12/22/2021

I am doing a review of the game Five Torches Deep, a Tabletop Roleplaying Game that I picked up during the Covid pandemic. It is a softcover book that is 47 pages long.

It starts off with a couple of pages telling you about the game and the core mechanics. The game is a stripped-down and gritty version of 5E, which is something that appeals to me. The book also mentions that every ability score is important to every character, which is nice.

Player Characters Section:

This section starts with the four different races in the game along with their abilities. Each race has a different method of generating the abilities score and there are class restrictions based on those abilities. It also describes how experience is gained (treasure captured) and the different XP levels in the game: there are only 9 levels to Five Torches Deep.

Next, the book goes through the four classes that are available: Warrior, Thief, Zealot, and Mage. Each class lists the stats for that class (starting HP, HP per level, starting equipment, etc) along with the table that tells you what abilities you gain when you reach higher levels. At level three, you gain one of the three archetypes, which is similar to the Subclasses in 5E, but with a twist. For example, the Zealot has Cleric, Druid, and Paladin archetypes. Then each of these archetypes has a set of “class” features that you can choose one from. You gain another feature at the 7th level and that is it.

Likes: I like how the characters are not the “super-beings” that they are in the 5th edition. Rolling of stats in order forces players to build a character, instead of bringing a concept then forcing it into the stats. Some players are the same “character” every campaign (like Jason Statham is the same “person” in every one of his films. He just has a different name and goal.)

Dislikes: I think the automatic stats for the other races should either be rolled with a minimum of 13 or a slightly higher automatic stat. At the 1st and 2nd levels, characters of the same race and class might feel repetitive. While weapon choices and play style might make them feel unique, they could end up feeling like Aragon and Boromir. (Matt Colville kind of went into this in his Sandbox vs Railroad video.)

Equipment Section:

The equipment section is small at only 4 pages. It lists the different kinds of armor and shields and the different weapons available in the game. There are 19 different weapons that follow into melee and ranged weapons. It also defines load and encumbrance in this section. This is a nice mechanic to keep adventurers from carrying every sword they find in hopes of selling them when they return to town.

The section mentions magical items and attunement. Heroes can only attune to a single item and are limited to equipping and using only a number of magical items equal to their CHA modifier (min 1).

A new concept for Five Torches Deep is supply. Supply represents the character’s ability to plan ahead on items that they might need on the adventure and it is linked to the character’s INT score. Supply is where the character gets extra torches, arrows, potions, etc. When their supply goes to zero, it is probably time to head out of the dungeon.

Another new concept is durability and sundering. Critical hits and critical failures cause weapons and armor to take sundering damage. It is close to the homebrew rule that I shared in the past. (see here). The section also includes rules for repairing items as well as crafting items.

Likes: The new supply concept is great. It makes INT an important stat to all classes, not just the Mage. I also like how CHA determines the number of retainers you can “hire” and the number of magical items that you can equip. It makes magical items feel like they have a personality that you have to deal with. Load and encumbrance also have an important role and are not just forgotten as soon as the game starts. Sundering and durability are house rules that I like so I am glad to see them make it into a game. I also like how you can share your load with others. That allows the Mage to have a huge supply load, but have the Warrior carry some of it if the Mage is weaker.

Dislikes: The armor section is sparse. There could have been a few different levels of armor. Maybe medium armor that Zealots can wear and leave the heavy armor for warriors only. We could give the Paladin Archetype a heavy armor feature. Right now, Druids can wear heavy armor which seems weird to me since I remember a time when druids couldn’t use metal weapons or shields. Also, there is no price list for equipment. I am guessing they expect you to use the prices from 5E, but what if you don’t own it. Five Torches Deep claims to be “playable as-is” but is missing some key items.

Gameplay Section:

The first part of this section has the rules for Saves and Checks. It also describes the different PC actions (active, movement, and quick). The section also includes critical hits and failures as well as death and injuries. Every time the PC drops to zero hit points, the PC rolls on the Injury table when they stabilize. The PC rolls a D20 and checks the results. On a 1, they are dead. The rest of the tables aren’t great either: permanent loss of ability scores, loss of body parts, etc.

Healing is another item that is different from 5E that I like. A PC heals 1 HP per level per night of safe rest, 1 HP per night of unsafe rest. It isn’t the full healing after a single long rest like 5E now. It is something that really doesn’t make sense, like this.

Time-keeping is also explained in this section. There are rules for travel and a concept called the Rolling to Return. If there isn’t enough time at the end of the session to roleplay out the return to a safe place, the GM can have each player roll to return. It is a D20 roll + 1 for each travel turn needed to get somewhere safe. Success means the character made it back without trouble. Failure means the character suffers damage and/or loss of valuables. Characters reduced to 0 HP are killed on the return.

There is a small section on Chases and Retreat in here that is useful if the GM wants to use them. They work together well since there is a morale factor for monsters and NPCs. If the PCs, an NPC, or a creature retreats, there might be a chase scene if the combat warrants it.

