The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Divine Blessings, The Nine Divines

Although there is no divine magic in the classical D&D sense in the world of the Elder Scrolls, the divines can influence the mortals. This occurs most commonly through blessings acquired in chapels or at altars, or in rarer cases amulets and relics. Below you will find the blessings of the Nine Divines.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; New class, The Blackguard

Sorry for not posting for a few days, I was busy with real life stuff. Here it is, the Blackguard, a half-caster stealth based class with two subclasses. Ideal for stealthy mages who prefer a bit more magic than the Arcane Trickser has to offer. As with all of my classes, this can be used for non Elder Scrolls style of play, with relatively small amounts of tweaking. Obviously, the spell point system needs to be converted, as well as the spell list. For this class I would recommend a spell list similar to the sorcerer's. 

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The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Currency part I

The Empire uses gold coins as its currency called "Septims" or less frequently "drakes", or even "gold". Since this currency is different than the normal D&D copper-silver-gold-platinum coins, in this post you will see price lists, costs of living and so on. You can use this for any Elder Scrolls game, and not just D&D conversion, or alternatively, you could use it for any game, even not Elder Scrolls by simply changing the name of the coins.

A "new" character creation method

I am not sure where have I seen this character creation method, possibly in Talislanta or some D&D E6 rules, but it really grabbed my imagination, and I do think it is awesome, so I will share it here, passing the word. It is a good way for players to choose their ability scores, while having both a random element, and a maintaining fairness. Behold!

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Artifacts of Tamriel: III. Oghma Infinium

The Book of Knowledge was written by Xarxes and it is frequently associated with Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of fate and knowledge. It is one of the most powerful artifacts in the world, sought by many, but acquired only by a few. The Oghma Infinum

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Artifacts of Tamriel: II. The Wabbajack

The Daedric Artifact of Lord Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness, is a fitting relic for any madman. The Wabbajack... Wabbajack Wabbajack Wabbajack.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Alchemy

Alchemy in the Elder Scrolls Games always played an important role. Potions and poisons were an important part of gameplay and tactics, characters could either boost themselves with powerful potions or put their enemies in tough situations by using them. Drinking potions is also an important way of regaining health and Magicka for adventurers when resting is out of questions. In this regard, the Elder Scrolls world is much more high magic than a default D&D setting, so a rework for potions and poisons is much needed.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Classes: The Spellblade: REWORK:

This is a class I have created as a martial oriented magic based class for the Elder Scrolls Conversion Project. This is not a final version, it probably needs some tweeking and some additional arcane stunts, but I put it out for you here. You can use it with other D&D campaings not just Elder Scrolls, but in this case I suggest you to create a limited spell list (something like the sorcerer). This table uses spell points, but the progression is exactly the same if you convert it than the other full casters. Have fun, and I hope you like it.
 

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Artifacts of Tamriel: I. Mehrunes' Razor

In the world of the Elder Scrolls, without question the most powerful items are Daedric Artifacts. These relics are connected to the most powerful of Daedra, the Daedric Princes, and the items share their power. In this series of post, I will upload the most powerful items in the world of Elder Scrolls, here is the first one, Mehrunes' Razor

Elder Scrolls Legion ranks

So, one of my players for the Elder Scrolls Conversion Project wants to play an Imperial Battlemage, and as such a member of the Imperial Legion. Now, I wanted to find a rank suitable for his character, but I wasn't really satisfied with the ranking system in Skyrim, being only 5 ranks in the legion, and the Morrowind ranks are just silly, I created my own, lore-friendly ranks. You can find them below.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Iconic Creatures Part III, The Dremora part I.

Many of the D&D monsters presented in the Monster Manual can be used in all kinds of fantasy worlds, like animals, they appear in many works of fiction. Some monsters however in the Elder Scrolls universe are significantly different to be fully converted, either because they remind us something cool and memorable from the games, or because they are integral part of the world. In these posts you can see many creatures that we learned to love and appreciate (or hate and despise) in Elder Scrolls games.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Backgrounds

There are some specific backgrounds in the world of Elder Scrolls that needed covering, and also, some other backgrounds needed some changes and tweaking.

