Old School Al-Qadim

Its no secret that I love Al-Qadim (evidence) and think Al-Qadim did a reasonable job of getting the Arabian Adventure for D&D right. I think I might try to run an actual game of it in the fall: possibly in-person or possibly on roll20. So I wanted to catalogue some of my thoughts on how to fix it up.

1) If I ran it 5e style, there's some changes that need to be made. I've posted quite a few thoughts on this before.

2) If I run it with AD&D 2nd, I still want to consider a few changes. This is what I'll focus on.

Why change things if I want to run original Al-Qadim? Simply put, I want a few more options and to really utilize some of more modern ideas to bring it up to speed. Plus, it's actually fairly easy to mod second edition because of that old Core Rules CD-Rom which included all the books in .rtf format. So a cut-and-paste player's handbook will actually be quite easy to compile.

Races. The original Al-Qadim book came out before Complete Book of Humanoids. City of Delights makes it clear that some of the monstrous races are totally appropriate for Al-Qadim, and I'd like to take them up on it. Its totally fitting that Ogres and Goblins are PC races as the racial enmities are eliminated in the setting. I think I'll focus on Goblins and Ogres just to shy away from the more "common" orcs and also keep things a bit more limited. I'm tempted to add in Githzerai because I've fallen in love with them, but they might not be needed. I also might use Skills & Powers to re-create Dwarves and Gnomes basically by giving them something to replace the racial enmity. That said, this all might be useless if I have some mechanism to encourage playing humans: i.e. everyone rolls ability scores in order, if you're human you can re-arrange the scores as you like. Nonetheless, I like the idea of having some options.

Classes. I finally found a forum post on Dragon's Foot which touches on people's experience with some less-standard classes. Basically confirming my intuition that the Spells & Magic classes (Crusader, Monk, Shaman) along with Vikings (Berserker, Runecaster) and Scarlet Brotherhood (Assassin, Monk) classes are reasonably balanced with the core classes. Meaning I'll consider adding in the Crusader and Shaman as options, and possibly a couple others if I can work out the details. Well, crusader might be a bit stronger than the cleric, so maybe a tiny bit of toning it down. I'm also considering the magic of Spells & Magic for Al-Qadim, which might let wizards use channeling (Elemental Mage, Sorcerer & Sha'ir). Channeling basically ends up giving a boost to low-level mages who recover spell points over the course of the day, while limiting higher level mages by exhausting them when they cast their highest level spells. I might ditch Channeling for Sha'irs because they already have their own crazy system of magic. Temple priests would use ritual prayer (Presumably crusaders & clerics and Shamans) and free priests (presumably de-martial-art-ed Monks and Hakimas) would use conditional magic. These two systems seem like they limit clerics by requiring more time to cast their highest level spells (ritual prayer) or enforcing a code of conduct on mystics, visionaries, and prophets (conditional magic), they're otherwise your standard vancian casters. This does mean I'm considering converting the Priest/Wizard kits to classes, which brings me to kits. I'd also consider adding in the Skills & Powers rogue skills to the rogue classes, because why not? Rogues are a bit weak as it is and more skills ain't going to really hurt them. Because I'm thinking of having the game be human centric, I'm also considering letting normal humans multiclass. Though perhaps only the only options are Fighter/Whatever or Thief/Whatever, and maybe they'd be more like 2/3 one class and 1/3 the other. Not sure how stupid/wacky that would end up being.

Kits. Because I think the wizard kits are really classes, I'd need to borrow a few kits for these classes to use. There are some fairly reasonable options, such as something for temple priests, religious judge, scholars, viziers, and secret hidden mages. Maybe throw in some sort of ascetic and its pretty much good to go. I'm basically tossing out all the Complete Sha'ir's Handbook kits at this point, but I might be willing to re-consider something like the Mystic of Nog, because I love the Ruined Kingdoms. Maybe it can basically take that Monk from Spells & Magic but give them one elemental province of wizard spells plus unarmed fighting...

Proficiencies. I'm leery about these, but I might use them. Basically as long as they're based on a character's background, they're probably reasonable. So maybe what should happen is both the player and I should select proficiencies for their character and then we could see how much we agree. Also, I could just eliminate the cheesy ones like blind-fighting or require weapon proficiencies be spent on those guys.

Spells. I'll probably cull a few options from the spell lists to keep them manageable, but secretly add in whatever sort of crazy I want from the Spell Compendium. As one should.

Plot. I've got a few ideas linking some of the published modules and adventures for the Ruined Kingdoms. I'll have to bill it as an exploration game, because it will be. I'd love to have it start out with seeking out ruins further afield in the Ruined Kingdoms while a noble PC or patron NPC plots to start a whole new city. Depending on whether the players want to be part of the Enlightened Faith or the Old Faith will steer them towards certain enemies, but I'd imagine that eventually the game would involved actually founding a colony and dealing with some of the affairs of ruling a city. Cue Birthright rules as needed. There's a few obvious factions to involve: Enlightened Faith, the Old Faiths of Shajar and Ragarra, four+ rulers of local city-states (Dehliz, Kadarasto, Rog'osto, Afyal), the Brotherhood of True Flame, one or more Holyslayer groups, one or more Mamluk orders, plus whatever independant NPCs I have in mind. Running a city would, potentially, necessitate a few different characters: 1) a noble to rule, 2) a wizard for the magics, 3) a priest to play pontiff, 4) possibly a guild-rogue for the underworld, 5) a merchant-rogue for trade, 6) a holy slayer for all the jazz, and 7) a sha'ir for genie dealings. Maybe we can ditch one for simplicity and have an NPC or two as needed.

Scimitars against the Dark and the magic in dream Al-Qadim campaign

I still have this dream Al-Qadim campaign I'd like to run, and reading through Spells & Magic lately, I've been thinking of any rules alterations I'd want to do. The key thing that sticks in my brain is those nifty alternate magic systems. Channelers, Witches & Warlocks, Alienists, Defilers & Preservers, Ritual Prayer, Conditional Magic... That could be game-changing stuff.

