House Rules 3: treasure, XP, play, and that sort of thing

You might actually want to read this one! But probably not, in all honesty. I'm not really breaking new ground here. I'm mostly just following people like Jeff Rients and Zak and those guys at Ten Foot Polemic and the Hill Cantons and probably a good few others to boot.

Equipment

Studded leather doesn't exist. Leather is AC 7.

Torches are good for setting fire to things, blinding yourself with an open flame, and making lots of smoke. If people insist on using them in dungeons they light an area of 20' radius and you'll probably constantly be blinding your companions and dripping pitch everywhere and coughing on the smoke. Bring a lantern.

Plate armor is expensive, rare, and custom-made. The price listed in the book is the price for getting a found set re-fitted to you. It must roughly fit you already (no resizing dwarfplate to fit your human fighter), you have to find someone who works with the stuff, and wait about a month. Getting a new set for yourself costs about 300gp and takes 1d4 months to complete.

Weapons all do 1d6. Using a two-handed weapon allows you to roll twice and take the higher result. Using a weapon in your off hand gives you +1 to hit.

Using a silver holy symbol (or one otherwise upgraded) gives you a +1 to your Turn Undead roll.

We're using my simplified encumbrance rules.

Helmets come with all armor, unless you're a halfling. If you're unarmored and wear a helmet, it won't change your AC but might help you out in specific situations (like not causing you to take extra damage from a falling rock trap).

Treasure and XP

Coins are 50/lb. They're still big, but not absurd. This makes a copper piece roughly the size of a £2 piece, a silver piece slightly larger than a quarter, and a gold piece between a dime and a nickel. Assuming they're pure. They're usually not, which would make them somewhat bigger or smaller (but still weigh the same).

Treasure liberated from the dungeon or wilds is worth 1xp per gp shared equally with the party. Magical treasure does not give XP.

Further, some activities in town are also worth XP. Carousing is worth 1XP per gp spent up to the maximum. Other frivolous spending is worth 0.75XP per gp spent up to the maximum, and 0.5XP per gp spent afterward. All expenditures must be from treasure; reinvesting after staking a wildcatter who makes good on his claim might be a good idea, but it doesn't earn you XP.

Carousing: In order to carouse, roll d6x100gp. (This will be larger in well-connected places, and smaller in dinky backwater villages.) This is how much you spend. If you don't have enough, you can borrow from other PCs. If nobody's willing to spot you, you end up indebted to some local of the DM's choosing. Thieves may choose to take +1 to this roll.

Further, roll a Wisdom check. If you succeed, everything's fine - you managed to keep work and play separated and didn't wake up next to anyone you didn't intend to. If you fail, you roll on the Carousing Mishaps table stolen shamelessly from Jeff Rients. (I tried to improve it, but really: can you?)

Carousing Mishaps

1) Make a fool of yourself in public. Gain no XP. Roll Charisma check or gain reputation in this town as a drunken lout.
2) Involved in random brawl. Roll Strength check or start adventure d3 hit points short.
3) Minor misunderstanding with local authorities. Roll Charisma check. Success indicates a fine of 2d6 x 25gp. Failure or (inability to pay fine) indicates d6 days in the pokey.
4) Romantic entanglement. Roll Wisdom check to avoid nuptials. Otherwise 1-3 scorned lover, 4-6 angered parents.
5) Gambling losses. Roll the dice as if you caroused again to see how much you lose. (No additional XP for the second carousing roll.)
6) Gain local reputation as the life of a party. Unless a Charisma check is failed, all future carousing in this burg costs double due to barflies and other parasites.
7) Insult local person of rank. A successful Charisma check indicates the personage is amenable to some sort of apology and reparations.
8) You wake up in a barn with no memory of how you got there and no clothes. Your stuff is: Roll 1d6 1-3 buried in the cowbyre 4 carried off by thieves 5 impounded by the authorities 6 nowhere to be found
9) New tattoo. 1-3 it’s actually pretty cool 4 it’s lame 5 it could have been badass, but something is goofed up or misspelled 6 it says something insulting, crude or stupid in an unknown language.
10) Beaten and robbed. Lose all your personal effects and reduced to half hit points.
11) Gambling binge. Lose all your gold, gems, jewelry. Roll Wisdom check for each magic item in your possession. Failure indicates it’s gone.
12) Hangover from hell. First day of adventuring is at -2 to-hit and saves. Casters must roll Int check with each spell to avoid mishap.
13) Target of lewd advances turns out to be a witch. Save versus polymorph or you’re literally a swine.
14) One of us! One of us! You’re not sure how it happened, but you’ve been initiated into some sort of secret society or weird cult. Did you really make out with an emu of was that just the drugs? Roll Int check to remember the signs and passes.
15) Invest all your spare cash (50% chance all gems and jewelry, too) in some smooth-tongued merchant’s scheme. 1-4 it’s bogus 5 it’s bogus and Johnny Law thinks you’re in on it 6 actual money making opportunity returns d% profits in 3d4 months.
16) Wake up stark naked in a random local temple. 1-3 the clerics are majorly pissed off 4-6 they smile and thank you for stopping by.
17) Major misunderstanding with local authorities. Imprisoned until fines and bribes totaling d6 x 1,000gp paid. All weapons, armor, and magic items confiscated.
18) Despite your best efforts, you fall head over heels for your latest dalliance. 75% chance your beloved is already married.
19) When in a drunken stupor you asked your god(s) to get you out of some stupid mess. Turns out they heard you! Now as repayment for saving your sorry ass, you’re under the effects of a quest spell.
20) The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire! Accidentally start a conflagration. Roll d6 twice. 1-2 burn down your favorite inn 3-4 some other den of ill repute is reduced to ash 5-6 a big chunk of town goes up in smoke. 1-2 no one knows it was you 3-4 your fellow carousers know you did it 5 someone else knows, perhaps a blackmailer 6 everybody knows. 

