Necromancers are pansies

Necromancer

Requirements: WIS 12 or below
Prime Requisite: CON
Hit Dice: 1d4
Maximum Level: 9
Alignment: Chaotic

Necromancers are reviled the world over, with the exception of the Qynarate, where they fulfill the role of both priests and slaves, forced by the Undying Empress to channel their grotesque craft toward the unholy task of keeping the state running. For all but the highest, it's perhaps a worse existence than everywhere else, where you'll just be hunted down by the locals and lynched or by the Church and burnt.

Further, necromancers are limited by their focus on thanatologies. They haven't the breadth of magic-users, and the day-to-day existence of a necromancer is often unpleasant - grave robbing and corpses, rotting flesh, and malevolent, life-hating intelligences.

So why do people turn to necromancy? Simple: it's easy, and it's fast. Necromancers gain power amazingly quickly, and all you have to sacrifice is your humanity.

Necromancers are restricted in arms and armor as magic-users. They also gain and cast spells like magic-users, but are restricted to the necromancer spell list.

In addition to their spellbooks, at 2nd level necromancers must make a pact with some malevolent intelligence. Non-exhaustive examples include a powerful undead, a demon, or another necromancer. As part of this pact, a necromancer learns 1 new spell whenever he gains a new level, but must complete some task for his patron (and may be required to do so between levels as well, if he wishes to keep the patronage).

Further, a necromancer may cast bonus spells per day. In order to do so, a necromancer must sacrifice a living, sentient creature. A necromancer gains bonus spellss equal in level to the number of hit-dice of the sacrificed creature(s), distributed as he chooses. A necromancer may never have more than one bonus spell of any given level. Bonus spells are kept until cast. (Example: the necromancer catches and sacrifices a 5th-level fighter. He may now memorize an extra fifth-level spell, a fourth and a first level spell, a third and a second level spell, or so on.)

Reaching 9th level: Upon reaching 9th level, a necromancer may create a stronghold, often a tower. He will attract a number (1d6) of intelligent undead (wights, wraiths, ghouls, but never mummies or vampires) and 1-3 necromancer apprentices of 1st level.
(Further, it will be difficult to attract peasants for tax revenue. 1/4th is a good starting point.)



Level

	Experience	Hit Dice (d4)	Number of Spells (by level)
			1	2	3	4	5
1	0	1	1	–	–	–	–
2	1,251	2	2	–	–	–	–
3	2,501	3	3	1	–	–	–
4	5,001	4	3	2	–	–	–
5	10,001	5	4	2	1	–	–
6	20,001	6	4	2	2	–	–
7	40,001	7	4	3	2	1	–
8	80,001	8	4	3	3	2	–
9	160,001	9	4	3	3	2	1

Spells

Non-exhaustive list

Level 1

Charm Undead
As MU spell, but only works on intelligent undead (ghouls, wights, etc.)

Detect Evil
As MU spell

Protection from Evil
As MU spell

Foul Grave
Duration: Permanent
By means of this spell the necromancer desecrates a grave-site. A body interred in such a grave is practically guaranteed to rise again as an appropriate form of undead, probably a wight or a wraith.

Corpse Essence
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch
The caster draws forth the lingering vitality of a fresh corpse and infuses it into himself, gaining 1d4hp per HD of the dead creature. The corpse crumbles to dust in the process. It must be fresh, having died no more than a week ago.

Preserve Body
Duration: One Week
The necromancer temporarily halts the decay of a corpse, fending off all natural sources of rot and dissolution. Magical rot and trauma (such as from attacks) will still harm the body, but it will not suffer from bacteria, vermin, etc. This spell only halts decay; it does not reverse it. This spell may be cast on the animated dead.

Cloak of Death
Duration: 3 turns
Range: 30'
The subject of this spell is perceived by undead to be 'one of them' or otherwise not a threat or target. Intelligent undead get a saving throw to resist the effect. If the subject attacks or otherwise harms the undead, the spell ends.

Level 2

Raise Ghoul
Duration: Permanent
This spell allows the caster to raise a new ghoul from the dead. It requires a fresh body no more than a month dead (or well-preserved) to work with. The ghoul thus raised is the slave of the caster and must follow verbal commands, but he doesn't have to like it.

