Strathos Update

Strathos is the name of the continent/setting I've been working on for a year. The whole process has been up and down with too many rewrites, edits, and complete deletions to count. It's been a lot of fun! I love writing. Even if it never comes to anything, it still keeps my brain working.

Anyway, I drew a new map rough and of course it is completely different from previous maps I published here.

Even the background info is vastly different than what I've previously written. For me, this whole thing is almost like a living entity; changing, growing, evolving, devolving, morphing into new shapes and forms.

Basically what I have now is this:

• Fantasy stand-in for Europe sent explorers and undesirables to a New World; a newly discovered continent across a vast ocean. 
• Strathos is located within the southern hemisphere of the planet, so South gets colder and North gets warmer.
• Colonists are Wizards, religious fanatics, criminals, and people who want to settle a new area free from the control of the government back in the homeland.
• The colonies are generally left alone by the founding nations due to distance and lack of profitability and/or strategic value.
• Strathos is already populated by humans and a couple other sentients, including Ape People, Moss Dwarves, Muscarians (Mushroom men), Goblins, and Hobgoblins.
• Animal life is mostly giant-sized; giant weasels, giant lynx, Mastadons, Saber Tooth Tigers, Wooly Rhinos, and other prehistoric beasts. 
• Colonists have firearms, including cannon. This is really the only thing keeping them from being wiped out by beasts and barbarians. Well, this and the wizards they pay for protection.
• Wizards have created a closed community among themselves and do not allow non-magical beings to enter. There is a password (Wizards Rule) to get in.
• Most wizards maintain homes/towers/laboratories outside of the bubble, only visiting the community to trade for or purchase supplies or socialize. 
• Some of the colonies were founded for the express purpose of supplying the wizards. These communities are under the protection of, and governed by, wizards.
• Where the colonies end, the Pictlands begin. Picts are the native humans who wear little clothing and ride on the backs of Mammoths and drive sleighs pulled by polar bears. They are bad ass barbarians who don't give a fuck.
• Beyond the Pictlands are the Goblin Forests and beyond those is the Hobgoblin Empire. The Hobgoblins are socially and technologically advanced almost to the point of the colonies, but lack gunpowder and the know-how to make firearms. 
• The Ape People, Yon, live in an isolated rainforest within a crater valley on a high plateau overlooking the ocean. Trees, animals, and insects are all especially large in the valley. 
• Within the crater is a section of few trees, but thousands of collosal mushrooms and other fungus. The Muscarians emerged from this area and spread out over the continent. 
• The Moss Dwarves are a plant based people and not actually dwarves. They live in the forests and are generally peaceful people who brew beer and talk to birds and smell rather bad.

Leveling Up and Bonus Abilities

Each of the classes I've posted on this blog has something in common; they receive abilities as they level up.

I added that feature to each class because, lets face it, standard classes in LotFP are lackluster and boring. However, that dullness serves a purpose; to keep the game gritty, keep the players on their toes, and to avoid the super heroics of other similar games.

I lost sight of all that, especially the third one.

So I've been thinking; I don't want to completely get rid of level up abilities. I also don't want to turn the game into a bloated feat-fest of super heroes who can never die.

So I came up with the following;

If your character class has level up abilities, you only gain an ability on a 1 in 20 die roll. This is cumulative, so that the higher in level you go, the better the chance of getting something cool. The reasons for this are as follows:

• To reward the players for surviving.
• To keep cool, special abilities without overpowering the game mechanics.
• To keep things gritty.
• To help differentiate characters from each other.

I will be including this in the Strathos player's guide I've been writing.

Language and Language Skill

Today's post isn't a rule change or new class. Instead it's just my brief thoughts on a particular aspect of role playing games.

In my getting-near 30 years of gaming, something that has always fascinated me in RPGs is language.

For me, language (including literacy) is a big part of what I think of when I think about good role playing.

In the real world, there are hundreds of current languages, and thousands of dead languages. There are codes and cyphers that act as languages. There are fictional languages. Language is everywhere and without it, we wouldn't be able to effectively communicate. We'd still be living under rocks and grunting at each other.

So using language in a game is not only a great thing to do, but I think increases the enjoyability of the game. Language adds tension, adds background flavor, adds complications, can escalate or de-escalate conflict.

Some games deal with language by not dealing with it; everyone can understand each other. Either by default or because of babelfish or universal translators or whatever. It's an uninteresting cop-out.

Other games provide a "common" language, with other languages existing in the world to a lesser degree. Many of these games provide a set number of languages a character "knows" from the begining of the game. Or a maximum number of languages a character can know in their lifetime.

So when they roll up their character, and have Common and 4 other languages to fill in, what do they do? Scratch in Elvish, Dwarvish, Goblin might come in handy, and uh... whatever demons speak.

The problem with this is A) why the hell does your first level fighter know the language of demons, and B) If you never have an opportunity to speak with demons, or elves, or dwarves, or goblins, you wasted those language slots.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess utilizes a skill mechanic for languages that fits my needs as a GM and my wants as a player. Namely, simplicity.

In LotFP, Language, as with all skills, are rated on a scale of 1 to 6, with success determined by rolling under the value with a d6. Intelligence modifiers add to your skill score. So a INT mod of +1 would add 1 to your skill, making your Language skill 2 in 6. Got it?

With the Language skill in LotFP, you start play speaking whatever language you want, although speaking the dominant language of wherever you are is a good idea. There isn't a list of additional languages. You don't start play with additional languages. Instead, whenever your character encounters another language, whether it be from the foreign trader, the ancient religious text, or the kingdom next door, you roll your language skill. If successful, you know the language and can utilize it from then on. If you fail, you don't know the language.

That's it.

It's quick, it's simple, it's intuitive, and it doesn't tie anyone's hands with poor decisions at character creation.

And it can be used in most other games with little modification.

That's it. Go read something else now.

Playable Species: Goblins for LotFP

Goblins

Goblins are tiny, crazed, insane, chaotic, murdering, backstabbing, comical, curious, silly, monstrous, evil, cute, criminal, cowardly, conniving, deadly, sneaky, scheming, little people who have few friends but are sometimes generally loyal to those friends for at least some of the time.

Goblins are considered a plague by most other sentient species, much like locusts, but this mostly unfair propaganda and hearsay.

Goblins are a type of Faerie, and as such, tend to be treated as "special" cousins to other faerie folk. While goblins may be invited to faerie parties as individuals, faeries will always politely decline invitations to goblin parties. They are more tied to this world than most other faerie, and so do not have the innate magical powers enjoyed by most other types of faerie.

Goblins will eat just about anything, having stomachs capable of breaking down the most rotten and vile organic matter. They are also often the carriers of disease, due to their scavenging and lack of hygiene habits.

Goblins procreate at every given opportunity, and female gestation periods are very short; only a few months, and they usually produce d4 children at a time.

Goblins aren't particularly interested in building things, unless they directly help the goblin achieve an immediate goal. Like, goblins won't build catapults to defend their villages from possible future attack, but will build them to launch themselves over fortifications that get in their way.

Lastly, goblins are mostly nocturnal creatures, who live in the darkest forests and in natural cave systems, or mines they've taken over from other beings.

Hit Die: d6

Alignment: Chaotic (while most non-magical sentients are Neutral in alignment, goblins exist

Saves: Fortitude: 16, Reflex: 15, Willpower: 18, and these decrease by 2 every four levels. Or use the saves as an LotFP Specialist.

Abilities: +1 To Hit at first level. Can see in the dark, but is -1 on all rolls in daylight.

Experience: As LotFP Halfling

Level Up: Roll once on the table at first level and every level afterwards. Young, inexperienced goblins tend to be more level-headed and easier to get along with than older goblins. This table is based on the work of Joseph Manola and his blog post:

http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2016/03/new-bx-class-goblin.html

1. Tinkerer: You love fiddling with things, especially when you have a specific goal in mind. Whether it is deactivating a trap, cracking a safe, designing a hot air balloon made from hundreds of giant spider bladders... you get a +1 to Tinker skill.
   