Frivolous Spending: This includes all spending that doesn't specifically help you be an adventurer. Donating to the local temple, handing out money to beggars, commissioning a portrait, having your armor engraved, and purchasing real estate in town all count. Restocking supplies, upgrading your weapons, and spending gp on rumours do not.

Further, money spent in the 0.5XP range is reflected in the prosperity of the settlement. Drop enough into the local economy and you'll get people moving in, more market opportunities, etc.

XP from Monsters
Monsters are worth a flat 50XP per HD. Monsters of <1HD are worth 10XP.

Heroic Sendoff
When an adventurer dies and the party is unable (or unwilling!) to have them raised from the dead, a PC or retainer (see below) may opt to give the corpse a Heroic Sendoff. This requires at least 24 hours and something cool like a bigass funeral pyre, the raising of a burial mound, or a funeral ship floated down the river. The corpse must be armed and armored for combat, as appropriate to the class of the character. Each party member may donate up to 100gp times the level of the stiff as additional grave goods, the amount being spent is converted to bonus XP for the donor. Each party member may also donate one magic item to the grave. Scrolls, potions, and other one-shot items net a bonus of 250xp, while more permanent items get you 1,000xp or more. Magic items that would have been unusable by the deceased do not count.

Player Roles
Certain roles taken on by the players accrue a 5% bonus to XP for their characters. These include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• Cartographer. The person who actually draws the party map. It is not necessary that this player's character be the party mapper.
• Chronicler. The person who writes up session reports. These need not be terribly in-depth, but should give someone who missed a session a good idea of what important things happened
• Snack-bringer. Self-explanatory
• Other roles as I think of them or as they are invented around the table.

MVP
Once per session, the players will decide who was MVP for that session. This person gets a 5% bonus or 100XP, whichever is greater.

Exploration
Exporation is also worth XP. Here are some guidelines. These are per individual involved, but will only be given out once. If it's your first time, but not the first time, too bad.

• New hex discovered: 20
• New hex explored: 50
• New town, village, landmark, or site discovered: 100
• First time a dungeon is entered: 100
• Alternate dungeon entry found: 100

Other exploration awards may be added to this list or given in play at the DM's discretion.

Gameplay and Miscellaneous

Shields Shall be Splintered!
This old Trollsmyth beauty. For a magical shield, roll 1d6. If you roll at or under the plus value, it doesn't shatter. Otherwise it does.

Retainers, Henchmen, and Hirelings
Here's the difference, laid out plain.

Retainers are limited by your CHA score. They gain half a share in all XP, and the standard agreement is half a share in treasure plus expenses. Expenses include room and board, plus any equipment replacement or upgrades the retainer may require. (New armor or weapons, a mount, etc.) Retainers typically come with their own starting equipment. Retainers must be lower level than the PC hiring them. Yes, this means you can only start hiring a retainer at 2nd level. Further, retainers are the only sort of follower who has or gains class levels.

Henchmen are mercenary sorts who have hired on for pay to help explore a dungeon or local dangerous wilderness. For dungeon exploration, typical rates are 20gp per diem plus all expenses, though rates may be lower for less-dangerous jobs (e.g. guard the caravan while we go exploring). Henchmen typically come with their own arms and armor (usually along the lines of leather and club). If a henchman survives long enough, he may become a retainer.

Hirelings are non-combat day-laborers. Linkboys, porters, drovers, lackeys, and that sort. Hirelings do not count as skilled labor; if you want to hire a cartographer or a locksmith look elsewhere. Hirelings do not engage in combat or other dangerous pursuits if they can at all help it, and will revolt or abandon the expedition if forced into dangerous situations. A typical agreement for dungeon exploration includes 1gp per diem plus room and board.

Good Help is Hard to Find
Hirelings may be found in pretty much any centre of civilization from the smallest hamlet on up for short-term work. For long-term work, find a town or offer more. If actual numbers are needed, roll 1d10x20 for a village, 1d10x200 for a town, and so forth.

Henchmen are harder to find, but still potentially available even in wide spots in the road. For villages, roll 1d6. For a town, roll 1d6x10, and so forth.

Retainers are hard to find, since people with class levels are rare. They are effectively unavailable in villages, whereas you can find 1d2 in a town, 1d2x10 in a city, and so forth.

Extensive advertising (costing 25gp) will double the number of followers to be found, as will doubling the offered remuneration.

Sancho Panza to my Don Quixote
In Labyrinth Lord, retainers make a Loyalty Check at the end of every adventurer/foray and never return if they fail. However, the player whose character has retainers may decide upon one who will not do so. He still makes a Loyalty check, but if he fails, instead of outright leaving, he requires something more of the PC. This may be a pay raise, better equipment, some time off, or help with something (getting out of debt to the local crime boss, finding a cure for his sick mother, rescuing his brother from bandits, and so forth). If the PC acquiesces to the demands, the retainer will stay.

Planning for the future
A PC may bank wealth and up to one magic item for inheritance. If the PC dies, his heir inherits this money, -10% in straoge and security fees.

Bob is dead, long live Bob!
If a character dies, the player has several options for making a new character.

1. Roll up another one. Starts at level 1 with 0 xp. Can enter play any time, even in a dungeon. The DM will work it in.
2. Discover an heir. The heir will only be able to join once the party returns to civilization, but will be entitled to anything put away as an inheritance.
3. Promote a retainer. A retainer of that PC may now be played as a PC with his current experience and equipment.

