House Rules

Malaise

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© Daniel S. Wall, July 20, 2026.

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A Trace of Death Lingers by Joyce Maureira

Malaise is an inverse measure of a character’s will to live. The higher their Malaise, the less resilient a character will be. Those with truly high malaise will be quick to grow ill and slow to heal. They will also be remarkably susceptible to attacks from Undead. They will retain all their normal skills and abilities, but a character with a high malaise has one foot in the grave. Until she learns to love life again, a character with high Malaise may be very difficult to keep alive.

The idea here is to create a long-term problem with its own significance in role-play, one that is solvable, but not with a quick healing spell. It plagues characters who have come close to death, or experienced significant loss, been subjected to life-draining attacks, or engaged behavior contrary to their deepest convictions. Any one of these could leave a character with a weakened will to live. It does not undermine their skills and abilities, but it does leave them more fragile. Malaise provides an alternative to the loss of levels or attribute scores and the forcible alignment change of earlier editions of D&D while keeping a sense that these issues create problems not easily resolved within a single game session.

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Malaise at its Core

Squonk painted by Andy Sneed

Acquiring Malaise: Aside from rare instances of special attacks or magical effects imposing it, Malaise is usually acquired through close calls with death, the loss of loved ones, or by actions inconsistent with the established nature of a character. A character fresh off a near-death experience may find that death itself still has a little bit of a hold on them, just as they may long to join a dead spouse or some other loved one. Characters who have acted in a manner significantly inconsistent with their values and goals may find themselves questioning the value of their own life.

Malaise can also be the result of extraordinary attacks one might characterize as life-stealing, such as the bite of a vampire or the nightmares caused by a succubus. These too will weaken a character’s will to live.

Effects of Malaise: The Malaise score of a character is a penalty to any healing done to that character. It is also a vulnerability penalty, adding to the damage done by Undead to that character. A character with 1 point of malaise thus reduces the damage healed from a spell by 1 point and raises her damage from an Undead by 1 as well. A character with 6 points of malaise reduces healing spells by 6 and adds 6 points to any damage caused by Undead. Malaise can have other featurs as well, and at their own discretion, a GM may certain flesh add implications of their own.

Overcoming Malaise: A character must play a full game session with any Malaise earned before attempting to buy it off. After that, a character may buy off malaise at a cost built on a triangular sum at the end of any given game session. If 1 point of Malaise can be bought off at the cost of 1 point of x.p., then 2 may be bought off at a cost of 3 total (1+2=3), and 3 can be bought off at a cost of 6 (1+2+3=6). Thus, Malaise can be bought off slowly at a low cost or rapidly at a high cost. It is up to the player to decide which he prefers.

Certain special abilities or problems may enhance malaise, trigger tactical benefits on the basis of malaise, facilitate rapid overcoming of malaise, or drag out that process. These are rare abilities, and they are prone to high cost. In no case, will an ability ever enable a character to overcome Malaise without going through a full game session with any given Malaise penalty.

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Game-Specific Applications

D&D (1st through 3rd editions): How does one apply the concept to D&D? First we will look at the specific mechanics for acquiring Malaise, the specific effects of Malaise, and finally, the means of overcoming it.

Mechanics for acquiring Malaise: Malaise may be acquired in a variety of ways.

Death: Any character brought back from the dead automatically gets 10 points of Malaise.

Grief: The death of a loved one or dear friend, or a significant loss with serious consequences, may incur 1-3 points of Malaise at the discretion of the GM (or alternatively, the consensus of the players present).

Life-Draining Attacks: Any attack which might otherwise cause the permanent draining of a level or a point off a character’s attributes would instead result in 3 points of Malaise. (Alternatively, 1 point of Malaise could be added to the existing effect without taking that effect away.)

Moral Transgressions: Any time a character acts in such a manner as to contradict their alignment, they acquire 1-5 points of Malaise, depending on the severity of the transgression. This can replace the old first edition mechanic of simply changing the character’s alignment. How this decision is made varies. It could be the GM’s call or it could be a decision at the consensus of the players.

Near Death Experiences: A Character acquires 1 point of Malaise once she goes below 0 hit point status and 1 more for every 3 continuous rounds spent at 0 hit point status or below. (Note: if the character dies outright, just apply the death rule instead.)

