Friday, May 31, 2013

Whitebox House Rules Part 3: Clerics, Elves, Dwarves


Clerics:

Clerics for my forgotten realms game are mostly unmodified in their abilities, however each faith has their own spell list, with special spells, abilities, and custom armor/weapons.  Here is a sampling of the faiths vs. alignment:

Lawful:  Lathander, Torm, Tyr, Sune, Milil, Mystra, Azuth, Ilmater

Neutral: Chauntea, Deneir, Eldath, Gond,  Tymora, Oghma, Selune, Tempus

Chaotic: Besheba, Cyric, Leira, Loviatar, Malar, Mask, Shar, Talona, Talos

Lathander, Torm, Tyr, and Ilmater have subgroups of clerics, known as paladins.  Paladins are very martial in their focus, pure of heart, and travel the realms smiting evil in the name of their god.   See GM for special abilities of paladins.

One of my players will be playing a dwarf cleric of Moradin, I'm working out his spell list.  I'll post up my ideas here as we work them out.  Since he doesn't get any spells at first level, I didn't have to work on anything yet :)

Elves:

The elven fighter/mage hybrid is the most common elf class.  Elves cannot wear more than leather armor when using this method.  Elven chain mail or magical chain mail is also allowed. 

Dwarves:

Dwarves don’t get a bonus to AC when fighting man-sized creatures.  However, dwarves are especially adept at fighting giants and giantkin.  Against giants, ogres, trolls, etc… dwarves take ½ damage.


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

White Box House Rules Part 2: Druids




Druid (only humans and half elf, max 10th level):

Druids are neutral clerics with their own spell lists they suffer a -10% experience penalty due to extra abilities, which may be somewhat offset by high wisdom (+5% for >15 Wis).  See GM for spell list if you should want to make a druid.  They use only natural armor and limited weapons (dagger, staff, sickle, etc…).  At higher level, druids gain the following powers:

Immunity to fire (1st): +2 to saves vs. fire

Initiate Powers (2nd): At 2nd level the Druid gains the following abilities; identify pure water, identify plants, identify animals, and pass through overgrowth.

Shape Change (6th): At this level, Druids may take the shape of a mammal, reptile, or bird. The Druid may shape change up to 3 times per day, but is limited to one type (bird, reptile, mammal) per day. The size of the animals the Druid shape changes into ranges from as small as a raven to as large as a bear. Changing from one form to another heals the Druid of 2d6 points of damage previously sustained.

Charm Immunity (6th): Druids at this level are immune to charm spells from woodland or water creatures such as dryads.

*This druid build used much of the detail from Salvatore Macri's White Box Heroes.  It is a really cool document.  I'm planning not to use many of the spells and instead make up my own list, but I used a few of the powers he had used.


Friday, May 24, 2013

S&W House Rules, Part 1: Fighters and Rangers




Fighter

Multiple Attacks:  Instead of the “combat machine” rules as written – Fighter characters will get 2 melee attacks/round at 6th level.

A player may specialize their character beyond the basic rules system depicted in the core rules – see GM for specific abilities: Swashbuckler, Barbarian, Knight, Archer, “Second-Story” Man/Rogue, etc…

Each specialization will get a few situational bonuses and a few penalties.




Ranger (only humans, half-elf, and elf)

Use wizard exp. Table for advancement, but use the to-hit bonus, HP, and saving throws of a cleric… max 10th level.  Rangers can get no bonus to exp for high stats.

Rangers are limited to studded leather armor (+3) or lighter armor.  They may use any weapon.  +1 to saving throws vs. death and poison.

Herbal Healing:  given access to rare herbs and time, a ranger can heal 1pt/level to a character once per week.

+1 to all wilderness checks, and +2 to tracking attempts.

Rangers can cast Druid/Wizard spells (they must store their wiz spells in a book):

Ranger Level
Druid Spells
Wizard Spells
2
1

4
2

6
2
1
8
2/1
1
10
2/1/1
1/1