Thoughts on Rules & Rulings

23 May, 2026

Unfiltered stream of my thoughts on Ktrey's Random Rules & Rulings.

1. 3d6 "Money" roll serves as an Ability Score representing the character's Social Status

I like it. It is simple and it makes logical sense. How useful it is depends on what kind of game you're running.

2. A Cleric using blades no longer can pick their spells: Random Only

I believe this one could simply be considered raw at least in B/X. See:

Deity disfavour: Clerics must be faithful to the tenets of their alignment, clergy, and religion. Clerics who fall from favour with their deity may incur penalties.

Overall it's fine. I might use it depending on the situation but wouldn't limit myself to just this consequence.

3. A Fighter's Charge can force a Morale Check on foes with 1/2 their HD or lower

I believe this is a riff on a Chainmail rule. It's pretty solid. At least in B/X fighters need all the mechanical help they can get lol.

4. Alignment Languages have written forms, if illegible to those of differing ones

This is ok. Unobtrusive. I'd keep it in line with spoken alignment languages, in that they'd be symbols conveying simple ideas rather than a full blown language.

You could spin off a similar secret symbol/graffiti language for thieves or druids instead.

5. All Spells have better, > lvl versions, but require Research & knowing the lower level

So if they require research, that's just straight up magical research, isn't it? Not like there are any limits other than those set by DM as to what spells you're able to research.

6. Any die roll that leaves the table is treated as the worst result

Hehe. I could see this being an effective way to curb overexcited players throwing dice all over the place. Thankfully I'm forever playing online so that's not an issue for me.

7. Any Mount you name, feed, and ride for a month gets your Saves and +d6 Morale

This is a nice one. Players do be loving their pets. You could tweak the length or make it more gradual depending on your campaign style.

8. Arrows are recoverable if damage rolled was 1 or 2

It's ok. Depends on your preference. I personally like to do recoverable on a miss. Or just straight up non recoverable. Way I run combats, especially inside dungeons, ranged combat doesn't see too much use and restocking on ammunitions is usually never a problem. Depends on the kind of campaign you run.

9. At 0 HP, if you survive, roll 2d6: One is ability score, the other reduces score. Pick

Swear I saw this one somewhere before. But maybe an opposite, as a level advancement thing? Anyway, bit overly harsh for my taste. I might try it as a temporary penalty. Removed with a week of rest in civilization. But then again, I currently don't run any death save on 0 hp so...

10. CHA Score Max Retainers also serves as "starting Contacts" (helpful NPC friends)

I like it. It gives CHA another purpose in a game that doesn't do retainers much or has foes that don't get swayed by charisma.

11. Character Generation: 3d6 in order, Up or Down the line

Eh. I don't feel this one. I quite like the simple 3d6 in order and how it "divines" what sort of character you might be playing. So I usually don't mess with it.

12. Check for item breakage on target whenever To-Hit matches AC exactly

It's ok, I guess. Probably not appealing enough to me to add it to my combat.

13. Class HD as Damage in Combat, no Weapon Restrictions outside of Cleric Taboos

Certified hood classic. Works really well. Reinforces class identity by making fighty classes better at dealing damage. Though I also quite like just normal variable weapon damage, so I'm using that one for now.

14. Clerics can drop Heavier Armors (Chain+) for a spell at lvl 1, and 1 extra of highest slot

I like it. Think it would read cleaner as:

Clerics can eschew Heavy Armor (Chain+) to cast spells as one level higher.

Think that's more powerful because Clerics gain more than one spell at higher levels but eh. It's fine.

If you wanted to beef it up, you could also make the turn undead as one level higher.

If you wanted to make it riskier you could make them go entirely armorless, priestly robes only, faith is your shield.

Related to this, do other DMs also require clerics to be in the front rank to turn undead? Cause this would also make the ruling riskier for the Clerics.

15. Clerics can use swords; they just lose Turn Undead for a Week

Another one that is just one of the possible divine disfavors. It's fine really. Put in in your toolbox for when your holy men start to misbehave.

16. Clerics may opt to "over channel" their Holy Symbol (destroying it) turns 4d6 HD

It's nice-okay. OSE has three kinds of Holy Symbols in one of the Carcass Crawlers. Wood, Silver and Gold. As you can imagine price depends on the material. You could use this to make the ruling gradual. Wooden holy symbol can't be over channeled. Silver holy symbol gets 3d6 HD on over channel. Golden holy symbol gets 4d6 HD on over channel. Or somesuch. Tweak to your hearts content.

17. Combat Maneuver? Roll To-Hit, on success: Target's Choice of damage or effect

Nice, simple, classic. Target's choice is a detail I haven't seen before and I like that it makes the feature seem more fair.

