Yora
2015-06-08, 08:17 AM
Of all the versions of D&D, Basic/Expert is the one I hate the least. Aside from the attack and armor mechanic and the magic system, I actually like it quite a lot. But of all the versions I've seen out there none is exactly what I want, and since it's so easy I'm writing up my own classes, spells, and magic system. Everything else remains basically untouched, not that there is much else to that game to begin with.
The main examples I studied for ideas and options are Basic Fantasy, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Stars Without Number, and Spears of the Dawn, with a small bit from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (an AD&D cone).
The classes here are meant to work well with my own Ancient Lands setting, but I think they are pretty generic and would work in almost any fantasy campaign. Conan shouldn't be a problem and I think it would even work well for The Witcher or The Elder Scrolls, if you don't care about crafting. :smallwink:
Ability Scores
Score
Modifier
18
+3
16-17
+2
13-15
+1
9-12
+0
6-8
-1
4-5
-2
3
-3
Nothing new here. Since modifiers greater than 1 are rare and even a really low roll is not that bad, I would go with rolling 3d6. Assigning and modifying to be done by whatever method the GM considers appropriate for the game.
Strength is added to melee attacks and damage.
Dexterity is added to ranged attacks and Armor Class.
Constitution is added to hit point.
Wisdom is added to all saving throws against magical effects.
Character Race
Race is something I wouldn't actually bother with. Elves might see in the dark, halflings are slower, but other than that it doesn't really affect a characters abilities.
Character Class
As race is not a thing, there are only four character classes. Warrior and thief are as always, adept is a mage and priest, and the warmage is based on the cleric. There is no separation between arcane and devine magic.
Hit Dice and Attack Bonus work just like in any d20 game like 3.5e and Pathfinder.
Usually Hit Dice are capped at 9, but since the classes only go up to 10th level (which is a hard limit, like in E6), they simply end at 10dX instead of 9dX+Y.
Saving Throws come in five categories: Poison (Death Ray and Poison in D&D), Item (Magic Wand), Paralysis (Petrification and Paralysis), Area (Dragon Breath), and Magic (Spells, Staffs, and Rods). Since the original names are weird and confusing, I changed them to something more easy to remember and understand. To make a saving throw you roll a d20 and have to reach or exceed the number on your character sheet. Which is why the saving throws are target numbers and not modifiers. The chance to make a save depends entirely on your class level, it is not changed in any way by the power of the creature or the spellcaster. A bit simplistic and perhaps not very "realistic", but it's quick and easy.
The magic system will be explained in a later post. (It's based on a simplefied version of the Expanded Psionic Handbook.)
All classes can use all weapons and armor without penalty, though thieves, adepts, and warmages have some limitations when wearing armor. (And idea I've seen in LotFP, which I really quite like. Why not have an adept with a two handed axe? With his attack bonus he still won't hit most of the time.)
There are no experience charts. Characters gain new levels at appropriate points in the campaign, as considered by the GM.
Thieves got better Hit Dice and attack chances as they normally gain levels much faster than other classes, and warmages get much fewer spells than adepts because normally the elf class gets new levels the slowest.
Warrior
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
1st
1d8
+1
12
13
14
15
16
2nd
2d8
+2
12
13
14
15
16
3rd
3d8
+3
12
13
14
15
16
4th
4d8
+4
10
11
12
13
14
5th
5d8
+5
10
11
12
13
14
6th
6d8
+6
10
11
12
13
14
7th
7d8
+7
8
9
10
11
12
8th
8d8
+8
8
9
10
11
12
9th
9d8
+9
8
9
10
11
12
10th
10d8
+10
6
7
8
9
10
Warriors have the best hit points and outclass all the other classes considerably in attack bonus and saving throws.
Warmage
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
Spells
MP gained
1st
1d6
+1
11
12
14
16
15
1
1
2nd
2d6
+1
11
12
14
16
15
2
2
3rd
3d6
+2
11
12
14
16
15
3
3
4th
4d6
+2
10
11
13
15
13
4
4
5th
5d6
+3
10
11
13
15
13
5
5
6th
6d6
+3
10
11
13
15
13
6
6
7th
7d6
+4
9
10
12
14
12
7
7
8th
8d6
+4
9
10
12
14
12
8
8
9th
9d6
+5
9
10
12
14
12
9
9
10th
10d6
+5
8
9
11
12
11
10
10
Since there is no cleric class, the warmage stats are mostly based on the cleric. A warmage has only half the number of known spells as an adept and less magic power points per day. (Because of how spell selection works, he also has less access to higher level spells unless he narrowly specializes.) Saving throws are pretty good and attack bonus and hit points are medium.