Dungeons is Dangerous!
At the end of every session the party must end up back in a safe place. This is not necessarily a town, though all towns count. It could be a base camp, or a caravan, or an idyllic spot in the woods, or even certain seldom-visited portions of the dungeon. If the party fails to make it to a safe spot before the end of the session, make a save vs death. If you succeed, you escape unharmed. Otherwise, roll 1d20 on the table below shamelessly stolen from Jeff Rients:

Triple Secret Random Dungeon Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom (d20)

1. You lucky dog! You manage to somehow escape the dark forces of the dungeon. You return to civilization, naked and half-delirious.
2. Waitaminute, Lefty’s not right handed! Situation appears to be #1, but you’ve been replaced by a shapeshifting badguy.
3. Maimed. You escape but suffer the effects of a random critical hit. Also, 50% of your stuff is gone, randomly determined.
4. Alas, you are no more. If any comrades escape they are able to bring your remains and your stuff back to civilization.
5. Pining for the fjords. If any comrades escape they are able to bring your remains back to civilization, but your stuff is lost.
6. Dead as a doornail. The general location of your body is known to any surviving comrades.
7. Your stuff has become part of a monster’s hoard and your body part of a monster’s supper.
8. That is an ex-character. The location of your body is unknown to all.
9. Bought the farm. Your body and possessions irretrievable due to dragon fire, ooze acid, disintegrator beam, etc.
10. Also dead. Your body is irretrievable due to dragon fire, ooze acid, disintegrator beam, etc. but your stuff is still around for some other jerk to nab at a later date.
11. Held for ransom by seedy humans. A member of the Thieves Guild can arrange release for 1,000gp per character level. 1 in 6 chance the money disappears.
12. Captured by monsters. Escaping comrades know the level you were captured on and the type of monster holding you captive.
13. Captured by monsters. Escaping comrades know the level you were captured on, but not the type of monster involved.
14. Captured by monsters. Escaping comrades know the type of monster involved, but not what level to search.
15. Captured by monsters. Unseen monsters spirit you away to an unknown location.
16. A fate worse than death. Drafted into the ranks of the monsters. Roll d6: 1-2 undead, 3 lycanthrope, 4 charmed, 5 polymorphed, 6 other.
17. You and your stuff are sacrificed to the loathsome Frog Gods in order to gate in d6 Croaking Demons that are added to the dungeon key.
18. A gorgon or somesuch has petrified you. Escaping characters know what level to search for your statue.
19. Lost in the dungeon. GM sets your location each session. Re-enter play if the party finds you.
20. Opportunity for betrayal. Pick one other character who got away safe. Roll 1d6, 1-4 he takes your place and has to roll on this chart while you escape, 5-6 you both suffer the fate rolled by your victim.

House Rules 2: Spells

Mostly durations, really. I seriously suggest you skip this one; it's just going out here because it needs a home somewhere and I like to keep stuff all in the same place. But hey, have some Otus to lighten up the night.

Anyway....

Cleric Spells

Cure Critical Wounds and its reverse heal/deal 3d6+3 damage.

Detect Evil is reversible.

Dispel Evil is reversible (though good luck finding an application).

Earthquake has effects that are largely to the DM's discretion, with the described situations to be used as guidelines.

Insect Plague might very well work underground. It all depends on the local insect population. Also, 'insect' should not be taken in its technical meaning. Bug Swarm sounds stupid, though.

Know Alignment is reversible, and protects the subject from Know Alignment and similar means of alignment-scrying for the duration.

Lower Water functions like the MU spell of that name.

Part Water functions like the MU spell of that name, and is 5th level.

Protection from Evil and Protection from Evil 10' radius can be cast on an object.

Raise Dead requires a CON check to succeed (multiple tries are allowed, 1/day). Further, if successful, the raised individual's CON score is permanently reduced by 2. Casting Raise Dead (though not Ray of Death) requires reagants costing 1,000gp.

Resurrection requires reagants costing 10,000gp. Destruction does not.

Symbol is permanent until triggered.

MU/Elf Spells

Bigby's spells are all put on notice: you may have your levels reduced in a coming installment, because you truly suck. 8th level to hit someone for 1d6? Really?

Crushing Hand cannot be attacked by the opponent it's currently crushing, except with special biology or the like, at the DM's discretion.

Glass Like Steel is 5th level.

Grasping Hand cannot be attacked by creatures it successfully immobilizes, except with special biology or the like, at the DM's discretion.

Invisibility is reversible, though it does not always work on things that are natively invisible, e.g. an Invisible Stalker.

Irresistible Dance has a range of 30' and can affect all creatures in a 20' radius. Country dances need groups. Further, dancing is not always 'in place', but can take the affected creatures all around the spell area, depending on the dance.

Lightning will bounce, rather than just stop at a barrier it doesn't break through.

Maze has a duration measured in Turns and Hours, instead of Rounds and Turns.

Meteor Swarm uses a d8 instead of a d4.

Reincarnate uses a custom Super Secret Gonzo Reincarnation Table instead of the one in the book. Also, monsters (and talking badgers especially) totally can gain in levels.

Reverse Gravity is reversible, and requires anyone in the area of effect to make a save vs spells or fall prone and be unable to do anything that round. If the save is made, the creature may move at half speed and attack at -2 to hit.

Stone to Flesh can definitely be cast on objects that were not originally the subject of a Flesh to Stone spell. Boulder-sized meatballs are to be encouraged.

Symbol is permanent until triggered.

Teleport can send you low without instant death. 'Low' on the table works as 'high', but below the target. This might not mean in the ground! Smart wizards build raised teleportation platforms at home.

Time Stop lasts for 1d4 rounds.

Wish and Limited Wish can't simply be prepared and cast daily in a spellbook. If you know either spell, talk to the DM about uses.


...


What? You're still here?

Go kill some monsters and take their stuff already!

