Welcome to NXT II, the way I'd do 6e if given the chance.
Right after OneD&D was announced, my job was upended, and we had about two months of waiting for another company to take over... and I had almost nothing to do, so I spend about 30hrs a week for a month and a half working on NXT II. About 110 pages in and I've got most of the initial concepts worked out aside from races, classes, and effects (spells), because two of those sound super fun and were being saved for last, and the other one a bit mor daunting, so I was procrastinating. I told myself that I was racing WotC to a completed book, but now I haven't been able to write in a month.
Well, the new conpany is here and it sucks. 120hrs of work in 12 days later, (they've been here about 21 days) I know that I'm going to quit, so forget them. I'll kill some time here writing out some NXT II for you fine folks. Likely nobody will read NXT II, but here we are anyway.
Enjoy a more Historical, Flexible take on 5e's successes with a few nods to D&D History, and some fun variants.
And just in case you're wondering, these rules are being made with Spelljammer and Planescape in mind, so they won't feel too different.
Everyone at the table is a player. One player will be designated the DM. Their job is to craft the story and run everyone who is not a main character. Each other player will craft a Player Character (PC). Each character that isn't a PC is an NPC (Non-Player Character).
2) Say what you want to do.
Whenever there is something you want to do, tell the DM you want to do it. Sometimes you may need to ask if an NPC or prop is present first, but generally try to state what it is you actually want to do.
Example: "Hey DM, is there a chandelier in the room?" The DM responds, "There is now. Why?" The Player then says, "I want to use it to swing across the table and kick that guy."
3) The d20 roll
Whenever your success or failure matters, the DM may ask for you to make a d20 roll. They will set a difficulty number in their head, and if you reach that number of higher, you succeed. If you don't, you fail and face the consequences.
Example: The DM allows them to swing across, but the enemy tries to duck out of the way. The DM calls for an attack roll of 15 or better to land the hit. Swinging from the chandelier isn't worth asking for a roll when they then need to make a second roll to hit. If they fail the attack, it could be because they fell off the chandelier, or let go and fell back in their chair.
4) Dis/Advantage
Sometimes the DM may award Advantage or Disadvantage. At others these may be the result of character traits. Advantage makes an act easier, and disadvantage makes it harder.
To apply advantage, roll an additional die and ignore the lowest. For disadvantage you still roll the additional die, but instead ignore the highest. For example, rolling 3d6 with dis/advantage means you roll 4d6 and keep three of them.
On occasion you may get "dis/advantage of 2" or greater. In this case, you roll two additional dice and ignore the lowest two. Dis/Advantage of X can be any number, but is rare.
Example: The player wants to swing across the table on the chandelier and kick the guy sitting on the other side. The DM says, "Well, getting up from your chair, jumping on the chandelier, and swinging will take a moment, so he'll see you coming. Make your attack roll with disadvantage." The player then rolls 2d20 and takes the lower result to see if they succeed.
Whenever DC's are determined, or deciding if PC / NPC actions are determined to be possible is up to the DM. If they say that there isn't a DC high enough to represent a challenge, the player simply cannot expect to succeed. They can still try, but know that they will fail. Any disagreements can wait until the game is over, but until then, the DM's ruling takes precedence.
Example: The PC swinging from the chandelier misses their target due to the disadvantage. The player then says, "I want to use my free action to let go and fall on him." Hopefully the DM sees that the Player is trying to game the system and says, "You can't." The player should agree and describe how they dismount, accepting it can't be on that enemy. The DM may offer a few options, the player might suggest landing behind their target, or the table may just forget the PC is even on the chandelier and move on.
5) Whenever you round, Round Down
Unless stated otherwise, if you must round, round down.
6) Have Fun
Finally, be polite, be creative, and have fun. This is a game. These 6 core rules are what's important. Everything else just fleshes out the game, but these core six are what make this game shine. Be courteous to your other players (even the DM), give everyone their chance to shine. Think up of cool stuff your character can do and try it out. Maybe it'll be awesome, maybe it'll backfire and be funny. Either way, enjoy yourself. It's just a game.
Section Two
Making a Character
When making a character, you'll need to choose some stats, a lineage, a background and field, a class, and some equipment. You may even need to choose some effects. Record each of these on your character sheet and you're ready to go.