Effects of Malaise: The numeric value of a character’s Malaise provides a variety of different problems for a given character.

Attacks by Undead: It is a bonus to the damage done by Undead to that character.

Death Magic: It is damage taken in the event of a successful save versus death magic. A failed save would of course make this irrelevant.

Healing Magic: It is a penalty to any healing done on the character in question (to a minimum of 1 point healed).

Natural Healing: It is a penalty to any rolls made to assist a character in healing by means of natural medicine, and it is a chance (multiplied by 5) that the wound will not naturally heal according to the normal rules on any given day.

Mechanics for overcoming Malaise: To buy off Malaise, a character must first play a full game session with any Malaise they wish to eliminate. After this, they may buy off Malaise in the following manner. To buy off 1 point of Malaise at the end of a given session, a character must spend 10% of the difference between the experience needed for their current level and that needed for the next. To buy 2 points off at the end of a given session, a player must spend 30% of that difference. To buy off 3 at the end of a given session, they must spend 60%, and so on.

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Tunnels and Trolls (Deluxe Edition): How does one apply the concept to Tunnels and Trolls? First we will look at the specific mechanics for acquiring Malaise, the specific effects of Malaise, and finally, the means of overcoming it.

Mechanics for acquiring Malaise: Malaise may be acquired in a variety of ways.

Near Death Experiences: A Character acquires 1 point of Malaise once she goes below 0 hit point status and 1 more for every 3 continuous rounds spent at 0 hit point status or below. (Note: if the character dies outright, just apply the death rule instead.)

Death: Any character brought back from the dead automatically gets 10 points of Malaise.

Grief: The death of a loved one or dear friend, or a significant loss with serious consequences, may incur 1-3 points of Malaise at the discretion of the GM (or alternatively, the consensus of the players present).

Moral Transgressions: If the player running a character and the GM agree that the character has acted in a manner wildly inconsistent with their character and/or the best interest of their stated goals, they acquire 1-5 points of Malaise, depending on the severity of the transgression. This may not happen often, as a player is unlikely to agree to it, but it remains an option.

Effects of Malaise: The numeric value of a character’s Malaise provides a variety of different problems for a given character.

Attacks by Undead: It is a bonus to the damage done by Undead to that character.

Healing: It is a penalty to any healing done on the character in question (to a minimum of 1 point healed). Note that the in event that a character should have been healed to full Constitution, they end up with their Malaise in damage after all.

Mechanics for overcoming Malaise: To buy off Malaise, a character must first play a full game session with any Malaise they wish to eliminate. After this, they may buy off Malaise in the following manner. To buy off 1 point of Malaise at the end of a given session, a character must spend 10 adventure points. To buy 2 points off at the end of a given game session, a player must spend 30 adventure points. To buy off 3 at the end of a given game session, they must spend 60 adventure points, and so on.

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Worlds of Hurt (My Homebrew): How does one apply the concept to Worlds of Hurt? First we will look at the specific mechanics for acquiring Malaise, the specific effects of Malaise, and finally, the means of overcoming it.

Mechanics for acquiring Malaise: Malaise may be acquired in a variety of ways.

Death: Any character brought back from the dead automatically gets 10 points of Malaise.

Grief: Characters may take on Malaise for the loss of loved ones or for major set backs, as detailed in the rules for social relationships and other relevant portions of the game system.

Deep Wounds: A variety of special attacks cause Malaise as spelled out in the game rules.

Moral Transgressions: Characters may take Malaise for actions contrary to their moral values or memes as spelled out in the relevant sections of the game rules.

Near Death Experiences: A Character acquires 1 point of Malaise once they go down to 0 physical durability or below. They acquire 3 points of Malaise if they spend 1 full round in that status, and 5 points if they spend 2 rounds in that status.

Effects of Malaise: The numeric value of a character’s Malaise provides a variety of different problems for a given character.

Attacks by Undead: It is a bonus to the damage done by Undead to that character.

Healing Magic: It is a penalty to any healing done on the character in question (to a minimum of 1 point healed).

Natural Healing: It is a penalty to any rolls made to assist a character in healing by means of natural means.

