There have been some rules changes made to the general AD&D system that I am using.First of all, character generation has been completely revamped. The modifiers for almost all the stats have changed, the system for rolling ststs has changed, that class attributes have changed, etc. You know most of tis, but I will go over ithere just to make sure every body is working in the same system. Other changes include weapons damages, etc., character weapon abilities, a few new races, changes in protocols for raising levels, modifications of some thaco tables for some classes, defensive fighting skills, skill points in general, and probably a few other things as well. All of that is documented here. NOTE: throughout this thing I always use + to indicate a bonus and minus to indicate a penalty, regardless of which way the actual numbers move (e.g. a +2 ac modifier improves your ac by 2, not makes it worse by 2). PART 1: Character generation This explains the process of making the character but not necessarily all the info a player needs to make a character. That information (e.g. stat explanation) is in other sections. The player should have an idea about what they want their charcater to be like before starting, although that idea will likely change during the creation process. A) rolling stats: A player starts with a 3d6 roll for each of the first five stats (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS) and then a 3d6 for the last stat (CHR) and 7 points to spend. A player rolls the values for the first five stats and arranges the results anyway they see fit and then rolls for charisma. Before any rolling is done, a player may spend a point to get an additional die to roll for that stat, although only the best three are ever used. The player may spend as many of their points as they like at this, but all points they wish to spend must be so apportioned before they actually make any rolls. After the numbers are placed then the player may spend any remaining points to increase any stat. The point cost to raise a stat is 1 for 1 up to 16, 16 to 17 costs 2 points, 17 to 18 costs 3 points, and 18 to 19 costs 5 points. The player may also spend a point to rearrange all the stats again, but this time including charisma as well. IMPORTANT, racial modifiers for stats come AFTER all points spending, so it is theoretically possible to end up with a starting character with a 20 in some stat. B) race, class, etc. The procedure for this stuff is fairly typical to AD&D, although more choices are available (see New Races and New Classes). C) outfitting the character Once you have a class chosen you need to get weapons skills and other skills. There has been quite alot of change in this area and I'm not entirely sure how to organize it, so I'll just give the procedure and relevant charts and tables. 1) Pick the allotment of initial weapons (see chart below) from the ones normally allowed. The character has these automatically at the 'proficient' skill level (see chart farther below). 2) Get the appropriate number of skill points (see chart below) to spend on either inproving skill in one or more of the weapons already at proficient, or spend them on learning any weapon at all, whether normally allowed to that character clas or not, or they may be spent on defensive skills (see chart even farther below). Defensize skills come into play anytime the character is in a melee stituation and able to move. Character's get 1/2 DF skill bonus rounded down vs. missile attacks they are aware of. The character gets more skill points to spend as they go up levels (see chart below). Both the initial skill point pool and the number received per level are modified by wisdom and intelligence. A character may not become a master or grandmaster with a weapon not normally allowed to that class. Initial weapon slots may be traded for intial skill points on a 1 for 2 basis (only slots for points). Skill points may also be used to buy extra concentrations (see part 3 below) at a cost of 3 points per concentration. Points and Weapons Slots Class Init Weapons Init Points +Points/Level ----- ------------ ----------- ------------- Fighter 4 5 4 Mage 1 3 3 Priest 2 5 3 Rogue 3 4 3 Nomad 3 4 3.5 Merchant 3 5 3 Skill Levels Skill Level Hit/Dam Atks Fighter Mage