Grim and Gritty 3.5

[tedcahill2]

Has anyone played the Grim and Gritty variant rules for HP and combat? Just wondering what you're experiences were.

[Mike Miller]

A brave soul. I have yet to find anyone else bring this up. Whenever I do, it seems to go unnoticed. I just suspect no one else has used it. I enjoy it though. I can post more later when on a computer. It can be a lot of fun once everyone is used to the rolls.

[Buufreak]

I can't say I've ever read up on them. Can I get some information? Or where to find said rules?

[tedcahill2]

I can't say I've ever read up on them. Can I get some information? Or where to find said rules? It's a $4 PDF on drivethrurpg. It basically changes the HP system to something where class and level adds a little bit to your HP, but size is the primary factor. Very hard to fight big stuff.

[Mike Miller]

To start with, armor is damage reduction, not "to hit" protection. The attack roll is the same but defense is an opposed roll to each attack. By beating the defense roll by a greater margin, you deal more damage. HP is not on a grand scale, but rather it barely changes over 20 levels. HP is your CON score + a class amount. So fighters have a higher HP bonus than wizards. However, it is fairly insignificant.

As mentioned, size is a big factor because it multiplies HP. Big monsters really live up to their name of MONSTER. I have had fun with this in the past and hope to use it again in the future. There are lots of variants to change your experience and make it work for your group. I condensed (read: removed) a bunch of things for my group to simplify it. I chucked out a bunch of extra feats and mostly ignore the target strikes. An earlier edition had a strange HP wound system, but I believe the current edition just has wounds as a variant. I don't do the wounds system.

It is a highly lethal system. If you want that, it is great. I suggest using at least one of the magic variants, because if you keep magic and Psionics as is, they will absolutely destroy everything. I think it would work well if people considered combat to be the last possibility to resolve a situation. Otherwise, PCs will likely die!

[tedcahill2]

To start with, armor is damage reduction, not "to hit" protection. The attack roll is the same but defense is an opposed roll to each attack. By beating the defense roll by a greater margin, you deal more damage. HP is not on a grand scale, but rather it barely changes over 20 levels. HP is your CON score + a class amount. So fighters have a higher HP bonus than wizards. However, it is fairly insignificant.

As mentioned, size is a big factor because it multiplies HP. Big monsters really live up to their name of MONSTER. I have had fun with this in the past and hope to use it again in the future. There are lots of variants to change your experience and make it work for your group. I condensed (read: removed) a bunch of things for my group to simplify it. I chucked out a bunch of extra feats and mostly ignore the target strikes. An earlier edition had a strange HP wound system, but I believe the current edition just has wounds as a variant. I don't do the wounds system.

It is a highly lethal system. If you want that, it is great. I suggest using at least one of the magic variants, because if you keep magic and Psionics as is, they will absolutely destroy everything. I think it would work well if people considered combat to be the last possibility to resolve a situation. Otherwise, PCs will likely die!

One of the changes I want to make if I run it is the opposed rolls. I prefer to not roll dice as the DM. Even though it's just probability based (i.e. luck) I like the players to roll the dice to determine if they hit or get hit.

[Buufreak]

That's definitely interesting. Makes me think of a game I tried putting together that was effectively X-Com. Having low level characters feel extra squishy, but also imposing a real threat level throughout the entire game is something I've tried to figure out how to do. Can you PM me a link for the book? I'd like to give it a look.

[Eladrinblade]

Probably the biggest thing I want to change about D&D but it's too much to house-rule away: defense scores instead of AC (which would go up with levels like bab and saves) and armor as DR.

[tedcahill2]

Probably the biggest thing I want to change about D&D but it's too much to house-rule away: defense scores instead of AC (which would go up with levels like bab and saves) and armor as DR.

That seems like a pretty simple thing to do.

[Mike Miller]

Probably the biggest thing I want to change about D&D but it's too much to house-rule away: defense scores instead of AC (which would go up with levels like bab and saves) and armor as DR.

That is basically how GnG operates