But I can't find any info on it online. Did anyone use these in play? Was one of the systems horribly broken or easy to abuse? Do they mix well in the same game?

The obvious first thing to do is assign different magic systems to different classes. Start with the priests:

Hierarchy Priests (Pragmatists, Ethoists, Moralists) - Ritual prayer. These folks follow the rules and gain their religion's power through rites and rituals. It may take longer to cast a spell if they do the right thing, but they can save some power by taking time to do it right and/or make a spell more potent with the right sacrifices or time.

Free Priests (Mystics and Kahins) - Conditional Magic. These free priests gain their power through investments and dedication. When they act in their deity's interest, their spells are quite potent. If they act against their deity's will, their spells are reduced.

Hakimas - Technically free priests, but neither of the previous magic systems seem appropriate. I'm leaning towards channelling, but it doesn't quite seem like they should be weakened by the cosmic insights they are granted. There's not a real established Hakima code to build conditional magic out of though, nor is there some Hakima rite to base ritual prayer off of. So I'm a little stumped.

Moving on to the wizards, its also nebulous here. I'm not sure if its unfair to have two types of priests use a different system than wizards, but there's baggage on a few of the ends.

First off, channelling seems reasonably appropriate, even if it were to be shared with the Hakima. I want to keep the Brotherhood of True Flame in the setting, others are so minor it's hardly important.

Second, either warlockry or alienism seems like it could be grand for the setting, but they don't fit with the Brotherhood of True Flame. They'd be great for a Scimitars Against The Dark type game though, and alienism fits the sungazer wizard kit in that Scimitars.. article in Dragon Magazine. But in a world where magic is gleaned from demons or the dark between the stars (or monsters that existed before time was?), where is the role for the Brotherhood? The sword-and-sorcery that I've read generally eschews wizards' guilds because wizards are power-hungry madmen, so maybe alienism isn't the worst. Warlockry kinda steps on the Sha'ir's feet though. Also, alienism really would force a Scimitars Against the Dark type game where I'm not 100% sure that's what I'd be into.

Speaking of the Sha'ir, even if Alienism is adopted for most wizards, alienism certainly doesn't fir the Sha'ir. Then again, the sha'ir also has a unique magic mechanism, so maybe an alteration there isn't needed after all. Though channelling would be fitting, it would just hinder the Sha'ir more: they're already pretty limited in terms of spells they get to cast, and channelling wouldn't really limit the Sha'ir much because they'd be resting a bit while their gen fetches a new spell anyway.

Then there's the Rawun. Bards are spellcasters in AD&D, so what's their magic system. And there's paladins and rangers too, but I suspect paladins could be ritual and rangers could be conditional no problem. But bards get a good number of spells. Should every rawun go bad from learning cosmic secrets? Probably not. So I'm tempted to give them channelling like the Hakima, but that seems crappy too.

Best case thus far, I'm just doing stuff for priests other than the Hakima. Maybe its not worth it after all. Or maybe channelling can be just used for the mages (not sha'ir), bard, paladin, ranger, and hakima. Alienism might really shake up the setting a bit (what if you eliminate non-free priests as spellcasting options?), but it might do too much.

The other major problem here is these variants are only applicable to an OSR or 2nd Edition game. This would majorly impact the balance of things in 5e. One reason, I suppose, why I like how older editions are still more customizeable.

Al-Qadim 5th Edition Patch: Ghul Lord (First Draft)

Reading over the recent Unearthed Arcana article on modifying classes, it inspired me to finish up a first draft of some of the Al-Qadim patch material I've been thinking about. The 2nd Edition Ghul Lord was from the Complete Sha'ir's Handbook, and has stuck with me as a pretty unique spellcaster from 2nd Edition. From multiple readings, its still not clear to me how this kit was intended to work (I think you get necromancy spells plus manipulations..?), but I like the idea of being innately tied to necromantic energy and manipulating it in a way different from mages who study their spells carefully. That's pretty sorcerer to me, so here's the first draft of the build:

Ghul Lord (Sorcerous Origin)

Death Master

At first level you add all necromancy spells to the sorcerer list (but not your spells known). Each necromancy spell you know adds one to your maximum hit points. All of your spells which do not normally deal necrotic damage do half of their damage as necrotic. You resist necrotic damage, and your spells which deal necrotic damage bypass necrotic resistance. You gain proficiency with the short sword, long sword, and scimitar. When you cast a spell, there is often a subtle sensory effect that reveals your spells are not normal (tears of blood, flickering or sickly light, whispers or moans of the dead, etc.).

The idea is I'm giving the ability to cast lots of necromancy, and an incentive to take those spells. At maximum it would be 15-20 bonus hp (depending on more necromancy cantrips being released), which is what the Dragon origin gets. In practice, I doubt anyone would take only necromancy spells, but two hp/spell seems high and I haven't thought of another good bonus other than duplicating the wizard necromancer benefits. Non-necromancy spells are restricted to the sorcerer list still, and get necromancy flavored. The resistance stuff just seems like a minor fix for a character that will be doing necrotic damage constantly. I considered a limited ritual casting which would allow the ghoul lord to cast necromancy rituals but that hardly seems potent given that its only feign death and gentle repose.

Disrupting Manipulations

At 6th level, you may regain one sorcery point by expending a hit die and subtracting the roll from your hit point total. This damage cannot be reduced in any way. In addition, you know the spells dispel magic and counterspell which do not count against your number of spells known. When you successfully cast either of these spells, any creature or object from which you dispelled a spell or the creature whose spell you countered takes necrotic damage equal to 1d12 plus your sorcerer level.

This is legacy stuff. Gaining a few bonus sorcery points for sacrificing hit dice is thematically appropriate, as well as the Ghul Lord's magic disrupting normal magic. While the first feature could belong to any death-themed sorcerer, here we are firmly in the domain of the ghul lord.