Magic points are added to the total pool of magic points the character has. At each level, the character also gets an additional number of magic points equal to his Wisdom modifier. If the Wisdom modifier is a penalty, the character gets at least 1 point per level. (The pool can permanently be decreased by mastering spells, so this table only lists the amount of new points gained and not a total value of points for each class level.)
Casting spells in medium armor (AC +3 or +4) increases the magic point cost of any spell by +1 and heavy armor (AC +5/+6) by +2. Light armor (AC +1/+2) does not increase the magic point cost for warmages.
Adept
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
Spells
MP gained
1st
1d4
+1
13
14
13
16
15
2
1
2nd
2d4
+1
13
14
13
16
15
4
3
3rd
3d4
+1
13
14
13
16
15
6
5
4th
4d4
+2
12
13
12
15
14
8
7
5th
5d4
+2
12
13
12
15
14
10
9
6th
6d4
+2
12
13
12
15
14
12
11
7th
7d4
+3
11
12
11
14
13
14
13
8th
8d4
+3
11
12
11
14
13
16
15
9th
9d4
+3
11
12
11
14
13
18
17
10th
10d4
+4
10
11
10
13
12
20
19
Magic points are added to the total pool of magic points the character has. At each level, the character also gets an additional number of magic points equal to his Wisdom modifier. If the Wisdom modifier is a penalty, the character gets at least 1 point per level. (The pool can permanently be decreased by mastering spells, so this table only lists the amount of new points gained and not a total value of points for each class level.)
Casting spells in light armor (AC +1 or +2) increases the magic point cost of any spell by +1, medium armor (AC +3/+4) by +2, and heavy armor (AC +5/+6) by +3.
Thief
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
Climb
Listen
Locks
Pocket
Stealth
1st
1d6
+1
13
14
13
16
15
4 in 6
2 in 6
1 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
2nd
2d6
+1
13
14
13
16
15
4 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
3rd
3d6
+2
13
14
13
16
15
4 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
4th
4d6
+2
12
13
12
15
14
4 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
5th
5d6
+3
12
13
12
15
14
4 in 6
3 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
6th
6d6
+3
12
13
12
15
14
4 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
7th
7d6
+4
11
12
11
14
13
5 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
8th
8d6
+4
11
12
11
14
13
5 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
9th
9d6
+5
11
12
11
14
13
5 in 6
4 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
10th
10d6
+5
10
11
10
13
12
5 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
5 in 6
Usually in B/X, thieves have very low hit points and poor attack bonuses. But since I have a kind of Sword & Sorcery style in mind and all classes level up at the same rate, I bumped them up to d6 Hit Dice and a better attack bonus. Thieves still don't have nearly as good saves as warriors and are also probably wearing minimal armor most of the time, which still makes them considerably weaker than fighters in a battle.
Thieves can sneak attack and get a +2 bonus to their attack roll and deal double damage (all dice and modifiers are doubled) when their target is not expecting an attack. (It's up to the GM to decide when that is. Usually when the target does not know the thief is there or on the thiefs first attack when the target is not anticipating a fight breaking out. If the target knows the thief is there and feels threatened, it usually won't be a surprise attack.
Skills are very simple. Unlike saving throws, this is done by rolling under. 1 in 6 means that only a 1 on a d6 means success. A 2 in 6 chance means that only a 1 and a 2 mean success, and so on. (Rolling a d6 is an idea from LotFP, while I got the specific chances from AS&SH, which uses a d12 instead.) "Locks" includes eveything related to mechanism, which includes opening locks and detecting and disabling traps. The player always have to announce "I check the object for traps" to make a roll. There is no passive detection mechanic and you can't search whole rooms. For searching floors, it's up to the GM to decide how many rolls are needed and how much time it takes.
The Climb and Listen skill are both meant for situations in which normal people would say "this can not be climbed" and "you can't hear anything". And they can't, but thieves might. If a climb check falls, the thief falls from the midpoint of the distance he wanted to cover. (If a climb is very long, the GM can break it up into multiple segments, each requiring its own roll.)
Thieves can use all weapons and armor, but suffer a -1 penalty to their skills when wearing medium armor (+3 or +4 AC) and a -2 penalty when wearing heavy armor (+5 or +6 AC).
Skills
This is almost entirely my own creation which I am making up as I write it:
When a character attempts an action that would be trivially easy or work without a flaw even if it takes three or four tries (and there is no time limit or anything like that), no roll is made.