Aspect of Death
Duration: 1 turn
Range: Personal
The caster's visage becomes supernaturally gruesome and chilling, striking terror into all who behold him and fail a saving throw vs. spells

Animate Dead
As the Cleric spell of the same name, but the necromancer can raise twice his level in HD of skeletons and zombies.

Drain Level
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch
After casting this spell, the necromancer must make a melee attack at +4 to hit. If he hits, the necromancer drains one level from the target.

Level 3

Ward Against Turning
Duration: 6 turns
Range: 60'
The necromancer whispers his will to the undead, letting them add half his level to their effective hit dice to avoid turning attempts. A necromancer may ward up to his own level in hit dice of undead with this spell.

Rip Out Spirit
Duration: Concenration
Range: 20'
This gruesome spell allows the caster to violently separate the spirit from the flesh of the target. If the subject fails a save vs. death, he loses 1 level (or hit die) per round until he dies or the caster ceases to draw forth his spirit. The caster must concentrate and do nothing else for the duration of the spell.

A spirit drawn forth in this way may be stored as per Soul Jar, though it does not get the ability to possess other vessels. Intelligent creatures only. Elves are immune.

Inflict Rot
Duration: Permanent
Range: 60'
If the subject fails his saving throw vs spells, he is imbued with a supernatural rotting disease. He loses 1d6 CON and CHA and is unable to heal naturally or magically from any inflicted wounds. A cure disease followed by remove curse can end the effects.

Raise Wight
Duration: Permanent
The caster raises a new wight from an available body. The body must be freshly slain (no more than 1 week old) or well-preserved. The wight thus raised is slave to the caster and must follow verbal commands.

Raise Wraith
Duration: Permanent
The caster raises a new wraith from an available body. The body must have been slain over a year ago and buried with grave goods of no less than 50gp worth. The wraith thus raised is slave to the caster and must follow verbal commands.

Summon Shade
By means of this spell the caster summons forth a shade from the dead. He may then ask it three questions before it returns to whence it came. The caster must have some strong link to the shade - a part of the body, a dear object, or being in a specially important location - and any given shade may only be summoned once. The shade will only know things that it would have known in life. In order to cast this spell, the caster must sacrifice at least 1hp worth of fresh blood (though it need not be his own).

Level 4

Eldritch Life
Duration: Permanent
This spell breathes life of a sort into the dead. To cast this spell, the necromancer must spend 2d4 weeks preparing the body for its 'resurrection'. When first chosen, the body must be fresh, slain no more than 1 week ago, or very well-preserved (think formaldehyde, not mummification). This spell only works on humans and demi-humans (elves included).

When raised, the new 'person' will have no memories of his former life, and must be taught everything - how to speak, how to read, how to eat, etc. (Neither will he have any class levels from his former life.) There is a 5% chance that the raised creature will be subtly insane, gradually becoming homocidal and monomaniac.

Revitalization in this fashion will give the new 'person' unnatural strength and vigor, imbuing him with 2 (d8) HD, max CON, and max STR. If not insane, the creature will be strongly attached to the caster, as though Charmed (but permanent, and unable to be dispelled), unless and until the caster tries to kill or seriously harm him.

Any given caster may only have one such raised companion at a time, for if he raises another inevitably they will go to great lengths to kill one another.

Raise Mummy
Duration: Permanent
The caster raises a new mummy from an available body. The body must be properly mummified, which takes at least a week and 500gp of materials unless you happen to have a mummified body sitting around. The mummy thus raised is slave to the caster and must follow verbal commands.

Raise Spectre
Duration: Permanent
The caster raises a new spectre from an available body. The body must have been slain over a year ago and buried with grave goods of no less than 200gp worth. The spectre thus raised is slave to the caster and must follow verbal commands
Skull Spirit
Duration: Permanent
The caster raises a new skull spirit from an available skull of an intelligent creature. The skull must be clean of all flesh and not seriously damaged. The skull spirit follows the verbal commands of the caster. (Stats for skull spirits can be found at the end.)