Mechanics for overcoming Malaise: To buy off Malaise, a character must first play a full game session with any Malaise they wish to eliminate. After this, they may buy off Malaise in the following manner. To buy off 1 point of Malaise at the end of a given session, a character must spend 1 experience point. To buy off 2 at the end of a given session, they must spend 3. To buy off 3, they must spend 6, and so on.

Bounty Hunter

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How would you make a Bounty Hunter in First Edition D&D?

Well, my old players and I had a pretty simple approach. It woks like this.

Run the character as a Multiclassed Ranger-Assassin. This of course violates the rule that an assassin has to be evil and a Ranger has to be good, but that’s okay. A Bounty Hunter has his own mindset.

As to alignment, the Ninja can be true Neutral or Lawful Evil.

We didn’t really think of this as one character combining two different skill sets. We thought of it as one skill set that simply tracked through the rules system as two different classes.

That’s it.

Ninja (D&D, First Edition)

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How do you make a ninja in first edition D&D?

Well, as I recall, Dragon Magazine published something to that effect a time or two, but my own friends and I found it preferred our own version cobbled together from conventional classes out of the Player’s Handbook. We just had to tweak a few core rules, but the essential concept was simple.

Run the character as a Multiclassed Monk-Assassin. This of course ignores either the rule saying that Monks have to be human or the rule that only other races can be multi-classed. I guess, you could ignore both, but you have to ignore at least one of them to do this. My preference is to say Ninjas have to be human, but that this specific combination is allowed.

We didn’t really think of this as one character combining two different skill sets. We thought of it as one skill set that simply tracked through the rules system as two different classes.

As to alignment, the Ninja can be true Neutral or Lawful Evil.

Any weapons appropriate to ninjas are automatically allowed.

That’s it.

Critical Fumbles

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A house rule for first edition, D&D.

Daniel S. Wall

Whenever a character rolls a natural 1, her player rolls a die 20 and consults the table below to see what happened.

Note that the likelihood of a serious critical fumble is significantly affected by the nature of the attack. Someone firing a missile at a single target is less likely to fumble than someone fighting with a weapon in the midst of a general melee, and of course there are all sorts of shades in between. It is for this reason that some of the columns below contain several possibilities for ignoring the fumble result altogether while others have little or no such merciful options.

Definitions

Ally: Any character, monster, or construct actively helping the principal attacker. This does not include bystanders unless they are actively attacking the same opponent.

Attack (the): The attack which scored a critical fumble and landed you on this table to begin with.

Enemy: The target of the attack and/or anyone clearly allied with that target and/or fighting the principal attacker and her allies.

Attacker: The person launching the attack which scored a critical fumble.

Target: The individual attacked on the critical hit.

 

  Missile  
Armed Attacker Unarmed Attacker
Roll Isolated Target Crowded One-on-One Crowded One-on-One Crowded
1 A A A A A A
2 P C C C P C
3 P B P B P B
4 P C P C P C
5 D D D D D D
6 P C E E E E
7 P C P E P E
8 P C I F P F
9 H H G G G G
10 P P G G G G
11 I I I I I I
12 P P I I I I
13 P P J J J J
14 K K K K K K
15 P P K K K K
16 P P N L N L
17 M M N L N L
18 N N N N N N
19 P P N N N N
20 O O O O O O

 

A: Hit Self. Attacker rolls using strength and weapon bonuses only on the attack roll against the attacker’s own armor class without a dexterity bonus. If successful, then only strength and weapon bonuses apply to the damage. Any other technique or skill bonuses can be ignored.

B: Hit ally, Alternatively, give other enemy an attack of opportunity on the attacker.

C: Hit Wrong Target. This could be an ally or an enemy, or even a bystander. The GM will randomize the new target based on proximity to the original target or to the line of fire toward that target. The attack roll will be made using any applicable strength or weapon bonuses.

D: Lose Next Attack. This applies if the character remains in continuous melee combat up until her next attack is due or if she is firing missiles continuously until her next attack is due. If she moves on to do other things, the result becomes irrelevant, but she must waste at least 1 action to do so.

E: Leave Opening. Target gets a free attack on the attacker.

F: Get in the Way. Target gets a free attack on an ally.

G: Fall Down. (Nuff said!)

