Thread by @Emmetation

Doctors and Daleks, our #dnd5e conversion of Doctor Who The Roleplaying Game, is out this Tuesday! So I thought I'd share some insights into what has changed from #dnd, what's the same, and what we've brought over from the Doctor Who RPG

Just like regular DnD, you'll pick your Species and Class. For Species, you can choose from Human, Sontaran, Silurian (Welsh or Wenley Moor), and Time Lord. There are no preset Ability Scores, you can choose those yourself, but there are recommendations (such as Str for Sontaran)

Time Lords get more bonuses than other Species, such as access to SRD spells like Telepathy and Augury based on their level. But don't worry, the GM chapter contains advice on having a Time Lord in the party and keeping things fair

You'll also be able to create your own new Species by using a set of Ability Score Increases, and unique Feats. This let's you play as cyborgs, aliens, and psychics - basically anything or anyone the Doctor has ever encountered!

There are 6 classes to choose from, each focused on one ability score. They are

Charmer (Cha)
Empath (Wis)
Protector (Con)
Stalwart (Str)
Thinker (Int)
Trickster (Dex)

Each class has a choice of 3 Archetypes as you level up, which are based on the Doctor's companions

For example, The Charmer has The Agitator Archetype, which is based on Donna Noble; The Empath has The Physician, based on Martha Jones; the Protector has The Sentinel, based on Madame Vastra, and so on

PLOT POINTS

You can see from the character sheet, characters now have Plot Points instead of Hit Points. Since Doctors and Daleks has a big focus on social conflict rather than physical combat, Plot Points represent your resolve (or literal plot armour!)

When you or an enemy loses all of their Plot Points, they don't die. Instead it represents them surrendering, or retreating (or being knocked out if the enemy was physically attacking then!)

HP was always meant as an abstract measurement, Plot Points reinforce this

QUIPS

Quips are at the heart of social combat in Doctors and Daleks. Essentially they work like spells from DnD, but deal Emotional or Logical damage to the opponent to reduce their Plot Points. They include Quips like Parley, Logical Argument, and "Jelly Baby?", and lots more

Every class has access to "Cantrip Quips", which are infinite use Quips (just like Cantrips), but the three "Caster" classes (Charmer, Empath, and Thinker) get a full range of more powerful Quips to utilise. Quip Bonus and Quip DC are always based on your class attribute.

Quips are a TONNE of fun to roleplay, trust me!

The Player's Guide also gives advice on taking some spells from DnD and turning them into Quips (like changing Blindness/Deafness to Bag of Sand, or Greater Restoration to Shake it Off!)

One of the coolest parts of Doctor Who The Roleplaying Game is the initiative system, which we have brought over to Doctors and Daleks.

At the start of the round, tou declare whether you are going to be Talking, Doing, or Fighting

Talkers go first, Doers second, Fighters last

Talkers can use Quips or simply roleplay on their turn. Doers can try to interact with the environment to reduce the encounter Plot Points (such as hacking a computer or pushing over a bookcase). Fighters resort to physical violence, and always go last

Fighting is always a last resort, especially since doing so means that the whole group has Disadvantage on all Quips for the rest of the conflict!

The Player's Guide also contains rules for retreat and surrender, which are almost always preferable to violence

On the subject of conflict, one of the coolest things the team has done with Doctors and Daleks is create a new Encounter Level system. Essentially, instead of each enemy having Plot Points, the encounter itself has Plot Points. This is not just all the enemy Plot Points -

- rolled into one, but instead a suggestion of Plot Points and abilities based on the party's level. This means that you can have dozens of enemies in an encounter and the party don't need to spend an eternity reducing them all to 0 before they win!

It also means that, due to adjustments fromt the Encounter Level table, the party can face any enemy at any level. A Dalek has a CR 10 in traditional DnD, but using this system you can throw dozens of Daleks at a level 3 party and they'll still have a chance!

The Encounter Level Modifiers you can see on the Dalek statblock above means that there are some things that remain unchanged (such as AC from Dalekanium Armour), which means that all enemies feel unique

We've also included HP, so you can run the creatures with standard DnD

There's lots more in the Player's Guide, including equipment, how to handle tech from across time and space, and, most importantly, how to run a game and make it feel like Doctor Who, but you can read for yourself this Tuesday the 19th of July!

#dnd #DoctorWho

Oh! And as well as the Players Guide, we'll also be releasing Alien Archive (a bestiary of strange creatures) and Keys of Scaravore (a complete adventure campaign), plus a GM Screen!

These will launch a few months after the Player's Guide, so stay tuned for more info!