A character sheet is a piece of paper that acts as a quick reference for whatever you may need to look up about your character. Several parts of the sheet may never actually need to come up. Sometimes a character sheet is fancy, like the one in the back of this book. Sometimes it's digital and interactive. Sometimes it's just a piece of notebook paper with a few words and numbers on it, and whatever other notes you wanted to take.
Each character will need stats. There are six stats in D&D NXT II, and those are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Strength is how offensive you are. Dexterity is how reactive you are. Constitution is how tough you are. Intelligence is about abstract knowledge and deduction. Wisdom is about practical knowledge and your senses. Charisma is your social knowledge.
Whatever score you have in these six stats changes how good or poorly you are likely to perform at those sorts of tasks, and each score corresponds to a class. Strength is Fighter. Dexterity is Engineer. Constitution is Brawler. Intelligence is Mage. Wisdom is Priest. Charisma is Mystic. Whatever your score is also alters the bonus you get whenever you roll that stat.
EDIT INCLUDE TABLE. IT MATCHES 5E.
The Arrays are what are typically used for a game of D&D NXT II. This means that you choose a set of numbers and get to assign one of each to one of each score. The arrays are:
Standard: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
Heroic: 17, 15, 12, 12, 10, 10
Commoner: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6
Variant Methods
Point Buy: Similar to Standard Array, each character starts out with a set of base scores. (8 for standard; 10 for heroic, and 6 for commoner) And a number of points to spend. (Standard 27; Heroic 29; Commoner 25)
EDIT TABLE IN
For the Standard Array, it is a 1 for 1 until you reach 14 and 15.
For Heroic Array, they are 1 for 1.
For Commoner Array, they are 1 for 1 under 10, and 2 for 1 over 10, capping at 14.
The last method is the rolling method. Rolling is intended to add drama to gameplay, and there is no drama in rolling stats, but if you'd prefer to randomly generate your character, you can choose one of the following methods.
3d6 for each stat.
3d6 with advantage for each stat.
2d8 with advantage for each stat.
1d12 with advantage of two for each stat.
1d20 with advantage for each stat.
Bonuses
Whenever you make a roll, you might apply several bonuses or penalties. These include but are not limited to your Ability Bonus, Proficiency Bonus, Knack Bonus, Arcane Bonus, Divine Bonus, Material Bonus, Primal Bonus, Psychic Bonus. Each of these bonuses can only apply once. If two effects from the same source provide you with a bonus, you choose which ever is highest.
Ability Bonuses are how good you are at something due to similar training. Proficiency is how much you've studied and practiced that specific skill. Knack is a die based bonus which represents a natural gift for the skill regardless of training. All of the others are ways to get a bonus from a trait or effect that either you or your ally must activate.
Chapter 4 (1 of 7): Character Class, Aechetype, and Subclass breakdown.
Levels
As you complete adventures, you will be rewarded with XP. XP can be spent during down time to gain things such as proficiencies, feats, and levels. Some undead monsters may attack your XP in addition to your HP. Your XP cannot be reduced to less than 0, and these attacks cannot impact what you have already purchased with XP.
Most things that can be purchased with XP are sold at a small discount based upon your proficiency bonus and/or a specific ability score.
Should you choose, you may begin the game at Level 0. Rising above Level 0 requires 240XP, at which point you gain your first level in a class. When you choose this variant, you gain any one skill proficiency, as well as weapon proficiency or cantrip.
Welcome to NXT II, the way I'd do 6e if given the chance.
Right after OneD&D was announced, my job was upended, and we had about two months of waiting for another company to take over... and I had almost nothing to do, so I spend about 30hrs a week for a month and a half working on NXT II. About 110 pages in and I've got most of the initial concepts worked out aside from races, classes, and effects (spells), because two of those sound super fun and were being saved for last, and the other one a bit mor daunting, so I was procrastinating. I told myself that I was racing WotC to a completed book, but now I haven't been able to write in a month.
Well, the new conpany is here and it sucks. 120hrs of work in 12 days later, (they've been here about 21 days) I know that I'm going to quit, so forget them. I'll kill some time here writing out some NXT II for you fine folks. Likely nobody will read NXT II, but here we are anyway.