Necrotic Manipulations

At 14th level, as an action, you may temporarily add one evocation or necromancy spell from the sorcerer spell list to your spells known by expending sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. If that spell deals damage, half of the damage is considered necrotic damage. You lose access to the spell once you cast it or when you take a short or long rest. If the spell is an evocation spell that does not normally deal damage, it deals 1d12 plus your sorcerer level in necrotic damage to any living creature which comes into contact with the effect.

More legacy material. The idea is the ghoul lord can manipulate raw necrotic energy to cast spells. This lets them get a blasting spell they need easily, and a few utilities though they may be costly. Again, this makes this ghul lord specific, rather than just death sorcerer.

Rotting Strength

At 17^th level, you can be targeted by effects that target undead, and whenever you are subject to an effect that only affects undead you may choose whether or not you are affected. You are immune to necrotic and poison damage, and your spells that deal necrotic or poison damage deal extra damage equal to your charisma modifier.

This is obviously the "you are dead" capstone. Not sure its quite enough yet, a bit of a random grab bag of weaker effects. This feels a little less like ghul lord, but is thematically related to the ongoign loss of strength/constitution/charisma the ghul lord suffers by turning more death-like.

All in all, I'm not unhappy with this but not quite happy either. I need to go back and see if I'm missing something from the original (defensive, informative, and translocative manipulations?) or what I've got here (the grab bag of powers and all) that isn't necessarily thematic and could be simplified. For example, if the ghoul lord can only learn necromancy spells (If you draw from all lists, I think there's enough in the Player's Handbook) rather than from the sorcerer list, then the manipulation ability could be expanded and given at 6th level (i.e. Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination or Evocation spells from the sorcerer list, or any spell from the sorcerer list..? Illusions might not be bad, but Enchantments and Transmutations aren't thematic). Also I should re-compare things to the normal sorcerer options (and the new Favored Soul) to check the relative power levels, but its a start.

Al-Qadim: Elemental Provinces

Just a little proof of concept for adapting elemental provinces to a 5e Al-Qadim game. The Elemental Evil spells combined with Book of Lost Spells has added a good number of options to the game. Enough, I think, where one could easily start playing at low levels.

I obviously pillaged spells from all over the Player's Handbook. There's a few levels in which a given province doesn't have a spell, which is a slight problem. These could be filled in, however. There's also possibly a controversial assignment or two (Mage armor and sleep being only available in the Sand province). I also don't like ice magic as sea spells, but I left a couple in from the PHB as they flesh the sea province out a bit more. I'm tempted to consider lightening as flame spells, but that gives a whole lot to the Brotherhood of True Flame. If you give those all to wind though, you end up with wind sorcerers using primarily lightening spells to attack instead of the thematic windy spells...

I'm keen on exploring a few broader or thematic application of the elemental provinces as well. For example, Air is the element associated with thought, so detect thoughts and telepathy could fill out that list, as well as invisibility which seems to fit the wind province more than others. Water might get intuitive and emotional spells. Sand could get some other defensive spells along with things like hold person as earth is the element of rigid stability. Flame might get aggressive, inspiring, and charming spells. That sort of thing. Some provinces might share spells, such as the hold spells being shared by sand and wind, or charm being shared by flame and water.

Spells marked with a * are Elemental Evil and I'd say commonly available. Spells marked † are Book of Lost Spells and the DM might provide those as treasure rather than just including all of them on a big list (other than the cantrips, I'd make those freely available to choose). I'm mostly going off of spell names for Book of Lost Spells entries. There's probably a few I missed and a couple that'd be best left off these lists. Also I wasn't sure what to do with a few spells which might be of two provinces (e.g. Air Forge† as wind and flame or Steam Bolt† as sea and flame, etc.), so I just made an arbitrary decision. I could see them as only being available to "sorcereres" who specialize in two provinces, or just dual-listing some as I've done below.

In terms of classes, I imagine giving each "arcane" class (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) access to one province. Wizards might have a tradition that gives them access to a second province. Arcane Tricksters and Eldritch Knights choose spells from one province instead of their usual school restrictions (this might lead to lots of sand eldritch knights and sea/wind arcane tricksters). This basically means a new spell list for most every class, as I'd try to remove most of the elemental spells from everyone (even Clerics/Paladins/Rangers maybe).

Lists after the break:

RPG Resources for an Arabian Nights Game: Al-Qadim and Beyond

It must have been around 1993 when I got the Al-Qadim book for AD&D. Its loomed in the back of my mind as something I've yearned to try since then: I made a crappy attempt or two in highschool, and was able to vaguely use it as a setting for some SaturD&D when I lived with the Antagonizer, but I never got to actually run any of its grand boxed sets.

Still, I kinda yearn for that and now that I basically live here I feel like I should give an Arabian Adventure its fare shake. Plus, I've actually almost completed my Al-Qadim collection (just have to re-purchase one boxed set that I got which did not have the maps in it). There's a lot of inspiration to go on though. This is an in-progress list with uneven annotations and formatting, but it might be useful to others as well, however imperfect. I'll update it as I form stronger opinions or if I miss anything.

Official D&D

• Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures. This is the AD&D 2nd Edition campaign setting, sort of. Its more like Oriental Adventures in that it gives rules for a 1001 Nights style game, but very little actual setting. That comes in the Land of Fate boxed set. There are a host of additional materials for the setting, but I found the Secrets of the Lamp and Ruined Kingdoms to by some of my favorites. Though Golden Voyages looked fun as well, and Cities of Bone has one of my favorite adventures. Don't miss the Complete Book of Necromancers which has additional details on the Isle of Sahu and the Ruined Kingdoms (though it doesn't quite all mesh perfectly). The setting is a nice pastiche of Arabia and surrounding areas, as well as a pastiche of monotheistic Islam as a generic polytheistic setting. Don't look to it for historical accuracy, but its a classic for a classic. (Collector's Guide at Enworld)
• Emirates of Ylaraum. I haven't looked at this basic gazetteer, but it's the desert covered in the Master of The Desert Nomads and Temple of Death.
• Desert of Desolation. I3, I4, & I5 for AD&D. Another classic adventure (series). I think these are technically Forgotten Realms.
• There's a couple Forgotten Realms regional settings as well that I haven't looked into. Anauroch and Calimshan, well as the 3.5 Sandstorm supplement that I never picked up

d20/Pathfinder Supplements

• Dunes of Desolation. Frog God Games. Pathfinder supplement. Covers some different types of deserts as well. 
• Endless Sands. Avalanche Press. d20 supplement.
• Southlands. Kobold Press. A pathfinder supplement for the Midgaard campaign setting. I kickstarted this but haven't gotten a chance to really look yet.
• Legacy of Fire. Pathfinder adventure path. I keep thinking about picking this one up, but I never do.