Level 5

Soul Leech
Duration: Special, see below
By means of this spell, the caster consumes a stored spirit. Consuming a spirit may give many benefits. Choose one:

•  Remove curse as per the spell
• Cure disease as per the spell
• Gain 1 bonus spell of each level you are able to cast. You may not do this more than once per day
• Cure critical wounds as per the spell (3d6+3)
• Restoration as per the spell
• See invisible, See ethereal and detect magic as per the spells
• Set any one stat to max (18) for 1 day

Haruspicy
This spell functions like the clerical spell Commune, except that the caster must kill and read the entrails of some creature as part of the spell. Further, use of unintelligent creatures only grants 1 question.

Death Spell
As per the MU spell

Lich
Duration: Permanent
This spell infuses the caster with necromantic energies that prolong life into undeath. It must be cast three times exactly a year and a day apart from one another. If the caster misses a subsequent casting, he dies and his body turns to dust with no chance of resurrection. Further, each casting requires reagants costing at least 5,000gp and a week's careful, uninterrupted preparation.

If successful, there is at first no outward change to the caster. However, when he dies either from old age or any other source, he will not die. Instead, he will continue on as a lich. (Exactly how to handle this is up to the DM.)

Labyrinth Lord / Desolate North House Rules Part 1a: Thieves

As promised last time, I'm showing my re-work of LL's Thief class. This is all based heavily on the write-up already in Hill Cantons and inspired by Unfrozen Caveman Dice Chucker (I refuse to accept the new name).

Thief

Requirements: None

Prime Req: DEX

Hit Dice: d4

Maximum Level: None

Note that a Thief can be of any alignment. In addition to any bonus languages for intelligence, the thief also knows Thieves' Cant, an argot of Common used by ne'er-do-wells to discuss nefarious proceedings.

9th level hideout shenanigans are still possible as per LL.

At 11th level, a Thief's backstab does triple damage.

Thief Skills

Instead of advancing along a percentage table with level, thieves are awarded Bonus Skill Levels. These bonus skill levels can be assigned into any skill the thief chooses.

 Starting Thief Skills

Scale Sheer Surfaces:5, max 12

Pick Pockets:2, max 15

Find/Remove Traps:2, max 12

Pick Locks:3, max 12

Hear Noise:4, max 11

Move Silently:2, max 13
Hide in Shadows:2, max 13

Read Languages (at Level 4):0, max 13

Read Scrolls (at Level 9):5, max 12

In order to succeed at a skill, the Thief rolls a d10 trying to roll below the skill level.

Double 12: Every time you roll a 12, roll again. A double 12 is always a failure, regardless of skill level.

Thief Skill Definitions

Scale Sheer Surfaces: This is not just 'climbing walls', but scaling sheer surfaces, viz. things that a normal person would just say, "That's impossible." Examples include the sides of skyscrapers, windy overhangs with few to no handholds, etc. However, some surfaces might still be outside the thief's ability at the DM's discretion.
Pick Pockets: As per LL, except for each level the target is above the thief subtract 1 from the skill.
Find/Remove Traps: Also works with Secret Doors and other such. Note that the DM will still require a description of your activities, and decide success, failure, and difficulty based on this. This is not preternatural, and is in fact a thing all adventurers do; thieves are just better at it.
Pick Locks: As per LL.
Hear Noise: Not just any old noise, but preternatural hearing - noises you wouldn't otherwise be able to hear. Picking up whispered conversations through keyholes, hearing footsteps far away by putting your ear to the ground, that kind of thing.
Hide in Shadows: Anyone can hide, but it takes a thief to hide in shadows. Area must be shadowy and dim, and you cannot hide in shadows while being watched. (If the thief fails the check, it is assumed he is still being stealthy - though maybe not with success.)
Move Silently: Anyone can move quietly, but it takes a thief to move silently. Thief must not be wearing or carrying anything noisy (e.g. clinking bottles, non-magical armor heavier than leather), and there are certain environments that either give a penalty to the roll or may make it impossible (e.g. nightingaled floors, wading through water). If the thief fails the check, it is assumed he is still being stealthy - though maybe not with success.

