Dungeons & Delvers 2nd Edition: Revised Conditions, Durations, and Saving Throws

During the playtesting phase of Dungeons & Delvers, the issue of condition stacking was brought up, specifically that none of them stacked. This meant that if a monster was, say, Dazed, there was no benefit to Dazing it again, except perhaps to increase the duration.

One of the players suggested a mechanic where multiple Dazes could be upgraded to Stunned, and though we tried to hash something out it became clear pretty quickly that, while it could be annoying to have the Daze aspect of an attack or effect be rendered meaningless, devising some sort of conversion formula was far more complicated than it was worth.

And then, while working on 2nd Edition, I of course thought of a workaround that mostly works.

First, we're moving away from durations of x rounds/minutes/hours/days/months/etc per level. Instead, effects will have set or randomized durations, which can potentially be modified by other means (such as a target failing its save by 5 or more points), expending a resource, and/or rolling really well on a check or attack that imposes the condition.

So an attack might now say that the target is Dazed for 2 or 1d6 rounds. If the target gets Dazed again by this same attack, you just tack on another 2 or 1d6 rounds, and it just goes up and up from there. The duration would also stack from different attacks and effects, so long as the cause is similar in nature (ie, monk punches and fighter clobbering with Stunning Blow).

Otherwise, you'll have to track them separately, which for most conditions I don't suspect will be too commonplace. 

Another change is that, for some attacks and effects, a save won't outright end the condition, but instead further reduce the duration. So the more you save (and the better you roll), the faster you recover.

For example, if you're Paralyzed for eight rounds, instead of a successful save meaning a complete, immediate recovery, at the end of your turn you make a save: if you succeed the duration is reduced by an additional round. But, if you exceed the DC by 5 points it is instead reduced by an additional two rounds, or three rounds if you exceed by 10 or more points, etc.

Some conditions are also getting overhauled in other ways:

BURNING

Currently, a creature afflicted by this condition suffers a randomized amount of damage, such as 1d4 or 1d8. I suppose there's no reason it couldn't be something like 2d4 or 3d10, but I think the most I've ever "officially" pegged it at is 1d12. The damage persists on a round by round basis, and typically a target afflicted by it can automatically make some sort of save to extinguish the flames.

For 2nd Edition we're going with a static value, such as 1 or 2, but each round you don't extinguish the flames it increases by 1. You not only also don't get to make a free check or save, but a success only reduces the value by 1, plus another point for every 5 points you exceed the DC. For example, if the save DC is 13 and you roll a 16, you reduce the Burning value by 1, but if you roll an 18 it instead goes down by 2.

If a creature is already Burning and gets afflicted with it again through some other effect, you simply add the values together. So, if a creature is Burning 2 and gets hit with a fireflask that inflicts Burning 1, the target is now Burning 3.

We're also going to add in an alchemical item that automatically reduces your Burning damage, either by a set or random amount.

CONFUSION

Something we're playing with and might not change at all is having a larger Confusion table, and then effects would say that you're Confused 1d4, which is what you'd roll on the table to see what happens. Higher results make you do worse things, such as attack allies or even yourself.

A potential issue with this method is if you get hit with Confusion effects that use different dice. You can't roll twice, because you only get to do one thing per turn. Add the results? Eh, probably roll all Confusion dice and take the highest result. Yeah, that sounds good.

CORRODING

Another damage over time condition, Corroding is similar to Burning but the damage die automatically decreases every round until it goes away on its own (but you can typically make a Constitution save to end it, anyway).

As with the new Burning condition, we're changing it from damage dice to a static value, which ticks down by 1 point every round. You can use your turn to make a check or save to reduce it, but as with the new Burning success only reduces the damage by 1, plus another one for every 5 points you exceed the DC.

There's also going to be an alchemical item that reduces Corrodiing damage. Actually, need to make an oil that grants acid resistance.