This is the first post, many other backgrounds will follow later on.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Spell list: Restoration

Restoration magic focuses magicka into influencing life energies. It is most often employed as healing magic, but there are other powerful effects in the school of restoration, such as wards, turning and destroying undead etc. Restoration is a diverse and respected school of magic.
Unlike in Dungeons and Dragons, there is no way of bringing back deceased characters, death is a final state and while restoration magic is powerful, it is not powerful enough to bring the dead back to life.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Classes II.

So, in my previous post about classes (you can read it here) I said I won't change too much stuff from D&D 5th edition, and stuff will stay largely like it is in the PHB. Well, I have changed my mind. Most of the classes will be reworked, to fit more in the world of Tamriel, and also to evoke the feeling of the games more. Some classes will stay the same, for the most part where only cosmetic changes are needed (fighter, rogue), but there will be some brand new classes and class options as well. So here is the overview for the reworked classes, and how they will work:

Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Spell list: Destruction

The magic schools are different in the Elder Scrolls, and to represent this, I have tried to recreate the magic system. This is the Destruction school of spells. You can use any or all of these spells in other D&D campaings, but they were designed to be balanced with the Elder Scrolls conversion project. None of these spells require material components, only somatic and verbal (all of them).

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Iconic Creatures Part II, The Daedra

Many of the D&D monsters presented in the Monster Manual can be used in all kinds of fantasy worlds, like animals, they appear in many works of fiction. Some monsters however in the Elder Scrolls universe are significantly different to be fully converted, either because they remind us something cool and memorable from the games, or because they are integral part of the world. In these posts you can see many creatures that we learned to love and appreciate (or hate and despise) in Elder Scrolls games.

D&D 5th Edition Houserule; Speed factor in initiative

This is just a rather small modification of the rules, one I think it makes the "Speed" attribute a bit more relevant. A lot of monsters, and PC races have descriptions that say: They have quick reflexes and high speed, yet when in the game quick reflexes and high speed would come into factor, these creatures and races don't have a very big advantage. If you are bothered by that, use this houserule to change it.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Vampires

Vampires are traditionally part of many fantasy worlds, but mostly as foes. These creatures of night however are playable in most Elder Scrolls games, and being one brings serious advantages as well as disadvantages to the player. Below you will find the rules how can you add vampirism into you Elder Scrolls games in 5th edition, as well as other fantasy worlds, if you are looking for an interesting twist on these nocturnal bloodsuckers

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Iconic Creatures Part I, The Undead

Many of the D&D monsters presented in the Monster Manual can be used in all kinds of fantasy worlds, like animals, they appear in many works of fiction. Some monsters however in the Elder Scrolls universe are significantly different to be fully converted, either because they remind us something cool and memorable from the games, or because they are integral part of the world. In these posts you can see many creatures that we learned to love and appreciate (or hate and despise) in Elder Scrolls games.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Enchanting and Magic items

In the world of the Elder Scrolls magic items and creating magic items (Enchanting) is relatively common. Some mages have steady incomes from creating, selling and recharging magic items for mercenaries, sellswords and adventurers. Below you will find how magic items work, some example magic items and the rules for enchanting.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Items and Weapons

There are many fantastical materials in the world of Elder Scrolls, and the people craft weapons from these materials often. These are an important part of the world, so I cannot leave them out from the conversion project. Below you will find the different materials, and the quality of weapons made from them.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; The Basics

To convert TES into 5th Edition, there are some things that need to be done. In earlier posts I have done the races, and for several days now, I have been working on converting the Magic system, but there are these small, rather cosmetic changes to the game that makes it feel much more like Elder Scrolls. This post will be regularly updated as I add more and more tidbits.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Races of Mer

Just as the races of men, the Elves, or Mer are also numerous, but only four of them was playable. They are the following: The noble, and haughty masters of magic, the High Elves, or Altmer, the ritually caniballistic forestdwellers, the Wood Elves, or Bosmer, the darkskinned ashlander Dark Elves, or Dunmer, and the strong berserkers, the Orcs, or Orsimer.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Spells and Magic

Magic in the Elder Scrolls universe works differently than in any edition of D&D therefore revising it is almost mandatory. Here are the guidelines how magic should work in your 5th Edition Elder Scrolls game.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; The Mage

This is the rework of the Wizard class, to represent magic and spellcasters more akin to the Elder Scrolls games. If you do not like the changes you can still use the vanilla Wizard, but I advise you to try this instead.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Classes

This is a post I will keep updating, and as soon as the classes will be done, I will link them to their place. 

