House Rules

Swords & Wizardry Dungeon Delving

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merias
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House Rules

Post by merias »

Character Creation

- Fighters start with a +1 base-hit-bonus (BHB), rather than +0.
- Max HP at first level.
- Holmes spell scroll creation rules are in effect (100gp / 1 week per spell level). Starting MUs are gifted one random scroll from their master.

Equipment

- Silver daggers are 25gp. Silver sling stones are 2gp each. Silvering any other type of weapon costs 100gp.
- Mules can carry 3,600 coins (3 large sacks full).

Rolling

- I'll be doing the rolling, just to keep the game moving. You will just need to state your actions. If you prefer, you can make the combat death save roll yourself (see below), should it come up in play (who are we kidding :lol: ).

Experience

1xp for 1gp as normal, upon returning to town. I like to use the 1974 method of 100xp per HD for monsters slain or otherwise overcome via clever means, so advancement at low levels will be more rapid than by the book.

Encumbrance & Movement

- Encumbrance: You can carry a 'reasonable' amount of gear and 1200 coins each, no more. Apply any STR carry bonuses at a 20-to-1 ratio, so a +10lb. carry bonus is +200 coins, and you could then carry 1400 coins max. A large sack conveniently holds 1200 coins. So you never have to track what you carry apart from treasure.
- Per-turn base move rate is based on armor worn - leather/none = 12", ring/chain = 9", plate = 6". Movement rate drops by 3" when you hit your max coin weight. General exploration movement in the dungeon is at two moves per turn, or 240 feet per turn for unarmored PCs. Combat movement is per the rules.

Combat

- We'll be using the blue-book combat option in the rules, which uses DEX-based initiative and requires you to prepare your spells. You can hold a prepared spell in your memory for as long as you want, and change it outside of combat, so make sure to let me know which spell you have prepared. Otherwise it takes a full combat round to prepare a spell. The advantage is that prepared spells go off first in a round a simplified combat sequence with side-based initiative and declaring actions before the roll.
- The rules don't have a specific monster reaction table, but I'll be using the tables from S&W WB modified by CHA in some cases. So not every encounter has to be a fight.
- When you reach negative level hit points or less (so -1 for 1st level PCs), you need to make a saving throw, modified with your CON bonus or penalty. If you make it, you survive with 1hp, but there can be no non-magical healing that day. If you fail the save, you die.
- Post-combat anyone can bind wounds, which will heal 1d3hp over the course of a turn spent resting (edit 11/3/23 - cannot heal fully however).
- Missile fire into melee: Allowed if physically possible, at a variable penalty (usually -2 to -4). However, on a natural 1 you hit a random ally.
- A natural 20 deals max damage and always hits (barring magical or silver required), a natural 1 always misses.

Hirelings

- You can hire meatshields, which are zero-level fighters, at Ajax's Warriors for Hire, for 14gp per week, total payable up-front. They will have weapons, armor food and basic gear, so you only need to spend more if you want to upgrade their armor or provide a better weapon. So the basic hireling has: Ring mail, a melee weapon, possibly a missile weapon, backpack, rations, wineskin. I'll determine their loyalty based on how well you treat them, offer shares of treasure, etc. If you gain levels, and they stick around, I will promote them to full-fledged classed and leveled NPCs, at which point they get a half-share of XP.

Upkeep & Treasure Storage

- Between adventures you will just be cooling your heels in town, and we can just assume any treasure you have is stored safely at a local moneylender's shop, unless you explicitly state you are keeping some on your person to be used for barter, etc. I'll take a percentage off the top for upkeep, but we won't do any roleplay in town.

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