If there is a good chance that an average person might not be able to perform the action at all or would need multiple attempts but has to hurry, the player rolls a d6 with a chance of success of 2 in 6. This chance is modified by the appropriate ability modifier, so a character with a score of 16 (+2) would have a chance of 4 in 6. If the character has a score of 5 (-2) or lower, the chance is 0 in 6 and that character can only attempt trivial tasks that fall under that ability score.
Thieves are an exception as their special thief skills always have a minimum chance based on the class level, regardless of the characters ability scores. A character with a Dexterity score of 6 (-1) would have a 1 in 6 chance to move stealthily. However, a 1st level thief has a listed Stealth chance of 2 in 6, so even with a Dexterity score of 6 or lower, his chance would still be 2 in 6. Any character with an 18 (+3) would have a 5 in 6 chance to move stealthily, if he is a thief or not.
Since in Sword & Sorcery generally everyone is a thief and sneaks around a lot, this doesn't seem like much of a problem. And when rolling 3d6 (especially when in order), getting an 18 is rather unlikely. Most characters will get only a 13 or so for a sneak chance of 3 in 6. Which is nice, but equaled by even the most clumsy 2nd level thief.
Thiefs already got bumped in hit points, hit chance, and available equipment, so they are not as much in need of exclusive skills that nobody else has. And they still have the advantage over other classes that they automatically get good in all the thief skills. Climb is based on Strength, Stealth and Picking Pockets on Dexterity, and Listen and Locks on Intelligence and there will be very few characters that have high scores in all those three abilities. I quite like it.
Equipment
Equipment I like to keep pretty simple.
Armor
Since the only mechanical value of armor is the Armor Class, there is no specific armor list. Armor can have an AC bonus of +1 to +6, whith +1 and +2 being light, +3/+4 medium, and +5/+6 heavy.
Shields are totally awesome, even though D&D never wants to believe it, and give a +2 bonus to AC.
Weapons
Weapons are just as simple. They just have a damage rating and that's it.
Weapon
Damage
Dagger, knife
1d4
Short sword, small axe
1d6
Sword, battleaxe, short spear
1d8
Two handed sword, two handed axe
1d10
Long spear, halberd, glaive
1d10
Club
1d6
Mace, staff
1d8
Large Club
1d10
Bow
1d8
Sling
1d6
With range for bows, slings, and thrown daggers and short spears I still have to think of something, but it shouldn't be too complex.
Encumbrance will be covered later, but it will also be extremely simple and specific weights don't matter.
Something I am still very open to discuss are the specific saving throw values. B/X seems to have them assigned completely at random.
The main examples I studied for ideas and options are Basic Fantasy, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Stars Without Number, and Spears of the Dawn, with a small bit from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (an AD&D cone).
The classes here are meant to work well with my own Ancient Lands setting, but I think they are pretty generic and would work in almost any fantasy campaign. Conan shouldn't be a problem and I think it would even work well for The Witcher or The Elder Scrolls, if you don't care about crafting. :smallwink:
Ability Scores
Score
Modifier
18
+3
16-17
+2
13-15
+1
9-12
+0
6-8
-1
4-5
-2
3
-3
Nothing new here. Since modifiers greater than 1 are rare and even a really low roll is not that bad, I would go with rolling 3d6. Assigning and modifying to be done by whatever method the GM considers appropriate for the game.
Strength is added to melee attacks and damage.
Dexterity is added to ranged attacks and Armor Class.
Constitution is added to hit point.
Wisdom is added to all saving throws against magical effects.
Character Race
Race is something I wouldn't actually bother with. Elves might see in the dark, halflings are slower, but other than that it doesn't really affect a characters abilities.
Character Class
As race is not a thing, there are only four character classes. Warrior and thief are as always, adept is a mage and priest, and the warmage is based on the cleric. There is no separation between arcane and devine magic.
Hit Dice and Attack Bonus work just like in any d20 game like 3.5e and Pathfinder.
Usually Hit Dice are capped at 9, but since the classes only go up to 10th level (which is a hard limit, like in E6), they simply end at 10dX instead of 9dX+Y.
Saving Throws come in five categories: Poison (Death Ray and Poison in D&D), Item (Magic Wand), Paralysis (Petrification and Paralysis), Area (Dragon Breath), and Magic (Spells, Staffs, and Rods). Since the original names are weird and confusing, I changed them to something more easy to remember and understand. To make a saving throw you roll a d20 and have to reach or exceed the number on your character sheet. Which is why the saving throws are target numbers and not modifiers. The chance to make a save depends entirely on your class level, it is not changed in any way by the power of the creature or the spellcaster. A bit simplistic and perhaps not very "realistic", but it's quick and easy.
The magic system will be explained in a later post. (It's based on a simplefied version of the Expanded Psionic Handbook.)