Light and darkness are covered in this section along with resilience, exhaustion, and corruption. There are 4 levels of light and NONE of the PC races can see in the dark. Resilience is the number of hours the PC can adventure before needing to make checks to avoid becoming exhausted. Exhaustion is a single condition (not multiple levels like 5E) and it is bad. Movement is 0 feet and you can’t do anything until you rest. Corruption is a disease, poison, or venom that calls for checks against STA. Failure worsens in stages, doing damage to the PC’s COn, STR, or INT. Once an ability reaches 0, the PC is dead.

Likes: The rest mechanic fixes the long rest and fixed the issue I have with 5E. I also like the time-keeping section since I think that is important. (I made my own calendars). I also like the negative effect of falling to 0 HP. In 5E, you just get healed and you are back up without any issues. There is no real consequence for falling to 0 HP (besides the Death Saves). Have a Cleric with Healing Word or Spare the Dying and there is no issue.

Dislikes: The Checks and Saves section is a little light. Some more examples would have been nice. While I like the idea of resilience and exhaustion, I think exhaustion should have been 2 levels. The first level could be bad but not as serious as no movement. As I see it, the PCs can only adventure for 1/2 the number of hours of the lowest CON score of the party since you have to spend just as much time getting back to safety as you did getting into the dungeon.

Magic Section:

Spellcasting is different for Five Torches Deep. The PC needs to roll a spellcasting check (DC 10 + spell level) to cast the spell, then that number (if successful) is used to determine if the spell hits the target. This is something that I like in a game system. Why should Fireball (or in this case, Furyfire) always go off without any chance of it failing? Casting spells use spell components which is a tracked resource. Failing a spell check results in a magical mishap. Concentration is still in the game but no checks for it: taking damage breaks concentration.

It does talk briefly about spell scrolls, wands, and focuses. Focuses take away the need for components so they would be very nice for a spellcaster (and highly sought after).

There are cantrips in the game but all of them are utility-type spells that do no damage. There are 5 spells for each level up to 5th level for Arcane and Divine spells. Each description is one line.

Likes: Rolling for spell casting is a great idea. While this is not as structured as the spell casting in Dungeon Crawl Classics, I do like the idea present in the book.

Dislikes: There are no potions listed in the book. I guess the GM has to say what potions are available but this should have been included with a list of magical items (there are none.) The book says you can convert from 5E, but this game is “playable as-is” so it shouldn’t keep suggesting you borrow from another system.

NPCs & Monsters Section:

This section starts with NPC retainers and how to handle them. It has the different orders that you can give to the hirelings and what they do. Renown is a new feature that allows the PC’s reputation to grow to the point others might have heard of them.

The Monster section of the book is one of the longest there is printed at 5 pages. It describes different categories, techniques, and tactics of monsters. It also talks about creating monsters then gives 6 examples of monsters.

Likes: I like the hireling actions and tactics.

Dislikes: This is definitely the weakest section of the book. There are a few example monsters but they are mostly humanoids with few actions. No snakes, spiders, or other venomous/poisonous creatures. It talked about corruption from poison in the Gameplay section, but never gives a rule on how it works. No creatures like dragons with breath weapons. While the Monster Math Table goes up to 18 HD, none of the examples are over HD 8.

Again this section mentions converting creatures from 5E and other editions, it is a stand-alone game and should have more creature examples and better rules.

Running the Game Section:

This small section is some basic tips for running the game along with some generators to create an adventure or random dungeon. There is a couple of pages with Quick Reference to help out the GM from flipping through the book.

Likes: There is some good advice for running the game. Listen to your players, meaningful choices for the players, etc. The random dungeon is nice for a one-shot spontaneous game.

Dislikes: This section could have been a couple of pages longer with more charts, tables, etc. 5E has a whole book for the GM, a couple of pages more couldn’t hurt here.

Final Thoughts:

The Pros:

The races and classes feel different from each other. I have noticed that 5E is slowly blurring all of the lines between races, classes, etc. until all of the characters are going to feel the same. All classes have magic, most races have darkvision, etc.

The rules for supply, loads, and encumbrance are a nice balance to keep the PCs from running around the dungeon with unlimited gold and weapons.

The PCs feel less like heroes and world-savers and more like adventurers that are going into the deeps to look for treasure. No huge political intrigues, no world-spanning plotlines, just diving into a dungeon for gold.

Magic is chaotic and doesn’t always work. Using it can cause issues for your party and should be used when necessary not every round.

The Cons:

The monsters section is very limited. While there are rules for creating your own monsters, a few more pages with monsters would have been great, especially for new GMs that don’t have older editions of D&D to get monsters.

While there are limited rules to make it streamlined, a newer GM might feel lost without some guidelines to work from. Limited equipment and magic items might make newer GMs a little nervous about how and what to hand out.

For a “playable As-Is” game, it should stop mentioning that you can just convert material from 5E and other editions.

A limited spell list will make every spellcaster pretty much the same when casting.

Final Grade: B-