2. Beast Affinity: Pick one of the following creatures: giant bat, giant rat, giant spider, or wolf. You have an intuitive rapport with such creatures, and they won't attack you except in self-defence or when really, really hungry. If you encounter such a creature with a number of hit dice equal to or less than your own, you can try to press it into service as a mount by spending 1d6 hours 'taming' it and making a Charisma roll. If you succeed, it will let you ride it for as long as you keep it well fed, but if you fail then it attacks you once and then runs off. Receive a +1 to your Charisma Mod useable only for this ability, when this is re-rolled.
   
3. Biter: All those hours spent filing your teeth has finally paid off! You have a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, which you can use to chew through wood, ropes, etc. Instead of making a weapon attack, you can bite for 1d4 damage. Add a +1 to bite damage when this is re-rolled.
   
4. Bouncer: You can jump a distance equal to your full height straight up from a standing start. You take half damage from falling. Add a foot to jump height whenever this is re-rolled.
   
5. Coward: You know how to serpentine. You gain a +1 bonus to AC and whilst running away screaming.
   
6. Crazy Reflexes: Your body constantly jerks around in unpredictable ways, giving you a +1 AC bonus.
   
7. Filth Eater: You can survive on a diet of just about any kind of organic matter. You gain a +1 bonus to saves against poison and disease.
   
8. Survivalist: Having spent so much time in the wilderness, you have developed a certain awareness and knowledge of the wild. You know which worms are safe to eat, and which tracks belong to scary monsters you don't want to cross paths with. +1 to Bushcraft skill.
   
9. Hyperactivity: Once per day you can go completely hyper for 1d6 rounds, moving at twice your normal speed and attacking twice per round. However, you are -1 To Hit.
   
10. Lunatic: Your mind is so warped that it's very difficult for other people to control. You gain a +1 bonus to saves against mind-affecting powers and spells. Also you are crazy, but frankly you were probably crazy already.
    
11. Mimic: You can perfectly mimic the voice of anyone you have heard in the last 24 hours, but can only maintain this mimicry for a maximum of 1d6 rounds before breaking down into fits of hysterical giggling. Add 1 round every time this is rolled again.
    
12. Mushroom Mystic: Pick one first-level Magic-User or Cleric spell. You can cast this spell once per day, but only while feeling the effects of a hallucinogenic drug. Rolling this result again allows you to pick a second first-level spell.
    
13. Poison Spit: Your saliva is so bacteria-laden that you can envenom any edged weapon by licking the blade. The next person stabbed with it must save vs. poison or suffer 1d6 days of horrible, incapacitating sickness, which begins 1d3 hours after they are stabbed. Rolling this again makes the victim -1 to save.
    
14. Rat Head: You're a rubbery little freak, and as long as you're not wearing inflexible armour you can squeeze your whole body through a the width of your own head.
    
15. Sneak: As long as you're not heavily burdened, you can move as soundlessly as a cat. Receive a +1 to Stealth skill. When this is re-rolled, you keep getting a +1 to Stealth, until you have 6 points in the skill. After that, you get a +1 to Sneak Attack.
    
16. Spider Climb: You are a nimble climber, able to scale surfaces and angles that seem impossible to others. +1 to your Climb skill.
    
17. Desecration: You love to smash things and smear your own feces all over other people's stuff. Given 1 turn, you can permanently lower the value of everything in a 10ft square area by 10%. Rolling this again means 20%, then 30%, etc.
    
18. Swarm King: You have a swarm of pet vermin of some kind (rats, spiders, centipedes, etc), which either follow you around or are carried with you in a sack. On your command they can be ordered to swarm people, who then suffer a -1 penalty to attack rolls, damage, and AC for as long as they're covered in swarming vermin. (They don't get a save against this, but the effect ends if they find a way of getting the swarm off them: jumping in water, for example.) You can also use them for anything else you think a swarm of vermin would be useful for, but you can't give them any command more complex than 'go over there' and 'come back'. Your swarm is big enough to engulf up to one person per level. If this is rolled again, then re-roll for a different result.
    
19. Twitchy: You only sleep 1d4 hours per night, but never seem to suffer any ill effects as a result. Because of this, you are only surprised on a 1 in 6, and receive a +1 bonus to Reflex saves.
    
20. Stab Frenzy: When you successfully hit someone in melee with a small or tiny weapon, you may immediately attempt to stab them again, with a -1 penalty to hit and damage; if you hit then you may attack a third time (with an additional -1 to hit and damage, for -2 total), and so on until you either miss, hit but inflict 0 damage, or kill them. You can only use this ability while screaming and gibbering incoherently. If this is rolled again, then re-roll for a different result.
    

Class: Yon Ape People v3

Yon Ape People

The Yon are a species of highly intelligent ape. Their society is very close-knit and orderly, with each village based around two industries; cultivating the flowering fruits their diet is based on, and tending the giant honeybee hives that form the center of each village. As village populations grow, members take a queen bee and hive materials and set out to create a new village and hive complex.

Every member of Yon society reveres bees, in fact, they worship them. The huge hive at the center of the village is also a temple where the Yon gather to pray, exchange news, and organize for work projects. The hum of the giant bees in and around the hive is soothing to the Yon and gives them a clear-headed that can't be found away from the hive. Tending and protecting the hive, and glorifying the queen, gives the Yon purpose. It is everything to them.

But not all of them.

Some Yon do not hear the call of the bee queen. They find the hum of the hive distracting. They may have an uncharacteristic fondness for violence. They may discover that other people value gold and jewels and money, and with those things, they can become powerful in their own right. They think they're crazy, or maybe everyone else is crazy. Either way, they leave their village as an outcast. An outcast free to adventure and make their fortune in the world. Many find quick work as warriors for hire due to their great strength and intimidating visage.

Yon Ape Adventurer

Hit Die: d8

Bonuses: +1 melee damage, +1 To Hit. Open Doors, Bushcraft, and Climb skills start at 2 in 6.

Saves: Fortitude: 16, Reflex: 17, Willpower: 16. At levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 all saves receive a +2 bonus. If using the regular LotFP saves, then the Yon saves as a Fighter.

Experience: As Dwarf

Level Up: Roll once on the following table every level after 1^st.

1. No need for armor: You have a +1 to AC in melee when you are not wearing armor, other than a helmet and/or shield.
2. Favored Enemy: Choose an animal, monster, or sentient species. You get a +1 to hit and +1 to damage against that specific type of creature, every time this is rolled. You are also -2 on Reaction rolls with creatures of that type. You can pick anything from mosquitoes to bears to dragons to humans.
3. Intimidate: +1 to Charisma checks to instill fear against others. Opposed check: your Charisma mod + d20 vs their Wisdom mod + d20. High roll wins. If they lose, they are immediately put in a defensive stance for d4 rounds. If they lose by 10 or more, they immediately flee.
4. Save Bonus: +1 to all saves.
5. Attribute Bonus: +1 to any attribute.
6. Bonus of +1 to a skill.
7. To Hit bonus: +1.
8. Use two-handed weapon one handed. If re-rolled, you can wield a two-handed weapon in your off hand, as well.
9. Defensive Stance: +1 to Armor Class, -2 to hit.
10. Offensive Stance: +1 to hit, -2 AC.

Setting Notes: Strathos

I've been working on and off on a setting for a year now. Figure I should share some of what that is.

Very rough map

This is a rough map of the continent of Strathos. It is located in the southern hemisphere of the world.  The map is mainly to show a rough geographical positioning of nations and regions in relation to each other. Notice no actual geographical features like mountains, rivers, lakes, or swamps.

Geographic relations to other lands

I will describe in more detail each region on the map in later posts. For now I'll give a brief summary. The names are all working names until I think of something better, so yeah, I know some of them are stupid.

