Game Notes

Repelled#

Affected creatures must spend their turn moving as far away as possible from the source. At the end of each of their turns, they can attempt a Mind save to break free from this effect.

Attrition and Fighting#

Characters may seem powerful early on with fresh spells and abilities, but after multiple encounters - say the 4th fight in a dungeon - resources deplete. The fighter's shine dulls, spell slots run dry, and hit points tick down. This is where tactical positioning and clever thinking matter more than raw power. Yet this might be where the cleric and thief finally get their moment.

Managing Attrition#

To minimize attrition, space out encounters generously and provide healing resources - potions, healing scrolls, spells, bandages, and mending supplies. Allow characters time to tend wounds between fights so they enter fresh. Include safe zones where the party can recover without pressure.

To maximize attrition, chain encounters relentlessly with minimal downtime. Make healing resources scarce or costly. Force the party to choose between using their healing magic offensively or defensively. Stack enemies that target different party types so everyone bleeds resources. Remember - a single night's rest only returns 25% HP, so attrition compounds fast. This forces desperate decisions and exposes vulnerabilities.

The key is matching your attrition level to what your party needs - new groups benefit from accessible healing while experienced players relish the resource puzzle of a brutal gauntlet.

Resting - Hit Point Recovery#

Hit Point recovery occurs organically with a full night's rest of 6 or more hours.

The amount recovered depends on the conditions of rest:

Unsafe Rest (cavern, dungeon, camp, etc.): Recover 25% of your maximum HP after a full night.

Safe Rest (inn, stronghold, etc.): Recover 25% of your maximum HP + (Constitution Bonus x character level) after a full night.

Downtime (one full week without adventuring): Recover all lost HP.

What is a Creature?#

Any living being that exists within the world - from the smallest bat to the mightiest dragon, from common horses to humans. Creatures possess stats, can take actions, and interact with the game world. This includes NPCs, monsters, animals, and player characters.

What is a Humanoid?#

A creature is Humanoid if it has a roughly upright or semi-upright, bilaterally symmetric body plan; possesses manipulative appendages capable of wielding tools and weapons; and demonstrates social intelligence sufficient for language and stable societies.

Examples: Humans, elves, orcs, goblins, centaurs, insectoid peoples, lizardfolk, goat-folk, etc.

Borderline Cases

Mixed forms like centaurs qualify if the upper body can fight, craft, signal, or otherwise operate tools. Alien anatomies qualify if they can reliably grip or control tools through claws, tendrils, palps, or telekinetic focus. Constructs or undead qualify only if they possess their own language and culture rather than acting as mindless extensions of another will. Shapeshifters count only while in a qualifying form. Animals that use simple tools are not Humanoid unless they have true language and organized societies.

Rules Effects

Humanoids can use standard gear that fits their frame. Unusual bodies may require custom sizing at the DN's discretion. Communication: Humanoids can speak or sign languages. Pure telepathy qualifies if it supports complex language. Targeting: Abilities affecting "humanoids" apply to any creature currently meeting this definition.

Divine Effects#

Certain epic or divine effects exist beyond a spell's influence. A spell typically covers mundane, normal rolls - attack, chances, save rolls - where normal magic applies. However, when a target faces truly cosmic or reality-bending forces, the DN can rule that even powerful spells fall short.

For example, image a magic that lets you reroll a missed sword swing, a failed poison save, or a botched climb check. But it won't override a god's word, the collapse of an entire plane, or a fate-sealed effect woven into the campaign itself.

Damage Reduction#

Unless a rule states otherwise, DR reduces all Physical damage types: Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing, Fire, Cold, Lightning, Thunder, Acid, Force, Radiant, and Necrotic.

Magic weapons and spells do not bypass DR unless a rule specifically states otherwise.

DR does not reduce Psychic, Poison, Disease, Curse or Suffocation damage, or similar effects.

Magic Items#

Unlike ordinary equipment, magic items retain their enchantments indefinitely unless specifically dispelled, destroyed, or used up. Magic, however, does not make an item indestructible. A potion is still a liquid in a simple glass vial that can crack or shatter. A scroll is still parchment that can tear or burn to ash. Magical armor can be eaten away by acid just as easily as mundane steel. Enchanted blades can chip or snap if struck with enough force. If a magic item's physical form is broken, burned, corroded, or otherwise ruined, its enchantment is lost along with it. The only exceptions are true artifacts or other legendary relics, whose durability is tied directly to their immense power.

