All of the ways in which I'll adjust the rules for this particular game.
If you have any comments, post in the OOC thread. Let's keep this thread clean for just the rules.
Proficiencies
Bonus Proficiencies
PCs (not henchmen) get an additional general proficiency at 3rd and 6th level.
Riding Proficiency
All characters can ride horses, mules, etc. Those without the Ride Proficiency suffer a -2 to to melee attacks and a -4 to missile attacks*. If the horse moves during the round characters without Ride cannot cast spells or make missile attacks. Characters with the Ride proficiency gain the following:
- Judge of horseflesh: On a throw of 14+ they can get a rough idea of how healthy a mount is.
- Mounted combat. Can melee as normal, charge (p. 112), and use missile weapons while stationary without penalty. A -2 penalty is assigned if firing a missile weapon while moving, and spells can be cast while moving with a throw of 7+.
- Control animal. The mount gains +1 to their morale score while being ridden by someone with the Ride skill.
Ride may be chosen again for the same type of animal with the following benefits.
- Judge of horseflesh: On a throw of 7+ they can gain a rough idea of how healthy a mount is.
- Mounted Combat: Can melee as normal, charge, use missile weapons or cast spells without penalty, regardless if they are moving or not.
- Horse as shield: With a saddle, the character can hang over the side of a mount, keeping it between themselves and a foe. This grants them partial cover (+3 to AC) while allowing them to cast spells or use missile weapons with a -2 penalty (cast spells on a throw of 7+).
- Control animal: Mount gains +2 to morale while being controlled.
- Can use Animal Husbandry with -2 penalty to throws, *or* gains +2 bonus to Animal Husbandry throws if she has both Proficiencies.
- Can use Animal Training with the type of mount, at a +1 week penalty *or* if she already has Animal Training as the time reduced by 1 week (minimum of 1 week).
Character Generation
PCs
All PCs begin with 80,000 xp and 100,000 gp.
All PCs are human. All original henchmen are human.
Only exception is Nobiran Wonderworkers are allowed if the ability score requirements are met.
No Chaotic characters. No evil characters.
Judge generates five sets of 3d6 x 6 rolls. Your PC (and any number of henches) use those scores.
For your PC only, you can choose one of two options to edit your ability scores:
You can change any one score below a 9 into a 9.
You can swap any two scores (for example, you have a PC with high WIS and low CHR and you want the high score in CHR, you can swap the two)
Max HP at 1st level. Reroll HP at each new level. If reroll is lower than previous total, add one.
Remember that PCs (not henchmen) get an additional general proficiency at 3rd and 6th level.
You can buy chances at magic items using the rules on p 253 in the core book.
It is the player's choice to have me roll as indicated in the book or roll for each individual item.
I reserve the right to ignore potion or scroll results should they come up too often.
The player may trade one Ward scroll for a +1 weapon, +1 armor, or +1 Ring of Protection.
The player may choose one arcane spell per level in their spellbook; all other are chosen randomly. Duplicates are re-rolled.
Necromantic spells are re-rolled if the player requests.
Before the game starts, PCs may add spells from scrolls purchased in the chargen stage into their spellbooks immediately and PCs can swap spells from scrolls into their repertoires for free.
The Judge will roll randomly for starting age and add five years.
Henchmen
Players may spend 40,000 gp on one 40,000 xp henchman. All other henchmen acquired at chargen must be 4th level or lower.
Henchmen are acquired at chargen by spending 1 gp per xp.
During chargen, players can acquire as many or as few henchmen as they can afford (and their CHR and proficiencies allow). If all four sets of hench rolls are used, the Judge will roll more.
Original henches start at Fanatic Loyalty.
Calendar
I find most custom calendars too complicated to follow, and most players uninterested in them anyway. My calendar has 12 months of 30 days, with five holidays. I will steal thirdkingdom's naming system (e.g. January is Firstmonth, February is Secondmonth, etc...)
The holidays are as follows:
Celebration of Unconquered Dawn - Celebrates the first day of the Empire, when Hadria I created his Empire. Comes between the 12th and 13th days of Sixthmonth. Every four years, the Celebration lasts twice as long, so the calendar can catch up.
Holy Feast of Epiphany - Celebrates the "defeat" of winter when the days become longer, comes between Twelvethmonth and Firstmonth
Rites of Hearth Fire - Celebrates the beginning of spring, comes between Thirdmonth and Fourthmonth
Day of the Undying Sun - Celebrates the longest day of the year, comes between Sixthmonth and Seventhmonth
Festival of the Reaping - Celebrates the end of the harvest, comes between Ninthmonth and Tenthmonth
Weather
I'm going to use the tables from the Pathfinder SRD, found here. I reserve the right to adjust them to avoid any crazy swings in weather (e.g. alternating days of drought and monsoon or something similarly nonsensical).
Languages
- Bestial (ogre, orc, gnoll)
- Cantaman (the common language of civilized Man)
- Draconic
- Faery (elves, pixies, dryads, etc.)