• Pretonia: Pretons are the oldest of the human races on Strathos. They are descendents of slaves of the Serpent Men from long ago. They still worship the Serpent Men, who they believe have ascended to the stars. Essentially stone age cave men. Pretons are monsters, essentially, who live to destroy the works of humanity. As the Nords and Hobgoblins swept through Pictland, pushing the Picts South and East, Pretonia was split in two. Pretons are based on pre-Anglo-Saxon invasion Celts.
• Pictland: Picts are descendents of the Pretons, and are a bit more advanced culturally and technologically. They were poised to be the dominant people on the continent until two major invasions occurred. The Pict language is considered the Common tongue of the continent, and peoples and places are named in the Pict way. Pictland is a huge expanse of mostly unexplored wilderness filled with gigantic prehistoric beasts. It is much like Canada or Siberia: a vast, cold, forest with numerous rivers and lakes and mountains.
• Yonwood is a large, forested region of impossibly tall trees. The Yon Ape Men are the dominant society here. The place is crawling with giant-sized insects, carnivorous apes, and deadly plants. The weather conditions are similar to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.
• Mushroom Forest is an area of the Yonwood were the trees are supplanted by colossal varieties of fungus. This is where the fungoids and Needlemen come from. 
• Nordheim: Home of the Nords, a piratical people who conquered the area a few hundred years ago. The Picts living there became serfs and slaves of the invaders. Nords are based on Vikings, with magnified stereotypes.
• Hobland: I feel like hobgoblins have always gotten shafted in DnD; they're described as being organized and technologically advanced, but they only appear in ragtag groups with other monsters that share nothing of their culture. Makes no sense. So this is the Great Hobgoblin Empire. Or, at least, part of it. Picts and goblins make up the lower castes of this advanced feudal society, although there is at least one human-ruled member-state of the Empire. Based on the Holy Roman Empire.
• Icefields: The Icefields are the permafrost areas. The few people who live here hunt seals and whales. Populated by Frostmen (Fiend Folio, yo) pushed down to the bottom of the world eons ago by the pretons. There isn't much in the way of easily exploitable natural resources, so everyone else tends to stay away.

Four Save Model instead of Archaic Model

First, what is the Archaic Model of saves? That's what I'm calling the Save vs Poison, Death Ray, Breath Weapon, Wands, Spells, etc. Where you're supposed to use Breath Weapon for area effects and dodging stuff, and Poison or Death Ray is for save vs Death. It's convoluted, new players constantly have to have it explained to them, then they spend 5 minutes trying to find it on their character sheet, and it just sucks and I don't like it.

The three save model was popularized by corporate Dungeons and Dragons, and works pretty well by simplifiying saves and therefore speeds things up. I think so, anyway.

Instead of a bunch of sort of random yet arbitrary saving throws with arbitrary values based on... what? I don't know. My Four Save Model goes like this...

I've never played 3/3.5 DnD, so I don't know how saves work in that game. I've played 4th, which honestly is the inspiration for this. Don't judge me too quickly! 4th was a fun fantasy tactical game, but was marketed incorrectly.

Willpower - Anything that requires a save like resisting delicious ice cream, trying to ignore terrible sounds like Alanis Moressette songs, working through a fear of darkness without a night light, etc
Fortitude - eating a three day old, room temperature Taco Bell Taco Supreme (yes, with sour cream) without getting food poisoning, beer bonging a handle of cheap vodka without puking, seeing your grandparents having sex, etc
Agility - dodging out of the way of a thrown wrench, dodging fireballs shooting up from the floor as you cross a bridge only to discover your princess is in another castle, running and leaping away from the big climactic explosion even though you're getting too old for this shit, etc
Magic - Pretty much anything not covered by the other three saves. 

These are roll-over values on a d20. In layman's terms: roll a d20 and get a high number.

The value you must roll above is not arbitrarily chosen by some unpaid game designer with a chip on their shoulder. Instead, it is determined by YOU, the player! Cool, huh?

Willpower is your character's Wisdom modifier + Charisma modifier, subtracted from 17.
Fortitude is your character's Strength modifier + Constitution modifier, subtracted from 17.
Agility is (you guessed it) your character's Intelligence modifier + Dexterity modifier, subtracted from 17.
Magic is your character's Intelligence modifier + Wisdom modifier, subtracted from 17.

So, there is an arbitrary bit in there; why 17, and not 20? Because some characters will have no modifiers, and they'll have to save by rolling over 20.

If you have a negative modifier, like from having a really terrible attribute, that modifier is added to 17.  So it IS possible to have to roll a 20 (or higher) for a save.

So at first level, you'll have a save range of 12-18. Since your modifiers have already been used to determine this value, they are not added to subsequent saving throw rolls. Sorry.

This model is used the same for all classes. So your clericky character should have a decent Willpower, your Fighter-type should have a decent Fortitude, and your Wizardy or Thieving types will have decent Agility.

Other bonuses apply to your roll; like if your character has a +3 vs Poison for whatever reason, then you would add +3 to your Fortitude rolls when dealing with poisons. If your character has a +1 to balance because they have a background as a child acrobat, then you add +1 to Agility rolls when you're trying to walk on a tight rope.

Easy peasy.

Example:

Tim the first level Fast Talking Specialist has the following attributes:
Charisma:15 (+2 mod)
Constitution: 5 (-2 mod)
Dexterity: 17 (+3 mod)
Intelligence: 9
Strength: 11
Wisdom: 11

So, his Saves are as follows:
Agility: 17-3 = 14
Fortitude: 17 - (0-2) = 19
Willpower: 17 - 2 = 15
Magic: 17 -0 = 17

Yeah, that's a really shitty Fortitude.

Fortunately, saves can improve! Each class will have an experience progression table which will include improving saving throws.


I haven't play tested this yet; it is in the thinking about stage right now.

Wizards of the Coast and the OGL

 This is my response to this thread here. I was going to post it there but I took too long writing and got logged out or something.

These are my thoughts, written pretty much as I thought them.


So, why didn't WotC look at the market, determine there was value in previous editions, and cater to those consumers?

WotC made the OGL to keep DnD alive and free from the corporate masters. Everyone seems to be in agreement about that.
That doesn't mean that WotC couldn't continue publishing official product for earlier editions. Or system neutral product. Or product for the current edition with conversion notes in the back. Before 3rd edition, they knew there were fans of 2nd edition that wouldn't convert. They knew there were fans of 1st edition that wouldn't convert. They knew there were fans of Basic/BECM/BX/whateverthefuck that wouldn't convert.

That's money. That's money they willingly left on the table and turned their back on.

I mean, they tried to make money by what... pulling legal pdf copies of old product? Re-releasing the original books in crap-format for $300? Retconning and rewriting settings beloved by fans? Insulting the intelligence of DnD fans with the marketing of every new edition they've put out? Almost every thing they've done has pushed away customers towards competitors.

Honestly, what awesome must-have products has DnD of any edition put out in the last 20 years? Cause to me, it all seems like committee-written, bland, lowest common denominator, overpriced garbage. It's the Black Eyed Peas of role playing games. The difference between a record company and Hasbro is that a record company uses the Black Eyed Peas' commercial success to offset the smaller, more experimental, and groundbreaking artists they publish. Hasbro doesn't do that. In fact, one could probably surmise that Hasbro uses more popular products to offset the cost of publishing DnD - which is really stupid, considering the previously stated, "committee-written, bland, lowest common denominator, overpriced garbage."

It's pretty obvious Hasbro cares mainly about the IP, not the product itself. If it did, WotC would have more than 3 full time employees in the DnD division. But that's because there isn't a whole lot of money to be made in RPGs. But with a classic brand, you can license out the IP for more financially lucrative endeavors like video games.

Thoughts on Shields Shall be Splintered

The original is at Trollsmyth's page here.

It's a wonderful rule and I've incorporated it into LotFP games in the past. I wrote a previous post about shields and armor, with different shield sizes and materials. Wood can be sacrificed once, metal can be sacrificed twice. I am thinking about changing that though. Both can be sacrificed once, but metal shields give a bonus of +2 melee AC and +2 ranged AC, as opposed to the +1/+2 of a wood shield. The idea being that a metal shield will allow fewer things to go through; much like leather armor and plate armor cover the same amount of body area, but the material of plate gives it a much higher armor class.

Anyway, back to Shields Shall be Splintered...

Looking through the comments though, I got some ideas.

• Why can't armor be sacrificed in the same way?
• Can you use the rule to block damage from any attack? Like a giant throwing a huge boulder that would realistically squish you completely?
• Since the shield already adds to your AC, why should it also block damage? 

So, to address the first point, allow armor to be sacrificed. That helps to get rid of the armor the player character has had for the last 10 years of game time through hundreds of battles and a half dozen levels. It makes armor more than just an after thought, same as it does for the shield.

The second point, is simple; GM fiat. That's the GM's job after all; to adjudicate situations. In the aforementioned example, I would say no, you can't sacrifice your shield or armor to block that attack.