18. Demihumans and Non-Standard Classes are "unlockable" in play

Another hood classic. No notes.

19. Domesticated Animal Morale degrades by 1 every hour spent inside a Dungeon

This is a nice way to curb the pack of war hounds tactic, other than making their purchase limited. I like it.

20. Doubles on 2d6 Number Turned for Clerics mean Turned for twice as long

Don't feel this one. Tbh I don't even specify how long turn undead lasts usually. Usually just enough for them to not be a problem anymore. Idk, your mileage may wary.

21. Doubles on Reaction Rolls with same species indicate family relationship (distant?)

I really like this one. Note that relationship is indicated on doubles regardless of how high the total result is, so they could be your hated second cousin thrice removed. It will feel more natural when two larger groups meet (higher chance of someone being related), so I'd use it situationally. Also depends on what kind of campaign you're playing and whether players are outsiders to the region or locals. Definitively would try it though.

22. Dragons understand all Languages, Breath survivors might gain a new one (2-in-6)

Very flavorful. Maybe bit too much. Informs your cosmology in a way. I'd probably not use it personally but I wouldn't mind it as a player.

23. Drop a d6 roll from Starting Gold, start with a Random Scroll or Potion

This is especially nice for magic-users who normally don't have much in terms of expenses on character creation. I would be hesitant to use it only maybe because I don't want to slap too many options on character creation. You could possibly just force it for magic-users and it would be fine tbh.

24. Dwarf Class can appraise Gems/Jewelry using Thief Hear Noise Progression

First of the rulings that are in the format: Class can do something as Thief Hear Noise. Which is gradually increasing X-in-6 chance as you level up, from 1-in-2 up to 1-in-6. While I do think Dwarfs could use some better racial abilities, I don't especially feel this one, as I usually just straight up tell players what the treasure is worth. Maybe I should revisit that at some point but generally I don't like to screw players on treasure they acquire by lowballing the sell value.

25. Dwarfs know how to damage Gargoyles, Stone Golems, etc. without Magic Weapons

Now this is a lovely one and perfectly fitting thematically for Dwarfs. Def would use it. And I wouldn't mind doing something similar for some other classes. I didn't check damage immunities for other monsters but perhaps Clerics could always damage high level undead. And something similar for Halflings and giants. Although I don't think giants have any particular immunities and Halfling already get AC bonus vs large which is based on that theme.

26. Dwarves use Graph Paper to Map (all others blank sheets)

Nice one if you're playing in person and your players actually do mapping. Wonder how much harder it would be to make a map on a blank paper.

27. Elf can trade "Immunity to Ghoul Paralysis" for Immunity to Sleep and Charm Person

I'm not feeling this one personally. Might be nice depending on the campaign you're running. And again runs into me not wanting to give too many options during character generation. I'd more likely just swap the immunity wholesale if I wanted to make my Elves bit more unique for a campaign.

28. Elfs can swap a starting Language for a type of Animal Speech instead

This one I quite like on the other hand (I don't have standards ok) as depending on how you view your Elves, it might be quite thematic for them as fey woodland creatures. Might step on the toes of Druids but eh who cares.

29. Elfs can use Thief "Hear Nose" progression to locate Magical Herbs/Plants

Another hear noise based ability for a different class. Not bad. I guess if you used one you might as well use all of them? To keep it consistent.

30. Every 2 Dungeon Levels, Trap Activation 2-in-6 die size increases: d8, d10, d12, etc.

I'm not sure how to understand this one? Is it trying to simulate that deeper into the dungeon you go, the older it is and less maintained the traps are? I'm not sure about making the dungeon less deadly as you go deeper. I'd probably skip this one.

31. Extreme Cold doubles Food requirement, Heat doubles Water

Ok depending on if you're running a particularly wilderness travel oriented campaign (and if you have those types of biomes/weather). Double food consumption might be bit much realistically but it's easier to track than 1.5x or 1.33x I suppose.

32. Fighter rolls a 20 on To-Hit, force Morale Check at top of next round

So essentially a crit forces a morale check. Simple and as I said fighters in B/X could use some help mechanics wise. You could gate it by level 3 or 4 if you wanted to make it a feature of a heroic fighter.

33. Fighter who defeats 10 of type of foe (keep track), +1 damage against them (up to +5)

Nice and simple. Think I've seen this one before. If your players don't mind the additional tracking. More features for more fighty fighters.

34. Fighter who rolls their STR score on the d20 To-Hit Roll, deals damage despite AC

Eh. This is basically just a crit on 19-20 wrapped in more convoluted rule. Pass. I'm not sure how consequential it would be but you could do:

Fighter who rolls under their STR score on the d20 To-Hit Roll, deals 1 additional point of damage, regardless if they hit or not.

