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House Rules for the Worlds Most Popular Role-playing Game (1974-1981)
2012, Roberto Pacini
Strength (STR)
Overpower people and perform mighty deeds, bonus added to melee damage.
Intelligence (INT)
Wisdom (WIS)
Constitution (CON)
Dexterity (DEX)
Charisma (CHA)
CHA 3-12 13-15 16-17 18
Hit Points Hit Points (HP) represent the amount of damage a character can take before dying: they are determined by the number of hit dice (HD) the character gets at odd levels, which is found in the description of each character class later on. When the character
Character Retirement When a character reaches the Level Limit listed in his character class description, his player has two choices: he can keep on playing him with a slower advancement (XP halved) or he can roll a new character with the roll 4d6 and drop the lowest method applied on Attributes and Starting Money.
Burrowlander (B) What you get as a Burrowlander You also get all these Additional Features Your HD is a d4 Your Requirements are Des 9+ and Con 9+ Increase your HD to d6 Your Level Limit is 8 You can use all weapons You can use all single handed weapons You can use all armors and shields You can use hide armors You add twice your DEX Bonus to AC/LF when facing Your size is Small (downsized weapon damage) creatures whose size is Large or greater You add +1 to hit with missile weapons You disappear out of combat at will What you get as a Cleric Your HD is a d4 You have no Requirements You have no Level Limit You can use clubs, slings, daggers and staves You can use hide armors You start with two Spheres of choice Cleric (C) You also get all these Additional Features Increase your HD to d6 You are a Type B Spellcaster You can use all blunt weapons You can use all armors and shields You get Heal as a Bonus Sphere Until you own a Holy Symbol you add your WIS Bonus to every parameter of your spells Dwarf (D) You also get all these Additional Features
What you get as a Dwarf Your HD is a d8 Your Requirement is Con 9+ Your Level Limit is 12 You can use all single handed weapons You can use scale armors You detect unusual stonework (traps, passages and recent tunnels) at will You orient yourself underground at will You see in the dark up to 60 feet
Increase your HD to d10 You can use all weapons You can use all armors and shields You add twice your CON Bonus to AC/LF when facing creatures whose size is Large or greater
What you get as an Elf Your HD is a d4 Your Requirement is Int 9+ Your Level Limit is 10 You can use clubs, slings, staves, bows and blades You can use hide armors You add +1 to hit Magical Creatures You spot hidden and concealed doors at will You orient yourself in the forest at will You see in the feeble moonlight up to 60 feet What you get as a Magic User Your HD is a d4 You have no Requirements You have no Level Limit You can use clubs, slings, daggers and staves You can use no armors You start with two Spheres of choice
Elf (E) You also get all these Additional Features Increase your HD to d6 You are a Type C Spellcaster You start with two Spheres of choice You can use all weapons You can use scale armors You add twice your CHA Bonus to LF when talking with Magical Creatures
Magic User (MU) You also get all these Additional Features You get two more Spheres of choice You are a Type A Spellcaster Until you own an Arcane Focus (globe, staff, book or other) you add your INT Bonus to every parameter of your spells
Humans can be Adventurers (basically fighters but also classic thieves with the proper generic features), Clerics or Magic Users; they arrive on the planet cyclically thanks to a phenomenon known as Purple Tide. Burrowlanders are my version of Halflings: they dwell in houses dug between secular tree roots, dress like Ainu People (with same graphical patterns) and worship ancestors. Their origin is unknown.
Dwarves are native of the world and survivors of a Mycocalypse (chemical fallout followed by a massive mycotic infestation and plant overgrowth): for this reason they dwell underground like classic Dwarves, but with gas masks. Elves are exiled coming from a now wasted dimension called Fey Rift, they fight any kind of aberration: mutants, undead and possessed creatures.
Examples of Generic Features (Option) Stealth (DEX): add +2 to LF focused on secrecy and concealment Quick Fingers (DEX): add +2 to LF when pilfering or doing prestidigitation Acrobatics (DEX): add +2 to LF involving tumbling or ropewalking Keen Senses (WIS): add +2 to LF involving spotting and hearing things Device Lore (INT): add +2 to LF involving locks and traps Entertainer (WIS): add +2 to LF involving music and theatricalism Backstab: if you wear no armor heavier than leather and hits a target from behind, you deal double damage and you treat it as an open ended process (you keep on rolling and adding outcomes as long as you roll the same value on both dice) Nobody can get You are a Type B Spellcaster with a trade You are a Type C Spellcaster grants some classes (Adventurer, Burrowlander and Dwarf) a single Sphere (choose to be whether an arcane or a divine spellcaster)
Generic Features allow a sort of limited multiclassing; any class can trade 2 of his Additional Features for 1 of another class Addition Features, with some limitations: Only Elves can get You are a Type A Spellcaster with a 2:1 trade
()
It represents how a PC can withstand phyical blows; AC ranges from 9 (no armor) to 0 (best value), and its formula is AC = Armor Bonus (Attribute Bonus) (Shield Bonus). Attribute Bonus is DEX Bonus and CON Bonus with hide armor or no armor, only CON Bonus with chainmail or platemail.