Alternatives to Death: Cripples & Crutches

At 0 or fewer HP, you are effectively dead. You are completely irrelevant for a combat, except
as a tripping hazard. Exact effects can be established if they matter; you might be unconscious, screaming in pain holding your guts in, or whatever.

If you take any more damage, see rules for replacement PCs.

After combat, roll 1d6 and subtract your current negative hp. So if you are at exactly 0 HP, roll 1d6. If you are at -4 HP, roll 1d6-4. This is the number of turns it will take you to die without help.

If you are still alive, you can be bandaged or otherwise aided. This does not restore any HP, and you remain completely disabled, but you will not die so long as you do not take more damage and are given more comprehensive medical care soon. (For each day you remain this way, make a CON check, with penalties as decided by the DM.)

If you recover from this state, roll 1d20 on the table below:

Cripples & Crutches Wound Table

1: Lingering death. Sucks to be you. You will die in 3d4 weeks. But maybe it can be remedied if your friends go find The Hermit in the Swamp...
If you somehow recover, roll twice more, ignoring any result of a 1 or 2.


2: Permanently bedridden or otherwise disabled. If this is somehow remedied, roll twice more on this chart and ignore a 1 or 2.


3: Your close brush with death leaves you horribly scarred. Feel free to make up something truly gruesome at the DM's discretion. Permanent -2d4 CHA

4: Slightly less horrible scarring. Maybe it's all mental this time? -1d4 CHA

5: Permanent injury to a limb. Roll 1d4:

1. Left Leg
2. Right Leg
3. Left Arm
4. Right Arm

If a leg, you've picked up a limp. Reduce move by 1/4 base value. If an arm, you've developed restricted range of motion or palsy. -1 DEX, occasional other penalties at DM discretion.

If you roll a result that this character is already suffering from, instead treat it as #8 below.


6: Loss of (roll 1d4):

1. 1d3 fingers. -1 to hit; -2d6 to all Thief skills that involve manual dexterity; other situational penalties at DM discretion. If you lose more than 5 fingers, treat as losing a hand (see below).
2. 1d3 toes. Situational penalties to do with balance or sneaking at DM discretion. If you lose more than 5 toes, treat as losing a foot (see below).
3. Left eye. -1 CHA, -2 to hit with missile weapons. On the plus side, you can get an eyepatch without being a poser.
4. Right eye. As left eye, but the other side.

If you roll an eye you've already lost, you lose the other. If you lose both, you're blind! Learning to play the piano could make you famous.

7: Lose an extremity. Roll 1d4:

1. Left foot. Half base move.
2. Right foot. Half base move. Lose both and you can only crawl (effective 0' move).
3. Left hand. Can only use 1-handed weapons or other 1-handed objects.
4. Right hand. As left hand, above.

A simple prosthetic foot can halve the move penalty (to 3/4 move). Penalties (and modifiers) are cumulative.
A hook hand is an inadequate replacement for the real thing, but it does act as a dagger and gives you +1 to reaction rolls with pirates and other ne'er-do-wells. More exotic attachments can be obtained at the DM's discretion.

8: Lose a limb. Roll 1d4:

1. Left leg. Cannot stand and you can only crawl (effective 0' move).
2. Right leg. Same as above.
3. Left arm. Cannot use two hands or a shield; furthermore, things like backpacks, armor, and the like require modifications that cost 10% extra or they will cause various annoyances. Further, if using JDIMS, you can carry one fewer Large Item.
4. Right arm. Same as left arm.

If you lose both arms, you cannot hold or use any items except in your teeth; you cannot attack or cast spells. Prosthetics arms might look cool, but are non-functional except to make clothing and armor easier to wear. Prosthetic legs (peg legs) will restore half move, or 1/4 move for both.

9: A wound that just won't heal. -1d4 CON (refigure HP). Subtract 1 from save vs poison, disease, and other things that would be harder to resist with an open wound.

10: A wound that just won't heal. -2d4 CON (refigure HP) Subtract 2 from save vs poison, disease, and other things that would be harder to resist with an open wound. Further, before each session roll 1d6: on a 1, the wound is acting up: you're horrible pain that makes you (additional) -4 to everything if you can be bothered to get out of bed.

11: Horrible scarring. But it looks awesome! +1 CHA

12: Got off scot free, you lucky dog! No long term effects.

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.

Labyrinth Lord / Desolate North House Rules Part 1: Character Creation and Classes

Inspired by a lot of people, including +Jeff Rients, +Peter V. Dell'Orto, and +Chris Kutalik, and
others. I'll try to include links to relevant posts/articles/whatever when I can, but if I forget or can't find it, that shouldn't be taken to mean I'm claiming to be the original author of the idea.

3d6 In Order. Few Exceptions.
The only exception here is noted by LL, where it points out you can trade 2 points down for 1 point up, with restrictions. Those restrictions are still in place. Further, you can only do this if doing so would allow you to play a class you wouldn't otherwise qualify for, not just to get your Prime Requisite into XP bonus territory.

Bonus Languages:
High INT score gives bonus languages as noted. However, these languages do not have to be chosen at creation. Instead, whenever a new language is encountered, the player may choose to roll a D6; on a result of 1-3, the character happens to know that language as a Bonus Language.

Languages can also be learned in play through other means.

Classes

New classes: None yet. But I might add some (like Battle Nuns).


Cleric:
I'd love to make clerics start with no spells at level 1, but that sounds exactly like the kind of modification to make players not familiar with the OSR grumble.

Clerics must be either Lawful or Chaotic. Lawful Clerics are Clerics of the Church (more on religion in the Desolate North later) and must be male. Players are encouraged to create sects or brotherhoods or orders to which their clerics belong.

Some Clerical sects (even within the Church) may have different weapon limitations.