35. Fighters and Dwarfs can use "Open Doors" to brace them shut as well

Honestly this sounds like something I'd normally just allow anyone to do. I'm not sure I want to go too deep into "only certain class can do this" territory.

36. Fighters may choose to re-roll any 1s for Damage in Combat

It's ok. Simple little boost for fighters. Suppose as a consequence fighters would be slightly better with weapons that deal two dice of damage (e.g. 2d4 vs 1d10). If you have those at all in your system.

37. Goblins love Cheese. Step up all Reaction Rolls, one category if Cheese is offered

It's ok. Nice and simple. I'd probably come up with something similar but specific to my campaign/setting. It's nice to pepper little things like these for players to discover about your world. Knowledge is power.

38. Halflings use Thief "Hear Noise" progression to detect Poison in Food/Drink

Of the hear noise abilities, I think this is one of the more thematic ones. I can imagine Halflings, as purveyors of fine food, to be able to tell if a food/drink is ever so slightly off.

39. HD rolled anew at the start of each day. Re-roll 1s & 2s for good rest, food, etc.

Hmm. I wonder about this one. Would it be too much tracking and rolling? Would you roll only at the point where your current HP becomes relevant (e.g. start of a combat)? Could it tempt players to be bit more meta, in that they'll wait to dungeon delve until the group happens to roll well? Idk.

40. High level Fighters can choose to use Death Save as AC when unarmored if better

Checked the actual number and this one would be very situational. Think like when a plane hopping super hero happens to be momentarily stripped of their armor. I'd probably skipped as not impactful enough. At least in B/X.

41. Hire Mercenaries to patrol a Hex: Hidden feature found on a 1-in-6 (Seasonal Check)

This depends entirely on your hexcrawl and domain procedures. If it fits, it's fine.

42. Hoards of coins take a turn to count and sort for every 100

I believe someone in the Gay Beholder Brazilian OSR Brat server shared recently their stats for when they were counting coins IRL with their family. I don't remember what it was but it probably wasn't too off this number. Coins should def take time to count.

And lately I'm thinking that differentiating between copper, silver, electrum, gold and platinum coins shouldn't be automatic either. You have rather poor torchlight, monsters breathing behind your neck, coins might be grimy and whatnot and they might not even be those literal metals but rather some olde coinage that is nowadays worth that type of metal coin for simplicity. So in dungeon I'd treat all coins as same/unknown until they're counted properly.

43. Holy Water does 2d4 to Undead, but doubles add and roll again

Not sure if this means only the first doubles or as long as you roll doubles. It's one of those dice gimmick rulings that I'm not sure is worth complicating your game for. Depends on how fun your players find having these weird little mechanics.

44. Humperdink: Fighters use Thief Hear Noise to re-trace a battle/noting victors/losers

Next in the hear noise skill list. Honestly I might just give this one to fighters automatically depending on the situation. Or maybe tie it to a soldier background or similar. I find its better to give clues/knowledge more freely.

45. If a Character earns > 1 level in one Session, they may roll HD twice and take higher

It's ok. I wouldn't mind it. It's a nice recompense for the suck that is not being able to level up more than once from a huge haul.

46. If you're ever healed exactly up to your Max HP, you can choose to take a cool Scar

I don't care about this one tbh. Think there are better scar rules out their but mysteriously I'll not mention any of them. Pass.

47. Instead of using the Spell, MUs can Detect Magic by concentrating for 1d4 turns

Not a fan of this one. Think MUs should use a Detect Magic spell if they want to detect magic. Think this might get overused? I probably wouldn't run it in my game.

48. Instead of xd6+1, Curative Magics restore a percentage of total (25%, 50%, 75%, etc.)

I'm not sure about the balance of this one. Wouldn't it make players want to save magic potions for later or for higher level characters cause they heal more total HP that way? Probably wouldn't use it.

Sidenote. Think I saw a variant of healing that is based on your hit dice instead of d6. That one I like quite a bit.

49. INT bonus applies to Missile To-Hit instead of Top-Heavy DEX

If I wanted it to be a different ability, I'd probably do WIS like Knave does. It's bit more in line with Rangers and such being WIS classes.

50. Invert Prime Requisite XP Bonus: Low gets bonus, High is its own reward

It's a nice balance thing but I quite like the role of XP bonus being a guide for which rolls fit which class so I'd probably not mess with it personally.

Aight, that's enough for now. There's a lot more of these than I thought. Who knew a d100 table actually has 100 entries? I'll do the rest soon-ish.