I usually stay in the OSR for most of my gaming, but if I wanted that 5E feeling (and good compatibility with many great 5E sourcebooks), the excellent Low Fantasy Gaming (LFG) would be my game. The game is this perfect mix of 5E, dark fantasy, and a reimagined setting in the "points of light" style of D&D 4E that drew us into that game heavily.
Why go with LFG and not stock 5E? Well, for one, I am insulated against Wizards and their random rule changes and splat-book power creep. It is not changing in two years. Having a baseline set of classes means I can predict power level and damage output, making the game easier to referee. Also, this game feels OSR while still being 5E-like, which is pure awesomeness. The monsters, spells, and magic items are compatible between 5E and LFG. The magic system rocks hard.
This is the best 5E-like game out there and one I would make my 5E home.
Magic
Magic is greatly simplified, with magic users being the only ones with access to spell lists. Magic users suffer "dark and dangerous magic" (DDM), which is a rolling number that increases 1 per spell cast. Rolling under this number triggers a corruption-like effect and resets the counter to one. This is a very Dungeon Crawl Classics style mechanic and puts a heavy price on magic that I like.
Note, that magic item use also triggers DDM.
Cultists (clerics) have blessings and start the game knowing a number of them equal to their WIL modifier, and these are like the traditional cleric spells (but a smaller list). They get one use of a blessing per level, so a level 5 cultist would have 5 blessings available. In addition, if a cleric has favor, they can expend that to cast a blessing without using a charge. Otherwise, a WIL check is required to make the blessing manifest (and could fail and invoke a divine rebuke).
On the plus side, the favor system has cultists always finding a roleplaying way to gain it again, so this is a very strong roleplaying mixed with a game rules mechanic that I love. Your faith-based characters are doing their jobs, finally, and not being a heal bot.
Yes, this is good. Very good.
And magic-users and cultists are the only magic classes in the game, and their magic is different and dangerous in unique ways. I absolutely love this mechanic, and this makes the game different than most any other OSR game out there (except DCC) and makes LFG stand apart from even games like Old School Essentials or Castles & Crusades.
I like dark and dangerous magic, and I like fewer classes having magic. If everyone has "easy magic," then there is nothing unique, fun, or interesting about it at all. Magic is supposed to be fun and unpredictable, rare and always dangerous to cast. The spells are renamed like the old ones were lost, changed, and the spell names that once were are never used these days. It feels thematic and cool.
The magic system here is why I would play this game.
Balance and Compatibility
There was a post calculating average damage per round of the various classes on Reddit that is fascinating and illustrates the damage scaling present in games past D&D 3E. For 5E, it is generally:
- Level 1-5: 10 damage per round
- Level 6-10: 30 damage per round
- Level 11-15: 50 damage per round
- Leve 16-20: 100 damage per round
These can swing +/-50% for various classes, with some coming ahead and others falling behind but providing utility benefits. And I know the martial-caster damage disparity exists hardcore in 5E, these are averages, and I bet casters are skewing these numbers way-way up. No wonder most people quit before level 10, and the balance and damage numbers feel wrong past level 10.
Is high-level 5E play really ten times the damage of level one? I guess with casters it is.
Low Fantasy Damage Scaling
The maximum level in LFG is 12, though there is an option to break the cap. The monsters do not have a level cap, so the higher-level creatures become these "boss monsters," which require larger parties (raids) to fight, and that is an interesting design choice. Damage per turn in LFG feels lower, though 2-weapon fighting does allow two attacks per turn (the second at a disadvantage), and some classes get 2 attacks (when a reroll is spent). Critical hits do maximum damage plus half-level, so a level 12 great sword hit by an 18 STR fighter would do 12 + 3 + 6, or 21 points of damage.
I am betting the average level 10 damage is a solid 2 hits from a d8 weapon plus STR mod, and add another 2 points on there for other factors, so let's call it 20 points a turn average martial damage at level 10 for burst damage, and 10 points damage otherwise. That is in the 5E ballpark, so it feels right, and the numbers do not feel like they get out of control.