Clerics are the only class to automatically know an 'alignment language' - which is the language of their religious proceedings. (In the Church, it's a Latin-analogue.) Well-educated monsters may or may not know an appropriate alignment language.

Clerics may create scrolls as per Holmes: usually 100gp and 1 week per spell level.

Dwarves:

Clarification: a dwarf hiring folks for the stronghold can hire dwarves for any job, though it may be hard to find a dwarven spellcaster. However, they cannot hire any other races as mercenaries or soldiers.

Elves:

Elves have no souls. This means they are immune to spells that directly inflict death or act on the soul; e.g. Ray of Death, Disintegrate or Trap the Soul, but not Prismatic Sphere. However, they cannot be brought back from the dead, either.

Elves can cast spells while using weapons, shields, and armor.

Elves do not have spellbooks. Instead, they gain (and can cast per day) spells as on the below table:

	Elf Spell Progression
	Spell Level
Level	1	2	3	4
1	1	0	0	0
2	1	0	0	0
3	2	0	0	0
4	2	0	0	0
5	2	1	0	0
6	2	1	0	0
7	2	2	0	0
8	2	2	1	0
9	2	2	2	0
10	2	2	2	1

Spells gained are usually randomly determined, though there may be exceptions.

Elves may create scrolls as per Holmes: usually 100gp and 1 week per spell level.

Fighters:
Fighters with DEX 16 or higher may Parry, sacrificing 1 attack per round to give themselves -2 AC.

Fighters get +1 to their hit dice at 1st level, so a 1st level fighter is 1+1 HD.

Whenever a fighter kills a foe with a melee attack, he may immediately melee attack another foe in range. Each new attack is at a cumulative -1 to hit.

Fighters start gaining bonus attacks at 10th level instead of 15th.

At 4th level, any time a Fighter rolls a natural 20 to hit, it hits automatically and rolls max damage. Note that no other class gets critical hits.

At 8th level, a Fighter's damage dice explode. The max damage from a critical hit counts for this purpose.

Halflings:
Halflings may only carry 1 Large Item, and it counts as two. (See house rules for encumbrance here.)

Halflings are universally bald, and they have a parietal eye. Whenever their heads are uncovered, they receive a +1 to saving throws from threats from above at the DM's discretion. When forced to wear headgear they feel distinctly uncomfortable.

Magic Users:
A Magic User starts play with 2 1st-level and 1 2nd-level spell in his spell-book. All other spells must be gained in play. (Not a change, just a note.) One of those spells is Read Magic; the other two are randomly determined. (Not everyone gets Sleep and Web.)

Magic Users may create scrolls as per Holmes: usually 100gp and 1 week per spell level.

Thieves:
Thieves effectively get a complete re-write, based on the alternate thief skill rules from the Hill Cantons and then further modified by Timrod. More detail follows in another post; it's too big to throw here.

House rules: Other people's house rules

I'm hoping this is the start of a small series of posts about house rules I use. Some I made up, some I snatched from other places. In posting about them, I'm not just going to re-hash what the rule is, but also give some mild analysis on how it affects the game, how it actually plays out, and so forth.

Without further adieu:

Other People's House Rules

Every one of these is something someone else came up with originally.


Ritual magic

Synopsis: This house rule comes from Semper Initiativus Unum. The basic idea is that magic users and spell casters can cast some spells outside of combat without preparation if they pay gold and take a large amount of time.

Purpose:  This gives magic users and clerics a deal more flexibility. The idea is to get their utility spells into circulation, since (especially at lower levels) caster slots are limited, and they tend to go for things that are likely to be useful in combat. Specifically, the rule is structured to make it progressively less desirable to not prepare higher-level utility spells if you want to use them.

Experience: Obviously this hasn't seen a lot of use in my campaign, but it has seen some. We've been very short on magic-users in general, but our elf has done this once with detect magic. Both I and his player appreciated the ability to do so, even if it didn't net him anything in the instance.

Verdict: Cautiously optimistic


XP for gold spent

Synopsis: This is an old one. The basic idea is that PCs earn experience not for simply bringing treasure back to civilization, but for spending it in actions that don't directly benefit them as adventurers. The Mule Abides has a pretty good writeup that ties it to The First Fantasy Campaign.

Purpose: This primarily accomplishes two things. One is splitting the PCs' resources and forcing them to make decisions about what to spend coin on, since buying e.g. armor doesn't count for xp.The other is provide some verisimilitude for xp gain.

Experience: I don't give a fig for the verisimilitude argument, but I do like forcing decisions on the players about what to do with their loot. Not only does it allow me to give them more loot, but it also allows me to restrict how much coin can be spent on adventuring supplies without the players having no recourse but to stockpile coin. Poor adventurers are good adventurers, after all. Further, there's another side effect: it increases player 'buy-in' for the world as they interact with it in ways different from just treating it like a backdrop for the dungeon. Our best session to date was mostly spent roleplaying with NPCs and finding ways to dump coin on them.

Verdict: I highly recommend this house rule precisely because it broadens the players' conception and care about the world. I'm having a lot of fun and the players are having a lot of fun.

Bandaging

Synopsis: This one's simple: if a person is down between 0 and 2 hp inclusive, you can spend a turn to bandage them up. This returns 1 HP, and can only be done once until they heal. Further, characters regain 1 HP per full day of rest.

Purpose: This provides some very limited low-level healing, and it reinforces the idea to the players that they're hurt and should consider turning back - or pushing on, but in the knowledge that they're taking a huge risk. You'd think that the numbers on the sheet would do that for you, but it's nice to have another indicator. Plus it's another chance for a trade-off: do the players want to patch up their buddies, restoring 1 HP but risking the chance of a wandering monster?