Thief Level Advancement

Exp	Level	Hit Dice (1d4)	Bonus Skill Levels
0	1	1	0
1,250	2	2	3
2,500	3	3	4
5,000	4	4	3
10,000	5	5	4
20,000	6	6	3
40,000	7	7	4
80,000	8	8	3
160,000	9	9	4
280,000	10	10	3
400,000	11	+1 hp	2
520,000	12	+2 hp	1
640,000	13	+3 hp	1
760,000	14	+4 hp	1
880,000	15	+5 hp	1
1,000,000	16	+6 hp	1
1,120,000	17	+7 hp	1
1,240,000	18	+8 hp	1
1,360,000	19	+9 hp	1
1,480,000	20	+10 hp	1

******

I'm thinking of completely removing Find/Remove Traps in favor of just giving Thieves a flat 3 in 6 to notice secrets and traps when looking, and a note saying they're likely to be better at removing them than other characters. That skill in particular bothers me for all the reasons it's bothered other people more experienced and eloquent than I.

Battle Nuns: a LL or B/X class

Thanks to +Thomas Pluck (here) I give you:

Battle Nuns

Nuns of the Supernal Sisterhood of the Hunting Rifle.

Requirements: ST 9
Prime Requisite: WIS
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: 12
Alignment: Lawful
Save: as Clerics
To hit: as Fighters

Battle Nun Level Progression

Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d6)
0	1	1
1,501	2	2
3,001	3	3
6,001	4	4
12,001	5	5
24,001	6	6
48,001	7	7
96,001	8	8
180,000	9	9
260,001	10	+3 hp only *
300,001	11	+6 hp only *
440,001	12	+9 hp only *
*Hit point modifiers from constitution are ignored

The first Order of Battle Nuns was started five hundred years ago back when the Church was aiding the Kingdom of Nurian to fight off the Qynari heathens. After years of bitter fighting against their necro-melded  armies, the Qynarate held the upper hand. They were poised to sweep over Berthold's Pass and into the Nurian heartlands, whereas the Nurian-led coalition army was mostly put to flight in a previous battle, leaving only a small handful of defenders to hold the pass and keep the enemy at bay.

With the defenders was a 12-year-old peasant girl named Therese Olon. (Olon was a nearby village.) On the day of the battle she stood forth, and eyewitness accounts say she was filled with the Light of Salvation and, wielding a mace made for a much larger man, enabled the defenders to beat back their gruesome enemy, thereby saving Nuri from certain destruction.

After the battle, Therese went on with the army for another four years, culminating in yet another victory and the sacking of the Qynari city of Akarim Gel, thus putting an end to the threat. In the last battle she was fatally wounded, but she had gained a following of other women and girls to carry on her legacy.

That following became the first Order, the Sisters of Unfailing Humility. Therese was canonized and the Order recognized by ecclesiastical authority a mere ten years afterward.

All Battle Nuns are members of one of the militant female orders of the Church. Examples include the Little Sisters of Mercy and the Most Humble Daughters of Her Supreme Mitre.

Orders of Battle Nuns specialize by weapon type. A Nun of a particular Order may only use weapons of that Order's chosen type, which must be decided at character creation. (Players are encouraged to create Orders to which their Nuns belong.) A Battle Nun may use any sort of armor, but no shields.

A Battle Nun gets some recompense for her restriction in weapons. At level 3, her weapon counts as magical for the purposes of damaging enemies that can only be hurt by magical weapons.

At level 6, a Battle Nun rerolls any 1's she rolls for damage with her chosen weapon. If the new roll is also a 1, it stays.

Turning Undead: A Battle Nun may Turn Undead as a Cleric 2 levels lower.

Reaching 9th Level: On attaining 9th level, a Battle Nun may establish or build a convent. So long as the nun is currently in favor with the Church, she may buy or build a keep at half the normal price due to ecclesiastical intervention. Once a convent is established, the nun's (now abbess') reputation will spread and she will attract 1st and 2nd level followers of the Battle Nun class (numbering 5d6 x10). They are completely loyal (never checking morale).

Know your options:

Next up: Bard and Cleric! These two are both less complicated than your front-line combatants, and so require less advice.

Bard

Before we get into this, understand: you are not a combatant. If Knights are front-liners, and Clerics and their ilk are second-string, you're assuredly third rank. Stay out of combat if at all possible.

Now we'll discuss your options.

