Cephalon Dusp's Archives

 Having tested this method out with my last post on Spell Schools, lets see how breaking down and rebuilding can work on something more central like Ability Scores. A Brief Overview     Ability Scores have been in Dungeons and Dragons since the very beginning, and have been somewhat constant throughout it. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are the six basic stats and they have endured. But, they have been a constant source of friction as well.     Originally, Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom were all Prime Requisites, the things you needed to choose one of the three basic classes (Fighter, Magic-User, or Cleric respectively). The other three were bonus stats that affected your HP, AC, and Number of Followers. These divisions were clear and fairly straightforward, except for the fact that Ability Scores were described as being actual attributes of your character.      Even a brief thought about this will reveal...

    Today, I am about to engage in what I know is bad design, but also hopefully good design. Spell Schools are a method of categorizing spells and they have a long history in D&D. The bad design I will be committing today is that I will not be looking at why  they exist, how  they are integrated, nor what  messing with them will do. I am just going to be messing with them because the way they are now annoys me. The good design for today is that, hopefully, I will make a set of Spell Schools which make more sense. A Brief History     Now, before I really get into tearing apart spell schools and putting them back together, I will take a moment to look back through the history of D&D and their place within it. Originally, in OD&D, there weren't even spell schools, unless one considers the different spell lists of Magic-Users and Clerics different spell lists.. Holmes' Basic and BECMI also do not have spell schools while AD&D 1E finally in...