29 May 2014

Table: Suitable Hats for Wizards

Inspired by the B/X Headgear tables from B/X Blackrazor, here is my version of a random headgear generator presented in four installments (because they do not fit neatly on one page, unlike their inspiration). Each player character may roll for one item (hat, non-hat, helmet, or wizard hat), which may be worn, stored, sold, traded, donated, or discarded as desired.


Suitable Hats for Wizards

Roll 1d20

1. Adorned (roll again plus Adornment table)
2. Decorated (roll again plus Decoration table)
3. Bicorne
4. Conical, Brimmed, Floppy
5. Conical, Brimmed, Stiff
6. Conical, Brimless
7. Conical, Split
8. Cylindrical
9. Crown, Modest
10. Fez
11. Laquered Hat (roll on Laquered Hats table)
12. Mitre
13. Mushroom-Shaped Hat
14. Phrygian Cap
15. Pyramid
16. Scholar Cap
17. Skull Cap
18. Turban
19. Wedge-Shaped Hat
20. Ziggurat


Adornment

Roll 1d8

1. Badge
2. Bell or Bells
3. Finned
4. Horned or Antlered
5. Jeweled
6. Plumed
7. Tasseled
8. Winged


Decoration

Roll 1d12

1. Equations
2. Eyes
3. Hieroglyphs
4. Polka-Dots
5. Runes
6. Shapes
7. Spirals
8. Stars
9. Stripes
10. Symbols
11. Wavy Lines
12. Zigzag Lines


Laquered Hats

Roll 1d10

1. Clam Shell
2. Coiled Snake
3. Conch
4. Crab
5. Deep Sea Angler Fish
6. Lobster
7. Octopus
8. Oyster Shell
9. Squid
10. Turtle Shell

28 May 2014

Table: Suitable Helmets for Adventurers

Inspired by the B/X Headgear tables from B/X Blackrazor, here is my version of a random headgear generator presented in four installments (because they do not fit neatly on one page, unlike their inspiration). Each player character may roll for one item (hat, non-hat, helmet, or wizard hat), which may be worn, stored, sold, traded, donated, or discarded as desired.

Suitable Helmets for Adventurers

Roll 1d20

1. Adorned (roll again plus Adornment table)
2. Decorated (roll again plus Decoration table)
3. Armet
4. Barbute
5. Bascinet
6. Burgonet
7. Chapel de Fer
8. Classical Helm (roll on Classical table)
9. Conical Helm
10. Heaume
11. Hounskull
12. Iron-Banded Leather Helm
13. Kabuto
14. Kettle Hat
15. Masked Helm (roll on Masked table)
16. Metal Skull Cap
17. Nasal Helm
18. Sallet
19. Spangenhelm
20. Sugarloaf Helm


Adornment

Roll 1d20

1. Antlers
2. Ball
3. Bat-Shaped
4. Beast (specify)
5. Crest Symbol
6. Dragon-Shaped
7. Finned
8. Holy Symbol
9. Horns
10. Horsehair Crest
11. Plant Badge (specify)
12. Plume
13. Ridge
14. Scorpion-Shaped
15. Snail Shell-Shaped
16. Spider-Shaped
17. Spike
18. Spines
19. Tusks
20. Winged


Decoration

Roll 1d8

1. Engraved Afterlife Scenes
2. Engraved Flowers
3. Engraved Geometric Patterns
4. Engraved Holy Symbol
5. Engraved Knot Patterns
6. Engraved Mythic Scenes
7. Engraved Runes
8. Engraved Wavy Lines


Classical

Roll 1d10

1. Assyrian
2. Celtic
3. Egyptian
4. Han
5. Greek
6. Indian
7. Mongol
8. Norse
9. Roman
10. Samnite


Masked

Roll 1d20

1. Bear Head
2. Bird Head
3. Demonic
4. Dog Head
5. Dragon Head
6. Fish Head
7. Frog Head
8. Horse Head
9. Human, Angry
10. Human, Blank
11. Human, Happy
12. Lion Head
13. Panther Head
14. Octopus-Shaped
15. Skull
16. Spider-Shaped
17. Squid-Shaped
18. Tiger Head
19. Unicorn Head
20. Wolf Head

27 May 2014

Table: Suitable Non-Hats for Adventurers

Inspired by the B/X Headgear tables from B/X Blackrazor, here is my version of a random headgear generator presented in four installments (because they do not fit neatly on one page, unlike their inspiration). Each player character may roll for one item (hat, non-hat, helmet, or wizard hat), which may be worn, stored, sold, traded, donated, or discarded as desired.