When a character/creature is hit, the amount of damage taken is subtracted from his current Hit Points; when Hit Points drop to 0, the character/creature dies. A character can be healed through magic or proper herbs (LF+(INT Bonus) to be found): in the latter hecan heal a maximum of 1d4 Hit Points lost in the last battle he has taken part.
If your AC goes negative, its still considered 0 but any negative point counts as damage reduction.
Critical Hit
Armors can be bought in a shop or you can pay an artisan to make him craft one (at triple price) with special components granting a proper feature to the armour (for example a gorgons scale armor could grant a character a +2 bonus to LF against pietrification).
Weapons Key Small Medium Large Slashing Blunt Piercing Ranged Damage Standard Metal d4 d6 d6 d8 d8 d10 Notes It can be thrown Standard weapon It needs two hands to be held Critical Hit: if both dice show the maximum value, reroll them and add the result to the previous one (exploding dice) Critical Hit: roll 3 dice of the same type and drops the lower Critical Hit: roll dX+d(X+2) instead of 2dX Critical Hit: if both dice show the same number, add your DEX Bonus to damage Small sized creatures (like Burrowlanders) inflict less damage with weapons: d4/d6/d8 points of damage with metal weapons, d3/d4/d6 points of damage with standard weapons. Magic Equipment is rare and so cant be bought in a shop, but the Referee could create a quest to find a powerful artisan to create one item per character. Magic Equipment can grant just a +1 bonus (greater bonuses belong to artifacts), a particular effect (like a flaming sword) or both: as always in a RPGs, the only limit is in your mind. You can easily use any item/weapon table taken from any other clone.
Standard weapons are made of any material (wood, stone, bone or other) different from metal. Weapons can be made on the fly by just assembling more keys (the first three set the damage, the others affect the Critical Hit): for example a longsword is both a Medium and a Slashing weapon.
E
Normal weapon usually assemble two keys, but more advanced and rare weapons could have more than two.
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
XP 0 100 300 600 1000 1500 2100 2800 3600 4500 5500 6600 7800 9100 10500
HD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Special (Option)
Characters earn Experience Points (XP) through their adventures in the following ways: Monsters: each defeated, avoided, lured or cheated creature grants an amount of 2HD XP (so 512XP for a 9HD monster, if HD<1 just 1XP) Collecting Treasure: 20 metal pieces means 1 XP (10:1 rate if you wanna level up a little faster) Off-combat Rolls: each successful roll grants as much XP as the LF, each failed roll grants half LF in XP XP as a Group: whenever characters act as a group, XP are earned as a whole entity and must
be divided equally (so with 4 characters a 9HD monster gives 128XP each) Solo XP: whenever a character acts totally separated from the group, he gets all XP for himself Special XP: magic items granting an XP award (like some Magical Decks) do it just for 1/20 of the shown amount.
Chapter 6: Magic
Like other games, the Fine Art of Spell Casting is made up of the following phases: Memorization: a PC can memorize only a limited number of spells in his mind (inside small cells called slots), and he needs to do it after a 8 hours period of sleep through meditation (arcane magic) or praying (divine magic) Preparation: regardless of which faction is going to act first in a round, a PC must declare hes going to cast a spell before the whole round starts Execution: the spell is cast during the PCs turn, but if an opponent hits him between Preparation and Execution phase the PC must succeed a roll on his LF + CON Bonus or the spell is wasted Characters get new spell slots according to the table below: just remember that a slot is a free space in the characters mind, not an actual spell per se.
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5
2 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5
6 7 - - - - - - - - - - - 1 2 2 1 2 2
1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4
Type C 2 3 - - - - - 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2
4 1 1
These House Rules dont use the classic pre-generated spells but they focus on the concept of Spheres, where a single Sphere represents a specific theme or kinda narrow field of application: a Flame Sphere will focus on shaping fire and burning things an Illusion Sphere will focus on altering perception or creating hallucinations a Crow Sphere will focus on controlling crows or creating them out of nowhere a Move Sphere will focus on moving matter or altering motion a Necromancy Sphere will focus on blood, bones, life energy and corpses Divine Spellcasters get automatically a new Sphere each time they earn a new slot, Arcane Spellcasters need to find them as part of a treasure or researching
Spheres
them (one attempt per level with a roll on his LF+(INT Bonus) to succeed). When a character memorizes a Sphere, he allocates it inside a single slot which remains occupied until the spell has been cast; a memorized Sphere allows different effects, but only a specific effect can take place and must be declared during the Preparation phase (so the same Flame Sphere could be used to burn a tree or to create an opening when surrounded by fire). If a character casts a spell upon himself or other allies he must succeed in a roll on his LF + Attribute Bonus (WIS for divine and INT for arcane), but if the target is unwilling the Referee will roll under the creatures LF to avoid the spells effect (as already said in the Combat chapter). Only Clerics and Magic Users add their Attribute Bonus, while other classes roll just on their LF.
