Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Some Swords & Wizardry House-Rules

I love Swords & Wizardry to death, but I do have some house rules for it. Here's what I currently do with the rules when I run it.

Section 1: Ability Scores

Personally, I prefer the Ability Score modifiers as presented in B/X D&D. As such, here’s my chart.

Score

Modifier

3

-3

4-5

-2

6-8

-1

9-12

0

13-15

+1

16-17

+2

18

+3

Section 2: The Thief

I know some gamers don’t like including Thieves in S&W, or in OD&D. I kinda like them. I like having a class that’s not devoted to spells or swords, and if that means having specialskills that allow players to disarm traps and pick locks, hey, why not? I’ve kitbashed my own Thief class together from the several ones I’ve seen online.

Hit Dice: d6

Prime Requisite: Dexterity 13+ (5% XP bonus)

Attacks as: Cleric

Weapons: Thieves may use any one-handed weapon, as well as bows

Armor: Thieves can wear only leather armor

Starting at 1st level, thieves have access to a special suite of skills. Other characters may attempt to use these skills, but they may only use the base chance for success. Further, only thieves may use their ability score modifiers with the skills. A levels 3, 5, 7 and 9, thieves get 3 skill points to distribute amongst their skills. For every time a skill point is distributed into a skill, the base chance to succeed is improved by 1. No skill can be rated better than 5+. A thief with a skill of 5+ is considered to have utterly mastered that skill.

To attempt using a thief skill, a player rolls 1d20 and adds the appropriate modifiers. If the number rolled is equal to or greater than their rating in the skill being used, they succeed.

When attacking an enemy from behind, or an enemy that has not acted yet or is unaware, a thief gets +3 to-hit and deals maximum damage.

Level

Experience

Hit Dice

Saving Throw

Skill Points

1

0

1

14

5

2

1,500

2

13

-

3

3,500

3

12

+3

4

6,500

4

11

-

5

14,00

5

10

+3

6

30,000

6

9

-

7

60,000

7

8

+3

8

110,000

8

7

-

9

165,000

9

6

+3

10

225,000

+2 hp

5

-

11

290,000

+4 hp

4

-

12

360,000

+6 hp

4

-

13

430,000

+8 hp

4

-

14

500,000

+10 hp

4

-

15

570,000

+12 hp

4

-

16

640,000

+14 hp

4

-

17

710,000

+16 hp

4

-

18

780,000

+18 hp

4

-

19

850,000

+20 hp

4

-

20

920,000

+22 hp

4

-

21+

+70,000

+2 hp/level

4

-

Thief Skills

Hide in

Shadows

Move

Silently

Pick

Pockets

Disable

Traps

Climb

Walls

Hear

Noise

17+

19+

16+

19+

10+

10+

Skills

Ability Modifier

Hide in Shadows

DEX

Move Silently

DEX

Pick Pockets

DEX

Disable Traps

DEX

Climb Walls

STR

Hear Noise

WIS


Section 3: Hit Points

I don't like having all HD as d6+x. As such, here's what I have for each class' Hit Die...

Class

Hit Die

Fighting-Man

d8

Cleric

d6

Magic-User

d4

Thief

d6

Further, I give 1st level characters max HP, because there's nothing more bothersome than rolling up a Fighting-Man and only having 1 HP.


Section 4: Magic

Magic-Users cast spells using Magic Points. Magic-Users have a number of Magic Points equal to 2 plus their Intelligence bonus. At each new level, they gain more Magic Points equal to their Intelligence bonus.

Magic-User spells cost a number of Magic Points equal to their level.

Otherwise, the rules of casting and knowing spells are the same, with one more exception; Magic-Users know a number of 1st level spells at character creation equal to 1 plus their Intelligence bonus.

2 comments:

  1. I really like your version of the Thief. Nice mixture of classic with the options of 2E.

    For spellcasting, do Clerics still use Spells Per Day or the Magic-User system?

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  2. I keep Clerics as-is, because they get turning and armor. My games rarely ever get to levels higher than name level, so I wanted to give starting M-U's a little oomph, and make arcane magic a little different than divine.

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