Suitable Non-Hats for Adventurers

Roll 1d20

1. Bandana
2. Burlet and Veil
3. Chaperon
4. Circlet
5. Coif
6. Cowl
7. Cord
8. Diadem
9. Feather or Flower
10. Headband
11. Hood
12. Hood, Fur-Lined
13. Hood with Liripipe
14. Hood with Ornament or Bell
15. Hood with Tassel
16. Mask (specify or roll on Masks table)
17. Scarf
18. Wreath of Flowers
19. Wreath of Leaves
20. Wreath of Vines


Masks

Roll 1d20

1. Bandit Mask
2. Bear
3. Bird
4. Bull
5. Demonic
6. Dragon
7. Face, Angry
8. Face, Blank
9. Face, Laughing
10. Face, Leering
11. Face, Sad
12. Fish
13. Frog
14. Lion
15. Masquerade Mask
16. Punchinello
17. Scaramouche
18. Skull
19. Tiger
20. Wolf

26 May 2014

Table: Suitable Hats for Adventurers

Inspired by the B/X Headgear tables from B/X Blackrazor, here is my version of a random headgear generator presented in four installments (because they do not fit neatly on one page, unlike their inspiration). Each player character may roll for one item (hat, non-hat, helmet, or wizard hat), which may be worn, stored, sold, traded, donated, or discarded as desired.


Suitable Hats for Adventurers

Roll 1d30

1. Animal Head (roll on Animal Heads table)
2. Bag Hat
3. Beret
4. Bicorne
5. Cavalier Hat
6. Dome Cap
7. Fez
8. Flat Cap
9. Floppy Hat
10. Fur Hat (roll on Fur Hats table)
11. Glengarry
12. Jester Cap
13. Hunting Hat
14. Muffin Hat
15. Nightcap
16. Phrygian Cap
17. Pillbox Hat
18. Pleated Hat
19. Puffy Hat
20. Ridged Hat
21. Scholar Cap
22. Skull Cap
23. Slouch Cap
24. Split Brim Hat
25. Sugarloaf Hat
26. Tam-'O-Shanter
27. Toque
28. Tricorne
29. Turban
30. Wide-Brimmed Hat, Stiff


Animal Heads

Roll 1d6

1. Bear Head
2. Bull Head
3. Lion Head
4. Ram Head
5. Tiger Head
6. Wolf Head


Fur Hats

Roll 1d6

1. Bear Fur Hat
2. Deerskin Cap
3. Leopard Fur Hat
4. Mink Fur Hat
5. Rabbit Fur Hat
6. Sable Fur Hat

14 May 2014

Bloat Not Lest Ye Become Bloated

The version of Dungeons & Dragons I prefer is Basic/Expert D&D plus whatever spells, monsters, and secondary skills I wish to import from AD&D. I have no need of rules bloatation devices. The beauty of Labyrinth Lord is that it combines the Basic and Expert rules into one rulebook, and then offers the Advanced Edition Companion so you can add what you like, just as we did it in the 1980s. My only reservation about this approach is that it occasionally allows AD&Disms to creep into the game unless one is vigilant. Take, for example, the description of the iron golem from the AEC: "Only weapons at least +3 or better can damage iron golems." This is the sort of thing that leads to an excessive proliferation of magic items, which leads to a trivialization of magic, which results in a watering down of the wondrous. In short, it detracts from the fantastical in a fantasy setting. It's a mundanization of the fantasy world. (Mundanization, from the verb mundanize, or mundanisation, from the verb mundanise, depending on your spelling preference. I think I just made it up.) Why? Because players will be worried that their magic weapons are not magical enough. They will become obsessed with upgrading their arsenal of magic weapons as if they were nothing but obsolete software. "A sword +2? Bah! I need at least +3! I might need to fight an iron golem."

Perhaps it's an oversight, or maybe it's just a way to convert Labyrinth Lord into a full-scale Advanced Bloated Labyrinth Lord (Positive Material Plane help us), but I know I will be ignoring any advanced bloatery I detect and replacing it with a suitable basic/expert solution. In this case, "Only magic weapons can damage iron golems." Ah, much better.

(See also Magical Spell: Ensorcel Weapon and Clerical Spell: Sanctify Weapon for other alternatives to magic weapon bloatification.)


N.B. For those who play in my games, any creature affected only by magic weapons is affected by any magic weapon regardless of its enchantment. There are more magical properties in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are embodied by combat bonuses.

11 May 2014

Table: Charge Capacity

In Dungeons & Dragons, certain magic items have charges, which are depleted whenever their powers are activated. As I was posting my latest wand of wonder spinoff (q.v.), I had occasion to compare the rules concerning the number of charges possessed by magic items presented in Basic/Expert D&D and the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide.