H: Slip: If the character is in a precarious condition, she falls down. If hiding, she loses hide-in-shadows and move-silently.

I: Drop weapon. Yep!

J: Drop Shield. Alternatively, drop weapon.

K: Drop Miscellaneous Item. Attacker drops an item of equipment. Alternatively, drop weapon.

L: Other Enemy Gets Free Attack. This is rolled against the attacker.

M: Snap Bowstring.

N: Break Weapon. The weapon breaks if it is non magical. Alternatively, if the weapon is magical, it is dropped.

O: Trivial Injury. Attacker takes 1 point of damage.

P: Nevermind.

Mentorship

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A Mentor in Action

Introduction: What follows is a house rule in broad stokes designed to enable advanced player characters to donate experience points (or any comparable measure of character development) to other characters in an RPG campaign. The more experienced character does this by sharing their own wisdom with a less advanced character, discussing the events of a given game session in order to help the novice learn from their shared experiences. Doing so means the elder character has to a degree shifted their own focus from learning and developing new skills to thinking about the needs of their younger and less experienced companions. As a result, the less developed character accumulates experience faster while the more advanced character grows more slowly.

This is game rule intended to accomplish two things; it can enable low level characters to catch up with more advanced companions faster than they might otherwise do, and it can facilitate greater cooperation between player characters (giving some players a real sense of investment in the development of the characters belonging to other platers at the table).

The basic idea can be tweaked in a number of different ways, but I have tried to follow a few practical guidelines here. First, the effect should be a small bump, enough to make a significant difference over time, but not enough to substantially transform the nature of the average game session. Second, the effect assumes a degree of role playing significance. The characters must talk to each other to make this happen; it is not simply a spell effect, it is something that is going to shape the relationship between the characters in question. The ability further assumes that the characters have gained experience together, and the bonus is applied to that experience. It may not be used to donate experience already accused to a given character.

How does it work? First, a character declares her intent to mentor another character. Doing so enables the mentor to donate 10% of the experience she has gained in shared encounters with her mentee over the course of that game session. If the mentee accepts, and both characters spend time discussing the events of the game with one another, then the experience points for each character are modified accordingly. Characters may mentor more than one 1 character and characters can also accept mentorship from more than 1 character, but no character may ever donate more than half their experience points for a given game session, nor may any character more than double the experience she has gained from a given encounter or game session.

Obviously, this model assumes a conventional experience point model. Alternative systems of advancement may require modification of this approach and GMs may wish to alter the approach to taste.

Individualized Options: Special abilities and feat systems can be used to enhance mentorship in a few ways. Such options can be used to provide a net gain in experience whenever mentorship is used. This making some characters exceptionally good at guiding and teaching their companions. A feat or special ability can be used to double the experience gained by a mentee without adding to the cost to the mentor. Whether or not this can be repeated so as to give some mentors even more effectiveness is an open question. In the case of a point-buy system for special abilities, a mentor can be given the option to provide a 10% bonus without cost, but only when the mentee is purchasing abilities already known to the mentor (e.g. a specific feat, language, or skill well-known to the mentor). Of course, it is also possible for a character to gain special abilities enhancing the benefits they get from mentorship, but that benefit would have to be weighed against the cost of the ability itself. Whether or not the result is worth it for the player or even for a GM to provide the option is another question.

Variations

Dungeons and Dragons: To use mentorship, the mentor must be at least 2 levels higher than the mentee. The mentor donates 10% of her experience points for any encounters during that game session in which she and her mentee were both present. The Mentee thus gains 10% over and above her normal haul for the session. Possible feats include “Mentor” which boosts the experience points gained to 20% for the same 10% donation, or “Advanced Mentor” which increases the experience points gained to 30% for the same 10% donation and “Trainer,” which boosts the experience points gained for characters with the same class to 30% for the same 10% donation. *

Tunnels and Trolls: To use mentorship, the mentor must be at least 1 level higher than the mentee. The mentor donates 10% of her adventure points for any encounters during that game session in which she and her mentee were both present. The Mentee gains 10% over and above her normal haul for the session. *

Worlds of Hurt (my homebrew): To use mentorship, the mentor must be at least 2 levels higher than the mentee. The mentor donates 1 or 2 points from her experience gained for any encounters during that game session in which she and her mentee were both present. The Mentee gains 1 or 2 points (matching the amount donated). Possible feats include “Mentor” which boosts the experience points gained to 2 or 4 (i.e. twice that donated) for the same 1 or 2 point donation. Additional options are available. *

* All variations are subject to the following limitations. 1) No mentee can gain experience without talking extensively to her mentor about the events of the game session.  2) No character may donate more than half her total experience point haul for a game session. 3) No character may do more than double the original experience point haul through donated experience for any given game session.

