0 clone, d20 roll-over, Medieval Fantasy RPG. Worlds Without Number (Free ed.): A 352page, medium crunch, OSR clone, d20 roll-over, Future Earth RPG. Zweihänder (v2.0): A 105 page, heavy crunch, OSR clone, d%, Fantasy Horror RPG.
Comparing D&D 5e to Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells as SS&SS. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In SS&SS the Dungeon Master is called the Referee.
Summary of the game system
Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is a rules light sword & sorcery role playing game with an old school spirit created by Diogo Nogueira and published by Old Skull Publishing. As you can see form the character sheet (above) the player has little to keep track of and it should be easy to learn. As is true for most OSR clones it has a lot more in common with early editions than it does with 5e. It was published under the Open Game License (OGL 1.0a).
Primary differences between Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells and D&D 5e
The Core Mechanics
D20 – roll on/under: For Attribute tests, you roll a d20 and must roll your Attribute score or lower.
Positive and Negative Dice: Similar to Advantage/Disadvantage in 5e. You roll 2 die and take the higher or lower result.
Usage Die: When you use a resource you roll a d20. On a 1 or 2, the next time you use that same resource you roll a d12. Next time you roll a d10, then a d8, d6 and finally a d4. If you fail on a d4 the resource id depleted.
Luck Roll: When the Referee calls for a luck roll, you roll a die based on your Architype. If you roll a 1 or 2 you fail and something bad happens – also your luck die is downgraded the same way it does for your Usage Die.
Characters/Opponents: In the SS&SS rule book he refers to player characters as “characters” and to the ones they are fighting as “opponents”. For clarification, in this post I will sometimes refer to player characters as “you” and to the ones they are fighting as “Monsters”.
Character Creation
Roll Abilities: Roll 3d6 for each in order. There are 4 attributes:
Physique (PHY) determines toughness, physical strength and resistance to substances.
Agility (AGI) represents manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
Intellect (INT) reflects knowledge, awareness and ability to memorize information.
Willpower (WIL) represents force of will, presence and the ability to impose oneself.
Choose an Archetype [Class in 5e]: There are 3 – Warrior, Specialist, and Magic User
Determine a Vocation [Subclass in 5e]: There’s no defined list of Vocations. When you perform an action related to your Vocation, you benefits from a Positive Die.
A Warrior might be a Barbarian, a Knight, a Soldier, a Mercenary or any other thing you can imagine.
A Specialist might be an Assassin, a Thief, a Pirate or a Spy.
A Magic User might be a Warlock, a Witch, an Astronomer, a Necromancer or a Shaman.
Determine Complication: Roll 2d6 on the complications table. For instance, if you were to roll a 2 and a 6 you might have a gambling addiction, or a 4 and a 2 you and you have an enemy that is a blood thirsty pirate
Buy Equipment: You start with 3d6x10 silver coins (sc) to buy equipment. You also own a set of clothes and one weapon appropriate to your Vocation.
Races
All player characters are Human
Equipment
Weapons: are all either Small, Medium, or Large
Small: Damage Die: d4 Cost 5 sc
Medium: Damage Die: d6 Cost 10 sc
Large: Damage Die: d8 Cost 20 sc
Armor: doesn’t make you harder to hit, It reduces damage. You get to roll a degrading die that lets you soak damage per hit until your armor is destroyed or needs repairing.
Shields: Shields make you harder to hit by giving your attacker a Negative Dice a number of times each round based on the shield’s size.
Small: once per round
Medium: twice per round
Large: 3 times per round, but you also add a Negative Die to all actions requiring reflexes.
Encumbrance: You can carry a number of items equal to your Physique score without penalty.
Character level advancement
No Experience Points: You level up after a number of adventures.
Leveling Up
You advance to the next level after each adventure up to level 6.
To advance to level 7 and beyond requires completing 2 adventures each level.
At each new level, you add another HD and, for your prime abilities and one other of your choice, roll a d20. If your roll is higher than your ability score increase it by 1 point. No Attribute can be improved above 18.