Third point is the trickiest and least likely to be incorporated; just an idea I'm bouncing in my head. Instead of simply blocking damage, a shield or armor can be sacrificed to turn a critical hit into a regular hit.  This would not be applicable to sneak attacks or backstabs, as the person being attacked is surprised.

Yon Ape Men Update and Addtitional Material

This is not only a revision of the previous post about the Yon Gorilla People, but has added content in the form of NPC stats, and a separate sub-class of cleric, exclusive to the species.

Yon, or Ape-men, are a species who have created their own civilization in the vast forest that bears their name, the Yonwood.

The yon live on platforms built high up in the trees; trees that grow 100+ feet high with trunks a dozen feet thick.

Physically, they are slightly larger on average than humans, with longer arms than legs, and a fur covered body. Some tribes shave parts of their body and put on body paint, some shave and cover their skin in tattoos. Generally, only warriors shave, and then only shave the parts that would be covered by armor.

Yon wear armor made of giant insect shells; namely beetles and mantis. Full suits of armor are too restrictive, hot, and unwieldy for the furred, tree dwelling species, so armor consists of breastplates, helms, bracers, and wooden shields. These are considered half-suits from the armor rules here.

Their largest export to human realms is honey cultivated from the hives of Giant Bees. Yon beekeepers are able to produce honey with incredible properties. The knowledge to do this is considered a gift from the Yon god, Oogam. Yon beekeepers are shamans with limited cleric powers.

The Yon worship, or at least recognize, a single god who they call Oogam. Oogam is benevelent and provided the Yon with gifts of knowledge and civilization. Oogam has a malevolent counterpart called Boogab, who is the god of the Carnivorous Apes - uncivilized, evil creatures who constantly war with the Yon.

Forged metal items are greatly prized, as the Yonwood is devoid of mines and forges. Favorite weapons are clubs, spears, and blowguns with poisoned darts.

Yon Player Characters use the following:


Warrior

• Hit Points: d10 + Constitution modifier.
• Encumbrance as Dwarf: five additional slots before taking an encumbrance point.
• Combat Options: Same as Fighter.
• Skill bonuses: +1 to Open Doors and Bushcraft, +2 Climb. An additional +1 to these three skills at levels 4, 8, 12, and 16.
• Damage bonus: Yon are stronger than humans and in addition to their bonus to Open Doors, they have a +1 to melee damage.
• Can wield giant-sized weapons two-handed, and Great Weapons one handed.  
• Saves as Fighter
• Experience Points and leveling up are the same as Dwarf. 
• Alignment: Yon Warriors are Neutral

Shaman

• Hit Points: d6 + Constitution
• Encumbrance is standard.
• Combat Options are standard for non-fighters.
• Skill Bonuses: +2 Bushcraft, +2 Climb. Additional +1 at levels 4, 8, 12, and 16
• Saves as Cleric
• Choose or roll 3 level one spells from the Yon Spell list. Choose one additional spell every level of experience. Spells available are 1/2 the level of the Shaman, rounding up.
• Spells cost 2 HP per level of the spell.
• Wield giant-sized weapons two-handed, and Great Weapons one-handed.
• Experience Points as Elf
• Alignment: Yon Shamans are Lawful.

Non-Player Characters

Yon NPCs who follow Oogam use the following:

• Armor Class: as leather with shield
• Hit Dice/Hit Points: d8
• Saves as 0 level Fighter
• Number of Attacks: 1 with weapon
• Combat bonus: +1 to hit, +1 damage in melee
•  Size: Large (8ft tall)
• Weapons: Great Club, Spear, Blowgun with Poison dart (1 HP dart, save vs petrification)
• For every 8 Yon warriors, there will be a Captain of 3 HD.
• For every 36 Yon warriors, there will be a Shaman of 4 HD (d6) with 4 spells from the Yon Shaman spell list. 

 NPCs who follow Boogab have the following changes

• Patrols are a mixture of Yon Warriors and Carnivorous Apes in an equal ratio.
• For every 8 Warriors/Apes, there will be one Shaman of 3 HD with 3 spells.
• For every 36 Warriors/Apes, there will be one Shaman of 5 HD with 5 spells.
• For every 64 Warriors/Apes, there will be one Shaman of 7 HD with 7 spells.

Spells of the Yon Gorilla People

Yon player characters have limited access to magic spells. These spells reflect their culture, religion, and environment.

Yon are gifted a single spell every level of experience from their god, Oogam. The exact spell is rolled randomly or chosen, but the maximum level of the spell is half the level of the caster, rounding up.

Yon magic costs 2 Hit Points per level of the spell. Magic is draining and tiring to the caster. A level 1 spell will cost 2 hit points, a level 2 spell will cost 4 hit points, and level 3 will cost 6 hit points, and so on. There is no limit to the number of times a day spells can be cast, other than hit points.

The following list contains the spells available to the Yon character. Spells with descriptions are new, spells without description are from the LotFP Rules & Magic book (Grindhouse edition). Yon have a close relationship with Giant Bees, using honey and wax for a variety of uses.

Spell Level One

1. Melt Bee's Wax: Range: Touch. Duration: Instant. The caster can instantly melt bee's wax in their hand, or within a hand held container.
2. Bee's Wax Glue: Range: Touch. Duration: Instant. Turns bee's wax into a powerful adhesive and sealant, able to glue together most types of material. 
3. Bless
4. Detect Evil/Good
5. Protection from Evil/Good
6. Purify/Spoil Food and Drink
7. Light
8. Comprehend Languages
9. Feather Fall
10. Mending
11. Message
12. Sleep

Spell Level Two

1. Friend of Bees: Range: Self. Duration: One ten minute Turn per level of the caster. Bees of all types (but not wasps or other stinging insects) regard the caster as a friend and will not attack. They will allow the caster access to their hive and to remove wax and honey. 
2. Create Candy: Range: Touch. Duration: Permanent. Caster can create hardened candy out of honey. Great for sore throats and a variety of other common ailments. Can turn up to one pound of honey into candy per level of experience.
3. Cure Light Wounds
4. Delay Poison
5. Heroism
6. Resist Cold
7. Silence
8. Detect Invisible
9. Force of Forbidment
10. Speak With Animals
11. Wall of Fog
12. Wizard Lock - uses bee's wax as a component.

Spell Level Three

1. Bless Food: Range: 10 feet. Duration: Permanent. Blessed food is impervious to spoiling magic and doubles the length of time that the food would spoil normally.
2. Seal Wound: Range: Touch. Duration: Instant. The caster uses melted bee's wax to seal open wounds. This will stop bleeding and stabilize a wounded individual. The wounded person also heals an additional hit point every 24 hours. 
3.  Dispel Magic
4. Magic Vestment
5. Remove Curse
6. Sacrifice
7. Army of One
8. Gust of Wind
9.  Light, Continual
10. Locate Object
11. Speak With the Dead
12. Turn Undead

Spell Level Four

1. Honey Medicine: Range: Touch. Duration: Permanent. Turns honey candy (level 2 spell) into medicinal lozenges. Works the same as Cure Disease and heals d6 Hit Points.
2. Detect Lie
3. Divination
4. Neutralize Poison
5. Protection from Evil, 10ft radius
6. Spell Immunity
7. Charm Monster
8. Protection from Normal Missiles

Spell Level Five

1. Commune
2. Cure Serious Wounds
3. Dispel Evil
4. Insect Plague
5. True Seeing
6. Hold Animal/Monster/Person

Spell Level Six

1. Find/Lose the Path
2. Heal
3. Word of Recall
4. Legend Lore
5. Holy Word
6. Control Weather

Art by Kolsga

Yon: New Race/Species LotFP

Yon, or Ape-men, are a species who have created their own civilization in the vast forest that bears their name, the Yonwood.

The yon live on platforms built high up in the trees; trees that grow 100+ feet high with trunks a dozen feet thick.

Physically, they are slightly larger on average than humans, with longer arms than legs, and a fur covered body. Some tribes shave parts of their body and put on body paint, some shave and cover their skin in tattoos. Generally, only warriors shave, and then only shave the parts that would be covered by armor.

Yon wear armor made of giant insect shells. Full suits of armor are too restrictive, hot, and unwieldy for the furred, tree dwelling species, so armor consists of breastplates, helms, bracers, and wooden shields.

