March 2020 – Bryan's Dungeons & Dragons Site

Weapon Specialization for Fighters

March 2020 Weapon specialization for fighters as described in Unearthed Arcana (UA) immediately struck me as unbalanced. We play tested the rule and vetoed it. As excited as my group was to get UA, a lot of the rules proved to be disappointing, especially the new classes. It was years later I learned that Gary […]

Character Generation

May 2007 First, let’s review the character generation rules in the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) on page 11. These four methods are paraphrased here, along with a fifth one from Unearthed Arcana (UA, page 74): Roll 4d6, discarding the lowest, for each ability score. Arrange in the order desired. Roll 3d6 twelve times, keeping the […]

Revised Monster Experience Point Table

November 2008 The following table contains alternate information for calculating the experience points for monsters, superseding the information found in the DMG. This table is more consistent and provides a more even progression. This table was based upon an article published in Dragon Magazine #80, in the Leomund’s Tiny Hut column by Lenard Lakofka. This […]

Spell Memorization Time

September 2006 This page provides revised rules for spell memorization. If I recall correctly, I based this upon an article inDragon Magazine. Spell Memorization By the book, spells require 15 minutes per spell level to memorize, following a rest period. This is for all classes and sounds reasonable, as it typically takes a 1st level […]

Cost for NPC Spell Casting

September 2006 This page provides expanded rules regarding the cost of non-player character (NPC) spell casting. I collected information from various sources, included the DMG, Dragon Magazine, and my own invention, to assemble these rules. Cost of NPC Spell Casting Spells cast by NPC’s for player characters cost large sums of gold and/or magic items, […]

Spell Research

September 2006 This page provides expanded rules and information regarding the cost of magical research for new spells. I collected information from various sources, included the DMG, Dragon Magazine, and my own invention, to assemble these rules. Spell Research The research of new spells requires the use of a library of magical knowledge. The types […]

Spells Books

September 2006 This page provides expanded rules and information regarding the size and cost of spell books. I collected information from various sources, included the DMG, Dragon Magazine, and my own invention, to assemble these rules. Spell Books Magic-user and illusionist spell books are normally of a standard size, i.e. 8 inches wide by 12 […]