So I was thinking of switching over my 5e game to Dungeon World.

So I was thinking of switching over my 5e game to Dungeon World.

So I was thinking of switching over my 5e game to Dungeon World. Maybe for just a couple sessions and I wanted to switch the PCs over. The races are the only issue because I have a Dragonborn Paladin in the party. Any advice for what kind of racial ability they would have?

9 thoughts on “So I was thinking of switching over my 5e game to Dungeon World.”

  1. The Planarch Codex has a nice system for giving “monster” moves to characters, basically letting you spend 2-3 hold per session to use a move from a monster’s stat block. I’d probably adapt that, maybe even skip the part where they roll Wisdom to see how much hold they get, and just say spend hold to use your breath weapon on a group of close enemies.

  2. Jason Tocci​​​ I’ve noodled with the idea of giving the heritage 2-3 customs/rules they need to follow based on their heritage and start each session with 2-3 hold. Violating any of the rules causes a loss of all hold.

    Example (without knowing anything about dragonborn):

    Dragonborn must:

    – stay out of the water

    – hoard and claim shiny things

    and spend hold to:

    – breathe a cone of fire at close range

    – resist a source of harm with thick scales

  3. Does it require a special move?

    Seems like you can capture it in good old fiction / “fictional positioning”.

    Eg, he loses a limb and ends up growing it back like a lizard; someone attacks him with fire and he reaches for a deft danger roll and you’re all, “what danger?”, etc. this is awesome stuff to develop on 6-‘s, or when he rolls 10+s and you ask, “so how did your draconic heritage allow you to do that so well?”

    Seems like the “organic” approach is likely to be more fun, and let him focus on the dragon bits he actually finds compelling.

  4. When you breathe fire, roll +CON. On a hit, roll your damage; the target is now on fire. On a 10+, the fire is under control – you can stop it whenever you like. On a 7-9, the GM will pick from a consequence:

    * The fire spreads, it’s out of control!

    * You lose control of the fire coming from your mouth – take 1d6 damage.

    * The fire draws unwanted attention

    Etc. Another option: take a look at the “Backgrounds” section of the character creation sheets in the Minimal Playbooks Plus; basically it’s a list of all racial backgrounds, converted to non-racial playstyle.

    drivethrurpg.com – Minimal Playbooks Plus – Dungeon World

  5. Haven’t touched 5e in awhile but asking the player, ‘what seems like fun’ is usually a good place to start.

    Our group moved over to DW from Pathfinder and 4e and we haven’t looked back once. Current campaign’s been running about two and half years now.

    Curious to see how the transition goes for you and your players.

  6. Yochai Gal I think you’ve nailed it, except for the second consequence – 1d6 is a little low, basically a healing kit, and a dragonborn paladin might easily take immunity to flame as one of it’s Quest immunities. I’d change that consequence to one of:

    1) You exhaust your flame – you can’t breathe fire again until you Make Camp

    2) You’ve overtaxed your breath weapon, take the Sick debility

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