There is no upper character level limit.
Combat
Each round of combat (10 seconds of game time.):
Initiative: Unless surprised, Initiative is by HD order, highest going first. If 2 characters have the same HD, the one with the highest Agility score goes first. If your HD is the same as a monster’s, you make an Agility test, and go first on a success.
Movement:
There are four basic ranges in the game: close, nearby, far and distant.
In one round, you can perform any feasible action such as attack or cast a spell and move near. If you don’t take an action, you can move far. To move to a distant location requires 3 rounds.
Attacks:
When you make an attack, roll equal to or lower than your Physique score for melee attacks or Agility score for ranged attacks.
Melee attacks must be made in close range.
Ranged attacks against targets in close and distant range receive a Negative Die.
Monster attacks: need to roll above your Agility score.
Critical Hits and Fumbles:
When you roll your exact Attribute score or when a monster rolls a 20, a Critical hit is made. When this happens, the attacked will suffer maximum damage plus additional damage determined by the damage roll.
When you roll a 20 or when a monster rolls a 1, a Fumble occurs. The attacker will usually either get Negative Dice or the attacked will get Positive Dice on their next roll.
Damage:
You deal damage based on the weapon you use or the spells you cast.
Monsters do damage based on their HD.
Damage is subtracted from the target’s Hit Points.
Attributes may also be reduced, though usually temporary.
Healing and Death
Healing: Magical healing is almost nonexistent in SS&SS.
Short Rests: take about 10 minutes. Make a Physique test (with a Difficulty equal to the number of Short Rests already taken that day) to regain 1d4 HP.
Long Rests: take a full day at a safe haven. Recover one Hit Die in HP and recover 1 point of a random Attribute that has been damaged.
Dying:
Monsters: When they reach 0 HP, they are usually dead.
Player Characters: You have a chance to survive.
When you reach 0 HP you fall unconscious and are dying.
If you receive help within 1 hour, you can make a Luck Roll to stay alive.
If successful, you regain 1d4 HP but receive a Negative Die to all actions for an hour and lose 1 point of either Physique or Agility permanently.
If you fail the Luck Roll, you are dead.
Magic and spell casting
Spells Known: A Magic User begins knowing 3 spells and learns an additional spell each time they level up. The max number of spells a Magic User can know is equal to his Intellect. To learn a spell, the Magic User must make an Intellect test. If he fails, he may try again when he gains another level.
To cast a spell: The Power Level (PL) of the spell is determined by the Magic User at the time he is casting the spell. Then the Magic User must make a Willpower test. The Difficulty equal to the Power Level. If the Magic User fails, the spell does not work and he has to choose between 2 options:
Lose the ability to cast the spell for that day.
Keep the ability to cast the spell and allow the referee to introduce a complication based on the spell.
Casting Spells in Armor: Casting spells in armor heavier than Light Armor imposes a Negative Die to all Willpower tests.
Spell Catastrophe: If you roll a 20 on your Willpower test to cast a spell, the spell fails and you roll a d6 + Power Level and consult the Spell Catastrophe table. Results range from “The Difficulty to cast spells increases by 2 for 1 turn.” to “The Magic User accidentally summons a monster with a number of HD equal to the Power Level of the spell.”
Spell List: There are 50 listed spells. There are no spell levels. Here is an example.
Arcane Blast: Blasts a point within far range, affecting targets within close distance, inflicting 1d6 points of damage per PL. Can be resisted for half damage. The caster must specify what kind of damage this is (fire, lightning, force, acid or another element).
Opponents (Monsters)
Stat blocks: are very simple containing only HD and Special Abilities.
HD (Hit Dice): determines the monster’s Hit Points (rolled with a d8), its strength and hardness, as well as its damage die (which ranges from 1d4 to 2d12).
Special Abilities: This can be anything and can have its own damage die.
Here is an example.