Enjoy a more Historical, Flexible take on 5e's successes with a few nods to D&D History, and some fun variants.
And just in case you're wondering, these rules are being made with Spelljammer and Planescape in mind, so they won't feel too different.
Chapter 1: Basic Play and Feel
Reserved for Edit.
Section One
The Core Six Rules
1) The Player, PC, DM, and NPC
Everyone at the table is a player. One player will be designated the DM. Their job is to craft the story and run everyone who is not a main character. Each other player will craft a Player Character (PC). Each character that isn't a PC is an NPC (Non-Player Character).
2) Say what you want to do.
Whenever there is something you want to do, tell the DM you want to do it. Sometimes you may need to ask if an NPC or prop is present first, but generally try to state what it is you actually want to do.
Example: "Hey DM, is there a chandelier in the room?" The DM responds, "There is now. Why?" The Player then says, "I want to use it to swing across the table and kick that guy."
3) The d20 roll
Whenever your success or failure matters, the DM may ask for you to make a d20 roll. They will set a difficulty number in their head, and if you reach that number of higher, you succeed. If you don't, you fail and face the consequences.
Example: The DM allows them to swing across, but the enemy tries to duck out of the way. The DM calls for an attack roll of 15 or better to land the hit. Swinging from the chandelier isn't worth asking for a roll when they then need to make a second roll to hit. If they fail the attack, it could be because they fell off the chandelier, or let go and fell back in their chair.
4) Dis/Advantage
Sometimes the DM may award Advantage or Disadvantage. At others these may be the result of character traits. Advantage makes an act easier, and disadvantage makes it harder.
To apply advantage, roll an additional die and ignore the lowest. For disadvantage you still roll the additional die, but instead ignore the highest. For example, rolling 3d6 with dis/advantage means you roll 4d6 and keep three of them.
On occasion you may get "dis/advantage of 2" or greater. In this case, you roll two additional dice and ignore the lowest two. Dis/Advantage of X can be any number, but is rare.
Example: The player wants to swing across the table on the chandelier and kick the guy sitting on the other side. The DM says, "Well, getting up from your chair, jumping on the chandelier, and swinging will take a moment, so he'll see you coming. Make your attack roll with disadvantage." The player then rolls 2d20 and takes the lower result to see if they succeed.
Whenever DC's are determined, or deciding if PC / NPC actions are determined to be possible is up to the DM. If they say that there isn't a DC high enough to represent a challenge, the player simply cannot expect to succeed. They can still try, but know that they will fail. Any disagreements can wait until the game is over, but until then, the DM's ruling takes precedence.
Example: The PC swinging from the chandelier misses their target due to the disadvantage. The player then says, "I want to use my free action to let go and fall on him." Hopefully the DM sees that the Player is trying to game the system and says, "You can't." The player should agree and describe how they dismount, accepting it can't be on that enemy. The DM may offer a few options, the player might suggest landing behind their target, or the table may just forget the PC is even on the chandelier and move on.
5) Whenever you round, Round Down
Unless stated otherwise, if you must round, round down.
6) Have Fun
Finally, be polite, be creative, and have fun. This is a game. These 6 core rules are what's important. Everything else just fleshes out the game, but these core six are what make this game shine. Be courteous to your other players (even the DM), give everyone their chance to shine. Think up of cool stuff your character can do and try it out. Maybe it'll be awesome, maybe it'll backfire and be funny. Either way, enjoy yourself. It's just a game.
Section Two
Making a Character
When making a character, you'll need to choose some stats, a lineage, a background and field, a class, and some equipment. You may even need to choose some effects. Record each of these on your character sheet and you're ready to go.
A character sheet is a piece of paper that acts as a quick reference for whatever you may need to look up about your character. Several parts of the sheet may never actually need to come up. Sometimes a character sheet is fancy, like the one in the back of this book. Sometimes it's digital and interactive. Sometimes it's just a piece of notebook paper with a few words and numbers on it, and whatever other notes you wanted to take.
