OSR The OSR 5E Module

[Zardnaar]

The following is a rough idea I have been throwing around for an old school hard core game of 5E. Or at least a less combat intensive one where you do not have to have 6-8 encounters per day to test out the PCs. In theory this will enable exploration type adventures such as the Isle of Dread to function a lot better than they do under 5E do to the way hit points are regained in 5E vs AD&D and BECMI. The advantages over the default 5E rules are a simpler game with more options than Basic D&D. The downside is less options than the 5E rules might allow

Variant OSR Healing Rules.

No healing After a long rest.
After a long rest you regain 1 hit dice.

Magic Item Guidelines.
Magic items tend to be more common than in modern D&D and having a +3 weapon by level 6 or so is not that unusual. Ignore the DMG guidelines of magic items and hand out as little or as many as you like. Treasure is also more abundant and if running an AD&D/BECMI module conversion magic items and treasure are used as is. If the item does not appear in 5E use it as printed (if compatable with 5E rules) reducing +4 and +5 equipment to +3. Otherwise replace with a similar 5E magical item. +1 Swords/Longsword can also be subbed with rapier especially if found on the remains of a thief.

Racial and Alignment Restrictions(Optional)
If one has access to the original material the DM can use the original alignment, class, multiclass and racial restrictions used in BECMI/AD&D. Level limits are not used (5E built a better human)

Variant Human (optional)
Since feats are not used in OSR gaming and the default human in 5Eis regarded as weak the variant human gets +2 to two ability scores of their choice and +1 to two ability scores of their choice.

BECMI Sub Module
BECMI uses the Basic D&D rules.


AD&D 1E Sub Module

Allowed Races.
Human (default)
Dwarf
Elf
Halflings

Gnomes
Half Elf
Half Orc

Allowed Classes

Bard (Valor)
Cleric (Life)
Druid (Land)
Fighter (Champion, Eldritch Knight)
Paladin (Oath of Devotion)
Ranger (Hunter)
Monk (Way of the Open Hand)
Rogue (Assassin, thief, arcane trickster)
Wizard: Invoker
Wizard: Illusionist

Optional Class
Barbarian

2E
Human (default)
Dwarf
Elf
Halflings

Gnomes
Half Elf

Allowed Classes

Bard (Valor)
Cleric (All domains allowed to reflect 2E specialty priests)
Druid (Land)
Fighter (Champion, Eldritch Knight)
Paladin (Oath of Devotion)
Ranger (Hunter)
Rogue (Assassin, Arcane Trickster thief)
Wizard: All

Optional Classes
Barbarian
Other archetypes (representing kits)

Optional: Feats (representing class and later 2E splatbooks)

 

[Zardnaar]

AD&D Alignment Limitations.

Bard Any Neutral/Unaligned
Cleric Any
Druid Neutral/[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Unaligned[/FONT]
Fighter Any
Paladin: Paladins must be Lawful Good
Ranger Any Good
Monk Any Lawful
Rogue any
Wizard: Any

AD&D Racial Limitations
The following races by only be members of the following classes

Dwarf Cleric, Fighter(Champion), Rogue (assassin, thief)
Elf Cleric, Fighter (Champion, Eldritch Knight), Rogue (arcane trickster,assassin, thief), Wizard (Invoker)
Halfling Cleric, Fighter (Champion), Rogue (assassin, thief),
Humans All classes
Half Elf Bard, Cleric, Fighter (Champion, Eldritch Knight), Rogue (arcane trickster,assassin, thief), Wizard (invoker)
Gnome Cleric, Fighter, Rogue (arcane trickster,assassin, thief), Wizard (Illusionist)
Half Orc Cleric, Fighter, Rogue (assassin, thief),

 

[darjr]

Interesting. Have you played with this yet?

 

[Zardnaar]

Not yet. I want to test it out soon.

 

[RotGrub]

For OSR I'd want to remove hit dice, second wind, and shared actions completely.

 

[Sacrosanct]

For OSR, I'd remove dice and use chits instead




Might as well take the kid gloves off too, and get rid of all the save repeatedly rules, and use save once or die.

 

[Zardnaar]

For OSR I'd want to remove hit dice, second wind, and shared actions completely.

Its just quick and dirty without having to rewrite the entire book.

 

[Greg Benage]

I'd definitely get rid of feats. Even without them, classes have a metric ton of special abilities that didn't exist in the classic game. In fact, get rid of ASIs altogether. Maybe fighters only get feats/ASI at 6th and 14th level. Get rid of skills and apply proficiency bonus to ability checks based on background and class. PCs proficient in all saves. Now take a scalpel to the Monster Manual and get rid of the extraneous special abilities for mundane creatures (pack tactics and their ilk). Give monsters proficiency in basic abilities (e.g. Athletics, Perception).

Or just play an OSR game.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

No healing After a long rest.
After a long rest you regain 1 hit dice.

This would still allow a character to go from practically dead, up to nearly full, after a single short rest. It just limits that you can only pull that trick off once before you need to take a bunch of long rests to recover your hit dice.

You could get a more traditional feel if you just immediately gain the benefit of spending one hit die after each long rest. It prevents hoarding/splurging.

 

[Zardnaar]

This would still allow a character to go from practically dead, up to nearly full, after a single short rest. It just limits that you can only pull that trick off once before you need to take a bunch of long rests to recover your hit dice.

You could get a more traditional feel if you just immediately gain the benefit of spending one hit die after each long rest. It prevents hoarding/splurging.

Point. I am still on the fence about the max amount of hit dice allowed (1, half or full). 5E monsters do more damage though and the idea was to reduce the extra healing.