Historical Settings/Games

These are all adaptations to a real-world medieval Arab setting. As such, they're all actually pretty decent for the background info. The rules are all different, but they're useful for inspiration. The Caliphate Nights one is particularly good.

• Tales of the Caliphate Nights. True 20. Real-world based. This is really an excellent supplement, but I'm a bit more into the fantastic rather than the real-world. Still, great inspiration.
• Gurps Arabian Nights. Real-world based.
• Rolemaster Arabian Nights. Real-world based.
• Nights of the Crusade. A self-contained, ENie & Origins nominated, RPG. Real-world based story game.

Indie Games

There's a number of 1001 nights inspired indie storytelling games. They're here:

• The Adventures of Sindbad. Indie storytelling game.
• A thousand and one nights. Indie story game.

Miniatures

Not required, but certainly helpful for many people. I've been picking up some when I can find them. Unfortunately, non-western minis can be difficult to come by [Edit: easier when you try a few different search terms, see below.]. If you've got a bit of cash to spend, the Reaper ones are good and you have a few options for PCs. Genies aren't hard to find either. But if you want camels (dromedary, not bactrian), river crocodiles and hippos, less pirate-y corsairs, and appropriate monsters (yak-men anyone?) you have to look around a bit. There's a good variety of human warriors for various war games though, so less-heroic fighters are relatively simple to find, even mounted ones.

• Legend of the Sands. Reaper makes a fair number of Arabian themed minis, and this is a good collected set. Reaper is generally top tier.
• There was a company called megaminis that made a good little variety of Arabian minis, though they are smaller scale (25mm?) than is the fashion these days (28+mm). I'm not sure the sculpt quality was up to today's standards (more like the 90s minis) but they're eminently useable.
• As always, the second hand market for D&D minis and pathfinder ones is invaluable, but its best to keep up semi-regularly (once a year or so) to get them while they're reasonably priced. Some of the D&D minis from 10 years ago are ridiculously expensive for what they are. Then again, for less than $2 you can pick and choose, and a lot of the monsters are even appropriate for the setting. I've had good luck ordering singles from a bunch of different places. Sometimes you can shop for the best price, but with shipping its usually just easier to order from one pace.
• I'm not sure how Hero Forge stacks up yet, but its likely you can build some decent options.
• Shieldwolf Minis has a few "Araves" which are obviously Arabian-themed minis. 4 Genies plus a few heros and a Roc monster. They currently have a kickstarter where you can pick them up for a bit cheaper. These look pretty good, but I haven't ordered any yet. Possibly on-par with Reaper.
• Perry Miniatures has some Muslim Crusaders which looks like it has a couple worthwhile minis. Specifically Muslim Civilians and Emir's Court. Worth a look but I haven't spent for them.
• Black Tree Design has a number of saracens and warriors of Islam, including flying carpets and camel riders. 
• There's also a set of saracens for Hell Dorado. They seem on the pricier side.
• Harwood Hobbies has a Sinbad line. 
• Steve Barber has some in a 25mm Arabian line, they look on-par with the now-defunct MegaMinis.
• West Wind has some "The Mummy" figures. A few of the less 1920s looking one have guns though.
• Artizan has a number of dark ages moors.
• Gripping Beast likewise has moors.
• Monolith's Conan board game will have a Stygia expansion that could have some good minis.

I guess the message is don't be afraid to use those old timey racist-sounding orientalist terms in your search. Also, there's a lot of miniatures out there for war games that could easily be repurposed for RPGs as long as you want a bunch of similar-looking men with spears.

Arabian Nights Texts:

The absolute best and most readable translations of the Nights are The Arabian Nights by Hussain Haddawy. And there's even a kindle edition. I don't think it matters which edition you pick up as long as he's the translator though. His Arabian Nights only covers some of the oldest portions, but he's also got a companion volume with Sindbad, Ali Baba, and Aladdin (no Kindle version yet though, so I haven't read it).  This isn't a victorian translation, but modern and readable. It looks like these are republished versions of the 1990s editions, so I doubt you'll miss much by getting an older, used copy.

RPG things I haven't looked at yet:

• Sands of Destiny.
• Promised Sands. [Update: Saw this in a local game shop. Amazon had it for pennies on the dollar, and the reviews aren't great. -19August2015]
• Thou Art But A Warrior. Indie Game.
• Sands of Eiklatha. Pathfinder setting.
• City of Brass. Necromancer Games. d20 supplement.

[Updated: Added a bunch of minis and formatting. 7March2015: And also notes on the actual Nights stories themselves.]

Al-Qadim 5th Edition Patch: Proficiencies

The proficiency system of 5th edition is one that I only half like. I think I might prefer 13th age better, just because everyone won't see perception on their list and ask to constantly roll it. However, the system isn't bad. Its a little grainy, but it should work for Al-Qadim. We have a nice list of skills. This is pretty listy, so its after the jump:

Al-Qadim 5th Edition Patch: Barbers, Corsairs, Desert Riders, and the Rest

Continuing my thoughts on updating Al-Qadim to 5th edition (see here, here, and here):  The Hakima and the Sha'ir seem to be the most class-like of the Al-Qadim kits. But what about all the rest? Well, there is a really quick/dirty Al-Qadim conversion for the basic rules out there already.