Rotting Zombie:HD: 2 Special Abilities: After hitting a target, target must make a Physique test or acquire the Rotting Disease, losing 1 Physique per day until healed.
What you need to get started
All you need is the 48 page core book “Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells” available at DriveThruRPG in print and PDF. There is also “Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells – Addendum” which brings a variety of additions and options that can be implemented in your games.
Final Thoughts
No Alignments
No Backgrounds
No Ability Modifiers
No Races
No Armor Class
No proficiency bonus
No feats
No cantrips
No spell slots
No spell levels
No spell components
No skill system – no ranks or skill points
No opportunity attacks
No inspiration
This is not much like any of the versions of D&D. It is its own system and could be a lot of fun to play. If you are looking for an easy game to play, more like “Conan the barbarian” than “Lord of the Rings”, this might be the game for you. I haven’t read the “Addendum”, but with the core rules, everyone plays a human.
What I like: Simple character sheet. Easy to play. I like critical hits doing rolled damage + the maximum damage you could roll (in 5e you double the damage rolled which is disappointing if you roll really low). The PDF file has bookmarks – I wish all RPG rule books had them.
What I don’t like: There isn’t enough variety – no Races, only 3 Archetypes (Class in 5e) and the Vocations (Subclasses in 5e) have no specific features or abilities, only 3 weapon types and you always have the same chance to hit (you roll against your ability score, there is no AC). Someone that is new to fantasy role playing games might have a hard time running this game because it is so rules light the “Referee” will have to make rulings all the time without much guidance. I also don’t like that monsters and PCs have different rules for attacking during combat. I think that if I had never played D&D before, I would love this game. As it is, I prefer a little more “crunch” in the rules.
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Five Torches Deep as FTD. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In FTD the Dungeon Master is called the Game Master.
Summary of the game system
According to the FTD rulebook “FTD is meant to ease the introduction of OSR (old-school renaissance or revival) mechanics and principles to those familiar with 5e. The classes and monsters are (largely) compatible with 5e, and can be plugged in and out as you see fit. The more FTD you add, the more “OSR” it feels.”
Primary differences between Five Torches Deep and D&D 5e
Character Creation
Pick race: Human, Dwarf, Elf or Halfling: Each race has a different way to determine ability scores, and has ability requirements by class. Races have no other mechanical impact.
Roll Abilities:
Humans roll 3d6 in order: STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA. Swap up to two.
Dwarves CON and STR are 13. Then roll 2d6+3 in DEX, INT, WIS, CHA order.
Elves DEX and INT are 13. Then roll 2d6+3 in STR, CON, WIS, CHA order.
Halflings WIS and CHA are 13. Then roll 2d6+3 in STR, DEX, CON, INT order.
Pick class: Warrior, Thief, Zealot, or Mage
Humans have no class restrictions. Other races have a minimum 13+ ability requirement to be certain classes.
Define or pick equipment : For example, as a Warrior you get the armor of your choice, a shield, 2 one handed weapons, 1 two handed weapon, a smith’s kit, a healer’s kit, 5 rations, 3 rolls on the sundries table, and additional supplies based on your INT score.
Decide on supplies carried and determine total load: Refer to “Supply and Load” below.
Pick spells if applicable: Zealots and Mages get 3 cantrips and 1 spell at first level. The number and level of the spells known increase as the character advances in level. Refer to “Magic and Spell Casting” below.
Fill out your character sheet: Fill in your character’s name, hit points, etc.
Classes and Archetypes
Upon reaching third level you choose one of three archetypes.
The Warrior Class chooses Barbarian, Fighter or Ranger
The Thief Class chooses Assassin, Bard or Rogue
The Zealot Class chooses Cleric, Druid or Paladin
The Mage Class chooses Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard
Each Archetype has a simple set of abilities and features. As an example, here is the entire description of the Warlock Archetype.
You gain your proficiency bonus to profane magic, intimidate, and stealth related checks.