 

Vek (Tunnels & Trolls)

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© Daniel S. Wall, May 21, 2026.

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These are rules for playing Vek in Tunnels and Trolls, the Delux Edition. The general description of Vek can be found here.

Str: 1.1, Con: 1.1, Dex: 1.1, Lk: .9, IQ: .9, Wiz: .75, SP: 1 Chr: .75

Height: 1, Weight: 1

Language(s): Vek speak The Wild Tongue (or its closest equivalent).

Special Qualities: 1) All Vek have natural weapons useful in melee (their claws and a spiky tail) and missile (tail spikes). 2) The tail spikes have a range of 15 yards. Any given Vek will have a number of tail spikes equal to their strength or their Constitution (whichever is higher). They will grow back in between game sessions.

Standard Monster Rating: 30.

Tierzen (Tunnels & Trolls)

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© Daniel S. Wall, May 21, 2026.

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These are rules for playing Tierzen in Tunnels and Trolls, the Delux Edition. The general description of Tierzen can be found here.

Str: 1, Con: 1, Dex: 1, Lk: 1, IQ: .1.25, Wiz: .75, SP: 1 Chr: 1.75

Height: 1, Weight: 1

Language(s): Tierzen speak Necrotic (or its closest equivalent).

Special Qualities: Although physical combat works normally for Tierzen, they will typically use spiritual weapons when doing so. They can use regular weapons, but they normally manifest spiritual weapons for combat. When fighting with a spiritual weapon, any spite damage done to an opponent is matched by a point of damage to either IQ, WIZ, or Chr. It is up to the victim to decide which of these stats they will apply the damage to, but they will take damage to one of those attributes along with the usual damage to Con for a spite roll.

Standard Monster Rating: 40.

Waggamaephs (Tunnels & Trolls)

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 19, 2026.

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These are rules for playing Waggamaephs in Tunnels and Trolls, the Delux Edition. The general description of Waggamaephs can be found here.

There are two types of Waggamaeph. The stat blocks for each are as follows:

Hill Maeph: Str: 1, Con: 1.25, Dex: 2, Lk: 1, IQ: .9, Wiz: .5, SP: 2 Chr: .9

Height: .6, Weight: .7

Language(s): Hill Maephs speak speak the wild Tongue (or its closest equivalent).

Valley Maeph: Str: .75, Con: .9, Dex: 2, Lk: 1.1, IQ: .9, Wiz: .5, Sp: 2.5, Chr: 1.25

Language(s): Valley Maephs speak speak the wild Tongue (or its closest equivalent).

(Note that Speed does not seem to be modified based on kindred stats in official publications, so this stat block seems to defy the conventional approach to attributes in T&T, but speed (including both reflexes and rate of movement across the ground) is central to the concept of a Waggamaeph, so we are applying it here anyway.)

Special Qualities:

1) Waggamaephs never use equipment or weapons. Theoretically, they can, but it never seems to occur to them to do so. If told to, they will stop unless continually reminded. A Waggamaeph in armor is immediately reduced to half speed and suffers a penalty to all die rolls equal to the bonus of the armor. It’s pathetic.

2) Waggamaephs can move at twice the distance of a human across land for Hill Maephs or 2.5 times the distance for Valley Maephs.

3) Waggamaephs are very forgetful. They cannot be expected to maintain a specific position in a combat formation, so their position relative to other characters is always random. They can be asked to stand a watch, but there is no guarantee they will stay put or focus on their guard duties.

4) Waggamaephs are treated as having a strength multiplier equal to their level for purposes of unarmed combat.

5a) Hill Maephs have 4 points of natural armor.

5b) Valley Maephs have 2 points of natural armor.

Standard Monster Rating: 30.