But I'm not thrilled with it since it just converts each kit to a background basically, including the crazy sha'ir which then seems to indicate you must link that background to the wizard class. In my opinion, not the role of a background. There is an interesting take on the Elemental mage: basically ditch the sorcerer having elemental provinces, then only the one wizard option gets a list of allowed/banned spells. And you don't worry about what bards and the like do. Hmm...

Fortunately, many 2nd edition kits make perfectly good backgrounds (and there's an accent explosion happen for no good reason!):

• Áskar - Folk Hero
• Corsair - Sailor/Pirate
• Pragmatist, Ethoist, Moralist - Acolyte
• Sa'lúk - Charlatan, Criminal/Spy, Urchin
• Mystic - Hermit
• Outland Warrior, Outland Priest, Askar - Outlander
• Mamlúk - Soldier
• Beggar-Thief - Urchin
• Merchant Rogue - Guild Artisan/Merchant (Merchant version, obviously)
• Rawun - Entertainer

The remaining backgrounds in the book can easily be renamed

• Noble/Knight - Emír
• Guild Artisan/Guild Merchant - Artisan (Artisan Version)
• Sage - Fine, could be renamed Faqíh

That leaves a few kits:

• Desert Rider
• Fáris
• Mercenary Barbarian
• Elemental Mage
• Sorcerer
• Sha'ír
• Barber
• Holy-Slayer
• Matrúd
• Káhin
• Hákima

Some of these can just become their own backgrounds: Desert Rider, Faris (Holy Warrior), Mercenary Barbarian (renamed just Mercenary?), and Matrud (Outcast) seem quite amenable to background treatment.

Something like the Káhin can probably just be a new name for the Druid. The Holy-Slayer is pretty much just an Assassin (perhaps replace poison with a favored weapon specialty?).

The Barber might make a nice Rogue archetype on the surface, but Rogues don't specialize till third level, and you'd presumably want that barber focus from the get-go (rogues still can do a thief or assassin things before they specialize, they don't do the barbering stuff so much). So barber is a bit better as a background too.

I've already mused on the Sha'ir and Hakima and think they'll do well as sorcerous origins for the sorcerer class.

That just leaves the Sorcerer, Elemental Mage, and those other wizard kits from the complete Sha'ir's handbook. None of the wizard kits really seem to be much of a background, and more like wizard traditions. So it makes sense to add in a few other backgrounds to support these intelligence-based things a wizard would be doing: Vizier or Qádi (Judge) and the like. Hidden Mage is another background that comes to mind for someone who is or has been keeping their identity as an Elemental Mage secret.

Now, going the other way, there's a few classes that didn't exist in Al-Qadim originally. Barbarians  work fine as outlanders or mercenaries. Unenlightened tribes from the deserts, islands, or ruined kingdoms make prime sources of Barbarians. Monks don't fit as well, but might be Fakírs or other ascetic priest types. Adding an ascetic or Fakír background might be useful, but they might also be Mystics of Nog. Druids, already mentioned above, can be Káhins or Idol priests of the ruined kingdoms (making Idol Priest a nice variant of Acolyte).

So the new backgrounds to add/adapt:

• Desert Rider
• Fáris
• Mercenary
• Barber
• Matrúd (Outcast)
• Vizier
• Qádi (Judge)
• Fakír (Ascetic)
• Idol Priest
• Hidden Mage

Now. This does seem like a lot of backgrounds. But it's also pretty comprehensive and, while variety might be a little overwhelming for new players, it is also a nice collection of character seeds. I think its worthwhile when playing a setting which might be a little more exotic than what most of us are used to. There are, however, so few skills and tools in 5th Edition and languages are less important in Al-Qadim, so I'm not quite sure if it'll be easy to craft about 20 backgrounds. And is it worthwhile to try to add a new skill or tool that's iconic for the setting?

Al-Qadim 5th Edition Patch: Sha'ir

Still a bit frustrated with adapting things for 5th edition. While in my Hakima musings, I said that the ha'ir and warlock were an obvious match, on closer inspection this isn't really true.

Thematically, the Sha'ir had lots of powers related to genies: identifying their works, calling upon them for aid, imprisoning them, and traveling to their realms. The warlock, however, tends to have powers that curse, blast, and befuddle their enemies and expand their senses. The Sha'ir had no powers of his own except for dealing with genies: he gained power from his minor genie servant. The Warlock is granted lots of these curse, blast, and befuddlement powers that might not be the most potent, but are easier to regain than wizard or sorcerer slots.

So, on the surface, it looks like the warlock is a great match for the Sha'ir: reflavor the Fiend to the Efreet, add in the three other elemental genies (Djinn, Marid, and Dao) and you're set! But does it really make sense for a Sha'ir to be hexing people or calling up his pact weapon? So its not just their spell list, but also the invocations, patron, and pact boons that are a bit iffy. I'm now less sure they're such a great match. Which isn't to say considering an Efreet to be a the Fiend a warlock makes a pact with isn't a great option, just that it doesn't seem to do the Sha'ir idea well.

Other options then... The wizard is exactly what the Sha'ir was not in 2nd edition. A Sha'ir tradition just doesn't seem like a great option, particularly since unlike a Sorcerer's origin feature, the wizard's tradition isn't selected right away. So it can't be used to make the sort of small but radical change to the class that I'm considering for the Hakima.

Clerics, Druids, Paladins, and Rangers just seem like a no-go right from the beginning. The bard has inspiration, song of rest, jack of all trades, and the like and this is before they choose a college at 3rd level. So meh. Likewise it's hard to imagine building a Sha'ir out of the fighter or rogue (despite Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster), to say nothing of the barbarian or the monk.