Their largest export to human realms is honey cultivated from the hives of Giant Bees. Yon beekeepers are able to produce honey with incredible properties. The knowledge to do this is considered a gift from the Yon god, Oogam.

The Yon worship, or at least recognize, a single god who they call Oogam. Oogam is benevelent and provided the Yon with gifts of knowledge and civilization. Oogam has a malevolent counterpart called Oogab, who is the god of the Carnivorous Apes - uncivilized, evil creatures who constantly war with the Yon.

Forged metal items are greatly prized, as the Yonwood is devoid of mines and forges. Favorite weapons are clubs, spears, and blowguns with poisoned darts.

Mechanically important information:

• Hit Points: d10 + Constitution modifier.
• Encumbrance as Dwarf: five additional slots before taking an encumbrance point.
• Combat Options: Just standard attack, no others.
• Skill bonuses: +1 to Open Doors and Bushcraft, +2 Climb. An additional +1 to these three skills at levels 4, 8, 12, and 16.
• One first level spell. Yon are shamanistic and learn an additional spells as they grow in experience. They cannot be taught spells or learn them through research. These are considered gifts from Oogam. Every new level of experience, the Yon character learns a single spell of level equal to or less than their current level minus one. This spell can be randomly determined (yay) or chosen by the player (boo). Yon have their own spell list to choose from.
• Damage bonus: Yon are stronger than humans and in addition to their bonus to Open Doors, they have a +1 to melee damage.
• Can wield giant-sized weapons two-handed, and Great Weapons one handed.  
• Saves as Fighter
• Experience Points and leveling up are the same as Elves. 
• Alignment: Yon are considered Lawful for alignment purposes.

 Here is a picture of a Yon with a human magic user.

art by Brom

Warrior 4.0 BFRPG LotFP edition

The Warrior class combines elements of the classic Fighter, Barbarians, Rangers, Monks, and Knights. The reason for this is because I don't think individual "prestige" classes are necessary and just make character creation more confusing and difficult, especially for players new to the game or role playing games in general.

This class gives the player options to build, over time, the character they want.


Hit Dice: d8
Saves: As a first level fighter. These do not improve with level; they improve with the following table.
Bonus to Hit: +1 at first level, and every level after.

Pick or roll twice from the following list. Do this at first level and every level after.

1. Weather Resistance:Bonus of +1 to any save against extreme temperature or inclement weather.
2. Primal Attraction: Use both Charisma and Strength modifiers for Morale and Reaction rolls.
3. Defensive Stance: +1 to Armor Class, -2 to hit. Re-rolling this gives another +1/-2
4. No need for armor: You have a +1 to AC and a +1 to damage in melee when you are not wearing armor, other than a helmet and/or shield. Re-rolling this grants an additional +1/+1.
5. Favored Enemy: Choose an animal, monster, or sentient species. You get a +1 to hit and +1 to damage against that specific type of creature, every time this is rolled. You are also -2 on Reaction rolls with creatures of that type every time this is rolled. You can pick anything from mosquitoes to bears to dragons to humans.
6. Two-Weapon fighting: You can hit with weapons in both hands. Your off hand has a -2 to hit, with no Strength bonus applicable. Re-rolling this gives a +1 to hit with the off hand.
7. You have an extra attack/action per round.
8. Fists of Steel: Your punches and kicks inflict +1 damage
9. Increase Hit Die by one type. In other words, your d8 is now a d10. Hit points are not re-rolled.
10. Intimidate: +1 to Charisma checks to instill fear against others. Intimidated opponents will cower or flee.
11. Attribute Bonus: +1 to any attribute, up to species maximum.
12. Save Bonus: +1 to all saves.
13. Bonus of +1 to a skill. So instead of 1 in 6, you have a 2 in 6.
14. Taunt: +1 to Charisma checks to taunt an opponent. Taunted opponents will attack against their own better judgement. Taunting counts as a non-attack action.
15. Ranged Bonus: Pick a specific ranged weapon type (short bow, heavy crossbow, sling, etc). You can attack twice as fast with that weapon. Re-rolling means 3x as fast.
16. Use two-handed weapon one handed. If re-rolled, you can wield a two-handed weapon in your off hand, as well.
17. Mounted bonus: You have a +1 bonus to damage with melee weapons while mounted, and can ride without a saddle or gear with no penalty. +1 damage whenever this is re-rolled.
18. Berserker Rage: When angry, you can enter into a trance-like state of fury. This grants a +2 to hit and damage, but a -4 to AC. The trance lasts for your Constitution in rounds, or until every living thing in sight is dead. Re-rolling this grants a +4 to hit and damage, but a -8 to AC.
19. Offensive Stance: +1 to hit, -2 AC. Re-rolling this gives another +1/-2
20. Animal Domination: With a Reaction roll you can befriend a wild animal who will now act as a retainer. The animal can not have been attacked by you or your allies in the past. Asking the animal to risk harm to itself requires another reaction roll. Failure means it will run away. Only one animal can be dominated at a time. Re-rolling this means an additional animal can be dominated. 

Skills and Saving Throws

I'm always trying to think of ways to streamline and simplify rules and mechanics. Well, that's not really true, usually I'm trying to think of something else (Should gorilla-men who live in treehouses and dump their waste to the forest floor have any special immunities or bonuses to save against the spores and disease of the fungus-people who collect the waste?) and then I get on a mental tangent and spend the rest of the day wondering why only Thieves have skills and why they are use a percentage die system while every other dice mechanic in the damn game is a d6 or d20.


More systems means more complication and more distractions during the game as players stop and ask which die they roll for a particular thing, and I find that terribly annoying. On the other hand, using a single die or mechanic for every single thing is boring and usually ends up with dice pools and all the bullshit and headaches that entails.

I like to keep it simple, yet interesting.

So I was thinking about the Prime attribute system in Castles and Crusades. It was created to simplify saving throws and skills by making them attribute checks. A Prime atribute means you have to roll 12 or better, a Secondary attribute means you have to roll an 18 or better. The GM also has modifiers (difficulty levels) that they can throw at your roll but that's the gist of it.

The problem is that I've run Castles and Crusades before, and the players were constantly confused as to which attribute was prime and what they roll and what their bonus was and... the campaign fizzled. I thought maybe it was my fault, I didn't explain the system well enough... blaming myself, really.

It wasn't me though. The SIEGE system (what C&C calls their mechanic) is cluncky and weird and doesn't work all that well when you look at it closely.

Sure, some skill might be under one of your Prime attributes, but since you're the wrong class, you don't get to add your level to it. Or, you are the right class, but you don't have the right Prime attribute so you suck at something you should be good at. And why does every system want to front-load badassness into every character at 1st level? I remember back in the day all these hipster scumbags shitting on Rifts for front-loading characters and now every game does it. First level characters should be shit, and they should become slightly less shit as they gain experience.

Especially if you aren't playing a superhero RPG.

When is someone going to publish a perfect system that I won't have to rewrite?

Anyway... here is Saves and Skills

I believe characters should be built over time, hence the entire point of experience points and levels. Some games and players don't use xp or levels. This isn't for you.

Saving throws

Basically the same as C&C, but the terminology is removed because it is unnecesary.

To save, roll 18 or higher on a d20. Include all applicable modifiers. The GM (me) can add modifiers to indicate the difficulty of the situation. For example, the HD of a spellcaster is added to the dificulty of any saves against that spellcaster's magic. Or an invisible trap will be harder to detect than an obvious hole in the ground.

If your character is a...

• Warrior: You get +6 to Strength based saves
• Magic User: You get +6 to either Intelligence or Wisdom saves (Player's choice)
• Specialist: You get +6 to Dexterity based saves

 All characters get to choose two other attributes. The saves from each of these attributes have a bonus of +3.

Every level your character goes up, you get a +1 to ALL saves.


Skills

Skills doesn't just mean the special skills of the specialist. Skills are pretty much anything not covered by a saving throw. For that reason, I'm not including a skill list.

To successfully roll a skill, you have to roll an 18 or higher on a d20.

Warriors and Magic Users focus on fighting and magic. Therefore they are not as adept at things not involving those two things.

