Writer: Kenneth S. Hood

49 pages, 100% open game content

Tired of players who lack fear of death and wade into the thick of battle without batting an eye? Want to add a sense of danger to your game? Do you want your monsters to be MONSTERS?

For years, the Grim-n-Gritty Hit Point and Combat Rules have provided a realism-based alternative to the standard cinematic combat rules of the world's most popular fantasy RPG. Now updated for use with the 3.5 edition rules, GnG 4.0 provides the following:

• Alternative rules for figuring hit points based on the size of a creature, making massive monsters truly terrifying.
• Injury penalties which hamper your character's performance as he suffers damage.
• Armor that reduces damage, rather than lowering the chance to be hit in combat.
• Opposed rolls for combat, using a Defense statistic.
• A "Relative Degree" mechanic that replaces critical hits and increases the damage you inflict based on the success of your combat roll, rewarding skill rather than weapon selection.
• Effect-based called shot rules.
• Some support for psionic, modern, and future characters.
• Epic-level rules.
• Guidelines for adjusting a creature's CR based on its size.
• A new action type and new defensive actions.
• New automatic fire, suppressing fire, and energy weapon rules.
• Over 50 new and revised feats for use with the system, including psionic, metapsionic, and metamagic feats.
• Martial arts feats for nerve strikes, breaking strikes, and grappling.
• Four new spells and three psionic powers.
• New and revised magical and psionic items.
• Suggestions for implementing the rules in a high-magic setting.

Note: The Grim-n-Gritty Hit Point and Combat Rules, Version 4.0 are not the same rules as the Grim and Gritty: Revised and Simplified rules.