Experience: The players like it, and it doesn't seem to significantly cut into the mortality of the game; a lot of PCs and NPCs have still died. It's easy to keep track of, too - you can just do it in your head. Plus, it gives me flavor in describing hurt people and how they feel. I'm in favor.

Not dead at 0 HP

Synopsis: My implementation of this common rule is as follows: at 0 HP you're unconscious, at below 0 you're dead. However, if you go below 0 HP, and someone can bring you back to 0 or above before the round is over, you might live.

Purpose: It puts a small wedge of 'not okay' betweeen D&D's much-discussed 'you're fine' and 'you're dead' without making that wedge large enough to significantly affect vitality. It also gives the players some hope when a beloved NPC or PC goes down.

Experience: Bringing someone back up from negative numbers is a very difficult task, since most spells take the full round to come into effect, which means you basically have to anticipate when someone is going to need healing. However, the 0 HP bit has come up a decent bit more often, and it has been fun for all concerned because of the relief from surviving such a near brush - which the players actually feel is very near, since if the dice had rolled 1 higher, their characters would be dead. It has also added fun in some instances where the PCs weren't sure if someone was dead or merely unconscious and bleeding out. I'm in favor.

XP for gold hoarded

Synopsis: For whatever reason you care to justify, the PCs have to sacrifice their gold for XP without doing anything else with it. This is different from XP for gold spent above because it's not just spending gold on things that 'don't matter' - it's not spending the gold at all until they get enough to level up and make a trip to one of these sacrificial spots

Purpose: This was meant to provide an in-game excuse for the existence of class levels, because I think justifying such things inside the game is cool. It was also meant to put the squeeze on treasure, forcing the PCs to make a decision as to whether to spend their hard-earned gold on adventuring advantages or XP.

Experience: In reality, it meant that the gold either sat there being useless like a millstone around the players' necks, or much more likely they dipped into it too far and too fast, meaning they never accumulated appreciable XP-substitute. Either way, they got no experience whatsoever, so it felt to me and to them that they were stagnant. I really don't recommend this.

Alternative: I still have places I call 'navels of the world' in my game where a person goes to suffer strange and weird rituals and be granted class levels, but now I grant XP for gold spent, as above, and the rituals themselves are a mere tax - the square of your current level * 100 gp to advance.


All in all I'm happy with the house rules I'm using. There are plenty more I have that, so far as I know, aren't someone else's invention. There are probably others that are, but are so central to the usual play for the game that I just don't see or remember them as house rules.

Paladins

 Scax, the player of Rori and new to the table, rolled an 18 for charisma last night for his new character. Naturally, the question came up of his playing a paladin.

I'm not sure whether or not I like paladins. Sure, the concept is fun - he's a questing Holy Knight, like Percival or Galahad or the Templars or the Hospitallers. But if we're honest, isn't that niche pretty well covered by the Cleric if you want godly powers, or the Fighter with appropriate background tweaks?

Still, with the exception of the monk (whom I find egregious) and the assassin (annoying), I'm not going to curtail my players' options. If they want a paladin, they can have a paladin. Really, I can't blame them; the role has a certain irreducible flavor.

According to S&W Complete, "Paladins will not work with characters other than those of Lawful alignment unless ordered to do so by a superior officer of the Paladin’s order, by a Lawful prince, or by the high priest  of a Lawful temple." I disagree.

First, such a restriction means one of two things in play: either it is a restriction on the rest of the players, and not the paladin, or the paladin will never be played. That's not fun. Second, it's not really how I see a godly crusader behaving.

So for my game, instead, Paladins have to have some specific goal which reflect why they're going adventuring. This can be pretty much anything that passes the sniff test, and is dependent on the creativity of the player. Some examples might include, "End the influence of the Cult of the Red Hand," "Pacify the Dagoland Marshes," "Root out and destroy the heresy of Pelasgos that is gripping temples in the hinterland," "Convert all the orcs from the worship of Tectonicus their heathen god," or whatever. Specificity is important, not only because it needs to be a restriction and a direction, but because it seems a great way to flesh out the world further. (Suddenly there's a Dagoland Marshes, or a heresy in the church, or a cult, or a general religion of orcs.)

A Paladin will not do anything that doesn't obviously and pretty directly further his goal. You want to go spelunking in those caverns you found last week? That's great. How exactly does that relate to erecting a shrine to Isel and teaching all the pagans in this land to worship Him? Well, that's what I'll be doing while you lot are off futzing around. For this reason, I recommend having a back-up character to play whenever the party wants to do something that doesn't align with the Paladin's goals.

Paladins do not, however, have any restrictions of association based on the class. If consorting with Chaotic people truly will further the goal of converting all of the elves to the Munificent Blood, then consorting with Chaotic people is what you will do.

If a paladin ever accomplishes his task, he chooses another. (Or, alternatively, he's retired, because frankly at that point you've come as close as possible to 'winning' D&D.)

Tiny post on SM House Rules for Dungeon Fantasy

 Found this in the old posts and thought it might be good enough to throw out there as-is.


Skeletons have SM -1 because they're harder to hit, since the structure isn't all there. The same logic can be used for other creatures, e.g. the Elegant Spears of the Jungles of Zaridun, who have adapted to the heavy monsoons by becoming voluminous lattice-works of chitin to let the water flow through without resistance.

SM can never give more than a -4 or +4 in melee combat, and it will never cause the Size/Range/Speed bonus to be larger/less than +- 4 (by which I mean that the full SM will apply, but the bonus/malus will cap out if it would cause a larger deviation)

For example, fighting a Giant with SM +6 with a sword would only give you a +4 to hit, because after something gets large enough it isn't easier to hit it if it's larger. Is it easier to punch a barn than the Shuttle Assembly Building?