Coins#

Common coins are nearly identical in size and weight, regardless of metal. Unless you, the DN, decide otherwise for a particular realm or culture, assume 100 coins weigh 1 pound.

A warrior dragging home thousands of coins from a dragon's hoard quickly learns that treasure can weigh more than their armor. For this reason, seasoned adventurers and merchants often convert bulk coin into gems, stamped trade bars, etc. These hold immense value with a fraction of the weight - far more practical for those who travel light or deal in fortunes.

Torches#

A standard torch burns for about one hour, shedding bright light out to 20 feet and dim light another 20 feet beyond. In open air or torchlit halls, it's enough to keep the dark at bay - barely.

Wind, moisture, and magic can shorten a torch's life, while careful hands and a shielded flame might make it last a little longer. DNs don't need to track every minute; let the torch serve as a narrative clock - a flickering countdown as shadows creep closer. When that flame finally gutters out, the silence of the dark feels earned.

Lanterns#

A well-made lantern burns longer and brighter than a torch, its flame protected by glass and metal. A hooded lantern casts bright light out to 30 feet and dim light for another 30, burning roughly 6 hours on one flask of oil. An open bullseye lantern focuses that light into a 60-foot cone, ideal for exploring or signaling across dark spaces.

Lanterns are steadier in wind and rain but heavier to carry and slower to ready. Oil can spill, glass can crack, and the telltale glow can betray a party's position long before their footsteps are heard. A wise DN uses lantern light as both comfort and liability - a beacon in the dark that can guide or give away.

Potions#

Potions come in small corked vials, often etched or color-coded for easy identification. Each fits neatly into a belt pouch or bandolier slot. Treat them as minor items for encumbrance purposes - light, but fragile. Breaking a potion in a fall or fire can be a fun narrative twist (use Probability).

Drinking a potion takes one round. Its magic takes hold immediately and lasts for the duration listed in the potion; a potion with no stated duration resolves at once. A potion is spent the moment it is drunk, whether or not its full effect was needed.

Scrolls#

Scrolls are resilient and practical. They can be rolled or folded without harm, stored in tubes or pouches, and weigh little unless bundled in large numbers. DNs may describe ancient scrolls as newer partchment, as magic infusion sustains the life of the material its written on.

Probability Roll#

When the outcome of an event isn't tied to skill or reaction - such as whether a potion vial breaks, a rope snaps, or a lantern tips over - use a Probability Roll. You, the DN, decides the likelihood. Common examples: 50% or TN 10, and DN or player rolls once to resolve it.

Probability Rolls keep play fast, fair, and grounded in chance rather than player stats.

Common Probability Rolls#

Why Spellbreaker negate any spell level?#

Magic, no matter how powerful, is inherently fragile. A foreign force that disrupts its pattern could cause it to collapse. Interfering magic can cause the spell to unravel, regardless of its strength. When that structure is disrupted, the spell fails - power does not protect it. Spellbreaker works on spells because disruption, not power, determines magical failure.

Holy vs Unholy#

In any world - not just Open Dungeons - the ideas of holy and unholy are shaped by who's holding the torch.

A cleric devoted to an Unholy Power rarely sees themselves as evil. To them, their rites are sacred, their visions pure, their miracles proof of divine favor. What one temple calls blasphemy, another calls devotion. These words - holy and unholy - are not truth, but perspective.

As Dungeon Narrator, frame morality as culture and belief, not absolute law. A paladin of the Sun may burn heretics in the name of purity, while a death-priest might comfort the dying with genuine compassion. Both see them-selves as righteous.

When faiths collide, let the story explore conviction, doubt, and consequence. Ask each player what their character believes "holy" means - then let the world, and its gods, test those beliefs. Or, when words fail and faith hardens into pride, let them settle it the old way - with might and magic, to see whose truth survives.

Let conviction turn to clash. Beliefs bend, blades rise, and spells fly. Sometimes the only way to prove divine favor is to fight for it.||

Weary Condition#

When you become Weary through exhaustion, forced marching, magical effects, etc. you suffer a -2 penalty to all Save Rolls. Rest and recovery remove this condition: a full nights rest of 6 or more hours.

What is Exhaustion?#

If the DN wants to use Exhaustion: Exhaustion occurs when a character is exposed to extreme conditions such as intense heat, prolonged exertion, etc. Each failed CON Tough Save adds 1 level of Exhaustion. Each level reduces current HP by 1. Exhaustion levels stack. All Exhaustion levels are removed after 6+ hours of rest in a sheltered area.