All classes can use all weapons and armor without penalty, though thieves, adepts, and warmages have some limitations when wearing armor. (And idea I've seen in LotFP, which I really quite like. Why not have an adept with a two handed axe? With his attack bonus he still won't hit most of the time.)
There are no experience charts. Characters gain new levels at appropriate points in the campaign, as considered by the GM.
Thieves got better Hit Dice and attack chances as they normally gain levels much faster than other classes, and warmages get much fewer spells than adepts because normally the elf class gets new levels the slowest.
Warrior
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
1st
1d8
+1
12
13
14
15
16
2nd
2d8
+2
12
13
14
15
16
3rd
3d8
+3
12
13
14
15
16
4th
4d8
+4
10
11
12
13
14
5th
5d8
+5
10
11
12
13
14
6th
6d8
+6
10
11
12
13
14
7th
7d8
+7
8
9
10
11
12
8th
8d8
+8
8
9
10
11
12
9th
9d8
+9
8
9
10
11
12
10th
10d8
+10
6
7
8
9
10
Warriors have the best hit points and outclass all the other classes considerably in attack bonus and saving throws.
Warmage
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
Spells
MP gained
1st
1d6
+1
11
12
14
16
15
1
1
2nd
2d6
+1
11
12
14
16
15
2
2
3rd
3d6
+2
11
12
14
16
15
3
3
4th
4d6
+2
10
11
13
15
13
4
4
5th
5d6
+3
10
11
13
15
13
5
5
6th
6d6
+3
10
11
13
15
13
6
6
7th
7d6
+4
9
10
12
14
12
7
7
8th
8d6
+4
9
10
12
14
12
8
8
9th
9d6
+5
9
10
12
14
12
9
9
10th
10d6
+5
8
9
11
12
11
10
10
Since there is no cleric class, the warmage stats are mostly based on the cleric. A warmage has only half the number of known spells as an adept and less magic power points per day. (Because of how spell selection works, he also has less access to higher level spells unless he narrowly specializes.) Saving throws are pretty good and attack bonus and hit points are medium.
Magic points are added to the total pool of magic points the character has. At each level, the character also gets an additional number of magic points equal to his Wisdom modifier. If the Wisdom modifier is a penalty, the character gets at least 1 point per level. (The pool can permanently be decreased by mastering spells, so this table only lists the amount of new points gained and not a total value of points for each class level.)
Casting spells in medium armor (AC +3 or +4) increases the magic point cost of any spell by +1 and heavy armor (AC +5/+6) by +2. Light armor (AC +1/+2) does not increase the magic point cost for warmages.
Adept
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
Spells
MP gained
1st
1d4
+1
13
14
13
16
15
2
1
2nd
2d4
+1
13
14
13
16
15
4
3
3rd
3d4
+1
13
14
13
16
15
6
5
4th
4d4
+2
12
13
12
15
14
8
7
5th
5d4
+2
12
13
12
15
14
10
9
6th
6d4
+2
12
13
12
15
14
12
11
7th
7d4
+3
11
12
11
14
13
14
13
8th
8d4
+3
11
12
11
14
13
16
15
9th
9d4
+3
11
12
11
14
13
18
17
10th
10d4
+4
10
11
10
13
12
20
19
Magic points are added to the total pool of magic points the character has. At each level, the character also gets an additional number of magic points equal to his Wisdom modifier. If the Wisdom modifier is a penalty, the character gets at least 1 point per level. (The pool can permanently be decreased by mastering spells, so this table only lists the amount of new points gained and not a total value of points for each class level.)
Casting spells in light armor (AC +1 or +2) increases the magic point cost of any spell by +1, medium armor (AC +3/+4) by +2, and heavy armor (AC +5/+6) by +3.
Thief
Level
Hit Dice
Attack
Poison
Item
Paralysis
Area
Magic
Climb
Listen
Locks
Stealth
1st
1d6
+1
13
14
13
16
15
4 in 6
2 in 6
1 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
2nd
2d6
+1
13
14
13
16
15
4 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
3rd
3d6
+2
13
14
13
16
15
4 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
4th
4d6
+2
12
13
12
15
14
4 in 6
2 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
5th
5d6
+3
12
13
12
15
14
4 in 6
3 in 6
2 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
6th
6d6
+3
12
13
12
15
14
4 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
7th
7d6
+4
11
12
11
14
13
5 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
8th
8d6
+4
11
12
11
14
13
5 in 6
3 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
9th
9d6
+5
11
12
11
14
13
5 in 6
4 in 6
3 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
10th
10d6
+5
10
11
10
13
12
5 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
4 in 6
5 in 6
Usually in B/X, thieves have very low hit points and poor attack bonuses. But since I have a kind of Sword & Sorcery style in mind and all classes level up at the same rate, I bumped them up to d6 Hit Dice and a better attack bonus. Thieves still don't have nearly as good saves as warriors and are also probably wearing minimal armor most of the time, which still makes them considerably weaker than fighters in a battle.