Let's look at the Dungeon Masters Guide first. Rods, staves, and wands encountered during the course of an adventure typically have a number of charges as follows:

rods — 50 charges minus 0 to 9 (d10-1)
staves — 25 charges minus 0 to 5 (d6-1)
wands — 100 charges minus 0 to 19 (d20-1)

Basic/Expert D&D differs from this and from itself. According to the Basic rulebook, "Unless otherwise specified, a wand, staff, or rod will contain 1-10 (1d10) charges when found." Now that's a difference! In contrast, the Expert rulebook states "Unless specified otherwise, a wand has 2-20 (2d10) charges and a staff has 3-30 (3d10) charges when found, and each use of a power will use 1 charge." Either way, the difference in wand charge capacity between Basic/Expert D&D and AD&D is vast. I propose something a little different.

For each rod, staff, or wand, the charge capacity is determined randomly.* This is the maximum number of charges this particular magic item can have. Once the charge capacity is known, the exact number of charges can be generated.

Charge Capacity

Roll 1d4

1. Maximum 16 charges (roll 4d4)
2. Maximum 36 charges (roll 6d6)
3. Maximum 64 charges (roll 8d8)
4. Maximum 100 charges (roll 10d10)

Those who dislike rolling that many dice can use the following table:

1. Maximum 16 charges (roll 1d4 x 4)
2. Maximum 36 charges (roll 1d6 x 6)
3. Maximum 64 charges (roll 1d8 x 8)
4. Maximum 100 charges (roll 1d10 x 10)

The advantage, as I see it, is an increase in the middle range and an elimination of one charge wonders.


* This can vary by category (e.g. wands), type (e.g. wands of lightning), or individual item (e.g. the wand of lightning I inherited from my great grandmother) as desired.

10 May 2014

Magic Item: Wand of Annoyance

Some wands with random effects are more reliable than others. The wand of annoyance may not possess the most impressive offensive powers, but one can be reasonably sure it will inconvenience an enemy.

Targets may save vs. wand (or your edition's prevailing category) to avoid effects completely.

05 May 2014

Concise Shield Rules

These are my final rules on shields.* As usual, they are adapted from Shields Shall Be Splintered.


Normal Shields

All shields improve the wielder's armor class by 1 against attacks coming from an appropriate direction, i.e. the front or the shield flank.

Any shield may be used to absorb the damage from an attack after the damage has been rolled and announced, but the shield is thereby destroyed.

Large shields may be used to absorb the damage of spells, breath weapons, and the like in the same manner. Small shields may not.

Shields of normal construction are no defense whatsoever against ballistae, catapults, trebuchets, cannon, or firearms.


Magic Shields

Magic shields usually improve the wielder's armor class by an additional +1, +2, or +3.

Any time a magic shield is used to absorb the damage from an attack, its bonus decreases by one. Once the bonus is reduced to 0, it loses one magical ability (if any) per attack absorbed. Once it has lost all magical properties, it functions as a normal shield.

Magic shields are effective against all weapons. If used to absorb the damage from a siege weapon (including artillery), the shield is destroyed regardless of its degree of enchantment and the defender is thrown clear.


N.B. "Small shields" refers to bucklers and other small handheld shields. "Large shields" refers to heaters, kites, tower shields, round shields, etc.


* Until such time as I grow weary of them.

04 May 2014

Fixing Charts

I changed my armor class chart. Finding no evidence of studded leather armor ever having actually existed, I jettisoned it. It joins banded mail and ring mail as armor types I do not allow. Leather armor returned to its place at AC 7, and padded armor remains at AC 8. I dropped lamellar armor and laminar armor from AC 4 and included the following note below the chart instead: "Lamellar and laminar armor vary in armor class depending on the material used. If metal, the armor class is 4, otherwise it is 6." This has the nice effect of placing one standard armor type at each armor class. (For a Renaissance game, full plate is AC 2.) I omitted my new helmet rule from the chart as I haven't playtested it yet. I like it; it makes sense to me, but I don't know if it works. We shall see. After all that tinkering with shield rules, I think I'm back to the Basic/Expert standard, but I'm keeping my variant of the Shields Shall Be Splintered rule with the following proviso: it only works with large shields. Bucklers will not protect you from dragonfire! [See Concise Shield Rules.]

I also changed my weapon charts again. I upgraded the spear to 1d8 damage, the lance to 1d10 damage, and the pole arm to 1d12 damage. It makes the distribution of weapons by damage-causing capacity rather more symetrical: four 1d4 weapons, eleven 1d6 weapons, eleven 1d8 weapons, four high damage weapons (two 1d10 weapons and two 1d12 weapons). I changed "halberd" back to "pole arm." It's more versatile, like "sword," which I really like.