D&D BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia - House Rules

A living document containing the current house rules for our ongoing Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia game.

Player-Facing Defense Rolls in Basic D&D - Bonus: Grit for Crits

We've been playing without Critical Hit effects of any kind for the first stretch of our current Rules Cyclopedia game.

At first, the players were more than ok to see the occasional damage burst go away as long as they were no longer subject to the same damage bursts from NPCs as well. When you have 3 HP, every attack is pretty critical already!

However, there was a knock-on effect caused by an interaction with another rule we've also been using for a bit now:

Grit, from Frontier Scum by Karl Druid.

Player-Facing Defense Rolls in Basic D&D - Part II: DEF Bonus & Attack Ratings

GM: You’re up, Randy! The goblin stands in front of you, clutching its spear and snarling - what do you do?

Randy: I step forward and aim for it’s neck with my blade!

GM: Great, roll to see if you hit!

… 

GM: The other goblin didn’t like that, Randy! It thrusts its spear at you - what do you do?

Randy: I pull my shield up and try to swat the spear away!

GM: Great, roll to see if you defend!

How is the game just not played this way by default? It just makes so much sense!

Luckily, smarter minds than me have figured it out for their own games, and so we can take it and use it here in Basic D&D too.

Player-Facing Defense Rolls in Basic D&D - Part I: Ascending Armor Class & Attack Bonuses

The first stop on our journey to add player-facing defense rolls to Basic D&D!

If you're playing Old-School Essentials or another retroclone that handles this conversion for you, you're all set. Skip to Part II: DEF Bonus & Attack Ratings unless you got some old Basic supplements to convert or you're particularly interested in seeing how the sausage is made.