In melee, your primary skill starts out at 14. This gives you a parry of 10, possibly with a +1 from a buckler. Frankly, if you're forced into combat and are the focus of something's aggression, your best bet is to take All-Out Defense for the +2 to your defenses, retreat for another +1 to parry and +3 to dodge, and get out of there.

If you aren't the focus of something's aggression, what are you doing in combat? Oh well, we'll assume you find yourself in that situation anyway. Your primary task will probably be to soak up a defense roll so the Knight or Barbarian can land a hit. If you're certain you won't be the focus of retaliation, you should go ahead and take All-Out Attack (Determined) and trade the +4 for a -2 to your foe's defense. Or, for heavily armored foes, don't forget All-Out Attack (Strong) for the extra damage.

For ranged combat, your primary skill is a 13 or 12. You must aim in order to hit anything. This means you'll be shooting every two to four seconds (most favorable is with Fast-Draw (Knife), least is with a Bow and without Fast-Draw (Arrow)). That sounds grim, but let's be clear: this is where you should be. You should never be in melee if you can help it, and if you're not slinging songs about (which, frankly, is a perfectly good thing to be doing - it's your schtick) you might as well be shooting things.

Your primary goal in ranged combat is to soak up defenses so someone actually good at fighting can hit something. Don't bother aiming for a specific location unless you need to to be considered a threat. Just aim, subtract the range penalty, and fire.

Cleric

You're a second-tier fighter, nowhere near as good as a Knight or Barbarian but still not totally helpless in a fight. With a skill of 14 in both weapon and shield, you can hit your opponent %90 of the time and defend competently. Congratulations; you meet the baseline required to be considered a threat. Unless you have compelling reason to do otherwise, aim for the torso. Don't worry if they defend against you - unless they're dodging, that's one more defense they can't use against the Knight.

On the defensive, always remember to retreat for the extra +1/+3. With a shield, your defense is 12 or 13, which gives you a %90 chance of success with the retreat. If facing opponents doing Deceptive Attacks, switch to All-Out Defense - as a cleric, you want to keep your FP instead of using it for Extra Effort. Someone will be along to help you shortly, since a cleric under attack is a high priority issue.

Let's talk Sunbolt. This is your go-to ranged option. The most important thing about Sunbolt is, you want it to hit. Unlike the Scout, for whom landing arrows is nice, for you landing Sunbolt is necessary. You spent a lot of energy and time to get it up, and all that's wasted if you miss or your enemy defends against the attack.

This means two things: always Aim for at least one second to get the +2 Acc, and pick a target that's already being harrassed or otherwise can't defend well. Don't bother with aiming for the face or eyes; the special effects are a trap.

Know your options

This is less a post and more asking for help. You have been warned.

As was pointed out to me by my most knowledgeable player (who may be more knowledgeable than me about GURPS, quite frankly), one of the things that could help immensely in convincing my group to make the switch from, "I hit it with my axe," to, "I take a Rapid Strike with the Flurry of Blows option to Feint once and then aim a swing at the leg with -4 for Deceptive Attack, which puts me at 14 because I have Weapon Master and Axe-Mace at 21," is to come up with a condensed list of tactical recommendations. However, y'all collectively have played a lot more GURPS than I have. So I need some advice from the community; I'm trying to boil things down.

Preferably, I'd have a class-by-class list of recommendations for different situations, along with explanations of why and wheretofore. For example, "As a Barbarian, you'll be relying on beats,"..."As a Scout, don't forget to aim for body locations, and try to take multiple shots,"..."As a Knight, remember Weapon Master makes you badass for reasons a,b,and c,"..."As a Wizard, stay out of combat," etc.

Before I start out, I should point out that +Douglas Cole has already done the groundwork for me, as well as some of the synthesis, and +Peter V. Dell'Orto has some reflections on making that useful to the GM.

(Who am I kidding? Is there a single one of you out there who didn't find out about this blog through one of those two? Still, it's polite, and I enjoy crafting links.)

The first principle, no matter who you are or what your profession, is this: you almost always want a skill of 14 when attacking. That's not at least 14; that's 14. Though even here there's a decision; maybe you want a 16?