• Warriors and Magic Users add attribute modifiers to applicable skills.
• This gives Warriors and Magic Users a 10% chance of success at first level, not including attribute bonuses.
• Warriors and Magic Users have the possibility of selecting a "Class Skill," which gives a particular skill the bonus of +1 per level of the character.

Specialists are all about skills. That's the strength of the class!

• Specialists receive a +3 to all skills, in addition to applicable attribute modifiers
• Specialists receive a bonus of +1 per level of the character to all skills.
• This gives the Specialist a 25% chance of success at first level, not including attribute bonuses.

Special note about Languages

• Regardless of class, the Intelligence modifier indicates how many languages the character can speak and read, in addition to their native language. 
• There is no maximum number of Languages a character can know. 
• The Language skill is used to determine if the character knows a particular language when it is encountered for the first time. It is rolled as any other skill.

Magic Users 2.5

Much like the Fighter, I've smooshed all the magic classes together into a single class. Except for Illusionists, because I don't like Illusionists and they have no place in the setting I'm developing. Also Bards. Bards can suck it.

While the title of this class is Magic User, you can write in whatever you want on your character sheet; Wizard, Cleric, Druid, Summoner, Magus, whatever.  You will notice that Clerics do not automatically know every spell of a given level. Why should they? They need to study and memorize prayers and keep a prayer book just like a Wizard needs to study and memorize spells and keep a spell book.

Spells will either be condensed into a single list, or players can choose to go with one of the traditional lists. I'm seriously considering incorporating magic Circles from Palladium Fantasy. I think it would add something cool and different. On the other hand, it would also add a level of complexity, which is what I want to avoid. So ignore that bit for now.

Anyway...


Prime attribute: Player's choice of Intelligence or Wisdom
Hit Die: d4
Abilities:

• Starting Spells: 3 level one, 2 level two, 1 level three.
• Cost to cast: 1 Hit Point per spell level, per level of current Encumbrance.
• Note about Class Skills: unless chosen/rolled from the list below, the Magic User has a base of 18 on any skill check. Level bonus does not apply, although attribute modifiers do apply.

Humans choose two of the following abilities every level of experience, non-humans choose one:

1. Increase Hit Die by one type. So your d4 is now a d6. Hit points are not re-rolled.
2. Increase a Prime attribute by 1 point, up to racial maximum.
3. Natural Aptitude: Learn a spell equal or less than your own level. No research needed.
4. Decrease casting cost by 1 HP, after multiplication. Minimum casting cost of 1 HP. So, if you're lightly encumbered and have this ability, your cost to cast a spell is 2 HP per spell level, -1. 
5. Create Scroll (as per LotFP). Roll this again and the cost and time is reduced by 10%
6. Create Potion (as per LotFP). Same as number 5.
7. Your hand eye coordination is better than average: +1 to hit.
8. Enlarge: Range and Area of effect of spells is increased 25%
9. Power: Duration of spells is increased 25%, and damage is +1
10. Reach: Spells with a range of Touch can be extended 5 feet from the caster.
11. Cantrips: Learn two Level 0 spells. These cost 1 HP regardless of encumbrance level.
12. Saving Throw bonus: +1 to all non-prime saves.
13. Duck and Move: +1 to Armor Class
14. Retroactive Magic Detection: Detect magic used in past 24 hours in a 30 square foot area, with a Wisdom check.  Roll this again and you can determine what spell was cast. Roll it again and you can detect if a magical creature or magic user of 5 HD or higher passed through. Roll it any more times and you get a +1 to your attribute check.
15. You automatically see the aura of any creature of 1 HD or less.  Roll again and this increases to 2 HD or less.
16. Enchant Object: Magic rings, wands, talismans, etc. Same as number 5.
17. Pick or roll an ability from the Fighter or Specialist ability lists. This is your chance to multi-class!
18. Choose a class skill from the following list: Climb (STR), Decipher Script (INT), Listen (WIS), Swim (CON), Move Silently (DEX), Hide (DEX), and Language (INT). Class skills receive a bonus equal to your level, as well as attribute modifiers. 
19. Choose a 1st level spell that you already know. You can cast this spell 1x per day at no hit point cost. 
20. Counterspell: When another magic user casts a spell against you, or anyone within 10 feet of you, you can roll a save vs magic to counter it, and send the spell back at its caster. Every time you re-roll this, you get a +1 to your save.

Fighter 3.5

The Fighter class combines elements of the classic Fighter, Barbarians, Rangers, Monks, and Knights. The reason for this is because I don't think individual "prestige" classes are necessary and just make character creation more confusing and difficult, especially for players new to the game or role playing games in general.

This class gives the player options to build, over time, the character they want.

Prime Attribute: Strength. Humans pick two more Prime Attributes. Non-humans
Hit Dice: d8
Abilities:

• Bonus to Hit: +1 at first level, and every level after. The Fighter is the only class that gets a bonus to hit every level.
• If human, pick or roll twice from the following list. Non-humans pick or roll one time.
• Note about Class Skills: unless chosen/rolled from the list below, the Fighter has a base of 18 on any skill check. Level bonus does not apply, although attribute modifiers do apply.

1. Weather Resistance: Choose one; Arctic or Desert. Effects from cold or heat are reduced by 10%, rounding up. +10% whenever this is re-rolled or chosen.
2. Primal Attraction: You can use your Strength attribute instead of Charisma for anything requiring a Charisma check.
3. Defensive Stance: +1 to Armor Class, -2 to hit. Re-rolling this gives another +1/-2
4. No need for armor: You have a +2 to AC when you are not wearing armor, other than a helmet and/or shield. Re-rolling this grants an additional +2.
5. Favored Enemy: Choose an animal, monster, or sentient species. You get a +1 to hit and +1 to damage against that specific type of creature, every time this is rolled. You are also -2 on Charisma checks with creatures of that type every time this is rolled. You can pick anything from mosquitoes to dragons to humans.
6. Two-Weapon fighting: You can hit with weapons in both hands. Your off hand has a -2 to hit, with no Strength bonus applicable. Re-rolling this gives a +1 to hit with the off hand.
7. You have an extra attack/action per round.
8. Fists of Steel: Your punches and kicks inflict +1 damage
9. Increase Hit Die by one type. In other words, your d8 is now a d10. Hit points are not re-rolled.
10. Intimidate: +1 to Charisma checks to instill fear against others. Intimidated opponents will cower or flee.
11. Attribute Bonus: +1 to any Prime attribute, up to species maximum.
12. Save Bonus: +1 to all non-prime saves.
13. Choose one of the following as a Class Skill: Climb (STR), Listen (WIS), Swim (CON), Move Silently (DEX), Hide (DEX), Traps (INT), Poison (INT), Survival (WIS), Track (INT), Seamanship (WIS). Class skills take the place of attribute checks; attribute modifiers apply and class level applies. If the associated attribute is Prime, the skill check base is 12, otherwise it is 18.
14. Taunt: +1 to Charisma checks to taunt an opponent. Taunted opponents will attack against their own better judgement. Taunting counts as a non-attack action.
15. Ranged Bonus: Pick a specific ranged weapon type (short bow, heavy crossbow, sling, etc). You can attack twice as fast with that weapon. Re-rolling means 3x as fast.
16. Use two-handed weapon one handed. If re-rolled, you can wield a two-handed weapon in your off hand, as well.
17. Mounted bonus: You have a +1 bonus to damage with melee weapons while mounted, and can ride without a saddle or gear with no penalty. +1 damage whenever this is re-rolled.
18. Berserker Rage: When angry, you can enter into a trance-like state. This grants a +2 to hit and damage, but a -4 to AC. The trance lasts for your Constitution in rounds, or until every living thing in sight is dead. Re-rolling this grants a +4 to hit and damage, but a -8 to AC.
19. Offensive Stance: +1 to hit, -2 AC. Re-rolling this gives another +1/-2
20. Animal Domination: With a Charisma check at +1, you can befriend a wild animal who will now act as a retainer. The animal can not have been attacked by you or your allies in the past. Asking the animal to risk harm to itself requires another charisma check. Failure means it will run away. Only one animal can be dominated at a time. Re-rolling this means an additional animal can be dominated. 

Armor and more on Encumbrance

Because of the specifics of the setting I'm working on, the large list of armors from Castles & Crusades, as well as the very small list of armors from Lamentations of the Flame Princess, do not work for what I want.