Priest Rogue Nomad Merchant ----------- ------- ---- ------- ---- ------ ----- ----- -------- klutz -4/-2 1/3 - 0 0 0 0 0 no training -2/-1 1/2 0 1 1 1 1 1 some practice -2/0 1/1 1 4 3 3 3 3 trained -1/0 1/1 3 8 6 5 5 5 proficient 0/0 1/1 5 14 10 9 8 8 very skilled +1/0 3/2 8 19 14 13 12 12 expert +1/+1 3/2 12 -- 19 18 17 18 master +2/+1 2/1 17 -- 25 23 22 -- grand master +3/+2 2/1 24 -- -- -- 30 -- Defensive Skills Point Cost AC Bonus Rogue Nomad Fighter Other -------- ----- ----- ------- ----- 1 2 3 4 4 2 4 6 7 8 3 7 10 11 12 4 11 14 15 17 5 16 -- 21 23 6 24 -- -- -- 3) From the character's intelligence get the number of concentrations allowed for the character. These are roughly analagous to the old system non-weapon proficiencies. These are non-weapon skills in which the character is particularly practiced. Characters with concentrations in skills may attempt feats not normally possible to one merely proficient in that area. Other than that, a character is considered normally proficient in any skill that they have a good reason to know in their character background; normal proficiencies do not even have to written down, but the player should be prepared to have to justify using any skill that is not readily apparent as a part of the character's background. Concentrations may be bought for 3 skill points (see above, part 2). 4) Lastly the player should pick some equipment appropriate to the charatcer's background. As with skills, anything may be had, but all must be justified. D) Finishing up Not much really left. Just talk to the GM and make sure everything is set. Then you're done. PART 2: Stats The stats of a character are Strength (StR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), and Charisma (CHA). The numbers below the modifiers for a stat 20 explain progression for higher stats (e.g. +1/2 means add one more to the modifier for each 2 higher in that stat) A) Strength - STR This stst measures a character's basic physical strength. This affects how much damage the do, how much they can carry, what kinds of weapons they can efectively use, etc. STR Hit Dam Max Weight Open Magically locked doors* --- --- --- ---------- --------------------------- 1 -5 -9 1 - 2 -3 -6 5 - 3 -2 -4 10 - 4 -1 -3 20 - 5 -1 -2 35 - 6 0 -1 55 - 7 0 -1 75 - 8 0 -1 90 - 9 0 0 100 - 10 0 0 110 - 11 0 0 115 - 12 0 0 125 - 13 0 0 140 - 14 0 +1 170 - 15 0 +1 205 - 16 +1 +1 240 - 17 +1 +2 280 1/20 18 +1 +3 320 3/20 19 +2 +4 380 6/20 20 +2 +6 450 9/20 +1/2 +2/1 +100/1 +3/1 * Normal locked doors have a strength that must be defeated in a contest of strengths to open the door. (explained later) B) Dexterity (DEX) This is the character's coordination, speed, reflexes, etc. It affects their ability to hit things, perform delicate operations, dodge, and react quickly. DEX AC mod Melee Atk Mod Missile Atk Mod Initiative Mod --- ------ ------------- --------------- -------------- 1 -6 -6 -6 -3 2 -5 -5 -6 -2 3 -4 -4 -5 -1 4 -3 -3 -4 -1 5 -2 -2 -3 0 6 -1 -1 -2 0 7 -1 0 -1 0 8 0 0 -1 0 9 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 13 0 0 0 0 14 +1 0 0 0 15 +1 0 0 0 16 +2 +1 +1 0 17 +3 +1 +1 +1 18 +4 +2 +2 +1 19 +5 +2 +3 +1 20 +6 +3 +4 +2 +1/2 +1/2 +1/1 +1/2 C) Constitution - CON This is the character general health and fitness. It modifies hit points and a character's ability to deal with various sorts of system shocks (e.g. poison, massive damage, ressurection, polymorph, etc) CON HP/Die* Shock Survival --- ------ -------------- 1 -6 30% 2 -5 40% 3 -4 45% 4 -3 48% 5 -2 51% 6 -1 54% 7 -1 57% 8 0 60% 9 0 65% 10 0 70% 11 0 75% 12 0 80% 13 0 85% 14 +1 88% 15 +1(+2) 91% 16 +2 94% 17 +2(+3) 97% 18 +3(+4) 99% 19 +3(+5) 99% 20 +4(+6) 99% +1/2(+1/2) +0 * numbers in () are for fighters only D) Intelligence - INT This is a characters ability to reason abstractly, remember things, use logic, etc. It affects the number of starting concentrations a character has, the skill points per leve a character gets, how quickly a character reacts, and some other things for mages. INT Init Concen + Concent/Level SP/Level Mod Init SP Mod Initiative --- ----------- --------------- ------------ ----------- ---------- 1 none ever 0 -4 -4 -3 2 0 .1 -3 -3 -3 3 0 .2 -2 -2 -2 4 1 .2 -2 -1 -2 5 1 .2 -1 -1 -1 6 2 .25 -1 0 -1 7 2 .25 -.5 0 -1 8 3 .3 -.5 0 0 9 3 .3 0 0 0 10 