You gain one of these features at level 3 and 7:
Wear light armor
Martial proficiency
Adv to intimidate
No need to eat
Darksight
Sacrifice: damage self (max lvl) to gain an equal bonus to next damage
Equipment – Supply and Load
Items and weight are tracked in terms of load. Each item the size of a human head or 5 lbs is considered 1 load. PCs are able to carry load equal to their STR score without issue.
Each PC has supply (SUP) up to their INT score.
Five SUP is one load. SUP is rounded to the nearest 5 per load (e.g. 14 SUP is 3 load, and 11 SUP is 2 load).
Heavy armor is 5 load, light armor is 2 load. Items and weapons are 1 load each hand used when holding or wielding that item.
There are 18 items (other than 3 armors and 19 weapons) with their SUP costs to replace or refill them. There is no listed cost but their cost is usually 1 gp per SUP.
Weapons and Armor have a durability score. Whenever there is a critical failed save, or a critical success attack, the item loses one durability point. When it reached 0, it is destroyed.
There are rules for repairing and crafting equipment.
XP and character level advancement
Experience Points
XP is gained primarily for treasure (in gold pieces).
Leveling Up
The class levels range from 1 to 9.
Combat
Each round of combat
Initiative: Each character and monster acts in order of their DEX score, highest going first.
Actions: Each combatant gets 3 actions.
Movement action: you can move up to your speed (usually 30’). You can split up this distance throughout your turn.
Active action: most proactive actions that require a check (stealth, attack, cast).
Quick action: brief actions, actions triggered off others, anything that takes a second.
Healing and Death
Natural Healing: Characters recover 1 hit point of damage for every night of rest, or 1 HP for each character level for each night of rest in a safe place.
Stabilizing & Injuries: If your character isn’t stabilized within one minute, he is dead. Once stabilized, by companions ability check, magic, or otherwise, you must roll a d20 on the Injury Table. On a 1 you are dead. On a 20 you are standing and heal 1d8 HP. All other rolls result in something bad – ranging from disadvantage on ability checks to looing a body part.
The Spells: Spell go from level 1 to level 5, and cantrips. All of the spells and their descriptions are presented on two pages – one for Devine spells and one for Arcane spells. For each there are exactly 5 cantrips, and 5 of each level spell. For an example, here is the entire description for the third level Arcane spell Furyfire: “All (including allies) in 20’ area take 1d6/lvl damage. Atk”
Spell Preparation: You don’t have to prepare spells. You can attempt to cast any spell you know whenever you would like.
Spellcasting Checks: Spells require a spellcasting check with a DC = 10 + spell’s level. Failure triggers a mishap rolled on the Magical Mishap Table.
Other Rules and Tools
There are rules for Converting and Building Monsters, Acquiring and using Retainers, Morale, Chases, and Retreat. There is also a nice section on overland and overwater travel.
What you need to get started
All you need is the rulebook. You can find FTD on DriveThruRPG in both PDF and softcover print-on-demand. It is only 49 pages and 13 of them are full page graphics.
Final Thoughts
No Darkvision – some monsters have darksight and a Warlock can get it as their feature on reaching level 3 or level 7.
FTD must assume that you are using 5e as a reference for many things.
Weapons and equipment. For example, it says that chainmail has a duration value of 3 and says that the 3 armor types are heavy, light and shield, but doesn’t say anywhere which armor type chainmail belongs to.
It states “5e and OSR spells can be used as written, per their spell level (with max usable spell level 5)”.
Monsters. There is one page with 6 sample monsters, and rules for creating or converting existing monsters.
There are places in the book that refer to other pages by page number, but there are no page numbers printed on the pages.
No Alignments
No Backgrounds
No skill system – no ranks or skill points
No opportunity attacks
No inspiration
No death saves
I bought the PDF, but I don’t think I will playtest this one. In attempting to strip 5e down to its basics it has also inserted some new rules of its own. As an example, the equipment Supply and Load rules are a good attempt at streamlining encumbrance, but it introduces a brand new confusing system. If you already know the 5e rules, you can make Five Torches Deep work, but if you are new to table top role playing games, these rules alone would not be sufficient to play their game. It’s not much like the older versions of D&D and if you are just looking for a simpler version of 5e you should check out my D&D 5E – Simplified Rules.