Decide: is it more important for you to critically hit, or for you to hit? The rubric for this decision is simple: if you're unlikely to do damage with a simple hit (either because defenses or DR are too high), then you need a crit. Aim for skill 16. Otherwise, you don't; aim for skill 14. (There are a number of exceptions to this: for example, it's okay to go for skill 13 with multiple attacks, or even dip down to skill 12 if you're desperate, but the rule is pretty firm.)

From here, setting aside the people who shouldn't see combat at all, we naturally divide into two groups: melee and ranged.

Melee consists of Barbarians, Clerics, Druids, Holy Warriors, Knights, Martial artists, Swashbucklers (I won't be covering these two), and Thieves. Ranged consists of Clerics, Druids, Scouts, Thieves, and Wizards. (I'm only considering DF 1. Sorry, Innkeeper fans!)

For this post, I'm going to try covering Barbarians and Scouts. I'll be aiming this squarely at the templates as written, despite the fact that my PCs will have lower skill levels due to having lower point totals. Also, I'm totally ignoring grappling.

Barbarian

As a barbarian, your asset is your strength, not so much your skill. At best you will have Combat Reflexes and Weapon Bond along with skill 17 with some weapon. More likely, you'll have skill 16 or even 15. The basic threatening monster will have skill 14, which means defense of 10, +- any special abilities, like a high dodge or a shield.

In combat, Beats are your friend. (MA100) Especially important is that you can Beat without an extra action, if your attack was blocked or parried. If an enemy blocks, this means you (or the Knight!) will be more likely to hit him next round.

As a rule, try not to go below skill 14 with your main attack. Also, remember the Extra Effort options (especially Heroic Charge, which lets you move ant attack with less of a penalty, and Flurry of Blows, which lets you Rapid Strike better); you'll need them.

In combat, decide if your foe is high-skill or not. If he is, stick with Skill 16 and shots for the torso. If not, your go-to maneuver is a Deceptive Attack (-1), for -2 to hit (giving you skill 14 or 13). If he's tough to hit, consider a Telegraphic Attack (+4 to hit in exchange for +2 to defend). Don't worry so much about aiming at particular spots; you do enough raw damage that it doesn't matter that much.

Defensively, seriously consider taking the Defensive Attack option. For -1 damage per die (and you're doing a lot of damage already), you get +1 to Parry or Block, or the ability to parry with a U weapon.

With High Pain threshold you'll never suffer shock penalties, but you still don't want to get hit. Your defense is probably somewhere in the 11-13 area, which is decent, but not as good as a Knight's. Remember to retreat while defending, which gives you +1 to parries and blocks, and +3 to dodges (bringing your 10 to a 13, possibly your best score). Also, you don't want to get hit, because while you have a lot of HP you probably don't have a lot of armor. Don't forget your Luck or Extraordinary Luck, if you have it.

For berserker barbarians, embrace the beast! Remember you get +4 on rolls vs. knockout and death, meaning you'll practically never fail. (Only on an 18.) Your combat options are limited, though. You must attack the nearest foe, and you must All-Out attack. If your foes are highly skilled, take the +4 and trade it for Deceptive Attack against their defenses (usually for a total of -3). If they're not, go with Double, possibly also trading one for a Rapid Strike (with Flurry of Blows, costing 1FP) for -3 to your skill for three attacks, split how you like.

Scout

You're a ranged character. With skill 16 or 17 in melee, that might not seem true, but don't believe it - it's a lie. You're a ranged character. Those 20 points you sank into Heroic Archer prove it. Speaking of which, remember Heroic Archer and what it means. Here's the breakdown: no penalties for footing or positioning or actions, and if you don't move you've already aimed. So unless you can't avoid it, don't move. That takes your skill 18 and drives it up to skill 20, and you'll need that extra skill to overcome range penalties.

Unlike the combat monsters, you'll want to aim at body-parts or at chinks in armor; your base damage is too low to do much otherwise. Chinks in armor is tough at -8, but against large foes might be worth it.

The base effective skill you want is 14, because if you don't hit your foe doesn't even need to defend. Memorize the Size and Speed Range table from 2 yds to 20 yds, which is your maximum effective combat range. The further along this scale your target is, the fewer options you have. At 20 yards, just shoot once a turn for the torso.