Similarly, if you shot an SM+10 creature from 200 yards away (-12), you'd be at an effective -2. If you shot the same creature from only 15 yards away (-5), you'd be at an effective +4 - the other +1 is lost, because after a certain point it isn't easier to shoot a larger thing. If you were shooting it from two inches away, you'd still only have a +4 - though I wouldn't make you roll unless there were serious other factors in play about whether you could hit it (which the rest of its SM could be used to help cancel out - it is easier to hit the Shuttle Assembly Building than a house if you're trying to do it in a gale).

Re-stocking the Temple

"Any group of humans or small humanoids within the dungeon is able to replace its losses (to adventurers) at the rate of one per day. Larger humanoids (3 + 1 or more Hit Dice) can replace one each three days; monsters can replace their numbers at the rate of one per week.

If the Temple forces are not heavily pressed by the party, they actually grow at the rates given above." - Temple of Elemental Evil, by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentz

I feel comfortable saying that, with Dungeon Fantasy's different off-time pacing, this would be downright murder on a party. You go back to town for a week and the dungeon is back at full strength! Well, at least the parts you visited are. The other levels? They're stronger. Enjoy!

No, thanks. So, what to do? After all, the dungeon should restock and change at least somewhat. At the same time, I can't reveal everything here, because I have at least one player who reads this blog.

First is to split the dungeon up into sections. Rather than restocking the dungeon as a whole, I think it makes more sense in this case to treat different parts of the dungeon as different groups. Decide what geography belongs to which groups, and note down whether a given group has a particular character - for example, one group might be composed more of brigands and normal demi-humans, while another might lean toward subterranean monsters, and a third toward  undead.

Each section should have a source that can be dealt with by PCs. This could be a single leader, an inner cabal, an attractive resource, or whatever. If something happens to the source, the members of this section either desert or join another section over the next week. Assume that half the remaining members desert regardless, and that the other half is split between compatible factions that have room. By 'compatible' I mean that the section doesn't have an emphasis contrary to the emphasis of the section it's poaching from; brigands are unlikely to join eldritch horrors. Special cases (e.g. conversion of those brigands into skeletons for the undead section) are at the discretion of the GM.

Then, for each section, decide how much capacity they have, and where they are now in filling that capacity. This is probably most easily done by counting empty rooms that could be turned into full rooms and fudging a bit for dungeon backstory. The Temple was sacked fifty years ago; at that time it was a major force of evil in the land. Lots of structural damage was done, and the Temple is nothing like what it was once. Knowing that, I'm going to eyeball it and say that most or all of the sections are at 80% capacity. This means both that each group of creatures could grow by 1/5th before being at capacity, but also that 1/5th of the number of populated rooms is how many empty rooms could be used to house new recruits. (Example: let's say section 1 has 20 populated rooms and 33 not populated. This means that 4 of those empty rooms could have recruits move in.) Once a section is at 100% capacity, it won't grow any further. (If you like, continue to roll to restock and instead of adding replace monsters.)

Each section can also have modifiers on either the Restock Chance or the Restock Roster table. For example, one section in the Temple has a Restock Chance modifier of -1 but a Restock Roster modifier of +6.

Once you've done all that, roll weekly on the table below:

Restock Chance

Roll (2d6)	Result
2	Catastrophe! Roll twice on the restock table and lose that many forces.
3-7	No change
8-9	Roll once on the restock table. Recruit for losses only; do not gain extra forces.
10-11	Roll once on the restock table.
12	Roll twice on the restock table.

Restock Roster

Roll (1d6)	Result
0	Appropriately-sized group of local fauna moves in. (E.g., horde of rats, 1 bear)
1	1 easy to find recruit. (E.g., 1 brigand)
2	1d6 easy to find recruits.
3	2d6 easy to find recruits, or 1 uncommon recruit. (E.g., 2d6 orcs, 1 gnoll)
4	1d6 uncommon recruits and 1d6 easy to find recruits.
5	Either 2d6 uncommon recruits or 1 rare recruit, and 1d6 easy to find recruit. (E.g., 2d6 ogres or 1 werewolf, plus 1d6 brigands)
6	Roll twice more.
7	1d6 rare recruits and 1d6 easy to find recruits.
8	1d6 rare recruits, 1d6 uncommon recruits, and 1d6 easy to find recruits.
9	1d6 rare recruits, 2d6 uncommon recruits, and 1d6 easy to find recruits.
10	2d6 rare recruits, 1d6 uncommon recruits, and 2d6 easy to find recruits.
11	2d6 rare recruits, 2d6 uncommon recruits, and 3d6 easy to find recruits.
12	2d6 rare recruits, 3d6 uncommon recruits, and 3d6 easy to find recruits. Alternatively, 1 unique monster.

Any new group will have only their own equipment and pocket-change as treasure, along with whatever was already in the room. (Plug for Dungeon Fantasy Adventures 1: it has a random pocket-change loot table in the back.) However, any new group that gets another batch of reinforcements will have appropriate treasure, to represent their successes.

Feel free to assign modifiers, especially to the second table's roll. If a section is particularly strong or well-known, it should get plusses, as everyone wants to join the winners. A weak section should get minuses. There might be situational modifiers as well - for example, the Cult of Our Aquatic Masters might get a hefty bonus after a local flood. 

Consequences of Success

What happens when the PCs knock out a section? For 1d6 weeks, nothing. That area remains deserted. After that time is up, roll another d6. On a 6, a new faction takes up residence; make it roughly as strong as the surrounding factions. This can either be a completely new force, or defectors from the other factions making common cause and setting up their own power base. On any other roll, divide the empty area between the nearby factions. This will probably be a roughly equal division, but if one faction is significantly stronger than the others it might claim more. Move one or two groups from their current places in the section to the new area, but otherwise wait on restock rolls to add recruits.