Classes were never as big in the Elder Scrolls games as they are in D&D, but I will not change the whole system for this conversion, and only modify and take out the classes that cannot fit in the world at all. In this post I will list them, and I will put a short summary next to them, but the modifed classes will have their own separate post.

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Beast races

There are several races of beastfolk in the world of the Elder Scrolls, but the most common ones are the catfolk Khajiit and the lizardmen Argonian. Here are the statistics for them

The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project; Races of Men

There are over a dozen races of Men in the world of Tamriel, but so far only four of them were playable in the games, and keeping the tradition, these four are the races I am going to convert. These races are the proud and hardy people of Skyrim, the Nords, the cunning and magical people of High Rock, the Breton, the imperialistic and charismatic people of Cyrodiil, the Imperials, and lastly from a different ancestry, the fierce and willful people of Hammerfell, the Redguards.

The Elder Scrolls in 5th Edition; Conversion Project

Ever since Morrowind, I have been a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series, and several thousand hours of gameplay in the latest 3 instalment of the world over the last 10 years shows that this obsession is not likely to go away. It's a wonder why there has been no official tabletop game in the world of Tamriel, and while there are dozens of different homemade games, either something brand new, or some conversions, none of them really tickles my fantasy, so I decided to give it a try, and start the illustrious sounding The Elder Scrolls Conversion Project.

I will do classes, races, religions, spells and magic items. If you are interested, keep coming back, I will update the blog frequently with new Elder Scrolls material.

Lingering Injuries and Wounds, Massive Damage; Variant optional rule D&D 5th Edition

In the DMG, there are rules which you could use if you wish to implement sustained injuries and wounds for your players (pg. 272) and while I like the idea the random table presented there doesn't really fit my ideas about such wounds and injuries. This is a table and rule I made for my home groups, I hope you like it. Feel free to use this in your own games, and if you do, tell me how it went.

Monster; Owlgriffon

So, this is not something you will see often on the Blog, as my drawing pad and the PC stopped co-operating for a while now, and right now I don't have the budget to invest in new hardware, but I made this some time ago, it's only a sketch, but it's better than nothing. Owlgriffon, with stats below...

Non-combat damage, Coup de grâce, Instant Death; Variant rule

In 5th Edition hitpoints are defined as combat stamina and luck. A character doesn't get healthier by gaining levels, he just gets more accostumed to fighting and pain, and more experienced at avoiding lethal blows. This is why a character can "heal" overnight from 1 hitpoint, and this is why short rests make sense. Hitpoints do not represent actual physical health and well being, and for this reason hitpoints only make sense in combat situations. With these variant rules, you can implement a more realistic (and grittier) way of treating non-combat damage.

D&D 5th Edition Houserule, Proficiency Levels

I am pretty excited about D&D 5th Edition as it is, and mostly I only have minor complaints. The only larger problem I have, is the way how proficiency levels are done. Characters are either really good at something, or can't really grasp at it. Everything scales off from your levels. No middleground, no real choices when making a character. Class abilites enhance certain skills in some cases, but its far less common to make any real variety between characters who are not overly specialized. Yes, a Rogue sneaks better than a Fighter who happens to have stealth, but there isn't any difference between a Bard and the Fighter.
Another problem, fighting classes have no real advantage in combat than non figthing classes. A fighter can hit just as well as a wizard can, given they are using the same weapon. 
Of course, if you are not interested in making characters more detailed, and you prefer the streamlined solution provided in the core books, more power to you. But if you are like me, and would want just a little bit of more crucnh and mechanics... Here it is, Proficiency Levels, Optional Rule

A powerful tool in storytelling

There is a tool available to you as a Game Master that you almost never use. This tool can be used to control the game flow, game speed, and where is the adventure heading without it feeling unnatural. This tool is in all of your games, and it is part of your worlds. It is right in front of you. This tool is language...