3 .35 0 0 0 11 4 .35 0 0 0 12 4 .4 0 0 0 13 4 .4 0 0 0 14 5 .45 +.5 +1 0 15 5 .45 +.5 +1 0 16 6 .5 +1 +2 +1 17 7 .6 +1 +2 +1 18 8 .7 +1.5 +3 +2 19 9 .8 +2 +4 +2 20 10 1 +2.5 +5 +2 +1/1 +.2/1 +.5/1 -- +0/1 E) Wisdom - WIS This is the character's common sense and general understanding of the universe. This modifies reactions to situations, ability to be surprised, resistance to mind magic/mircles, and some other things for priests. WIS Initiative Mod Mind Muck Save Mod Surprise Mod --- -------------- ------------------ ------------ 1 -4 -5 -35% 2 -4 -5 -30% 3 -3 -4 -25% 4 -3 -3 -20% 5 -2 -2 -15% 6 -2 -1 -10% 7 -1 -1 0 8 -1 0 0 9 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 13 0 0 0 14 0 0 +10% 15 +1 +1 +10% 16 +1 +1 +15% 17 +2 +2 +25% 18 +2 +3 +20% 19 +3 +4 +20% 20 +3 +5 +25% +1/2 +1/2 +5%/2 F) Charisma - CHR This is the stat that has been changed the most. It is no longer considered personality. The character's personality and how they come across to both other players and to NPC's is determined in large part by the player (although other characters should behave appropriately if the character persona is different from the player person, hard as that may be some times). Charisma in this case is basically just looks. In some cases it will affect game play, but it has no number's modifiers. PART 3: Classes The class advancement levels are unchanged from in the book. The main things modified are hit points. In addition, Mages and Priests have stats that modify them specially, the rogue's critical strike ability has been modified a bit, fighters get a new ability, and there are a couple of new classes. A) Hit Points Class Starting HP HP/Level ----- ----------- -------- Fighter 1d6+6 1d8+2 Mage 1d4+2 1d3+1 Priest 1d6+3 1d3+3 Rogue 1d6+3 1d5+2 Nomad 1d4+6 1d4+4 Merchant 1d6+4 1d5+3 B) Mages Not quite worked out yet C) Priests WIS Bonus Miracle Levels/Day --- ------------------------ 1 -6 2 -5 3 -4 4 -3 5 -2 6 -1 7 -1 8 0 9 0 10 0 11 0 12 0 13 1 14 1 15 2 16 2 17 3 18 4 19 5 20 6 +1/1 up to 14, no more than 2 bonus miracles per level on a given day D) Nomads Nomands progress levels as an expensive fighter. THACO ----- Level: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 thAC0: 20 19 19 18 17 16 16 15 14 13 13 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 7 Equipment Stuff --------------- Can start with any size S melee weapon, a whip of any size, a sling or staff sling. Cannot wear armor heavier than Hide, ad it must be natural. No shield allowed. Gifts ----- Due to a nomad's constant contact with the nature and the world and their spirit ancestors they become more in contact with them selves and the rest of the world. As a result they have the ability to perform certain gifts given to them by their ancestor's. Gift Level Char Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 ---------- - - - - - - 1 1 - - - - - 2 1 1 - - - - 3 1 1 - - - - 4 1 1 1 - - - 5 1 1 1 - - - 6 1 1 1 1 - - 7 1 1 1 1 - - 8 1 1 1 1 1 - 9 1 1 1 1 1 - 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 1 2 1 1 1 1 13 1 2 1 1 1 1 14 1 2 2 1 1 1 15 1 2 2 1 1 1 etc. The Gifts: Level 0: Running Trance The character can run for 24 hours without rest and not be tired by the end. If interrupted in the run, then the rest of that 24 hours of the trance is lost. Level 1: Animal Friendship, Pass w/out Trace, Endure Cold/Heat Level 2: Light/Flame, Create Water, Purify Food/Drink Level 3: Locate Animal/Plant, Snare, Obscurement Level 4: Speak w/ Animals, Animal Summoning I*, Repel Insects * For every 2 levels beyond 8, the level of the summoning is increased by 1 Level 5: Speak w/ Plants, Symbol vs Animals, Element Walk Nomad Thief Skills ------------------ I forget, but I will get them from Kate and put it down. E) Merchant Merchants progress as fighters. THACO ----- Level: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 thAC0: 20 19 19 18 17 17 16 15 15 14 13 13 12 11 11 10 9 Equipment --------- Merchants may start with any melee weapon that has a max damage less than 13 (not counting spikes) and any missile weapon except heavy cross bow and composite bows. Merchants can wear anything up to but not including platemail. Special Skills -------------- Merchants are allowed almost everywhere with relatively little questioning. They get a