I am setting up a conversion game of Darksun, as well, a setting of my own design. Both are going to be gritty, and have brutal combat. I have a couple rules I am going to change over to to show this, one involving hit points (starting is Con score + modifier), and the other with critical confirms (no need to confirm).
But I am also looking to make divine magic as well as arcane have their own perils, and that is where I have been against a wall. Anyone got any home-brews they use in regards to making magic dangerous? And please no "wild magic" stuffs, that dead horse has been beat horribly since 2nd ed.
I am setting up a conversion game of Darksun, as well, a setting of my own design. Both are going to be gritty, and have brutal combat. I have a couple rules I am going to change over to to show this, one involving hit points (starting is Con score + modifier), and the other with critical confirms (no need to confirm).
But I am also looking to make divine magic as well as arcane have their own perils, and that is where I have been against a wall. Anyone got any home-brews they use in regards to making magic dangerous? And please no "wild magic" stuffs, that dead horse has been beat horribly since 2nd ed.
to make our games grittier we use this. makes critical hits a lot easier. as for spells, we use the table on page 72 (or close to that) of this book but you have to use that table as a basis and round numbers down and gm discretion some of the results since its not d20. i know you will have to buy those, but the second book you can buy for 5 bucks on that page. hope this helps a bit.
you could look at spell-blights in ultimate magic
I definitely plan on using them, but those are more like after effects of magic going awry. I am thinking about how a character could cause a Spell Blight my messing up a roll of some kind, but it seems a cheap way out of it.
I definitely plan on using them, but those are more like after effects of magic going awry. I am thinking about how a character could cause a Spell Blight my messing up a roll of some kind, but it seems a cheap way out of it.
Perhaps from rolling poorly to overcome SR, or rolling poorly on concentration checks.
You might want to check out the aptly named Grittier line by Eridanus Books. They are mainly based toward low-magic or more dangerous spell casting rule variant games which might work well for your needs.
You might want to check out the aptly named Grittier line by Eridanus Books. They are mainly based toward low-magic or more dangerous spell casting rule variant games which might work well for your needs.
Yes, a couple of these will be perfect for what I am looking for. Thanks to everyone else chiming in, some good ideas to keep on the back burner for sure.
For any of those out there running grittier games, how do you handle the normal classes? I am removing one completely from play (Bard) and replacing him with a more skilled, minus spells version known as a Sage. Any others have ideas?
To my mind, the bonded object/familiar are too cheap in Pathfinder. Compare to 2nd Edition: if you want a familiar, you need the spell (it's not a freebie at 1st level). You can only try it once per year. There is a ritual with expensive supplies, which takes 2d12 hours. If your familiar dies, you must make a system shock check or die. If you survive, you lose 1 point of CON. Hurting or killing your familiar is...bad (incurs great disfavor from certain powerful entities, with dire results). Obviously you don't have to incorporate all of those (I can see how the death roll might seem too severe), but I prefer that package, as a GM and as a player.
I approve of Dark Sun, I'm currently playing in a DS game and it's a load of fun. I don't think it's particularly gritty though, at least no more than the setting itself is. The brutality of combat is really only felt through the constant barrage of CRs we can barely handle if we play our cards right and the sense of being on death's door at any moment that comes with that. It's fun!
One option would be to use the "spell point" system from the d20 srd, found here. From there, change it so it is not spell points, but the caster takes non-lethal damage equal to the spell point cost. Spell casters will get real tired, real quick. It may be overly harsh depending on how far you are trying to go. Then again, casting becomes flexible so it is up to the caster.
I've seen old d20 settings just convert all the spell casters down. 9th level casters get 6th level spells, 6th get 4th, and 4th get a couple of extra feats. This won't make casting deadly per-say, but it will drop the overall magic considerably.
Pathfinder has 'chance for spell failure' if your wearing armor... you could bump up those penalties and hit even a non-wearing wizards a 10% chance to mess up....
I'm not sure I'd agree with that... it's kind of punishing casters for the simple fact of being casters... but it would definitely make things more 'chancy'
You should have a look at the 'sever limbs' rules in Strategists & Tacticians.
Don't forget to do away with unlimited cantrips and orisons. Those aren't very gritty.
Was the first thing on the chopping block.