This, oddly, brings us back to the Sorcerer. Could there be a Sha'ir origin for the sorcerer? The third edition adaptation for the Sha'ir used the sorcerer as a frame and tacked the Gen servant onto it. Why do I keep coming back to this class that I don't like? I guess it has the fewest backed-in assumptions. Plus a first-level choice point that will let me really mess with the class without being too athematic.

So a Sha'ir is born, not made. He is a charisma-based caster who uses his sorcery points and spell slots to cast spells fetched by his gen servant. I might be able to dig it. It still leaves open the similar yet slightly more sinister genie pacts for the warlock. I guess it would look something like this:

First level...
 - Know Find Familiar, but it only summons a Gen familiar. Can cast Find Familiar as a ritual as well.
 - Reduce your spells known by 1/2 (Round up, Find Familiar doesn't count for this purpose).
 - You can send your gen to temporarily add a spell to your list of spells known. You lose it when you take a short or long rest, send the gen for another spell, or your gen is incapacitated (do familiars get incapacitated?). Give the gen an appropriate chance to find spells. Spend a sorcery point for advantage on that check and/or to have it happen sooner.
 - You gain double proficiency bonus when doing social checks with genies or identifying their works.

At later levels...
 - Consider giving an ability to summon the Jann for aide, bind genies, travel to their realms, be lent another spell from a genie, etc. These powers are actually kinda wonky and long-winded in the 2nd edition stuff, but maybe they could be simplified. Alternately, a few bonus spells, perhaps limited to affecting genies might do (Banishment, Contact Other Plane, Dispel Evil and Good, Legend Lore, Plannar Binding, Plannar Ally, Plane Shift, Glibness, Imprisonment).

Makes total sense now.

So the Sha'ir would basically be a sorcerer with even fewer spells known, but one really flexible spell known. They could gain spells from other class lists though maybe arcane classes would be easier than divine ones. I'm digging the idea so far. This also puts some of the really thematic options into the Sorcerer. I think Ghul Lord is the next clear contender for a sorcerous origin (hopefully clearer than warlock = sha'ir). Hopefully I won't spot some crap that makes this a poor match. 

Al-Qadim 5th Edition Patch: Hakima

So this is where I get frustrated with the new edition. The "hard-coded" assumptions are making it difficult for me to think of how I might adapt some older material which was pretty easy in 2nd edition, but becomes more difficult with this edition. The Al-Qadim Hakima.

The Hakima is supposed to be the seer and wise-woman of the setting. In second edition, she is a cleric who has a very limited set of spells (Divination, Healing, Protection, Sun, minor access to Charm, Creation, Guardian, and Weather). She also gives up access to clerical items (scrolls in particular), as she's not really associated with the faiths of Zakhara, but rather is divinely inspired. She gains a lot of truth-seeing powers or perception abilities. She also gains access to any sorts of nonweapon proficiencies.

At first glance, translating the Hakima to 5th edition would be just creating a new Cleric domain. Maybe you call it visions or whatnot, but that's what you want, right? However. Then this vision cleric still gets stuff that she really shouldn't have: ritual caster and turn undead. Also, the Hakima will have all sorts of crazy spells which are a bit less thematic. So, while you could try to make a Hakima out of the Cleric, its not a very appropriate hack. I wish it worked. Or at least it isn't as simple as making a new domain.

So, we turn to a few other options. Paladins are a divine class, but the Hakima certainly doesn't seem like she would easily be hewn from the rock of the Paladin. Druids are another divine class, but their wild shape focus doesn't fit at all. Ditto Rangers. The bard also grants ritual casting so that's not a great option either, even if a college of visions or something could be crafted and well-themed. The other caster classes are arcane: warlock and sorcerer. Warlock seems obviously out thematically.

Sorcerer, however, has the beginnings of a fit with one crucial change: the divine visions origin would need to replace Charisma with wisdom for the sorcerer and probably grant a different spell list. Well, you could leave them as charisma based but they're supposed to be wise women. The ability change plus spell list change might be preferable to having a wholly distinct Hakima class (and since we don't have a prophet/invoker/oracle/favored soul...). The metamagic stuff might be a bit odd because some of the metamagic won't actually fit well with many of the divination spells: I don't see a Hakima blasting shit with her magic. But second edition Hakimas (ugh, I kinda want to use an actual Arabic plural there Hakimat) did get the Sun sphere... Since sorcerers only get a few metamagic options during their 20 levels, this probably isn't an issue combined with giving the Hakima access to a couple actual damaging spells.

The Hakima is a pretty narrow archetype, though it would totally fit as a build of a prophet/oracle/invoker/favored soul type class if done right. Of course, the other benefit of a prophet/oracle/invoker/favored soul type class is that it also kinda fits with the Al-Qadim setting and I've thought for quite a while now that it is totally classworthy and distinct from the Cleric.

So the easy / direct interpretation of the Hakima (cleric domain) isn't great. Next easiest option might be a new sorcerer build, but it might be a bit more of a radical change than the class will allow. Last option is to just craft a Hakima class from the raw stuff of D&D. Obviously this would be the most faithful, but... not the easiest.

The other iconic class-worthy kit from Al-Qadim is the Sha'ir. This is a genie-based caster who uses a completely different spellcasting mechanic than the normal AD&D wizard. A thematic reimplementation of the Sha'ir is a genie-pact warlock. For the setting, it is more important the a Sha'ir gains his powers by making pacts with genie-kind than the exact mechanism of sending his genie familiar out to retrieve spells for him. This Sha'ir has some similar issues as the Hakima, but the warlock might provide a much easier base to build a thematically similar caster than the cleric would do for the Hakima. It is also possible that a Genie pact might be compatible with the Sha'ir as its own class with unique spellcasting as well. But I'll tackle that in another post. Similar issues, but maybe not in quite as bad shape.