Rogues at level 12 do 1d4+STR+2d8 with backstab damage and can reroll with an expenditure of a reroll die. That is, like, roughly 15 damage per turn, which is where I feel they should be.
I feel damage per round is around half that of 5E, which I do not mind since this makes monsters more challenging (use less of them), and it sets up a Dark Souls style of experience during battles. I love the max 12th level of characters, which means some monsters will out-level the characters, and they are the instant boss monsters that take an entire party with teamwork to defeat.
Also, this sets up MMO-style "raids" where 8-12 characters are required to take down an ultra-high-level monster, with likely a high mortality rate, but I have faith that the "massed attacks" benefit of 5E will come into play and make the fight easier just by numbers.
Monster Balance
As for monsters, I picked a random one out of the book (basilisk), and the stats were very similar to the 5E version. D&D 5E monsters have skills with levels, and in LFG, skills do not have levels and are the straight roll-under ability check style. It converts nicely if you drop the D&D 5E skill levels and just make the monsters roll under (with a reroll if needed).
Also, note that attack bonuses and damages may need to be recalculated, as LFG is a flat +1 per HD for monster attack bonuses (and a cap of +15), with non-fighter classes getting 3/4ths of the total bonus. For the most part, the damages and to-hits seem fine, but do some quick math before the encounter to double-check. Also, do not put human-class level characters higher than level 12 in the game without a good reason. and don't fret about monster abilities changing or some things feeling like they have extra powers - not every monster in the world is the same or should be.
So monsters feel 90% compatible, especially in the statistic, AC, unique ability, to-hit, and hit point areas - which is all I care about anyways. If Wizards ever "invalidates your 5E books," they will find a home with this system quite nicely. Granted, this is not a high-fantasy setting, so the plethora of magic items and ultra-fantasy magic will be reduced substantially, but if you want it in your game, it is still an option.
Also, remember since this game does not go beyond level 12, your max caster damage will be 12d6 for direct damage spells, and martial classes will be around 10-20 per turn. Monsters above 10 HD will be very dangerous foes, especially with the lower overall damage.
Character Options, Not Compatible
The only thing incompatible will likely be classes and races, and I would recommend sticking with the LFG ones just for that tighter balance and design. You do not want classes with that higher base-game damage output slipping into a Dark Souls-style game like LFG. I would prefer to drop a +2 sword into LFG than a level 1 D&D 5E fighter from the D&D Player's Handbook.
Overall, a Great Mix of OSR and 5E
I like this game a lot. It lets me play a sort of OSR-like version of 5E and that is cool. Why not just stay in the OSR? Rules and adventure support is way better there?
I admit, staying in my C&C and S&W mega-mix is a very cool place and gives me tons of adventures to play. The library I have for these two games is years of fun and it beats what LFG and 5E have to offer my a huge margin.
I do like 5E conceptually, and I want to see if there is anything to salvage here now that the edition is fading and I can take a look at the things I missed. A lot of what I missed I was happy to walk right by, since I am not into that science-fantasy thing that is all the rage for both D&D 5 and PF 2e at the moment (more planar in D&D 5, more steampunk in PF 2e). One of the best things about the OSR is they have taken the traditional fantasy space by storm, and if you want that classic "no tech, no planes" classic fantasy experience the OSR is the best place to get it.
Wizards & Paizo seem to be living in a bubble in Seattle where they think D&D = Guardians of the Galaxy anything goes science fantasy. They have abandoned any historical elements of the game. Honestly, any classic fantasy pretenses the game feels like it starts with serves as the MMO starting zone before your planar adventures begin. They kept this structure from D&D 4, and we felt it ruined every world the game touched.
And they left the entire classic fantasy genre to the OSR.
It is fun to see a game like Low Fantasy Gaming come and try to make a place for the genre I like in the 5E world. One world, historically based, less fantastic, dark fantasy, and cool.
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