Sleep is a badly scaling save-or-lose

The Sleep spell has a long D&D pedigree, it was the first spell for many, many Magic-Users and Mages back in the days before 3rd edition. But, design-wise, it's pretty terrible.

The platonic ideal of a D&D encounter is one where the party wins, but comes out of it with close to no spells left, everybody down a ton of hit points, but triumphant.

The sleep spell is the opposite of that. At first level, sleep can solve a good number of encounters. Cast spell, greenskins fail their saves, PCs win. By third or fourth level, you cast it hoping that one of the greenskins maybe fails a save. By fifth or sixth level, you just don't cast it. And if you have limited Spells Known, you're book-diving for when and how you can trade it for something else.

Pathfinder 2E says that they're replacing save-or-dies with spells that scale more elegantly--replacing success/failure with critical success/success/failure/critical failure. But they're basing it on a single d20 roll, probably +/- 10. That still means that, realistically, there are two expected outcomes--because the other two are mathematically unlikely. (There's a "sweet spot" where you have three plausible outcomes, 1-5 6-15 16-20. But that's a fleeing moment in the campaign).

Without importing 5E's advantage mechanic wholesale, I think that rolling multiple d20s is an attractive way of resolving multi-level success-and-failures. Roll 2d20 vs target, you can succeed 0, 1 or 2 times. In the case of a re-worked sleep spell, we can use the "dazed" condition. 0 saves means "deeper daze" (good name for the spell) for 1 minute per caster level (same duration as sleep), 1 save means dazed for one round. And we can port the same clause that any ally can break the daze (just like waking up a sleeper) with a full-round action. (Or even a standard action). In a stealth situation, you could spam it on a single target, making sure that they were out of action before you sneak past. And we can easily extend the spell chain to 3rd level with mass daze, a 20' radius burst.
We could specify that "deeper daze" is broken by taking damage. That creates more interesting choices for the players. A "deeper dazed" opponent is out of the fight, but is still a future threat and may have loot.

This setup would also let "color spray" stay useful at higher levels--instead of scaling by target Hit Die, roll 3 Will saves for stunned (fail 1), blinded (fail 2), unconscious(fail 3).

Character Generation, for New and Experienced Roleplayers

I know what kind of hero I want to play.
If you want to play a particular Pathfinder or PAthfinder-compatible class or archetype, check with your DM. If your DM approves, go to that sourcebook and make your hero. (You and your DM will need access to that book fairly regularly to play that character in the game.) Your stats are +2, +2, +1, +1, 0, -1 arranged to taste.
Called by a Ritual of Thaumasia, your hero appears in the with your starting equipment.


IF you want to play something that may not be a traditional fantasy type--a Jedi Knight, or a My Little Pony original character, or a soldier from a first-person shooter or a Disney princess and you have an experienced DM, talk to your DM. MAybe they can “homebrew” you a race and class that lets you do that. (If your DM is also learning how to play or how to DM, homebrewing is not recommended.) But remember that you’re playing with other players--it’s not much fun for them if you’re doing all the hero-ing because you’re a dragon or a Battlemech or a Kryptonian and they’re not.

I'm not sure what I want to play. That's okay. Do you want to play a Tough, Strong, Smashy hero? You're a Warrior. Or are you thinking of a Clever, Quick, Sneaky hero? You're a Trickster. Or do you want to be a Magic-User? You could be a book-wizard, seeking out magical tomes to learn new spells, or you could be a specialist, master of a school of magic or an elemental power, or a bear shaman or some other theme or type that defines your powers.

Next, did your hero grow up in the heart of civilization, in the uncivilized wilderness, or in the frontier area that may go back and forth between civilized kingdoms and hostile wilderness? Pick Civilized, Borderlands or Savage Lands.

What money is for in Thaumasia

I just read AngryGM's Nothing Here But Worthless Gold, and wanted to post some thoughts. If you don't want to read AnrgyGM's rant, the point is that the PCs don't end up doing that much with the huge amounts of money they tend to accumulate. (He doesn't seem to consider 3X campaigns that assumed fully functioning magic marts).

In Thaumasia, the heroes aren't going to be accumulating huge piles of cash and things easily converted to cash. Most of the valuable treasures aren't things that there's a liquid market for--magic weapons and most magic items are built for or by a specific person, and lose a lot of value in anyone else's hands, and besides, there aren't a lot of eligible buyers. You need a buyer with A) a big pile of cash, B) the ability and training to benefit from a magic sword and get your money's worth and C) doesn't already HAVE a magic sword. (Sure, maybe the one you're selling is better, but probably not--PCs keep the best sword and try to sell the old one).

One thing surplus magic items do is help contribute to the magical defenses of the kingdom. Orgnak the Unpleasant's Obsidian Blade of Evil may not do the players much good, but it counts towards the materials required to upgrade the frontier town's Temple to a Cathedral.

Another thing treasure does is provide new adventure hooks. Maybe the party fighter wants to wield the Dwarvencraft Axe of Sharpness, or maybe you want to gift it back to the Dwarven Lords (with the understanding of reciprocal gifting), maybe as an embassy from the King to upgrade relations with the Dwarven Lords (and raise your status in the kingdom).

I want to design the RPG that I want. The OGL exists, in its original d20 and its Paizo forms, and plenty of Open Gaming Content exists that can be incorporated.

Things I want my game to do:

1. Quick start, fast learning curve. Character generation and running your character's mechanics should be things new players master in one session.

2. Versimilitude. Players (and the GM) should believe that the world would continue in some form when the PCs are offscreen.

E6 lends itself to #2--the PCs become powerful in the world, but never powerful enough to overwhelm the world.
E6 lends itself to another design principle--with only 6 levels, I can benchmark things (spells, abilities) in three tiers (common, uncommon and rare). That helps 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spells to feel different, and to have design principles that make them 1st, 2nd, 3rd level besides just inflating numbers.