Another thing in favor of trying to use the sorcerer is that the second edition Hakima was built out of the stuff of second edition. There were two types of magic: wizards who studied their spells and clerics who prayed for their spells. Clerics simply fit best, hands down. In a third edition world though, I'd consider building the Hakima off of the favored soul: the divine equivalent of the Sorcerer. I don't see a real reason why the Hakima has to be divine rather than arcane. Also, I'm not sure there is any mechanical distinction between Arcane magic and Divine magic in the new edition.

Finally, the Hakima as sorcerer (ess?) actually lets us tie the sorcerer into the setting. Draconic origin doesn't fit the theme. The wild sorcerer could fit, but has some elemental province difficulty. There are some thematic potential origins to use: genie, yikaria (yak-men), ghul... Maybe even something crazy like Lammasu or Sphinx, though they could also fit with warlock packs somehow. But the sorcerer and warlock need some serious re-flavoring to fit an Arabian setting, so using the Hakima for this kinda kills two birds with one stone. Though a unique Hakima and Sha'ir class would promote these two iconic options to the front row a lot more, rather than hiding them under the umbrella of other classes.

Unfortunately, trying to craft a thematic Hakima spell list is problematic, particularly at higher levels. Its particularly problematic since so many non-blasting spells don't actually have the at higher levels: note in spells indicating an increased duration or more powerful effect for casting with a higher level slot. Though their list was pretty skimpy in second edition too, only one seventh level spell in the PhB. I don't like it, but I gave them some of the "sun sphere" spells (which they had in 2nd edition), which means that the Hakima will probably be blasting moonbeams constantly. Ugh. But in a fantasy world, anyone given an uncanny ability to see the truth is also quite likely to be able to blast away with their radiant enlightenment I suppose. The Hakima had random healing abilities in second edition because that's what clerics did, so if the Hakima is a sorcerer, she'd better also do what sorcerers do a bit.

Anyway, a potential sorcerer version of the Hakima is sketched out below. I'm pleasantly surprised with how it turned out, but a little less impressed with sorcerers in general. In 3rd edition, a sorcerer got more spell slots than a wizard in exchange for a smaller inflexible spell list. Sorcerers don't get a bunch of extra slots till later levels (via sorcery points) while wizards get arcane recovery early on. Meh, fodder for another day. Still kinda like this: its a simpler conversion than the cleric without requiring a full-on new class.

Al-Qadim 5e Patch (with an eye towards a 13th Age patch too)

I'd like to run an Al-Qadim game in the fall, and I have two options: 1) run it with the old 2nd Edition rules, or 2) convert another system. So what would it take to do Al-Qadim well in 5th Edition or 13th Age? Looking at what minimal changes are required, it seems that 13th Age might be an easier conversion than 5th Edition, largely because of reflavoring the magic to elemental specialties, though the Icons will require more thought. The hardest bit is getting two of the most iconic elements of Al-Qadim into any patch: the Hakima and Sha'ir.

(Why no Pathfinder? I think the company is awesome, but the design philosophy doesn't float my boat. DungeonWorld might be equally awesome or Savage Worlds or whatnot, but they're also not what I'm interested in just now.)

1) Races. The basic races are probably fine. If I had the gumption I'd add in Goblins and Orcs just to remind people that Al-Qadim is a cosmopolitan setting and racial prejudices don't exist. I think this is one of the things Al-Qadim got right over Kara-Tur: its normal D&D fantasy in an Arabian setting, not what the Arabian version of D&D look like. It gives some normalcy amidst the exotic which might help people otherwise disinclined to try.

2) Classes. God, I wish I could just use the classes as written. But 5th Edition has started baking a few too many assumptions into some classes and options. Too many classes look like they're getting magic. I'm afraid to see the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster, but those can be listed as non-options.

Clerics, however, might need a slight change of domains to work well. Ideally, domains would be something like: Bravery, Truth, Freedom, Wealth, Fruitfulness/Hard Work, Wisdom, Adventure, Beauty, Intelligence/Learning, Unity, Acceptance/Tolerance, Duty... Then there's the Hakima...

Wizards (and sorcerers and warlocks) might be redeemable by cutting their spell list down a bit and creating elemental provinces out of those, as Al-Qadim originally did. The elemental magic doesn't do all that much for me, but the Brotherhood of True Flame is a pretty neat and ubiquitous setting element. While the Brotherhood doesn't quite need rival elemental opponents, it would be kinda hard to let 5th edition wizards be the school-based mages they're presented as. So wizards might need 2-5 replacement specialties in lieu of the traditional 8 schools of magic (4 elements plus the "generalist" with 2 elements). 13th Age wizards might be a little easier, as you just force a reflavoring of spells to one element.

5th Edition Warlocks and Sorcerers might be a bit harder too. Both classes could use Genie-inspired builds: a genie heritage to replace draconic, and a some elemental genie pacts for warlocks. One might reflavor the Archfey and Fiend pacts with Jann and Efreet respectively. Maybe.

Bardic colleges might need to be reflavored or a new one added (barbering?). Barbering might also make a good thief scheme.

Then there's the iconic Sha'ir class. I think the genie lore and knowledge is more important than the gen per se, but I can see a warlock, wizard, or sorcerer (or bard!) getting a gen familiar and genie powers, so each class could have a build that fulfills that role. The crazy spellcasting mechanic would be cool to re-implement, but i'd have to see how the system works a lot more before considering how to implement it. Same sort of issue if one were to use 13th Age. The cheap way to do the Sha'ir then would be a feat that grants a special version of ritual caster: get a familiar who searches for ritual spells and cast them. Harder to find non-ritual spells or spells on another caster list. Doesn't muck with combat options as much. I'll have to rethink this once the PhB is released. Not sure how 13th Age would deal with this, though it could easily be a wizard talent perhaps.

3) Kits as Backgrounds.
By and large, the kits of 2nd edition can be backgrounds in 5th edition. In 13th Age, they are probably just sample character ideas. This is probably the easiest part, except for the Hakima and Sha'ir which are more like unique classes than sub-classes.