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game as BFRPG. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In BFRPG the Dungeon Master is called the Game Master.
Summary of the game system
BFRPG is a popular game created by Chris Gonnerman. It is based on the D20 System that was first introduced in the third edition of D&D where a player rolls a 20-sided die, adds modifiers, and if the result is greater than or equal to a target number it succeeds. But in most every other way it more like the D&D game we had in the 1980’s.
Primary differences between Basic Fantasy and D&D 5e
Character Creation
Roll Abilities: Roll 3d6 for each in order. [same 6 abilities as in 5E]
Ability Score Modifiers: Slightly different from 5E, ranging from -3 for a score of 3, to +3 for a score of 18.
Choose a race and class: Refer to those sections below.
Hit Points: Roll appropriate hit die, adding your CON bonus or penalty. [Like 5E]
Saving Throws: Saving Throws are set based on your character’s class and level. You have a saving throw number for: Death Ray or Poison, Magic Wands, Paralysis or Petrify, Dragon Breath, and Spells.
Attack Bonus: Your attack bonus is between +1 and +10, depending on your class and level.
Known Languages: This includes “Common” and your character’s racial language (if other than human) plus number of languages equal to your INT bonus.
Starting Gold: Everyone starts with 3d6 × 10 gold pieces.
Purchase Gear: Purchase your equipment from the equipment lists.
Armor Class: Determined by your armor and DEX.
Name Your Character: Give him or her a name and you are ready to play.
Races
Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human
Restrictions: For non-human races there are minimum (and maximum) ability requirements and limits to which classes they can be.
Classes
Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, and Thief
Combination Classes: An Elf can be a Fighter/Magic-User or a Magic-User/Thief.
Restrictions: Each class has a minimum ability score (its Prime Requisite) and a restriction on what armor and weapons they can use.
Each class has its own level progression table that shows for each level: XP required, Hit Die, and if the class casts spells, it also shows the number and level of spells you can cast at each level.
Thief Table: Thieves have a table that shows the percent chance of being able to perform certain tasks, depending on your level. These are: Open Locks, Remove Traps, Pick Pocket, Move Silently, Climb Walls, Hide, and Listen.
XP and character level advancement
Experience Points
XP is gained for monsters defeated, and for other challenges as the GM sees fit.
Leveling Up
The class levels range from 1 to 20.
Each class requires a different number of XP to advance to higher levels.
Combat
Each round of combat (10 seconds of game time.):
Surprise: When surprise is possible, roll 1d6 for each side which might be surprised; most normal characters are surprised on a roll of 1-2. Surprised characters are unable to act for one round.
Monster Reactions: If it is not obvious what the monster will do, the Game Master rolls on a table to determine how it will react.
Initiative: Each character and monster rolls 1d6 at the start of each round. A combatant can choose to wait for another character or monster to act.
Ties: Both sides act simultaneously. (This means that both your character and the monster he is fighting might die!)
Reach Weapons: A character using a weapon with a long reach may choose to attack a closing opponent on the closing opponent’s number and thus attack simultaneously with the opponent.
Movement:
If not in melee combat: You can run (move at double your normal encounter movement rate).
When in melee:
Engage: You may move up to your encounter movement distance and attack.
Fighting withdrawal: You can move backwards at up to half your combat move rate.
Retreat: You turn and flee, moving up to your combat movement rate. This round you may not attack; your opponent gains a +2 bonus to all attacks against you.
Other movement rules: BFRPG has rules for Maneuverability, Climbing/Diving, Charging, and Evasion/Pursuit.