First, about armor and encumbrance. I detailed encumbrance in this post.

Shields and helmets are considered a standard item, for encumbrance purposes, so they take up a single item slot.

Helmets: While there are a dizzying array of helmet designs, they fall into the following categories. Helmets provide an AC bonus only against attacks specifying the head. Helmet AC is not added to regular AC. Cost is generic: I haven't decided to go with a silver or gold standard yet.

• Leather Cap: +1 AC, cost: 4
• Metal Pot: +2 AC, cost: 5
• Helm: +5 AC, cost: 10
• Great Helm: +7 AC, cost: 20

Shields: Shields provide two defensive bonuses, and a special defense. The first is against melee attacks, the second is against ranged attacks, and the third is the Shields Will Be Broken Rule. This rule is that a shield may be sacrificed to take the full damage from a single attack. A Modification to the rule allows for the material the shield is made of. Wood shields are unusable after being sacrificed. Metal shields can effectively be sacrificed twice. This rule does not apply to the Buckler, which is too small (you'd be sacrificing your arm).

• Buckler: +1 AC melee, +1 AC ranged, cost: 2
• Small Shield: +1 AC melee, +2 AC ranged, cost: 3 wood, 9 steel
• Medium Shield: +2 AC melee, +3 AC ranged, cost: 5 wood, 15 steel
• Large Shield: +3 AC melee, +4 AC ranged, cost: 7 wood, 21 steel

Like any other item, armor uses up an item slot. No matter what kind it is, armor takes up a single item slot. Heavier armor, because of its weight, bulk, and restriction of movement, also has a further penalty.

There are three basic types of armor, and how they work with encumbrance is as follows:

• Light Armor fills an item slot.
• Medium Armor fills an item slot AND a point of encumbrance.
• Heavy Armor fills an item slot AND two points of encumbrance.

A half suit, basically covering the chest and torso, or the classic chain/plate bikini, or the bracers/gauntlets, shoulder plates, shin guard combo all work the same, and are considered a half-suit for game purposes.

• A half suit of Light armor takes up an item slot.
• Half suit of Medium armor takes up an item slot.
• Half suit of Heavy armor takes up an item slot, AND fills one point of encumbrance.

Now, on to specific types of armor available! The armor listed includes the Armor Class bonus for half and full suits, as well as the cost. These are guidelines, but cover most types of armor. While many other types of armor exist, they all effectively fall within these categories and use the same stats.

Light Armor:

• Hide or Leather: +1 AC half suit, +2 AC full suit, cost: 5/10
• Studded Leather: +2 AC half suit, +3 AC full suit, cost: 12/24

Medium Armor:

• Chain or Scale: +3 AC half suit, +5 AC full suit, cost: 100/200

Heavy Armor:

• Plate: +5 AC half suit, +8 AC full suit, cost: 300/600 

Encumbrance; a Little Less Sucky

Encumbrance is probably the least used and most boring part of RPGs. I don't think I've ever been a player in a game where encumbrance was ever an issue that really came up, as most games use complicated systems that suck the fun right out of the game, so no one ever bothers with them. Or they use a system based on Strength and how much you can lift and nothing else, making it silly and unrealistic. Castles & Crusades, at least in the 4th printing that I own, has a terribly convoluted and dare-I-say-it unplayable encumbrance system. I knew when I started this that it would be the very first thing I scrapped from the system.

Encumbrance doesn't have to be so crappy, though.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess was the first game I ever played that had an encumbrance system that wasn't terrible and was simple to implement.

So I'm porting that into this game.

In LotFP, you can carry any number of items. However, the more you carry, the more Encumbrance Points you accrue. It uses a system of equipment slots. Every sixth slot you fill grants an encumbrance point. Small items, like an arrow, can have many carried before filling a slot. Certain types of armor automatically count for encumbrance points.

Having so many encumbrance points affects your speed and, in the case of Magic Users, your ability to cast spells.

While Encumbrance doesn't have to be continually tracked throughout play, the Referee is allowed to audit a player's equipment at any time, with the player penalized accordingly if they are carrying too much stuff.

Add to this the importance LotFP places on hiring retainers, and it's a very effective and simple system.

In a nutshell;

• Carrying 6 or more items is a point.
• Carrying 11 or more items is two points.
• Carrying 16 or more items is three points.
• Carrying 21 or more items is four points.
• Oversized items, two-handed weapons, some armor = 1 point.
• Giant sized items, some armor = 2 points
• More on armor and how it affects encumbrance in the next post.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess, though, is designed for a more gritty, low-fantasy, setting. Not the high-fantasy, ridiculousness of Strathos. Some some changes are necessary.

• Constitution Modifier applies to Encumbrance. This means that you receive extra item slots based on your Con mod, before you take an encumbrance point. On the other hand, having a negative Con mod means you can fill fewer slots before taking an encumbrance point.

 Example 1: Sheila the Barbarian has a +2 Con modifier. This translates to her being able to fill 7 slots of items before accruing an encumbrance point. 

Example 2: Brxrfrx the Mushroom has no Con modifier. It can fill up to 5 slots of items without accruing an encumbrance point.

Example 3: Trent the Wizard has a -2 Con modifier. He can only fill up to 3 slots of items before accruing an encumbrance point.

Okay, but what does it mean to accrue and Encumbrance Point? How do they affect the game?

• Zero or One encumbrance points = Unencumbered. This has no effect on your character.
• Two encumbrance points = Lightly encumbered. Speed is reduced 20%.
• Three points = Heavily encumbered. Speed is reduced by 40%, and Magic Users cannot use magic. Characters suffer a -1 penalty to all combat rolls and skill checks, as well as dexterity based saves.
• Four points = Severely encumbered. Speed is reduced by 80%. Characters suffer a -3 penalty to all combat rolls, skill checks, and Dexterity based saves.
• 5 points = Overencumbered. The character cannot move.

Example 4: Trent the Wizard is carrying a spell book (1 item slot), a pen and ink set (1 item slot), a dagger (1 item slot), a weeks worth of rations (1 item slot) and a staff (two-handed weapon: 1 encumbrance point), making him Lightly Encumbered. Why? Because he has filled 4 item slots (remember, he can only fill three slots without accruing a point) and has a two-handed weapon. That totals 2 encumbrance points. 

While all of this makes sense to me, I know that it doesn't necessarily make sense to anyone reading this. So I am happy to answer any questions.

Fighters like it Rough

This is a rough draft of some stuff I'm considering. Hence the title. My previous post about fighters is here, and I just want to give a shout out to Zak, since his posts on Barbarians and Fighters inspired much of this.

I'm still messing around with formatting posts. I like to add pics to give a visual presentation of the ideas I'm trying to convey. Sometimes I think I overdo it, though.

This is essentially an idea to combine Fighters and Barbarians and Monks and Knights and Paladins into a single, all encompassing, class.

Fighter
Prime Attribute: Strength
Hit Die:

• d8: Roll or pick 4 abilities from the list
• d10: Roll or pick 3 abilities from the list
• d12: Roll or pick 2 abilities from the list
• All: Roll or pick twice from the list when you level up.

Special: Trade 1 ability to learn 1 spell of any level below your own. If this is chosen at character creation, the spell is a level 0 or 1. If chosen after level one, the spell must be one known by someone willing to teach you. This grants the ability to cast a spell, it does not automatically give you a spell. The cost to cast such a spell is 3 HP per level of the spell.

Abilities:

1. Weather/Element Resistance: Wearing a chain mail bikini in shin deep snow doesn't bother you.
   
2. Animal Domination: Big, scary, wild animals take a liking to you and do what you want them to do.
   
3. Primal Attraction: have you seen those Frazetta paintings? Or in the following case, Brom? Through charisma, pheromones, or whatever, other people are attracted to you. No matter how ugly you are or how much gore you're splattered with.
   