Each character will need stats. There are six stats in D&D NXT II, and those are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Strength is how offensive you are. Dexterity is how reactive you are. Constitution is how tough you are. Intelligence is about abstract knowledge and deduction. Wisdom is about practical knowledge and your senses. Charisma is your social knowledge.
Whatever score you have in these six stats changes how good or poorly you are likely to perform at those sorts of tasks, and each score corresponds to a class. Strength is Fighter. Dexterity is Engineer. Constitution is Brawler. Intelligence is Mage. Wisdom is Priest. Charisma is Mystic. Whatever your score is also alters the bonus you get whenever you roll that stat.
EDIT INCLUDE TABLE. IT MATCHES 5E.
The Arrays are what are typically used for a game of D&D NXT II. This means that you choose a set of numbers and get to assign one of each to one of each score. The arrays are:
Standard: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
Heroic: 17, 15, 12, 12, 10, 10
Commoner: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6
Variant Methods
Point Buy: Similar to Standard Array, each character starts out with a set of base scores. (8 for standard; 10 for heroic, and 6 for commoner) And a number of points to spend. (Standard 27; Heroic 29; Commoner 25)
EDIT TABLE IN
For the Standard Array, it is a 1 for 1 until you reach 14 and 15.
For Heroic Array, they are 1 for 1.
For Commoner Array, they are 1 for 1 under 10, and 2 for 1 over 10, capping at 14.
The last method is the rolling method. Rolling is intended to add drama to gameplay, and there is no drama in rolling stats, but if you'd prefer to randomly generate your character, you can choose one of the following methods.
3d6 for each stat.
3d6 with advantage for each stat.
2d8 with advantage for each stat.
1d12 with advantage of two for each stat.
1d20 with advantage for each stat.
Bonuses
Whenever you make a roll, you might apply several bonuses or penalties. These include but are not limited to your Ability Bonus, Proficiency Bonus, Knack Bonus, Arcane Bonus, Divine Bonus, Material Bonus, Primal Bonus, Psychic Bonus. Each of these bonuses can only apply once. If two effects from the same source provide you with a bonus, you choose which ever is highest.
Ability Bonuses are how good you are at something due to similar training. Proficiency is how much you've studied and practiced that specific skill. Knack is a die based bonus which represents a natural gift for the skill regardless of training. All of the others are ways to get a bonus from a trait or effect that either you or your ally must activate.
Chapter 2: PHB Character Races
Reserved for Edit.
Chapter 3: Background, Field, and Alignment
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 4 (1 of 7): Character Class, Aechetype, and Subclass breakdown.
Levels
As you complete adventures, you will be rewarded with XP. XP can be spent during down time to gain things such as proficiencies, feats, and levels. Some undead monsters may attack your XP in addition to your HP. Your XP cannot be reduced to less than 0, and these attacks cannot impact what you have already purchased with XP.
Most things that can be purchased with XP are sold at a small discount based upon your proficiency bonus and/or a specific ability score.
Weapon Proficiency 40XP - (Str Score)
Language Proficiency 60XP - (Int Score)
Tool Proficiency 60XP - (Wis Score)
Gaming Set 60XP - (Cha Score)
Skill Proficiency 60XP - (Prof Bonus + Primary Ability)
Feat 240XP - (Prof Bonus × Level)
Rule Variant: Level 0
Should you choose, you may begin the game at Level 0. Rising above Level 0 requires 240XP, at which point you gain your first level in a class. When you choose this variant, you gain any one skill proficiency, as well as weapon proficiency or cantrip.
Chapter 4 (2 of 7): Brawler, the Barbarian, Monk, and Warlord
Chapter 4 (3 of 7): Engineer, the Artificer, and Rogue
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 4 (4 of 7): Fighter, the Battle Master, Paladin, and Ranger
Chapter 4 (5 of 7): Mage, the Sorcerer and Wizard
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 4 (6 of 7): Mystic, the Bard, Occultist, and Psion
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 4 (7 of 7): Priest, the Cleric and Warlock
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 5: Equipment
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 6: Effects (Spells, Powers, Maneuvers)
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 7: Adventuring without Combat
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 8: Combat
Reserved for Edit
Chapter 9: Status Effects and Conditions
Chapter 10: Basic Stat Blocks