Thieves can sneak attack and get a +2 bonus to their attack roll and deal double damage (all dice and modifiers are doubled) when their target is not expecting an attack. (It's up to the GM to decide when that is. Usually when the target does not know the thief is there or on the thiefs first attack when the target is not anticipating a fight breaking out. If the target knows the thief is there and feels threatened, it usually won't be a surprise attack.
Skills are very simple. Unlike saving throws, this is done by rolling under. 1 in 6 means that only a 1 on a d6 means success. A 2 in 6 chance means that only a 1 and a 2 mean success, and so on. (Rolling a d6 is an idea from LotFP, while I got the specific chances from AS&SH, which uses a d12 instead.) "Locks" includes eveything related to mechanism, which includes opening locks and detecting and disabling traps. The player always have to announce "I check the object for traps" to make a roll. There is no passive detection mechanic and you can't search whole rooms. For searching floors, it's up to the GM to decide how many rolls are needed and how much time it takes.
The Climb and Listen skill are both meant for situations in which normal people would say "this can not be climbed" and "you can't hear anything". And they can't, but thieves might. If a climb check falls, the thief falls from the midpoint of the distance he wanted to cover. (If a climb is very long, the GM can break it up into multiple segments, each requiring its own roll.)
Thieves can use all weapons and armor, but suffer a -1 penalty to their skills when wearing medium armor (+3 or +4 AC) and a -2 penalty when wearing heavy armor (+5 or +6 AC).
Skills
This is almost entirely my own creation which I am making up as I write it:
When a character attempts an action that would be trivially easy or work without a flaw even if it takes three or four tries (and there is no time limit or anything like that), no roll is made.
If there is a good chance that an average person might not be able to perform the action at all or would need multiple attempts but has to hurry, the player rolls a d6 with a chance of success of 2 in 6. This chance is modified by the appropriate ability modifier, so a character with a score of 16 (+2) would have a chance of 4 in 6. If the character has a score of 5 (-2) or lower, the chance is 0 in 6 and that character can only attempt trivial tasks that fall under that ability score.
Thieves are an exception as their special thief skills always have a minimum chance based on the class level, regardless of the characters ability scores. A character with a Dexterity score of 6 (-1) would have a 1 in 6 chance to move stealthily. However, a 1st level thief has a listed Stealth chance of 2 in 6, so even with a Dexterity score of 6 or lower, his chance would still be 2 in 6. Any character with an 18 (+3) would have a 5 in 6 chance to move stealthily, if he is a thief or not.
Since in Sword & Sorcery generally everyone is a thief and sneaks around a lot, this doesn't seem like much of a problem. And when rolling 3d6 (especially when in order), getting an 18 is rather unlikely. Most characters will get only a 13 or so for a sneak chance of 3 in 6. Which is nice, but equaled by even the most clumsy 2nd level thief.
Thiefs already got bumped in hit points, hit chance, and available equipment, so they are not as much in need of exclusive skills that nobody else has. And they still have the advantage over other classes that they automatically get good in all the thief skills. Climb is based on Strength, Stealth and Picking Pockets on Dexterity, and Listen and Locks on Intelligence and there will be very few characters that have high scores in all those three abilities. I quite like it.
Equipment
Equipment I like to keep pretty simple.
Armor
Since the only mechanical value of armor is the Armor Class, there is no specific armor list. Armor can have an AC bonus of +1 to +6, whith +1 and +2 being light, +3/+4 medium, and +5/+6 heavy.
Shields are totally awesome, even though D&D never wants to believe it, and give a +2 bonus to AC.
Weapons
Weapons are just as simple. They just have a damage rating and that's it.
Weapon
Damage
Dagger, knife
1d4
Short sword, small axe
1d6
Sword, battleaxe, short spear
1d8
Two handed sword, two handed axe
1d10
Long spear, halberd, glaive
1d10
Club
1d6
Mace, staff
1d8
Large Club
1d10
Bow
1d8
Sling
1d6
With range for bows, slings, and thrown daggers and short spears I still have to think of something, but it shouldn't be too complex.
Encumbrance will be covered later, but it will also be extremely simple and specific weights don't matter.
Something I am still very open to discuss are the specific saving throw values. B/X seems to have them assigned completely at random.