4. Defensive Stance: +1 AC, -2 to hit. This can be taken multiple times
5. Armor costs 1 less encumbrance
6. Unarmored AC bonus: for the barbarian types
7. Tactics: Intelligence check to give allies +1 to all combat rolls for first round of combat.
8. Two weapon fighting: penalty for off-hand attacks is reduced
   
9. Extra attack
   
10. Improved unarmed combat: +1 damage with bare fists
11. Giant-killer: +1 hit and damage against creatures at least 1 size level bigger than you
12. Intimidation: Charisma +1 vs opponent's Wisdom or Fear
13. Strength bonus: +1 to strength up to racial max
14. Pain tolerance: +1 vs pain saves
15. Saving throw bonus: + to all saves
16. No Fear: +1 vs fear saves
17. Skill point
18. Taunt: Charisma check +1 vs opponents Wisdom
19. Ranged weapon bonus: Faster reloads, trick shooting, etc
    
    
20. Use two handed weapon one-handed (like Guts in Berserk!)
    
21. Mounted fighting bonus (Knights, Lancers, Mongols, etc)
    
22. Berserker rage
23. Offensive stance: +1 to hit, -2 AC. This can be taken multiple times
24. Improvised Weapon
    

Addendum to Wizards and Clerics and Shit

After further review, I have come up with the following changes to Magic Users

by Ramon Perez

Hit Points and the cost of spell casting are as follows:

• d4: Zero level spells = 0 HP, Other spells cost 2 HP -1 per spell level
• d6: Zero level spells = 1 HP, Other spells cost 2 HP per spell level
• d8: Zero level spells = 1 HP, Other spells cost 2 HP +1 per spell level

In other words, if you're a d4 Hit Die Wizard, and cast a level 3 spell, it will cost 5 hit points. If you're a d6 HD Wizard, and cast a level 3 spell, it will cost 6 hit points. If you're a d8 HD Wizard, a level 3 spell will cost 7 hit points.

The number of spells a character starts with also varies by hit die. 

• d4: Starts with 4 zero level spells, 2 first level spells, and 1 second level spell.
• d6: Starts with 3 zero level spells, and 2 first level spells.
• d8: Starts with 2 zero level spells, and 1 first level spell.

Spell progression in Strathos is limited in that new spells are not automatically learned. New spells can be gained by purchasing them from a more experienced magic user, converting a spell scroll or book, making a deal with a higher (or lower) being, or figuring them out through research and trial and error.

A Magic User can trade 3 spells of any level to gain a single Fighter or Specialist ability. This is only possible during character creation, and not available after the character has been used in play. This is my crappy version of multi-classing.

Magic Users suffer penalties to encumbrance (NOTE: I use Lamentations of the Flame Princess' encumbrance system):

• Armor of +2 or higher uses 2x the amount of encumbrance slots.  
• Weapons inflicting more than d6 in damage use 2x the amount of encumbrance slots. 
• If the Magic User is more than lightly encumbered, all spell casting costs double the amount of hit points than normal. This makes having loyal (or paid) retainers/servants a necessity.

Magic Users saving throws are based more on individual character concept than set-in-stone class mechanics

• A traditional Wizard would have Intelligence as a Prime attribute, with associated saves having that benefit.
• A traditional Cleric would have Wisdom as a Prime attribute.
• A Bard would have Charisma as a Prime.
• Other builds can be argued if necessary. 

Wizards and Clerics and Shit

Army of God, by Draegg

 

I have never been a fan of "Vancian" magic systems. I've never read Vance, and never even heard of him until less than a decade ago. I'm sure some nerd's head just exploded somewhere. I don't really care.

Maybe in its original context it was hip and cool and edgy and neat. But Vancian magic hasn't been any of those things in the 25 years I've been gaming. It isn't fun; it's an arbitrary handicap. It isn't balancing, and even if it was, fuck that; balance is bullshit. And the worst part of it is that in spells are written down in spell books and have components you must possess... But you still forget them after casting.

(Yes, I know Gygax or Arneson or some Steven in Dragon magazine explained exactly why this is the case back before I was born. I'm sure that explanation made perfect sense, too. I don't care. You will not convince me that it isn't a ridiculously bad system)

So what's the alternative? Point-based systems? Well, I've always preferred point based systems over the, "oops I forgot my livelihood," spell slot system of Dungeons and Dragons. I've looked at many alternatives created by many people over the years, and none of them gelled with me.

The problem with point based systems is that while it offers the player character more choice and freedom, it also makes for more book keeping and an additional stat to keep track of. 

So, I've been working on something different.

Wizards and Clerics and Druids and Witches and Sorcerers and Warlocks and Wu Jin and whatever the hell you want to call your magic users all work pretty much the same way.

First step: Choose to be a magic user.
Second step: Choose your hit die.

Waaaaait... what? Choose your hit die?

Yep, choose a d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12.

Third step: Roll attributes, choose equipment, pick spells.

That's it! You're done!

Okay, it's a little more complicated than that. Going back to to choosing your Hit Die, the HD represents what kind of magic user you want to be.

If your hit die is...

• d4, then you start with 1 additional spell, in addition to Ability/Attribute bonus. Spells cost 1 HP per level of spell to cast. Zero level spells cost 0 HP, making them "at will."
• d6, Spells cost 1 HP per level to cast, Zero level spells cost 1 HP.
• d8, Spells cost 2 HP per level of spell to cast, Zero level spells cost 1 HP, start with 1 less spell.
• d10, Spells cost 3 HP per level of spell to cast, Zero level spells cost 2 HP, start with 2 less spells.
• d12, Spells cost 4 HP per level, Zero level spells cost 3 HP, start with 3 less spells.

You may be asking, "Why?" 

Well, this allows the player to have a sorcerer-supreme type of wizard in the classic sense; few hit points, lots of magic. It also allows for the battle-priest type of the classic cleric. It allows for the tough outdoorsy druid. It allows for a barbarian shaman with a couple of ringer powers. You could choose to be a gigantic muscle man who uses a couple low level spells to help him win body building contests. It leaves a whole lot of room for the player, rather than force them into an archetype.

The higher the hit die, the less practiced of a magic user the character is, so the fewer spells they have and the harder it is to cast those spells. They were too busy working out, hunting critters, punching things, or standing under waterfalls to spend a lot of time practicing magic. Or they just didn't have an aptitude for it, but Dad paid for the education, so they had to learn a little bit. Maybe they worship a warrior goddess who grants some powers but considers reliance on magic to be for weaklings. 

The backstory is up to the player.

Spell lists are whatever the player wants to fit their character concept. I'm building a spell list combining AD&D, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and Castles & Crusades, with some Palladium Fantasy thrown in there for the Strathos setting I'm working on.  

Spells costing hit points was something I've thought about implementing for a while, and then I bought Maze of the Blue Medusa and the NPCs all spend HP to cast spells, and it sold me on the idea. It gives a point-based feel, without an addtional stat to keep track of, and makes magic more interesting by increasing its rarity due to the personal effects of wielding it.

I don't like the "Clerics can cast any spell of an available level," while Wizards can only cast spells they know. That doesn't make sense to me. A cleric's life is about their religion and belief system. Their spells should reflect the values of their god(s), religion, or religious sect/order. Since cleric spells are complicated prayers that call upon higher powers to act on the cleric's behalf, they should be learned and passed on the same as wizard spells. Clerics have hymnals and prayer books and scrolls and prayer beads and holy symbols and altars and incense and drugs and alcohol for the same reason wizards have spell books, laboratories, crystal balls, wands, staves, pointy hats, robes with the cosmos printed on them, etc. It is for studying and recalling knowledge to perform magic.


So, if you choose d4 HD, you get a bonus spell, you get freebie spells, and your spells are very cheap to cast. You are rewarded for playing a weak, easily killed character.
With a d6 HD, you're kind of like the "average" magic user, with no special bonuses or penalties.
At d8 HD, you're entering Fighter territory, but with a magical edge.
With d10 and d12, your magic abilities are severely hampered, and you have a lot of potential Hit Points, but what spells you can cast will eat up those HP pretty fast. 

Fighting type characters get their own special abilities, so don't think of a d12 magic user as a Barbarian bad-ass with magic powers, cause it is not. Far from it, actually.

One thing I forgot to mention was Ability scores for magic users. In D&D, Wizards get extra stuff from Intelligence, Clerics from Wisdom. In Castles & Crusades, those would be the Prime Attributes. Same thing here. If you have a player that wants to be a Bard, and you haven't kicked them out of your group yet, they can choose Charisma for their Prime Attribute for their bonus spells. 


Let me know if I missed something glaringly bad or something is poorly written.