- Centaur (similar to Faery, if you speak one, you can communicate in the other in basic terms)
- Freespeak (nomads)
- Lakie (barbarians of the north)
- Giant
- Goblin (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear)
- Grog (common language of most primitive races)
- Swampspeak (frogling, lizardman, troglodyte, etc.)
- Undertongue (dwarves, gnomes, kobolds)
Dead Languages
- Auld Cantaman (Cantaman as spoken and written 300 years ago)
- Ish-Kappan (language of the dwarves who lived in the mountains of the East long ago)
- Nobir (language of the Greater Men who ruled the land tens of centuries ago, ancient ancestors of the Wonderworkers of today)
- Zug (language of the vampyre-men, masters of the world eons ago before their man-slaves revolted and drove them to near extinction)
Dead languages are rarely, if ever spoken. But written examples are found from time to time in ruins and caves and on the pages of ancient tomes.
There is a large lake just south of the mountains, well to the northeast of the domain of Ket. The barbarians who live around the lake speak the same language as the nomads of the plains and badlands but each has its own slang, much like British English and American English are mostly the same but have their own unique idioms. The nomads call the barbarian language "Lakie Freespeak", pronounced "lay-key" phonetically. Or Lakie for short.
Supply Trains
You need one handler per three Medium Draft Horses or Mules, or per two Heavy Horses. Each handler's monthly cost is 8 gp. This is inclusive of wages and supplies (we'll call it wages 4 gp and supplies 4 gp). These handlers will guide the horses, feed and groom them, and load & unload them.
Number of Mules per Platoon
I am assuming that each platoon of 15 men and horses is supported by five mules carrying supplies. 21 platoons + the PCs is 22 x 5 = 110 mules. Then you add in the handlers, one per three mules. 37 handlers and 110 mules is the equivalent of 10 platoons of horse in the baggage train.
Standard Monthly Lifestyle Costs
PCs
5th level - 500 gp
6th level - 1,000 gp
7th level - 2,000 gp
8th level - 4,000 gp
9th level - 8,000 gp
Henchmen
As per core rules, p 51
Mundane Items
If it costs 1 gp or less, your Monthly Lifestyle Cost covers it.
If it costs over 1 gp, the first 100 gp spent per month are covered by MLC. After that, you have to pay for it out of pocket.
This is for PCs only. Henches pay normally for all purchases.
Gems, Jewelry, and Trade Goods
I am going to treat cut gems as currency, i.e. you can buy or sell gems for 100% of their value in gold.
The price of jewelry and other trade goods will depend on the market in which you try to buy or sell them.
I'm thinking it will work something like this:
There are five markets in which you can sell goods: Ket, Avauntar, Shining Spire, Northfort and "The Inner Empire". You can find out the demand modifiers for the first four pretty easily. If one of them has a positive modifier, you can sell the goods there for a profit. You just need to transport them there.
Or you can sell your goods to a merchant visiting Ket from somewhere in the Inner Empire. Every month, I'll randomly roll to see who's in the city and what they're interested in buying. You are welcome to hold onto your goods until the right merchant shows up.
There are other markets in the Eastlands and, once they are discovered, there will be opportunities for the party to do some arbitrage trading if desired.
Wisdom bonuses and penalties
WIS bonuses and penalties count toward all saving throws.
Energy Drain
Energy Drain does drain a level, as per RAW. However, if a character returns to civilization and spends two weeks resting (no other activities allowed) and two weeks carousing (no other activities allowed) and spends three times the normal amount of gold in monthly upkeep, he or she will return to his original level and XP. The four weeks of rest and carousing must happen consecutively or the Energy Drain is not reversed.
Example: Joe is a 2nd level Fighter with 2,500 XP and a 75gp/month Upkeep Fee. He is struck by a Wraith and drops immediately to a 1st level Fighter with 0 XP. Joe somehow survives the fight with the Wraith and immediately travels to the City of Boston, where he checks into an inn and sits by the fire for two weeks, sipping tea while wrapped in a blanket. Joe then spends the next two weeks plowing through every brothel in the Combat Zone*, and buying Keg Service at all the fanciest taverns. He spends 225 gp on his month of recovery. At the end of the month, Joe is once again a 2nd level Fighter with 2,500 XP.
*Not an actual Combat Zone. This was the nickname for the old red-light district in Boston before they cleaned it up.
1 Like
Overnight Camping
When camping overnight in the wilderness, the default assumption is that PCs, henches, and mercs remove their armor, and horses have their saddles removed.
If a character wants to sleep in their armor, they may do so but will suffer a -1 penalty to attack throws and damage rolls until they get eight hours of rest (without armor).
These penalties do not apply to characters in leather armor.
Torches and Lanterns
Torches and lanterns that are dropped have a 5% chance of going out. This roll may be modified by whatever the light source is dropped onto/into.
If they're dropped by someone who immediately engages in melee, there's a 50% chance each round that the torch goes out/lantern gets broken.
I really like this. I’d be tempted to give this along with Adventuring as a starting skill.