Notes

The tables above aren't organized by foe difficulty, but instead by ease of recruitment based on the fuzzy factors of likelihood of joining the cause and the population of the realm around the dungeon. "Easy to find" doesn't mean "mook" and "uncommon" doesn't mean "worthy", though the categories probably roughly track one another. This reflects my bias that the behaviour of the world should track only loosely with the capability of the PCs. If you disagree, the wording is easy enough to switch, I think.

Where did these numbers come from? Nowhere. I thought them up out of the blue. If you're inclined, please playtest this and give me feedback, but use at your own risk. Still, I hope it's helpful, and I did at least familiarize myself with the probabilities involved beforehand.

Also, as an aside, does anyone know how to make tables in Blogger without editing the HTML? I'm fine with doing that, but it'd be nice if I needn't.

Noodling around with DR in Dungeon Fantasy

There was a thread on the SJGames forums a while back by +Douglas Cole about rectifying melee weapons so that the damage doesn't scale up so quickly. It quickly spiraled out into one of those mega-discussions that frequently happen there in core topics, so unfortunately, I can't recommend reading it. However, his core points were, as I take it:

• Gun damages are based on real studies of kinetic effect 
• Our wonderful previously-mentioned author has done the same thing with bows, which dramatically changes their damage
• Melee sw weapons are not thus rectified, which means they get way too much damage way too quickly
• Rectifying melee weapon damage with real-world quantifiables is difficult or impossible due to lots and lots of factors
• As a side point, it's far too easy to penetrate DR with a melee weapon.

It's with that side point I'm here concerned. Even Blunt Trauma with Edged Weapons doesn't fix this, though it goes some way, but a shortsword in the hands of a ST 10 man (arguably below the average for people who go around hitting people with swords) will penetrate a maul hauberk 33% of the time. If you bump that to ST 12 with a broadsword, he penetrates 83% of the time.

(If you're talking about a ST 20 barbarian with a maul, he laughs at your puny heavy plate layered with a double-mail hauberk. But maybe that's how it should be, at least for Dungeon Fantasy.)

Basic plate armor is fairly egregious if this sort of thing tickles your paideuometer. It's DR 7, which ST 14 will penetrate roughly half the time, depending on the weapon. Looking on B558, this lines up with 1/8" of mild steel. I'm no armorer by a long shot, but I don't think mild steel is used in plate mail. (If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will be along to correct me shortly.) Plus, I have the most convincing of all possible arguments: sketchy anecdotal evidence from the biomed play-tester to Low-Tech who says that when the playtesters brought up that plate mail should actually have a much higher DR, they were told that it didn't for playability and legacy reasons.

The thread was inconclusive about a fix, and for good reason. The real fix would be to fiddle with ST-sw and weapon mods values until they lined up with real-world quantities on penetration and wounding with regard to various weapons. Unfortunately, that data doesn't exist and probably can't exist, and even if it did that's a huge amount of work, much more so than for firearms given the relatively orderly nature of firearm wounding compared to being hit with a baseball bat.

However, one of the easy quick-fixes put forward in the thread is doubling DR values and giving firearms a (2) DR divisor. This strikes me as simple enough to play and remember to maybe be worthwhile. It was pointed out that this just shifts the point where the system breaks upward, but I think I'm okay with that for Dungeon Fantasy; characters and monsters with high-ST should be pulling off scary, fantastic wounding shots. You should be afraid of that ogre even if you have plate mail.

What would the effects of this be, I wonder? The easiest way to visualize it for me is to separate the advantages from the disadvantages.

Pros

 

• My sense of plausibility will be less tickled, as will that of several other players at my table.
• Knights and barbarians get even more awesome - the first because they can become tin cans that much more easily, and the second because they're the only ones who can still crush those tin cans with brute force.
• It forces the use of tactical options, like striking at limbs or other places that are less armored, chinks in armor, and picking weapons based on armor penetration vs. damage (e.g. bodkin arrows).
• Specifically, the All-Out Attack (Strong) option might get used once in a while.
• It helps with the survivability of the PCs. I'm not actually sure this is a plus, but I'll list it here anyway. It also helps with the survivability of the monsters.
• It makes the invasion force from the Barrier Peaks that are coming down to take over all of Oerth even scarier

Cons

 

• It marginalizes people in combat who aren't primarily combat oriented, or some of their options. That puny bard or thief just can't do much to the lucky goblin who has a mail hauberk.
• Most of them have other options in combat, like the Wizard or Cleric can use magic
• Specifically, it might be worth giving Missile Spells the (2) armor divisor, 'cause they're magical and fast.
• It could lead to long combats without either side being able to accomplish much by strength-of-arms. This is a big potential failure, though I imagine it's more likely in a low-powered non-heroic game than Dungeon Fantasy.
• It makes thrusting weapons even less attractive. Who wants to use a spear when an axe won't even get through? Where's the point?
• Maybe targeting Chinks in Armor should be easier with thr/imp weapons? Maybe it should give a (4) armor divisor instead of (2), bringing it back down to the level already given in the Basic Set (and making it very attractive).
•  It lowers the utility of Fortify enchantments. Oooh, +1 DR! Great! I already have 8!
• I'm hesitant to also double the DR granted by Fortification, but maybe I shouldn't be. Or maybe it should grant other benefits somehow - being cheaper or more effective on lower-DR armor, or not taking the (2) divisor from various attacks that normally have it, like Missile Spells and that monster on level 3.
• It raises the bar for fodder monsters. A bunch of puny goblins just aren't scary unless they're truly a bunch of puny goblins, because they just can't get through your armor. Unless you're the Wizard. Oops.

Does anyone see anything I'm missing? With the above list, I think I'm going to try it in my game, for a few sessions at least. I think my players are amenable - in fact, they first broached the idea.