Attacks: Attack rolls are handled similar to 5E. You add your attack bonus and your STR modifier (or DEX modifier) to your d20 roll. If it matches or exceeds your opponent’s AC you hit. Nat “20” always hits (but no bonus damage). Nat “1” always misses.
Melee attacks:
Must be within 5’ unless you are using a reach weapon.
Attacking From Behind: BFRPG has rules for facing. Attacks from behind receive a +2 attack bonus.
Missile attacks:
Within 5 ft.: –5 penalty to attack rolls. Unless you are behind the target creature and undetected; in this cases, apply the usual +1 bonus (+3 total bonus if attacking from behind).
Short range: +1 bonus to attack rolls.
Medium range: No bonuses or penalties.
Long range: –2 penalty to attack rolls.
Rate of Fire:
Most Missile Weapons: Can be fired once per round.
Light Crossbow: Can be fired just once per two rounds.
Heavy crossbow: Can be fired just once per three rounds.
Spell attacks:
Casting a spell usually takes the same time as making an attack.
Disrupting Spells: If you are attacked or must make a saving throw on the Initiative number on which you are casting a spell, the spell is spoiled and lost.
Healing and Death
Natural Healing: Characters recover 1 hit point of damage every day, provided that normal sleep is possible. Characters who choose full bedrest regain 1 additional hit point each evening.
Death: The rules state that, at zero hit points, the character is dead. If this is too harsh for you, BFRPG provides these options:
Raise Dead: Arrange matters so that characters killed in an adventure can be easily raised (but at a substantial cost).
Save vs. Death Ray: If the save is made, the character remains alive for 2d10 rounds; if the character’s wounds are bound (or they receive healing magic) within this time frame, death is averted.
Medical Treatment: Binding the wounds stabilizes them at zero hit points. Non-magical healing will require a full week to restore the first hit point; after this, healing proceeds at the normal rate.
Negative Hit Points: Keep track of the current negative hit points. At the end of each round, the character loses an additional hit point. At -10 the character is dead. Before this, binding their wounds or receiving magical healing will stabilize the character.
Magic and spell casting
Spellcasters: Only Clerics and Magic-Users can cast spells.
Number of Spells: The daily number of spells of each level that they can cast depends on the character’s level.
Spell Preparation: Each morning spellcasters prepare spells to replace those they have used.
What you need to get started
“Don’t Buy These Books! Not yet, anyway. The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game core rules, along with a broad variety of additional materials, is given away for free in PDF form on our website, http://www.basicfantasy.org. Please, before you buy anything, go over there, download the PDF and take a look. …. Please note, I make nothing from the sales of this book. The works shown here are sold at cost. Don’t buy thinking that you are rewarding me… only buy if it suits your needs. Thank you!”
Chris Gonnerman, Author, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game
You only need the core rule book to play, but there are also free supplements and modules available.
Note regarding the 4th Edition of Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game:
This will be the first edition to be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The 3rd Edition and earlier, was distributed under the terms of the Open Game License version 1.0a. They appear to currently be in the process of making revisions as needed to fully implement this transition. The most current books currently available in print are 3rd edition. As of this date (April 5, 2023) the latest 4th edition version is only available as a PDF download.
Update (June 2023):The 4th Edition of BFRPG is now available in print; head over to http://www.basicfantasy.org and click the Buy The Rules button at the top to get a list of sources.
Final Thoughts
No Alignments
No Backgrounds
No Advantage/Disadvantage
No proficiency bonus
No feats
No cantrips
No spell slots
No spell components
No sub-classes
No skill system – no ranks or skill points
No opportunity attacks
No inspiration
No death saves
I like it. Basic Fantasy is a very rules-light game system. It has stripped D&D back down to the basics while keeping the D20 mechanics that make it easier to play than the old THACO system. If you want to add some things to make it more in line with 5E you can download supplements to add additional classes, races, 0 level spells, alignments, background skills, secondary skills, and more. There is even “The Fine Art of Monster Conversion” supplement you can use to convert monsters to BSFRPG.
Dungeon Master Assistance 