free concentration in appraising any item of a type that they would normally sell. When bargaining a merchant automatically gets the best possible price. In addition, if the merchant is buying an item of the type that they would normally sell then the merchant rolls 6d6 and for every point below the character's combined wisdom and intelligence they get an additiona 5% off, to a maximum of 75% off. Thief Skills ------------ I forget, but I will get them from Justin. F) Rogues Whenever a rogue can strike with surprise, whether from behind or otherwise, the rogue gets a +4 to hit and gets their backstab (hereafter referred to as critical strike, or CS) multiplier. When in a melee combat the rogue may choose to forego all attacks in a round and if they are not hit that round then for the next round their first successful attack gets the CS multiplier. Normally the CS ability only applies to humanoids. A rogue may get concentrations in other creature-types to get the CS to count against them as well. G) Fighters Fighters get a different form of the critical strike ability. Anytime a fighter hits before their opponent attacks in a round of melee combat then that strike(s) does an additional +1 damage/4 levels of the fighter. PART 4: Weapons attks progression: ..., 1/3, 2/5, 1/2, 2/3, 1/1, 3/2, 2/1, 5/2, 3/1, ... Pretty much everything about weapons has been changed. Things to note: 1) for each point of strength or dex below the minimum required to use a weapon the character gets a -.5/-.5 modifier (total rounded to largest penalty possible). 2) Most weapons allow additional attacks if a character is strong enough and dextrous enough. If a character gets an additiona attack then their attack level increases by 1 in the progression: 1/3, 2/5, 1/2, 2/3, 1/1, 3/2, 2/1, 5/2, 3/1, ... 3) Any weapon, even ones not normally throwable, may be used as a missile weapon if the character is at least proficient. However, there are some penalties... proficient -6 to hit, 1/2 rounded down damage very skilled -5 to hit, 1/2 rounded up damage expert -4 to hit, 2/3 rounded to nearest number damage master -2 to hit, normal damage grand master normal to hit, normal damage 4) Things get a bit weird for some of the missile weapons without further ado... Melee Weapons ------------- Weapon Dam S/M Dam L Min Str/Dex S/D for increased atks ------ ------- ----- ----------- ---------------------- Blades Knife 1d3 1d3 4/4 14/16 Dagger 1d4 1d4+1 4/4 15/17 Sickle 1d4+1 1d4 5/5 16/17 Short Sword 1d6 1d6+1 5/6 17/17 Saber 1d6 1d6 4/8 15/17 Broad Sword 1d6+1 1d6+1 7/6 18/17 Scimitar 1d8 1d6+1 7/7 18/18 Khopesh 1d6+2 1d6+1 8/8 18/19 Long Sword 1d6+2 1d8+2 9/9 19/19 Katana 1d8+1 1d6+2 7/10 17/19 Bastard Sword 1d8+3 1d10+3 11/9 20/20 Claymore 1d8+5 2d6+6 14/10 - bashers, spiked versions give +1 damage Sap (no spikes) 1d3 1d1 6/2 - Club 1d3/1' 1d2/1' 4+1/1' / 3 16+1/1' / 16+1/1' Nunchuka (no spikes) 1d3+1 1d2+1 4/10 14/17 Mace 1d6+1 1d6 7/4 18/17 Flail 1d6+1 1d6+1 8/5 18/18 Great Mace (2 hand) 2d6+2 2d6 12/5 20/19 Great Flail (2 hand) 2d6+3 2d6+1 13/6 - stabbers Hand Spear (3-5') 1d4+1 1d6+1 5/5 16/17 Spear (6-9') 1d6+1 1d10+2 7/6 18/18 Trident (5-8') 1d6+2 1d10+1 8/6 19/18 sticks Short Stick (Jo) 1d3+1 1d3 5/7 15/17 Light Staff (Bo) 1d4+1 1d4 6/9 16/17 Blade Staff 1d6+1 1d6+1 7/14 16/19 Quarterstaff 1d8 1d8 8/8 18/18 cleavers Hand Axe (1-2') 1d6 1d6 5/4 18/17 Battle Axe (3-4') 2d4 2d4 7/5 19/18 Bardiche (5-6') 2d6 2d6 10/5 - Halberd (7-9') 2d8 2d8 13/6 - Missile Weapons --------------- Weapon Dam S/M Dam L Min S/D Atks S/D Notes ------ ------- ----- ------- -------- ----- bows- all bows get another atk/rnd starting at proficient skill Short Bow 1d4 1d4 5/6 - Long Bow 1d6 1d6 7/6 - Composite Short Bow 1d4+1 1d4+1 10/6 - Composit Long Bow 1d6+1 1d6+1 13/6 - crossbows- all crossbows get a +2 to hit Hand Crossbow 1d3+1 1d3 10/5 18/13 Light Crossbow 1d4+3 1d3+2 6/5 - atks 1 slot slower Heavy Crossbow 1d6+5 1d4+3 6/5 - atks 2 slots slower other mechanically assisted weapons Javelin w/ Thrower 1d6+1 1d6+1 6/9 - atks 1 slot slower Sling Bullet 1d2+2 1d2+1 hand sling: 4/7 hand slings get max Sling Stone 1d3 1d2 staff sling: 4/6 atks of 1/1 slings get no str/dex extra atks Blowdart 1d3 1d1 2/5 8/14 hand thrown weapons Throwing Axe 1d5 1d5 6/7 18/18 Throwing Knife 1d3 1d3 6/7 