Slot Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Spell Parameters Effect Duration d3 Instantaneous d4 (d3 up to 4 Small creatures) 1 round per Lvl d6 (d4 up to 4 Medium creatures) 10 round per Lvl d8 (d6 up to 4 Large creatures) 10 minutes per Lvl d10 (d8 up to 4 Huge creatures) 1 hour per Lvl d12 (d10 up to 4 Giant creatures) 1 day per Lvl d16 (d12 up to 4 Colossal creatures) 1 week per Lvl d20 (d16 up to 4 Titanic creatures) 1 month per Lvl
Range Contact 10ft. + 3ft. per Lvl 30ft. +10ft. per Lvl 60ft. +20ft. per Lvl 100ft. +30ft. per Lvl 200ft. +60ft. per Lvl 300ft. + 100ft. per Lvl 1000ft. + 300ft. per Lvl
Area of Effect Personal 5ft. 15ft. 30ft. 50ft. 100ft. 150ft. 200ft.
Effect: no spell damage means no die roll, spell can affect up to a limited amount of selected targets. Duration: instantaneous spells are usually blasts, but they also can create durable simple objects (like wooden) Range: Contact means the spell can be cast only at very short range, from touch (0 ft.) to a maximum of 10ft. (the reach of a lance) Area of Effect: Personal means the spell targets a single creature or object, otherwise the spell targets everything inside the area.
Just remember that the memorized Sphere is always dominant over the other Sphere, so that its theme affects the other ones theme. Lets imagine a Magic User with two Spheres (Earth and Water). If he wants to merge Earth (memorized) with Water, then he could create a safe path to cross a river If he wants to merge Water (memorized) with Earth, then he could turn earth to mud with water. Lets considere the same Magic User, but with other Spheres (Flames and Illusion). If he wants to merge Illusion (memorized) with Flames, then he could create an illusionary wall of flame everybody can see and which burns at contact. If he wants to merge Flames (memorized) with Illusion, then he could create a real campfire looking like that inside the Area of Effect but only a bush (spreading no light) outside of it.
The entity of the spells effect depends on the table above: whenever a character casts a spell, he must combine 2 columns from the SL0 line and 2 columns from the actual SL line. Lets imagine a Level 1 Magic User with an Ice Sphere memorized in a level 1 slot: Solution A: he throws an ice dagger dealing d3 damage (SL0 Effect) in an instant (SL0 Duration) up to a distance of 13ft. (SL1 Range) able to blast a 5ft. radius area (SL1 AoE) Solution B: he creates a dagger (SL0 AoE) for melee combat (SL0 Range) dealing d4 damage (SL1 Effect) for a duration of 1 round (SL0 Effect) It is also possible to merge a memorized Sphere with another Sphere chosen on the spot: if a character does it, he gets a malus on his LF (or a dual bonus on targets LF) equal to twice the memorized Sphere slot level.
As a final note any spellcaster can cast freely a single unharmful spell (like a minor healing) with all SL0 parameters once between two encounters.
The effect could be a re-roll, an automatic success or an unquestionable statement: that means the Referee has the right to veto upon its definition (but not upon its application). STR: these Feats cover combat, athletics, muscles Example: Enjoy my punchs lullaby! Effect: with a single punch your character can put to sleep a target creature (Large size or smaller) INT: these Feats cover knowledge, arcane magic, theories, legends and general lore Example: Ive heard in a tavern this story about.. Effect: your character spouts lore about a true rumor, like a magic axe hidden in a specific tower WIS: these Feats cover awareness, senses, divine magic Example: I spy, with my little eye.. Effect: thanks to a minor form of clairvoyance your character knows exactly whats inside a room CON: these Feats cover resilience, healing, personal anatomy Example: My granny was a Troll! Effect: your character is fully healed after a 8 hours rest DEX: these Feats cover speed, movement, handskill, crafting skill Example: Catch me, if you can! Effect: your character can leave behind his followers and reach a safe place CHA: these Feats cover fascination, command, verbal communication Example: Heavenly Wink Effect: your character has a huge success with guys
Your character can fight holding one (Small or Medium) weapon in each hand and can roll twice a round until the sum of both damage dice is smaller or equal than the lowest between DEX and STR. (For example a PC with DEX 9 and STR 16 can only wield two weapons with d4 as damage die).
Theyve been inspired by posts from FrDave and Andreas Davour. When a character reaches the proper levels (3rd and its multiples) his player chooses an Attribute (which roughly fixes the area of application) and creates a specific larger-than-life deed his character can
Feats (Option)
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