4) Spells.
As I mentioned earlier, this is just pairing down the spell list from the PhB for arcane classes and giving elemental province options. Also, because there's bound to be some gaps, update a few of the old Al-Qadim spells so each elemental province has a couple spells at each level. 13th Age might require less work on this end as reflavoring could do a lot of work here.

5) Cuts.
A few things might get cut as non-thematic. Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster come to mind, but those could just get an elemental spell focus somehow. The Great Old One warlock pact isn't too thematic, but maybe it's just a dispreferred element. Paladins are kinda odd in Al-Qadim. Monks can be the new Mystics of Nog, Barbarians can be from any number of unenlightened desert or island or ruined kingdoms tribes. So it might not be too bad.

13th Age might similarly need a cut, but maybe not too much from the main book. Occultist, Chaos Mage, Druid, and Paladin seem less fitting, and possible some aspects of the Bard (though poets were huge in pre-Islamic Arabia).

6) Icons.
13th Age has icons. I'm not sure what the Al-Qadim Icons might be. Probably major political forces: The Grand Caliph, The Pantheon, The Temple of Ten Thousand Gods, Brotherhood of True Flame, The Cold Gods of the Elements, The Yikaria, the Genie Lords... There's a lot of options. Each Holy Slayer group, Each Mystic group, each desert tribe... I guess there might be something to be said for keeping the number to an iconic 13 in 13th Age. Heck, any given city could be an icon, or the regions as a whole. Al-Qadim has so much described, but few (memorable?) major NPCs with world-changing agendas.


So, what's the total work-load?
2nd Edition: Nothing.

5th Edition (Basics): Convert old kits to backgrounds, possibly a new Cleric domain or two (Hakima!), 2-5 wizard specialties, spell-list triage. Something with the Sha'ir. Ban a few non-thematic options as native characters (Eldritch knight, Arcane trickster, Draconic Sorcerer, etc.)

5th Edition (Complete): Maybe add a Goblin/Orc race. Also check for new bardic colleges (Barbering) and thief specialties (Barber, Merchant) as well as other kits that might become class elements.

13th Age: Kits as inspirational list, guidelines for elementalizing arcane spells. Something for the Hakima and Sha'ir (maybe just a new talent for wizards and clerics?).

While I'm totally intrigued with testing out some new rules, I do wonder if its worth it to just use 2nd edition. Planescape or Spelljammer might be much easier conversion since they used more of the mainstream options, and races are much easier to cobble together than classes or class variants.

Oriental Adventures (also) got it wrong (But Al-Qadim got it right)

Though I just posted about how Oriental Adventures did classes right, it also has some failures we can learn from. Chief among these are the broader compatibility and conceptual familiarity (or exoticism).

First, on the compatibility issue. While it is refreshing that OA doesn't need a generic fighter or thief, it isn't entirely clear why everything "western" was excluded. That isn't to say that you couldn't have an eastern adventurer in a western setting or vice versa, but why are there no indigenous thieves? Is the idea of a thief too foreign to the world of Oriental Adventures? And what is the point of the Wu Jen? They're just a magic-user basically with a slightly different flavor. As a part of the broader D&D world, it isn't clear why a few things couldn't have been recycled. Put it another way, why did OA have to be so different? (I realize this may contradict my previous post a little, but there's something to be said for simple design and it is simpler to use what you've already got.)

This brings up the issue of conceptual familiarity or exoticism. While most people probably knew what a Samurai and Ninja were, every other class gets an exotic name as well. Shukenja, Sohei, Bushi, Kensai, Yakuza, Wu Jen... It feels like its starting to get a little much, when Weaponmaster or Magic-User/Wizard/Sorcerer might have helped a little. I think we see a better balance in Al-Qadim (i.e. Arabian Adventures) where we see some of the subclasses (i.e. kits) have transparent names (Desert Rider, Corsair, Elemental Mage, Sorcerer, Mystic, Beggar-Thief, Merchant-Rogue, Barber, Holy Slayer, Mercenary Barbarian, Pragmatist, Ethoist, Moralist) and only a few have Arabian names (Askar, Faris, Hakima, Matrud, Sha'ir, Mamluk, Rawun, Kahin, Sa'luk). Its about half-and-half, and then you can add in their "outlander" kits (Outland Warrior, Outland Priest, and Ajami; ajami is the wizard while outland rogues are sa`louk). While it is considerably more options than OA/Kara-Tur, half of the AA/Al-Qadim are named in a relatively transparent and familiar way. There's no additional work to figure out what a Barber or Desert Rider are, and relatively little to figure out Corsairs or Pragmatists.

Another thing Oriental Adventures got wrong is the races. Gone are the Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits we know and love. In are spirit folk, animalistic spirit-folk with strange names, and some sort of dwarf-like creature. Al-Qadim took a different approach: the setting is inclusive, racial hatreds are gone, but things are still human-focused. This lets people play elves or dwarves. Or goblins, kobolds, ogres, etc. in the City of Delights boxed set; if Al-Qadim had been released after the Complete Book of Humanoids, that little bit would probably have been included in the main book itself.

Oriental Adventures loses out on the familiar races because of this, and doesn't get much to make up for it. Dark Sun, according to legend, originally would have been bereft of the standard D&D races too. I think Dark Sun is more powerful for including the basic races and turning their archetypes around, plus they still included a few new/crazy things (Half-Giants, Thri-kreen, and later Aarakocra and Pterrans and Dray). In a fantasy Japan or China (or Mongolia or Tibet or India or...), is there no room for the elves and dwarves?

I suspect that Tolkien and later fantasy gives us an idea what elves and dwarves and hobbits and orcs are. And that may be one reason why Gnomes have been a strange addition to D&D: they're not clearly portrayed in some of the canonical fantasy fiction. So a stronger OA would have, perhaps, found a place for Elves and Dwarves in a fantasy Asia. This is what OA got wrong, perhaps. It is too different from normal D&D, both in terms of some of the mechanical aspects which perhaps didn't need to be changed, and some conceptual elements which were excised or exoticized rather than form a natural bridge.