16/17 get +1 akt/rnd at >= prof Throwing Dagger 1d3+1 1d3+1 7/7 17/18 Hand Dart 1d3 1d2 6/6 12/14 get +1 atk/rnd at >= trnd Shuriken 1d2 1d2 6/6 10/13 get +1 atk/rnd at >= trnd gets another +1 atk/rnd at >= expt Javelin 1d4+1 1d4+1 8/6 - Boomerang 1d3 1d2 6/9 - takes 2 rnds to return PART 5: Miscellaneous I'm sure I've forotten several other things, but for now.. A) 2 weapon fighting When a character is fighting with 2 weapons then at every round of comabt they have 4 choices about how they want to fight that round 1) normal # of atks, +2 to hit 2) normal # of atks, +2 to AC 3) normal # of atks, +2 to initiative 4) 1 additional attack, -2 to hit with every attack that round When considering the number of attacks a character normally gets in a round, count the weapon with the lowest number of possible attacks in that round. B) Great rolls 1) 20's: When a natural 20 is rolled in a melee combat then the person who rolled the 20 gets a +4 to hit with all attacks and a +2 to AC for the next round of combat. When a natural 20 is rolled on a missile hit then the damage with twice as many dice as normal and the best normal number are used, and an additional +1 to damage. 2) high damage When ever something takes more than 5 x that thing's hit dice (level for PC's) in damage in a single stroke then that thing must save vs paralyzation or get -2 to hit and -2 to AC for the next round of combat. C) Life and Death 1) Characters heal hit points at a rate dependent on their max hp and their con. Every recovery period of rest heals the character of 1d10% of their maximum hit points, with a minimum of 2 points. In addition, if the character has a CON bonus to hit points then they recover that many additional per recovery period as well. A recovery period is anything from 8 hours of solid rest and recovery to a full day of gentle activity to 2 days or more of travel or harder activity. 2) One of the common complaints about AD&D is that characters are going strong up until the point where they fall ver dead. Seems a bit ridiculous. Unfortunately I don't have a fix for the lack-of-gradual-weakening problem that won't completely bog us down in details. However, I have modified the whole death thing. When a character reaches 0 hit points they are incapacitated, but not yet dead. Each round thereafter they temporarily (it is hoped, anyway) lose a point of constitution. When their CON reaches 0 then they are truly dead. If they are healed before that point, then everything up to the 5th point of healing brings the character's hit points back up to 1. Hit points then recover as normal, but lost CON is reagained at a rate of 1 point per recovery period. Until such a time as the character is fully recovered the character gets a penalty of however many con points they are down to every roll they make. D) Leveling When a character levels, they roll their new hit points, distribute other points as needed, and increase their stats. The stat increase takes the form of 2 1d2 rolls. 1 for the prime requisite of their class (if the class has more than 1 then alternate starting with whichever one is lower), and 1 for any stat the player wants. These rolls give additional point-tenths in the relevant stat. When a character gets 10 tenth in the stat, teh stat goes up by 1. However, it is more difficult to improve already excellent stats. To raise a stat from 17 to 18 costs 18 tenths, and to go from 18 to 19 costs 36 tenths. After 19 a stat costs 50 tenths to raise it a point. If the prime stat is already at 19 or higher the the player may choose to have both increases in other stats. PART 6: THE END As with any role-playing game, the GM has final say. In everything. The GM may bar a leveling character from increasing a certain skill if that skill was not practiced (not necessarily used in game play, but the player must at the very least declare what the character is working on during dead times). The GM may also award skill points in addition to or possibly (but probably not) in place of normal experience. The GM may award negative experience. Negative XP's don't subtract from the current total, but they must be made up before the total can be increased. A player may choose to make them up by subtracting the appropriate amount from their current total xp's.