Game Mechanics – Bryan's Dungeons & Dragons Site

Revised Undead Turning Tables

The article Extendable Rules for Turning Undead was originally written in 2005 and updated in 2011. It provides a consistent set of tables for turning undead, and consistent rules for determining the turning value of new and unique undead. This post contains just the tables for quick reference. For details regarding how to determine the Adjusted […]

Revised Saving Throw Matrix

In Dragon Magazine #80 in the column Leomund’s Tiny Hut Lenard Lakofka published a revised saving throws table that smoothed out the incremental changes by level, e.g., instead of the Magic User changing saving throws every 4 levels, slight changes were made more often. Upon reading Lenard’s article I immediately adopted his version of this […]

Revised Combat Matrix

This page contains a revised Combat Matrix for all levels and hit dice of characters and monsters. The Combat Matrix presented here is reproduced from an article published by Lenard Lakofka in Dragon Magazine #80. Lenard’s article was on the “5% Rule” which evened the attack tables out and made the progression more even. I […]

Dungeon/Monster Level

Figuring out the “dungeon level” of a monster was a mystery for decades, as I missed a small table on page 174 of the Dungeon Masters Guide. It’s easy to miss as it has 5 lines and is not formatted like other tables in the book. It’s simple enough to use — just look up […]

Potion Tables

I always found it a pain to have to keep digging out the DMG to look up the effects of potions, so in the mid-1980’s I re-typed some tables using a typewriter. Now days, with word processors and the web it’s a lot easier. In this post I’ve provided a number of potion effects tables […]

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 […]

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 […]