While it depends on the exact nature of your opponent (high defenses? high DR? lots of people?) With high defenses, you'll want a lot of arrows on one target, to soak up defenses, or maybe a ranged deceptive attack, which is allowed. With high DR, you want to find weak spots and drill on them. With lots of foes, you'll want to send out a lot of arrows.

Also, remember: if you aren't being attacked, there's no reason not to claim the extra +1 from All-Out Attack (Determined).

One of your hallmarks is rapid fire. For a Fast Draw and two Bow rolls at -3 (or -1 if you have Weapon Master (Bow) or use 1FP) [*Note: Use of FP for this isn't RAW, but it has a nice symmetry with Flurry of Blows, so I allow it.] you can fire every turn. Do this every turn that the range is 7 yards or less. (Skill 18, +2 because you stood still, -6 is 14. 14 is your magic number.) If you use the FP or also have Weapon Master (Bow), aim for the vitals.

Speaking of aiming for the vitals, aiming for the vitals is your go-to maneuver. Expect to pretty much always soak that -3 to skill to aim for the vitals; the x3 damage multiplier is too nice not to. Other options are either not as good for you (arms and legs take less damage from impaling and piercing) or have better modifiers but are harder to hit (like the skull and eyes). In fact, a lot of the time you will be balancing aiming for the vitals with shooting every turn. Average damage through chainmail to the vitals is 3.5 x 3 = 10.5, or enough to take an average man down to a consciousness check in one turn.

What should you aim at? There are two schools of thought. The first is to aim at whatever's attacking the melee fighters; forcing it to use a defense against your attack makes their attacks more likely to get through. Another is to focus on whatever might be able to hurt them (or, say, the wizard) but that they can't hurt, like enemy archers. Which you subscribe to should depend on the situation.

If you're ever in a situation where you need to roll melee combat skills or defenses, leave. That is not your role. All-Out defend and get away.



You can think of that as a sort of first draft.  The hope is that I'll be able to both pretty them up and add more to them, like what the Knight should do. Most will be simple, e.g. "As a Wizard, your main combat experience should be missile spells, and you want skill 14 with them if possible. Don't forget to All-Out Attack (Determined). If you're ever in combat, leave."

Is there anything I missed? Are my recommendations contrary to your experience? Do you have a better, clearer, more concise way of saying what I need to say? Please, let me know.

Character creation

I've decided that new characters start off at 150 points, as that seems roughly consonant with an AD&D first level character. This is a little bit of a problem because the Dungeon Fantasy Adventurers' templates cost 250 points. There are a few ways around this:

1. Pick a template from Adventurer’s and build your character on 250 points, then scale back to 150 using "Dungeon Fantasy on the Cheap". Players can also/instead scale back other abilities in the template; DF on the Cheap is pretty much focused on ability scores.
2. Pick a 125 point template from DF 15: Henchmen that mimics an acceptable template from Adventurers, then spend the extra 25 points for any of: a race, part of a 50 point occupational ‘cross-class’ lens from DF 3, or the complementary 125 point lens from DF 15: Henchmen

Acceptable Templates:

(From DF 1)

·         Barbarian

·         Bard

·         Cleric

·         Druid

·         Holy Warrior

·         Knight

·         Scout

·         Thief

·         Wizard

(From DF 15)

·         Any. However, note there are restrictions inside the templates so that they won’t mimic unacceptable templates. Generally, they’re common-sensical, here are a few:

o   Apprentice: Can only choose wizard package

o   Initiate: Can choose Druid or Good Cleric

o   Sage isn’t allowed, since there’s no point to it

o   Any ‘Eastern-flavored’ portions of the templates should be ignored

The lenses to add on top of them follow the same rules.

Races:

Races can be found in Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level. Acceptable races include Human, Halfling, Wood Elf, High Elf, Dwarf, and Half-Orc. Half-orc isn’t liable to be a good idea, at least at first.

Advancement (aka why would I use a henchman template?):

The optional rule, “Changing Professions” in DF 3 on pg 42 will be in effect. In brief, you're stuck with the template you've chosen until you have all the primary abilities that template grants.

Using Dungeon Fantasy on the Cheap usually scales back core stats to remove points from the templates. This can make advancement fairly boring. To alleviate some of that, when you use such a template, only half of your earned points at any given time need to go into attribute advancement; the other half can go into various abilities already provided by the template, whether you took them or no. So, for example a Knight could increase his primary sword skill or his Born War Leader Talent; a wizard could purchase more spells or increase Magery or Energy Reserve.

The henchmen templates, on the other hand, are only 125 points, so you aren’t locked in for as long a journey, and the lenses provided offer more interesting choices than just putting points into attributes.

Also, more generally, the rules under Adding New Abilities (starting on DF 3 pg. 42) and Training Costs (ibid.) are in effect.

Notes for Magic Users including druids, clerics, and wizards:

(Taken in large part from Peter over at Dungeon Fantastic, by way of this post on the SJ Games Forums.)

Instead of the standard fatigue-based magic, we’ll be using Threshold magic. Standard Threshold is 30, and you can buy more at 1 for 1 point. Recovery rate is high enough. You cannot buy Energy Reserve except via a familiar. Other energy sources – power items, paut potions, etc. – still exist. Also, wizards can burn HP for spells at standard rates (and penalties), but druids and clerics cannot. Further, you can concentrate while grappled, if you make a Will-6 roll. If you attempt and fail, you must Do Nothing

                Spells:

• Shape Earth and Earth to Air only work on unworked stone
• Walk Through Earth can only be cast on yourself
• Wizard 'appendages' (Wizard Eye, Wizard Ear, etc) do not exist.
• ‘Mass’ versions of spells take no longer to cast than their Minimum Costs, in seconds.
• Geas and Enslave require ceremonial casting on a helpless target, and they take an hour per point
• Only a small number of Meta college spells exist: Ward, Counterspell, Great Ward, Dispel Magic
• Counterspell requires you to know the spell countered or five spells in the same college; same with Ward. Further, these spells require that the source of the spell be the same as your source; e.g. clerics cannot counterspell wizards.
• The Machine, Metal and Energy colleges don’t exist. If their spells are part of another college, then those spells can still be learned.
• Magical missiles get a save chance vs. Missile Shield and Reverse Missiles
• Force Dome and Utter Dome, along with their Wall types, don’t exist.
• See Secrets only works on things that are within plain view. Thus, if there’s a secret door that you can’t detect because it blends in with the wall, See Secrets will show it. However, if it’s hidden behind a tapestry, See Secrets will not work.
• Explosive spells (Explosive Fireball, Explosive Lightning, etc) use the old 3^rd edition explosion rules, meaning that for each hex out from the center, you drop the highest die, rather than dividing by 3 x distance

Languages:

I don’t have room here to do the subject justice, so here’s the basics. The gritty details must needs wait on another post.

 Halflings and Humans get Common Native/Native, and Tengwar (Common) at Native (it’s written only).

Elves of both types get Elvish Native/Native and Common Native/None. If it ever matters, the Elvish written form is Tengwar (Elvish). They don’t have another sort.

Other races get their native tongues at Native/Native and Common at Native/None. Note that for other races the native writing form is not Tengwar.

Finally, Barbarians of any race only get Spoken proficiencies. Thus, barbarians of any type have 3 points to spend somewhere else. Human barbarians get to choose another language to speak natively, if they so desire.

Miscellaneous:

The Outdoorsman talent costs only 5 points, and doesn’t include Fishing.

Druids and Wizards can consider animal companions/familiars as part of their starting templates, if you so desire.

Healing potions are 1/5^th the cost if bought at start.

In Dungeon Fantasy, trading cash for points gives you the same amount of money as buying signature gear. Why would you ever do the former? Well, for one, the cash from Signature Gear must needs all be spent in one place, on one piece of gear. If your signature gear doesn’t cost some multiple of $500, too bad. Also, Signature Gear cannot be used to purchase perishables such as rations, torches, or healing potions. Finally, Signature Gear provides protection, but it also ties you to the item, meaning you can’t easily upgrade later. If you find a better sword, you can’t just leave your Signature Gear sword at home, sorry.

Last note:

The point totals above are for beginning characters. Once the median point value of the party is 200, new characters will start with 200, and so on – the starting value will bump for every 50 points the median increases.